Recently Added Articles Page #116

ingratiate - vocabulary

verbTo win confidence or good graces for oneself, especially through deliberate effort. “Yes, this is a monument he is setting up here,” said Anna, turning to Dolly with that sly smile of comprehension with which she had previously talked about t...

inimical - vocabulary

adjectiveAdverse in effect or tendency, harmful, unfavorable; unfriendly, hostile. In other words, Mr. Dimmesdale, whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware that something inimical to his ...

insatiable - vocabulary

adjectiveIncapable of being satisfied or appeased, as in an insatiable thirst for fine wine. Sonia said this as though in despair, wringing her hands in excitement and distress. Her pale cheeks flushed, there was a look of anguish in her eyes. It was...

inscrutable - vocabulary

adjectiveIncapable of being analyzed, investigated, or scrutinized; impenetrable, not easily understood; unfathomable; mysterious, as in an inscrutable smile; incapable of being seen through, as in the inscrutable depths of the ocean. We have as yet ...

insidious - vocabulary

adjectiveIntended to beguile or entrap, as in an insidious plot; stealthily deceitful or treacherous, as in an insidious foe; proceeding in a seemingly harmless way but actually with dangerous effect, as in an insidious disease. She was terror-strick...

insipid - vocabulary

adjectiveLacking interesting, stimulating, or distinctive qualities, as in an insipid, boring speaker; without a sufficient taste to be pleasing, as in an insipid meal. Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two e...

intrepid - vocabulary

adjectiveFearless, courageous, and bold. Unchecked, the tourist will climb over the fence and come right into your house to take pictures of you in your habitat. Cities mindful of tourists have built elaborate “tourist traps” which, luckily, work...

intrinsic - vocabulary

adjectiveBelonging to a thing by its nature, inherent, as in the intrinsic value of gold. And yet, beyond that, she hardly knew what he had—save of course his intrinsic qualities. Oh, he was intrinsic enough; she never thought of his even looking f...

invective - vocabulary

nounAn utterance intended to cast censure or reproach; vehement denunciation; an insulting word or utterance. The art of invective resembles the art of boxing. Very few fights are won with the straight left. It is too obvious, and it can be too easil...

inveigh - vocabulary

verbTo utter vehement censure or invective, to protest strongly (often followed by against). Senate Democrats who oppose President Bush's Iraq policy spoke today against Condoleezza Rice's nomination to be secretary of state, signaling that they inte...

invidious - vocabulary

adjectiveCalculated to cause ill will or resentment; hateful, as in invidious remarks; offensively or unfairly injurious, as in invidious discrimination; tending to cause animosity. The invidious effects of such mass, roundup urinalysis is that it ca...

lackadaisical - vocabulary

adjectiveWithout vigor, determination, or interest; lethargic; listless; indolent.Note: This word is not pronounced with an x, as in laxadaisical. Start the word with lack. Those who stop obey orders. Able-bodied, clean-minded women we want also—mo...

liable, libel - vocabulary

adjectiveLiable: legally responsible; subject or susceptible to; likely or apt. Note: Liable is often interchangeable with likely in constructions with a following infinitive where the sense is that of probability: The Sox are liable (or likely) to s...

literal - vocabulary

adjectiveInvolving or being the strict or primary meaning of the word or words; not figurative; not metaphorical; actual or factual, not exaggerated.Note: Many people use literal when they don’t mean it, as in We were literally dead from exhaustion...

loquacious - vocabulary

adjectiveTalkative, tending to talk too much, chattering, babbling, garrulous. I found it not difficult, in the excitement of Mr. Chillip’s own brain, under his potations of negus, to divert his attention from this topic to his own affairs, on whic...

macrocosm - vocabulary

nounThe great universe or world, the universe considered as a whole; the total complex structure of something. This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.—John Steinbec...

magnanimous - vocabulary

adjectiveGenerous in treating or judging others, generous in forgiving an insult; free from petty vindictiveness; noble, high-minded. Vronsky felt his elevation and his own abasement, his truth and his own falsehood. He felt that the husband was magn...

maudlin - vocabulary

adjectiveFoolishly sentimental; tearfully and weakly emotional. The young ladies did not drink it; Osborne did not like it; and the consequence was that Jos, that fat gourmand, drank up the whole contents of the bowl; and the consequence of his drink...

mendacious - vocabulary

adjectiveUntrue, false; habitually telling lies, dishonest. For the last week, I've been intimately involved with Jack Nicholson. He's both a charmer and a cliché. Passionate about truth in his art and a mendacious hypocrite in real life. Wildly gen...

meretricious - vocabulary

adjectiveShowy, gaudy, tawdry; deceptively pleasing, based on pretense; also relating to a prostitute, as in a meretricious relationship. “She is charming,” thought Eugène, more and more in love. He looked round him at the room; there was an ost...

meticulous - vocabulary

adjectiveTaking extreme care with minute details; precise; thorough. Moreover, in his tremendous prophecy of this kingdom which was to make all men one together in God, Jesus had small patience for the bargaining righteousness of formal religion. Ano...

mettle - vocabulary

nounCourage or fortitude; also temperament or disposition, as in a woman of fine mettle. In truth, the Geats’ prince gladly trusted his mettle, his might, the mercy of God! Cast off then his corselet of iron, helmet from head; to his henchman gave,...

microcosm - vocabulary

nounA small representative system analogous to the larger system. Thus one can see in the Negro church to-day, reproduced in microcosm, all that great world from which the Negro is cut off by color-prejudice and social condition. In the great city ch...

mien - vocabulary

nounAir, demeanor, or bearing, which shows feeling or character. My Lord advances with majestic mien, Smit with the mighty pleasure to be seen.—Alexander Pope Moral Essays: Epistle to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington (1731)...

militate, mitigate - vocabulary

verbMilitate: to influence strongly. The word militate is intransitive and is usually accompanied by the preposition against. For if it happened that an individual, even when asleep, had some very distinct idea, as, for example, if a geometer should ...