Term
|
Definition
to diminish the intensity or check something, such as a sound or feeling
Her hopes were damped when she checked the mailbox and there was still no letter for the fourth day in a row |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to intimidate or dismay
At first, the protagonist of the fairy tale was daunted by the task given to him; he didn't know how he would ever sort the grains of wheat and barley until the ants arrived to help him. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
dismaying, disheartening.
The daunting prospect of getting all our laundry done by Sunday afternoon was so overwhelming that we decided to put it off yet again. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
fearless, undaunted, interpid.
Robin Hood and his dauntless henchmen defeated the bad guy, Sheriff Nottingham. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; lack
The dearth of snow this winter increases the likelihood of a drought next summer. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
rout, fiasco, complete failure.
Trying to avoid a debacle, the candidate decided to withdraw from the race shrtly before election day. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
politeness or appropriateness of conduct or behavior.
Where did we ever get the notion that extending one's pinky finger while drinking tea was the height of decorum? |
|
|
Term
| Something marked decorum is decorous. |
|
Definition
| Olivia's decorous decline of our invitation was so politely and perfectly said that we could hardly take offence. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to question or oppose
Bob demurred at the suggestion that he clean the house while we swim. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
blacken, belittle, sully, defame, disparage.
Though some might have denigrated our efforts at cooking breakfast, which consisted of cold eggs, bitter coffee and burnt toast, our mother was very appreciative of our attempt and bravely ate all of it. |
|
|
Term
| Denigration is the act of denigrating, or the act of making denigrating comments. |
|
Definition
| William's confidence was so shaken by the months of denigration at the hands of his former boss, that he almost didn't believe the braise he was getting now. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot.
Receiving the Nobel Prize was a fitting denouement to his brilliant research. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to disparage or belittle.
You can deprecate his work all you want but it won't affect my opinion; I don't care of his writing is sometimes amateurish, I still like it. |
|
|
Term
| To be self-deprecating is to belittle yourself or your accomplishments. |
|
Definition
| We worried that his self-deprecating humor wasn't as light-hearted as it seemed, but was instead a sign of deeper insecurity. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to plunder, pillage, ravage or destroy; to exploit in a predatory manner.
The pirates depredated every ship that came through the straits for two years, until no captain was willing to risk that route and the port town became deserted. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| To reduce in esteem or rank. |
|
|
Term
| Depredations - are attackts, or ravages. |
|
Definition
| Ten years of the dictator's depredations had left the country a wasteland. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
scorn, ridicule, contemptuous treatment.
Her derision was all the more painful because I suspected that her review of my performance was accurate. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Contempt or disdain felt toward a person or object considered despicable or unworthy. |
|
|
Term
| scorned, scorn·ing, scorns |
|
Definition
| To consider or treat as contemptible or unworthy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
disuse
After sitting abandoned for years, the house's desuetude came to an end when the county bought it and turned it into a teen center. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
random; thoughtless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose.
His desultory efforts in studying for the test were immediately obvious to his teacher as soon as she began to score his exam. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
slandering, verbal attack, aspersion
Terrence's detraction of Raul's performance only served to reveal how jealous he was of Raul's success. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
transparent, gauzy.
Her diaphanous gown left little to the imagination. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Harsh denunciation
What started out as seemingly normal discussion about what to have for lunch, rapidly and somewhat bizarrely turned into a diatribe about the difficulty of finding a decent pickle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
intended to teach or instruct
His didactic tone grated on me; whom did he think he was to try to teach me something while we were on a date? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a tool used for shaping
When coins are made by hand, a die is usually used to press the design or each coin |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence.
He was a diffident reader of his own poetry, and which sometimes kept his audience from recognizing the real power or his wrinting. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
lack of confidence.
I began to suspect that her diffidence was merely an act, and that this seemingly meek woman was really protting to take over not only the department, but also the entire world. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to stray from the point; to go off on a tangent.
My aunt's tendency to digress is legendary; she can get so far off topic that no one can remember the starting point, but the journey is always fascinating. |
|
|
Term
| A digression is something that has digressed. |
|
Definition
| The speaker asked our indulgence while he made a short digression, the point of while would become clear eventually. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
causing delay, procrastinating
the legislator was able to create the dilatory effect he sought by means of a twenty-three-hour-long filibuster. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1. Showing patience and humility; gentle.
2. Easily imposed on; submissive. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
one with an amateurish or superficial interest in the arts or branch of knowledge
The negative connotation of a dilettante as one whose interest in a subject is trivial is relatively recent; it hasn't always been a bad thing to be a dilettante. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
loud sustained noise
Because we couldn't hear each other over the din coming from the kitchn, I thought she said she had met Sasqautch, whe she had really asked whether I was wearing my watch. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to undeceive; to set right.
I hate to disabuse you fo the notion of your own genius, but you just got a "D" on that midterm that you said you were goin to ace. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to defeat, put down.
The enemy's superior planning and resources discomfited us. They defeated us easily, despite our hopes of discomfiting their attack. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
conflicting; dissonant or harsh in sound.
As one discordant note followed another, I started to get a headache from the noise. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions.
The matchmaker's discretion was the key to her remarkable success; her clients knew she sould not reveal their identities inappropriately |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Free from self-interest; unbiased.
We need a disinterested party to arbitrate the property dispute, since each of the participants has too much at stake to remain unbiased. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to slight or belittle
I don't think you have any right to disparage his attempts until you have tried riding the mechanical bull yourself. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| are those that exxpress a negative, usually dismissive, opinion of something or someone. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
fundamentally distinct or dissimilar
I found it amazing that two people with such disparate tastes could decorate a house together. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to disguise or conceal; to mislead
Her coy attempts to dissemble her plagiarism were completely transparent; no one believed her. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Tending to avoid people and social situations; reserved. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
disintegration, looseness in morals.
The company would be threatened with dissolution if it were judged to be operating as a monopoly. |
|
|
Term
| The adjective dissolute means |
|
Definition
licentious, libertine.
His dissolute indulgence in every form of hedonism horrified his morally conservative colleagues. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Lacking moral discipline or ignoring legal restraint, especially in sexual conduct. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| # Philosophy. The ethical doctrine holding that only what is pleasant or has pleasant consequences is intrinsically good. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Distracted; absent-minded, especially due to anxiety.
When he kept forgetting what he was talking about during dinner, it became clear that he was distrait, and was no doubt preoccupied with the meeting planned for next day. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
to disclose something secret
She believed she had been fired because she had threatened to divulge information about the company's mismanagement. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
trivial, poorly constructed verse.
For some reason, I could always remember the bit of doggerel I read on the bathroom wall, though I had long since forgotten all the exquisite poetry I read in my classes in college. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
authoritatively and or arrogantly assertive of principles, which often cannot be proved; stubbornly opinionated.
Evelyn's dogmatic insistence on the importance of following procedure to the letter frustrated her coworkers who were willing to cut a few corncers in the interest of saving time. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
slag, waste of foreign matter, impurity, surface scum
We discarded the dross that had formed at the top of the cider during the fermentation process. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The vitreous mass left as a residue by the smelting of metallic ore. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A filmy layer of extraneous or impure matter that forms on or rises to the surface of a liquid or body of water. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
melodious, harmonious, melliflucous.
The dulcet tones of the dulcimer were exquisite and made the performance particularly memorable. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
generator; forceful, energetic person.
the technical definition of a dynamo is generator of current, which gives rise to the metaphorical use for describing a person as forceful or energetic.
Courtney was truly the dynamo of the group; without her we'd probably still be sitting on the couch instead of being three days into our road trip. |
|
|
