adj. encouraging; exhortive

The crowd listened to his hortatory statements with ever-growing excitement; finally they rushed from the hall to carry out his suggestions. 

v. mock

As you gibe at their superstitions and beliefs, do you realize that you to are guilty of similarly foolish thoughts? 

adj. fluent, facile, slick

Keeping up a steady patter to entertain his customers, the kitchen gadget salesman was a glib speaker, never at a loss for a word. 

adj. pertaining to a germ; creative

Such an idea is germinal; I am certain that it will influence thinkers and philosophers for many generations. 

v. trick; hoodwink

Confident no one could gull him, Paul prided himself on his skeptical disposition. 

v. attribute, ascribe

If I wished to impute blame to the officers in charge of this program, I would stae my feelings definitely and immediately. 

v. beg persistantly

Democratic and Republican phone solicitors importuned her for contributions so frequently that she decided to give nothing to either one. 

adj. urging, demanding

He tried to hide from his importunate creditors until his allowance arrived. 

adj. characteristic of an entire class or species

She knew so many computer programmers who spent their spare time playing fantasy games that she began to think that a love of D + D was a generic trait. 

adj. pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand

The lawyer objected that the testimony being offered was not germane to the case at hand. 

adj. accidental, by chance

Though he pretended their encounter was fortuitous, he'd actually been hanging around her usual haunts for two weeks. 

v. thunder; explode

The people against whom she fulminated were innocent of any wrong-doing. 

n. sharpness (of temper)

These remarks, spoken with asperity, stung the boys to whom they'd been directed 

adj. ruddy; reddish; flowery

If you go to Florida and get a sunburn, your complexion will look florid. If your postcards about your trip praise it in flowery words, your prose will be florid too. 

n. person who appeals to people's prejudice; false leader

He was accused of being a demagogue because he made promises that aroused futile hopes in his listeners.

v. disguise, pretend

Even though John tried to dissemble his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew he was there to meet girls. 

adj. pertaining to the people

He lamented the passing of aristocratic society and maintained that a demotic society would lower the nation's standards. 

adj. weightless

I can evaluate the data gathered in this study; the imponderable items are nost so easily analyzed. 

adj. incapable of being pacified

Madame Defarge was the implacable enemy of the Evermonde family. 

adj. violent, hasty, rash

"Leap before you look" was the motto suggested by one particulary impetuous young man. 

v. portray, depict, sketch

Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen delineates the character of... 

adj. delaying

Your dilatory tactics may compel me to cancel the contract. 

n. churlish, miserly individual

Although many regarde him as a curmudgeon, a few of us were aware of the acts of charity he secretly performed. 

n. shyness

You must overcome your diffidence if you intend to become a salesperson. 

adj. wordy, rambling; spread out (like a gas)

If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce diffuse manuscripts rather than brief ones. n . diffusion 

adj. pompous, bombastic, using high-sounding language.

The politician could never speak simply; she was always grandiloquent. 

adj. given freely; unwarranted; un-called for

Quit making gratuitous comments about my driving; no one asked you for your opinion. 

guile

guileless 

n. deceit; duplicity; wiliness; cunning

Iago uses considerable guile to trick Othello into believing that Desdemona had been unfaithful.

adj. without deceit.

He is naive, simple, and guileless; he cannot be guilty of fraud. 

n. refusal of any compromise; stubborness

The negotiating team had not expected such intransigence from the striking workers, who rejected any hint of a compromise. adj. intransigent