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alacrity - vocabulary

alacrity - noun A state of cheerful willingness, readiness, or promptness; liveliness or briskness, as in He accepted the promotion with alacrity. I have not that alacrity of spirit Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have.—William Shakespeare Ric...

added by edgood
7 years ago

amenable - vocabulary

amenable - adjective Willing or ready to answer, serve, agree, yield, or act; agreeable, tractable; legally responsible or answerable, as in She was amenable for her husband’s debt. Despite the document's adoption, however, it was clear that the mo...

added by edgood
7 years ago

anachronism - vocabulary

anachronism - noun Anything or anyone not in the correct historical or chronological time; an error in the assignment of a date or time to a person, thing, or event, as in To describe Mozart in the 19th century is an anachronism. In a consultation ro...

added by edgood
7 years ago

anathema - vocabulary

anathema -noun A person or thing loathed, hated, or detested; a curse or execration, as in This topic is anathema to him.Note: The plural is anathemas. Give me your anathema. Speak new damnations on my head. The evening mist in the hills is soft. The...

added by edgood
7 years ago

anecdote, antidote - vocabulary

anecdote, antidote anecdote - noun A brief account of an interesting or even amusing event or incident. When the ladies removed after dinner Elizabeth ran up to her sister, and seeing her well guarded from cold, attended her into the drawing-room, wh...

added by edgood
7 years ago

antediluvian - vocabulary

antediluvian - adjective Of or pertaining to the times, things, events before the great flood in the days of Noah; something old-fashioned, antiquated, out-of-date. “And is it true the younger Vlassiev girl’s to marry Topov?”“Yes, they say it...

added by edgood
7 years ago

aphorism - vocabulary

aphorism - noun A terse saying that embodies a general truth, as in (with apologies to Lord Acton) Power corrupts and Power Point corrupts absolutely.Note: In The World in a Phrase, his 2005 history of the form, James Geary laid down his "Five Laws o...

added by edgood
7 years ago

apposite - vocabulary

apposite - adjective Appropriate, well-suited, apt, relevant, suitable. The opposite is inapposite, often used by lawyers to put down opponents’ arguments. Like most writers, [Millard] Kaufman is an avid reader; he calls F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

approbation - vocabulary

approbation - noun Approval, commendation, official sanction. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

apostasy, apostate - vocabulary

apostasy, apostate - noun Apostasy: a total departure from one’s religious, political, or personal beliefs and principles.Apostate: a person who forsakes his or her religious, political, or personal beliefs and principles.Note: Apostate can also be...

added by edgood
7 years ago

arrogate - vocabulary

arrogate - verb To take, demand, or claim, especially presumptuously or without reasons or grounds. This second source of men, while yet but few, . . . Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace, . . . Shall spend their days in joy unblamed, and dwel...

added by edgood
7 years ago

ascetic - vocabulary

ascetic - adjective Given to severe self-denial and practicing excessive abstinence and devotion. Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her ch...

added by edgood
7 years ago

askance - vocabulary

askance - adverb Usually describes the act of looking or glancing; with suspicion or mistrust, as in He looked askance at his boss, who seemed to bring bad tidings. “Do you suppose he can possibly recover?” said Levin, watching a slender tress at...

added by edgood
7 years ago

assiduous - vocabulary

assiduous - adjective Constant or unremitting activity, as in assiduous exercise; constant in application or effort; diligent or persevering, as in an assiduous medical student. Callendar's concern was pursued in the 1950s by numerous American scient...

added by edgood
7 years ago

assuage - vocabulary

assuage - verb To cause to be less harsh, severe, or violent, usually in reference to appetite, pain, disease, or excitement, as in She assuaged the pain of her terminally ill patient. As psychologists begin to explore the boundaries of regret, marke...

added by edgood
7 years ago

astringent - vocabulary

astringent - noun A substance that contracts canals or tissues in the body; in cosmetics, a substance that cleans the skin and constricts the pores.adjectiveHarsh in disposition or character; in medicine, constricting or contracting. About the size a...

added by edgood
7 years ago

audacious - vocabulary

audacious - adjective Fearless, bold, daring, as in an audacious explorer; extremely original or inventive, as in his audacious vision for improving the tax laws. The Bush administration's audacious plan to rebuild Iraq envisions a sweeping overhaul ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

augur - vocabulary

augur - verb Note: Used as either a transitive verb (where the verb requires an object) or an intransitive verb (where the verb does not require an object). Also note the spelling. The noun auger is a drill.Augur (transitive): to divine, predict, or ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

avarice - vocabulary

avarice - noun An unquenchable desire for riches; a miserly desire. By avarice and selfishness, and a groveling habit, from which none of us is free, of regarding the soil as property, or the means of acquiring property chiefly, the landscape is defo...

added by edgood
7 years ago

aver - vocabulary

aver - verb To assert or affirm with confidence; to declare in a preemptory or positive manner. In law, to allege something as a fact, often followed by a that clause, as in The plaintiff averred that defendant was negligent. So General Grant, after ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

averse - vocabulary

averse - adjective Strongly disinclined, a strong feeling of opposition, as in She was averse to taking the risk.Note: Often used with the negative not, as in I am not averse to having yet another glass of fine pinot noir. I've never downloaded a pod...

added by edgood
7 years ago

banal - vocabulary

banal - adjective Drearily commonplace, hackneyed, trite, lacking in originality. If you killed off Lizzie McGuire's entire family and sent her to live with an evil stepmother and two stepsisters in the Valley, you'd have the basic setup for "A Cinde...

added by edgood
7 years ago

belie - vocabulary

belie - verb To misrepresent, to show to be false; to refute, disprove, gainsay. Often used to show an action directly contrary to the true situation, as in His shaking hands belied his calm smile and voice. Hitler's outward hatred for Jews and Russi...

added by edgood
7 years ago

bemoan - vocabulary

bemoan - verb To lament; to express grief or distress over; to regard with disapproval or regret. Back in May, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly admonished young folks for thinking of work as a "four-letter word," prompting a shaming from her own ...

added by edgood
7 years ago

beset - vocabulary

beset - verb To attack on all sides, to assail, to harass, as in beset by financial difficulties; to surround or hem in, as in the little town beset on all sides with housing developments; to place or set upon, as in the ring beset with diamonds.Note...

added by edgood
7 years ago

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    Quiz

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    Choose the sentence with correct use of the indefinite pronoun:
    A Few have finished the assignment.
    B Someone is waiting for a bus.
    C Everybody should bring their own lunch.
    D Each of the students is presenting his own project.