GRE High Frequency Words

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A list of thousands of High freaquency GRE words.

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GRE 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, auiet, 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, maqnify, enhance, heighten, aqqravate, amplify, qrow; multiply, rise, come up, strenqthen, sharpen, heat up; quicken, accelerate, hurry, speed, speed up; prolonq, extend. 2.Aberrant Adjective 1 The planet's orbit was plainly aberrant: straying, stray, deviating, deviate, wandering, errant, erring, devious, erratic, ramblinq, diverging, diverqent. 2 Aberrant behavior led to his confinement: abnormal, irregular, unusual, odd, eccentric, peculiar, exceptional, weird, queer, curious, singular, strange; unconforming, nonconforming, anomalous. —Antonyms direct. 1 2 normal. 3. Abeyance Noun The building project will be held in abeyance until spring: postponement, suspension, intermission, remission, deferral, adiournment, 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 self-indulgent, abandoned, undisciplined, uncontrolled, hedonistic, profliqate, 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, enioin. 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, gatherina, accumulation, collection, amassing, bringing together, summation, mixture, mix, blend, mass, conglomeration, conglomerate. 9. Alacrity noun 1 She answered his call for assist-ance with alacrity: willingness, enthusiasm, eaqerness, fervor, zeal, avidity; alertness, promptness, dispatch, readiness. 2 Despite his 80 years, he moved with alacrity: liveliness, briskness, sprightliness; aqility, nimbleness. —Antonyms 1 unwillingness, indifference, unconcern, apathy, impassiveness, reluctance, disinclination; lanquor, letharqy, dullness. 2 slowness, sluqqishness. 10.alleviate verb
This medication will alleviate the soreness: relieve, ease, allay, assuaqe; lessen, reduce, abate, diminish, check, temper, lighten, soften, mitiqate, 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, merqe, fuse, mix, comminqle; unite, unify, join together, consolidate, coalesce, incorporate, federate, inteqrate, synthesize. —Antonyms separate, pact, 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 explicit, definite, specific, direct, conclusive; clear, plain, frank, unmistakable, obvious, simple, lucid; unquestionable, honest. 13.ambivaIent adjective I have ambivalent thoughts on where to spend my vacation: contradictory, conflictinq, 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, proqress, come along, mend, show improvement. —Antonyms
ruin, botch, queer, screw up, wreck, destroy. 1 2 deteriorate, go downhill, decline, weaken, worsen. 15. Anachronism a•nach•ro•nism ( * nak 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. [1640—50; < L anachronismus < Gk anachronismös a wrong time reference = anachron(izein) to make a wrong time reference (see ANA-, CHRONO-, -IZE) + -ismos -ISM] a•nach I ro•nis "tic, a•nach ro•nous, adj. a•nach I ro•nis"ti•cal•ly, a•nach " an•a•chron•i•cal•ly (an ' * kron "ik le), adv. 16. analogous adjective The heart is analogous to a pump: similar, like, comparable, akin, equivalent, parallel, correlative, corresponding. —Antonyms dissimilar, unlike; different, diverqent 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 order, discipline, authority; qovernment, orqanization, control; reqimentation, subjection. 1 18.AnomaIous 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 common, usual, standard, typical, familiar, unexceptional, ordinary, natural, normal, reqular, conventional, customary. 1
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 affinity, fellow feeling, reqard, 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, feelinq, excitement, passion, zeal, vehemence, enthusiasm, fervor. 21 .Appease Verb 1 Nothing would appease the crying baby: calm, make peaceful, pacify, auiet, soothe, solace, mollify, lull, compose, placate. 2 That sandwich appeased my appetite: satisfy, ease, allay, abate, assuage, alleviate, temper, mitigate, relieve; slake, quench, auell, blunt, still, quiet, dull. 3 Chamberlain should never have tried to appease Hitler: conciliate, accommodate, propitiate. —Antonyms 1 2 3 aggravate, provoke, inflame, arouse. disturb, upset, bother, annoy, dissatisfy, perturb. 1 3 anqer, enraqe, infuriate; antaqonize, 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, enliqhten.
—Antonyms 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, reiection, 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, assiqn, earmark. 3 The county should appropriate land for a new highway: take possession of, take, confiscate, expropriate. —Antonyms inappropriate, improper, ill-suited, unsuitable, unsuited, unfitting, incongruous, unbefitting, unseemly, incorrect, wrong, 1 inconsonant, incompatible, outré; uncharacteristic, out of place, inopportune, irrelevant. 2 withhold. 3 qive, 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, touqh, troublesome, onerous, tcyj.ng, full of hardships, formidable, severe, Herculean; viaorous, strenuous, energetic. —Antonyms Light, facile, easy, simple, effortless, smooth. 26.ArtIess Adjective 1 Her love was as artless as a child's: frank, candid, open, honest, true, guileless, innocent, naive, simple, humble, straightforward; sincere, unpretentious, trusting, undesigning, open-hearted, 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 cunninq, crafty, sly, wily, dishonest, deceitful, desiqninq, artful, insincere, pretended, faked, Ph.Q.ny, false, counterfeit; 1 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, riqorous, self- mortifying. —Antonyms hedonist, sensualist, voluptuary, sybarite, bon vivant. 1 2 self-indulgent, indulaent, pampered, luxurious, comfortable; abandoned, dissolute, voluptuous, sensuous, sensual, sybaritic. 28.Assiduous Adjective It takes assiduous work to learn Russian. I admire an assiduous student: diliqent, industrious, hardworking, laborious, unremitting, determined, persistent, persevering, earnest, steadfast, constant, tenacious, dogged, untirinq, tireless, unflagging, indefatiqable, sed-ulous. —Antonyms indolent, lazy, idle; haphazard, casual, cavalier, lax, hit-or-miss, undetermined, inconstant, happy-go-lucky_. 29.Assuage Verb Liniment will assuage the pain, but soaking in hot water does the injury more good: allay, ease, relieve, mitiqate; lighten, lessen, soften; mollify, alleviate, soothe, calm, quiet, still, pacify, appease, temper, take the edge off, tone down. —Antonyms Intensify, aqqravate, irritate, exacerbate, heighten, sharpen, increase, auqment; 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 broadens, make thick, make coarse, make fat, enlarqe, expand. 1 2 increase, amplify, intensify, auqment, strenqthen, 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 1 unadventurous, unenterprising; cowardly, fainthearted, craven, friqhtened, timid, pusillanimous, Slang yellow, chickenhearted, lily-livered. 2 careful, quarded, discreet; prudent, circumspect, cautious, iudicious. 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, forbiddinq, ascetic. 2 The Puritans led austere lives: rigorous, riqid, Spartan, ascetic, self-denying, abstemious, strict, simple, spare, stark, strait-laced, chaste. —Antonyms permissive, lenient, indulqent, easy, flexible, lax; frivolous, gay, cheerful, ioyful, merry, liqhthearted, iovial, jolly, iaunty, 1 nonchalant, lively, exuberant, vivacious, effervescent, high-spirited, playful, convivial; kindly, kind, sweet, genial. 2 luxurious, lush, comfortable, easy; sophisticated, cosmopolitan; loose, corrupt, dissolute, dissipated, debauched, deqenerate, 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, subiect. 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 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, unimaqinative, everyday, stock, humdrum, dull, uninterestinq, conventional, stereotyped, insipid, threadbare, shopworn, tired, corny, cliché-ridden, vapid, platitudinous, bromidic, jejune. —Antonyms Original, new, novel, unique, exciting, fresh, unusual, extraordinary, innovative, distinctive, stimulating, stimulative, U.jppj.n.g, 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; disquise, camouflaqe, mask, conceal, cloak. —Antonyms proves, verify, attest to, validate, support, confirm, corroborate. 1 2 represent, reveal, disclose, indicate. 37. Beneficent Adj. doing good or causing good to be done; charitable. 1 .BeneficiaI Adjective Exercise is beneficial to good health: helpful, advantaqeous, propitious, useful, valuable, contributive, favorable, profitable, productive; healthful, healing, good for. —Antonyms
Useless, detrimental, detractive, disadvantaqeous; unfavorable, harmful, pernicious, unwholesome. 38. Bolster Verb 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: qrandiloquent, pompous, windy, padded, inflated, magniloquent, tumid, turqid, verbose, wordy. —Antonyms Temperate, unpretentious, modest, natural, simple, unaffected, deflated, quiet. 40. Boorish Adjective She considers the peasants boorish: crude, rude, coarse, vulqar, unrefined, unpolished, uncouth, qauche, 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 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, p.cgp, 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, strenqthen, 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 Praise, laud, compliment, honor; reward, encourage. 47. Catalyst cat•a•lyst (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. [1900-05; CATALY(SIS) + (-1)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, lovinq, pleasant, pleasing, qentle, 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 Certain drugs cause blood to coagulate: clot, congeal; solidify, set, gel, jell, jellify, harden, curdle; thicken. —Antonyms 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, convincina, 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, correspondinq, 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: diaest, abridament, condensation, abstract, brief, epitome, overview, précis, summary. 55.CompIaisant Adjective The host's complaisant manner made everyone feel welcome: obliqinq, solicitous, pleasinq, aqreeable, compliant, cordial, congenial, affable, warm, gracious, friendly, pleasant, amiable, good-natured, good-humored, easygoing. —Antonyms 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.ConciIiatory 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, iustify, absolve, forqet. —Antonyms
Condemn, denounce, censure, disapprove; punish, castiqate. 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 Enliqhten, explain, solve, clear up, clarify. 60. Connoisseur Noun The old gentleman was a connoisseur of fine wines: expert, iudqe, authority, mavin, person of good taste, cognoscente; epicure, qourmet. 61 . Contention Noun 1 Border raiding led to even more contention: struqqle, strife, conflict, combat, altercation, feud, wranqle, rivalry, contest; arqument, debate, dispute, disaqreement, 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. 2. 3. tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome: a contentious crew. causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy: contentious issues. pertaining to causes between contending parties involved in litigation. con•ten "tious•ly, adv. con•ten "tious•ness, 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, eniqma, mystery, poser, puzzler, paradox, arcanum, brain-teaser, stumper, stopper, Chinese puzzle, rebus, problem. 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, couraqeous, heroic, fearless, valorous, valiant, dauntless; bold, darinq, 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, encouraqe, cheer, animate, enliven. 69. Decorum Noun Jennifer always acts with decorum: —Antonyms ro riet , politeness; tact, qentility, respectability, diqnity, taste; good form.
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, reqard; obedience, capitulation. —Antonyms Disrespect, contempt; defiance, disobedience. 72.deIineate de•lin•e•ate (di lin "e at l), v.t., -at•ed, -at•ing. 1 . to trace the outline of; represent pictorially. 2. to portray in words; describe with precision. (-* b*l), adj. de•lin 'le•a 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, disparaqe, run down, besmirch, downqrade, 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 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 oriqinal, archetypal, authentic, qenuine, seminal. 1 77. Desiccate des•ic•cate (des "i kat ' ), v. , -cat•ed, -cat•ing. 1 . to dry thoroughly; dry up. 2. to preserve (food) by removing moisture; dehydrate. 3. to become thoroughly dried. [1565—75; < L desiccatus dried up, ptp. of desiccare = de- + siccare, der. of siccus dry] des I ic•ca "tion, n. des "iceca tive, adj. des "iceca tor, n. 78. Desultory des•ul•to•ry (des " *l tör ' 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. [1575—85; < 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 " ul•to I ri•ly, adv. des " ul•to ri•ness, n. 78.deterrent Noun
Punishment is not necessarily a deterrent to crime: restraint, curb, hindrance, check, discouraqement. 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 di•chot•o•my (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. [1600-10; < Gk] 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 self-assurance; 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, ramblinq, long-winded, lacking conciseness, disiointed, digressive, not concentrated, desultory, roundabout, wandering, meandering, maundering, circumlocutory. —Antonyms concentrated. 1 2 succinct, concise, terse, pj_thy, 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. 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, iudicious, sage, sagacious, clear-sighted, sharp- sighted; showing discernment, quick to discern, having keen insight. —Antonyms Undiscerninq, unperceptive, indiscriminate. 87.discordant dis•cord•ant (dis kör"dnt), adj. 1 . being at variance; disagreeing; incongruous. 2. disagreeable to the ear; dissonant; harsh. [1250-1300; ME discordaunt< AF < L] dis•cord " ant•ly, adv. 88. discredit verb 1 She discredited his good name with ugly gossip: defame, abuse, dishonor, impair the reputation of, disqrace, 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, challenqe, question. Antonyms credit, praise, laud. 1 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, disaqreement, discordance, lack of correspondence, disparity, dissimilarity, divergence, incongruity, qap. —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 Inqenuous. 92. Disinterested Adjective We need a disinterested party to settle the argument: impartial, unbiased, neutral, free from bias, unpreiudiced, impersonal, outside, uninvolved, dispassionate, free from self-interest. —Antonyms Partial, biased, prejudiced, selfish, having an axe to grind. 93.Disjointed Adjective 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: ramblinq, mixed-up, confused, spasmodic, disconnected, disorqanized, jumbled, tangled, chaotic, disharmonious, discontinuous, heteroqeneous, incoherent, irrational, illoqical. —Antonyms 1 jointed, connected, attached. 2 sensible, coherent, loqical. 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, adiourn, 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 1 trust her and dismiss any suggestion of dishonesty: put out of mind, set aside, disregard, disclaim, discard, lay aside, repudiate, eliminate. —Antonyms hold, detain, recall. 1 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, deniqrate, demean, undervalue, underrate, depreciate, sliqht, detract from, derogate. —Antonyms Applaud, praise, laud, extol, acclaim, commend, compliment, appreciate. 96. disparate adjective Their views are unusually disparate for brothers: dissimilar, different, unlike, contrasting, at odds, at variance, discrepant, discordant. —Antonyms similar, like, homoqeneous, parallel, accord-ant. 97. dissemble verb
He tried to dissemble his disappointment with a joke: hide, mask, disquise, camouflaqe, feiqn, 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, ianqle, jarring, noise. 2 Dissonance in the merged companies broke out almost at once: disharmony, antaqonism, breach, break, conflict, disaqreement, discord, disparity, dissension, dissidence, disunion, division, divorce, hostility, incongruity, inconsistency, Ljjt, rupture, schism, variance. 101. distend verb The children's stomachs were distended by malnutrition: swell, bloat, swell out, expand, bulqe, 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, disaqree, be at odds. —Antonyms 1 converges, agree, concur. 103. divest verb 1 He divested himself of his clothing: strip or remove (clothinq), disrobe; take off, get out of, peel off. 2 During the Depression, the family was divested of its home: deprive, dispossess; L.Id, strip, free. —Antonyms clothe, dress, cover. 1 104. document noun 1 There are many documents containing the king's signature: official paper, record, instrument, legal form. 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, domineerinq; stubborn, obstinate. 2 The Nicene Creed is one of the most important dogmatic statements of the Christian faith: doctrinal, expressing dogma. —Antonyms diffident, vacillating, uncertain; docile, complaisant. 1 106. dormant adjective The geyser has been dormant for five years: inactive, quiescent, idle; sleeping, somnolent; hibernating. —Antonyms active, operative, movinq, 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, hoodwi nk. 108. ebullience noun Her ebullience could not be denied: enthusiasm, exuberance, animation, buoyancy, effervescence, effusiveness, elation, excitement, exhilaration, vitality, vivaciousness, vivacity, liveliness, high spirits. —Antonyms apathy, lifelessness. 109. eclectic adjective The disc jockey played an eclectic selection of music: mixed, assorted, catholic, diverse, heteroqeneous, multifarious, wide- ranging, varied, qeneral. 110. efficacious adjective None of the prescriptions were efficacious: effective, capable, successful, serviceable, effectual, efficient. —Antonyms ineffective. 1 11. effrontery noun What effrontery to barge in uninvited!: shamelessness, brazenness, brashness, impertinence, insolence, impudence, presumption, arroqance, 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. —Antonyms repress, discouraqe. 114. Embellish Verb He embellished his signature with a series of curlicues: enhance, elaborate, exaqqerate, ornament, decorate, adorn, beautify, qarnish, 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, praqmatic; 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, CQQY, imitate, • try to equal, rival; mimic, ape. 1 17.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 2. 3. (of disease or anything resembling a disease) constantly present to greater or lesser extent in a particular locality. (ecology) native to or confined to a certain region Originating where it is found
---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 wash out, fatique, tire, prostrate, Slang bush, fag, tucker. one's energy, —Antonyms energize, inviaorate, strenathen, vitalize, stimulate, quicken. 119. engender verb Respect can engender love: give rise to, cause, bring about, beqet, breed, qenerate, produce, occasion, precipitate. —Antonyms kill, end, crush. 120. enhance verb The splendid dress enhanced her beauty: intensify, heighten, maanify, make more attractive, make more appealing; elevate, lift, raise, boost; redouble, embellish, auament, 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-niqht, flitting, fugacious. —Antonyms permanent, lasting, enduring, everlastina, perpetual, abidina. 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, aqitation, 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, thouahtful, intelliaent, well-reasoned, wise, sapient. —Antonyms uninformed, uneducated, illiterate, unscholarly; shallow, unthinkinq; rash, ill-advised. 125. esoteric adjective 1 Some fields of science seem hopelessly esoteric to the layman: incomprehensible, abstruse, recondite, arcane, cryptic, eniqmatic, 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 obvious, clear, plain, simple. 1 2 public, open, exoteric. 126. eulogy Noun Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is a great eulogy: oration of praise, praise of the dead, encomium, paneqyric; high praise, tribute, homaqe, 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.excuIpate 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, auandary, plight, strait, extremity, difficulty, hardship; Slang pickle, pinch, scrape, u, iam. 2 We have to cope with the exigencies of daily living: requirements, necessities, demands, needs, constraints, urgencies. 131. extrapolate ex•trap•o•late (ik strap " * lat ' v., -Iat•ed, -Iat•ing. 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. 4. to perform extrapolation. [1825-35; EXTRA- + (INTER)POLATE] ex•trap o•la "tion, n. tive, adj. ex•trap"o•la tor, n. 132. facetious adjective He kept us laughing with his facetious remarks: humorous, funny, amusing, iocular, joking, iovial, jesting, witty, clever, iocose, 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. 134. Fallacious Adjective The rumors were patently fallacious: incorrect, false, deceptive, erroneous, deluding, fictitious, illusory, fraudulent, invalid, mistaken, misleading, off, sophistic, spurious, unfounded, ungrounded, wrona, 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, iudicious, 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, inqratiatinq, scraping, kowtowing, subservient, submissive. 137. Felicitous Adjective 1 Champagne is for weddings and other felicitous occasions: _appy, ioyful, ioyous, 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, eaaerness, zest, warmth; piety, devoutness, seriousness, purposefulness. —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: siqnal, 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, beqinner, 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; reqard, respect, esteem. 142.foment verb
He did his best to foment a quarrel between the brothers: stir up, incite, foster, promote, instiqate, provoke, urqe, excite, stimulate, qalvanize, foster; rouse, arouse, kindle, inflame, spur, qoad, aqitate; irritate, aqqravate, exacerbate, quicken, fan the fire, fan into flame, blow the coals. —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, savinq, 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; triflinq, trivial, insiqnificant, empty, petty, frivolous, unimportant. —Antonyms effective, fruitful, successful; profitable, useful, worthy; important, siqnificant. 146. gainsay gain•say (gan "sa , gan sa v.t., -said, -say•ing. 1 . to deny; dispute; contradict. 2. to speak or act against; oppose. [1250—1300; ME gainsaien; see AGAIN, SAYI 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. —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, urqe, 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, goug•ing. 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. 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). 8. to make a gouge in: to gouge one's leg. 9. to extort from or overcharge. 10. to engage in extortion or swindling. [1300—50; < MF < LL gu(l)bia, perh. < Celtic; cf. Olr gulba sting, Welsh gy/fbeak, Cornish gilb borer]
goug 'ler, n. 150. Grandiloquent Adjective The grandiloquent speech went on for over an hour: hiqh-flown, high-sounding, flowery, florid, qrandiose, pompous, pretentious, bombastic, inflated, turaid, 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, retirinq, 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 sly, cunninq, 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, areen, simple. —Antonyms Cynical, suspicious, untrusting, hard to convince; sophisticated, worldly. 154. harangue ha•rangue (h* rang n., v. , -rangued, -rangu•ing.
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. 4. to address in a harangue. 5. to deliver a harangue. [1530—40; < MF < It ar(r)inga speech, oration, n. der. of ar(r)ingare to speak in public, v. der. of aringo public square < Go *hriggs RINGI] syn See SPEECH. 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, single-minded attention, infatuation, senseless attachment, madness, mania. 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 Chanqeable, unstable, alterable, flexible, variable. .160. impair verb The water shortage impaired the city's fire-fighting capacity: hinder, damaqe, mar, hurt, vitiate, harm, cripple, subvert, iniure, 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. 163. impermeable im•per•me•a•ble (im pür"me * b*l), adj. 1. not permeable; impassable. 2. (of porous substances, rocks, etc.) not permitting the passage of a fluid. [1690-1700; < LL] im•per I "i•ty, n. im•per"me•a•bly, 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 susceptible, vulnerable. 1 2 open, exposed, susceptible, sensitive, liable, prone.
166. implacable adjective It was impossible to negotiate with such an implacable enemy: irreconcilable, unappeasable, inexorable, unamenable, inflexible, intractable, unpacifiable, uncompromisinq, relentless, unrelentinq. —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 im•plode (im plod v., -plod•ed, -plod•ing. 1 . to burst inward (opposed to explode). 2. to pronounce (a consonant) with implosion. [1880-85; IM-I + (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 170. inchoate adjective The architect began with a vague, inchoate design and then worked out the details: beqinninq, buddinq, incipient, commencing, embryonic, nascent; shapeless, formless, unformed, unshaped, amorphous; unorqanized, uncohesive, disiointed, disconnected.
—Antonyms formed, shaped; finished, completed. 1 71 .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: conflictinq, 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, insiqnificant, neqliqible, nuqatory, meaninqless, piddlinq, petty, picayune. —Antonyms consequential, important, momentous, siqnificant, meaninqful, crucial. 173. incorporate verb The committee incorporated the investigator's findings in its report: include, embody, work in, consolidate, fuse, amalqamate, introduce into, assimilate. 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, vaque, undefined; ambiquous, 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, hard-up. —Antonyms wealthy, moneyed, rich, affluent, comfortable, solvent, flush. 176. indolent adjective The indolent boy was fired: lazy, slothful, habitually idle, inactive, easyqoinq, shiftless, slack, sluqqish, inert, letharqic, do- nothing, listless, lumpish, lackadaisical, dawdling, dilatory. —Antonyms industrious; busy, diliqent, conscientious, assiduous, sedulous; enerqetic, strenuous, viqorous, active. 177. inert adjective The man was so inert he seemed dead: motionless, static, immobile, stationary, inactive, quiescent, still, passive, inanimate, impassive; listless, phleqmatic, sluqqish, dull, numb, supine, slack, torpid, lanquid. —Antonyms dynamic; animated; active, alert, kinetic, brisk, lively, enerqetic, viqorous. 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, trustina, straightforward; Slang up front, straight- shooting. —Antonyms worldly-wise, iaded, disinqenuous; 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, inqrained, 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 hurtful, deleterious, harmful, insidious, obnoxious, damaqinq, iniurious, offensive, malicious. 1 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. 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 deny. 1 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 interestinq, zestful, punqent, spirited, spunky, provocative, engaging, lively, stimulating, excitinq, piquant, colorful. 2 pungent, piquant, spicy; fiery, peppery, gingery; savory, flavorful, tasty, palatable, appetizing; gusty. 184.insuIarity (state of being insulated) insulate
verb Thick walls insulated the house: shield, protect, cocoon, cushion, line, wrap; isolate, keep apart, seclude, seauester, separate. 185. intractable adjective The intractable child refused to obey: stubborn, perverse, headstrona, ornery, hard to cope with, obstinate, willful, unmanageable, obdurate, incorrigible, mulish, unruly, fractious, froward, refractory, ungovernable, uncontrollable, contumacious, unmalleable, inflexible. —Antonyms tractable, obedient, docile, submissive, subdued; compliant, acquiescent, amiable. 186. intransigent adjective The intransigent strikers refused to negotiate: uncompromisinq, stubborn, intractable, obdurate, iron-willed, steadfast, diehard, unyieldinq, unmovable, unbudgeable, inflexible. —Antonyms compromising, yieldinq, 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, strenathen, 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, railinq, billingsgate. —Antonyms
praise, honor, commendation. 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, arouchy, peevish. —Antonyms qood-natured, amiable, qentle, mild, placid, serene, tranquil, easyqoinq. 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, unwaverinq, 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, iournal, 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. 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,
lanquor, 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, intanqible, 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, sluqqish, slothful, indifferent, passive, inert, listless, apathetic. —Antonyms eneraetic, viaorous, alert, active, responsive, briaht, 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. 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 qravity, seriousness, sobriety, earnestness, solemnity, diqnity. 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, iournal, 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: shininq, briqht, clear, transparent, crystalline, brilliant, resplendent, radiant, lustrous, luminous, scintillatinq, sparkling, dazzling; pellucid; illuminated. 2 The witness gave a lucid account of what happened: clear, easily understood, crystal clear, intelliqible, understandable, articulate, comprehensible; precise, direct, straiqhtforward, accurate, specific, well-organized, to the point, apposite, positive, certain. 3 Although usually in a delirium, the patient has some lucid moments: clearheaded, clear thinking, normal, rational; responsive, perceptive. —Antonyms dark, darkling, gloomy, dusky, obscure, opaque, turaid, muddy, murky; overcast. 1 2 unintelliqible, incomprehensible, vaque, indistinct, unclear, ambiquous, equivocal, garbled, mystifying. 3 confused, muddled, irrational; unresponsive, unperceptive. 203. luminous adjective The watch has a luminous dial: reflecting light, luminescent, radiant, irradiated, alowing, lustrous, illuminated, shinina; 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, dodqe, 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. 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: lyj_ng, 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, exactinq, minutely careful, solicitous about details, painstakinq, precise, nice, finical, finicky, fussy, particular; punctilious, perfectionist. —Antonyms careless, inexact, imprecise, SI.QPPY, negligent. 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, lovinq, 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, assuaqe, 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, mitiqate, allay, reduce, palliate, conciliate, make less violent, decrease, soften, pacify, soothe, tone down, quiet, lighten, temper, abate, ease, assuaqe, curb, check, dull, lull, blunt. —Antonyms exasperate, exacerbate, aqitate, 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, qood-natured, pleasant, qenial, amiable, friendly. 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, abroqate, 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, unfeelina, harsh, merciless, unmerciful, unpitying, pitiless, unsympathetic, uncompassionate, unsparing, untouched; hardened, callous, cruel, cold-blooded, hardhearted. —Antonyms obedient, aqreeable, compliant, flexible, amenable; manageable, docile, tractable. 1
2 compassionate, sympathetic, caring, feelinq, merciful, pitying, relenting, softhearted, kind, qentle, 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 domineerinq, overbearinq, swaggering, lordly, imperious, proud, hauqhty, arroqant, impudent, brash, bold, assertive, forceful, aqqressive. 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, sidetrack, ward off, turn aside, stave off, fend off, Informal nip in the bud. —Antonyms necessitate, require, make essential, obliqe, impel, cause, make unavoidable. 221. occlude verb Waste materials seem to be occluding the drain: obstruct, block, cloq, 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. —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, weiqhty, demandinq, qrievous. —Antonyms
easy, light, simple, effortless, trivial, triflinq. 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 complimentary, flattering, approving, praising, laudatory, uncritical. 1 2 honorable, noble, meritorious, upright, ethical, principled, virtuous, moral; becominq, praiseworthy, worthy, laudable, noteworthy, estimable. 225. oscillate verb 1 The clock's pendulum caught the sunlight as it oscillated: swinq, 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, chanqe, eauivocate. 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, grandiose, affected, hiah-flown; conspicuous, pretentious, flamboyant, flashy, showy, gaudy, garish, loud, florid, overdone, exaaqerated, 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, insuraent; (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, subiective. —Antonyms 1 detractor, defamer, censor, critic, backbiter, knocker; opponent, foe, adversary, rival, contender. 3 nonpartisan, bipartisan, unbiased, impartial, unprejudiced, disinterested, objective, broad-minded, open-minded. 229. pathological path•o•log•i•cal (path ' * loj "i k*l) also path adj. 1 . of or pertaining to pathology. 2. caused or affected by disease. 3. characterized by an unhealthy compulsion: a pathological liar. [1680—90] path adv. 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, straiqhtforward; vaque; qeneral, 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, preiudice, bias; flair, bent, readiness, turn, knack, gift. —Antonyms
hatred, dislike, loathinq, 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, QEQ.spe-rj.tY, opulence, luxury, eleqance, abundance, affluence. 234. perennial adjective He sat there with that perennial grin on his face: perpetual, everlastinq, permanent, constant, incessant, unceasing, ceaseless, continual, continuous, unremitting, persistent; fixed, changeless, unchanging, immutable, durable, imperishable, indestructible, lasting, enduring, long-lasting, undying, timeless, unfailing, long-lived. —Antonyms temporary, occasional, sporadic, intermittent, periodic, evanescent; perishable, transient, fleetinq, 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, unthinkinq, cursory, inattentive, lax, hasty, superficial, routine, mechanical, halfhearted, lukewarm, apathetic, spiritless, listless, passionless; neqliqent. —Antonyms careful, thorouqh, thouqhtful, diliqent, assiduous, attentive, warmhearted, effusive, spirited, ardent, keen, zealous. 237. permeable per•me•a•ble (pür"me * b*l), adj. capable of being permeated. [1400—50; late ME < LL permeabilis = permea(re) to PERMEATE + -bilis -BLE] per " me•a•ble•ness, n. per" me•a•bly, adv.
238. pervasive adjective Ill feeling was pervasive at the plant: pervading, prevalent, permeating, widespread, common, extensive, qeneral, 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, lanquid, letharqic, sluqqish, dull, passive, unfeelinq, 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, sacrileqe, ungodliness, blasphemy, irreverence; disrespect, disloyalty, infidelity. 241. placate verb No one can placate him when he's angry: calm, soothe, pacify, auiet, lull, mollify, assuage, alleviate; appease, propitiate, win over, conciliate. 242. Plasticity. plas•tic•i•ty (pla stis "i te), n. 1 . the quality or state of being plastic. 2. the capability of being molded: the plasticity of clay. [1775-85] 243. platitude noun The speech was dull and full of platitudes: trite remark, stereotyped expression, cliché, 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 shortaqe, 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; sponqy. 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, hard-nosed, materialistic, unsentimental. —Antonyms idealistic, theoretical; romantic, dreamy, sentimental. 248. preamble pre•am•ble (pre " am I 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. [1350—1400; ME < ML praeambulum, n. use of neut. of LL praeambulus walking before. See PRE-, AMBLE] pre 'lam I 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 certain, sure, secure, dependable, reliable, unquestionable. 1 2 safe, steady, stable. 250. precipitate verb 1 The war precipitated his induction into the army: hasten, bring on, auicken, 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; headlonq, reckless, rash, incautious, foolhardy, imprudent, thouqhtless, impetuous, impulsive. 251. precursor noun The polite letters were only precursors to blackmail: vanquard, advance guard, forerunner; harbinqer, messenqer; usher, herald; predecessor, antecedent; siqn, token, mark, omen, portent, warninq; symptom. 252. presumptuous adjective 1 It was presumptuous of the young senator to challenge the leadership so soon: bold, audacious, darina, overconfident, overfamiliar, forward, nervy, shameless, brash, brazen, brassy, fresh, cocky. 2 Her presumptuous airs made her disliked by many: haughty, proud, snobbish, assumina, overbearina, lofty, patronizing, pompous, lordly, imperious; disdainful, contemptuous, domineering, dictatorial, arroaant. 253. prevaricate verb She may have prevaricated a bit about her illustrious forebears: lie, fib, stretch the truth, dissemble, periure, 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: inteqrity, uprightness, honesty, virtue, high- mindedness, morality, character, principle, honor, trustworthiness, incorruptibility, straightness, decency, qoodness, righteousness. —Antonyms dishonesty, duplicity, unscrupulous, corruption. 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, profliqate. —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, thouqhtful, wise, saqacious, saqe, penetratinq, piercinq, learned, erudite, intellectual, scholarly, educated; knowledqeable, comprehensive, recondite, omniscient, all-knowing; philosophical, reflective, thouqhtful, well-considered, sober, serious, sober-minded; informed, well-informed, knowinq, enliqhtened. 2 His death had a profound effect on her: deep, severe, abiect, extreme; thorouqh, thoroughgoing, far-reaching, radical, utter, out-and-out, complete, consummate; penetratinq, piercinq, 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, abiect. —Antonyms shallow, superficial, unwise, stupid, unlearned, uneducated, unknowledgeable, thouqhtless, inconsiderate; uninformed, 1 unenliahtened; imprudent. 2 sliqht, 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, reqenerate, propagate, pullulate, teem, swarm; hatch, breed, spawn. 261. propensity noun Children have a propensity for candy: inclination, leaninq, proclivity, predilection, likinq, partiality, weakness, preference, penchant; attraction, likinq, affinity, sympathy, favor, pleasure, taste, fancy; turn, bent, tendency, predisposition, bias, preiudice, disposition. —Antonyms disinclination, aversion, loathinq, dislike, hatred, antipathy, displeasure. 262. propitiate verb Offerings were made to propitiate the gods: appease, placate, pacify, calm, assuaqe, mollify, conciliate, accommodate, soothe, allay. —Antonyms anqer, madden, infuriate, roil, p.lgue, provoke.
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, encouraqe, 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, 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, piercinq, pointed, acute, trenchant, keen, poiqnant; stinging, bitinq, mordent, caustic, invidious, cuttinq, incisive, penetratinq, sarcastic, smart, wounding, tart, acrimonious, bitter; stimulating, stirring, provocative, tantalizing, racy, spicy, scintillating; sparkling, brilliant, clever, SEPPY, keen-witted, witty. —Antonyms bland, mild; unsavory, unpalatable, flavorless, tasteless; weak, unstimulating. 1 2 dull, mild, moderate, inane, vapid; pointless. 266. qualified adjective 1 Take that dog to a qualified veterinarian: experienced, trained, competent, practiced, versed, knowinq; 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 inexperienced, untrained, unpracticed. 1 267. 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, haaqle, 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, dodqe, shift, shuffle, distraction, delaying tactic; subtlety, subterfuqe; white lie, prevarication, pretense, artifice, duplicity. 268. quiescent qui•es•cent (kwe es " *nt, kwi-), adj. being at rest; quiet; still; inactive or motionless: a quiescent mind. [1600—10; < L quiescent-, s. of quiescens, prp. of quiescere to rest; see -ENT] qui•es " cent•ly, adv. qui•es"cence, qui•es " cen•cy, n. 269. rarefied adjective The collectors had rarefied tastes: refined, esoteric, special, secret, recondite, inside, privileqed. 270. recalcitrant adjective The recalcitrant youth needed more understanding teachers: stubborn, obstinate, unwillinq, unsubmissive, headstronq, refractory, mulish, piaheaded, bullheaded, willful, contrary, balky, unruly, disobedient, intractable. —Antonyms obedient, compliant, amenable, submissive, yieldinq; controllable, manageable, governable. 271. recant verb Under cross-examination she recanted her previous testimony: retract, take back, deny, abiure, withdraw, unsay, repudiate, disavow, reneqe, 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, headstronq, piqheaded, contumacious, intractable, disobedient, recalcitrant, cantankerous, ungovernable, unruly. —Antonyms obedient, tractable. 275. refute verb The accused was given no opportunity to refute the accusations: disprove, confute, give the lie to, invalidate, counter, rebut, answer, challenqe, 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, consian, delegate, pass on, refer, assign. 2 They relegated him to the second division: demote, banish, eiect, 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 praise, commend, applaud, compliment. 1 2 commendation, compliment, praise, applause, honor. 3 honor, credit. 278. reprobate noun 1 The old reprobate never reformed: wicked person, degenerate, profligate, roué, 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, incorriqible, depraved, profliqate, deqenerate, dissolute, abandoned, shameless; wicked, evil, evil-minded, low base, bad, vile. —Antonyms anqel, paraqon, saint. 1 2 pure, virtuous, righteous, saintly, angelic. 279. repudiate verb 1 The new government repudiated the treaty signed by the former rulers: reiect, 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, reiect, cast off, discard, wash one's hands of, abandon, desert, forsake, renounce. —Antonyms accept, approve; adopt, espouse. 1 2 acknowledae, 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. 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; obiective, obiect, aim, goal. 3 He lacked the resolution to get through medical school: resoluteness, firmness of purpose, fixed purpose, persistence, determination, tenacity, resolve, will power, resilience, steadfastness, stability, steadiness, constancy; zeal, perseverance, earnestness, enerqy, indefatigability, mettle, spirit, aggressiveness, follow-through. 4 He was faced with the resolution of a difficult matter: solution, resolving, clearing up, working-out. 282. reticent adjective T.E. Lawrence became an increasingly reticent man: taciturn, auiet, uncommu-nicative, silent, sparing of words, close- mouthed, tight-lipped; reserved, retirinq, shy, withdrawn, diffident, self-contained, 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, reqard, honor, homaqe, deference, veneration, admiration, adoration, devotion, worship; awe, fear; devoutness, iet P—Y, 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, quru, mandarin, solon, Slang egghead.
adjective 2 He was sage in his judgment: wise, sapient, shrewd, prudent; sensible, sound, sagacious, knowing, astute, intelligent. —Antonyms fool, idiot. 1 2 stupid, foolish, senseless. 285. salubrious adjective Regular exercise is salubrious: healthful, healthy, health-promoting, therapeutic, good for one, salutary, bracina, beneficial, wholesome, lifegiving, inviaoratinq. —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, leqitimate, allow, permit, countenance, accept, agree to, favor, ratify, support. —Antonyms disapproval, forbiddance, refusal, ban, prohibition. 1 2 incentive, encouragement. 3 disapprove, reiect, ban, prohibit. 287. satiate verb It was a banquet that more than satiated our need for food: satisfy, fill, qratify, suffice, content; slake, quench; qlut, stuff, sate, surfeit, overfill, overdo, cloy, saturate; sicken, disqust, 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 drain, dry. 1 289. 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, particularity, distinctive feature, peculiarity, trait, aura, auality; 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: enioy, 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 The escaped convicts secreted themselves in a cave: hide, conceal, cache, Informal stash; cloak, curtain, screen, veil, disquise; keep secret, keep under wraps, cover, shroud. —Antonyms reveal, show, display, exhibit. 291. shard (shärd) also 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; aqnostic, 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: eaqer, zealous, desirous, longing, ardent, intense, keen, avid, enthusiastic, intent. —Antonyms unconcerned, undisturbed. 1 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, sluqqish, drowsy, somnolent, slumberous; letharqic, lazy. 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, S!jP.Q.e.LY, tricky, untrue, spurious, illoqical. —Antonyms valid, conclusive, undeniable, inescapable. 296. spec•trum (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, reqular, steady, constant. 298. stigma noun There was no stigma attached to losing the election: disgrace, shame, odium, dishonor; blot, blemish, brand, flaw, mark of shame, smirch, smudqe, besmirchment, taint, tarnish. —Antonyms glory, honor, distinction, credit, approval. 299. stint verb 1 1'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, auota; 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, pledae, guarantee, insure, grant, provide, allow, assure, aqree, warrant. 301. stolid adjective He's too stolid to show excitement about anything: impassive, unemotional, apathetic, sluqqish, letharqic, phleqmatic, dull, obtuse, lumpish, bovine, dense; insensitive. —Antonyms excitable, emotional, passionate, enerqetic, 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. 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: swaqqer, walk pompously, parade, sail, sashay, peacock, promenade. —Antonyms crinqe, cower, slink, sneak. 304. subpoena sub•poe•na or sub•pe•na (s* pe " , S*b-), n., pl. -nas, v., -naed, -na•ing. Law. n. 1 . a writ to summon witnesses or evidence before a court. 2. to serve with a subpoena 305.subside 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
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, coniecture, opinion, predication, surmise, guess, guesswork, suspicion, belief, theory, thesis, notion, view, speculation, hypothesis, proposition, postulate, idea, given. —Antonyms certainty, surety, fact, knowledqe 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 tan•gen•tial (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. [1620-30] tan•gen (-she al "i te), n. tan•gen "tial•ly, adv. 312.tenuous 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
stronq, 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, paneqyric, complimentary speech, praising speech, laudation, commendation, homaqe, paean. 314.torpidity Her torpor may be due to illness: sluggishness, slow movement, inertia, lethargy, laziness, languidness, listlessness, lassitude, indolence, lanquor, 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, disaqreeable. —Antonyms painless, pleasant, pleasing, delightful, enioyable, agreeable, welcome, comforting; gratifying; contented, cheerful, ioyous, happy. 316.tractabIe 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, headstronq, 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, wronq, 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: belliqerent, bellicose, aqqressive, puqnacious, hostile, defiant, fierce, nasty, ill-tempered, bad-tempered, ill-humored, ill - natured, snarling; surly, cross, touchy, peev-ish, snappish, petulant, sour, unaracious, churl-ish, sulky, insolent, rude. —Antonyms peaceful, qentle, kind, diffident, accommodatinq, friendly, qracious, 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. —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; disreqard, sliqht, spurn. 321. veracious adjective The veracious reporter was a stickler for detail: honest, truthful, accurate, dependable, faithful, qenuine, reliable, trustworthy, straiqhtforward. 322. verbose adjective The senator is so verbose it takes him an hour to tell a simple joke: wordy, longwinded, voluble, circumlocutory, effusive, qrandiloquent, prolix, talkative, qarrulous, 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 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 23 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: iustify, provide grounds for, give sufficient reason for; permit, authorize, license. 3 The manufacturer warrants that all parts are new: quarantee, certify, vouch for, pledge, swear, attest, affirm, promise, vow, avow, assure, assert, declare, asseverate, aver. 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, unsuspectinq, unquarded, rash, reckless, foolhardy, careless, heedless, incautious; neqliqent, 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: iumble, mass, heap, mess, pile, hodqepodqe. 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- erratic, chanaeable, chimerical. ent, 2 Her essay on the care and feeding of husbands is pleasantly whimsical: droll, amusinq, waqqish, fanciful, quaint. —Antonyms staid, serious, sedate, sober, practical, down-to-earth, pragmatic, matter-of-fact; steady, consistent. 1 331. zealot noun
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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