Recently Added Articles Page #122

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 ...

misanthropic - vocabulary

adjectiveCharacterized by a mistrustful scorn or hatred of humankind; having a sneering disbelief in humankind.Note: The noun misanthrope (a person) is a hater of humankind. The noun misanthropy refers to the hatred itself. Wilhelm checked his feelin...

misnomer - vocabulary

nounA name wrongly or mistakenly applied; an inappropriate or misapplied designation or name. Cat-nap is a short nap taken while sitting; cat-ladder a kind of ladder used on sloping roofs of houses; cat-steps, the projections of the stones in the sla...

missive - vocabulary

nounA message in writing; a letter. George read one sentence in this letter several times. Then he dropped the missive in his wastebasket to join the clipping, and strolled down the corridor of his dormitory to borrow a copy of “Twelfth Night.” H...

mitigate, militate - vocabulary

See the discussion under militate, mitigate.Grammar.com's section on Problem Words discusses militate and mitigate. Click here for that discussion....

moribund - vocabulary

adjectiveAbout to die; on the verge of termination or extinction; on the verge of becoming obsolete. Of the twenty or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each ca...

munificent - vocabulary

adjectiveCharacterized by generous motives, extremely liberal in giving. The noun is munificence. Yesterday was a big moment in the annals of congressional munificence. While the Senate was increasing the government's borrowing limit and growing the ...

myriad - vocabulary

nounA vast indefinite number.adjectiveInnumerable. Note: Throughout most of its history in English myriad was used as a noun, as in a myriad of men. In the 19th century it began to be used in poetry as an adjective, as in myriad men. Both usages in E...