Abeyance

Noun

Suspended action.

The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.

Abject

Adj.

wretched; lacking pride.

On the streets of New York, the homeless live in abject poverty, huddling in doorways to find shelter from the wind.

Verb

Renounce upon oath: disavow.

Pressure from univeristy authorities caused the young scholare to abjure his heretical opinions.

abjuration. N

Noun

Renunciation; self-sacrifice

Though Rudolph and Duchess Flavia loved one another, their love was doomed for she had to wed the king: their act of abnegation was necessary to preserve the kingdom. 

Verb

Abolish

The king intended to abrogate the decree issued by his predecessor.

Noun

Removal by cutting off, as in surgery; separation.

Gas gangrene spreads so swiftly and is so potentially deadly that doctors advise abscission of the gangrenous tissue.  When a flower or leaf separates naturally from the parent plant, this process is called abscission or leaf fall.

Verb

Depart secretly and hide

The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured until someone recognized him from his photograph on America's Most Wanted. 

Adjective

Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate

Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him. 

Adjective

Obscure; profound; difficult to understand

Baffled by the abstruse philosophical texts assigned in class, Dave asked Lexy to explain Kant's Critique or Pure Reason. 

Verb

Agree

If I accede to this demand for blackmail, I am afraid that I will be the victim of future demands. 

Noun

Sharp upslope of a hill

The car could not go up the acclivity in high gear. 

Verb

Equip

The fisherman was accoutred with the best that the sporting goods store could supply

accoutrement N. 

Adjective

Vinegary

The salad had an exceedingly acetic flavor. 

Adjective

Slightly sour; caustic

James was unpopular because of his sarcastic and acidulous remarks. 

Noun

Peak; pinnacle; highest point.

Welles's success in Citizen Kane marked the acme of his career as an actor; never again did he achieve such popular acclaim. 

Adjective

Bitter in words or manner

The candidate attacked his opponent in highly acrimonious terms.

acrimony N. 

Verb

Motivate

I fail to understand what actuated you to reply to this letter so nastily. 

Noun

Addition; appendiz to book

Jane's editor approved her new comparitive literature text but thought it would be even better with an addendum on recent developments in literary criticism. 

Noun

Solemn urging

Her adjuration to tell the truth did not hange the witnesses' testimony.

adjure V. 

Noun

Staff officer assisting the commander; assistant

Though Wellington delegated many tasks to his chief adjutant, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Somerset was in no doubt as to who made all major decisions. 

Adjective

Skillful

Her adroit handling of the delicate situation pleased her employers. 

Noun

Flattery; Admiration

The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes-men.

adulate v. 

Adjective

Accidental; casual

She found this adventitious meeting with her friend extremely fortunate. 

Verb

Refer (to)

 Since you advert to this matter so frequently, you must regard it as important.

Noun

Sheild; defense

Under the aegis of the Bill of Rights, we enjoy our most treasure freedoms. 

Noun

Nest of large bird of prey (eagle;hawk)

The mother eagle swooped down on the rabbit and bore it off to her aerie high in the Rocky Mountains. 

Adjective

Highly excited; intensely curious

We were all agog at the news that the celebrated movie star was giving up his career in order to enter a monastery. 

Noun

Cheerful promptness; eagerness 

Phil and Dave were raring to get off to the mountains, they packed their ski gear and climed into the can with alacrity. 

Adjective

Supplying nourishment

The alimentary canal in our bodies is so named because digestion of food occurs there.  When asked for the name of the digestive tract, Sherlock Holmes replied, "Alimentary, my dear Watson." 

Verb

Calm; Pacify

The crew tried to allay the fears of the passengers by announcing that the fire had been controlled. 

Verb

Mix; make less pure; lessen or moderate

Our delight at the Mets' victory was alloyed by our concern for Al Laites, who injured his pitching arm in the game. 

Adjective

Pertaining to soil deposits left by running water

The farmers found the alluvial deposits at the mouth of the river very fertile. 

Adjective

Readily managed or willing to be led; answerable or accountable legally

Although the ambassador was usually amenable to friendly suggestions, he balked when we hinted he should pay his parking tickets.  As a foreign diplomat, he claimed he was not amenable to minor local laws. 

Noun

Friendship

Student exchange programs such as the Experiment in Interantional Living were established to promote international amity. 

Antonym: Enmity 

Anathema

Noun

Solemn curse; someone or something regarded as a curse

The Ayatolla Khomeini heaped anathema upon "the Great Satan," that is, the United States.  To the Ayatolla, America and the Weest were anathema; he loathed the democratic nations, cursing them in his dying words.

Anathematize V. 

Adjective (also Noun)

Sercing as an aid or accessory; auxiliary

In an ancillary capacity Doctor Watson was helpful; however, Holmes could not trust the good doctor to solve a perplexing case on his own. 

Noun

Critical remark

He resented the animadversions of his critics, partifularly because he realized they were true. 

Noun

Hostile feeling or intent

The animus of the speaker became obvious to all when he began to indulge in sarcastic and insulting remarks. 

Verb

Reduce brittleness and improve toughness by heating and cooling

After the glass is annealed, it will be less subject to chipping and cracking. 

Noun

Drug that relieves pain; opiate

His pain was so great that no anodyne could relieve it. 

Noun

Loss of speech due to injury or illness

After the automobile accident, the victim had periods of aphasia when he could not speak at all or oculd only mumble incoherently. 

Noun

Pithy maxim or saying

An aphorism is usually philosophic or scientific, as compared to an adage, which is usually more homely and concrete.  "Absoulte power corrupts absolutely" is an aphorism.  "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" is an adage.

Aphorisitic Adj. 

Noun

Poise assurance

Gwen's aplomb in handling potentially embarrassing moments was legendary around the office; when one of her clients broke a piece of her best crystal, she coolly picked up her own goblet and hurled it into the fireplace. 

Adjective

Spurious; not authentic; invented rather than true

Although many versions exist of the famous story of Emerson's visit to Thoreay in jail, in his writings Thoreau never mentions any such visit by Emerson, and so the tale is most likely apocryphal. 

Noun

Highest point

When the moon in its orbit is furthest away from the earth, it is at its apogee.  Discouraged by the apparent deterioration of America's space program, the science columnist wondered whether the golden age of space travel had reached its apogee with the Apollo 11 moon landing and would never again achieve such heights. 

Noun

One who writes in defense of a cause or institution

Rather than act as an apologist for the current regime in Beijing and defend its brutal actions, the young diplomat decided to defect tot he West. 

Noun

One who abandons his religious faith or political beliefs

Because he switched from one party to another, his former friends shunned him as an apostate.  An apostle passionately adheres to a belief or cause; an apostate passionately renounces or abandons one.

Apostasy N. 

Noun

Act or state of separation; disunity

Believing the mind could greatly affect the body's health, the holistic doctor rejected the notion of a necessary disjunction of mind and body. 

Verb

Amuse

The popularity of Florida as a winter resort is constantly increasing; each year, thousands more disport themselves at Miami and Palm Beach. 

Adjective

Argumentativel fond of arguing

Convinved he knew more than his lawyers, Tony was a disputatious client, ready to argue about the best way to conduct the case. 

Noun

A formal systematic inquiry; an explanation of the results of a formal inquiry.

In his disquisition, he outlined the steps he had taken in reaching his conclusions. 

Verb

Disguise; pretend

Even though John tried to dissemble his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew he was there not to dance but to meet girls. 

Verb

Pretend; conceal be feignin

although the governor tried to dissimulate his feelings about the opposing candidate, we all knew he despised his rival. 

Verb

Squander; waste; scatter

He is a fine artist, but I fea he may dissipate his gifts if he keeps wasting time playing Trivial Pursuit. 

Adjective

Inattentive; distracted, often by anxiety

Jane was so caught up in her wedding plans that her family and friends considered her absent-minded, distrait, aloof and generally useless. 

Verb

Strip; deprive

He was divested of his power to act and could no longer govern.

Divestiture N. 

Noun

Program as for a trial; book where such entries are made

 The case of Smith v. Jones was entered in the docket for July 15

Docket V. 

Adjective

Unable to compromise about points of doctrine; dogmatic; unyielding.

Weng had hoped that the student-led democracy movement might bring about change in china, but the repressive response of the doctrinaire hard-liners crushed his dreams of democracy. 

Verb

Take off

A gentleman used to doff his hat to a lady. 

Noun

Poor verse

Although we find occasional snatches of genuine poetry in her work, most of her writing is mere doggerel. 

Noun

Window projecting from roof

In remodeling the attic into a bedroom, we decided that we needed to put in dormers to provide sufficient ventilation for the new room. 

Noun

Senility

In his dotage, the old man bored us with long tales of events in his childhood. 

Adjective

Sullen; stubborn

The man was dour and taciturn. 

Adjective

Extremely severe

When the principal canceled the senior prom because some seniors had been late to school that week, we though the draconian punishment was far too harsh for such a minor violation of the rules. 

Noun

Waste matter; worthless impurities

Many methods have been decised to separate the valuable metal from the dross. 

Adjective

Malleable; flexible; pliable

Copper is an extremely ductile material; you can stretch it into the thinniest of wires, bend it, even wind it into loops.

Ductility N. 

Adjective

Sweet sounding

The dulcet sounds of the birds at dawn were soon drowned out by the roar of traffic passing our motel.