v. 1. To warn.

[Rescue workers admonished us to stay away from the flooding river.]

2. To criticize gently.

[The coach admonished me for missing practice.]

admonition n. A warning.

[We remembered our parents' admonition to stay close to shore while swimming.]

adj. Struck with horror; shocked.

[We were aghast at the photographs of starving children in Africa.]

v. To destroy completely; to reduce to utter ruin.

n. A person who provides help, especially by giving money.

[People who donated more than $100 were listed as  benefactors of the library.]

v. To give as an honor; to present as a gift.

[An Academy Award is the highest honor Hollywood can bestow on a film.]

adj. 1. Having many twists and turns; winding.

[The climbers followed a devious route up the mountain.]

2. Sneaky; not frank or honest.

[This devious scheme was intented to take advantage of vulnerable people.]

adj. Lacking; empty; entirely without.

[Although he had experienced great misfortune, he was devoid of bitterness.]

v. To pay attention to.

[I hoep you will heed my advice.]

n. Attention; notice.

[Pay heed to the teacher's ionstructions before you begin the test.]

heedful adj. Paying careful attention.

[Heedful of the fog, I drove slowly.]

heedless adj. Failing to pay proper attention.

[They went ahead with their plans heedless of our objections.]

n. A human being, especially as contrasted with a god.

[Achilles, a hero in Greek mythology, had a goddess for a mother and a mortal for a father.]

adj. 1. Of or relating to human beings.

[Being mortal, he accepted the fact that one day he would die.]

2. Causing death; fatal.

[India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi recieved a mortal wound delivered by an assassin in 1984.]

3. Very severe.

[My friend wouldn't go into the reptile house because he has a motal fear of snakes.]

v. To thinkg about in a quiet, careful way.

[I mused over whether to sell the house.] 

n. A person who goes before others and opens the way for them to follow.

[Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two 19th century women were pioneers in the women's rights movement.]

v. To open the way for others.

[Isadora Duncan pioneered modern dance.]

n. 1. A deadly disease that spreads rapidly from person to person.

[Those Londoners who could afford it fled to the country to escape the great plague of 1665.]

2. Anything that causes destruction or suffering.

[A plague of locusts destroyed the crop.]

v. To cause suffering or distress.

[After the tryouts, I was plagued by doubts that I would make the varsity team.]

 v. 1. To sink to a lower level.

[After the rain stopped, the floodwaters gradually subsided.]

2. To become quieter or less active.

[The baby's sobs gradually subsided.]

adj. Not done on purpose; unintended.

[I tried to ignore the unwitting insult, but his commemt hurt me just the same.]

n. Forceful anger; fury.

[It says in the Bible that envy and wrath shorthen life,]

wrathful adj. Very angry.

[In Homer's story of the Trojan War, a wrathful Achiles seeks revenge on the killer of his friend, Patroclus.]