legacy

money or property that you receive from someone after they die:
An elderly cousin had left her a small legacy.
something that is a part of your history or that remains from an earlier time:
The Greeks have a rich legacy of literature.
The war has left a legacy of hatred.

conundrum
noun
a confusing and difficult problem or question.
"one of the most difficult conundrums for the experts"
a question asked for amusement, typically one with a pun in its answer; a riddle.

Savvy
noun
shrewdness and practical knowledge; the ability to make good judgments.
"the financiers lacked the necessary political savvy"
adjective
shrewd and knowledgeable; having common sense and good judgment.
verb
know or understand.
"Charley would savvy what to do"

scramble
To scramble is to move quickly in a disorganized fashion, like people running to get out of
the rain. When you scramble a message, it can no longer be read.

Have you ever run somewhere, in a hurry, with no regard for how you looked? Then you
scrambled. Quarterbacks scramble when they need to escape defenders trying to clobber
them. A scramble is not graceful; people scramble when they want to get somewhere fast.
Also, scrambling refers to altering a message so others can't read it. Putting a message into
code is a type of scrambling. Scrambled messages are like scrambled eggs: all mixed up.

1. an unceremonious and disorganized struggle

2. bring into random order
outspoken
adjective
frank in stating one's opinions, especially if they are critical or controversial.
"he has been outspoken in his criticism"

ravage
verb
cause severe and extensive damage to.
"fears that a war could ravage their country"
noun
the severely damaging or destructive effects of something.
"his face had withstood the ravages of time"

deluge
noun
a severe flood.
verb
inundate with a great quantity of something.
"he has been deluged with offers of work"

mandatory
adjective
required by law or rules; compulsory.
"wearing helmets was made mandatory for cyclists"

concieve
verb
1.
become pregnant with (a child).
"she was conceived when her father was 49"
2.
form or devise (a plan or idea) in the mind.
"the dam project was originally conceived in 1977"

imminent
about to happen.
"they were in imminent danger of being swept away"
petty
Petty used to mean just "petite" or "small," but now it's used for things that are trivial and
shouldn’t matter much. If you host world leaders and spend more time picking napkins than
memorizing names, you're focused on petty things.
A few neutral meanings of petty are still in use today — such as "petty cash," which refers to
a small amount of cash on hand — but most uses of petty since the 16th century are
negative, as in "narrow-minded," "trivial," and "of little importance." A "petty argument" is a
popular expression, because many people get all worked up over something that isn't very
important — a petty concern — that seems much smaller after the heat of the moment.

scrum
noun
1.
RUGBY
an ordered formation of players, used to restart play, in which the forwards of a team form
up with arms interlocked and heads down, and push forward against a similar group from
the opposing side. The ball is thrown into the scrum and the players try to gain possession
of it by kicking it backward toward their own side.
2.
a set of practices used in agile project management that emphasize daily communication
and the flexible reassessment of plans that are carried out in short, iterative phases of work.

setback

A setback is an event that makes you lose progress or keeps you from gaining ground. If

you're knitting a sweater, dropping a bunch of stitches would be a big setback.

If warring countries are negotiating a treaty, a sudden resurgence of fighting would be a huge
setback for their peace plan. And if you're trying to finish baking in time for you friend's
birthday party, knocking the frosted cake onto the floor would also be a setback. Setbacks
are always frustrating — unless you're talking about the kind of setback that's defined as "a
building's distance from the street."
streak
noun
1.
a long, thin line or mark of a different substance or color from its surroundings.
"a streak of oil"
verb
1.
cover (a surface) with streaks.
"tears streaking her face, Cynthia looked up"
2.
move very fast in a specified direction.
"the cat leaped free and streaked across the street"

slack
adjective
1.
not taut or held tightly in position; loose.
"a slack rope"
2.
(of business) characterized by a lack of work or activity; quiet.
"business was rather slack"

infringe
verb
actively break the terms of (a law, agreement, etc.).
"making an unauthorized copy would infringe copyright"
act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on.
"his legal rights were being infringed"

embolden
verb
1.
give (someone) the courage or confidence to do something or to behave in a certain way.
"emboldened by robust passenger traffic, the airlines put through major fare increases"
2.
cause (a piece of text) to appear in a bold typeface.
"center, embolden, and underline the heading"
plunder
Plunder can mean stolen goods or money obtained illegally, or the act of taking those
things. A burglar might plunder a jewelry store and then sneak off with her plunder.
Plunder is an old Middle High German word that originally meant "household goods and
clothes": in other words, your stuff. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), English speakers
acquired this word while fighting in the land that is today Germany, but with the added
meaning of taking the plunder as, well, plunder. As both a noun and verb, a synonym
for plunder is loot.

repression
noun
noun: repression; plural noun: repressions
the action of subduing someone or something by force.
the restraint, prevention, or inhibition of a feeling, quality, etc.
"the repression of anger can be positively harmful"
the action or process of suppressing a thought or desire in oneself so that it remains
unconscious.

hoof
noun
noun: hoof; plural noun: hoofs; plural noun: hooves
the horny part of the foot of an ungulate animal, especially a horse.
"there was a clatter of hoofs as a rider came up to them"
verbINFORMAL
go on foot.
"it was awfully hot, but we hoofed it all the way back"
dance.
verb: hoof; 3rd person present: hoofs; gerund or present participle: hoofing; past tense:
hoofed; past participle: hoofed
"we hoof it reasonably fancily, and no one guffaws"
hedge
A hedge is a living fence made of closely planted bushes, which, as they grow and get
trimmed and shaped, form a wall of green.
Hedge can also be used as a verb. If someone asks you a question and you hedge, you're
avoiding a straight answer. If you're not sure what your boss's political views are, you can
hedge by not revealing yours. If you hedge your bets, you're trying to minimize risk or loss —
that is, you're trying to cover yourself no matter what happens.

truce
noun
an agreement between enemies or opponents to stop fighting or arguing for a certain time.
"the guerrillas called a three-day truce"

miniaturise
verb
verb: miniaturise
make on a smaller or miniature scale.
"miniaturized computers"

fortified
adjective
adjective: fortified
1.
provided with defensive works as protection against attack.
"a fortified manor house"
2.
(of wine) having had spirits added to make port, sherry, etc.
"many fortified wines are sweet"
(of food) having had vitamins added to increase its nutritive value.
"fortified breakfast cereals"

cordial
djective
adjective: cordial
warm and friendly.
"the atmosphere was cordial and relaxed"
strongly felt.
"I earned his cordial loathing"
noun
noun: cordial; plural noun: cordials
1.
NORTH AMERICAN
another term for liqueur.
2.
a comforting or pleasant-tasting medicine.

impertinent
2.
FORMAL
not pertinent to a particular matter; irrelevant.
"talk of “rhetoric” and “strategy” is impertinent to this process"

proximity
noun
noun: proximity
nearness in space, time, or relationship.
"do not operate microphones in close proximity to television sets"

myriad
noun
noun: myriad; plural noun: myriads
1.
a countless or extremely great number.
"networks connecting a myriad of computers"
(chiefly in classical history) a unit of ten thousand.
adjective
adjective: myriad
countless or extremely great in number.
"the myriad lights of the city"
having countless or very many elements or aspects.
"the myriad political scene"
foray
noun
noun: foray; plural noun: forays
a sudden attack or incursion into enemy territory, especially to obtain something; a raid.
"the garrison made a foray against Richard's camp"
an attempt to become involved in a new activity or sphere.
"my first foray into journalism"
verb
verb: foray; 3rd person present: forays; past tense: forayed; past participle: forayed; gerund
or present participle: foraying
make or go on a foray.
"the place into which they were forbidden to foray"

amphibious
adjective
adjective: amphibious
relating to, living in, or suited for both land and water.
"an amphibious vehicle"
(of a military operation) involving forces landed from the sea.
"an amphibious assault"

norm
noun
noun: norm; noun: the norm
1.
something that is usual, typical, or standard.
"this system has been the norm in Germany for decades"
a standard or pattern, especially of social behavior, that is typical or expected of a group.
plural noun: norms
"the norms of good behavior in the Civil Service"
a required standard; a level to be complied with or reached.
"the 7% pay norm had been breached again"

albeit
conjunction
conjunction: albeit
although.
"he was making progress, albeit rather slowly"
hawkish
adjective
adjective: hawkish
1.
resembling a hawk in nature or appearance.
"his hawkish nose"
2.
advocating an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs.
"the administration's hawkish stance"

strap
noun
noun: strap; plural noun: straps
a strip of leather, cloth, or other flexible material, often with a buckle, used to fasten,
secure, or carry something or to hold onto something.
"her bra strap"
a strip of metal, often hinged, used to fasten or secure something.
punishment by beating with a strip of leather.
noun: the strap
variant form of strop1.
verb
verb: strap; 3rd person present: straps; past tense: strapped; past participle: strapped; gerund
or present participles: strapping
1.
fasten or secure in a specified place or position with a strap or seat belt.
"I had to strap the bag to my bicycle"
2.
beat (someone) with a strip of leather.
"I expected when my dad walked in that he'd strap him"

outset
noun
the start or beginning of something.
"a field of which he had known nothing at the outset and learned on the job"
 mischievous
adjective
(of a person, animal, or their behavior) causing or showing a fondness for causing trouble in a
playful way.
"two mischievous kittens had decorated the bed with shredded newspaper"

narcissist
noun
a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves.
"narcissists who think the world revolves around them"

Pristine
adjective
in its original condition; unspoiled.
"pristine copies of an early magazine"
o clean and fresh as if new; spotless.
"a pristine white shirt"

Exemplify
to be or give a typical example of something:
This painting perfectly exemplifies the naturalistic style which was so popular at the time.

Conspicuous
very noticeable or attracting attention, often in a way that is not wanted:
In China, her blonde hair was conspicuous.
He tried not to look conspicuous and moved slowly along the back of the room.

brim
n. the bottom part of a hat that sticks out all around the head
the very top edge of a container:
She poured the cream until it reached the brim.
He filled the glass to the brim.
She passed him the mug, filled/full to the brim with hot black coffee.

Outburst
a sudden forceful expression of emotion, especially anger:
a violent outburst
an outburst of creative activity
Her comments provoked an outburst of anger from the boss.

Miscreant
A miscreant is a person who behaves badly — who lies, breaks the law, yells at puppies. It's
a somewhat old-fashioned word, popular with old ladies shocked at having their purses
stolen at the opera.
Words like miscreant, scoundrel, and good-for-nothing are used to condemn people
believed to be improper or even evil. If your mom warns you that your friends are a bunch
of miscreants, she's concerned that you're hanging out with the wrong kind of crowd and
that you might be headed for trouble.

Dumbfounded
Adj. so shocked that you cannot speak:
He was dumbfounded by the allegations.

Indulgent
Someone who is self-indulgent gives themselves a lot of treats. Parents who
are indulgent cave to every desire their child expresses. Indulgent means lenient, or overly
generous.
Indulgent is a word that, here in Puritanical North America, is hard to know how to take. Is it
okay to “indulge yourself” as so many spa advertisements suggest? Or is indulgent always
associated with excess? You can indulge fantasies of figuring out the answer, or you can give
in to an indulgent shrug and move on to another word.

Grin
a wide smile:
I assumed things had gone well for him because he had a big grin on his face.
a broad/sheepish grin
derogatory
Something that's derogatory is insulting or disrespectful. If you make derogatory comments,
that means you say things that are unflattering, unkind, or demeaning.
Derogatory means about the same as insulting. Derogatory language is meant to hurt, and it
usually does. If you feel offended or insulted by what someone says, the person probably
said something derogatory. Racial, sexist, and homophobic slurs are all derogatory. Insults
that mean someone is stupid or crazy are derogatory. Making a joke about someone's
mother is derogatory.

Pitch
In baseball, the ball is pitched (thrown). Elsewhere, writers, salesmen, and other folks
make pitches (proposals).
There's a long list of pitches, both nouns and verbs. A salesman can give you a sales pitch,
when he tells you all the reasons you should buy what he's selling. A high, short golf shot is
a pitch. If you are singing the right notes to a song then you are on pitch. A rocking boat is
pitching. The only way to know which pitch is meant is to look at the situation and who's
using the word.

Sojourn
A sojourn is a short stay or visit. If you want a fancy way to say that you took a trip to the
countryside, you might talk about your country sojourn.
The verb is originally from the Latin prefix sub- "under" plus diurnus "of a day." You might
refer to your vacation as a sojourn, but it might make more sense if you are describing a trip
to Provence rather than a trip to Disney World. Or In figurative use, sojourn means to delve–
–your math teacher may stop midway through lessons on fractions for a brief sojourn into
techniques for slicing pie.

Axiom
An axiom is a statement that everyone believes is true, such as "the only constant is
change." Mathematicians use the word axiom to refer to an established proof.
The word axiom comes from a Greek word meaning “worthy.” An axiom is a worthy,
established fact. For philosophers, an axiom is a statement like “something can’t be true
and not be true at the same time.” An example of a mathematical axiom is “a number is
equal to itself.” In everyday usage, an axiom is just a common saying, but it’s one that
pretty much everyone agrees on.

Incongruities
Incongruity means out of place — something that doesn't fit in its location or situation. The
art show patrons couldn't help but chuckle at the incongruity of a toilet sitting in the middle
of an exhibition of Renaissance paintings.
An incongruity is very different from everything around it, to the point of being inappropriate
to the situation. A cat at a dog's birthday party would be an incongruity, as would a pacifist
at a meeting of the War Lovers' Society. Incongruity is the idea that something
is incongruous, or inappropriate. A purple towel is an incongruity in an all black-and-white
bathroom.

Wary
Describe yourself as wary if you don't quite trust someone or something and want to
proceed with caution. Be wary of risky things like wild mushrooms and Internet deals!
You can trace wary through Old English back to Old High German giwar "aware, attentive." If
you keep a wary eye on something, you are attentive for signs that it is becoming dangerous.
Likewise, if you give someone a wary glance, your face conveys the suspicion and caution
you feel. When you are wary of driving alone at night or making promises, you fear
something bad might happen if you do these things.

Subtle
Something that is subtle is not obvious: a professional food taster might be able to perceive
subtle differences of flavor that most people don't notice.
Subtle is used for things that are hard to describe because of their complexity or delicacy: a
way of thinking, arguing, or creating a work of art. The word is pronounced like "suttle" and it
was originally spelled that way when it was borrowed from Old French, but the b got
imported to make the word look more like its ultimate source, the Latin adjective subtilis. If
you try to pronounce the b, your ignorance of how to say the word properly won't be very
subtle!

Contingency
If you plan to walk home if the weather is nice, but bring subway fare just in case, then
taking the subway is your contingency plan. A contingency is an event you can't be sure will
happen or not.
The noun contingency describes something that might or might not happen. We use it to
describe an event or situation that is a possible outcome but one that's impossible to
predict with certainty. A company might have a contingency plan for what to do if
something goes wrong with their primary strategy, also known as "plan B." They might even
have plans C, D, and E, to prepare for multiple contingencies.

Scrutiny
Scrutiny is when you look at something really closely, like when you are checking a test for
mistakes. Scrutiny can also be an intense look, like when your mother looks at you — trying
to tell if you might be lying.
Scrutiny comes from the Latin scrutari, which means “to search,” but which originally
meant, “to sort trash.” When you turn in a draft of your essay, you are subjecting it to your
teacher's scrutiny — and there's a good chance that she'll find some sentences that can be
"trashed" as well as sections that could be improved.

Spate
A spate is a large number. If a spate of new coffee shops open in your neighborhood, it’ll be
easy for you to stay wide awake. You’ll have easy access to plenty of caffeine.
Though it’s now used to describe a large number or unusually large amount of something,
the word spate originally described a sudden flood of water, such as a river overflowing
after a downpour. Thinking about being overwhelmed by a sudden rush of water will help
you remember to use spate when you encounter an unexpected overflow of anything,
whether it’s books, robberies, celebrity break-ups, or corporate mergers.

Heist
When a man with a gun walks into a bank and says, "Give me all your money," that's
a heist or a robbery at gunpoint.
Heist, pronounced "hīst," is a slang word for an armed robbery. It's also a slang word used to
describe the act of stealing or breaking into someone's house to steal their stuff. In other
words, it's a burglary. Heist can also act as a verb: "If you've heisted a diamond ring, you've
stolen it."

set aside
v. give or assign a resource to a particular person or cause
v. make inoperative or stop

trifle
A trifle is something that's totally unimportant. If your friend is freaking out over which
poster to buy and you call her dilemma a trifle, you're saying she shouldn't get so worked
up over nothing.
Trifle comes from the Middle English trufle, meaning "fraud, joke, trick." You'll usually hear it
used to mean "insignificant, trivial." If you write a little ditty to sing at a birthday party, you
could say it's just a trifle. As a verb, trifle means "toy with, waste." If you play with someone's
feelings without seriously meaning anything, you are trifling with his affection. Trifle is also a
sweet, sticky cake. Don't trifle the day away dreaming about trifle. Make some!

Quash
Quash means to put down, stop, extinguish, and it’s usually used to talk about ideas,
feelings, or political movements. You wouldn’t quash a grape underfoot; you
would squash it. But if you were a military dictator, you would quash a revolution.
Quash is an extreme word. It comes from the French word for smash, or shatter. If
something is quashed it is completely suppressed, usually by something or someone very
powerful or authoritative. If you wrote a poem and asked your favorite teacher to read it,
and that teacher tore it to pieces, then your hopes were most likely quashed.

Swerve
The noun swerve means a sudden turn off your path. As a verb, it means to move off your
original route, possibly to avoid a collision. You can swerve either toward something or away
from it.
The word swerve can be traced to the Old English sweorfan, "to turn aside," which is
precisely the modern sense. It was first used as a verb in the 13th century and as a noun in
the 18th. Swerve refers to a sudden veering off, perhaps not as sharp as a turn, but more a
bending of your path. Think of the trajectory as an arc or curve, and remember
that swerve rhymes with curve.

Agony
The noun agony means acute pain — either mental or physical, but people often use the
word hyperbolically: "This paper cut is agony."
The noun agony is also used in the common phrase "the thrill of victory and the agony of
defeat," which has been the tag-line of ABC's Wide World of Sports for decades. The
catchphrase, in turn, is often rendered as a pun: "He fell of the ladder and broke his foot. He
writhed in agony from the pain, but the physical pain, was nothing compared to his
mental agony when the doctor setting the bone joked, 'Now you know the agony of de
feet!'"

Gaffe
A gaffe is a mistake that embarrasses you in front of others. If you run into a friend out with
her grey-haired father, and you blurt out, "Oh, hi, you must be Tara's grandfather!" then
you've made a gaffe.
Gaffe rhymes with laugh, and you'll be lucky if that's how people respond to your social
blunder. A gaffe seems to occur most often when you literally don't know your audience —
you make a joke about the mayor; you didn't know you were talking to his sister. That's
definitely a gaffe. And who knew your hosts come from a culture that takes offense if you
refuse to try every dish?

Dim
Dim has several meanings related to a lack of light, hope, or knowledge. A room that is not
well lit is dim, a slow thinker is dim, and when life looks hopeless, your prospects are dim.
To dim a light is to dull it, like by putting a shade over it. A vague idea without a lot of
specifics is also dim, since it's hard to see or understand the idea. Someone who's not very
bright is dim or a dimwit. When things are hopeless, they're dim too. For example, if a
football team is losing by fifty points, their chances of winning are dim.
Entrench
To entrench is to secure something firmly. Entrench a tent pole in the ground so your tent
doesn't fly away, or entrench yourself at your new job so you don’t get fired.
Dig a little and see that entrench is from en meaning “in” and trench is from the Old French
word trenche for "ditch,” just like the kind soldiers hide in. You don’t have to be a soldier to
entrench, though — anytime a person or thing is securely inside something, it’s entrenched.
If you entrench a swing set in your yard, it's solid. If a government entrenches a spy in
another country, that spy blends right in.

Elusive
Things that are elusive are hard to find, pin down, or remember. They slip right out of your
grasp.
Ever try to catch a mouse? It's not easy, because mice are quick and elusive — they're tough
to catch. Rabbits are speedy, so they're elusive too. Also, things that are tough to
understand or describe are elusive — like the concepts of love and beauty. If you had an
idea and then forgot it, the idea is elusive: it slipped away. Anything you can't get hold of,
with your hands or with your brain, is elusive.

Abstention
Abstention is when someone deliberately avoids doing something, especially something that
might be harmful.
You might decide to live for a year without buying anything besides food — you could call
the act of doing this abstention from the consumer lifestyle. Other kinds of abstention might
include resisting junk food or quitting smoking. To abstain is to hold back or shun something.
The root of both words is the Latin abstinere, "withhold, keep back, or keep off."
Rebuff
If you rebuff someone, you reject or snub him. You might decide to rebuff a classmate's
invitation to the dance after hearing him gossip meanly about a friend.
Although the verb rebuff is a somewhat old fashioned one to use for social relationships, it's
still common in the world of diplomacy. One country's rebuff of another might start a war,
or end peace talks, or otherwise reverberate through the world of international relations.
You can also use rebuff as a noun — deliberately ignoring your sister's text message is one
example of a rebuff. The Italian root word, ribuffo, combines ri, expressing opposition,
and buffo, "a puff."
Impair
If you make bad decisions in the morning after drinking coffee, you might conclude that
caffeine tends to impair your judgment. When you impair something, you damage it or make
it work poorly.
The root of the verb impair traces back to the Latin word pejorare, meaning “to make
worse,” and that’s still what happens if you impair something. Whether it’s communication,
visibility, or your marriage prospects, if you impair it, you make it worse. The word can be
used for situations that describe something that has deteriorated, such as “Snow continued
to impair driving conditions.”

Sermon
A sermon is a speech, usually religious in nature, given by a priest, preacher, rabbi, or other
religious leader as part of a service.
Although most sermons focus on Bible passages, you can use the word sermon more
generally to refer to any speech that contains a moral lesson. Sports coaches are known to
deliver moving sermons, as are teachers and camp counselors. But if you come in late, after
missing your curfew, the last thing you want to hear is a sermon by your mom on the
importance of keeping your word.

Extradition
A legal word, extradition means sending someone back to the country or state where
they've been accused of a crime. Getting countries to agree on the terms of extradition can
take years.
It can be hard enough for lawyers in the U.S. to agree on a person's extradition from one
state to another, so you can imagine how difficult it can be for officials from different
countries. Extradition can have real consequences for the person being extradited. Suppose
the laws there allow for the death penalty: a person accused of a capital crime would be
smart to fight extradition to that place. The Latin prefix ex- means "from, out of,"
and trāditiōn- means "handing over," so extradition is the handing-over of someone from
one jurisdiction to another.
Idyllic
A week at the beach that goes perfectly is an idyllic vacation. Idyllic means so wonderful it
seems almost magical.
Are you having an idyllic childhood? You may not think so now, but in your old age, you
may remember your days as a youngster as simple and carefree. The clear, blue water of
the Caribbean Sea, the beautiful village perched on a cliffside, the sunny grassy field of
wildflowers, these are all idylls — simple peaceful scenes — that you may or may not find
idyllic.

Sprout
A sprout is a small growth on a plant — a little new bud. Other things can sprout too: kids
are constantly sprouting (growing).
The key thing to think of when you're trying to remember the meaning of sprout is growth
— as a noun, a sprout is a new growth of a plant, and as a verb, to sprout means to
grow. Sprouting mainly applies to height and to the young, whether you're talking about
plants, people, or things. An older person who gains fifty pounds is growing but not
sprouting.

Prudent
Describe an action as prudent if it is the wise thing to do under the existing circumstances. If
you're getting in trouble, it is probably prudent to keep your mouth closed and just listen.
If you show good and careful judgment when handling practical matters, you can be
described as prudent. Similarly, a wise and well-thought-through decision or action can be
called prudent. The word comes from a contracted form of the Latin prōvidēns, from the
verb "to foresee." The English word provident, "wise in planning for the future," is the non-
contracted descendent of the same Latin root.

Mound
A mound is a heap or a pile of material or objects. You can make a mound of clothes by
dumping your laundry onto your bed.
The noun mound is occasionally used to mean "a hill," but it most often describes a
manmade pile, like a mound of stones or a mound of sand heaped on the beach, or a
mound of snow that you sculpt into a rabbit. On a baseball diamond, the pitcher's mound is
the little rise on which the pitcher stands to throw the ball. As a verb, mound means to pile
something into a heaped shape.
Holster
The noun holster looks like holder and that's exactly what it is. Some holsters hold a single
item, like a gun, and others are more like tool belts, holding many small items.
The o in holster is long, so pronounce it like this: "HOLE-ster." Originally, the word described
something very specific — a leather case for a pistol. It probably comes from the Old
English word heolster (earlier helustr), which means "concealment, hiding place." Today,
holsters may hide what they hold, but they always keep things handy.

Embroil
To embroil is to drag someone into a mess. If you're embroiled, you're in deep. Being
embroiled is far worse, far messier, and generally far more long-term, than simply being
"involved" with something. Nothing good can come of being embroiled.
Embroil can refer to any sort of situation — romantic entanglements, political events,
scandals — but it's probably most commonly used in reference to lawsuits. The classic
lawsuit that embroiled its participants was the fictional case of Jarndyce. v. Jarndyce, in
Dickens's novel Bleak House — which went on for so many generations that all the
characters' money was eaten up entirely by lawyers' fees. Let us repeat: nothing good
comes of getting embroiled.

Injunction
If your school begins building a swimming pool on land that does not belong to it, the city
might issue an injunction to stop it. An injunction is an official order issued by a judge.
In general injunctions are court ordered settlements or commands. In the United States,
judges cannot create laws, but they can require someone to do something or to stop doing
something. If you were wrongly fired from a job, a court may issue an injunction to your
former employer, requiring him or her to hire you back or pay your back salary.
Hail

Hail is when chunks of ice fall from the sky. Also, to hail someone is to greet them or say
good things about them. Or it can be a way to tell people of your homeland, as in:
"I hail from the Moon."

If twenty third-graders all sent spit-balls up in the air at once, the spit-balls would then hail
down on the class. If a presidential candidate has an idea for fixing the nation's woes, many
people will hail that idea. If you see your former prom date walking down the street, you
may want to hail them to say hello — or perhaps you'll want to hail a cab and get out of
there as fast as you can.

Pelt
A pelt is an animal's skin, fur and all. If you are wearing a fur coat, you are really wearing
a pelt (hate to break it to you).
Another meaning of pelt is to throw something at someone — over and over again.
Attacking armies might pelt the enemy with bombs, and there's always some kid in the back
of an elementary school classroom who tries to pelt his classmates with spitballs. Either
way, there is an attack or bombardment involved. If you dare to wear an animal pelt in front
of an animal rights activist, you might just get pelted with a tomato.

cling
To cling is to tightly grasp something or to stick closely to something, like how wet
clothes cling to the wearer.
Clinging has to do with closeness. A scared child will cling to his parent, holding on tight.
People in love cling to one another in embraces. When you're on a roller coaster, it's best to
cling to whatever restraint you can. Similarly, things cling to each other when they're hard to
separate. Clothes fresh out of the dryer often cling to each other. Strands of cooked
spaghetti cling to each other. Stretchy clothing like spandex clings to the bodies of the
people who wear it.
Lodge
A lodge is an inn where travelers stay overnight. If you’re in need of a night’s sleep while
traveling an out of the way country road, you’re more likely to find yourself at a lodge than
a fancy or chain hotel.
A lodge can also be a cabin in the woods; like an inn, it’s usually a temporary
accommodation. But if you join your local lodge, you’ll be expected to be a regular visitor,
at least at the monthly the meetings. Lodge is also a verb, meaning to stay temporarily, or
to give someone a place to stay. If you lodge a toothpick between your teeth, though,
you’ll probably hope it won’t stay there too long.

Riot
A riot is a violent outburst by a crowd. When the principal didn't declare a snow day, even
with five inches on the ground already, students rioted, gathering outside and throwing
snowballs.
The meaning of riot has stretched over the years. You would say "She is a riot" about a
funny or outrageous person. A loud clothing combination might represent a riot of texture
and color. When something runs riot, it has been allowed to get out of control.

Exclaim
The verb exclaim is from the Latin word exclamare, which means "to cry out." The English
meaning is similar, to cry out, but with the added element of a strong emotion such as fear,
joy, surprise.
In writing, when someone exclaims something, the punctuation mark used to express this
vehement outcry is usually the exclamation point: "Stop!" you exclaim when your toddler
climbs precariously on a chair stacked with books. "Not in this lifetime!" you cry out when
your teenager wants to borrow the new car. You will exclaim "I'm so proud!" when your child
graduates college.

Decry
When you dye your hair pink and orange, your mother decries your act as a horror and
bursts into tears. She criticizes your choice of colors, stating that pink and purple would
have looked better.
You might decry learning French, declaring it as a waste of time. Yet many English words
come from French. When the French conquered England in 1066, they brought with them
their language as well as their social system. Because French was spoken mostly by the
ruling class, many of the loan words are formal. Decry comes from the Old
French descrier, to cry out or announce. When you decry something, you simultaneously
condemn it and discredit it, a formal act.

Abuzz
If a room is abuzz, it's full of noise and chatter. An elementary school classroom is bound to
be abuzz on the last day of school before summer.
When a place is abuzz, it's bustling with activity and sounds, humming in a way that
resembles the buzzing of bees. The whole town might be abuzz with excitement about a
movie being filmed there, or your house could be abuzz with excited children during a
birthday party. Charles Dickens is credited with the first written use of this adjective, in his
1859 novel "A Tale of Two Cities."

Epidemic
An epidemic is a disease that spreads rapidly among many people in a community at the
same time. In the 1980s, the fast-spreading AIDS epidemic transformed life on our planet.
Epidemic can be used figuratively to refer to something that spreads or grows rapidly: an
epidemic of laziness has taken over the tenth grade. This word is from French épidémique,
ultimately from Greek epidēmia "staying in one place, among the people." The related
word pandemic refers to a disease that spreads throughout an entire country or throughout
the world.

Tout
To tout means to praise, boast, or brag about. If you like to tout your skill as a skier, you tell
people you can go down expert-level hills.
Sometimes parents will get into bragging wars about their children, each touting the
accomplishments of his or her child. Sometimes the word means more of "to claim." The
company touted the lotion as a solution to wrinkles. Broccoli has been touted as the
cancer-fighting vegetable. In England, a tout is a person who gives advice about gambling. If
you're looking to play some money on the ponies, go see the tout who hangs out at Jackie’s
bar for a tip.
Infuriate

Different things infuriate different people: whatever makes you angry, mad, or ticked

off infuriates you.

Fury is a word for "anger" that should help with this word: to infuriate is to fill someone with
fury, i.e., anger. Unless you're new to the planet, you've probably noticed many things that
are infuriating: people talking too loudly on their phones, the cancellation of your favorite
TV show, stepping in a puddle, someone stealing from you, stubbing your toe. These
annoying events could infuriate anyone. Sometimes you might infuriate someone else by
accident. Like it or not, we all infuriate someone sometime.

Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction means having a legal right over something. A court can have jurisdiction over a
legal question, and a government can have jurisdiction over another country or territory.
Even your parents could be said to have jurisdiction over you while you're under 18.
This noun jurisdiction descends from Latin jūrisdictiō, formed from jūris (from jūs "law")
plus dictio, "the act of saying." Think of it as who has the right to "say" what "the law" is. In
the U.S., certain crimes are tried in state courts, but when a crime involves more than one
state, jurisdiction moves to the federal court system, just as the local police step down and
the investigation is handled by the FBI.

Spur
To spur something on is to get it going, to encourage it, to hasten it or stimulate. Cowboys
wear spiky metal tools called spurs on their boots to kick their horses and spur them to
greater speed.
Economists talk of lowering interest rates to spur spending. A new source of funding for
research will hopefully spur new proposals for research from scientists. An earthquake in
China might spur cities in California to a higher standard of earthquake preparedness. You
might spur your team on to victory by cheering from the sidelines.
Reiterate
To reiterate something is to say or do something again, or many times. Let me reiterate: if
you repeat yourself, you're reiterating the thing you originally said.
This verb is from Middle English reiteraten, from Latin reiteratus, from reiterare "to repeat,"
from the prefix re- "again" plus iterare "to repeat, iterate." The English word iterate has the
same meaning as reiterate, although it is not as commonly used.

Petition
If you're angry about the new rule that you have to wear bright pink shoes to work every
day, why not write up a petition, get all your co-workers to sign it, and submit it to your
boss.
Petition comes from the Anglo-Norman word peticiun, meaning "demand, request," and
when you petition someone, you ask them to consider your request. If you write up a
statement against the town's approval of a new carnival district and collect signatures from
100 neighbors to turn in to the city government, that's a petition. If you pray to the carnival
gods to rain down ruin on the carnival, that's also a petition — and no signatures needed.

Antitrust
The adjective antitrust describes a kind of law or rule that protects fairness and competition
in business. Antitrust laws are intended to stop companies from forming monopolies.
An antitrust attorney specializes in business law, and the rules and regulations that keep
competition between businesses fair and equal. One example of an antitrust violation is
price fixing, when different companies conspire to keep prices high for their customers. The
term antitrust has been around since the 1890s, when the Sherman Act was passed,
prohibiting business activities that harmed competition.

Quandary
How to define the word quandary? Wow, this is quite a dilemma. What to do, what to do?
Hmmm. Looks like this moment itself is a quandary: a tough situation that will be really
hard to resolve.
If you’re uncertain what to do because all of your options seem unpleasant, you’re
probably in a quandary. Some voters find themselves in a quandary when they dislike all of
the candidates. A more common quandary is when you plan two events at the same time
and can’t decide which one to attend. Some synonyms are predicament, dilemma, plight,
and pickle — and choosing which word to use is a quandary in itself.
Entrench
When you're entrenched, you're dug in. Sometimes that means you're literally in a trench,
but usually it means you just won't budge from a position or belief.
Entrenched things are buried so solidly that they can't move — or just behave like they're
firmly lodged in some deep hole. Usually this word refers to views people hold very
strongly. Having turkey on Thanksgiving is a tradition that's entrenched in American culture
— it's long been established and isn't going anywhere. When you're entrenched, you're
being stubborn or consistent, depending on your view.

Dilapidate
Falling down and in total disrepair, something that's dilapidated is going to need a lot of
fixing up.
Sure, there might be crooked floorboards, mice scurrying underfoot, and pieces missing from
the ceiling, but that dilapidated house does come with one perk: a cheaper price
tag! Dilapidated is a word that implies deterioration, often because of neglect. So if you
don’t take care of things, they can become dilapidated. That goes for houses, tree forts,
relationships, health — you name it!

Shroud
Are the rules of calculus shrouded in mystery to you? The verb shroud means to hide or
cover something or someone. The fog might shroud the valley, or that long-sleeved, ankle-
length dress might shroud the tan you worked so hard on in Mexico over Christmas break.
It used to be that corpses were dressed for burial not in person’s best outfit but in a shroud
— a garment, often white, made to cover the body. When ghosts, zombies or mummies are
depicted in rags, they are wearing the remains of their burial shrouds. If you should hide
from them by covering yourself with an abandoned tarp, you will be shrouding yourself
from sight.

Giddy
If you've ever spun in circles until you fell to the ground laughing, you know how it feels to
be giddy. This adjective can mean dizzy, elated, or — as in the spinning around example —
a lightheaded, lighthearted combination of the two.
The hackneyed phrase "giddy as a schoolgirl" calls forth the image of a kid giggling with her
friends over some adolescent foolishness. Giddy has been used to describe someone
incapable of serious thought or easily excited as far back as the 16th century. Given that, in
modern usage, giddy describes someone silly and frivolous, it's interesting to know that the
Old English source for this word has a slightly darker tinge: gidig means "insane" or "god-
possessed."

Lingering
When someone lingers, he or she takes an unexpectedly long time to depart, as
Romeo lingers when bidding Juliet farewell (or as annoying houseguests almost always tend
to do).
In addition to its primary meaning of "taking a long time to depart," linger has the additional
meaning of "persisting while gradually weakening." In this sense, linger can refer to feelings or
sensations that slowly fade away, like the smell of perfume that lingers in an elevator after
the passengers have exited.

Cheeky
If you're being cheeky you're being brash or irreverent. If you're a cheeky child, you're
probably just being impudent and disrespectful — and you're probably going to get in
trouble.
Cheeky has shades of meaning according to the degree of offense taken, and this may vary
between British and American English. At the offensive end are the
synonyms rude, disrespectful, and insulting. Less offensive
are sassy, arrogant, and shameless. Rounding out the cheeky spectrum
are bold, assertive, and daring, which are about getting noticed but without causing injury.

Hazy
If it's hazy, it's definitely not clear — there's fog, mist, smoke or something like that blurring
the view.
Hazy usually describes a sky that's fogged over or otherwise unclear. But if you're feeling a
little uncertain or unsure about something, with only a bleary outline in your mind, you
could say you're a bit hazy on the details.

Contagion
Have you ever noticed how when one person yawns, the people around him tend to do so
as well? This phenomenon can be described as a contagion, the spreading of an emotional
or mental state (in this case, fatigue).
Contagion can apply not only to the spread of emotions but also to the spread of disease. If
you’re feeling sick, you should stay home to reduce the risk of contagion. (Be sure to use
the word contagion when you call in sick; it’s a great opportunity to impress people with
your vocabulary.) Contagion is akin to the word contagious, an adjective describing things
that spread from person to person, like certain diseases... and yawning.

Poignant
Something that is poignant touches you deeply. Watching a poignant YouTube video about
baby penguins chasing their mothers, for example, might give you a lump in your throat.
Poignant comes from the Latin pungere "to prick," the same root as pungent. But something
that's pungent pricks your sense of smell, whereas poignant refers to something that pricks
your emotions, especially in a melancholy way. Movie critics might describe a touching
portrayal as poignant if there isn't a dry eye in the house.

Quirk
A quirk is a unique, odd, and sometimes charming trait that makes a person stand out from
the crowd. Country comedian Minnie Pearl was known for her quirk of wearing a $1.98 price
tag dangling from her hat.
A quirk can be an adorable little habit, like wearing flowery dresses and big sun bonnets or
bow ties every day. Someone who has one or many quirks is said to be quirky — a little
odd, but usually in a fun way. When it's not being used to describe people's unusual
traits, quirk can mean a quick curve, or a groove, that runs along or separates the molding in
a building.

Indigenous
Use indigenous to describe a plant, animal or person that is native or original to an area.
Though Switzerland is known for its chocolates, chocolate, which comes from the cocoa
plant, is indigenous to South America.
Indigenous, aboriginal, and native all mean the same thing. Aboriginal, however, is
commonly used in connection with Australia, and native with North America. The most
neutral of the three terms, indigenous comes from the Latin word, indigena meaning "a
native." An indigenous ceremony or religion is one traditionally used by a certain group of
people.

Quotidian
Quotidian is a fancy way of saying "daily" or "ordinary." Quotidian events are the everyday
details of life.
When you talk about the quotidian, you're talking about the little things in life: everyday
events that are normal and not that exciting. Going to the store, doing chores, working or
going to school, and brushing your teeth are all quotidian. If you take a spaceship to Mars,
that would be unusual and extraordinary: the opposite of quotidian.
Deity
A deity is a supernatural being, like a god or goddess, that is worshipped by people who
believe it controls or exerts force over some aspect of the world.
The word deity means "divine nature." It was coined by Saint Augustine, a theologian whose
writings were very influential in the shaping of Western Christianity. Deity comes from the
Latin word for "god": deus. The divine nature of deities is believed to be immortal goodness
and powerfulness.

Intimate
Intimate means being close. A small restaurant is called intimate because you're sitting close
to the other people, and your best friends are considered your intimate friends.
This adjective can mean very friendly, or very personal or private. The original spelling
was intime, from French, from Latin intimus "innermost," from intus "within." The related
verb intimate means to hint or suggest. Intimate is also a noun meaning a close friend or
associate. You might intimate to your intimates that you want to leave a boring party.

Sequel
A sequel is a continuation or part two. The Empire Strikes Back and Toy Story 2 are sequels.
Many successful movies have sequels.
The most common meaning of sequel is for a book or movie that follows another, but the
term can be used for just about anything that comes second. We might say of an actress
who begins her career with a bang, "What will she do for a sequel?" A football team that
wins a championship may have trouble with the sequel — trying to win another one next
year. All sequels have a tough challenge — living up to the original.

Kindle
When you start a fire burning, you can say you kindle the fire. Knowing how to kindle a
campfire is an important survival skill. It can help keep you warm at night, and keep you
from eating cold beans for dinner.
The verb kindle not only means to start a fire, but also to catch fire. Another meaning
for kindle is to arouse interest or passion. A dynamic music teacher could kindle the
students' interest in learning an instrument. Or, romance can also be kindled: "As they
danced together, a spark of romance kindled between them."
Accolade
A knight being honored with the tap of a sword-blade was the earliest form of accolade.
Today, an accolade is more than a way to bestow knighthood, it is a form of praise or an
award.
In the early 17th century, the French accoler meant to "embrace the neck," which was done
as part of a knighthood ceremony. By the 19th century, accolade came to mean "award." A
person who achieves a goal in research or service may receive an official paper certificate or
trophy, an accolade of achievement, while a performer or speaker might get an accolade in
the form of applause from the audience. Rarely does either of these types of accolade
involve a sword.

Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an incredibly talented musician. You can also be a virtuoso in non-musical
fields.
A politician who helps pass a lot of bills might be called a legislative virtuoso. A baseball
player who hits a lot of home runs is a slugging virtuoso. Usually, this word applies to music.
It's very common for a talented pianist or guitarist to be called a virtuoso. Whatever your
talent, it's a huge compliment to be called a virtuoso.

Designate
To designate is to give something a specific status. If you designate your house an opera-free
zone, it means that you've officially declared that no opera is allowed to be played there.
To give a person or thing an official status is to designate it as something, like when you
designate a meeting place if members of your group get lost at the amusement park.
Sometimes, it can carry responsibility or an assignment, like when your teammates designate
you as the captain. It can also show a category, like when you designate certain books to
the humor section of the bookstore where you work.

Dementia
If your grandfather suffers from dementia, he has a brain disorder that's causing him to
gradually lose his memory and become disoriented and confused.
Although dementia is most common in elderly people, it's not a normal part of growing
older but a syndrome caused by brain disease or injury. Dementia gets its name from the
Latin words de, or "without," and mens, or "mind," which join together to mean "madness,"
although in English, dementia is not the same thing as madness. One example of an illness
that causes dementia is Alzheimer's disease.
Acute
Use the adjective acute for when you want to describe something as sharp or extremely
serious.
The word acute is one word; it's not two words, nor does it have anything to do with
something small, cuddly, and pretty! Acute really means "sharp" or "severe" or "intense" and
modifies certain kinds of angles in geometry or describes a certain kind of illness of short
duration. The English word apparently entered the language during the sixteenth century
from the Latin root acutus, which means "sharp" or "pointed."

Dismiss
At the end of a lesson period, your teacher says, "class dismissed." This means that you and
the rest of the students are free to go.
Dismiss means to let go. If a judge dismisses a case, it means he's saying it has no merit, and
is throwing it out of court. If you are dismissed from your job, it means you've been fired.
And if you've been ignoring your friends' warnings that your boyfriend is cheating, you've
been dismissing their concerns. "Don't dismiss me!" is something you say when the person
you're talking to is not taking you and your comments seriously.

Dismay
If you discover late Sunday night that the dog really did eat your homework, you might cry
out in dismay. Dismay describes an emotional state of alarm, fear, or serious
disappointment.
The first part of dismay comes from the Latin prefix dis-, which comes in handy when you
want to put a negative spin on words (dishonest, discount, disenchant, etc.). The last bit
of dismay most likely comes from the Germanic word magan, meaning "to be able to." You
can employ the word dismay to describe how you feel in a variety of negative situations
that you doubt you are able to handle.

Bogus
Bogus means fake. A bogus dollar bill is counterfeit, a bogus Picasso was not painted by him,
and a bogus attempt at reconciliation would come from someone who never intended to
end a fight.
Perhaps appropriately, the word bogus originated in the US. Coined as a name for a machine
that printed counterfeit money, it later became a trademark term among California surfers.
In surfer speak, "totally bogus, dude" would describe any unfortunate situation.
Captivate
To captivate means to attract others, fascinating or enchanting them. Some people are able
to captivate with wit and charm, others with physical beauty, still others with intelligence.

Notice the similarity between the verbs captivate and capture. Both come ultimately from
the Latin captus "taken captive." Still, while both words mean some sort of hold on
someone, capture sounds harsh, as though a trap has been set, while captivate is a softer,
more attractive word that suggests there might be a willingness to be caught. Robert S.
McNamara, a former U.S. secretary of defense, said, "Coercion, after all, merely captures
man. Freedom captivates him.”

Mundane
An ordinary, unexciting thing can be called mundane: "Superman hid his heroic feats by
posing as his mundane alter ego, Clark Kent."
Mundane, from the Latin word mundus, "world," originally referred to things on earth. Such
things were supposed to be uninteresting when compared to the delights of Heaven; hence
the word's present meaning. Writing about reality TV shows, a Newsweek writer opined, "In
reality bizarro-world, the mundane is presented as the spectacular" — in other words,
people's everyday routines are now televised as entertainment.

Elaborate
Use the adjective elaborate when you want to describe how something is very detailed or
especially complicated, like a devilish prank planned out weeks in advance.
The adjective elaborate is used to describe when something is planned with a lot of
attention to detail or when something is intricate or detailed itself. The word comes from
the Latin elaborare, which means "to produce by labor" but it has come to mean a lot of
labor, especially work that is very complicated and precise. To imagine this word, think of a
painting with lots of flourishes or a story with many sub-plots and characters that all fit
together in extensive ways.

Impeachment
Though it might be more fun if it meant "canning peaches for the winter," impeachment is
actually a formal document accusing a public official with misconduct.
The United States Constitution gives the legislative branch the power of impeachment, that
is, to press formal charges of misconduct against a sitting president. The House of
Representatives makes the formal charges, and the trial is held in the Senate. A two-thirds
majority of the Senate is required for a conviction. Two United States presidents — Andrew
Johnson and William Clinton — have been impeached. Neither was convicted. Other federal
officials, like judges, can also be impeached.
Slander
If your classmate spreads a false rumor that you cheated on the math test, that's slander.
Slander is the act of saying an untrue, negative statement about someone.
In law, the word slander is contrasted with libel, which is the act of making a false written
statement about someone. The noun slander is from Old French esclandre, escandle, or
"scandal," from Late Latin scandalum "stumbling block, offense."

Wrangle
To wrangle is to take part in a long, angry, intense argument, especially over an issue with
lots of details. You can also wrangle, or herd, a bunch of cows. Politicians and lawyers
frequently wrangle, no cows necessary.
Wrangle in its current meaning comes from the nineteenth century American term wrangling,
the art of herding cattle, probably with the idea in mind that rounding up those tiresome
details is a bit like rounding up all those tiresome cattle; they tend to go flying off in all
directions. From wrangler in the cowboy sense we get Wrangler jeans, though not all
wranglers wear Wranglers of course.

Plausible
If something is plausible, it's reasonable or believable. Things that are plausible could easily
happen. A woman becoming President is very plausible. A giraffe becoming President is not.
Plausible things are not far-fetched at all. Things in fantasy stories — such as wizards,
dragons, and unicorns — are not plausible. On the other hand, some things in science fiction
stories might be plausible: who knows where spaceships will eventually go? If something
really seems like it could happen, then it's plausible. One of the many tricky parts of life is
figuring out what's plausible and what's not.

Niche
A niche is a space that's all your own, from a literal corner or enclosure to some kind of
professional specialty. Like finding a niche in the scented soaps market with peanut butter
body wash and winning over a loyal, if not nutty, following.
In the 1600s, niche was first recorded as meaning a “shallow recess in a wall." The figurative
sense of the word didn’t come about for another century. So today, you can use niche
literally to refer to a cranny or crevice, or figuratively to talk about an activity or role in life
that is particularly suited a person’s interests or talents. Synonyms range from alcove and
compartment to nook and opening.
Stereotype
A stereotype is a preconceived notion, especially about a group of people. Many
stereotypes are rooted in prejudice — so you should be wary of them.
You have probably heard stereotypes: commonly held ideas or preconceptions about
specific groups. You most often hear about negative stereotypes, but some are positive —
the stereotype that tall people are good at basketball, for example. One of many problems
with any stereotype is that even if it's true in some cases, it's certainly not true in all cases.

Spree
If you go on a spree, you go a little wild, indulging in some activity in an unrestrained way.
You might go on a cupcake spree every year on your birthday, eating as many cupcakes as
you can.
Following your impulses and giving in to them — rather than resisting or limiting them — is
one way to go on a spree. It can be a dancing spree, in which you dance all night long, or a
shopping spree, in which you max out your credit card at the mall. The original slang
meaning, and one that's still used today, is "a drinking bout," and it may be rooted in the
French word esprit, "lively wit."

outright
If you do something outright, you do it in a wholehearted, unrestricted way. If you declare
outright that you’re never eating another cupcake, that’s the end of that. If you eat one
anyway, you told an outright lie.
If an event is cancelled outright, there's no question about it being rescheduled, and if you
buy a new car outright, you pay for it all at once, instead of making monthly payments.
Outright means direct and immediate — whether it's an adverb or an adjective: "The child's
outright refusal to put on his shoes exasperated his babysitter." It can also mean “right
away.” If you step on a slug, you’ll probably kill it outright. Ew.

Hoax
If you put on big fake feet, stomp through your muddy backyard and tell everyone you saw
Bigfoot fixing a steak on your grill, you are playing a hoax on your friends.
Hoax is believed to be a shortened version of hocus pocus, thus conveying the feeling of
trickery and sleight of hand. April First, also known as April Fools' Day, is a day of hoaxes.
Successful hoaxes in history: Orson Welles' War-of-the-Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 and
the alien autopsy film footage made public in the 1990s. Do you believe the American
moon landing in 1969 was a hoax? You're not alone. Six percent of Americans believe this
event was staged.
Concede
If you concede something, you admit that it is true, proper, or certain — usually in an
unwilling way and often in the context of a competition, as in "At midnight, the candidate
finally conceded defeat."
In its most common senses, a near synonym of concede is acknowledge — if your mom is
pointing out that you need sleep before the test, you should concede the truth of what
she's saying. But another meaning of concede is to give away or grant something, as when an
unpopular leader is unwilling to concede power. Concede is from Latin concēdere, from the
prefix com-, "completely," plus cēdere, "to go along, grant, yield." The corresponding noun is
concession.

Upfront
If you're an open and straightforward person, you're upfront. And if your cousin asks what
you think of his weird new haircut, you'll be upfront with him and tell the truth.
If you prefer being flattered, you might not appreciate your brother's upfront
pronouncement that your new pants are way too small or you've got spinach in your teeth.
But most of us like knowing that our friends are being upfront and honest with us. Another
way to use this adjective is to mean "in advance" when you're talking about a payment: "She
wants the cash upfront, before she hands over the cupcakes."

Rescind
If you get a call saying a company has decided to rescind your job offer, it's back to the
classifieds for you. Rescind means to cancel or revoke.
Things that are rescinded: policies, court decisions, regulations, and official statements. What
all these examples have in common is that they are on the record. Also, rescind usually
refers to promises instead of tangible objects. You can't rescind a shirt a friend has borrowed
from you, but you can rescind your offer to loan her your jeans.

follow suit
do what someone else is doing
prodigy
A prodigy is someone who is so naturally talented at something that they become a master
of that particular skill as a child — you can be a musical prodigy or a math prodigy. Mozart
was one, writing symphonies and playing for kings when he was only five years old.
Prodigy is one of those wonderful words whose different meanings tell a story about how
the meanings of words bloom over time. The word derives from the Latin prodigium,
meaning "an omen or a sign of something to come." Prodigies are kids who often seem so
talented that their success must presage even greater mastery, though, of course, the irony
is that most prodigies peak in their youth.

Coincidence
People love to talk about strange coincidences––like you and your mother having the same
birthday, or two unrelated families named "The Martins" living next door to each other. A
coincidence is something that's not planned or arranged but seems like it is.

Technically, a coincidence is an occurrence of events that happen at the same time by total
accident––like you and a kid from your class at school both visit the Grand Canyon on the
same day. Weird. If some guy is stalking you, always running into you wherever you go, this is
not a coincidence. That guy has memorized your schedule.

out of the blue

Completely unexpectedly.
She seemed so surprised by the news that it must have come out of the blue.

once in a blue moon

Very rarely.
Peter only comes out for a drink once in blue moon now that he has kids.
A: "Do you ever eat pork?" B: "Only once in a blue moon. I prefer beef."

Acquittal
Acquittal is a legal word that defendants love to hear because it means "not guilty."
In the 15th Century, an acquittal referred to the payment of a debt, but now it means being
freed of charges against you in court. In fact, now the word is really used only in a legal
sense. It's from the Latin ad "to" plus quitare meaning "set free." Getting an acquittal is still
like being set free. Free to do what you want, any old time! So now the only time you'll
need the word is in court, and it's one word you hope to hear if you've been busted.

toast of the town

the toast of (the town)
Someone who is especially well-liked, regarded, or admired in a certain place.
The young entrepreneur's new tech innovation has made him the toast of the town in
Silicon Valley.
I hope you enjoy being the toast of London now, because such fame is always fleeting.

death toll
The number of deaths that have occurred after some major deadly event, such as an
accident, act of violence, or natural disaster.
The death toll of the conflict between the two countries is well over 2,000 people as of this
morning.

Disembark
Use the verb disembark to describe leaving a ship, airplane or other type of vehicle, like
making sure you haven't left anything in the plane's overhead compartment before you
disembark.
Embark means "putting passengers in a plane or on a boat." Disembark is its opposite. When
you disembark, you leave a ship or a plane, like when you can't wait to disembark at the
port in order to go sight-seeing. When you disembark, there is a transition — you walk down
a gangplank to go from water to land or down a special corridor to get from the runway to
the airport terminal — unlike when you get out of a car. That's why you wouldn't use
disembark for getting out of a car.

Grudge
If you tend to hold a grudge, you don't let it go when you feel someone's insulted or
wronged you. I hope you won't hold a grudge against me for bringing it up.
Grudge comes from the now dead Middle English word "grutch," which meant "to complain
or grumble." Someone who bears a grudge might often be grouchy. You can specify a type
of grudge: political grudge, personal grudge, etc. You know Grandpa's been holding a grudge
against the neighbors for years, but you have to wonder: How long can he hold that
shotgun?

Cordon
That yellow police tape and group of officers encircling the crime scene? That's a kind of
cordon — something set up to guard something.
A cordon can also mean some kind of ornament or adornment made out of ribbon or cord,
usually worn by military folks to signify honor or rank. Not surprising since cordon sounds
similar to cord and comes from the Old French word for the same thing. But unless you're
part of a security team or often dressed in full military regalia, you probably won't come
into contact with cordons very often.

Veteran
Veteran commonly refers to someone who has fought in a war––think Veterans' Day, the
Vietnam Veterans' Memorial––but, in fact, the word can mean anyone with experience in a
particular field.
Many veterans of World War II went to college afterward, through the G.I. Bill, and pursued
professional careers. At the end of those careers, it was not unusual to find among the ranks
of veteran teachers or veteran attorneys or veteran doctors men who were also veterans of
the war.

Adamant
If you stubbornly refuse to change your mind about something, you are adamant about it.
This word's story begins in ancient Greece, where philosophers spoke about a legendary
unbreakable stone or metal they called adamas (literally, "invincible"). In English, people
began to use the word to refer to something that cannot be altered, and then in the
twentieth century — after adamant had been in English for about a thousand years — it
came to be used as an adjective to mean "unyielding as stone." If you're adamant about
something, no amount of persuasion is going to convince you otherwise.

pass with flying colors

succeed at easily

farce
A farce is a broad satire or comedy, though now it's used to describe something that is
supposed to be serious but has turned ridiculous. If a defendant is not treated fairly, his
lawyer might say that the trial is a farce.
As a type of comedy, a farce uses improbable situations, physical humor and silliness to
entertain. Spoof films such as "Spaceballs," a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are
farces. If a real-life event or situation is a farce, it feels this ridiculous. An election is a farce,
if the outcome has been determined before the voting begins. And class can feel like a farce
if your substitute teacher knows less about the subject than you do.
Suffocate
When you suffocate, you struggle for breath, either because you’re being choked to death
or because you’re in a stifling room. You can also suffocate in a figurative sense anytime
something is restricted.

Suffocate can also mean to die from lack of oxygen. If you’re a miner who gets trapped in a
collapsed mine, you'll likely suffocate. Less seriously, if the ventilation system is turned off
in your school, you might feel as though you'll suffocate. And if your art teacher insists that
you produce Dadaist paintings, you may feel that she's trying to suffocate your talent.

a sore spot
A topic that makes one angry or uncomfortable.
Whatever you do, don't mention his ex-wife—his divorce is really a sore spot with him.

Meningitis
Meningitis is an illness that causes the area around the brain and spinal cord to become
inflamed. The symptoms of meningitis include fever and headache, along with neck stiffness.

Meningitis is often serious because of how close the inflammation is to a patient's brain. The
most common type of meningitis is caused by a virus, and others are caused by bacteria —
several types can be prevented with immunizations. The word meningitis means
"inflammation of the meninges," or the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, from
a Greek root meaning "membrane."

refrain from
When someone burps in a quiet classroom it can be hard to refrain from laughing. Use the
verb refrain if you have a sudden impulse to do something and you have stopped yourself
from doing it.

It's usually hard to refrain from doing something: you might it difficult to refrain from eating
dessert after dinner, for example — especially when your aunt makes her double chocolate
chunk brownies. The Latin word refrēnāre is formed from the prefix re-, "back," plus
frēnāre, "to hold a horse back with a bridle." No need to hold back when using refrain as a
noun; it’s the part of a song or poem that repeats.

Bustle
A flurry of activity and commotion is often referred to as bustle. If you want to see true
bustle in action, just walk through Times Square in New York during lunch hour.

If it's busy, energetic or moving about at a rapid pace, then it's bustling. Word historians think
bustle might stem from an Old Norse word meaning "to prepare." However, it's probably
easier to remember bustle by the synonym it's often used with — hustle, as in "the hustle
and bustle of a big city."

Upbeat
If you tend to be cheerful and positive no matter what's going on, your friends probably
describe you as upbeat. When your soccer coach wants to be encouraging, she gives the
team an upbeat speech.

Need to cheer yourself up? Spend some time with an upbeat friend, watch an upbeat
movie, or listen to some upbeat music. This informal adjective comes from the word's
original musical meaning, "the beat of a bar at which the conductor's baton is in a raised
position." Music writers in the 1940s used the slang phrase "on the upbeat" to mean "getting
better." The "cheerful" meaning followed around 1947.

Pamphlet
A pamphlet is a little booklet with a soft (usually paper) cover that briefly addresses a
particular subject of interest.
The word pamphlet comes from Pamphilet, from a Latin love poem that was popular in the
12th century. “Pamphilus,” the original Latin title, means “loved by all.” When the printing
press came along in the 15th century, pamphlets became a good way to publicize your
ideas — they were relatively cheap and you could print lots of them. They’re still used in
political campaigns, and sometimes armies distribute pamphlets when they’re trying to
communicate with people across a wide area.

Edict
If your mom orders you to clean your room, that's an order. If the king asks you to do it,
that's an edict — an official order from some higher up.

Edict comes from the Latin editcum, meaning a "proclamation, or ordinance." Although it
was originally used to describe a declaration or command from a king or other governing
official, in more recent years it has come to be used almost sarcastically to describe any
order. When your teacher says the report is due Monday morning, no exceptions, you know
you'll be hitting the books this weekend — this is an edict you cannot ignore.

Shady
Any place that's protected from the glare and heat of the sun is shady, as in a "shady nook."
But as its darkened nature implies, shady has the equally popular meaning of "suspicious,
dangerous, or deceitful." A "shady character" is up to no good.

The metaphorical meaning of shady has long been embraced by slang. Since at least the
1950's, the phrase "got it made in the shade" means having a great and easy life or job
(picture eastern sultans being shaded by servants holding giant leaves). The rap sultan
Eminem calls his evil alter-ego "Slim Shady," conjuring up a devilish suggestion of the Prince
of Darkness himself — someone who definitely lives in a shady neighborhood.

Exert
Exert basically means to put forth effort to do something. For example, when you exert
yourself in a workout, you can really feel the burn in your muscles.
The Latin verb exserere — with its derivative form exsertus, which is the source of our word
— means to "put forth." That's where exert gets its meaning of physical force — consider
that when you try hard at something, you put forth effort to do it, you push yourself. But
exert can refer to other ways you "push": you exert your influence to convince others to
think your way; when one nation exerts its power on another; and gravity exerts its force on
us, holding us down on earth.
Contract
When you and someone else have agreed on something and that agreement is both binding
and enforceable by law, you have a contract. When you rent an apartment, you and your
future landlord sign a rental contract.

You can also use the word in this sense as a verb meaning "to hire." Wouldn't you like to
contract someone to clean your room for you? In other verbal uses of contract, place the
accent on the second syllable — kun-TRAKT. If you contract a disease, you catch it, but only
use this if it's something serious. You catch a cold, but contract malaria. Contract also means
"shrink." When the economy contracts, consumers stop buying things, and people lose their
jobs, and if you freeze water, it contracts too.

death toll
the number of deaths resulting from some particular cause such as an accident or a battle
or a natural disaster

nudge
Sometimes you just need a little nudge or slight push to get your day going. It might be a
coffee, or your favorite song, or your mom stripping the covers and standing over your bed.
Take your pick.

Some people believe the word nudge comes from the Norwegian dialect nugga meaning "to
push, rub." This makes sense, since a nudge is a push of sorts. But it's more of a gentle push.
Think of nudging coals around in a fire or a crowd of people nudging to the stage at a
concert. When you gently annoy your husband so he'll mow the lawn, you're nudging him
along.

Hinge
A hinge is a type of joint that attaches two things together while allowing for limited
movement. A door hinge fastens the door to the wall and lets the door swing open.

A hinge is a joint that holds two pieces of something together while allowing one piece to
move in a swinging motion. When used as a verb, hinge can mean "to attach a hinge." Hinge
can also be used to indicate that one key event depends on another, as in “The athlete’s
future with the team will hinge on his performance at tonight’s game” or “The success of
this product hinges on how many units are sold this month.”

Lodge
A lodge is an inn where travelers stay overnight. If you’re in need of a night’s sleep while
traveling an out of the way country road, you’re more likely to find yourself at a lodge than
a fancy or chain hotel.

A lodge can also be a cabin in the woods; like an inn, it’s usually a temporary
accommodation. But if you join your local lodge, you’ll be expected to be a regular visitor,
at least at the monthly the meetings. Lodge is also a verb, meaning to stay temporarily, or
to give someone a place to stay. If you lodge a toothpick between your teeth, though,
you’ll probably hope it won’t stay there too long.

Scrap
A scrap is a little leftover bit of something. You might jot down notes on a scrap of paper, or
you might toss a scrap of food to your happy dog.

A scrap is typically a small item that originally was part of something larger, like a scrap of
fabric that was once part of a larger piece. Scrap can also describe something that’s no
longer useful. For example, you might take scrap metal to the recycling center. A final
meaning of the noun scrap is "fight," as in "I got into a scrap with my brother." Scrap also has
a verb form that means "discard." When you scrap your plan to move to the Bahamas, that
means you’re abandoning the plan.

Make ends meet

to have just enough money to pay for the things that you need

Tumble
When you tumble, you fall abruptly. You might trip over your shoelaces and tumble down a
hill while flying a kite if you're not careful.

To suddenly topple over or trip and fall to the ground is to tumble. Toddlers often tumble
in sandboxes, while running on sidewalks, or as they climb down stairs. There's another way
to tumble that is more deliberate: the form of gymnastics that involves roundoffs and back
handsprings is called tumbling, and if you're able to do these tricks, you can tumble. The
root is believed to be the Old English tumbian, "to dance about."

Satire
Satire is a way of making fun of people by using silly or exaggerated language. Politicians are
easy targets for satire, especially when they're acting self-righteous or hypocritical.
Even though the ridiculous language of satire isn't intended to be taken seriously, well-made
satire can use mockery to get at more serious truths. Sometimes satire can even overtake
reality: when the television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live presented a mock
debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign season,
the satire was so dead-on that it influenced the way people thought of the candidates.

Fall into place

1. To suddenly make sense.
Once he explained the instructions to me more thoroughly, everything fell into place, and I
was able to complete the project.
The lesson started to fall in place after I re-read the chapter.
2. To produce an ideal or desired outcome.
There were a lot of missteps along the way, but all of our plans have finally fallen in place.
If everything falls into place, we'll be rich.
Poise
If you have poise, you are cool under stress. People with poise can handle pressure without
showing it.

If you’re calm while singing the national anthem in front of thirty million people, you’ve got
a lot of poise. This is a rare quality people admire. Another meaning is to brace yourself for
something difficult, as in: when you hear about a tornado, you're poised for more bad news.
You can also be poised as in "on the brink" of something. If you stand on the diving board it
could be said you’re poised to take the plunge.

Wrangle
To wrangle is to take part in a long, angry, intense argument, especially over an issue with
lots of details. You can also wrangle, or herd, a bunch of cows. Politicians and lawyers
frequently wrangle, no cows necessary.

Wrangle in its current meaning comes from the nineteenth century American term wrangling,
the art of herding cattle, probably with the idea in mind that rounding up those tiresome
details is a bit like rounding up all those tiresome cattle; they tend to go flying off in all
directions. From wrangler in the cowboy sense we get Wrangler jeans, though not all
wranglers wear Wranglers of course.

Spire
A pointed cone shape on top of a building is called a spire, especially when it rises from the
roof of a church.

The part of a church roof that rises above a city skyline or a village's rolling hills, pointing
sharply up toward the sky, is its spire. Many church spires have a cross at the very top. Other
buildings — religious or secular — can also have spires, though it's most common to see
one on a Christian church. The root of spire is the Old English spir, "sprout, shoot, or stalk of
grass."

Chunk
a compact mass
Abate
Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense. Your enthusiasm for skiing might
abate after falling off a ski lift and getting a mouthful of snow.

Abate comes from the Old French verb abattre, "to beat down," and means to reduce or
become less intense or numerous. As an intransitive verb, it is often used with something
physically, emotionally, or figuratively violent, as in "the flood of fan mail began to abate."
Using it transitively, if you take measures to abate pollution or noise, you reduce them.
Pronounce abate with the stress on the second syllable (uh-BATE).

Hush
To hush is to become quiet. When an audience is eager to hear a speaker, it will hush as
soon as she begins to talk.

Train passengers will usually hush their conversations when the conductor reminds them
that they're in the quiet car, and one of a kindergarten teacher's skills is getting his class to
hush. In fact, to quiet another person or group of people is also to hush: "The principal
impatiently hushes the students as soon as they start giggling." A peaceful silence is another
kind of hush. In Middle English, it was the imitative huisht.

Sordid
Describe a person's actions as sordid if they are so immoral or unethical that they seem
dirty. Think of the worst parts of a bad soap opera!

Sordid comes from the Latin word sordes "dirt." Something that is filthy or run down such as
a neighborhood or someone's living conditions can be called sordid, but it is usually used
figuratively to mean immoral or dishonest. If you want to hear the sordid details of
someone's actions, it's because they were extremely dishonest or sexually immoral and also
because they were supposed to be kept a secret.

Scruples
Having scruples is kind of like having a conscience: your morals or scruples cause you to act
in ways you think are right.

The idea of scruples has to do with ethics and morality: what is right and wrong. If you had
no scruples at all, you'd just kill, steal, cheat, and do God knows what else. Scruples are a
kind of moral compass that lets you know what's right. Often people use this word in an
outraged way when someone does something bad: "Don't you have any scruples?" Liars,
thieves, criminals, and politicians have fewer scruples than the rest of us.

Allay
The verb allay is used when you want to make something better or eliminate fears and
concerns.

When you allay something, you are calming it or reducing difficulties. It is used commonly in
the context of to allay concerns and to comfort and some of its many synonyms are
alleviate, decrease, mitigate, assuage and mollify. Allay comes from the Old English word
alecgan, which means "to put down," as in literally "to lighten." So, if you can allay
someone's fears, you are lightening their mood!

Cuddle up
to sit or lie very close to someone and put your arms around them:
We cuddled up together and tried to get warm.
She cuddled up to her mother.

Hunker
To hunker is to crouch: to bend your body into a low, small shape. When you're playing
hide and seek, you may decide to hunker in the back of a closet until you're found.

You hunker physically when you're hiding or making space for other people or squatting to
talk to a small child. You can also hunker figuratively, like when you hunker down in your
house during a snowstorm, waiting to venture out until the roads have been plowed.
Another way to hunker down is to focus on a task and work extra hard. We know hunker is a
Scottish word, but beyond that its origins aren't clear.

Backlash
When many people react against something in the same way, you can call it a backlash. A
backlash against government policies can result in mass protests.

When people get angry enough about something — or just tired of hearing about it — the
result can be a backlash. An influx of refugees to a city can cause a backlash against
immigration, and the popularity of a particular style of music might eventually cause a
backlash against it. A true backlash involves many people acting together. The original, 1815
meaning of backlash was "recoil between parts of a machine." It wasn't until the 1950's that
the figurative meaning came into use.
Seizure
A seizure is the act of taking by legal process or force, such as the seizure of evidence found
at the scene of a crime.

A seizure is the act of seizing — a forceful action in which an object or person is suddenly
taken over, grabbed, removed, or overwhelmed. It's not something you want to happen.
Criminals may think the seizure of a wealthy person can bring them a fortune in ransom
money. Another kind of seizure is the kind caused by a misfire of electrons in the brain,
causing a loss of control of the body. It too is an unwanted taking over by force.

Courier
A courier is a person you trust with delivering important messages or packages. Let your mail
carrier deliver your credit card bill and the form letter from the “Save the Orchids”
foundation, but trust a courier with your book contract or birth certificate.

Couriers are in a hurry. Do they saunter up your driveway the way a mail carrier does? No!
Couriers are clearly on important business; they’re jogging. The word comes from a Latin
word, currere, meaning “to run.” Nowadays, you might see couriers on bicycles, however,
weaving in and out of traffic to deliver your messages on time.

Of all time
used for talking about someone or something that is better than all other people or things
that have existed
the greatest boxer of all time

mandate
A mandate is an official command or a go-ahead. When a politician wins an election by a
wide margin, that's a mandate to implement her ideas.

A mandate gives authority. If the government gives schools a mandate to test more, then
the schools had better give more tests. People who work for the Peace Corps have a
mandate to help various countries with things like getting clean drinking water. A politician
who believes in higher taxes and then gets elected considers that a mandate to raise taxes.
When you have a mandate, it's like a ticket to get something done.

loom
Loom has two distinct meanings. First, a loom is a tool for weaving. Second, to loom is to
appear or stand over someone in a threatening way. Don’t loom over the person you’re
teaching to weave! You'll just make her nervous.

The word loom, as an instrument to turn yarn into fabric, comes from an Old English word
for “tool.” The verb form, meaning “to lurk just out of view,” comes from Low German or
Dutch. Anything that looms is coming into view slowly and isn't something you want to see.
Although storm clouds and icebergs can loom, this word does not have to refer to a
physical object. If a deadline looms, better get to work.

plea
A plea is what you make when you're begging for something with a sense of urgency and
emotion. While you wouldn't call asking for a hall pass a plea, you could make a plea for
justice or world peace.

Plea also has a legal meaning. When you get a traffic ticket or if you're accused of a crime,
you have to enter a plea of "guilty" or "not guilty." A "plea bargain" is when you make a deal
with the prosecutor — you may plead guilty to a charge (by entering a guilty plea) that has
less of a penalty and, in return, the prosecutor drops the more serious charge.

hoard
To hoard is to save something (or lots of things) for future use. Squirrels hoard nuts for the
winter. Old ladies tend to hoard canned food and used plastic bags.

People have been using the word hoard for both "to hide" and "treasure" for centuries; as
both a verb and as a noun. Some hoard valuables, such as money, jewelry, and family
antiques. Others build up a hoard, or cache, of things that aren't worth money but are
important to them — like comic books or match books.

To hoard is to squirrel stuff away, like gold bricks or candy wrappers. A horde is a crowd of
people, usually, but it can also be a gang of mosquitoes, robots, or rabid zombie kittens.

If you gather all the info you can about hoard, and store it away for later, you'll find it
comes from the word for "hidden treasure." When you hoard something, you are collecting
lots of material, usually of value, in secret. You store these things in case you need them
later. It's a noun and a verb. Hoarding canned goods and batteries before a hurricane is
smart. Not throwing out that hoard of old playground equipment in your yard, not so smart.
Here's some hoarding from the news:
American firms continue to hoard cash and overall bank deposits soar despite rock-bottom
interest rates. (New York Times)

Clippings and advertisements for free samples were hoarded and quickly posted. (Lauren
Ann Isaacson)

Every one is given at least one talent for use; not to hide and hoard away. (Louise Vescelius-
Sheldon)

A horde, on the other hand, is a busy mob, like the one that chases Frankenstein's monster
with torches. Hordes are often roving and mad. Horde is usually derogatory and should be
use with care. Here are some hordes from the news:

In China, it means angry hordes parading victims wearing dunce caps through the streets
before stringing them up in public squares. (Time)

As darkness fell, women illuminated by wood fires stirred vats of couscous and beef stew
for the hordes of visitors. (New York Times)

forgo
The verb forgo means to give up or lose the right to something.

The word forgo can be traced back to the Old English word forgān, which meant to pass
away or to die, which is sometimes referred to as "giving up the ghost." Perhaps it was this
idea of relinquishing something that led to our modern-day use of the word forgo to mean
to give up, waive, or forfeit something. For example, someone charged with a crime might
decide to forgo the right to remain silent and instead confess.

flimsy
You can describe weak, thin, and fragile things as flimsy. Onion smells are strong, onion skins
are flimsy. Blaming onions for making you cry during a sad movie, that's a flimsy excuse,
when there are no onions in the theater.

A flimsy object and a flimsy objection or excuse are both without weight and are easy to
knock down. You can see right through a flimsy curtain, and you can see right through a
flimsy lie. If a tent or house of cards is flimsy, it will fall down with a slight breeze, and if
your story isn't convincing anyone, it's probably weak and flimsy enough to flatten, too.
flaky
If you are flaky, you are off-beat and you probably don’t function in society quite like
everyone else. If you say you’ll come to a party and then forget to show up, you are flaky.

People are flaky (also spelled flakey) if they are wacky and unconventional, but to say
someone is flaky is not really a compliment. If you want to buffer the blow of calling your
friend an odd-ball, don’t say she’s flaky — say she’s eccentric. Pie crusts, snow, certain
rocks, and dandruff can also be flaky, which means that they come apart in layered bits.
Flakiness is a good thing for pie crusts, but not for your scalp.

oozy
adjective
The definition of oozy is something slimy or with moisture coming out of it.
An example of oozy is an infected wound with pus coming out of it.

exodus
If the fire alarm goes off in your building, be sure to join the exodus of people who are
heading outside to the parking lot. This is a departure of a large number of people.

Exodus is the title of the second book of the Bible’s Old Testament in which the Israelites
escape slavery in Egypt, but the term can refer to any sudden departure of a group of
people. This noun is often coupled with the adjective mass, as in “mass exodus,” which
usually indicates that almost everyone leaves at the same time. The reasons for this
departure can be hostile, as during a war, or not, as when everyone exits the movie theater
after the show's over.

Draconian
Use the word Draconian (or lowercase draconian) to describe laws or rules that are really
harsh and repressive.

In ancient Athens, Draco was a guy who made some seriously strict laws. So rules that are
too restrictive — or just plain unfair — are called Draconian. Sentencing someone to 10
years in prison for littering would be Draconian. Some people think Singapore's chewing gum
ban is Draconian. This is a strong word, so if your parents make you do chores, they aren't
being Draconian. But if they make you do chores for five hours every day, that's another
story.
Perk
A perk is something extra you get, in addition to a salary, in exchange for working. The major
perk of your job at an ice cream shop might be all the hot fudge sundaes you can eat.

Some fairly common job perks include health insurance, free gym memberships, and
company cars. You can also talk about the perks, or benefits, of a situation: "I have to ride to
school with my annoying neighbor, but the perk is she always brings donuts." As a verb, perk
means "to become more energetic or cheerful." So that donut perk? It might be just the
thing to perk you up on a Monday morning.

Heighten
When you heighten something, you increase it or make it more intense. If you want to
heighten awareness about homelessness, you might write an article for your local
newspaper.

Extreme weather can act to heighten people's concern about climate change, and publicity
for a good cause can heighten awareness of the ways college students can volunteer their
time. A movie director might heighten the tension in a scene by using scary music and
dramatic lighting. In all of these cases, something is intensified or increased. The oldest,
fifteenth-century meaning of heighten, however, was "to exalt, honor, or raise to a high
position."

Eerie
Eerie means spooky, creepy or suggestively supernatural. If it's eerie, it's sure to make the
hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Back in the 1300s when eerie first came on the scene, it meant "fearful or timid." It took a
good 500 years or so before it morphed into the adjective we know today, which now
means "causing fear because of strangeness." And the strangeness is key: Something that's
eerie isn't just scary. It's mysterious, ghostly, and gives you the creeps. Like dark old castles,
misty graveyards and creaky sounds in the middle of the night.

Choppy
When water is choppy, it's wind-blown and rippling with waves. It's tricky for a beginner to
sail in a choppy lake.

Choppy usually describes what happens to the surface of a body of water during a storm.
Strong wind blowing across a bay, for example, turns the water choppy and rough.
Something with a jerky, abrupt way of moving or flowing is also choppy, whether it's a piece
of music or a filmed scene in a movie. In the 1600s, a stormy sea was described as
chopping, which had changed to choppy by about 1830.

Bleak
Something that is bleak is gloomy and depressing. If it's raining and dark, you might describe
the night as bleak. If you have looked for work and no one will hire you, you could describe
your prospects as bleak.

If you and the ten people sharing your lifeboat have been adrift for ten days and are down
to your last cracker, your situation is bleak. A near synonym is dismal. Bleak is from Middle
English bleik, from Old Norse bleikr "white, pale." This word is related to the English word
bleach.

Outlook
The word outlook describes a belief about the future. Your outlook on the awful present
situation might make your outlook for the future turn grim.

The noun outlook can also mean the practice of looking out. A guard's outlook on the bank
vault must stay watchful and attentive in case there's an attempted robbery. Your outlook
on your first job out of college was one of promise and excitement. The word can also
mean a characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will handle situations. A
pessimistic outlook on life will make you see only the negative.

Curtail
To curtail something is to slow it down, put restrictions on it, or stop it entirely. If I give up
cake, I am curtailing my cake-eating.

Curtail is an official-sounding word for stopping or slowing things down. The police try to
curtail crime — they want there to be less crime in the world. A company may want to
curtail their employees' computer time, so they spend more time working and less time
goofing around. Teachers try to curtail whispering and note-passing in class. When something
is curtailed, it's either stopped entirely or stopped quite a bit

Bust
If you bust something, you have broken it. A bust can also be a statue of someone from the
shoulders up. Be careful to not bust a bust on your next field trip!
Several meanings of bust are pretty discouraging. You might describe your business as bust if
it's totally out of money, for example. Or you might threaten your younger sister, "If you
bust my ceramic unicorn, you're in big trouble!" There's also the kind of bust that might sit
on your piano, like a bust of Mozart or Bach — a statue of a person's head and upper
shoulders. This is the oldest meaning of the word, from the Italian busto, "upper body."
คำว่ำ busted บัสดิด (adj.) เป็นสแลงที่แปลว่ำ broken เช่น
My TV is busted.
ทีวีของผมเสีย
นอกจำกนั้น bust ใช้เป็นกริยำในควำมหมำยว่ำ จับได้ เช่น
He got busted by the police. เค้ำโดนตำรวจจับ
เป็นต้นครับ

Wreak
To wreak is to cause something to happen, usually with a terrible consequence. You can
make mischief, cause problems, or inflict pain, but to wreak damage suggests a deeper level
of destruction.
Wreak stems from the Old English wrecan, meaning "to avenge." Its current meaning, that of
causing something to happen — usually with dire consequences — came about in the 19th
century. The word is a transitive verb, often paired with the equally intense havoc, meaning
"devastation."

Defy
To defy is to openly refuse to do something. You can defy the no-costumes-in-class rule if
you wear your fairy wings to school, but just don’t try to defy the laws of gravity unless you
can actually fly.

If you deliberately break a rule or ignore an order, you defy, or resist, that rule. The word
defy comes from the Latin word disfidare for "renounce one's faith." So if you're expected to
be faithful to a certain law or rule but you refuse to be, you defy it. There are different ways
to defy — defy your parents by staying out past curfew, or defy common sense by walking
in with shoes on your head.

Invoke
To invoke is to call up something such as a law, a higher power, or even a ghost. In court,
you might invoke the Fifth Amendment (the right not to say something that will make you
look bad) if you don't want to talk.
You can invoke all kinds of people or ideas, alive or dead: "She invokes the spirit of good
writing when she proofreads her work." In a time of need, you might invoke a higher power.
You could invoke Martin Luther King when talking about equal rights. You might even invoke
the spirit of your dead cat at a séance. Just make sure you don't evoke (to bring on a strong
emotional reaction) your dead cat; that would just be weird.

Liable
If you drive into someone's fence, you’ll probably be held liable — legally responsible —
for fixing it. Liable can also mean “likely,” usually with something unpleasant: "If you don't
brush your teeth, they're liable to fall out."

When liable refers to legal responsibility, it's used with "for": "You're liable for the court
costs" (meaning you have to pay them). When liable means "likely," it's with "to": "If you
build your house on that cliff, it's liable to fall into the river," or "That part of town is liable
to mudslides." Don't confuse liable with libel, which is a legal term for slander, or saying
something false and damaging about someone.

Debunk
When you debunk something you show it to be false. Many magicians, including Houdini and
Penn and Teller, have worked to debunk the idea that magic is anything other than a very
clever illusion.

To debunk something is to prove it wrong. The idea that music education is frivolous and
should be the first item cut from the budget is something that music teachers work hard to
debunk — in fact, they've done it by proving that students perform better in schools with
strong music programs. The verb debunk was first used by an American writer, William
Woodward, in 1923, to mean "take the bunk out of something." Bunk means "nonsense."

Fallout
Fallout is the cloud of radioactive material that falls from the sky after a nuclear blast. Fear
of the effects of fallout is just one reason some people are nervous about nuclear energy.

Nuclear fallout settles on the ground and in the atmosphere after a nuclear bomb explodes
or a reaction occurs at a damaged nuclear power plant. The dangers of this kind of fallout
are enormous, including immediate death and long-term illness caused by breathing and
eating the radioactive dust. Another kind of fallout is more figurative — it's any kind of
negative effect or result, like the fallout from telling your family you're getting an enormous
tattoo.

Curb
The hard thing about learning how to parallel park is trying to get the car close enough to
the curb without hitting it. A curb is the edge of the sidewalk beside the road.
When you're using the word curb as a noun, it's the raised edging beside a street. When curb
is a verb, it means to restrain or hold back, like when you curb your impulse to laugh while
watching a badly acted play. Curb comes from the Latin word for "curve," curvus, which
describes the shape of a restraining strap on a horse's head — in the fifteenth century, this
band was called a curb.

Grapple
When you wrestle with something — literally or figuratively — you grapple with it, or try to
overcome it.
If you trace the word grapple back to its French roots, you’ll discover that the word
originally referred to "a grape hook," a pronged tool used to harvest grapes. If you think
about how awkward it would be to harvest grapes, with the individual grapes ready to
scatter everywhere, it makes sense that grapple eventually evolved to include a verb form
used to describe struggling with something unruly. You might grapple with a budget shortfall,
grapple for answers, grapple with a wrestling opponent, or grapple with a new technology.

When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leave
แก้ปัญหำที่ต้นเหตุ ไม่ใช่ปลำยเหตุ

Flout
To flout is to scorn or show contempt for. "I flout the law and the concept of civilian safety
by making a concerted effort to jaywalk every time I cross a street."
Oddly enough, when flout came into existence in the 1550s, it had a much different sense
to it than it does now; it's believed that it evolved from the Middle English flowten, “to play
the flute." These days, the verb flout means "to scorn," as in to scorn a law, person, or social
norm by defying it. As a noun, it is a contemptuous remark or insult. Wrote William
Shakespeare, “Flout 'em, and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em; Thought is free.”

Dearth
If there is a dearth of something, there is not enough of it. A dearth of cupcakes is
unfortunate, but a dearth of nutritious food is a serious problem.
Dearth is an Old English noun formed from the adjective deore, "precious, costly," and the
noun-forming suffix -th. Though the relationship of dearth meaning "lack, insufficient
amount" to the adjective dear is not so obvious, it is still easy to imagine that something
precious is probably also in short supply. Dearth is used almost exclusively in the phrase "a
dearth of."

Myth
A myth is a story that’s told again and again and serves to explain why something is the way
it is. A creation myth, for example, is a story that tells how the world came into being.
You may have studied Greek or Roman myths in which gods and goddesses wage war and
play tricks on each other. These myths are not necessarily true stories from the past — the
main idea is that they explain certain ideas about the world and how people act. The story
might be accepted as true and serve to explain some fact about the world, or it might be
known to be made-up but nevertheless illustrates something about people or history.
Daze
A daze is a type of confusion, when you have a lack of clarity. When you first wake up, you
might be in a bit of a daze, shuffling about the house before your brain really starts working.
Daze can also mean the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad
happens to you accidentally: "After getting hit in the head by a football, you were in such a
daze you couldn't remember where you were." As a verb, daze means to stun. You will
definitely daze your father when you tell him that you eloped.
Surge
A surge is a sudden strong swelling, like a tsunami wave that engulfs the land. Although a
surge offers a fluid image, anything can experience a sudden surge, including emotions,
political support, or an angry mob.
The original Latin word surgere, meaning “to spring up or rise,” serves as the basis for the
word surge, which refers to a great sudden growth or swelling. If you are watching a sad
movie and you experience a sudden surge of emotion, do you quietly reach for a tissue,
pretend something's in your eye, or simply weep and sob with reckless abandon? Yeah, me
too. Christmas shopping can be dangerous when there is a surge of interest in one toy and
desperate shoppers surge into stores trying to grab it up.

Roll out
to make a new product, service, or system available for the first time:
A media campaign is expected to roll out early next year.
roll sth out The company plans to roll out the scheme across Europe in the coming months.

Impoverish
Impoverished describes being really, really poor, either from having no money or being in
bad health. A person who lives on the street is impoverished, and a country may become
impoverished after a devastating war.
Impoverished comes from the Old French word povre, which means “poor,” and you can
almost see the word poverty inside impoverished. Living an impoverished life means that
your finances and health are not in good shape, and in fact you could die because you
can’t support yourself. A corrupt and greedy government makes its citizens impoverished,
and too much pollution will create impoverished soil that isn’t healthy enough to grow
delicious vegetables.

Bloc
a group of countries in special alliance
Plaudit
As its sound might suggest, plaudit is indeed related to "applaud" and "applause." In fact it's
really just a fancy way of saying "praise" or "acclamation."

Plaudit is used more in a literary sense than in spoken English, and particularly applies to
the reception of a work of art, most notably a play. In fact, the word comes from the Latin
plaudite, loudly uttered by Roman actors at the end of a play and meaning "applaud!" Kind
of like cue cards for game show audiences now.

Fortnight
A fortnight is fourteen nights, or two weeks. This word isn't used much in American English,
but you'll come across it if you travel to England — or read a lot of old British novels.
The word fortnight is still in use in Great Britain and some former British colonies. It comes
from the Old English, and is literally a shortened form of fourteen nights. People sometimes
use it when they're discussing their vacations or their pay schedules. In the United States,
however, people typically just say "two weeks."

Fop
If you know someone who's obsessed with how he looks and what he's wearing, you can
call him a fop. If you're a fop, you make sure you're always well dressed.
A fop spends hours grooming himself in front of the mirror and spends a lot of money on
nice clothes. You might also call him a "dandy" or a "clotheshorse." The word fop meant
"foolish person" in the mid-1600s and was probably related to the now-obsolete verb of the
same name, meaning "make a fool of." By 1670, a fop was a fool who was focused
specifically on his clothing.
Creaky
Something that's creaky makes a groaning or scraping sound. If your front door is creaky, its
hinges might need to be oiled.
The sound of footsteps on a creaky wood floor, or climbing your creaky stairs, can be
spooky at night. You can also describe a hoarse or high-pitched voice as creaky, and your
grandfather might sigh, "Oh, these creaky old knees," when he stands up. Creaky describes
the grating sound, and also the worn out or run-down nature of old things or people. It
comes from creak, which is imitative — its sound suggests its meaning.

Glean
Glean means to gather bit by bit, either literally or figuratively. You might glean leftover grain
from a recently harvested field or glean information about new vocabulary words by hearing
them used in context.
When you glean information, you sort through ideas and take what you need. Seeing a word
in context lets you glean information about how it's used, for example. If you want to find
treasures at a thrift shop, you’ll have to glean the good stuff out of the piles of junk. To
glean a field means to walk along and see what’s left on the ground. It takes patience to
glean.

Defer
Defer means to put off or delay. You can try to defer the inevitable by pushing “snooze”
and falling back asleep, but eventually you're going to have to get up.
If you're excellent at pushing things to a later date and a master at procrastination, then you
already know how to defer. But defer can also mean to comply with another person’s
opinion or wishes. So when your boss finds out you deferred your work to shop online
instead, you should probably defer when she asks you to come in and finish everything up
over the weekend.
Weave
Weaving involves lacing strips of fabric, string, or some other material together to make
something. You can weave wool to make a rug, or weave the details of a story together to
make a great book.
While weave originally only meant to make cloth by interlacing material, it later came to
also mean more generally “combine into a whole.” Think of a spider and how it weaves its
web, or of how some songs expertly weave in unexpected elements, like the sound of a
siren or the waves crashing. You can also use weave to describe a swaying motion, like that
of a car darting through traffic when it’s trying to move ahead.

Apparel
Apparel is just another word for what you wear. Hopefully the apparel you wear to work —
suits and heels — is very different from the apparel you wear on the weekends — pajama
pants and bunny slippers.
The noun apparel got its start from the Latin apparare, meaning to “prepare, make ready,”
or ad-particulare, meaning “to put things together.” In the mid 13th century it evolved into
a verb meaning “to equip.” It wasn’t until the next century that people began to use
apparel as both a verb meaning “to attire” and as a noun meaning garments or clothing.
Said 17th century British writer Thomas Fuller, “…Apparel shapes: but it's money that finishes
the man.”

Innocuous
Something that's innocuous isn't harmful or likely to cause injury. Public figures like mayors
and governors have to expect they'll get critical or even hurtful emails and phone calls, as
well as more innocuous feedback.
The adjective innocuous is useful when you're talking about something that doesn't offend
or injure anyone. Innocuous remarks or comments are meant kindly, and innocuous germs
won't make you sick. An innocuous question is innocently curious, rather than aimed to hurt
someone's feelings. The word comes from the Latin roots in-, "not," and nocere, "to injure or
harm."

Wane
Things that wane simply grow smaller. "My initial enthusiasm for helping waned when I saw
the massive pile of envelopes that needed sealing."

Things that wax and wane, like the moon, grow larger and smaller. Wax is the opposite of
wane. A fad, or a fashion, or even a disease, that is on its way out the door is "on the wane."
If your influence over your little brother wanes, he’ll probably stop copying you. Anything
that wanes, like the moon, influence, or a feeling, has started to go away.

Stay tuned
a) to continue watching or listening to the same television channel or radio station
b) used to say that you should look or listen for more information about a particular subject
at a later time
The project is still under discussion, so stay tuned.

Swear
utter obscenities or profanities

Stiff
Stiff things don’t bend or move easily. Dead bodies and tree branches are often stiff, and
your back might feel stiff if you sit for too long. But to stiff the wait staff is to skip the tip.
Bad idea.
If a doorknob is stiff, it won't turn smoothly, and if the smile on your face is stiff, it’s frozen
and unnatural looking. When a person is stiff, they are artificial and unrelaxed — unless
they're "scared stiff" or "bored stiff." A regular guy is a working stiff. Another colloquial
meaning of stiff is "to underpay, or to cheat.” Also, a stiff drink has a lot of alcohol. A dead
body is sometimes called a stiff, but it’s rude.

Frayed
When something is threadbare or worn, you can describe it as frayed. Your hand-knit mittens
will probably become frayed around the cuffs after many winters.
If your favorite pair of jeans is frayed, it may be because you've worn them for years — or
they could be deliberately, stylishly frayed from the minute you buy them. Things that are
frayed are worn, even unraveling a bit. The earliest meaning, in fact, was "worn by rubbing,"
from the Middle French frayer, "rub against," by way of the Old French froiier, "rub or scrape,"
and the Latin root fricare, "to rub."

Cheesy
Use the word cheesy to describe something that's cheap or badly made. You might hope
your fake Rolex watch will impress your friends, but they're bound to see how cheesy it is.
A really horrible motel room, with shag carpeting and strange art on the walls, can be
described as cheesy, and so can a badly-written, sloppily made television movie. Cheesy is a
great informal way to talk about shoddy or slightly unpleasant things. It comes from late
1800's United States university student slang, which also included the term cheese, which
meant "ignorant, stupid person."
Buzz
A buzz is a vibrating sound, like the sound a bee makes. Your dog might get nervous in your
yard when she hears the buzz of insects.
Buzz can be a noun or a verb: "My doorbell started to buzz like crazy when everyone
showed up for my party." You can also talk about a buzz of activity, a low background noise,
or describe the way stunt planes buzz the trees, flying very low. You might tell someone to
"buzz off" if you're annoyed with them — this began in 1914 as a way to describe hanging
up a telephone — or telling someone to hang up.

Mince
To mince is to chop into tiny bits. Your favorite soup recipe might include directions to
mince four cloves of garlic.
When you dice an onion into very small pieces, you mince it, and when you grind meat very
fine to make sausage or mincemeat, you also mince. Another meaning of the verb is to
soften, or to express something in a gentle way: "She doesn't mince her words." This word
can also mean to walk in a dainty manner, like the way your 7-year-old niece might mince
across the floor while pretending to be a fancy princess. The Old French root, mincier,
means "make into small pieces," and it comes from the Latin word for "small," minutus.

Milestone
A milestone is a significant event in your life. Often a milestone marks the start of a new
chapter. For example, the day you graduated from high school was a milestone in your life.
Milestone literally refers to a roadside marker that lists the distance to a particular location.
These days, the word is more often used figuratively to refer to significant events in life, like
graduating from college or getting married. It acts sort of like the road sign: it's often a
moment when you reflect on where you stand in life. A milestone can also be a
nonpersonal event that results in a big change, such as a milestone victory or a company's
sales milestone.

Idle
Something idle is not active. If your car is idling, it's running but not moving. If someone calls
you idle, it either means they think you don't have enough to do or that you're just plain
lazy.
Idle can also mean having no value or purpose: idle rumors are rumors that people make
up when they're bored, but have no grounding in fact. As a verb, idle can also refer to a car
engine that is running while the vehicle is not moving. The adjective descends from Middle
English idel, from Old English īdel "empty."

Impetus
An impetus is the force behind something, whether it's a boulder rolling down a hill or a
person making a decision.
Very little would get done if there were no such thing as an impetus: an impetus is some
kind of force that gets something or somebody moving. If you push a car that's out of gas,
you're the impetus that's getting it moving. An impetus doesn't have to be physical.
Advertisers hope their commercials will be an impetus to buy the product.

Stern
You know when you've done something really wrong, and the person who gets you in
trouble has that unforgiving look on his face? The best word for that look is stern, meaning
"strict" or "severe."

Stern, strict, severe, harsh, unforgiving — they all more or less mean the same thing, which
is very tough and exacting, with a little helping of seriousness thrown in for good measure.
What does this have to do with the stern of a boat, also known as the rear area? Um,
nothing? But it's good to know about that meaning too, since it could come in handy some
day when you're giving directions on a ship.

Stay put
spoken to remain in one place and not move
Stay put until I get back.

Reiterate
To reiterate something is to say or do something again, or many times. Let me reiterate: if
you repeat yourself, you're reiterating the thing you originally said.
This verb is from Middle English reiteraten, from Latin reiteratus, from reiterare "to repeat,"
from the prefix re- "again" plus iterare "to repeat, iterate." The English word iterate has the
same meaning as reiterate, although it is not as commonly used.

Spike
A spike is a sharp point, often made of metal or wood, but not always. Hedgehogs have long
skinny spikes that keep them from being eaten by predators.
The wide metal nails that fasten railroad ties to rails are called "rail spikes." A spike can be
big like those rail spikes, or small like the ones on the bottom of a cleat. And, extremely
high-heeled shoes are sometimes called "spike heels." When something increases and
abruptly decreases, like the price of sugar or a fever, it spikes. To spike a volleyball, smash it
over the net. Spike shares a root with the Latin spina, for "spine or thorn."

Plateau
A plateau is a high, flat area of land. The word has also been stretched to include a leveling
off of progress. At first the children at the sleepover were running wild, but then their energy
level reached a plateau.
You can see the word plate inside plateau. Think flat like a plate, or think about mountains
that look like tables you could set with plates–-so flat the plates won't fall off. If you're a
French speaker, this will be easier, as plateau derives from the French plat, "level."

Somber
Funerals are often somber affairs, and you might have a somber expression on face after
your teacher hands back an exam you failed. Somber is used to describe situations, facial
expressions, or moods that are dark, gloomy, or depressing.
Something that is somber is often thought of as "in shadow," as in "the shadow of grief," or
"the shadow of a bad mood." This is not just a coincidence. Somber comes from French
sombre, which comes from Late Latin subumbrāre "to cast a shadow," from Latin sub
umbrā "under a shadow."

Radiate
When something radiates, it sends out waves or rays. The sun radiates light and warmth.
If your house has a radiator, that might help you remember this word, because the radiator
radiates warmth. Radiating is a concept that applies to anything that emits rays or waves.
People camping make a fire so it can radiate light and heat. Our bodies radiate some heat,
but not nearly as much as something as hot as a stove. If a nuclear reactor is damaged, it
could radiate dangerous nuclear energy — or radiation.

Revive
To revive something is to provide it with new energy or life, like when you revive a drooping
plant by watering it, or when you revive a boring party by breaking out the karaoke machine.
Revive comes from the Latin roots re-, meaning “again,” and vivere, meaning “to live.” So,
the word revive means “live again.” While the possibility of bringing folks back from the
dead isn’t something we’re qualified to comment on, we will note that revive can be used
in a sense that’s very close to its literal meaning; specifically, revive can mean “cause
someone to regain consciousness.”

Whopping
(used informally) very large

Snarled
Snarled things are tangled or matted, like your cat's snarled fur or the snarled raspberry
bushes in your yard.

When something's literally tied in knots, it's snarled. Long, snarled hair is hard to comb
through, and snarled shoelaces can slow down even the most energetic kindergartener. It
works figuratively, too, when things are impeded or stuck: "The snarled traffic made her an
hour late to her meeting." Snarled probably comes from snare and its Scandinavian root
meaning "twisted cord."

Transcend
It would be nice to transcend the narrow limits of this brief definition, and go to greater
lengths to describe this word's glories! Transcend means to move upward and beyond
something.
No doubt you know about the words transcontinental or maybe trans fats? The prefix trans
is used to mean "beyond, across" and transcend takes this even farther by adding in a sense
of upwardness with the stem cend. A pop artist with a lot of talent might transcend the
genre of pop. You can't assume a person's opinion on national security by party affiliation —
it often transcends party lines.

Outstrip
While outstrip might make you think about undressing, it really means outdoing. If the
productivity of your garden outstrips your neighbor's, expect the neighborhood to come
calling for fresh vegetables.
If one thing outstrips another, it exceeds it or goes beyond it. When you outstrip someone
during a race, you pass them. When one company’s profits outstrip another’s, they make
more money. When the productivity of one nation outstrips the neighboring nation, they will
have a bigger Gross National Product.

Subside
To subside is to die down or become less violent, like rough ocean waves after a storm has
passed (or your seasickness, if you happened to be sailing on that ocean).
Subside comes from the Latin prefix sub- (meaning "down") and the Latin verb sidere
(meaning "to settle"). Subside is often used when a negative situation has improved
significantly. For example, violence, disease, and unemployment can all subside. Here's
hoping that they do.
Raucous
Raucous means unpleasantly loud, or behaving in a noisy and disorderly way. It can be hard
to give an oral report in the front of a classroom when the kids in the back are being
raucous.
Raucous is often used to refer to loud laughter, loud voices, or a loud party, all of which can
be harsh or unpleasant. Near synonyms are strident and rowdy. This adjective is from Latin
raucus "hoarse." Think of raucous as people whose hoarseness can't come on too soon.

Immolate
Immolate is a verb that means to destroy something or someone, usually using fire, as a
sacrifice to a higher cause. Do not try this at home.
To protest the Vietnam War, some Buddhist monks would pour gasoline on their body, light
a match, and immolate themselves, hoping that their fiery death would bring attention to
the horror of war. The word comes from the Latin immolare, which means “sprinkled with
sacrificial meal,” in reference to rituals where wheat grain would be sprinkled on the heads
of human sacrifices. Immolation is a powerful statement, but talking it out is always a safer
and less depressing option.

rife
Use the adjective rife to mean "full of" or "widespread," especially when you're talking about
something negative. If the lifeguard says the water is rife with jellyfish, you're not going to
want to swim in it.
Not to be confused with the word ripe (“fully developed”), rife means “abundant” or
“prevalent.” Rife can follow the word it’s describing, as in “corruption was rife during his
administration.” More commonly, however, rife comes before the word it modifies,
accompanied by the preposition with, as in “the class was rife with yawns” or “her story was
rife with inconsistencies.”

onerous
If one teacher gives you three hours of homework a night, that's rough. But if all of your
teachers do it, that makes the task of completing your homework an onerous one, to say
the least. If something is onerous, it is very difficult to deal with or do.
A near synonym is burdensome. In legal usage, onerous describes a contract or lease that
has more obligations than advantages. Onerous derives from Middle English, from Old
French onereus, from Latin onerōsus, from onus "burden." In English, an onus is a task or
duty that is onerous, or very difficult.

We got your back

Where are you off to

Forge
Have you ever seen a blacksmith make a horseshoe? Well, no, probably not, but they use a
special furnace which is called a forge, and "to forge something" is also the act of bashing
that hot object into shape.
Forge has also taken on the more general sense of creating something. A new philosophy or
art form might have been forged, as might an alibi or an excuse. To forge something also has
the meaning of faking something, such as a painting or a signature with the intent to deceive.
It can also mean to move ahead in a steady manner, either physically or metaphorically,
much like those solid, regular blows of the blacksmith's hammer.
Covet
If you covet something, you eagerly desire something that someone else has. If it's 95
degrees out and humid, you may find yourself coveting your neighbor's air conditioner.
If the word covet sounds familiar, you're thinking of the Tenth Commandment: "Thou shalt
not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." Basically this
means you should be happy with your electronic gadgets and not be jealous when a friend
gets something better.

For the time being

At present/ at this time

Punitive
Punitive describes inflicting a punishment. If someone takes punitive action against you,
you'll probably whine and complain — you're in trouble and you're about to get punished.
An easy way to remember the meaning of punitive is that it looks like the word punish —
both come from the Latin root word punire, "to inflict a penalty on." Punitive doesn't always
refer to a person-to-person punishment, like a mom disciplining a child. It can also describe
the unpleasant result of an action on a large scale, like the punitive effect higher taxes will
have on the middle class.

Crunch
When you crunch something, you grind it into tiny pieces, often with your teeth. You can
also crunch whole spices into smaller bits with a mortar and pestle.
A horse might crunch an apple, and on a summer day you might drink a glass of iced tea
and crunch the ice between your teeth. You could also describe the sound of gravel
underneath the wheels of a car or feet walking in fresh snow as a crunch. A figurative crunch
is a deadline or crisis: "When it came to the crunch, I just voted for the person who would
do the least harm."

Glimpse
If you had a brief or incomplete look at something, you had a glimpse. "He didn't mean to
peek, but he got a glimpse of his birthday present when his wife tried to sneak it into the
house. Of course, it's pretty hard to hide a ladder."
You can use glimpse as a noun (like when you "catch a glimpse of someone") or as a verb
(like when you "glimpse in someone's direction"). Although the word glimpse is usually used
to describe the physical act of sneaking a peek at something, you can also use the noun
glimpse to indicate a vague idea or suggestion. Perhaps, you can have a glimpse into your
future by observing your parents' actions or by consulting a Tarot card reader.

Revamp
If you revamp something, you renovate or remake it. You'll have to revamp your vacation
plans if the hotel where you were planning to stay has closed for repairs and renovations.
The vamp of a shoe or boot is the front part that covers the top of the foot. If that part of
your shoe needed repair or replacement, then you would have to revamp it. From this
sense, we get the more common meaning of revamp — to restore or fix up. Your favorite
hotel might be trying to revamp its image, to reinvent its reputation as a family resort.

Fiat
You might think a fiat is just an Italian car, but it actually means a legal, authoritative
decision that has absolute sanction.
From the Latin for "let it be done," the word fiat is a binding edict issued by a person in
command. It can gain an almost Biblical aura of authority, like a movie Pharaoh saying, "So
let it be written, so let it be done." So let it be a fiat.
Usurp
If you take over your neighbor's backyard and claim his in-ground swimming pool as your
own, you might seize control of, or usurp his yard, but he'll probably call the cops on you.
Leaders who usurp power don't ask for permission to take control of their country. They
seize power, often with the help of a large army of followers. A usurper doesn't have to be
human. A brand-new radio station can usurp the most popular station in town by playing a
better mix of music.

Battered
hurt by being repeatedly hit:
She set up a sanctuary for battered wives.
damaged, especially by being used a lot:
battered furniture/toys

transpire
Transpire is a fancy way of saying "happen." You might go to a fortune teller to find out what
will transpire in the future.
Originally used to express when information became known or came to light, many purists
will tell you that's really the best way to use transpire. It can also mean releasing vapor into
the air, like when a plant transpires water through its leaves on a hot day. Note: you'll
usually encounter this word in its past tense: for example, "We had to watch the replay to
figure out what had transpired."

Perturb
To perturb is to bug or bother someone by confusing them or throwing them off balance.
You can try, but it's almost impossible to perturb the guards outside Buckingham Palace.
If you're having trouble getting used to the word perturb, you're in luck! It's similar in
meaning to the verb "disturb." That's right, to perturb is to disturb, but in a way that suggests
you're throwing it off its usual path or routine. The movie Born Free truly perturbed
widespread views about animals—people suddenly started seeing them as individuals. If you
stare at a person you don't know, it won't be long before you perturb them.

Lounge
It's hard to lounge, or recline comfortably, in the lounge, or waiting area, of an airport
terminal. Maybe they shouldn't call it a lounge.
Lounge comes from the French s'allonger meaning "to lounge about, lie at full length."
Whether you're talking about a room with seats in a hotel made for waiting, or a nice comfy
sofa, or the act of reclining comfortably, lounge has everything to do with making yourself
comfortable in one spot for a while. It also means to hang around in an easy way, the way
you might lounge around the poolside area in a luxury hotel.