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Difficult GRE words

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brummagem
brummagem \BRUHM-uh-juhm\, adjective:

Cheap and showy, tawdry; also, spurious, counterfeit.

But demanding that publishers replace their brummagem wares with books which embody Kunin's "high standards of excellence" would be a promising -- and cost-free -- way to begin.
-- Betty McCollister, "A Conspiracy of Good Intentions: America's Textbook Fiasco", Humanist, November-December, 1993
obeisance
obeisance \oh-BEE-suhn(t)s; oh-BAY-suhn(t)s\, noun:

1. An expression of deference or respect, such as a bow or curtsy.
2. Deference, homage.

They made obeisance right to the floor, coiling like bright snakes from the arms of their astonished handlers.
-- Ann Wroe, Pontius Pilate
vituperate
vituperate \vy-TOO-puh-rate, -TYOO-, vi-\, verb:

To find fault with; to scold; to overwhelm with wordy abuse; to censure severely or abusively; to rate.

There are moments in life when true invective is called for, when it becomes an absolute necessity, out of a deep sense of justice, to denounce, mock, vituperate, lash out, in the strongest possible language.
-- Charles Simic, quoted in "The argument culture", Irish Times, December 17, 1998
spoony
spoony \SPOO-nee\, adjective:

1. Foolish; silly; excessively sentimental.
2. Foolishly or sentimentally in love.

Nevertheless, because we're spoony old things at heart, we like to believe that some showbiz marriages are different.
-- Julie Burchill, "Cut!", The Guardian, February 7, 2001
tittle-tattle
tittle-tattle \TIT-uhl TAT-uhl\, noun:

1. Idle, trifling talk; empty prattle.
2. An idle, trifling talker; a gossip.
3. to talk idly; to prate.

The literary tittle-tattle of the age.
-- Edinburgh Review, 1820
Knell
knell \NEL\, verb:

1. The stoke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal;
2. to sound as a warning or evil omen.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
-- Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

The Bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a Knell, That summons thee to Heaven, or to Hell.
-- Shakespeare, Macbeth
aestival
aestival \ES-tuh-vuhl\, adjective:

Of or belonging to the summer; as, aestival diseases. [Spelled also estival.]

Far to the north and hemmed in against the Russian Bear, it is easy to overlook this land of lakes, forests, and aestival white nights.
-- [i.e. Finland]

You generally get true summer in August: this year it has been unusually æstival.
-- M. Collins
juju
juju \JOO-joo\, noun:

1. An object superstitiously believed to embody magical powers.
2. The power associated with a juju.

[David] Robinson, sounding confident and sure, said that the time for juju and magic dust had passed. 'To be honest with you, I think it's beyond that', he said. 'It's very hard to come up with magic at the end'.
-- "Knicks Find There's No Place Like Home", New York Times, June 22, 1999
supernumerary
\soo-puhr-NOO-muh-rair-ee; -NYOO-\, adjective:

1. Exceeding the stated, standard, or prescribed number.
2. Exceeding what is necessary or desired; superfluous.
3. A supernumerary person or thing.
4. An actor without a speaking part, as a walk-on or an extra in a crowd scene.

The Justice Department contractor, the Biogenics Corporation, of Houston, studied blood samples from thirty-six residents and concluded that eight of the people had a rare aberration it called "supernumerary acentric fragments," or extra pieces of genetic material.
-- Michael H. Brown, "A Toxic Ghost Town", The Atlantic, July 1989
insensate
\in-SEN-sayt; -sit\, adjective:

1. Lacking sensation or awareness; inanimate.
2. Lacking human feeling or sensitivity; brutal; cruel.
3. Lacking sense; stupid; foolish.

The religion of primeval humans, he suggested, held that souls inhabited not only human beings but also animals, trees, plants--even rocks, rivers, and other natural features we regard as insensate.
-- Bill Strubbe, "The world as self, the self as world", The World & I, June 1, 1997
tatterdemalion
\tat-uhr-dih-MAYL-yuhn; -MAY-lee-uhn\, noun:

1. A person dressed in tattered or ragged clothing; a ragamuffin.
2. Tattered; ragged.

Last time peasant blouses surfaced, in the 1960s and '70s, they were part of an epidemic of Indian bedspread dresses, homemade blue-jean skirts, Army surplus jackets, Greek bookbag purses and love beads, the whole eclectic tatterdemalion mix meant to express egalitarian sentiments and countercultural solidarity with underdogs everywhere.
-- Patricia McLaughlin, "The peasant look", Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, April 25, 1999
anodyne
\AN-uh-dyn\, adjective:

1. Serving to relieve pain; soothing.
2. Not likely to offend; bland; innocuous.
3. A medicine that relieves pain.
4. Anything that calms, comforts, or soothes disturbed feelings.

But for the most part the British charts were clogged with anodyne ballads.
-- Nigel Williamson, "Here's a little story, to tell it is a must", Times (London), January 11, 2000
mephitic
\muh-FIT-ik\, adjective:

1. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors.
2. Poisonous; noxious.

The mephitic stench from the bilge became overpowering.
-- Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834
fiduciary
\fih-DOO-shee-air-ee\, adjective:

1. Relating to the holding of something in trust for another.
2. Someone who stands in a special relation of trust, confidence, or responsibility in certain obligations to others; a trustee.

American capitalism relies heavily on the fiduciary duty concept to protect those who entrust their money to large and often distant corporations.
-- Senator Susan Collins, Congressional Record, July 11, 2002
antediluvian
\an-tih-duh-LOO-vee-uhn\, adjective:

1. Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood.
2. Antiquated; from or belonging to a much earlier time.
3. One who lived before the Biblical flood.
4. A very old (or old-fashioned) person.

The other thing that almost always goes with these myths is the notion of an antediluvian civilisation -- something which existed before the flood and was destroyed by it.
-- Graham Hancock, "Castles in the sea", The Guardian, February 6, 2002

. . .a dinosaur garden that is full of such antediluvian plants as mosses and ferns.
-- Barbara Hall, "Cultivating Minds", Washington Post, July 25, 1999

Customs like fox hunting or men's clubs are denounced as barbaric, patriarchal, and antediluvian throwbacks, whereas the truly barbaric, patriarchal, and antediluvian traditions of various stagnant indigenous cultures are viewed with reverence, nostalgia, and envy.
-- Jonah Goldberg, "Who Are We to Judge?", National Review, September 21, 2001
gustatory
\GUS-tuh-tor-ee\, adjective:

Of or pertaining to the sense of taste.

In a land of ice and chains and endemic suffering, caviar provided gustatory salvation from grief and black days, a sensual escape from temporal woes.
-- Jeffrey Tayler, "The Caviar Thugs", The Atlantic, June 2001
emolument
\ih-MOL-yuh-muhnt\, noun:

The wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation.

The record indicates that few grandees who pleaded poverty to avoid service were left without substantial maintenance grants and emoluments and that the Crown gladly financed their luxurious military lifestyles.
-- Fernando Gonzales de Leon, "Aristocratic draft-dodgers in 17th-century Spain", History Today, 7/1
palaver
\puh-LAV-uhr; puh-LAH-vur\, noun:

1. Idle talk
2. Talk intended to beguile or deceive.
3. A parley usually between persons of different backgrounds or cultures or levels of sophistication; a talk; hence, a public conference and deliberation.
4. To talk idly.
5. To flatter; to cajole.

The spaceship crew settles down for a long bout of philosophical discourse that sounds suspiciously like teatime palaver in an Oxford University common room: "
-- Gerald Jonas, "Science Fiction", New York Times, July 8, 1990
contemn
contemn \kuhn-TEM\, transitive verb:

To regard or treat with disdain or contempt; to scorn; to despise.

Nor, despite his seeming Jansenist severity, would Pascal contemn such pleasures. Even he, the least therapeutic writer imaginable, admits that diversions can help to heal the beset soul.
-- Edward T. Oakes, "Pascal: The First Modern Christian", First Things, August 1, 1999
troglodyte
\TROG-luh-dyt\, noun:

1. A member of a primitive people that lived in caves, dens, or holes; a cave dweller.
2. One who is regarded as reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.

When the survivalists emerged blinking into the sunlight to restock their caves after the terror, my first reaction was to say, "Bless their dotty, troglodyte hearts."
-- Judy Mann, "Survivalists Flee
cupidity
\kyoo-PID-uh-tee\, noun:

Eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth; greed; avarice.

Curiosity was a form of lust, a wandering cupidity of the eye and the mind.
-- John Crowley, "Of Marvels And Monsters", Washington Post, October 18, 1998
pugilist
a person who fights with the fists; a boxer, usually a professional.
impresario
1. a person who organizes or manages public entertainments, esp. operas, ballets, or concerts.
2. any manager, director, or the like.
trepidation
1. tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation; perturbation.
2. trembling or quivering movement; tremor.
Laconic
–adjective
using few words; expressing much in few words; concise: a laconic reply.
[Origin: Gk Lakōnikós Laconian, equiv. to Lákōn a Laconian + -ikos -ic]
Pedantic
1. ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching.

[etymological root: ancient Greek Paidós (child, kid)]
pedant
1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning.
2. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details.
3. a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense.
4. Obsolete. a schoolmaster.
Centrifuge
an apparatus that rotates at high speed and by centrifugal force separates substances of different densities, as milk and cream.
assay
1. to examine or analyze: to assay a situation; to assay an event.
4. to judge the quality of; assess; evaluate: to assay someone's efforts.
5. to try or test; put to trial: to assay one's strength; to assay one's debating abilities.
refuse
–noun
1. something that is discarded as worthless or useless; rubbish; trash; garbage.
–adjective
2. rejected as worthless; discarded: refuse matter.
Aver
1. to assert or affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner.
2. Law. to allege as a fact.
Penury
1. extreme poverty; destitution.
2. scarcity; dearth; inadequacy; insufficiency.
odium
contempt
flout
scorn

syn: chaff
Chaff
worthless matter; refuse.

syn: flout
divestiture
giving up, getting rid of something
epigram
witty saying
Eddy
Circular movement

ant: flow (a straight movement)
repudiate
1. to reject as having no authority or binding force: to repudiate a claim.
2. to cast off or disown: to repudiate a son.
3. to reject with disapproval or condemnation: to repudiate a new doctrine.
4. to reject with denial: to repudiate a charge as untrue.
5. to refuse to acknowledge and pay (a debt), as a state, municipality, etc.
Volubility
fluency of language
Tommyrot
nonsense
Extricate (Extricable)
1. to free or release from entanglement; disengage: to extricate someone from a dangerous situation.
2. to liberate (gas) from combination, as in a chemical process.
avid
enthusiastic; ardent; dedicated; keen, eager: an avid moviegoer.
perspicacity
1. keenness of mental perception and understanding; discernment; penetration.
2. Archaic. keen vision.
Even in old age, his perspicacity kept him an avid and formidable scrabble opponent.
reticent
1. disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved.
2. reluctant or restrained.
syn: taciturn
ant: garrulous, loquacious
Garrulous
talkative, wordy

Syn: loquacious
Ant: taciturn, reticent
Moribund
near death
Fractious
irritable
opaque
hidden, foggy, dark, dull, hindering light.

ant: limpid, obvious
Somniferous
bringing or inducing sleep, as drugs or influences. soporific.
pellucid
limpid, allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent.
Limpid
clear, transparent, or pellucid, as water, crystal, or air: We could see to the very bottom of the limpid pond.
2. free from obscurity; lucid; clear: a limpid style; limpid prose.
3. completely calm; without distress or worry: a limpid, emotionless existence.
ornery
ugly and unpleasant in disposition or temper, low or vile. inferior or common; ordinary, stubborn: I can't do a thing with that ornery mule.
Intrasigent
uncompromising, inflexible
Soporific
sleep inducing, heavy

ant: animated
Epicurean
devoted to pleasure
Imbroglio
means a complicated and embarrassing situation.
Mordant
biting, caustic, sarcastic

from the french word "mordre"--to bite.
Ennui
a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom:

The endless lecture produced an unbearable ennui in the bored students.
Despotic
autocratic; tyrannical, imperious
Imperious
1. domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing: an imperious manner; an imperious person.
2. urgent; imperative: imperious need.
Ant: servile
syn: despotic
Fringe
the edge of something
epitome
brief summary
Churl
bad tempered person
lacuna
a gap or missing part, as in a manuscript, series, or logical argument; hiatus.
2. Anatomy. one of the numerous minute cavities in the substance of bone, supposed to contain nucleate cells.
3. Botany. an air space in the cellular tissue of plants.
Hiatus
a break or interruption; opening; gap or lacuna: Scholars attempted to account for the hiatus in the medieval manuscript.
he put a hiatus on the work.
Disinter
1. to take out of the place of interment; exhume; unearth.
2. to bring from obscurity into view: The actor's autobiography disinterred a past era.
Dubious
doubtful; questionable; an uncertain outcome: in dubious battle.
ineludible
not eludible; inescapable

syn: ineluctable
Ineluctable
incapable of being evaded; inescapable: an ineluctable destiny.

Ant: Dubious (as in doubtful, not sinister)
syn: ineludible
Inculcated
1. to implant by repeated statement or admonition; propaganda: Socrates inculcated his pupils with the love of truth.
syn: infuse, indoctrine
Posit
suggest
Wanderlust
a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.
Itinerate
to travel from place to place, esp. in a regular circuit, as a preacher or judge.

syn: route
Vitiate
to weaken or dilute; debase, corrupt, pollute.

ant: reinforce, purify
palatial
1. resembling a palace: a palatial home.
2. stately; magnificent: a palatial tapestry.
veracity
1. truthfulness, accuracy: he was not known for his veracity.
2. something veracious; a truth.

(a derivative from french for truth: vérité)
castigation
1. to criticize or reprimand severely.
2. to punish in order to correct.
Fracas
a noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight; riotous brawl; uproar.
Brook
To put up with; tolerate; bear; suffer; tolerate:
I will brook no interference.
We will brook no further argument.
Augmenting
to make (something already developed) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity; Growth: Continuing rains augmented the floodwaters.
Impetuousness
1. sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive: an impetuous decision; an impetuous person.
2. having great impetus; moving with great force; violent: the impetuous winds.
Predilection
a tendency to think favorably of something in particular; partiality; preference: a predilection for Bach.

Ant: Disinclination
Stymie
1. a situation or problem presenting such difficulties as to discourage or defeat any attempt to deal with or resolve it.
2. Golf. (on a putting green) ball's lying on a direct line between the cup and the ball of an opponent about to putt.
dipsomaniac
a person with an irresistible craving for alcoholic drink

ant: teetotaler
Teetotaler
a person who abstains totally from intoxicating drink.

ant: dipsomaniac
syn: abstainer
denunciation
public censure or condemnation.
Obloquy
censure, blame, or abusive language aimed at a person or thing, esp. by numerous persons or by the general public.
discredit, disgrace, denunciation.
Interdict
to forbid, prohibit
inimical
1. adverse, unfavorable, or harmful: a climate inimical to health.
2. unfriendly; hostile: a cold, inimical gaze.
Fledged
able to fly, having characteristics of maturity.
Evince
to show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove.

to reveal the possession of (a quality, trait, etc.).
Preclude
to prevent, exclude, or stop.

Prevent: The insufficiency of the evidence precludes a conviction.
Exclude: His physical disability precludes an athletic career for him.
Verdent
1. green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grass, fresh: a verdant oasis.
2. of the color green: a verdant lawn.
3. inexperienced; unsophisticated: verdant college freshmen.
Ant: Autumnal, old, dry, dying
Insipid
without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid: an insipid personality.
Autumnal
1. belonging to or suggestive of autumn; produced or gathered in autumn: autumnal colors.
2. past maturity or middle life.
Nexus
1. a means of connection; tie; link.
2. a connected series or group.
3. the core or center, as of a matter or situation.
Seminal
having possibilities of future development.
highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.
Perfidious
deliberately faithless; treacherous; deceitful: a perfidious lover.
Nugatory
1. of no real value; trifling; worthless.
2. of no force or effect; ineffective; futile; vain.
Occluded
to close, shut, or stop up (a passage, opening, etc.).
Minatory
menacing; threatening.
Slovenly
. untidy or unclean in appearance or habits.
2. characteristic of a sloven; slipshod: slovenly work.
3. in an untidy, careless, or slipshod manner.
Ingress
1. the act of going in or entering.
2. the right to enter.
3. a means or place of entering; entryway.
Ant: digress
eschew
to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid: to eschew evil.
Niggling
1. petty; trivial; inconsequential: to quibble about a niggling difference in terminology.
2. demanding too much care, attention, time, etc.: niggling chores about the house.
Halcyon
1. calm; peaceful; tranquil: halcyon weather.
2. rich; wealthy; prosperous: halcyon times of peace.
3. happy; joyful; carefree: halcyon days of youth.
4. a mythical bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, said to breed about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and to have the power of charming winds and waves into calmness.
Luminary
1. a celestial body, as the sun or moon or a body, object, etc., that gives light.
2. a person who has attained eminence in his or her field or is an inspiration to others: one of the luminaries in the field of medical science.
amorphous
1. lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless: the amorphous clouds.
2. of no particular kind or character; indeterminate; having no pattern or structure; unorganized: an amorphous style; an amorphous personality.
Mercurial
1. changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic: a mercurial nature.
2. animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.
Syn: adroit, quick-witted, changeable, amorphous
gauche
lacking social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkward; crude; tactless: Their exquisite manners always make me feel gauche.

(french: "left")
adroit
1. expert or nimble in the use of the hands or body.
2. cleverly skillful, resourceful, or ingenious: an adroit debater.
(french "to the right)
Bourgois
a negative term for a member of the middle class--dominated or characterized by materialistic, philistine pursuits.
equivocal
having a double, unclear meaning. intent to deceive or misguide; deliberately ambiguous: an equivocal answer.

Ant: unequivocal, evident, obvious, explicit.
Petrous
1. Anatomy. noting or pertaining to the hard dense portion of the temporal bone, containing the internal auditory organs; petrosal.
2. like stone, esp. in hardness; stony; rocky.
Morose
Unsocial, dejected, melancholy attitude or disposition. Excessively gloomy.
equipoise
1. an equal distribution of weight; even balance; equilibrium.
2. a counterpoise

(equi = equal, think equidistant)
Licentious
1. sexually unrestrained; lascivious; libertine; lewd.
2. unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.
3. going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits; disregarding rules.

ant: scrupulous
Diffident (or diffidence)
1. lacking confidence in one's own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy.
2. restrained or reserved in manner, conduct, shy.

ant: Audacious
Hubris
excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. Deeming oneself better/higher/more powerful than God.
extempore
1. on the spur of the moment; without premeditation or preparation; offhand: Questions were asked extempore from the floor.
2. (of musical performance) by improvisation. impromptu.
cornucopia
1. Classical Mythology. a horn containing food, drink, etc., in endless supply, said to have been a horn of the goat Amalthaea.
2. a representation of this horn, used as a symbol of abundance.
3. an abundant, overflowing supply.
4. a horn-shaped or conical receptacle or ornament.
Petulant
moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, esp. over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

Syn: querulous
altercate
to argue or quarrel with zeal, heat, or anger; wrangle.
querulous
(or querulously or querulousness)
1. full of complaints; complaining.
2. characterized by or uttered in complaint; peevish: a querulous tone; constant querulous reminders of things to be done.
epicure
a person who cultivates a refined taste, esp. in food and wine; connoisseur.
gormandize
1. to eat greedily or ravenously.
(related to the word "gourmand"--a person who is fond of good eating, often indiscriminatingly and to excess.)
Satiety
The condition of being full to or beyond satisfaction. surfeit.
Glut
1. to feed or fill to satiety; sate: feeding to excess/overfeeding: to glut the appetite.
2. to flood (the market) with a particular item or service so that the supply greatly exceeds the demand.
4. to choke up: to glut a channel.
aberrant
differing from the normal or accepted way, esp. in behavior

The kids aberrant behavior in the film worried parents.
Pathos
1. the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.
2. pity.
3.(Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions.
Ethos
: the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution;
2. (Credibility), ethical appeal, or an appeal to a higher athority
Logos
an argument aimed at evoking a logical, rational response
1. (often initial capital letter) Philosophy. the rational principle that governs and develops the universe.
2. Theology. the divine word or reason incarnate in Jesus Christ. John 1:1–14.
Prosody
1. the science or study of poetic meters and versification.
2. a particular or distinctive system of metrics and versification: Milton's prosody.
3. Linguistics. the stress and intonation patterns of an utterance.
stave
1. one of the thin, narrow, shaped pieces of wood that form the sides of a cask, tub, or similar vessel.
2. a stick, rod, pole, or the like.
3. a rung of a ladder, chair, etc.
4. Prosody.
a. a verse or stanza of a poem or song.
b. the alliterating sound in a line of verse, as the w-sound in wind in the willows.
accolade
1. any award, honor, or laudatory notice: The play received accolades from the press.
2. a light touch on the shoulder with the flat side of the sword or formerly by an embrace, done in the ceremony of conferring knighthood.
4. Music. a brace joining several staves.
5. Architecture.
a. an archivolt or hood molding having more or less the form of an ogee arch.
b. a decoration having more or less the form of an ogee arch, cut into a lintel or flat arch.
acarpous
not producing fruit; sterile; barren.

The acarpous federal program was cut after proving to be a useless burden on the state.
abrogate
1. to abolish by formal or official means; annul by an authoritative act; repeal: to abrogate a law.
2. to put aside; put an end to.
stygian
1. of or pertaining to the river Styx or to Hades.
2. extremely dark or gloomy.
3. infernal; hellish.
juxtapose
to place close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.

Her speech juxtaposed to mine made me sound verdant, nascent, and idiotic.
abut
lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
"Canada abuts the U.S."
abstruse
1. hard to understand; recondite; esoteric: abstruse theories.
2. Obsolete. secret; hidden.
abscond
to depart in a sudden and secret manner, esp. to avoid capture and legal prosecution: The cashier absconded with the money.
abjure
1. to renounce, repudiate, or retract, esp. with formal solemnity; recant: to abjure one's errors.
2. to renounce or give up under oath; forswear: to abjure allegiance.
3. to avoid or shun.
aberration
1. the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.
2. the act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type.
3. deviation from truth or moral rectitude.
4. mental irregularity or disorder, esp. of a minor or temporary nature; lapse from a sound mental state.
5. Astronomy. apparent displacement of a heavenly body, owing to the motion of the earth in its orbit.
6. Optics. any disturbance of the rays of a pencil of light such that they can no longer be brought to a sharp focus or form a clear image.
7. Photography. a defect in a camera lens or lens system, due to flaws in design, material, or construction, that can distort the image.
abeyance
1. temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension: Let's hold that problem in abeyance for a while.
2. Law. a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholder: an estate in abeyance.
abdication
renunciation.
A giving up of a possession, claim, or right.
abet
to encourage, support, or countenance by aid or approval, usually in wrongdoing: to abet a swindler; to abet a crime.
(often used legally as "aided and abetted"
abate
become less in amount of intensity. "the storm abated."
Penurious
1. extremely stingy; parsimonious; miserly.
2. extremely poor; destitute; indigent.
3. poorly or inadequately supplied; lacking in means or resources.
syn: dearth, paucity,
Capacious
capable of holding much; spacious or roomy: a capacious storage
Malediction
1. a curse; imprecation.
2. the utterance of a curse.

Syn: imprecate, execrate, curse
Adumbrate
1. to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. to foreshadow; prefigure.
3. to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.
"For crisp business writing, adumbrating costs is indispensable, because corporations seldom if ever disclose information fully and openly."
Parsimonious
characterized by or showing parsimony; frugal or stingy.
-tight, close, miserly, covetous.
imprecate
to invoke or call down (evil or curses), as upon a person.
"You should not swear, aver or impricate by or in the name of God"
truculent
1. fierce; cruel; savagely brutal.
2. brutally harsh; vitriolic; scathing: his truculent criticism of her work crushed her.
3.aggressively hostile; belligerent.
Attila the Hun's truculent stare terrified all.
Capacious
capable of holding much; spacious or roomy: a capacious storage
mitigate
1. to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain; moderate.
2. to make less severe: to mitigate a punishment.
3. to make (a person, one's state of mind, disposition, etc.) milder or more gentle; mollify; appease.
–verb (used without object)
4. to become milder; lessen in severity.
execrate
1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.
2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce: He execrated all who opposed him.
3. to utter curses.
Cloture
1. a method of closing a debate and causing an immediate vote to be taken on the question.
2. to close (a debate) by cloture.
Dyshemism
an extremely negative word choice for something less negative or even positive.
"She kicked the bucket." "They gave me the axe."
Ephemism
Positive alternative word choice for a negative topic:
"I've been let go" or "She passed away"
inchoate
1. not yet completed or fully developed; rudimentary.
2. just begun; incipient.
3. not organized; lacking order: an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.
Ant: obvious, finished, evident.
Syn: amorphous, incipient, vague, unshaped.
Avaricious
characterized by avarice; greedy; covetous.
Parse
1. to analyze (a sentence) in terms of grammatical constituents, identifying the parts of speech, syntactic relations, etc.
grammar.
2. To examine closely or subject to detailed analysis, especially by breaking up into components: "What are we missing by parsing the behavior of chimpanzees into the conventional categories recognized largely from our own behavior?" (Stephen Jay Gould).
3. To make sense of; comprehend: I simply couldn't parse what you just said.
incipient (adj.)
beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage: an incipient cold.

syn: beginning, budding, developing, inceptive, inchoate, initial, nascent
ameliorate
to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.
No matter how much cream she put on, the cut would not ameliorate in the least.
oeuvre(s)
the works of a writer, painter, or the like, taken as a whole. (french)
commiserate
1. to feel or express sorrow or sympathy for; empathize with; pity.
–verb (used without object)
2. to sympathize (usually fol. by with): They commiserated with him over the loss of his job.
homophonic
1. having the same sound.
2. Music. having one part or melody predominating
polyphonic
1. consisting of many voices or sounds.
2. Music.
a. having two or more voices or parts, each with an independent melody, but all harmonizing; contrapuntal (opposed to homophonic).
2. capable of playing more than one tone at a time, such as an organ or a harp. (complex music)
evince
1. to show clearly; make evident or manifest; prove.
2. to reveal the possession of (a quality, trait, etc.).
espouse
1. to make one's own; adopt or embrace, as a cause.
2. to marry.
3. to give (a woman) in marriage.

He espoused the cause without a moments thought.
fomented (fomenter) V.
1. To promote the growth of; incite.
2. One who agitates, especially politically: agitator, inciter, instigator.
3. To treat (the skin, for example) by fomentation.
Jack the Pirate, the fomenter of terror on the seven seas, evaded the authorities yet again.
chitinous (or chiton) n.
a principal constituent of the exoskeleton, or outer covering, of insects, crustaceans, and arachnids. (think beatle)
arthropod n.
any invertebrate of the phylum ,ving a segmented body, jointed limbs, and usually a chitinous shell that undergoes moltings, including the insects, spiders and other arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods.
anthropoid n.
1. Resembling a human, especially in shape or outward appearance.
2. Resembling or characteristic of an ape; apelike.
allegory
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative: the allegory of Piers Plowman.
alloy
1. to reduce in value/purity by an admixture of a less costly metal.
8. to debase, impair, or reduce by admixture; adulterate.
amalgam
1. a rare mineral, an alloy of silver and mercury: silver-white crystals or grains.
2. a mixture/combination: His character is a strange amalgam of contradictory traits.
Approbation
1. approval; commendation.
2. official approval or sanction.

Syn: admiration, applause, support, compliment, esteem, favor,
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