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Quick, shrewd, and unpredictable
Her mercurial personality made it difficult to guess how she would react to the bad news.
Synonyms: clever; crafty; volatile; whimsical |
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A curse; a wish of evil upon another
The frog prince looked for a princess to kiss him and put an end to the witch's malediction.
Synonyms: anathema; imprecation |
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Poweful or influential person
The enterntainment magnate bought two cable TV stations to add to his collection of magazines and publishing houses
Synonyms: dignitary; luminary; nabob; potentate; tycoon |
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Whirlpool; turmoil; agitated stated of mind
The transportation system of the city had collapsed in the maelstrom of war.
Synonyms: Charybdis; eddy; turbulence |
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Extremely plain or secluded, as in a monastery
The philosopher retired to his monastic lodgings to contemplate life free from any worldly distraction
Synonyms: austere; contemplative; disciplined; regimented; self-abnegating |
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Lacking foresight; having a narrow view or long-range perspective
Not wanting to spend a lot of money up front, the myopic business owner would likely suffer the consequences later
Synonyms: short-sighted; unthinking |
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Plot or scheme
Tired of his enemies' endless machinations to remove him from the throne, the kind had them executed
Synonyms: cabal; conspiracy; design; intrigue |
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Diverse
Ken opened the hotel room window, letting in the multifarious noises of the great city
Synonyms: assorted; indiscriminate; hetergeneous; legion; motley; multifold; multiform; multiplex; populous; varied |
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Fixed customs or manners; moral attitudes
In keeping with the mores of ancient Roman society, Nero held a celebration every weekend
Synonyms: conventions; practices |
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Dishonest
So many of her stories were mendacious that I decided she must be a pathological liar
Synonyms: Deceitful; false; lying; untruthful |
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Capable of being shaped
Gold is the most malleable of precious metals; it can easily be formed into almost any shape
Synonyms: Adaptable; ductile; plastic; pliable; pliant |
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To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill
A common way to avoid the draft was by malingering - pretending to be mentally or physically ill so as to avoid being taken by the army
Synonyms: shirk; slack |
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A person who dislike others
The Grinch was such a misanthrope that even the sight of children singing made him angry
Synonyms: curmudgeon |
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Overly sentimental
The mother's death should have been a touching scene, but the movie's treatment of it was so maudlin that, instead of making the audience cry, it made them cringe.
Synonyms: bathetic; mawkish; saccharine; weepy |
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To damage or deface; spoil
Telephone pole mar the natural beauty of the countryside
Synonyms: blemish; disfigure; impair; injure; scar |
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To calm or make less severe
Their argument was so intense that it was difficult to believe any compromise would mollify them
Synonyms: appease; assuage; conciliate; pacify |
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Figure of speech comparing two different things
The metaphor "a sea of troubles" suggests a lot of troubles by comparing their number to the vastness of the sea.
Synonyms: allegory; analogy; simile; symbol |
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Extremely careful; fastidious; painstaking
To find all the clues at the crime scene, the meticulous investigators examined every inch of the sea.
Synonyms: finicky; fussy; picky; precise; punctilious; scrupulous |
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No variation; tediously the same
The monotony of the sound of the dripping faucet almost drove the research assistant crazy
Synonyms: drone; tedium |
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To shed hair, skin, or an outer layer periodically
The snake molted its skin and left it behind in a crumpled mass
Synonyms: cast; defoliate; desquamate |
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A written note or letter
Priscilla spent hours composing a romantic missive for Elvis
Synonyms: message |
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Frivolityl gaiety laughter
Vera's hilarious jokes contributed to the general mirth at the dinner party
Synonyms: glee; hilarity; jollity; merriment |
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To operate against; work against
Lenin militated against the tsar for years before he overthrew him and established the Soviet Union
Synonyms: influence; affect; change |
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To soften; to lessen
A judge may mitigate a sentence if she decides that a person committed a crime out of need
Synonyms: Allay; alleviate; assuage; easy; lighten; moderate; mollify; palliate; temper |
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Gaudy; falsely attractive
The casino's meretricious decor horrified the cultivated interior designer.
Synonyms: flashy; insincere; loud; specious; tawdry |
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Beggar
"Please, sir, can you spare a dime?" begged the mendicant as the businessman walked past
Synonyms: panhandler; pauper |
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Strict disciplinarian; one who rigidly follows rules
A complete martinet, the official insisted that Pete fill out all the forms again even though he was already familiar with his case
Synonyms: dictator; stickler; tyrant |
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Artificial or stilted in character
The portrait is an example of the mannered style that was favored in that era
Synonyms: affected; unnatural |
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