P4 High Frequency Words

September 8, 2010
[P4
HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS]
1. Abate
Verb
The wind abated after the storm: decrease, diminish, reduce, lessen, subside, decline, fade, fade
away, recede, dwindle, moderate, mitigate, weaken, wane, ebb, curtail, slack, slacken, go down,
lower, fall off, fall away, taper off, lighten, soften, quiet, quell, slow, slow down, slake off, temper,
cool, blunt; ease, relieve, alleviate, assuage, pacify, soothe, allay, mollify, palliate, dull; dampen,
restrain, restrict.
Antonyms
increase, intensify, magnify, enhance, heighten, aggravate, amplify, grow; multiply, rise, come up,
strengthen, sharpen, heat up; quicken, accelerate, hurry, speed, speed up; prolong, extend.
2.Aberrant
Adjective
1 The planet's orbit was plainly aberrant: straying, stray, deviating, deviate, wandering, errant,
erring, devious, erratic, rambling, diverging, divergent.
2 Aberrant behavior led to his confinement: abnormal, irregular, unusual, odd, eccentric, peculiar,
exceptional, weird, queer, curious, singular, strange; unconforming, nonconforming, anomalous.
Antonyms
1 direct.
2 normal.
3. Abeyance
Noun
The building project will be held in abeyance until spring: postponement, suspension,
intermission, remission, deferral, adjournment, discontinuance, inaction, dormancy, latency;
pause, delay, cessation, quiescence, recess, hiatus, waiting period, in a holding pattern; in cold
storage, on ice, on a back burner.
Antonyms
Continuance, continuation, continuity, ceaselessness.
4. abstemious
adjective
His abstemious habits allowed him few pleasures: abstinent, ascetic, austere, temperate,
continent, nonindulgent, teetotal, self-denying, sparing, self-disciplined, abstentious.
Antonyms
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self-indulgent, abandoned, undisciplined, uncontrolled, hedonistic, profligate, licentious,

unrestrained, immoderate.
5. admonish
verb
1 The captain admonished the guards to be on the alert: warn, caution, put on guard, tip off;
advise, counsel, enjoin.
2 The preacher admonished his congregation for failure to attend weekly services: reprove,
censure, reprimand, rebuke, reproach, remonstrate, chide, chasten, scold, upbraid, criticize, take
to task, call to account, rap on the knuckles.
Antonyms
2 praise, compliment, commend.
6. adulterate
verb
The ancient Greeks often adulterated their wine with water: contaminate, thin, water, water down;
depreciate, Informal cut.
7. esthetic or aesthetic
adjective
The course in art history is designed to develop the student's esthetic judgment: appreciative of
beauty, appealing to artistic taste, having artistic tastes, artistic; sensitive, discriminating,
cultivated, refined, fastidious.
Antonyms
unesthetic, unappreciative; insensitive, undiscriminating.
8. aggregate
noun
The final plan was an aggregate of all our ideas: composite, compound, union, combination,
gathering, accumulation, collection, amassing, bringing together, summation, mixture, mix, blend,
mass, conglomeration, conglomerate.
9. Alacrity
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noun
1 She answered his call for assist-ance with alacrity: willingness, enthusiasm, eagerness, fervor,
zeal, avidity; alertness, promptness, dispatch, readiness.
2 Despite his 80 years, he moved with alacrity: liveliness, briskness, sprightliness; agility,
nimbleness.
Antonyms
1 unwillingness, indifference, unconcern, apathy, impassiveness, reluctance, disinclination;
languor, lethargy, dullness.
2 slowness, sluggishness.
10.alleviate
verb
This medication will alleviate the soreness: relieve, ease, allay, assuage; lessen, reduce, abate,
diminish, check, temper, lighten, soften, mitigate, mollify; blunt, dull, moderate, slake, slacken,
subdue, quit, quench.
Antonyms
make worse, aggravate, increase, intensify, heighten, enhance, magnify, multiply.
11. amalgamate
verb
Silver must be amalgamated with a harder material to make durable jewelry. The two shipping
companies amalgamated into one: combine, blend, merge, fuse, mix, commingle; unite, unify, join
together, consolidate, coalesce, incorporate, federate, integrate, synthesize.
Antonyms
separate, part, divide, disunite.
12. ambiguous
adjective
"Indian" is an ambiguous word because it can refer to an American Indian or a native of India:
equivocal, vague, unclear, cryptic, enigmatic, puzzling, indefinite, uncertain, doubtful; misleading,
having a double meaning.
Antonyms
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explicit, definite, specific, direct, conclusive; clear, plain, frank, unmistakable, obvious, simple,
lucid; unquestionable, honest.
13.ambivalent
adjective
I have ambivalent thoughts on where to spend my vacation: contradictory, conflicting, opposing,
clashing, warring; confused, undecided, unfocused, mixed, wavering, fluctuating, vacillating,
Informal wishy-washy.
Antonyms
definite, positive; unwavering.
14. ameliorate
verb
1 The council met to consider ways of ameliorating the foreign situation: improve, better, help,
heal, fix up, patch up, correct, rectify; amend, reform, revise, improve upon, make an
improvement upon; advance, promote.
2 Doctors say the patient's condition has ameliorated: improve, get better, grow better, perk up,
pick up, progress, come along, mend, show improvement.
Antonyms
1 ruin, botch, queer, screw up, wreck, destroy.
2 deteriorate, go downhill, decline, weaken, worsen.

15. Anachronism
anachronism (* nak"r* niz'*m), n.
1. an error in chronology in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other
than the correct one.
2. a thing or person that belongs to another, esp. an earlier, time.
[164050; < L anachronismus < Gk anachronisms a wrong time reference = anachron(zein) to
make a wrong time reference (see ANA-, CHRONO-, -IZE) + -ismos -ISM]
anach'ronis"tic, anach"ronous, adj.
anach'ronis"tically, anach"ronously, anachronically (an'* kron"ik le), adv.
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16. analogous
adjective
The heart is analogous to a pump: similar, like, comparable, akin, equivalent, parallel, correlative,
corresponding.
Antonyms
dissimilar, unlike; different, divergent
17.Anarchy
Noun
1 Any form of government is better than anarchy: absence of government, disorder, lawlessness,
chaos.
2 Anarchists dream of an ideal state of anarchy in which people will be completely free: utopia,
the millennium.
Antonyms
1 order, discipline, authority; government, organization, control; regimentation, subjection.
18.Anomalous
Adjective
1 An Eskimo in native dress would cut an anomalous figure in Rio: odd, strange, peculiar,
incongruous, out of keeping, bizarre.
2 Cats with six toes are anomalous but not uncommon: irregular, abnormal, atypical; monstrous.
Antonyms
1 common, usual, standard, typical, familiar, unexceptional, ordinary, natural, normal, regular,
conventional, customary.
2 normal, typical.
19.Antipathy
Noun
I try to be broadminded but do feel antipathy toward people who are dirty and unkempt: dislike,
aversion, distaste; disgust, repulsion, loathing, repugnance, abhorrence; antagonism, animosity,
ill will, enmity, rancor, hostility, unfriendliness.
Antonyms
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affinity, fellow feeling, regard, sympathy, attraction, partiality; love, affection, attachment.
20.Apathy
Noun
Public apathy can lead to bad government: indifference, unconcern, lack of interest, inattention,
unresponsiveness, passiveness, lethargy, lassitude; lack of feeling, numbness, emotionlessness,
coolness, impassibility, impassivity.
Antonyms
Concern, interest, attention, responsiveness, action; emotion, feeling, excitement, passion, zeal,
vehemence, enthusiasm, fervor.
21.Appease
Verb
1 Nothing would appease the crying baby: calm, make peaceful, pacify, quiet, soothe, solace,
mollify, lull, compose, placate.
2 That sandwich appeased my appetite: satisfy, ease, allay, abate, assuage, alleviate, temper,
mitigate, relieve; slake, quench, quell, blunt, still, quiet, dull.
3 Chamberlain should never have tried to appease Hitler: conciliate, accommodate, propitiate.
Antonyms
1,2,3 aggravate, provoke, inflame, arouse.
1 disturb, upset, bother, annoy, dissatisfy, perturb.
3 anger, enrage, infuriate; antagonize, Informal cross
22.Apprise
Verb
Police should apprise an arrested person of his or her rights to remain silent and to be
represented by a lawyer: inform, notify, advise, tell, make acquainted, make aware, make
cognizant of, disclose, enlighten.
Antonyms
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Keep secret, keep quiet about.

23.Approbation
Noun
The architect received approbation for his new office building design: praise, congratulation,
compliment, good word, applause, acclaim; approval, acceptance, support, endorsement,
ratification, commendation, laudation, official sanction.
Antonyms
Censure, condemnation, criticism; disapproval, dissatisfaction, protest, rejection, veto.
24.Appropriate
Adjective
1 A long dress is appropriate for a formal wedding: suitable, proper, well-suited, congruous,
fitting, befitting, correct, seemly, apt, apropos, well-chosen; characteristic, belonging, pertinent,
relevant, germane, to the purpose, to the point, opportune.
Verb
2 The city will appropriate money for two new schools: allocate, set apart, allot, apportion, assign,
earmark.
3 The county should appropriate land for a new highway: take possession of, take, confiscate,
expropriate.
Antonyms
1 inappropriate, improper, ill-suited, unsuitable, unsuited, unfitting, incongruous, unbefitting,
unseemly, incorrect, wrong, inconsonant, incompatible, outr; uncharacteristic, out of place,
inopportune, irrelevant.
2 withhold.
3 give, bestow, donate; relinquish, cede, dispose of.
25.Arduous
Adjective
Crossing the continent in a covered wagon was an arduous undertaking: difficult, hard, laborious,
toilsome, wearisome, exhausting, fatiguing, tiring, burdensome, heavy, tough, troublesome,
onerous, trying, full of hardships, formidable, severe, Herculean; vigorous, strenuous, energetic.
Antonyms
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Light, facile, easy, simple, effortless, smooth.

26.Artless
Adjective
1 Her love was as artless as a child's: frank, candid, open, honest, true, guileless, innocent,
nave, simple, humble, straightforward; sincere, unpretentious, trusting, undesigning, openhearted, ingenuous, unsophisticated, unaffected, unself-conscious.
2 Nothing can compare to the artless beauty of a waterfall: natural, pure, unadorned, plain,
simple, primitive, crude.
3 The painting was completely artless: inartistic, lacking art; without artistic talent, untalented.
Antonyms
1 cunning, crafty, sly, wily, dishonest, deceitful, designing, artful, insincere, pretended, faked,
phony, false, counterfeit; sophisticated, affected, self-conscious; suspicious, distrustful.
2 artificial, unnatural, synthetic.
3 artistic, aesthetic.
27.Ascetic
Noun
1 Most of the early saints were extreme ascetics: self-denier, abstainer, self-mortifier; hermit,
recluse, solitary, eremite, anchorite, celibate, cenobite; religious, monk, nun, flagellant; yogi, fakir,
dervish.
Adjective
2 Trappist monks lead an ascetic existence: austere, self-denying, abstemious, strict, stern,
Spartan, rigorous, self-mortifying.
Antonyms
1 hedonist, sensualist, voluptuary, sybarite, bon vivant.
2 self-indulgent, indulgent, pampered, luxurious, comfortable; abandoned, dissolute, voluptuous,
sensuous, sensual, sybaritic.
28.Assiduous
Adjective
It takes assiduous work to learn Russian. I admire an assiduous student: diligent, industrious,
hardworking, laborious, unremitting, determined, persistent, persevering, earnest, steadfast,
constant, tenacious, dogged, untiring, tireless, unflagging, indefatigable, sed-ulous.
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Antonyms
indolent, lazy, idle; haphazard, casual, cavalier, lax, hit-or-miss, undetermined, inconstant, happygo-lucky.
29.Assuage
Verb
Liniment will assuage the pain, but soaking in hot water does the injury more good: allay, ease,
relieve, mitigate; lighten, lessen, soften; mollify, alleviate, soothe, calm, quiet, still, pacify,
appease, temper, take the edge off, tone down.
Antonyms
Intensify, aggravate, irritate, exacerbate, heighten, sharpen, increase, augment; provoke, excite,
arouse, kindle, inflame.
30.attenuate
Verb
1 The silversmith attenuated the ingot into one long thread: draw out, make thin, make fine, make
slender, spin out.
2 Aspirin only attenuated the pain: weaken, reduce, diminish, lessen, decrease; dilute, water
down, adulterate, impair, enervate, enfeeble.
Antonyms
1 broadens, make thick, make coarse, make fat, enlarge, expand.
2 increase, amplify, intensify, augment, strengthen, develop.
31.Audacious
Adjective
1 Napoleon was an audacious leader: bold, daring, adventurous, venturesome, enterprising;
brave, courageous, fearless, unafraid, valiant, intrepid, dauntless, stouthearted, lionhearted,
stalwart, valorous, plucky, Slang gutsy.
2 We admired the audacious feats of the trapeze artists: bold, daring, reckless, rash, risky,
daredevil, devil-may-care, death-defying, breakneck; heedless, foolhardy, injudicious, imprudent,
desperate, hotheaded, self-willed, wild.
3 Her audacious behavior shocked us all: impudent, impertinent, insolent, brazen, fresh,
shameless, outrageous, defiant, unabashed, presumptuous, assuming, forward, saucy, cheeky,
bossy, pert; disrespectful, rude, discourteous.
Antonyms
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1 unadventurous, unenterprising; cowardly, fainthearted, craven, frightened, timid, pusillanimous,

Slang yellow, chickenhearted, lily-livered.
2 careful, guarded, discreet; prudent, circumspect, cautious, judicious.
3 tactful, gracious, unassuming, cordial, amiable, ingratiating, deferential, reverential, obsequious,
Informal kowtowing; polite, courteous, mannerly, well-mannered, gentlemanly, ladylike, refined,
polished, formal.
32.austere
Adjective
1 In the old days, schoolmasters were thought of as austere men: stern, strict, severe, forbidding,
ascetic.
2 The Puritans led austere lives: rigorous, rigid, Spartan, ascetic, self-denying, abstemious, strict,
simple, spare, stark, strait-laced, chaste.
Antonyms
1 permissive, lenient, indulgent, easy, flexible, lax; frivolous, gay, cheerful, joyful, merry,
lighthearted, jovial, jolly, jaunty, nonchalant, lively, exuberant, vivacious, effervescent, highspirited, playful, convivial; kindly, kind, sweet, genial.
2 luxurious, lush, comfortable, easy; sophisticated, cosmopolitan; loose, corrupt, dissolute,
dissipated, debauched, degenerate, depraved, wanton, abandoned, self-gratifying, free-and-easy,
immoral, wicked, evil, sinful, impure, lewd, licentious, lascivious.
33. Autonomous
Adjective
The school of adult education was an autonomous extension of the university: self-governing,
self-determined; self-sufficient, self-reliant, independent, sovereign, free.
Antonyms
Governed, dependent, subject.
34.Aver
Verb
The witness averred that he had seen the suspect at the scene of the crime: assert, declare,
affirm, state, avow, avouch, maintain, swear, insist, emphasize, contend, profess, represent,
proclaim, pronounce, protest, asseverate; certify, verify, guarantee.
Antonyms
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Deny, disavow, disclaim, repudiate; doubt, be uncertain, gainsay.

35.Banal
Adjective
There were no new ideas in his banal lecture: stale, trite, unoriginal, hackneyed, ordinary,
commonplace, prosaic, pedestrian, unexciting, unimaginative, everyday, stock, humdrum, dull,
uninteresting, conventional, stereotyped, insipid, threadbare, shopworn, tired, corny, clichridden, vapid, platitudinous, bromidic, jejune.
Antonyms
Original, new, novel, unique, exciting, fresh, unusual, extraordinary, innovative, distinctive,
stimulating, stimulative, gripping, provocative, challenging, imaginative, interesting.
36.Belie
Verb
1 The facts belie your story: disprove, refute, contradict, controvert, repudiate, show to be false,
give the lie to, invalidate, gainsay, negate, betray, deny, defy.
2 The author's smile belied his anger with the critic: misrepresent, falsify; disguise, camouflage,
mask, conceal, cloak.
Antonyms
1 proves, verify, attest to, validate, support, confirm, corroborate.
2 represent, reveal, disclose, indicate.
37.Beneficent
Adj. doing good or causing good to be done; charitable.
1.Beneficial
Adjective
Exercise is beneficial to good health: helpful, advantageous, propitious, useful, valuable,
contributive, favorable, profitable, productive; healthful, healing, good for.
Antonyms
Useless, detrimental, detractive, disadvantageous; unfavorable, harmful, pernicious,
unwholesome.
38.Bolster
Verb
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1 More timbers are needed to bolster the roof of the mine: support, brace, prop up, hold up,
buttress, reinforce, maintain, sustain, shore up, shoulder, cradle.
2 More facts are needed to bolster your argument: support, uphold, sustain, strengthen, reinforce,
add to, help, aid, assist.
Noun
3 Put the bolster on the couch: cushion, pillow.
Antonyms
1 weighs down.
2 diminish, lessen, weaken, tear down.
39.Bombastic
Adjective
No one believed his bombastic claims: grandiloquent, pompous, windy, padded, inflated,
magniloquent, tumid, turgid, verbose, wordy.
Antonyms
Temperate, unpretentious, modest, natural, simple, unaffected, deflated, quiet.
40.Boorish
Adjective
She considers the peasants boorish: crude, rude, coarse, vulgar, unrefined, unpolished, uncouth,
gauche, loutish, oafish, rustic, peasantlike.
Antonyms
Genteel, polite, polished, cultured, refined, cultivated, gentlemanly, courtly, gallant, lady-like;
sophisticated, urbane, cosmopolitan.
41.Burgeon
Verb
Housing developments are burgeoning on all sides. Spring has begun to burgeon in every valley
and glade: thrive, flourish, expand, enlarge, grow, develop, mushroom, escalate, wax, increase,
spring up, shoot up, proliferate, augment, spread; bloom, blossom, flower, blow, effloresce, open,
fructify, bear fruit.
42.Burnish
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Verb
The silver bracelet was burnished to a bright finish: polish, wax, buff, shine, smooth, and rub up.
Antonyms
Abrade, scratch, mar.
43.Buttress
Noun
1 The north wall of the cathedral had a beautiful stone buttress: support, brace, prop, stanchion,
abutment, arch, stay, and shoulder.
Verb
2 Buttress that fence with some two-by-fours. You'd better buttress your argument with more
facts: prop, prop up, brace, shore, shore up, reinforce, strengthen, bolster, support, boost, steel.
44.Cacophonous
Adjective
The cacophonous sounds of the street came through the open window: dissonant, inharmonious,
harsh, raucous, dis-cordant, unmusical, unmelodious, strident, screechy, jarring, grating,
disharmonious, nonmelodious; out of tune, off-key, off-pitch.
45.Capricious
Adjective
The capricious man bought and exchanged three shirts in a week: changeable, fickle, variable,
impulsive, erratic, flighty, skittish, mercurial, fanciful, faddish; indecisive, undecided, irresolute,
uncertain, wavering, vacillating, shilly-shallying; irresponsible, inconsistent, unsteady, unstable,
fitful, uneven, eccentric, quirky.
Antonyms
Consistent, unchangeable, inflexible, unmovable, firm, fixed, unwavering, invariable, unswerving;
resolute, determined, steadfast, certain, decided, decisive; serious, responsible, steady, stable,
even.
46.Castigate
Verb
The principal castigated the students for their unruly behavior: chastise, upbraid, rebuke, censure,
reprimand, reproach, chasten, reprove, berate, scold, admonish, criticize, chide, call on the
carpet, bawl out, chew out, dress down, haul over the coals, take to task; punish, discipline,
correct, penalize.
Antonyms
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Praise, laud, compliment, honor; reward, encourage.

47. Catalyst
catalyst (kat"l ist), n.
1. a substance that causes or speeds a chemical reaction without itself being affected.
2. a person or thing that precipitates an event or change.
[190005; CATALY(SIS) + (-I)ST]
48.Caustic
Adjective
1 Acid is caustic: burning, corrosive, corroding, erosive; astringent, stinging, biting, gnawing,
sharp.
2 His caustic remarks hurt our feelings: sarcastic, biting, stinging, cutting, scathing, sharp, harsh,
acrid, acrimonious, tart, bitter.
Antonyms
1 soothing, healing; bland, mild.
2 flattering, complimentary; sweet, kind, loving, pleasant, pleasing, gentle, gracious, agreeable,
mild, bland.
49. Chicanery
Noun
There was some chicanery with our reservations, and we complained to the travel agent:
deception, trickery, fraud, deceit, cozenage, gulling, guile, hocus-pocus, double-dealing, duplicity,
duping, subterfuge, hoodwinking, pettifoggery, humbuggery; knavery, roguery, rascality, villainy.
50.Coagulate
Verb
Certain drugs cause blood to coagulate: clot, congeal; solidify, set, gel, jell, jellify, harden, curdle;
thicken.
Antonyms
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Liquefy, melt, dissolve, and soften.

51.Coda
1. A concluding passage of a musical composition.
2. A concluding section, esp. one serving as a summation of preceding themes, as in a drama.
3. Anything that serves as a conclusion or summation.
52.Cogent
Adjective
He gave us several cogent reasons why the plan would inevitably fail: compelling, valid,
persuasive, forceful, powerful, potent, trenchant, convincing, well-founded, incontrovertible,
sound, meritorious, weighty, effective, undeniable, well-grounded.
Antonyms
Unconvincing, unsound, dubious, implausible, improbable.
53. Commensurate also commensurable
Adjective
Her salary is commensurate with her ability and experience: in accord, consistent, in agreement,
suitable, fitting, appropriate, compatible, corresponding, proportionate, comparable, on a proper
scale, relative, equal, equivalent, even, balanced, meet, parallel, relative, square.
Antonyms
Inconsistent, unsuitable, inappropriate, unfitting, incompatible, disproportionate, dissimilar,
incomparable, unequal, discordant.
54. Compendium
Noun
It was fascinating to browse through the compendium of quotations: digest, abridgment,
condensation, abstract, brief, epitome, overview, prcis, summary.
55.Complaisant
Adjective
The host's complaisant manner made everyone feel welcome: obliging, solicitous, pleasing,
agreeable, compliant, cordial, congenial, affable, warm, gracious, friendly, pleasant, amiable,
good-natured, good-humored, easygoing.
Antonyms
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Unobliging, contrary, unsolicitous, uncooperative, indifferent; disagreeable, unpleasant, cold,

unfriendly, ungracious.
56.Compliance
Noun
Compliance with the traffic laws is necessary for safe driving. Yes-men are known for their
compliance: conformity, conforming, obedience, yielding, giving in, submission, deference;
assent, acquiescence, complaisance, pliancy, nonresistance, passivity, docility, meekness.
Antonyms
noncompliance, nonconformity, disobedience, resistance, rebelliousness, assertiveness,
individuality, stubbornness; obstinacy.
57.Conciliatory
Adjective
One conciliatory remark would make them friends again: peacemaking, reconciling, friendly,
reassuring, placatory, pacifying, mollifying, accommodative, appeasing.
Antonyms
Antagonistic, hostile, unfriendly, unforgiving.
58. Condone
Verb
Parents must not condone their children's bad behavior: overlook, let pass, ignore, disregard, put
up with, wink at; forgive, excuse, pardon, justify, absolve, forget.
Antonyms
Condemn, denounce, censure, disapprove; punish, castigate.
59. Confound
Verb
The patient's unusual symptoms confounded the doctor: perplex, confuse, baffle, bewilder,
puzzle, mystify, mix up, disconcert, unsettle, nonplus, rattle, fluster, throw off the scent; amaze,
astound, astonish, surprise, startle, dumfound, flabbergast, strike with wonder.
Antonyms
Enlighten, explain, solve, clear up, clarify.
60. Connoisseur
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Noun
The old gentleman was a connoisseur of fine wines: expert, judge, authority, mavin, person of
good taste, cognoscente; epicure, gourmet.
61. Contention
Noun
1 Border raiding led to even more contention: struggle, strife, conflict, combat, altercation, feud,
wrangle, rivalry, contest; argument, debate, dispute, disagreement, controversy, dispute,
dissension, falling out, opposition, discord.
2 It was his contention that she was lazy: allegation, charge, assertion, claim, position, point.
Antonyms
1 peace; accord, agreement.
62.Contentious
Contentious (k*n ten"sh*s), adj.
1. tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome: a contentious crew.
2. causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy: contentious issues.
3. pertaining to causes between contending parties involved in litigation.
conten"tiously, adv.
conten"tiousness, n.
63. Contrite
Adjective
His contrite manner made us forgives him: conscience-stricken, sorrowful, regretful, repentant,
rueful, penitent, remorseful, apologetic, chastened, humbled.
Antonyms
proud, pleased, uncontrite, unrepentant, unapologetic.
64. Conundrum
Noun
No one in the room could find the answer to the conundrum: puzzle, riddle, enigma, mystery,
poser, puzzler, paradox, arcanum, brain-teaser, stumper, stopper, Chinese puzzle, rebus,
problem.
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65. Converge
Verb
The Mississippi and Missouri rivers converge at St. Louis. A lens converges light rays: come
together, meet, approach; focus, concentrate, bring together.
Antonyms
Diverge, separate, part, scatter, disperse.
66. Convolution
Noun
The children were fascinated by the convolutions of the snake: coiling, coil, twisting, twist,
winding, undulation, contortion; sinuosity, sinuousness, tortuousness; maze, labyrinth.
Antonyms
Uncoiling, unwinding.
67. Craven
Adjective
Refusing to stand and fight was a craven thing to do: cowardly, dastardly, pusillanimous; timid,
timorous, fearful, frightened, scared; Slang yellow, lily-livered, chicken-hearted; mean-spirited,
base, low, lowdown.
Antonyms
Brave, courageous, heroic, fearless, valorous, valiant, dauntless; bold, daring, audacious.
68. Daunt
Verb
Crossing the country in wagons did not daunt the early pioneers: intimidate, dismay, faze,
discourage, dishearten, deject, depress, dash, unnerve, subdue, browbeat, cow, abash, menace,
threaten; frighten, scare, alarm, affright.
Antonyms
Embolden, encourage, cheer, animate, enliven.
69. Decorum
Noun
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Jennifer always acts with decorum: propriety, politeness; tact, gentility, respectability, dignity,
taste; good form.
Antonyms
Impropriety, inappropriate behavior, bad manners.
70. default
noun
1 If the team doesn't show up, they will lose by default: failure to appear or act.
2 His car was repossessed because of default of the monthly installment: nonpayment; failure to
pay.
71. Deference
Noun
Out of deference to her age and position, the committee followed her suggestions: consideration,
respect, reverence, honor, esteem, regard; obedience, capitulation.
Antonyms
Disrespect, contempt; defiance, disobedience.
72.delineate
delineate (di lin"e at'), v.t., -ated, -ating.
1. to trace the outline of; represent pictorially.
2. to portray in words; describe with precision.
delin"eable (-* b*l), adj.
delin"ea'tor, n.
73. Denigrate
Verb
He has a mentality that denigrates everything it doesn't understand: defame, malign, slander, tear
down, abuse, stigmatize, tra-duce, disparage, run down, besmirch, downgrade, blacken, call
names, calumniate, backbite, smear, vilify, revile, asperse, soil, sully; Slang give a black eye,
drag through the mud, stab in the back, badmouth, dump on.
Antonyms
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Praise, commend, acclaim, exalt, boost.

75. Deride
Verb
They derided the new music: ridicule, mock, scoff, scorn, sneer at.
76. Derivative
Adjective
1 The derivative essay received low marks: derived, unoriginal, borrowed, copied, evolved,
imitative, inferred, not original, obtained, plagiarized, rehashed, secondhand.
Noun
2 offshoot, outgrowth, byproduct, derivation, descendant, product, spinoff.
Antonyms
1 original, archetypal, authentic, genuine, seminal.
77. Desiccate
desiccate (des"i kat'), v., -cated, -cating.
v.t.
1. to dry thoroughly; dry up.
2. to preserve (food) by removing moisture; dehydrate.
v.i.
3. to become thoroughly dried.
[156575; < L desiccatus dried up, ptp. of desiccare = de- + siccare, der. of siccus dry]
des'icca"tion, n.
des"icca'tive, adj.
des"icca'tor, n.
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78. Desultory
desultory (des"*l tr'e, -tor'e), adj.
1. lacking in consistency, method, purpose, or visible order; disconnected: desultory
conversation.
2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject: a desultory remark.
[157585; < L desultorius pertaining to a desultor (a circus rider who jumps from one horse to
another), der. of desul-, var. s. of desilire to jump down]
des"ulto'rily, adv.
des"ulto'riness, n.
78.deterrent
Noun
Punishment is not necessarily a deterrent to crime: restraint, curb, hindrance, check,
discouragement.
79. Diatribe
Noun
In her diatribe she gave full vent to all her resentments against him: verbal or written castigation,
bitter harangue, tirade, violent denunciation, stream of abuse, accusatory language, invective,
vituperation, contumely.
80. Dichotomy
dichotomy (di kot"* me), n., pl. -mies.
1. division into two parts or kinds; subdivision into halves or pairs.
2. division into two exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought
and action.
3. a mode of branching by constant forking, as in some stems.
4. the phase of the moon or of an inferior planet when half of its disk is visible.
[160010; < Gk]
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81.diffidence
Noun
His diffidence keeps him from making friends: timidity, timidness, timorousness, shyness,
meekness, insecurity, retiring disposition, reserve, constraint, introversion; bashfulness, extreme
modesty, humbleness, want of self-confidence, unassertiveness, sheepishness, lack of selfassurance; hesitancy, reluctance.
Antonyms
Boldness, audaciousness, forwardness, assertiveness, aggressiveness; self-confidence,
confidence.
82.Diffuse
Adjective
1 The room was bathed in soft, diffuse light: scattered, spread out, unconcentrated, dispersed,
extended widely; vaguely defined.
2 His talk was so diffuse I missed his point: wordy, verbose, discursive, rambling, long-winded,
lacking conciseness, disjointed, digressive, not concentrated, desultory, roundabout, wandering,
meandering, maundering, circumlocutory.
Antonyms
1 concentrated.
2 succinct, concise, terse, pithy, compact; methodical, organized.
83.Digression
Noun
His long digression made him forget his main point: divergence, departure, deviation, detour,
straying, wandering; diversion, obiter dictum, side remark, divagation.
84.dirge
Noun
He composed a dirge to honor the war dead: funeral song, requiem, death song, death march,
lament, burial hymn, threnody, mournful composition; mournful sound.
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85. Disabuse
Verb
Someone ought to disabuse him of those star-struck notions: enlighten about, free from error,
clear the mind of, disillusion, disenchant, rid of deception, relieve of, set straight, set right, open
the eyes of, free of a mistaken belief.
86. Discerning
Adjective
The mediator was discerning in his analysis of the problem: perceptive, acute, perspicacious,
sharp, astute, penetrating, keen-sighted, sensitive, piercing, discriminating, shrewd, intelligent,
wise, judicious, sage, sagacious, clear-sighted, sharp-sighted; showing discernment, quick to
discern, having keen insight.
Antonyms
Undiscerning, unperceptive, indiscriminate.
87.discordant
discordant (dis kr"dnt), adj.
1. being at variance; disagreeing; incongruous.
2. disagreeable to the ear; dissonant; harsh.
[12501300; ME discordaunt < AF < L]
discord"antly, adv.
88. discredit
verb
1 She discredited his good name with ugly gossip: defame, abuse, dishonor, impair the reputation
of, disgrace, vilify, disparage, smirch, smear, debase, degrade, demean, vitiate, tarnish, taint,
undermine, slur, sully, stigmatize, drag through the mud.
2 The insurance investigator discredited his false claim: prove false, deny, disallow, disprove,
reject; destroy confidence in, shake one's faith in, undermine belief in; dispute, challenge,
question.
Antonyms
1 credit, praise, laud.
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2 credit, prove, support, accept, verify.

89. discrepancy
noun
There is a great discrepancy between his version of the accident and yours: difference,
inconsistency, variance, disagreement, discordance, lack of correspondence, disparity,
dissimilarity, divergence, incongruity, gap.
Antonyms correspondence, accord.
90.Discrete
Adjective
The Liberal Arts College has been reorganized into six discrete departments: separate, distinct,
different, detached, disconnected, discontinuous, disjunctive, unattached, independent,
unassociated; several, various.
Antonyms
Merged, combined, interdependent, united, linked, connected.
91.disingenuous
Adjective
Their disingenuous protests irritated us: dishonest, insincere, artful, cunning, designing,
duplicitous, false, feigned, guileful, shifty, sly, wily, two-faced, tricky.
Antonyms
Ingenuous.
92. Disinterested
Adjective
We need a disinterested party to settle the argument: impartial, unbiased, neutral, free from bias,
unprejudiced, impersonal, outside, uninvolved, dispassionate, free from self-interest.
Antonyms
Partial, biased, prejudiced, selfish, having an axe to grind.
93.Disjointed
Adjective
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1 The structure of the house seemed somehow disjointed: disconnected, detached, having the
joints separated, unconnected, unattached, split, divided, apart, disarticulated, helter-skelter.
2 The movie was too disjointed to make sense: rambling, mixed-up, confused, spasmodic,
disconnected, disorganized, jumbled, tangled, chaotic, disharmonious, discontinuous,
heterogeneous, incoherent, irrational, illogical.
Antonyms
1 jointed, connected, attached.
2 sensible, coherent, logical.
94. dismiss
verb
1 The workers were dismissed for lunch. Dismiss the meeting: allow to leave, permit to go,
release, excuse, send forth, let go, disperse; dissolve, adjourn, disband; free, liberate.
2 She was dismissed for loafing on the job: fire, oust, discharge from office, put out of a job, sack,
can, let go, terminate, remove from service, bounce, send packing, give one his walking papers,
cashier, Slang pink-slip, give the heave-ho.
3 I trust her and dismiss any suggestion of dishonesty: put out of mind, reject, set aside,
disregard, disclaim, discard, lay aside, repudiate, eliminate.
Antonyms
1 hold, detain, recall.
2 hire, employ, accept, admit.
3 welcome, accept.
95. Disparage
Verb
Don't disparage his attempts to better himself: belittle, ridicule, discredit, run down, put down,
mock, denigrate, demean, undervalue, underrate, depreciate, slight, detract from, derogate.
Antonyms
Applaud, praise, laud, extol, acclaim, commend, compliment, appreciate.
96. disparate
adjective
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Their views are unusually disparate for brothers: dissimilar, different, unlike, contrasting, at odds,
at variance, discrepant, discordant.
Antonyms
similar, like, homogeneous, parallel, accord-ant.
97. dissemble
verb
He tried to dissemble his disappointment with a joke: hide, mask, disguise, camouflage, feign,
conceal, dissimulate.
Antonyms
show, manifest, evidence, reveal.
98. disseminate
verb
Plato's philosophy has been disseminated throughout the world: scatter, spread, diffuse,
disperse, circulate, broadcast.
99.Dissolute
Adjective
He was a dissolute young man who thought only of his own pleasure: dissipated, corrupt, loose,
debauched, immoral; unrestrained, abandoned.
Antonyms
moral, upright, temperate, sober, prudent, circumspect.
100.Dissonance
Noun
1 The experimental music seemed nothing but dissonance to us: discord, cacophony,
discordance, harshness, jangle, jarring, noise.
2 Dissonance in the merged companies broke out almost at once: disharmony, antagonism,
breach, break, conflict, disagreement, discord, disparity, dissension, dissidence, disunion,
division, divorce, hostility, incongruity, inconsistency, rift, rupture, schism, variance.
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101. distend
verb
The children's stomachs were distended by malnutrition: swell, bloat, swell out, expand, bulge,
inflate, billow, puff out.
102. distill
verb
1 The liquid distills when heated: evaporate, condense, vaporize.
2 Whiskey is distilled from a fermented mash of grain. Impurities are removed by distilling water:
separate by evaporation, produce by vaporization and condensation, purify by distillation; extract,
draw out, draw forth.
103. diverge
verb
1 The path diverges right after the pond: separate, deviate, split off, swerve, deflect.
2 Her politics and mine diverge greatly: differ, conflict, disagree, be at odds.
Antonyms
1 converges, agree, concur.
103. divest
verb
1 He divested himself of his clothing: strip or remove (clothing), disrobe; take off, get out of, peel
off.
2 During the Depression, the family was divested of its home: deprive, dispossess; rid, strip, free.
Antonyms
1 clothe, dress, cover.
104. document
noun
1 There are many documents containing the king's signature: official paper, record, instrument,
legal form.
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verb
2 The lawyer gathered evidence to document the charges: support, back up, give weight to,
verify, certify, substantiate.
105. dogmatic
adjective
1 She's so dogmatic you can't tell her anything: opinionated, arbitrary, biased, prejudiced;
imperious, dictatorial, domineering; stubborn, obstinate.
2 The Nicene Creed is one of the most important dogmatic statements of the Christian faith:
doctrinal, expressing dogma.
Antonyms
1 diffident, vacillating, uncertain; docile, complaisant.
106. dormant
adjective
The geyser has been dormant for five years: inactive, quiescent, idle; sleeping, somnolent;
hibernating.
Antonyms
active, operative, moving, awake.
107. dupe
noun
1 He was the dupe of the racketeers and may go to prison: pawn, patsy, fall guy, cat's paw, Slang
sucker.
verb
2 The agency duped her into signing up for $200 worth of lessons: trick, fool, mislead, deceive;
humbug, bamboozle, hoodwink.
108. ebullience
noun
Her ebullience could not be denied: enthusiasm, exuberance, animation, buoyancy,
effervescence, effusiveness, elation, excitement, exhilaration, vitality, vivaciousness, vivacity,
liveliness, high spirits.
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Antonyms
apathy, lifelessness.
109. eclectic
adjective
The disc jockey played an eclectic selection of music: mixed, assorted, catholic, diverse,
heterogeneous, multifarious, wide-ranging, varied, general.
110. efficacious
adjective
None of the prescriptions were efficacious: effective, capable, successful, serviceable, effectual,
efficient.
Antonyms
ineffective.
111. effrontery
noun
What effrontery to barge in uninvited!: shamelessness, brazenness, brashness, impertinence,
insolence, impudence, presumption, arrogance, audacity, temerity, cheek, nerve, gall, brass,
Yiddish chutzpah.
Antonyms
modesty, reserve, shyness, timidity, bashfulness; respect, diffidence.
112. Elegy
Noun
The poet laureate composed an elegy upon the death of the king: poem of lamentation, lament
for the dead, melancholy poem, sad poem; requiem, funeral song, song of lamentation,
melancholy piece of music.
Antonyms
Paean, jubilee, hallelujah, anthem.
113. elicit
verb
The mayor's remark elicited a flood of letters: bring forth, draw forth, draw out, call forth, evoke,
extract, exact, extort, derive, wrest, fetch, cause, educe, bring to light.
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Antonyms
repress, discourage.
114. Embellish
Verb
He embellished his signature with a series of curlicues: enhance, elaborate, exaggerate,
ornament, decorate, adorn, beautify, garnish, gild, color, embroider, dress up, fancy up, set off,
Slang gussy up.
Antonyms
Simplify, strip bare.
115. empirical
adjective
The old sailor had never studied navigation, but he had a good empirical knowledge of it:
practical, experiential, pragmatic; experimental, firsthand.
Antonyms
theoretical, secondhand.
116. emulate
verb
Politicians would do well to emulate Abraham Lincoln: take as a model, follow the example of,
pattern oneself after, follow, copy, imitate; try to equal, rival; mimic, ape.
117.endemic
Noun
1. A disease that is constantly present to a greater or lesser degree in people of a certain
class or in people living in a particular location
Adjective
1. (of disease or anything resembling a disease) constantly present to greater or lesser
extent in a particular locality.
2. (ecology) native to or confined to a certain region
3. Originating where it is found
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---Synonyms
autochthonal, autochthonic, autochthonous, indigenous.
118. enervate
verb
The long march in the sun enervated the soldiers: exhaust, weary, weaken, de-bilitate, devitalize,
enfeeble, disable, sap one's energy, deplete, wash out, fatigue, tire, prostrate, Slang bush, fag,
tucker.
Antonyms
energize, invigorate, strengthen, vitalize, stimulate, quicken.
119. engender
verb
Respect can engender love: give rise to, cause, bring about, beget, breed, generate, produce,
occasion, precipitate.
Antonyms
kill, end, crush.
120. enhance
verb
The splendid dress enhanced her beauty: intensify, heighten, magnify, make more attractive,
make more appealing; elevate, lift, raise, boost; redouble, embellish, augment, add to,
complement.
Antonyms
diminish, reduce, lessen, decrease, minimize, depreciate, detract from.
121. ephemeral
adjective
There is no point in lamenting the ephemeral joys of youth: brief, temporary, transient, short-lived,
temporal, transitory, fleeting, impermanent, evanescent, momentary, passing, fugitive,
unenduring, nondurable, inconstant, fly-by-night, flitting, fugacious.
Antonyms
permanent, lasting, enduring, everlasting, perpetual, abiding.
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122. equanimity
noun
We must keep our equanimity during times of crisis: calmness, composure, self-possession,
steadiness, poise, aplomb, coolness, imperturbability, presence of mind, self-control, tranquillity,
sangfroid, Informal cool.
Antonyms
panic, hysteria, disquiet, perturbation, agitation, discomposure.
123. equivocate
verb
Please stop equivocating and give me a straight answer: evade, avoid the issue, hedge, stall,
dodge, beat around the bush, fudge, pussyfoot, be ambiguous, mince words, prevaricate,
straddle the fence.
124. erudite
adjective
The professor was an erudite man. The TV newscaster was known for his erudite comments:
learned, well-informed, well-educated, well-versed, literate, well-read, cultured, cultivated,
scholarly, thoughtful, intelligent, well-reasoned, wise, sapient.
Antonyms
uninformed, uneducated, illiterate, unscholarly; shallow, unthinking; rash, ill-advised.
125. esoteric
adjective
1 Some fields of science seem hopelessly esoteric to the layman: incomprehensible, abstruse,
recondite, arcane, cryptic, enigmatic, inscrutable, mysterious, obscure.
2 The tribe has an esoteric ritual that no outsider may witness: secret, undisclosed, private,
confidential, inviolable, hidden, concealed, covert, veiled, cloaked; mystical, occult.
Antonyms
1 obvious, clear, plain, simple.
2 public, open, exoteric.
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126. eulogy
Noun
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is a great eulogy: oration of praise, praise of the dead, encomium,
panegyric; high praise, tribute, homage, hosanna, acclamation, laudation, citation, paean, plaudit.
Antonyms
condemnation, criticism; vilification, defamation, aspersion, calumny, slander, libel.
127. euphemism
noun
"Maiden lady" is a euphemism for "old maid": mild expression, restrained expression, inoffensive
expression, delicate term, refined term; prudish phrase, overdelicacy, overrefinement,
prudishness.
128. Exacerbate
Verb
Offering your opinion will only exacerbate the situation: aggravate, exaggerate, intensify, inflame,
heighten, worsen, magnify, sharpen, deepen, fan the flames, pour oil on the fire, add fuel to the
flames, rub salt into the wound, add insult to injury.
Antonyms
relieve, soothe, comfort, alleviate, assuage, mollify.
129.exculpate
Verb
Pronounce not guilty of criminal charges: acquit, assoil, clear, discharge, exonerate.
130.Exigency
Noun
1 A ship's captain must be able to cope with any exigency: emergency, contingency, crisis,
circumstance, predicament, quandary, plight, strait, extremity, difficulty, hardship; Slang pickle,
pinch, scrape, fix, jam.
2 We have to cope with the exigencies of daily living: requirements, necessities, demands, needs,
constraints, urgencies.
131. extrapolate
extrapolate (ik strap"* lat'), v., -lated, -lating.
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v.t.
1. to infer (an unknown) from something that is known; conjecture.
2. to estimate (the value of a statistical variable) outside the tabulated or observed range.
3. Math. to estimate (a function that is known over a range of values of its independent variable)
to values outside the known range.
v.i.
4. to perform extrapolation.
[182535; EXTRA- + (INTER)POLATE]
extrap'ola"tion, n.
extrap"ola'tive, adj.
extrap"ola'tor, n.
132. facetious
adjective
He kept us laughing with his facetious remarks: humorous, funny, amusing, jocular, joking, jovial,
jesting, witty, clever, jocose, droll, comic, comical, playful, wisecracking.
Antonyms
solemn, serious, sober, lugubrious, grave, sedate, staid, sad, dull.
133. facilitate
verb
An addressing machine facilitates the handling of bulk mail: expedite, speed up, accelerate, ease,
simplify, help in, make less difficult, make easier, assist the progress of, lessen the labor of,
lighten, smooth; forward, help to advance, promote, further, advance, aid, foster.
Antonyms
hinder, hamper, complicate, encumber, slow down.
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134. Fallacious
Adjective
The rumors were patently fallacious: incorrect, false, deceptive, erroneous, deluding, fictitious,
illusory, fraudulent, invalid, mistaken, misleading, off, sophistic, spurious, unfounded,
ungrounded, wrong, unsound, untrue.
135. Fatuous
Adjective
She's so fatuous she thinks all the fellows are flirting with her: foolish, inane, silly, vacant in mind,
simple, stupid, brainless, witless, vapid, vacuous, asinine, imbecile, idiotic, puerile, obtuse,
besotted, senseless, moronic, ridiculous.
Antonyms
sensible, prudent, judicious, wise, sage, sapient, clever, bright, intelligent, smart, witty
136. Fawning
Adjective
In the movie he played a fawning courtier: sycophantic, obsequious, compliant, bootlicking,
cowering, servile, cringing, deferential, crawling, flattering, ingratiating, scraping, kowtowing,
subservient, submissive.
137. Felicitous
Adjective
1 Champagne is for weddings and other felicitous occasions: happy, joyful, joyous, fortunate,
propitious.
2 The young man searched hard for a felicitous last line to his poem: apt, appropriate, suitable,
relevant, pertinent, germane, fitting, well-chosen, well-put, well-said, pleasing, happy, inspired;
effective.
Antonyms
1 infelicitous, solemn, inappropriate.
2 infelicitous, awkward, clumsy, unfortunate.
138.fervor
Noun
The pilgrims arrived at the shrine and offered their prayers with fervor: ardor, passion, intensity,
earnestness, vehemence, verve, zeal, animation, gusto, fire, enthusiasm, heartiness, eagerness,
zest, warmth; piety, devoutness, seriousness, purposefulness.
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Antonyms
boredom, ennui, apathy, detachment, dispassion.
139. flag
noun
1 The country's flag was displayed in every window: banner, emblem, standard, ensign, streamer,
pennant, colors; (in the U.S.) stars and stripes, Old Glory, stars and bars; (in Great Britain) Union
Jack.
verb
2 The highway patrol flagged us away from the accident: signal, warn, wave.
3 My energy flagged after climbing all those steps: decline, grow weak, wilt, give way, languish;
grow spiritless, fall off in vigor, abate, slump, succumb, subside, sag, pall; fade, grow weary, tire,
totter, dodder; faint, sink, ebb, wane, fail.
Antonyms
3 freshen, recover, brace up.
140. Fledgling
Noun
As a pilot, he's still a fledgling: inexperienced person, novice, beginner, tyro, freshman,
apprentice; Informal greenhorn, tenderfoot.
141. Flout
Verb
She flouted convention by wearing black at her wedding: scorn, show contempt for, scoff at,
spurn, laugh at, jeer at, gibe at, sneer at, defy, treat with disdain, mock, poke fun at; twit, taunt,
chaff, rag, insult.
Antonyms
Revere; regard, respect, esteem.
142.foment
verb
He did his best to foment a quarrel between the brothers: stir up, incite, foster, promote, instigate,
provoke, urge, excite, stimulate, galvanize, foster; rouse, arouse, kindle, inflame, spur, goad,
agitate; irritate, aggravate, exacerbate, quicken, fan the fire, fan into flame, blow the coals.
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Antonyms
Quell, suppress, repress, quench; check, curb, restrain; allay, discourage, destroy, extinguish,
extirpate.
143. forestall
verb
Labor and management have agreed on a temporary settlement, thereby fore-stalling a strike:
prevent, thwart, ward off, avert, deter, avoid, head off, circumvent; counteract, block, preclude,
obviate; anticipate, guard against; Informal steal a march on, beat to the punch.
144. frugality
noun
In middle age he was known for extreme frugality: carefulness, economizing, conservation,
moderation, economy, prudence, scrimping, saving, thrift, stinginess, miserliness, avariciousness,
parsimony
145. futile
adjective
His efforts to save the business were futile: useless, fruitless, vain, profitless, idle, worthless,
valueless, bootless, unprofitable; ineffective, ineffectual, unsuccessful, unavailing, abortive,
nugatory; trifling, trivial, insignificant, empty, petty, frivolous, unimportant.
Antonyms
effective, fruitful, successful; profitable, useful, worthy; important, significant.
146. gainsay
gainsay (gan"sa', gan sa"), v.t., -said, -saying.
1. to deny; dispute; contradict.
2. to speak or act against; oppose.
[12501300; ME gainsaien; see AGAIN, SAY]
gain"say'er, n.
147. garrulous
adjective
She's so garrulous you can't get a word in edgewise: talkative, effusive, loquacious; wordy, windy,
verbose, long-winded; gabby, voluble, chattery, chatty, prattling, prating, babbling; gossipy.
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Antonyms
reticent, taciturn, quiet, reserved, closemouthed; terse, concise.
148. goad
noun
1 The drovers used goads to keep the herd moving: prod, cattle prod, prick, pointed stick.
2 Fear of failure can be a goad to hard work: incentive, stimulus, stimulant, motive, motivation,
driving motive, pressure, spur; inducement, encouragement, instigation, whet, fillip.
verb
3 His wife goaded him to ask for a raise: prod, urge, exhort, constrain, incite, spur, push,
pressure, drive, stir up, arouse, Slang egg on; stimulate, impel, propel, move, press, set on.
Antonyms
2 detriment, curb.
3 deter, keep back, hold back.
149. gouge
gouge (gouj), n., v., gouged, gouging.
n.
1. a chisel having a partly cylindrical blade with the bevel on either the concave or the convex
side.
2. an act of gouging.
3. a hole made by gouging.
4. an act of extortion; swindle.
5. a. a layer of decomposed rocks or minerals found along the walls of a vein.
b. fragments of rock that have accumulated between or along the walls of a fault.
v.t.
6. to scoop out or turn with or as if with a gouge.
7. to dig or force out with or as if with a gouge (often fol. by out ).
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8. to make a gouge in: to gouge one's leg.

9. to extort from or overcharge.
v.i.
10. to engage in extortion or swindling.
[130050; < MF < LL gu(l)bia, perh. < Celtic; cf. OIr gulba sting, Welsh gylf beak, Cornish gilb
borer]
goug"er, n.
150. Grandiloquent
Adjective
The grandiloquent speech went on for over an hour: high-flown, high-sounding, flowery, florid,
grandiose, pompous, pretentious, bombastic, inflated, turgid, swollen, stilted; magniloquent, lofty,
rhetorical; Slang highfalutin.
Antonyms
Simple, direct, unaffected, plain-spoken, matter-of-fact, low-keyed; base, lowly.
151. gregarious
adjective
A gregarious person loves parties: sociable, social, genial, outgoing, convivial, extroverted,
companionable, affable, friendly; vivacious, lively, talkative.
Antonyms
unsociable, solitary, reclusive, introverted, retiring, shy.
152. guileless
adjective
The child gave a guileless answer to the question: straightforward, candid, frank, open, natural,
honest, sincere, truthful, aboveboard; artless, undesigning; ingenuous, naive, unsophisticated,
innocent, simple, unaffected, unselfconscious; harmless, innocuous, unoffending.
Antonyms
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sly, cunning, deceitful, crafty, tricky, deceptive, artful; treacherous, fraudulent

153. Gullible
Adjective
The youth was so gullible he bought the Brooklyn Bridge from a con man!: easily fooled, easily
deceived, easily cheated, easily duped; overtrusting, unsuspicious, credulous, trusting, trustful;
naive, innocent, unsophisticated, inexperienced, green, simple.
Antonyms
Cynical, suspicious, untrusting, hard to convince; sophisticated, worldly.
154. harangue
harangue (h* rang"), n., v., -rangued, -ranguing.
n.
1. a scolding or a verbal attack; diatribe.
2. a long, passionate, and vehement speech, esp. one delivered before a public gathering.
3. any long, pompous speech or writing of a tediously hortatory or didactic nature; sermonizing
discourse.
v.t.
4. to address in a harangue.
v.i.
5. to deliver a harangue.
[153040; < MF < It ar(r)inga speech, oration, n. der. of ar(r)ingare to speak in public, v. der. of
1
aringo public square < Go *hriggs RING ]
syn
See SPEECH.
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155. homogeneous
adjective
It was a homogeneous crowd of teenage girls, all wearing jeans and sweaters: of the same kind,
all alike, of a piece; uniform, unmixed, unvarying, unadulterated; consistent, constant, pure; akin,
kindred, similar, identical.
Antonyms
heterogeneous, mixed, varied, varying, variegated, different, diverse, divers, various, divergent.
156. hyperbole
noun
"She's as big as a house" is an example of hyperbole: overstatement, exaggeration, enlargement,
magnification, extravagant statement, figurative statement, stretch of the imagination; figure of
speech, metaphor.
Antonyms
Understatement.
157. iconoclast
noun
He's an iconoclast who will have nothing to do with organized religion: dissenter, rebel,
nonconformist, upstart, radical, revolutionary.
Antonyms
conformist, assenter.
158. idolatry
noun
1 Idolatry was commonplace in many early pagan religions: worship of an object, image-worship,
reverence of idols, idolization.
2 Only a millionaire could satisfy that woman's idolatry of jewels: inordinate love, worship,
adoration, obsession, preoccupation, excessive fondness, passion, devotion, veneration, singleminded attention, infatuation, senseless attachment, madness, mania.
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159.immutable
Adjective
Platinum is one of the most immutable of metals: unchanging, unchangeable, changeless,
unvarying, unaltered, unalterable, incontrovertible, unmodifiable, intransmutable; permanent,
lasting, enduring, stable; firm, fixed, solid, constant, inflexible.
Antonyms
Changeable, unstable, alterable, flexible, variable.
.160. impair
verb
The water shortage impaired the city's fire-fighting capacity: hinder, damage, mar, hurt, vitiate,
harm, cripple, subvert, injure, lessen, weaken, enfeeble, decrease, undercut, detract from,
reduce; enervate, debilitate, worsen.
Antonyms
improve, amend; repair; better, ameliorate, enhance, facilitate, increase.
161. impassive
adjective
The moderator maintained an impassive manner throughout the furious debate: emotionless,
unemotional, unmoved, imperturbable, dispassionate, aloof, stoical, untouched, stony, calm, cool,
sedate, reserved, unperturbed, unimpressible, inscrutable, impervious, stolid, apathetic,
phlegmatic, unimpressionable, insensible, indifferent.
Antonyms
responsive, emotional, passionate, excited, perturbed.
162. impede
verb
A lumber shortage impeded construction on the house: delay, slow down, block, interfere with,
interrupt, check, retard, obstruct, hinder, thwart, frustrate, inhibit, arrest, sidetrack, stall, stymie,
deter, hamper, hold back, halter, disrupt.
Antonyms
assist, promote, advance, further, forward; help, aid.
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163. impermeable
impermeable (im pr"me * b*l), adj.
1. not permeable; impassable.
2. (of porous substances, rocks, etc.) not permitting the passage of a fluid.
[16901700; < LL]
imper'meabil"ity, imper"meableness, n.
imper"meably, adv.
164. imperturbable
adjective
The usually imperturbable man showed signs of fear: unexcitable, calm, collected, cool, serene,
undisturbed, unruffled, dispassionate, unflustered, levelheaded, sedate, composed;
unsusceptible, impervious, impassive, unanxious, unfazable; Slang unflappable.
Antonyms
perturbable, choleric, touchy.
165. impervious
adjective
1 The firemen wore masks that were impervious to the acrid smoke: impenetrable, impermeable,
inaccessible, allowing no passage to, unapproachable; sealed or closed against; invulnerable.
2 The beautiful actress seemed impervious to the usual ravages of age: immune to, protected
against; untouched by, unmarked by.
3 The stubborn man seemed impervious to reason: unmoved by, unaffected by, untouched by,
invulnerable, closed.
Antonyms
1 susceptible, vulnerable.
2 open, exposed, susceptible, sensitive, liable, prone.
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166. implacable
adjective
It was impossible to negotiate with such an implacable enemy: irreconcilable, unappeasable,
inexorable, unamenable, inflexible, intractable, unpacifiable, uncompromising, relentless,
unrelenting.
Antonyms
reconcilable, appeasable, yielding, lenient, relenting, forbearing, indulgent, tolerant, flexible.
167. implicit
adjective
1 Victory was implicit in the early election returns: implied, hinted, suggested, tacitly expressed;
inferred, deducible, understood.
2 The crew had implicit faith in the captain's judgment: innate, inherent, unquestioning,
absolute, complete, profound, certain, resolute, unshakable, unreserved, total, unshakable,
steadfast, staunch.
168. implode
implode (im plod"), v., -ploded, -ploding.
v.i.
1. to burst inward (opposed to explode).
v.t.
2. to pronounce (a consonant) with implosion.
[188085; IM-1 + (EX)PLODE]
169. inadvertent
adjective
The newspaper apologized for the inadvertent omission: unintentional, unintended, not on
purpose, accidental, fortuitous, unmeant, unthinking, involuntary, unpremeditated.
Antonyms
deliberate, premeditated, intentional, studied, considered, conscious, aware
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170. inchoate
adjective
The architect began with a vague, inchoate design and then worked out the details: beginning,
budding, incipient, commencing, embryonic, nascent; shapeless, formless, unformed, unshaped,
amorphous; unorganized, uncohesive, disjointed, disconnected.
Antonyms
formed, shaped; finished, completed.
171.incongruous
adjective
1 Bathing suits look incongruous on a ski slope: inappropriate, odd, outlandish, out of keeping,
out of place, unsuitable, not harmonious, Slang far-out.
2 The witness's incongruous testimony damaged his credibility: conflicting, contrary, at variance,
incompatible, contradictory, inconsistent, irreconcilable, discrepant, disagreeing.
Antonyms
1 congruous, fitting, suitable, appropriate, consonant, consistent, accordant, agreeing,
harmonious, becoming.
172. inconsequential
adjective
The matter is too inconsequential to worry about: trivial, trifling, of no moment, valueless, slight,
unimportant, of no consequence, insignificant, negligible, nugatory, meaningless, piddling, petty,
picayune.
Antonyms
consequential, important, momentous, significant, meaningful, crucial.
173. incorporate
verb
The committee incorporated the investigator's findings in its report: include, embody, work in,
consolidate, fuse, amalgamate, introduce into, assimilate.
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174. indeterminate
adjective
The acting superintendent will serve for an indeterminate time: unspecified, undetermined,
unstipulated, uncertain, unfixed in extent or amount, unclear, obscure, not clear, unresolved,
vague, undefined; ambiguous, problematic, perplexing, indefinite.
Antonyms
specified, precise, definite, clear, certain, determined, fixed, defined.
175. indigent
adjective
Many indigent people receive government aid: needy, destitute, in want, lacking the necessities of
life, poor, in need, pinched, poverty-stricken, impoverished, penniless, without resources, badly
off, moneyless, without food and clothing; Informal unable to keep the wolf from the door, hardup.
Antonyms
wealthy, moneyed, rich, affluent, comfortable, solvent, flush.
176. indolent
adjective
The indolent boy was fired: lazy, slothful, habitually idle, inactive, easygoing, shiftless, slack,
sluggish, inert, lethargic, do-nothing, listless, lumpish, lackadaisical, dawdling, dilatory.
Antonyms
industrious; busy, diligent, conscientious, assiduous, sedulous; energetic, strenuous, vigorous,
active.
177. inert
adjective
The man was so inert he seemed dead: motionless, static, immobile, stationary, inactive,
quiescent, still, passive, inanimate, impassive; listless, phlegmatic, sluggish, dull, numb, leaden,
supine, slack, torpid, languid.
Antonyms
dynamic; animated; active, alert, kinetic, brisk, lively, energetic, vigorous.
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178. ingenuous
adjective
She was so charming and ingenuous most people adored her at once: natural, artless, guileless,
unaffected, genuine, simplehearted, openhearted, honest, open, unsophisticated, frank, direct,
trusting, straightforward; Slang up front, straight-shooting.
Antonyms
worldly-wise, jaded, disingenuous; wily, devious, tricky.
179. inherent
adjective
Freedom of religion is an inherent part of the Bill of Rights: essential, innate, inseparable,
hereditary, native, intrinsic, inborn, deep-rooted, inveterate, natural, inbred, ingrained,
constitutional, inalienable.
Antonyms
foreign, alien, extrinsic, adventitious; subsidiary, superficial, supplemental.
180. innocuous
adjective
1 The women exchanged innocuous gossip over lunch: harmless, not damaging, painless, not
injurious, innocent, mild, inoffensive.
2 The play was innocuous and quickly forgotten: meaningless, vapid, insipid, dull, pointless,
empty, barren; trite, banal, commonplace.
Antonyms
1 hurtful, deleterious, harmful, insidious, obnoxious, damaging, injurious, offensive, malicious.
2 powerful, trenchant, compelling, impressive.
181. insensibility
noun
1 The patient lapsed into insensibility: unconsciousness.
2 His insensibility to criticism was legendary: indifference, apathy, insusceptibility.
Antonyms consciousness; concern, sensibility.
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182. insinuate
verb
1 The article insinuated that the fighter was bribed: imply, suggest, hint slyly, allude remotely to,
intimate, asperse, whisper, let fall.
2 The social climber insinuated herself into the group: ingratiate, push artfully, worm one's way,
gently incorporate, introduce subtly, wheedle, inject, insert.
Antonyms
1 deny.
2 withdraw, remove, retreat; alienate.
183. insipid
adjective
1 An insipid play like that won't last two weeks: uninteresting, pointless, stupid, dull,
characterless, banal, wearisome, bland, boring, trite, vapid, inane, barren, drab, prosaic, jejune,
lifeless, zestless, arid, monotonous, lean, empty, commonplace; Slang blah, wishy-washy,
namby-pamby.
2 The unsalted vegetables were insipid: flat, tasteless, savorless, stale, vapid, unappetizing.
Antonyms
1 interesting, zestful, pungent, spirited, spunky, provocative, engaging, lively, stimulating,
exciting, piquant, colorful.
2 pungent, piquant, spicy; fiery, peppery, gingery; savory, flavorful, tasty, palatable, appetizing;
gusty.
184.insularity (state of being insulated) insulate
verb
Thick walls insulated the house: shield, protect, cocoon, cushion, line, wrap; isolate, keep apart,
seclude, sequester, separate.
185. intractable
adjective
The intractable child refused to obey: stubborn, perverse, headstrong, ornery, hard to cope with,
obstinate, willful, unmanageable, obdurate, incorrigible, mulish, unruly, fractious, froward,
refractory, ungovernable, uncontrollable, contumacious, unmalleable, inflexible.
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Antonyms
tractable, obedient, docile, submissive, subdued; compliant, acquiescent, amiable.
186. intransigent
adjective
The intransigent strikers refused to negotiate: uncompromising, stubborn, intractable, obdurate,
iron-willed, steadfast, diehard, unyielding, unmovable, unbudgeable, inflexible.
Antonyms
compromising, yielding, flexible, open-minded, acquiescent, compliant
187. inundate
verb
1 Floodwaters inundated the valley: engulf, overflow, fill with water, overspread, drench,
submerge, flood, deluge, drown.
2 The visiting astronaut was inundated with invitations: swamp, glut, flood, saturate, overcome;
load down, overburden, overwhelm.
Antonyms
1 drain dry, reclaim, desiccate, parch, empty.
188. inure
verb
Growing up in Alaska inured him to cold weather: accustom, habituate, familiarize, make used to,
naturalize, custom; harden, strengthen, toughen, season, temper, desensitize, discipline, train,
adapt, acclimatize, acclimate, get used to.
189. invective
noun
Invective poured from the speaker's mouth: bitter language, harsh words, verbal abuse, venom,
vilification, insult, contumely, diatribe, execration, sarcasm; vituperation, denunciation, revilement,
censure, rant, railing, billingsgate.
Antonyms
praise, honor, commendation.
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190. irascible
adjective
The irascible old man is constantly picking fights: easily angered, touchy, cantankerous, choleric,
waspish, bad-tempered, ill-humored, hot-tempered, irritable, intractable, ornery, splenetic, cross,
testy, cranky, grumpy, grouchy, peevish.
Antonyms
good-natured, amiable, gentle, mild, placid, serene, tranquil, easygoing.
191. irresolute
adjective
His irresolute nature made him a poor executive: indecisive, wavering, hesitating, hesitant,
faltering, unsettled, doubtful, undecided, uncertain, unsure, changeable, vacillating, fickle, weak,
unsteady, unresolved.
Antonyms
resolute, determined, unwavering, decisive; decided, certain.
192. itinerary
noun
1 Leave an itinerary so we can reach you: travel plan, schedule, detailed plan for a trip, list of
places to be visited, timetable, course, route, circuit.
2 Father kept a lively itinerary of the trip: log, record of a journey, travel record, journal, account,
diary, day book.
193. laconic
adjective
Although his speeches were laconic, they were informative: short, concise, brief, succinct, terse,
compact, condensed, pithy, concentrated, sparing of words, pointed, to the point, summary; curt,
blunt.
Antonyms
voluble, wordy, loquacious, garrulous, verbose.
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194. lassitude
noun
His lassitude was caused by overwork: weariness, weakness, debility, sluggishness, fatigue,
tiredness, exhaustion, fatigue, lack of energy, enervation, lethargy, listlessness, inertia,
feebleness, indolence, faintness, torpor, torpidity, drowsiness, languor, languidness, supineness,
prostration, dullness, droopiness; apathy, indifference, ennui, doldrums, boredom; malaise.
Antonyms
vigor, energy, strength, robustness, freshness; verve, spirit, vitality; Informal get-up-and-go, push,
vim, pep.
195. latent
adjective
Many of our deepest desires remain latent: dormant, sleeping, quiescent, inactive, passive,
suspended, in abeyance, abeyant, potential, undeveloped, unrealized, unaroused, not manifest,
hidden, concealed, covert, lurking, intangible, unapparent, unexposed, inconspic-uous,
unexpressed.
Antonyms
activated, realized, developed; manifest, expressed, apparent, evident, obvious, conspicuous.
196. laud
verb
They lauded the brave attempt: praise, extol, applaud, celebrate, esteem, honor.
Antonyms
censure, condemn, criticize.
197. lethargic
adjective
The hot, humid climate made everyone lethargic: lazy, drowsy, sleepy, soporific, languid,
indolent, idle, dull, somnolent, comatose, enervated, debilitated, dispirited, unspirited, torpid,
lackluster, sluggish, slothful, indifferent, passive, inert, listless, apathetic.
Antonyms
energetic, vigorous, alert, active, responsive, bright, spirited; energized, animated, stimulated.
198.levee
noun-A barrier constructed to contain the flow or water or to keep out the sea-dam,dike,dyke.
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199. levity
noun
The situation is too grave for levity: frivolity, lightness, lightheartedness, whimsy, lack of
earnestness or seriousness, triviality, hilarity, foolishness, silliness, joking, mirth, jocularity, trifling,
flippancy, flightiness; pleasantry, fun.
Antonyms
gravity, seriousness, sobriety, earnestness, solemnity, dignity.
200. log
noun
1 The cabin was built of logs: length of tree trunk, timber, part of tree limb; block, stump.
2 The time of departure was entered in the ship's log: logbook; (loosely) daybook, journal,
calendar, diary, docket, schedule, account, record.
verb
3 The college student spent his summers logging in the north woods: cut timber, fell trees, work
as a lumberjack, lumber.
201. loquacious
adjective
He's so loquacious I can't get a word in edgewise: talkative, talky, prolix, garrulous, wordy,
verbose, voluble, windy, long-winded; prating, chatty, chattery, chattering, babbling, prattling;
Informal gabby, blabby.
Antonyms
silent, reserved, taciturn, closemouthed, uncommunicative, reticent.
202. lucid
adjective
1 A lucid sky portended a fine day: shining, bright, clear, transparent, crystalline, brilliant,
resplendent, radiant, lustrous, luminous, scintillating, sparkling, dazzling; pellucid; illuminated.
2 The witness gave a lucid account of what happened: clear, easily understood, crystal clear,
intelligible, understandable, articulate, comprehensible; precise, direct, straightforward, accurate,
specific, well-organized, to the point, apposite, positive, certain.
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3 Although usually in a delirium, the patient has some lucid moments: clearheaded, clear thinking,
normal, rational; responsive, perceptive.
Antonyms
1 dark, darkling, gloomy, dusky, obscure, opaque, turgid, muddy, murky; overcast.
2 unintelligible, incomprehensible, vague, indistinct, unclear, ambiguous, equivocal, garbled,
mystifying.
3 confused, muddled, irrational; unresponsive, unperceptive.
203. luminous
adjective
The watch has a luminous dial: reflecting light, luminescent, radiant, irradiated, glowing, lustrous,
illuminated, shining; shining in the dark; bright, brilliant.
204. magnanimous
adjective
Only a truly magnanimous man could forgive such an insult: forgiving, free of vindictiveness,
generous, largehearted, liberal; charitable, beneficent, philanthropic, altruistic, unselfish, princely.
Antonyms
unforgiving, vindictive, resentful, small, petty, selfish; parsimonious, miserly.
205. malinger
verb
In the army he would malinger by pretending to be ill: slack, shirk, procrastinate, loaf, dodge,
evade, duck one's duty, lie down on the job; Slang goldbrick, goof off.
206. malleable
adjective
1 Tin is a malleable metal: workable, easily shaped, easily wrought; ductile, tractable, plastic,
pliant, flexible.
2 Since young children are malleable, one must be careful what one says in front of them:
impressionable, easily influenced, moldable, tractable, teachable, manageable, governable,
docile; adaptable, flexible, pliable, compliant.
Antonyms
1 rigid, stiff, hard, firm; unyielding, inflexible, unbending, inelastic.
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2 refractory, intractable, recalcitrant, ungovernable.
207. maverick
noun
1 The cowboys rounded up the mavericks for branding: unbranded calf, yearling; unbranded cow;
motherless calf.
2 The young senator was regarded as a political maverick: noncomformist, eccentric,
independent, individualist, loner, independent thinker, one's own man; dissenter, dissident.
208. mendacious
adjective
The mendacious retailer misled us: lying, untrue, false, untruthful, deceitful.
Antonyms
truthful, honest.
209. metamorphosis
noun
1 There are four stages in the metamorphosis of a mosquito: transformation, change of form,
mutation, transmutation, structural evolution, transfiguration, series of changes, modification,
conversion, transmogrification.
2 This once-confident man underwent a complete metamorphosis after his business failure:
change in appearance or behavior, personality change, transformation, alteration, radical change,
startling change, permutation.
210. meticulous
adjective
Our meticulous housekeeper never forgets a thing: fastidious, scrupulous, exact, exacting,
minutely careful, solicitous about details, painstaking, precise, nice, finical, finicky, fussy,
particular; punctilious, perfectionist.
Antonyms
careless, inexact, imprecise, sloppy, negligent.
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211. misanthropic
adjective
His unhappy childhood fostered his misanthropic personality: antisocial, unfriendly, unsociable,
distrustful, unneighborly, inhospitable, morose, unpersonable, cynical, surly, discourteous,
unaccommodating, unapproachable, unresponsive, cold, distant.
Antonyms
personable, amiable, amicable, loving, sociable, cordial; humanitarian; philanthropic, charitable.
212. mitigate
verb
There's no way to mitigate the effect of that unfavorable report: lessen, relieve, moderate,
moderate in severity, alleviate, abate in intensity, palliate, soften, assuage, allay, soothe, placate,
weaken, mollify, ameliorate, ease, blunt, reduce, lighten, diminish, temper, extenuate.
Antonyms
increase, augment, heighten, enhance, strengthen.
213. mollify
verb
Flowers would not mollify her anger: appease, calm, moderate, placate, quell, still, lessen,
mitigate, allay, reduce, palliate, conciliate, make less violent, decrease, soften, pacify, soothe,
tone down, quiet, lighten, temper, abate, ease, assuage, curb, check, dull, lull, blunt.
Antonyms
exasperate, exacerbate, agitate, stir, increase.
214. morose
adjective
I feel very morose after reading that sad story: depressed, low, crestfallen, sad, melancholy,
downcast, moody, glum, dour, Informal blue, down in the dumps; saturnine, mopish, gloomy,
despondent, mournful, solemn; sullen, sulky, cross, surly, testy, waspish, sour, churlish, grumpy,
cranky, ill-tempered, irascible.
Antonyms
cheerful, blithe, happy, good-natured, pleasant, genial, amiable, friendly.
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215. mundane
adjective
Artists often have trouble with the mundane affairs of life: ordinary, prosaic, commonplace,
worldly, terrestrial, earthly, down-to-earth, day-to-day, routine, humdrum, everyday, practical,
pedestrian, petty.
Antonyms
heavenly, celestial, ethereal, empyrean, unearthly, unworldly, spiritual.
216. negate
verb
This year's losses negate last year's profits: nullify, invalidate, void, reverse; quash, squash, quell,
squelch; vanquish, defeat, overthrow, overwhelm, destroy, wipe out, blot out; deny, abrogate,
revoke, gainsay, retract, disavow; rebut, refute, contradict; disallow, set aside; veto, repeal;
disown, disclaim, repudiate.
Antonyms
affirm, confirm, attest to, ratify, endorse, corroborate, reinforce, support.
217. neophyte
noun
The neophyte learned the ropes very fast: beginner, tyro, apprentice, trainee, novice, probationer,
newcomer, recruit, learner; tenderfoot, rookie, greenhorn, student, pupil; convert, proselyte,
entrant, disciple, no-vitiate.
Antonyms
veteran, old hand, expert.
218. obdurate
adjective
1 The child was obdurate in refusing to eat vegetables: stubborn, obstinate, intractable,
unyielding, inflexible, adamant, immovable, willful, headstrong, pigheaded, mulish, bullheaded;
unmanageable, uncontrollable, ungovernable.
2 The tyrant was obdurate in his treatment of prisoners: unmoved, uncaring, unfeeling, harsh,
merciless, unmerciful, unpitying, pitiless, unsympathetic, uncompassionate, unsparing,
untouched; hardened, callous, cruel, cold-blooded, hardhearted.
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Antonyms
1 obedient, agreeable, compliant, flexible, amenable; manageable, docile, tractable.
2 compassionate, sympathetic, caring, feeling, merciful, pitying, relenting, softhearted, kind,
gentle, tender.
219. obsequious
adjective
The boss prefers obsequious underlings: servile, fawning, toadying, sycophantic, subservient,
menial, ingratiating, deferential, slavish, cringing, cowering, mealymouthed, truckling, Slang
bootlicking, kowtowing, apple-polishing.
Antonyms
domineering, overbearing, swaggering, lordly, imperious, proud, haughty, arrogant, impudent,
brash, bold, assertive, forceful, aggressive.
220. obviate
verb
The suspect's confession obviates the necessity for a trial: avert, avoid, make unnecessary,
circumvent, remove, do away with, preclude, prevent; forestall, divert, parry, sidetrack, ward off,
turn aside, stave off, fend off, Informal nip in the bud.
Antonyms
necessitate, require, make essential, oblige, impel, cause, make unavoidable.
221. occlude
verb
Waste materials seem to be occluding the drain: obstruct, block, clog, shut off, shut up, choke,
choke off, plug, close, barricade, congest, stopper, stop up, constrict, strangulate.
Antonyms
clear, unclog, open, ream, unplug.
222. officious
adjective
It's hard to be an office manager without being officious: obtrusive, intrusive, interfering,
meddlesome, meddling, prying, poking one's nose in, offering gratuitous advice or services,
Informal kibitzing; overbearing, domineering, self-important, self-assertive, high-handed, high and
mighty; pompous, patronizing.
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Antonyms
unobtrusive, in the background.
223. onerous
adjective
Holding down two jobs can be an onerous task: oppressive, burdensome, hard to endure,
arduous, not easy to bear, distressing, painful, wearisome, taxing, exhausting, crushing, heavy,
weighty, demanding, grievous.
Antonyms
easy, light, simple, effortless, trivial, trifling.
224. opprobrious
adjective
1 The editorial made an opprobrious attack on modern morals: damning, denunciatory,
condemnatory, hypercritical, censorious, faultfinding; abusive, scurrilous, acrimonious, malicious,
malevolent, maligning, vilifying, vitriolic, fulminating, reviling.
2 The officer was reprimanded for his opprobrious conduct: disgraceful, dishonorable, shameful,
disreputable, objectionable, unbecoming, deplorable, reprehensible, base, outrageous, shocking,
scandalous, infamous, nefarious, despicable, corrupt, wicked.
Antonyms
1 complimentary, flattering, approving, praising, laudatory, uncritical.
2 honorable, noble, meritorious, upright, ethical, principled, virtuous, moral; becoming,
praiseworthy, worthy, laudable, noteworthy, estimable.
225. oscillate
verb
1 The clock's pendulum caught the sunlight as it oscillated: swing, alternate, librate; pulsate,
vibrate, pulse, move back and forth, seesaw, come and go, ebb and flow.
2 He's been oscillating between liberal and conservative all his life: waver, vacillate, hesitate,
fluctuate, vary, hem and haw, shilly-shally, change, equivocate.
226. ostentatious
adjective
Grandfather warned us not to be ostentatious with our money. The dress is too ostentatious to
wear to a reception: flaunting wealth, fond of display, showing off, pompous, immodest,
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grandiose, affected, high-flown; conspicuous, pretentious, flamboyant, flashy, showy, gaudy,

garish, loud, florid, overdone, exaggerated, obtrusive.
Antonyms
modest, reserved, conservative, somber, sedate; inconspicuous, simple, plain.
227. paragon
noun
Aunt Sue has always been a paragon of virtue: model, example, exemplar, prototype, archetype,
paradigm, apotheosis, idea, symbol, pattern, standard, norm, criterion, yardstick.
228. partisan
noun
1 The hometown partisans cheered the local team: supporter, follower, adherent, sympathizer,
champion, advocate, ally, backer, upholder, enthusiast, fan, zealot, devotee, rooter, booster.
2 Even after the country was defeated, partisans fought the invaders in the hills: freedom fighter,
guerrilla, irregular, insurgent; (U.S. Civil War) bushwacker, jayhawker.
adjective
3 The senator vowed not to engage in partisan politics: favoring one political party, predisposed
toward one group, favoring a cause, partial, biased, prejudiced, one-sided, slanted, unbalanced,
subjective.
Antonyms
1 detractor, defamer, censor, critic, backbiter, knocker; opponent, foe, adversary, rival, contender.
3 nonpartisan, bipartisan, unbiased, impartial, unprejudiced, disinterested, objective, broadminded, open-minded.

229. pathological
pathological (path'* loj"i k*l) also path'olog"ic, adj.
1. of or pertaining to pathology.
2. caused or affected by disease.
3. characterized by an unhealthy compulsion: a pathological liar.
[168090] path'olog"ically, adv.
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230. paucity
noun
There was a paucity of information on the reported invasion: scarcity, dearth, lack, shortage,
scarceness, scantiness, deficiency, poverty, sparsity, meagerness, puniness, thinness, poorness,
insufficiency.
Antonyms
surfeit, overflow, excess, surplus, superabundance.
231. pedantic
adjective
When you ask him a question you get a pedantic answer: ostentatiously learned, pompous,
academic, scholastic, didactic, doctrinaire, bookish, stilted, dogmatic, punctilious, hairsplitting,
nitpicking, overly meticulous, fussy, finicky, overparticular.
Antonyms
succinct, pithy, straightforward; vague; general, comprehensive
232. penchant
noun
The fat youth had a penchant for rich desserts: fondness, partiality, liking, strong inclination,
fancy, preference, predilection, proclivity, propensity, leaning, attraction, taste, relish, tendency,
affinity, predisposition, disposition, proneness, prejudice, bias; flair, bent, readiness, turn, knack,
gift.
Antonyms
hatred, dislike, loathing, aversion, abhorrence, disinclination, repulsion.
233. penury
noun
She lived in penury during her last years: poverty, impoverishment, want, indi-gence, need,
privation, destitution, straitened circumstances, dire necessity; financial ruin, insolvency,
bankruptcy.
Antonyms
wealth, prosperity, opulence, luxury, elegance, abundance, affluence.
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234. perennial
adjective
He sat there with that perennial grin on his face: perpetual, everlasting, permanent, constant,
incessant, unceasing, ceaseless, continual, continuous, unremitting, persistent; fixed,
changeless, unchanging, immutable, durable, imperishable, indestructible, lasting, enduring, longlasting, undying, timeless, unfailing, long-lived.
Antonyms
temporary, occasional, sporadic, intermittent, periodic, evanescent; perishable, transient, fleeting,
ephemeral, temporal.
235. perfidious
adjective
Benedict Arnold's perfidious act made him his country's first traitor: treacherous, traitorous,
treasonous, deceitful, false, disloyal, unfaithful, faithless, treasonable, dishonorable,
untrustworthy, unscrupulous; dishonest, corrupt, untruthful, undependable, lying, cheating;
Informal sneaky, double-dealing, shifty, two-faced.
236. perfunctory
adjective
That was certainly a perfunctory "hello" he gave us: indifferent, casual, disinterested, offhand,
careless, unconcerned, unthinking, cursory, inattentive, lax, hasty, superficial, routine,
mechanical, halfhearted, lukewarm, apathetic, spiritless, listless, passionless; negligent.
Antonyms
careful, thorough, thoughtful, diligent, assiduous, attentive, warmhearted, effusive, spirited,
ardent, keen, zealous.
237. permeable
permeable (pr"me * b*l), adj. capable of being permeated.
[140050; late ME < LL permeabilis = permea(re) to PERMEATE + -bilis -BLE]
per"meableness, n.
per"meably, adv.
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238. pervasive
adjective
Ill feeling was pervasive at the plant: pervading, prevalent, permeating, widespread, common,
extensive, general, omnipresent, ubiquitous, universal, inescapable.
239. phlegmatic
adjective
Admiral Togo was always phlegmatic in the face of danger: indifferent, apathetic, nonchalant,
unemotional, unimpassioned, undemonstrative, unresponsive, imperturbable, unconcerned,
unexcitable, cool, calm, serene, tranquil, impassive, stoical; spiritless, listless, languid, lethargic,
sluggish, dull, passive, unfeeling, insensitive.
Antonyms
emotional, passionate, excited; active, demonstrative, alert, lively, animated, energetic,
interested.
240. piety
noun
The old woman expressed her piety by attending church daily: piousness, religiousness,
devoutness, devotion, godliness; reverence, respect, loyalty, dutifulness, humility; religiosity.
Antonyms
impiety, sacrilege, ungodliness, blasphemy, irreverence; disrespect, disloyalty, infidelity.
241. placate
verb
No one can placate him when he's angry: calm, soothe, pacify, quiet, lull, mollify, assuage,
alleviate; appease, propitiate, win over, conciliate.
242.Plasticity.
plasticity (pla stis"i te), n.
1. the quality or state of being plastic.
2. the capability of being molded: the plasticity of clay.
[177585]
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243. platitude
noun
The speech was dull and full of platitudes: trite remark, stereotyped expression, clich, banality,
commonplace, truism, hackneyed saying, old saw, saw, threadbare phrase, Slang chestnut,
bromide, old familiar tune, same old thing.
244. plethora
noun
The potluck supper had a plethora of desserts but no meat dishes: excess, surplus, superfluity,
surplusage, surfeit, overabundance, superabundance, glut, overage, redundancy.
Antonyms
shortage, lack, scarcity, deficiency.
245. plummet
verb
The hawk plummeted toward the earth: plunge, fall, fall headlong, drop straight down, dive,
tumble, descend abruptly, nosedive.
Antonyms
rise, ascend, shoot upward, soar.
246. porous
adjective
Sponges are porous: absorbent, permeable, penetrable, pervious; honeycombed. sievelike,
cellular, riddled, lacy; spongy.
247. pragmatic
adjective
The problem requires a pragmatic solution, not theories: down-to-earth, matter-of-fact, practical,
utilitarian, hardheaded, sober, businesslike, hard-boiled, sensible, realistic, unidealistic, hardnosed, materialistic, unsentimental.
Antonyms
idealistic, theoretical; romantic, dreamy, sentimental.
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248. preamble
preamble (pre"am'b*l, pre am"-), n.
1. an introductory statement; preface.
2. the introductory part of a statute, deed, constitution, or other document, stating the intent of
what follows.
3. a preliminary or introductory fact or circumstance.
[13501400; ME < ML praeambulum, n. use of neut. of LL praeambulus walking before. See
PRE-, AMBLE]
pre"am'bled, adj.
249. precarious
adjective
1 The situation was precarious politically: vulnerable, uncertain, problematical, ticklish,
uncontrolled, critical, insecure, touch-and-go, not to be depended upon, unreliable,
undependable, doubtful, dubious, questionable.
2 Free-lance work can be a precarious occupation: hazardous, risky, perilous, unsafe, chancy,
unsteady, unstable, shaky; alarming, sinister.
Antonyms
1 certain, sure, secure, dependable, reliable, unquestionable.
2 safe, steady, stable.
250. precipitate
verb
1 The war precipitated his induction into the army: hasten, bring on, quicken, expedite, speed up,
accelerate, advance, spur.
2 The explosion precipitated tons of snow from the mountain: throw, hurl, thrust, cast, fling,
propel, drive, launch, catapult, discharge, let fly.
adjective
3 She had to make precipitate choices as the test was only 5 minutes: hurried, hasty, abrupt,
rushed, proceeding rapidly, speedy; headlong, reckless, rash, incautious, foolhardy, imprudent,
thoughtless, impetuous, impulsive.
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251. precursor
noun
The polite letters were only precursors to blackmail: vanguard, advance guard, forerunner;
harbinger, messenger; usher, herald; predecessor, antecedent; sign, token, mark, omen, portent,
warning; symptom.
252. presumptuous
adjective
1 It was presumptuous of the young senator to challenge the leadership so soon: bold,
audacious, daring, overconfident, overfamiliar, forward, nervy, shameless, brash, brazen, brassy,
fresh, cocky.
2 Her presumptuous airs made her disliked by many: haughty, proud, snobbish, assuming,
overbearing, lofty, patronizing, pompous, lordly, imperious; disdainful, contemptuous,
domineering, dictatorial, arrogant.
253. prevaricate
verb
She may have prevaricated a bit about her illustrious forebears: lie, fib, stretch the truth,
dissemble, perjure, deceive, palter, be untruthful, tell a story, tell a tall story, be evasive; falsify,
misstate, fake, hoodwink, counterfeit, misrepresent, mislead, distort.
254. pristine
adjective
It was a pristine part of the woods that few hikers had ever seen: undefiled, unsullied, untouched,
unspoiled, untarnished, virginal; uncontaminated, unpolluted, pure, unmarred.
Antonyms
sullied, defiled, contaminated, polluted, spoiled, tarnished.
255. probity
noun
Above all, the Presidency needs a man of probity for the Cabinet post: integrity, uprightness,
honesty, virtue, high-mindedness, morality, character, principle, honor, trustworthiness,
incorruptibility, straightness, decency, goodness, righteousness.
Antonyms dishonesty, duplicity, unscrupulous, corruption.
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256. problematic
adjective
The composition of Saturn's rings is problematic: uncertain, doubtful, questionable, dubious,
unsettled, undetermined, enigmatic, unknown; perplexing, paradoxical, puzzling; difficult,
troublesome, worrisome.
Antonyms
certain, settled, known, undisputed, unquestionable.
257. prodigal
adjective
1 He had nothing left of his inheritance because of his prodigal ways: wasteful, spendthrift,
unthrifty, thriftless, overliberal, profligate, extravagant, exorbitant, lavish, excessive, gluttonous;
improvident, dissipating, inordinate, intemperate, immoderate, reckless, impetuous, precipitate,
wanton.
2 The prodigal amount of eggs laid by the fish insure the survival of the species: bountiful,
profuse, abounding, abundant, plentiful, bounteous, ample; lush, luxuriant, lavish, exuberant,
generous; numerous, countless, numberless, innumerable, multitudinous; teeming, swarming,
myriad, replete, copious.
noun
3 The prodigal went through money as if it were water: spendthrift, squanderer, spender, wastrel,
profligate.
Antonyms
1 thrifty, frugal, economical, cautious, miserly, stingy; provident, temperate, moderate.
2 scarce, scanty, deficient, scant, meager, sparse, few, limited.
258. profound
adjective
1 That was a very profound statement: deep, thoughtful, wise, sagacious, sage, penetrating,
piercing, learned, erudite, intellectual, scholarly, educated; knowledgeable, comprehensive,
recondite, omniscient, all-knowing; philosophical, reflective, thoughtful, well-considered, sober,
serious, sober-minded; informed, well-informed, knowing, enlightened.
2 His death had a profound effect on her: deep, severe, abject, extreme; thorough,
thoroughgoing, far-reaching, radical, utter, out-and-out, complete, consummate; penetrating,
piercing, pronounced, decided, positive.
3 Please accept my profound apologies: deeply felt, heartfelt, keenly felt, sincere, heart-stirring,
strongly felt, deep-seated, soul-stirring, moving; hearty, intense, keen, acute, abject.
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Antonyms
1 shallow, superficial, unwise, stupid, unlearned, uneducated, unknowledgeable, thoughtless,
inconsiderate; uninformed, unenlightened; imprudent.
2 slight, superficial, shallow, surface, external.
3 insincere, shallow, hollow.
259. prohibitive also prohibitory

adjective
Prohibitive laws discouraged the drug trade. The project was abandoned because of prohibitive
costs: inhibitive, restrictive, circumscriptive, enjoining, restraining, forbidding; suppressive,
repressive; preventive, injunctive; hindering, obstructive, disallowing, disqualifying, inadmissible,
unacceptable.
260. proliferate
verb
Rabbits proliferated after they were introduced into Australia: multiply, increase, reproduce
rapidly, breed quickly, overproduce, procreate, regenerate, propagate, pullulate, teem, swarm;
hatch, breed, spawn.
261. propensity
noun
Children have a propensity for candy: inclination, leaning, proclivity, predilection, liking, partiality,
weakness, preference, penchant; attraction, liking, affinity, sympathy, favor, pleasure, taste,
fancy; turn, bent, tendency, predisposition, bias, prejudice, disposition.
Antonyms
disinclination, aversion, loathing, dislike, hatred, antipathy, displeasure.
262. propitiate
verb
Offerings were made to propitiate the gods: appease, placate, pacify, calm, assuage, mollify,
conciliate, accommodate, soothe, allay.
Antonyms
anger, madden, infuriate, roil, pique, provoke.
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263. propriety
noun
Always conduct yourself with propriety: correctness; courtesy, decorum, good behavior,
decorousness, dignity, good manners, etiquette, formality, gentlemanly or ladylike behavior,
respectability; savoir faire, appropriateness, becomingness, applicability, fitness, suitableness,
seemliness, aptness, rightness.
Antonyms
impropriety, incorrectness, discourtesy, misbehavior, misconduct, bad manners, faux pas,
inappropriateness, unsuitability, unseemliness, inaptness, wrongness.
264. proscribe
verb
During the Renaissance the church proscribed scientific works like those of Galileo: denounce,
condemn, censure, disapprove, repudiate; curse, damn, anathematize; outlaw, prohibit, forbid,
interdict, ban, excommunicate; banish, exile; boycott.
Antonyms
allow, permit, encourage, aid.
265. pungent
adjective
1 The ribs were served with a hot, pungent sauce: sharp-tasting, highly flavored, savory, spicy,
flavorful, piquant, flavorsome, palatable, tasty, highly seasoned, salty, peppery, hot; nippy, tangy,
strong, stimulating, sharp; sharp-smelling, acrid, sour, acid, tart, astringent, vinegary, caustic,
bitter, acetous, biting, stinging, smarting, penetrating.
2 His pungent ridicule made him quite a few enemies: sharp, piercing, pointed, acute, trenchant,
keen, poignant; stinging, biting, mordent, caustic, invidious, cutting, incisive, penetrating,
sarcastic, smart, wounding, tart, acrimonious, bitter; stimulating, stirring, provocative, tantalizing,
racy, spicy, scintillating; sparkling, brilliant, clever, snappy, keen-witted, witty.
Antonyms
1 bland, mild; unsavory, unpalatable, flavorless, tasteless; weak, unstimulating.
2 dull, mild, moderate, inane, vapid; pointless.
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266. qualified
adjective
1 Take that dog to a qualified veterinarian: experienced, trained, competent, practiced, versed,
knowing; eligible, fit, fitted, equipped, suited, meet, equal; capable, adept, able, talented, skilled,
skillful, accomplished, expert; certified, licensed, authorized; efficacious, proficient, efficient.
2 He gave a qualified answer when I asked for definite assurances: limited, indefinite, conditional,
provisional, reserved, guarded; restricted, limited, hedging, equivocal, ambiguous.
Antonyms
1 inexperienced, untrained, unpracticed.
267. quibble
verb
1 The children quibbled over who got the bigger piece of cake: argue, bicker, squabble, hassle;
raise trivial objections, carp, nag, cavil, nitpick, haggle, niggle; pick a fight, spar, fence; be
evasive, dodge the issue, equivocate, waffle, fudge.
noun
2 A quibble over exact wording delayed passage of the bill: trivial objection, cavil, petty
distinction, nicety; evasion, equivocation, dodge, shift, shuffle, distraction, delaying tactic;
subtlety, subterfuge; white lie, prevarication, pretense, artifice, duplicity.
268. quiescent
quiescent (kwe es"*nt, kwi-), adj. being at rest; quiet; still; inactive or motionless: a quiescent
mind.
[160010; < L quiescent-, s. of quiescens, prp. of quiescere to rest; see -ENT]
quies"cently, adv.
quies"cence, quies"cency, n.
269. rarefied
adjective
The collectors had rarefied tastes: refined, esoteric, special, secret, recondite, inside, privileged.
270. recalcitrant
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adjective
The recalcitrant youth needed more understanding teachers: stubborn, obstinate, unwilling,
unsubmissive, headstrong, refractory, mulish, pigheaded, bullheaded, willful, contrary, balky,
unruly, disobedient, intractable.
Antonyms
obedient, compliant, amenable, submissive, yielding; controllable, manageable, governable.
271. recant
verb
Under cross-examination she recanted her previous testimony: retract, take back, deny, abjure,
withdraw, unsay, repudiate, disavow, renege, recall, revoke, renounce, rescind, disclaim, disown,
forswear, repeal, eat one's words, apostatize, change one's mind.
Antonyms
reaffirm, confirm, repeat, validate.
272. recluse
noun
The recluse emerged from his hideaway: hermit, solitary, ascetic.
273. recondite
adjective
She submitted a recondite thesis for her Ph.D.: profound, deep, abstruse.
Antonyms
clear, obvious, patent.
274. refractory
adjective
The refractory horse stopped dead in its tracks: stubborn, unmanageable, obstinate, perverse,
mulish, headstrong, pigheaded, contumacious, intractable, disobedient, recalcitrant,
cantankerous, ungovernable, unruly.
Antonyms
obedient, tractable.
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275. refute
verb
The accused was given no opportunity to refute the accusations: disprove, confute, give the lie to,
invalidate, counter, rebut, answer, challenge, contradict, deny.
Antonyms
prove, vindicate, support, confirm, corroborate, substantiate.
276. relegate
verb
1 They relegated the task to her: entrust, hand over, turn over, charge, commit, consign,
delegate, pass on, refer, assign.
2 They relegated him to the second division: demote, banish, eject, displace, expel, ostracize.
277. reproach
verb
1 He was severely reproached for his rude behavior: find fault with, chide, admonish, reprimand,
rebuke, reprove; criticize, censure, condemn, stigmatize, malign, vilify, revile, blame; scold,
upbraid, rail at, castigate, charge, tongue-lash, call to account, take to task; disparage, denounce,
asperse; shame, disgrace.
noun
2 Her behavior was above reproach. The workers feared their supervisor's reproaches: blame,
rebuke, reproof; upbraiding, scolding, remonstrance, criticism, censure, hard words, tirade,
diatribe.
3 The youth's bad behavior is a constant reproach to his parents: cause of blame, badge of
infamy, stigma, taint, blemish, stain, blot, spot, tarnish, slur; indignity, insult, offense; shame,
humiliation, degradation, embarrassment, scandal, disgrace, dishonor, discredit.
Antonyms
1 praise, commend, applaud, compliment.
2 commendation, compliment, praise, applause, honor.
3 honor, credit.
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278. reprobate
noun
1 The old reprobate never reformed: wicked person, degenerate, profligate, rou, prodigal, rake,
rakehell, immoralist, vo-luptuary, wanton, abandoned person; rascal, scamp, black sheep,
rapscallion, rotter; miscreant, sinner, transgressor, evildoer, wrongdoer, outcast, castaway,
pariah, derelict, untouchable.
adjective
2 He was a reprobate person with no redeeming qualities: corrupt, incorrigible, depraved,
profligate, degenerate, dissolute, abandoned, shameless; wicked, evil, evil-minded, low, base,
bad, vile.
Antonyms
1 angel, paragon, saint.
2 pure, virtuous, righteous, saintly, angelic.
279. repudiate
verb
1 The new government repudiated the treaty signed by the former rulers: reject, disavow, deny,
disclaim, protest; rescind, reverse, revoke, repeal, retract, void, nullify, annul, declare null and
void, abrogate, cancel, abolish, dissolve.
2 The man repudiated the religion he was born into and became an atheist: disown, disavow,
reject, cast off, discard, wash one's hands of, abandon, desert, forsake, renounce.
Antonyms
1 accept, approve; adopt, espouse.
2 acknowledge, accept, embrace, welcome.
280. rescind
verb
The judge rescinded the court's previous decision: revoke, reverse, retract, repeal, recall, take
back, invalidate, countermand, overrule, counterorder, override, set aside, discard, get rid of,
sweep aside; void, annul, abrogate, abolish, declare null and void, nullify, cancel, quash, dissolve.
Antonyms
uphold, support; validate.
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281. resolution
noun
1 The resolution passed by two votes: motion, formal proposition, proposal.
2 Have you made a New Year's resolution?: resolve, promise, intent, intention, purpose, plan,
design, ambition; objective, object, aim, goal.
3 He lacked the resolution to get through medical school: resoluteness, firmness of purpose, fixed
purpose, persistence, determination, tenacity, resolve, will power, perseverance, resilience,
steadfastness, stability, steadiness, constancy; zeal, earnestness, energy, indefatigability, mettle,
spirit, aggressiveness, follow-through.
4 He was faced with the resolution of a difficult matter: solution, resolving, clearing up, workingout.
282. reticent
adjective
T.E. Lawrence became an increasingly reticent man: taciturn, quiet, uncommu-nicative, silent,
sparing of words, close-mouthed, tight-lipped; reserved, retiring, shy, withdrawn, diffident, selfcontained, restrained, subdued, closed.
Antonyms
voluble, talkative, communicative, unreserved, expansive, inclined to speak freely, candid, frank,
open, plain.
283. reverence
noun
Aeneas' reverence toward his father was one of our Latin teacher's favorite themes: deep
respect, esteem, regard, honor, homage, deference, veneration, admiration, adoration, devotion,
worship; awe, fear; devoutness, piety, gesture indicative of deep respect, observance;
genuflection, prostration, religiosity.
Antonyms
irreverence, disrespect, disregard, scorn, contempt, dishonor; hatred.
284.sage
noun
1 The king brought difficult problems to a sage: wise man, magus, pundit, mage, philosopher,
savant, scholar, guru, mandarin, solon, Slang egghead.
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adjective
2 He was sage in his judgment: wise, sapient, shrewd, prudent; sensible, sound, sagacious,
knowing, astute, intelligent.
Antonyms
1 fool, idiot.
2 stupid, foolish, senseless.
285. salubrious
adjective
Regular exercise is salubrious: healthful, healthy, health-promoting, therapeutic, good for one,
salutary, bracing, beneficial, wholesome, lifegiving, invigorating.
Antonyms
unhealthful, unhealthy, harmful, unwholesome, insalubrious, deleterious.
286. sanction
noun
1 We received sanction to proceed with our plans: approval, commendation, endorsement,
assent, consent, permission, authorization; leave, liberty, license, authority; ratification,
confirmation, support.
2 The international community imposed sanctions on Rhodesia for its illegal political actions:
penalty, pressure, punitive measure, coercion.
verb
3 Our plan wasn't sanctioned by the board of directors: approve, endorse, authorize, legitimate,
allow, permit, countenance, accept, agree to, favor, ratify, support.
Antonyms
1 disapproval, forbiddance, refusal, ban, prohibition.
2 incentive, encouragement.
3 disapprove, reject, ban, prohibit.
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287. satiate
verb
It was a banquet that more than satiated our need for food: satisfy, fill, gratify, suffice, content;
slake, quench; glut, stuff, sate, surfeit, overfill, overdo, cloy, saturate; sicken, disgust, nauseate;
jade, bore, weary.
288. saturate
verb
1 Heavy rain saturated the playing field: soak thoroughly, drench, souse, douse; immerse,
submerge.
2 Dust saturated the attic: fill, infiltrate, cover, permeate, infuse, suffuse, pervade, impregnate,
imbue.
Antonyms
1 drain, dry.
289. savor
noun
1 This cake has the savor of nutmeg: taste, flavor, tang, spice, piquancy, pungency; smell,
aroma, odor, scent, fragrance; smack, relish, zest.
2 His words had the savor of vengeance: character, nature, particular quality, characteristic,
property, particularity, distinctive feature, peculiarity, trait, aura, quality; substance, essence, gist,
spirit, soul.
verb
3 Her sauce savored of garlic. This plan savors of treason: taste, smell, smack, have a touch,
show traces, have the earmarks, be suggestive.
4 He savored the cookies with cinnamon: spice, season, flavor.
5 We ate the stew slowly, savoring it: enjoy, relish, like; take pleasure in, delight in, luxuriate in,
rejoice in, appreciate.
6 He had savored power during his first term in office: experience, taste, sample, try.
290. secrete
verb
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The escaped convicts secreted themselves in a cave: hide, conceal, cache, Informal stash; cloak,
curtain, screen, veil, disguise; keep secret, keep under wraps, cover, shroud.
Antonyms
reveal, show, display, exhibit.
291. shard (shrd) also sherd, n.
1. a fragment, esp. of broken earthenware.
2. Zool.
a. a scale.
b. a shell, as of an egg or snail.
c. the hardened forewing of a beetle; elytron.
292. skeptic or sceptic
noun
He's too much of a skeptic to take anything simply on faith: doubter, doubting Thomas,
questioner, scoffer; agnostic, unbeliever, atheist.
293. solicitous
adjective
1 He was very solicitous about her office problems: concerned, thoughtful, mindful, regardful,
anxious, attentive.
2 The politicians do not seem overly solicitous to proceed in this investigation: eager, zealous,
desirous, longing, ardent, intense, keen, avid, enthusiastic, intent.
Antonyms
1 unconcerned, undisturbed.
2 uninterested, unambitious, unenthusiastic.
294. soporific
adjective
1 His soporific voice almost put us to sleep: hypnotic, somniferous, sleep-inducing, balmy,
sluggish, heavy.
2 This warm weather makes me soporific: sleepy, sluggish, drowsy, somnolent, slumberous;
lethargic, lazy.
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noun
3 Wine is a soporific for me: sedative, hypnotic; sleep-inducer.
Antonyms
1,2 lively, animated.
3 stimulant.
295. specious
adjective
He reached the wrong conclusion by specious reasoning: deceptive, misleading, fallacious,
questionable, casuistic, dubious, false, invalid, faulty, sophistical, unsubstantiated, unsound,
unfounded, incorrect, inaccurate, slippery, tricky, untrue, spurious, illogical.
Antonyms
valid, conclusive, undeniable, inescapable.
296. spectrum (spek"tr*m), n., pl. -tra (-tr*), -trums.

1. a. an array of entities, as light waves or particles, ordered in accordance with the magnitudes
of a common physical property, as wavelength or mass.
b. the band or series of colors, together with invisible extensions, produced by dispersion of
radiant energy, as by a prism.
2. a broad range of varied but related ideas, objects, etc., that form a continuous series or
sequence: the spectrum of political beliefs.
297. sporadic
adjective
We've had only sporadic snow flurries this month: irregular, spotty, scattered, sparse, spasmodic,
fitful, widely spaced, now and then, occasional, infrequent, periodic, fragmentary, intermittent,
discontinuous, few and far between, meager, few, thin, scarce, rare, isolated, uncommon;
haphazard, random.
Antonyms
continuous, regular, steady, constant.
298. stigma
noun
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There was no stigma attached to losing the election: disgrace, shame, odium, dishonor; blot,
blemish, brand, flaw, mark of shame, smirch, smudge, besmirchment, taint, tarnish.
Antonyms
glory, honor, distinction, credit, approval.
299. stint
verb
1 I'll have to stint my charity gifts this year: restrict, set limits to, give in small amounts, limit, cut
down on, reduce, be sparing with, restrain, constrain, circumscribe, check, curb.
2 One thing Mother never stints on is food: be sparing, hold back, scrimp, be frugal, save, deny
oneself, economize, pinch pennies, withhold, be parsimonious.
noun
3 She was assigned the most difficult stint. The band did a stint in Las Vegas: job, chore, task,
duty, work period, term, assignment, part, turn, shift, quota; engagement.
300. stipulate
verb
Our contract with the decorator stipulates the maximum amount he can charge us: specify, set
forth, insist upon, state, designate, indicate, name, cite, make a point of, make provision; promise,
pledge, guarantee, insure, grant, provide, allow, assure, agree, warrant.
301. stolid
adjective
He's too stolid to show excitement about anything: impassive, unemotional, apathetic, sluggish,
lethargic, phlegmatic, dull, obtuse, lumpish, bovine, dense; insensitive.
Antonyms
excitable, emotional, passionate, energetic, lively, active, animated, acute.
302. strait (strat), n.

1. Often, straits. (used with a sing. v.) a narrow passage of water connecting two large bodies of
water.
2. Often, straits. a position of difficulty, distress, or need.
3. Archaic. a narrow passage or area.
4. ISTHMUS.
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adj. Archaic.
5. narrow.
6. confined in area.
7. strict, as in requirements or principles.
303.strut
verb
He strutted into the restaurant as though he owned it: swagger, walk pompously, parade, sail,
sashay, peacock, promenade.
Antonyms
cringe, cower, slink, sneak.
304. subpoena
subpoena or subpena (s* pe"n*, s*b-), n., pl. -nas, v., -naed, -naing. Law.
n.
1. a writ to summon witnesses or evidence before a court.
v.t.
2. to serve with a subpoena
305.subside
verb
1 As the land subsides, the sea advances: settle, sink; drop, cave in, sag, descend.
2 My nervousness subsided when the plane landed. The crowds subsided: diminish, lessen,
abate, decrease, wane, moderate, level off, ebb, calm, recede, melt away, let up, ease, shrink,
dwindle.
Antonyms
1,2 rise; increase, swell.
2 grow, heighten, intensify.
306.substantiate
verb
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You haven't substantiated your argument at all: verify, corroborate, prove, demonstrate, show to
be true, confirm, authenticate, sustain, support.
Antonyms
disprove, refute, discredit, undermine, tear to shreds, explode
307.supersede
verb
This new drug will supersede all others in the treatment of the disease: supplant, replace, take
the place of, substitute for, displace, succeed; discard, set aside.
308.supposition
noun
That was only supposition. He acted on the supposition that the public would applaud his feat:
presumption, assumption, conjecture, opinion, predication, surmise, guess, guesswork, suspicion,
belief, theory, thesis, notion, view, speculation, hypothesis, proposition, postulate, idea, given.
Antonyms
certainty, surety, fact, knowledge
310.tacit
adjective
The neighbors had a tacit agreement not to park in front of each other's houses:
unexpressed, understood, assumed, implied, inferred, implicit, wordless, undeclared,
unspoken, unstated, taken for granted.
311. tangential
tangential (tan jen"sh*l), adj.
1. pertaining to or of the nature of a tangent; being or moving in the direction of a tangent.
2. incidental; peripheral.
3. divergent or digressive: tangential remarks.
[162030]
tangen'tial"ity (-she al"i te), n.
tangen"tially, adv.
312.tenuous
September 8, 2010
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adjective
Some legislators made a rather tenuous argument against the bill: weak, flimsy, shaky,
unsubstantial, unsupported, slight, slim, thin, slender, frail, fragile, delicate, gossamer, shallow,
paltry, unconvincing, halfhearted, uncertain, indefinite.
Antonyms
strong, solid, valid, substantial
313.tirade
noun
The principal delivered a tirade to the disobedient students. The political candidate let loose a
tirade against his opponent: long angry speech, harangue, diatribe, jeremiad, lecture, reprimand,
scolding, dressing-down, screed, fulmination; denunciation, condemnation, castigation,
vilification, invective, vituperation, curse.
Antonyms
good word, short eulogy, panegyric, complimentary speech, praising speech, laudation,
commendation, homage, paean.
314.torpidity
Her torpor may be due to illness: sluggishness, slow movement, inertia, lethargy, laziness,
languidness, listlessness, lassitude, indolence, languor, apathy, passiveness, dullness;
sleepiness, drowsiness, somnolence; inactivity, inertia.
Antonyms
energy, vigor, vim, pep, animation, liveliness, alertness; wide-awakeness
315.torturous
adjective
He had a torturous toothache. The losing candidate spent a torturous night listening to the
election returns: torturing, painful, agonizing, racking, cruel, anguishing, tormenting, distressing,
distressful, excruciating, miserable, harrowing, anguished, tormented, distressed, annoying,
irksome, unpleasant, galling, disagreeable.
Antonyms
painless, pleasant, pleasing, delightful, enjoyable, agreeable, welcome, comforting; gratifying;
contented, cheerful, joyous, happy.
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316.tractable
adjective
A dude ranch needs tractable horses for its guests: amenable, easy to manage, manageable,
easy to control, controllable, governable, obedient, trainable, teachable, docile, tame, submissive,
compliant, yielding.
Antonyms
intractable, unmanageable, uncontrollable, ungovernable, disobedient, wild, unruly, refractory,
headstrong, willful, stubborn, obstinate.
317. transgression
noun
The sinner prayed that his transgressions would be forgiven. Eavesdropping is a transgression on
another's privacy: offense, sin, misdeed, evil deed, trespass, lapse, iniquity, wrongdoing, wrong,
immorality, error; infraction, infringement, breach, encroachment, contravention, overstepping;
violation, infraction, crime, lawbreaking.
Antonyms
virtue, morality, probity, righteousness, grace, good deed, merit; observance, compliance,
adherence.
318. truculent
adjective
His truculent nature gets him into a lot of scrapes: belligerent, bellicose, aggressive, pugnacious,
hostile, defiant, fierce, nasty, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, ill-humored, ill-natured, snarling; surly,
cross, touchy, peev-ish, snappish, petulant, sour, ungracious, churl-ish, sulky, insolent, rude.
Antonyms
peaceful, gentle, kind, diffident, accommodating, friendly, gracious, amiable, affable.
319. vacillate
verb
1 He seemed certain about it yesterday, but today he's vacillating: waver, be irresolute, hesitate,
be unsettled, be doubtful, be changeable, fluctuate, falter, not know one's own mind, shilly-shally,
hem and haw, blow hot and cold.
2 The earthquake caused the entire house to vacillate: sway, move to and fro, rock, roll, toss,
pitch, shift, waver, totter, teeter, reel, oscillate, wobble, flutter, vibrate.
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Antonyms 1 be determined, be resolute, be steadfast, be certain, be settled.
320. venerate
verb
As a child he venerated his grandparents: revere, esteem, respect, honor, admire, idolize, adore,
cherish, extol, glorify, look up to, treat with deference, pay homage to, reverence, worship, hallow.
Antonyms
scorn, disdain, contemn, despise, detest, hate, execrate, dishonor; disregard, slight, spurn.
321. veracious
adjective
The veracious reporter was a stickler for detail: honest, truthful, accurate, dependable, faithful,
genuine, reliable, trustworthy, straightforward.
322. verbose
adjective
The senator is so verbose it takes him an hour to tell a simple joke: wordy, longwinded, voluble,
circumlocutory, effusive, grandiloquent, prolix, talkative, garrulous, gabby, loquacious.
Antonyms
terse, concise, succinct, pithy; reticent, curt, brusque.
323. viable
adjective
1 The fetus is considered viable at six months. No crops are viable in this barren soil: capable of
independent life, able to live, able to develop, able to thrive, capable of growing.
2 If the plan doesn't succeed do you have a viable alternative?: workable, practical, practicable,
feasible, usable, applicable, adaptable.
Antonyms
1,2 nonviable.
2 unviable, impractical, useless, unworkable, unusable.
324. viscous
September 8, 2010
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adjective Molasses is a liquid, but an extremely viscous one: thick, viscid, sticky, gluey, syrupy,
tacky, slimy, gummy, glutinous, Informal gooey.
325. vituperation
noun
Her simple mistake hardly merited so much vituperation: abuse, faultfinding, invective, scolding,
denunciation, censure, blame, tongue-lashing, revilement, obloquy, scurrility, castigation, tirade,
calumniation.
Antonyms
praise, acclaim, adulation, flattery.
326. volatile
adjective
1 Volatile liquids must be kept in very tightly closed containers: evaporating quickly, evaporable,
vaporizing, vaporous; gaseous.
2 The situation in the Middle East is volatile: explosive, eruptive; unstable, unsettled.
3 Richard is too volatile to stick with one job very long: changeable, erratic, unstable, variable,
unsteady, irresolute, fitful, spasmodic, unpredictable, undependable, inconstant, capricious,
mercurial, temperamental, moody, fickle, flighty, giddy, frivolous; brash, reckless, wild, rash.
Antonyms
1,2,3 stable.
2 calm, peaceful.
3 constant, consistent, steady, even-tempered, dependable, resolute, determined, coolheaded,
self-controlled, serious, sober.
327. warrant
noun
1 The police have a search warrant. There is a warrant out for the suspect's arrest: authorization,
permission, permit; license.
verb
2 Such actions warrant a severe reprimand: justify, provide grounds for, give sufficient reason for;
permit, authorize, license.
3 The manufacturer warrants that all parts are new: guarantee, certify, vouch for, pledge, swear,
attest, affirm, promise, vow, avow, assure, assert, declare, asseverate, aver.
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328. wary
adjective
It does no harm to be wary of new acquaintances: cautious, careful, guarded, suspicious, chary,
heedful, mindful, watchful, vigilant, on one's guard, alert, wakeful, wide-awake; discreet,
circumspect, close-mouthed, prudent.
Antonyms
unwary, unsuspecting, unguarded, rash, reckless, foolhardy, careless, heedless, incautious;
negligent, remiss.
329. welter
verb
1 The huge waves weltered throughout the night. The dog weltered happily in the muddy puddle:
roll, toss, heave, writhe; wallow, grovel, tumble about.
noun
2 Sort this welter of dirty clothes for the laundry: jumble, mass, heap, mess, pile, hodgepodge.
3 It's hard to hear above the welter of street noises: confusion, tumult, commotion, turmoil,
hubbub, racket, bustle; turbulence, storm, tempest.
330. whimsical
adjective
1 Jerry is much too whimsical to be a businessman: fanciful, capricious, notional, eccentric,
quixotic; fickle, fitful, inconsist-ent, erratic, changeable, chimerical.
2 Her essay on the care and feeding of husbands is pleasantly whimsical: droll, amusing,
waggish, fanciful, quaint.
Antonyms
1 staid, serious, sedate, sober, practical, down-to-earth, pragmatic, matter-of-fact; steady,
consistent.
331. zealot
noun
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1 It takes a real zealot to be a top-notch car salesman: believer, enthusiast, partisan, champion,
devotee, fan, buff; go-getter, pusher, hustler, live wire, eager beaver.
2 Religious zealots wanted the entire population to wear sackcloth and ashes: fanatic, true
believer, obsessed person, bigot, extremist, crank, crackpot, nut.

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September 8, 2010

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self-indulgent, abandoned, undisciplined, uncontrolled, hedonistic, profligate, licentious,

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2 deteriorate, go downhill, decline, weaken, worsen.

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Keep secret, keep quiet about.

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Light, facile, easy, simple, effortless, smooth.

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1 unadventurous, unenterprising; cowardly, fainthearted, craven, frightened, timid, pusillanimous,

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Deny, disavow, disclaim, repudiate; doubt, be uncertain, gainsay.

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Praise, laud, compliment, honor; reward, encourage.

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Liquefy, melt, dissolve, and soften.

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Unobliging, contrary, unsolicitous, uncooperative, indifferent; disagreeable, unpleasant, cold,

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Praise, commend, acclaim, exalt, boost.

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2 credit, prove, support, accept, verify.

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8. to make a gouge in: to gouge one's leg.

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sly, cunning, deceitful, crafty, tricky, deceptive, artful; treacherous, fraudulent

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296. spectrum (spek"trm), n., pl. -tra (-tr), -trums.