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Hard; Strenuous
Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy. |
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Operatic Solo
At her Metropolitan Opera audition,Marian Anderson sang an Aria from Norma. |
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Dry; Barren
The cactus has adapted to survive in an arid environment. |
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Fragrant
Medieval sailing vessels brought aromatic herbs from china to Europe. |
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Awakening; provocation
On arousal, Papa was always grumpy as a bear. The children tiptoed around the house, fearing they would arouse his anger by waking him up. |
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Charge in court; indict
After his indictment by the Grand Jury, the accused man was arraigned in the County Criminal Court. |
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Marshal; Draw up in order
His actions were bound to array public sentiment against him. |
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Clothe;Adorn
She liked to watch her mother array herself in her finest clothes before going out from the evening. |
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Being in debt
He was in arrears with his payments on the car. |
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Stop or slow down
Catch someone's attention. Slipping, the trapeze artist plunged from the heights until a safety net luckily arrested his fall. this near-disaster arrested the crowd's attention. |
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Pride; Haughtiness
Convinced that Emma thought she was better than anyone else on the class, Ed rebuked her for her arrogance. |
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storage place for military equipment
People are forbidden to smoke in the arsenal for fear that a stray spark might set off the munitions stored there. |
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Effective; Distinct
Her articulate presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her employers. |
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Deception; Trickery
The Trojan War proved to the Greeks that cunning and artifice were often more effective than military might. |
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Manually skilled worker; craftsman, as opposed to artist
A noted artisan, Arturo was known for the fine craftsmanship of his inlaid cabinets. |
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Without guile; Open and honest
Sophisticated and cynical, Jack could not believe Jill was as artless and naive as she appeared to be. |
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Controlling influence; domination
Leaders of religious cults maintain ascendancy over their followers by methods that can verge on brainwashing. |
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Find out for certain
Please ascertain her present address. |
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Practicing self-denial; austere
The wealthy self-indulgent young man felt oddly dawn to the strict, ascetic life led by members of some monastic orders. |
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Refer; Attribute; Assign
I can ascribe no motive for her acts. |
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Preventing infection: having a cleansing effect
Hospitals succeeded in lowering the mortality rate as soon as they introduced aseptic conditions. |
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Ash-colored.
Her face was ashen with fear. |
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Stupid
"what an asinine comment!" said Bob contemptuously. "I've never heard such a stupid remark." |
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| With a sideways or indirect look. Looking askance at her questioner, she displayed her scorn. |
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Crookedly; slanted at an angle
Judy constantly straightened the dollies on her furniture: she couldn't stand seeing them askew. |
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Sharpness (of temper)
These remarks, spoken with asperity, stung the boys to whom they had been directed. |
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Slander; slur; derogatory remark
Unscrupulous politicians practice character assassination as a political tool, casting aspersions on their rivals. |
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Seeker after position or status
Although I am an aspirant for public office, I am not willing to accept the dictates of the party bosses. |
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Seek to attain; long for
Because he aspired to a career in professional sports, Phillip enrolled in a graduate program in sports management. |
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Assault
He was assailed with questions after his lecture. |
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Analyze; evaluate
When they assayed the ore they found that they had discovered a very rich vein. |
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Agree; accept
It gives me great pleasure to assent to your request. |
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Declare or state with confidence; put oneself forward boldly.
Malcolm asserted that if Reese quit acting like a wimp and asserted himself a bit more, he'd improve his chances of getting a date. |
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Evaluation; judgement
Your high school record plays an important part in the admission committee's assessment of you as an applicant. |
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Diligent
He was assiduous, working at this task for weeks before he felt satisfied with his results. |
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Ease or lessen (pain); satisfy(hunger); soothe (anger).
Jilted by Jane, Dick tried to assuage his heartache. |
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| Book for religious instruction; instruction by question and answer. He taught by engaging his pupils in a catechism until they gave him the correct answer. |
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Without exceptions; unqualified; absolute
Though the captain claimed he was never, never sick at sea, he finally had to qualify his categorical denial: he was "hardly ever" sick at sea. |
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| Supply something desired (whether good or bad). The chef was happy to cater to the tastes of his highly sophisticated clientele. Critics condemned the movie industry for catering to the public's ever-increasing appetite for violence. |
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| Purging or cleansing of any passage of the body. Aristotle maintained that tragedy created a catharsis by purging the soul of base concepts. |
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Private meeting of members of a party to select officers or determine policy.
At the opening of Congress, the members of the Democratic Party held a caucus to elect the Majority Leader of the House and the Party Whip. |
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Make watertight by filling in cracks.
Jack had to caulk the tiles in the shower stall to stop the leak into the basement below. |
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Buring;Sarcastically biting
The critic's caustic comments angered the actors, who resented his cutting remarks. |
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Procession; parade
As described by Chaucer, the cavalcade of Canterbury pilgrims was a motley group. |
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Offhand or Cadual; haughty
The disguised prince resented the cavalier way I'm which the palace guards treated him. How dare they handle a member of the royal family so unceremoniously! |
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| Make frivolous objections. It's fine when you make sensible criticisms, but it really bugs me when you cavil about unimportant details. |
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| Yield to; Surrender formally. Eventually the descendants of England's Henry II were forced to cede their French territories to the King of France. |
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Famous; well-known
Thanks to their race to break Roger Maris's are two of America's most celebrated baseball players. |
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Speed; Rapidity
Hamlet resented his mother's celerity in remarrying within a month after his father's death. |
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Heavenly; relating to the sky
Pointing his primitive telescope at the heavens, Galileo explored the celestial mysteries. |
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Overseer of morals; person who reads to eliminate inappropriate remarks
Soldiers dislike having their mail read by a censor but understand the need for this precaution. |
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Critical
Censorious people delight in casting blame. |
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Blame; Criticize
The senator was censured for behavior inappropriate to a member of Congress. |
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Radiating; Departing from the center
Many automatic drying machines remove excess moisture from clothing by centrifugal force. |
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Tending towards the center.
Does centripetal force or the force of gravity bring orbiting bodies to the earth's surface? |
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Pertaining to the brain or intellect
The heroes of Dumb and Dumber were poorly equipped for cerebral pursuits. |
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Thought
Mathematics problems sometimes require much cerebration. |
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Marked by formaility
Ordinary dress would be inappropriate at so ceremonious an affair. |
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Certainty
Though there was no certitude of his getting the job, Lou thought he had a good chance of doing so. |
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Stoppage
The airline's emplyess threatened a cessation of all work if management failed to meed their demands. |
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Yielding to another; ceding
The cession of Alaska to the United States in this chapter. |
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Warm by rubbing; make sore
Chilled, he chafed his hand before the fire. The collar of his school uniform chafed Tom's neck, but not as much the school's strict rulers chafed his spirt. |
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Worthless products of an endeavor
When you separate the wheat from the chaff, be sure you throw out the chaff. |
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Bantering; Joking
Sometimes Chad's filppant, chaffing remarks annoy us. Still, Chad's chaffing keeps us laughing. |
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Vexation; Disappoinment
Embarrassed by his parents' shabby, working class apprarance, Doug felt their visit to his school would bring his nothing but chagrin. Someone filled with chagrin doesn't grin: he's too mortified. |
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