Term
Engender
Root words: engenders, engendered, engendering |
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Definition
to bring a feeling into existence
Example: When the principal announced that students could no longer wear sneakers to school, it engendered anger in the student body.
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Term
Pacify
Root words: pacified, pacifying, pacifies, pacifist |
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Definition
to ease someone's anger; calm someone down
Example:After dropping her cell phone in the muddy puddle, I tried to pacify my friend by offering her a big, warm hug.
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Term
Ardent
Root word: ardently |
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Definition
enthusiastic support
Example: Being an ardent Bills fan, Mark painted his face half red and half blue to show his love for the team. |
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Term
Exacerbate
Root word: exacerbates, exacerbating, exacerbated |
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Definition
to make something bad even worse
Example: The singer's terrible voice was exacerbated by the awful pianist who didn't know how to accompany her. |
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Term
Sagacious
Root word: sagaciously |
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Definition
good judgement; shrewd
Example: Samuel Westing Jr. III had always been a sagacious business man known for his shrewd negotiating style. |
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Term
Dissolution
Root word: dissolutions |
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Definition
the disintegration or decomposition of something
Example: The Alka-seltzer tablet's dissolution was instant once it fell into the glass of water and virtually disappeared. |
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Term
Contagion
Root word: contagions |
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Definition
the spreading of a disease or idea from one person to another through close contact
Example: Once the idea of storming the Bastille took hold, it spread like a contagion among the people. |
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Term
Pestilence
Root word: pestilences |
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Definition
a fatal epidemic disease, especially the bubonic plague
Example: The Ebola virus is a horrific pestilence that was just as easily spread as the bubonic plague. |
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Term
Writhe
Root words: writhes, writhing, writhed |
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Definition
to make continual twisting movements of the body.
Example: The majestic lion writhed in pain, its body twisting in strange patterns, after being shot with a tranquilizer gun at close range. |
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Term
Pivotal
Root words: pivot, pivoting, pivots, pivoted |
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Definition
of crucial importance in relation to the success of something else.
Example: Graduating from high school was a huge achievement in Hank's life and a pivotal moment in the life of his mother as well. |
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