behaupten, durchsetzen, feststellen, versichern

verb
1 they asserted that all aboard were safe: declare, maintain, contend, argue, state, claim, propound, proclaim, announce, pronounce, swear, insist, avow; formal: aver, opine; rare: asseverate.
2 we find it difficult to assert our rights: insist on, stand up for, uphold, defend, contend, establish, press for, push for, stress.

aufhalten, behindern, erschweren, hemmen, hindern, vereilteln

verb
your efforts to impede our progress will be unsuccessful: hinder, obstruct, hamper, hold back/up, delay, interfere with, disrupt, retard, slow (down), hobble, cripple; block, check, stop, scupper, scuttle, thwart, frustrate, balk, foil, derail; informal: stymie, throw a (monkey) wrench in the works of; dated cumber. antonym: facilitate.

herausfordern, sich über etw. hinwegsetzen, trotzen, Paroli bieten

verb
1 he defied local law: disobey, go against, flout, fly in the face of, disregard, ignore; break, violate, contravene, breach, infringe. antonym: obey.
2 his actions defy belief: elude, escape, defeat; frustrate, thwart, baffle.
3 he glowered, defying her to mock him: challenge, dare.

nagen, wurmen, für Verdruss sorgen

verb
Rumsfeld's remarks rankled the Palestinians: cause resentment to, annoy, upset, anger, irritate, offend, affront, displease, provoke, irk, vex, pique, nettle, gall; informal: rile, miff, peeve, aggravate, tick off.

fruchtbar, produktiv, reich

adjective
1 a prolific crop of tomatoes: plentiful, abundant, bountiful, profuse, copious, luxuriant, rich, lush; fruitful, fecund; literary: plenteous, bounteous.
2 a prolific composer: productive, creative, inventive, fertile.

öffentlichkeitsscheu, allein, zurückgezogen, sehr scheu

adjective
a reclusive life in the mountains: solitary, secluded, isolated, hermitlike, hermitic, eremitic, eremitical, cloistered. antonym: gregarious.

Mut, Heldenmut, Tapferkeit

noun
medals awarded for acts of valor: bravery, courage, pluck, nerve, daring, fearlessness, audacity, boldness, dauntlessness, stout-heartedness, heroism, backbone, spirit; informal guts, true grit, spunk; moxie.
antonym: cowardice.

Ehrlichkeit; Genauigkeit; Redlichkeit, Treue

noun
1 fidelity to her husband: faithfulness, loyalty, constancy; trueheartedness, trustworthiness, dependability, reliability; formal: troth. antonym: infidelity, disloyalty.
2 fidelity to your king: loyalty, allegiance, obedience; historical homage, fealty. antonym: disloyalty.
3 the fidelity of the reproduction: accuracy, exactness, precision, preciseness, correctness; strictness, closeness, faithfulness, authenticity. antonym: inaccuracy.

unanfechtbar, unangreifbar

adjective
1 an unassailable fortress: impregnable, invulnerable, impenetrable, inviolable, invincible, unconquerable; secure, safe, strong, indestructible. antonym: defenseless.
2 his logic was unassailable: indisputable, undeniable, unquestionable, incontestable, incontrovertible, irrefutable, indubitable, watertight, sound, rock-solid, good, sure, manifest, patent, obvious.

komisch, belustigt, skeptisch, spöttisch, zweifelnd

adjective
a quizzical look on her face: inquiring, questioning, curious; puzzled, perplexed, baffled, mystified; amused, mocking, teasing.

aggressiv, streitlustig, angriffslustig

adjective
1 a belligerent attitude: hostile, aggressive, threatening, antagonistic, warlike, warmongering, hawkish, pugnacious, bellicose, truculent, confrontational, contentious, militant, combative; informal: spoiling for a fight, trigger-happy, scrappy. antonym peaceable, friendly.
2 belligerent nations: warring, at war, combatant, fighting, battling. antonym: peaceful, neutral.
 

schwer fassbar, schwer zu fassen, flüchtig, ausweichend

adjective
1 her elusive husband: difficult to find; evasive, slippery; informal: always on the move.
2 an elusive quality: indefinable, intangible, impalpable, ambiguous.
 

Aufschwung, steiler Anstieg 

noun
an upward surge in the strength or quantity of something; an increase; an upsurge in separatist activity.

aufdringlich, lästig, naseweis, vorwitzig, zudringlich

adjective
my meddlesome neighbor is peering out the window at us: interfering, meddling, intrusive, prying, impertinent, busybody; informal: nosy. 

anfällig, geneigt, empfänglich

adjective
1 untreated wood is prone to rotting | prone to disease: susceptible, vulnerable, subject, open, liable, given, predisposed, likely, disposed, inclined, apt; at risk of. antonym: resistant, immune.
2 his prone body: (lying) face down, face downward, on one's stomach/front; lying flat/down, horizontal, prostrate. antonym: upright.
 

frisch, heiter, hoffnungsfreudig, lebhaft, optimistisch

adjective
1 he is sanguine about the advance of technology: optimistic, bullish, hopeful, buoyant, positive, confident, cheerful, cheery; informal: upbeat. antonym: gloomy.
2 archaic : a sanguine complexion: florid, ruddy, red, red-faced, rosy, rosy-cheeked, pink; flushed, blushing, high-colored; archaic sanguine. antonym: pale.

räuberisch, plündernd

adjective
1 predatory birds: predacious, carnivorous, hunting, raptorial; of prey.
2 a predatory gleam in his eyes: exploitative, wolfish, rapacious, vulturine, vulturous.

schädlich

adjective
the deleterious effects of smoking: harmful, damaging, detrimental, injurious; adverse, disadvantageous, unfavorable, unfortunate, undesirable, bad. antonym: beneficial.

abgedroschen, abgegriffen, wohlfeil, banal, abgenutzt

adjective
your hackneyed arguments fail to persuade anyone: overused, overdone, overworked, worn out, timeworn, platitudinous, vapid, stale, tired, threadbare; trite, banal, hack, clichéd, hoary, commonplace, common, ordinary, stock, conventional, stereotyped, predictable; unimaginative, unoriginal, uninspired, prosaic, dull, boring, pedestrian, run-of-the-mill, boilerplate, routine; informal: old hat, cheesy, corny, played out. antonym: original.
 

Absonderung, Beschlagnahme, Zwangsverwaltung

gefangen nehmen, einkerkern, inhaftieren

verb
Luckins returned to the site where she had been incarcerated nearly fifty years earlier: imprison, put in prison, send to prison, jail, lock up, put under lock and key, put away, intern, confine, detain, hold, immure, put in chains, hold prisoner, hold captive; informal put behind bars. antonym: release, set free.

Vermutung

vermuten, mutmaßen, spekulieren

noun
the information is merely conjecture: speculation, guesswork, surmise, fancy, presumption, assumption, theory, postulation, supposition; inference, (an) extrapolation; an estimate; informal: a guesstimate, a shot in the dark, a ballpark figure. antonym: fact.

verb
I conjectured that the game was over: guess, speculate, surmise, infer, fancy, imagine, believe, think, suspect, presume, assume, hypothesize, suppose. antonym: know.

Herde, Schwarm, Kleinvieh, Schar

noun
1 a flock of sheep: herd, drove.
2 a flock of birds: flight, congregation, covey, clutch.
3 flocks of people: crowd, throng, horde, mob, rabble, mass, multitude, host, army, pack, swarm, sea; informal: gaggle.

verb
1 people flocked around McCartney: gather, collect, congregate, assemble, converge, mass, crowd, throng, cluster, swarm.
2 tourists flock to the place: stream, go in large numbers, swarm, crowd, troop.

Futter, Weideland, Gras, Viehweide

noun
the cows are in the pasture: grazing land, grassland, grass, pastureland, pasturage; Brit. ley; meadow, field; literary: lea, mead, greensward.

glucksen, in sich hineinlachen, kichern

verb
Adam chuckled to himself as he drove away: giggle, chortle, titter, tee-hee, snicker, snigger.

unanfechtbar, unumstößlich, unwiderlegbar

adjective
he realizes that his forensic findings are not incontrovertible: indisputable, incontestable, undeniable, irrefutable, unassailable, beyond dispute, unquestionable, beyond question, indubitable, beyond doubt, unarguable, undebatable; certain, sure, definite, definitive, proven, decisive, conclusive, demonstrable, emphatic, categorical, airtight, watertight.
antonym: questionable.

hereinlegen, täuschen, hintergehen

verb
Jimmy was hoodwinked by his own brother: deceive, trick, dupe, outwit, fool, delude, inveigle, cheat, take in, hoax, mislead, lead on, defraud, double-cross, swindle, gull, scam; informal con, bamboozle, hornswoggle, fleece, do, have, sting, gyp, shaft, rip off, lead up the garden path, pull a fast one on, put one over on, take for a ride, pull the wool over someone's eyes, sucker, snooker; literary: cozen.

ausgefallen, fremdartig, ausländisch, fremdländisch, haarsträubend, seltsam

adjective
he gives the most outlandish excuses: weird, queer, far out, quirky, zany, eccentric, idiosyncratic, unconventional, unorthodox, funny, bizarre, unusual, singular, extraordinary, strange, unfamiliar, peculiar, odd, curious; informal: offbeat, off the wall, way-out, wacky, freaky, kooky, kinky, oddball, in left field. antonym: ordinary.

Schmied

short for blacksmith

häuslich, einfach, gemütlich, schlicht; unansehnlich, unattraktiv

adjective
1 she's rather homely: unattractive, plain, unprepossessing, unlovely, ill-favored, ugly; informal: not much to look at. antonym: attractive.
2 a homely atmosphere: cozy, homelike, homey, comfortable, snug, welcoming, informal, relaxed, intimate, warm, pleasant, cheerful, friendly, congenial, hospitable; informal: comfy. antonym: uncomfortable, formal.
3 homely pursuits: unsophisticated, homey, unrefined, unpretentious, plain, simple, modest, domestic; everyday, ordinary. antonym: sophisticated.

Angreifer

noun
he recognized his assailant: attacker, mugger, assaulter.

Eindringling, Gesetzesübertreter, Straftäter, Täter

USAGE: To perpetrate something is to commit it: : the gang perpetrated outrages against several citizens. To perpetuate something is to cause it to continue or to keep happening: : the stories only serve to perpetuate the legend that the house is haunted.

Gesprächspartner

noun formal:
a person who takes part in a dialogue or conversation.

byzantinisch, unterwürfig, servil

adjective
here comes Mr. Archer and his servile assistant, Bradley: obsequious, sycophantic, deferential, subservient, fawning, ingratiating, unctuous, groveling, toadyish, slavish, humble, self-abasing; informal: slimy, bootlicking, smarmy, sucky. antonym: assertive, domineering.

mürrisch, verdrießlich

adjective
Gary sure looks glum today: gloomy, downcast, downhearted, dejected, despondent, crestfallen, disheartened; depressed, desolate, unhappy, doleful, melancholy, miserable, woebegone, mournful, forlorn, in the doldrums, morose; informal: blue, down in/at the mouth, in a blue funk, down in the dumps. antonym: cheerful.

forlorn
adjective
1 he sounded forlorn: unhappy, sad, miserable, sorrowful, dejected, despondent, disconsolate, wretched, abject, down, downcast, dispirited, downhearted, crestfallen, depressed, melancholy, gloomy, glum, mournful, despairing, doleful, woebegone; informal blue, down in/at the mouth, down in the dumps; rare: lachrymose. antonym: happy.
2 a forlorn garden: desolate, deserted, abandoned, forsaken, forgotten, neglected. antonym: cared for.
3 a forlorn attempt: hopeless, vain, with no chance of success; useless, futile, pointless, purposeless, unavailing, nugatory; archaic bootless. antonym hopeful, sure-fire.

froh, heiter, lustig, munter, vergnügt

adjective
1 a blithe disregard for the rules: casual, indifferent, unconcerned, unworried, untroubled, uncaring, careless, heedless, thoughtless; nonchalant, blasé. antonym: thoughtful.
2 literary : his blithe, smiling face: happy, cheerful, jolly, merry, joyful, joyous, blissful, ecstatic, euphoric, elated; dated gay. antonym: sad.

unvorbereitet, improvisiert

adjective
spoken or done without preparation : an extemporaneous speech.

ominös, bedenklich, unheilsvoll, bedrohlich, beunruhigend, verdächtig

adjective
ominous clouds: threatening, menacing, baleful, forbidding, sinister, inauspicious, unpropitious, unfavorable, unpromising; portentous, foreboding, fateful, premonitory; black, dark, gloomy; formal minatory; literary: direful; rare: minacious.
antonym: promising, auspicious.