1.

descent

If youre on your way down, youre making a descent, whether thats as a passenger
in an airplane that's landing, or if youre tumbling down a staircase you just slipped
on.

Descent comes from the verb descend to go down. In the original Latin
meaning, descent was used spatially, in reference to physical action, like going
downstairs into a creepy basement. Metaphorically, though, we also use it to
describe origins, especially in ancestry, when we consider ourselves descendants of
our forebears.

decent/descent/dissent

Decent is all buttoned up. Descent has all the fun because it gets to climb down a
mountain. Dissent is what you do when the glee club wants to get matching red
outfits but you like purple.

Decent, pronounced "DEE-sent," means "socially acceptable." It's also an old

fashioned way to say "polite." These days if you ask someone if she's decent, you
probably don't care if she went to finishing school, you're just wondering if she's
dressed so you can come in. Decent can also mean good but not excellent. Have it
both ways:

He's a decent old chap, but isn't at home much. (Bertram Mitford)

"We're going to work hard out there, and earn a decent living." (New York Times)

Descent, pronounced "dih-SENT," means the act of moving downward, either

physically or socially, like an evil cartoon character's descent into the underworld, or
a villain's descent into madness, or even your descent into the subway station or
down a mountain:

There are a few nasty, short climbs, but several long descents too. (Guardian)

Descent can also refer to a person's cultural background. Makes sense if you think
about going down the family tree:

The women, U.S. citizens of Somali descent, are charged with conspiracy to provide
material support to a foreign terrorist organization. (Washington Post)

Finally, dissent, also pronounced "dih-SENT" is to pipe up against popular opinion.

It can refer to an opinion that differs from an official or popularly held

one.To dissent is to voice such an opinion. There are shades of meaning, but it
always means to go against the grain:
Mr. Putin, who has rarely faced public dissent in his 11 years in power, appeared
momentarily taken aback, but quickly recovered and finished his statement. (New
York Times)

Mrs. Twining curled her mouth in bitter dissent. (Edgar Fawcett)

To recap: decent is fine and you're dressed, descent is to go down down down,
and dissent is when you're opinion doesn't mesh with others.

2. vicissitude

When you talk of the vicissitudes of life, you're referring to the difficult times that
we all go through: sickness, job loss, and other unwelcome episodes. No one can
escape the vicissitudes of life.

While vicissitude comes from the Latin vicis, which means "change" and technically
can mean a change of any kind, you'll find that vicissitude is almost always used to
talk about an unfortunate event or circumstance. Losing a pet, crashing the car,
being called in for jury duty: these are examples of vicissitudes chapters in one's
life that one would rather avoid but must get through. Some lives have more
vicissitudes than others, to be sure, but no life is without events that test and
challenge us

His own investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having
been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d'Urberville family, he had
observed Durbeyfield's name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led to make
inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject.

3. prostrate

The verb prostrate means "to make helpless or defenseless." Illness, injury, food
poisoning, grief any of these things can prostrate people, or lying down in a
helpless position.

The word prostrate traces back to the Latin word prostratus, meaning thrown
down. If you are prostrate, you feel thrown down and laid flat. It can describe lying
on the ground in a helpless position, or it can be used to describe someone who has
been overcome or made unable to function, such as someone who is prostrated by
grief or illness.

prostate/prostrate

Oh, for the want of a letter! Prostate is a gland found in male mammals,
but prostrate, with an r, means to lie face down. Get them mixed up and you'll
thoroughly confuse your doctor.
A prostate (no r)is a gland in front of the bladder of male mammals. You often hear
about men having enlarged prostates or prostate cancer:

A longer index finger gives men a lower risk of prostate cancer. (Reuters)

Prostatecancer begins in the walnut-sized prostate gland, an integral part of the

male reproductive system. (Science Magazine)

Until very recently, the American Cancer Society also urged men to get tested in
order to avoid being killed by prostate cancer. (Time)

Add that second "r" in there, and prostrate means to lie or bow down. You
might prostrate yourself before royalty, or lie prostrate on the floor if you have the
flu or if your best friend just died. Prostrate is to be flattened:

I found myself prostrate, then crawling until my glasses broke. (New York Times)

When Lord Macartney came to China he refused to prostrate himself before the
Emperor in the ritual kowtow out of respect to his own monarch. (The Telegraph)

See the poor wretch, prostrate at the royal feet, imploring a little indulgence, and
promising what is utterly beyond his power. (Joseph Cross)

Men might have prostate cancer, which has nothing to do with what they ate, but
remember the r in prostrate stands for relax or lie down.

4. titter

A titter is an awkward laugh at something that you shouldnt be laughing at, like
during dinner when Uncle Marvin makes a joke about your mothers new hairstyle. If
you try to hide your laugh, its probably a titter.

A laugh that you cant keep in but also cant let out, thats a titter. It usually
happens in situations where you shouldnt be laughing, like listening to your English
teacher talk about a date he went on the night before, or when someone tells you a
joke in a library. A titter is kinder than a snicker, less noticeable than a giggle,
quieter than a chuckle, and way less fun than a chortle. Lifes a joke, laugh it up!

5. equanimity

If you take the news of your parakeet's death with equanimity, it means you take it
calmly without breaking down. Equanimity refers to emotional calmness and
balance in times of stress.

If equanimity reminds you of equal, that's because the words have a lot in common.
The noun equanimity was borrowed from Latin aequanimits,
from aequanimus "even-tempered, fair," formed from aequus "even, level, equal"
plus animus "mind." The archaic phrase to bear with equal mind means "to bear
with a calm mind," and is a translation from the Latin. The phrase a level mind also
refers to calmness. A near synonym is composure.

6. fascinated

When you're fascinated, you're hypnotized, mesmerized, spellbound, and transfixed

totally absorbed by something.

There are two ways to be fascinated: You can be fascinated by something

happening right now, like an interesting new video game you're playing.
Other fascinations are more long term, like a scientist who devotes his life to
studying birds because he's fascinated by them. Things that make you fascinated
have to be so interesting and so intriguing that it feels like they have a magic grip
on your attention span.

A small minority, mainly strangers, would look long at her in casually passing by,
and grow momentarily fascinated by her freshness, and wonder if they would ever
see her again: but to almost everybody she was a fine and picturesque country girl,
and no more.

7. negotiate

To negotiate is to try to work out an agreement between parties that each want
something out of the deal. You might negotiate with your mom offering to do
more chores for a raise in your allowance. Good luck.

Negotiation is all about give and take. Governments are always negotiating with
unions, trying to define the terms of new contracts. The government might offer the
teachers union a raise, if they agree to work 200 days a year instead of 180. The
verb negotiate can also mean to successfully pass through or travel along. You may
have to negotiate a hazardous road, or a tricky path through sticker bushes.

8. spectacle

A spectacle is something you can't believe you are seeing. Get on top of your desk
at work in your underpants while playing the kazoo and you're making
a spectacle of yourself.

The word spectacle comes from the Latin spectaculum meaning "public show," an
apt translation because a spectacle, like a public show, is something worth
watching. A ballet is a spectacle, or an elaborate production worth watching. Often
the word is used to describe something that has a particularly exciting visual
element to it like an acrobatic display or a magic trick. It's something you have to
see to really appreciate.

9. lineament
A lineament is a fancy, literary word that means "a part of a person's face," like his
eyes, ears, or nose.

In his poem "Manfred", Lord Byron wrote, "She was like me in lineaments her
eyes / Her hair, her features, all..." He was basically saying that a particular
woman's face looked a lot like his own face, when he examined each part of it
each lineament separately. The word comes from the Latin word linea, meaning
"line." Lineaments can also refer to someone's distinctive features, not just their
looks.

10. modest

A person is modest if he or she is very successful but does not call attention to this.

Modest generally means "big enough but not huge" like a modest house or a
modest income. An ambitious person will not be satisfied with modest progress.
Around the turn of the 17th century, modest referred to proper or decent dress and
behavior especially in women. Although this is considered dated today, modest is
still used for people who are shy about showing their body. If you are modest, you
might wear your t-shirt when you swim.

11. zest

Zest is a kind of zeal or enthusiasm. If you've got a zest for something, you put your
whole heart and soul into it. Dancers who have great zest leap, kick, and soar their
way around the stage with a kind of joyful energy.

Oddly enough, zest can also be the outer peel of a lemon or orange, which chefs
scrape into their dishes when they want to add some tartness and tanginess to a
recipe. People who live with that same kind of spice are said to have a "zest for life."
In other words, they live their lives with a lot of flavor and gusto. A student who has
a zest for learning dives into her books with an enjoyment and relish most people
reserve for their wedding day.

She remained with her comrades till dusk, and participated with a certainzest in
the dancing; though, being heart-whole as yet, she enjoyed treading a measure
purely for its own sake; little divining when she saw "the soft torments, the bitter
sweets, the pleasing pains, and the agreeable distresses" of those girls who had
been wooed and won, what she herself was capable of in that kind.

12. rebuke

If you receive a rebuke, it means that you have been reprimanded, or scolded.
You're sure to get a rebuke if you forget to do your math homework four days in a
row.
The word rebuke can be a verb, meaning to sternly reprimand or scold, but it can
also be a noun, because a rebuke is the result of being scolded. The root comes
from the Old French rebuchier and means "to hack down," or "beat back." A rebuke,
then, is meant to be critical and to chide in today's terms, a rebuke is verbal
smack-down!

The struggles and wrangles of the lads for her hand in a jig were an amusement to
herno more; and when they became fierce she rebuked them.

13. reproachful

Someone who's reproachful is deeply disapproving. A reproachful look on your

mom's face is a sign that you've disappointed her and might be in trouble.

When you criticize your friend's decision to borrow her parents' car without asking,
you probably sound reproachful. You might not even need to speak a reproachful
glance is sometimes enough to communicate your disapproval. When
you reproach someone, you express disappointment in them, and to
be reproachful is to be "full of reproach." The root word is the Old French reproche,
"blame, shame, or disgrace."

Even to her mother's gaze the girl's young features looked sadly out of place amid
the alcoholic vapours which floated here as no unsuitable medium for wrinkled
middle-age; and hardly was a reproachful flash from Tess's dark eyes needed to
make her father and mother rise from their seats, hastily finish their ale, and
descend the stairs behind her, Mrs. Rolliver's caution following their footsteps.

14. excursion

An excursion is taken more for pleasure than for practical reasons. Your business
trip, when you spent most of the week waiting in airports and adjusting to different
time zones, does not count as an excursion.

The Latin root for excursion is excurrere, meaning "to run out." So if you run out for
a bit to get some fresh air, you've gone on an excursion. If you leave specifically to
buy milk from the corner store and end up swimming in a stream, you've probably
taken an excursion into the woods.

15. prominent

If you're looking for an adjective that means "sticking out above the rest; famous,"
consider prominent. A prominent person might be the big cheese, the head honcho,
the top dog not just any Joe Schmo.

A prominence is anything that juts out, like a bone or a mountain ridge. Prominent,
then, means "sticking out" either in a literal sense ("a prominent nose") or a
figurative one ("a prominent figure in the industry"). The metaphorical sense of
"famous" is the most common one today, though references to the
"prominent posterior" of Jennifer Lopez might fit both definitions.

16. deferential

When a young person shows respect and obedience to an older person, theyre
being deferential to the elders wisdom and experience.

To be obedient, courteous, or dutiful are all ways of being deferential. Bowing low to
the Queen is a deferential act when visiting Buckingham Palace. On sports teams,
rookies are usually deferential to the veterans and star players, while all players
should be deferential to the coach. All employees are expected to be at least a little
deferential to their bosses. Being deferential shows respect, but also means "I know
my place, and it's lower than yours."

The oppressive sense of the harm she had done led Tess to be
moredeferential than she might otherwise have been to the maternal wish; but
she could not understand why her mother should find such satisfaction in
contemplating an enterprise of, to her, such doubtful profit.

17. beneficent

Beneficent is the type of act that helps others. If you're a beneficent person, you
probably spend a lot of your time volunteering at soup kitchens or homeless
shelters, helping people who are less fortunate than you are.

Beneficent shares the same root and sentiment with its fellow
adjective, benevolent, which also means something that is good. The two words are
so closely related that they also share the same Latin origin. Another related
word, benefactor, is someone who gives support to an organization or institution or
someone who takes care of another person. Kind, generous, and giving are all
synonyms of beneficent.

18. burden

Getting hired as the assistant to a pastry chef seemed like a dream come true. But
one week and 100 cupcakes later, its become a hard-to-bear burden accompanied
by a permanent stomachache.

Burden is one of those words that doubles as a noun and a verb. Defined as
something you carry or withstand with much difficulty when used as a noun, and as
the act of weighing down, overloading, or oppressing when used as a verb, its a
word with a negative charge. Now that you know what it means, youre equipped to
make sure you dont take on unnecessary burdens (getting pressured into always
carrying your neighbors groceries upstairs), or become one yourself!

19. trepidation
When plain old "fear" isn't enough to get across a deep feeling of dread about
something on the horizon, use the more formal word trepidation.

"It was with a certain trepidation that I attended an advance screening of Rob
Zombie's Halloween in Hollywood last night," wrote a film reviewer. Some
dictionaries note that trepidation carries connotations of apprehension about an
upcoming threat. In most cases, though, you can get by with the simpler
word fear why use three syllables when you could make do with one? The word
comes from the Latin verb trepidare, "to tremble."

20. 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.

21. liberal

A liberal is someone on the left wing of politics the opposite of a conservative.

Also, a liberal attitude toward anything means more tolerance for change.

There are many meanings for liberal, but they mostly have to do with freedom and
openness to change. A teacher with a liberal policy toward attendance is going to
be forgiving of missed days. A bank with a liberal attitude toward your money would
probably be bad: some things are awful if they're loose and free. But no one will
give you a hard time if you use a liberal amount of catsup on your fries.

22. esteem

Esteem is all about respect and admiration. If you have high self-esteem, it means
you like yourself. When you say, "My esteemed colleagues," you are saying you
have nothing but the highest respect for them.

Esteem derives from the same Latin word that gives us estimate, and back in the
day, esteem, like estimate meant "to assess, or judge the value of something." That
sense lingers today. When you say you hold someone in high esteem, it means you
give them a high value. Unless you're a politician, in which case, when you say, "I
hold my opponent in high esteem," you are most likely to follow that statement with
a big "But...."

23. 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 onersus, from onus "burden." In
English, an onus is a task or duty that is onerous, or very difficult.

24. coiffure

Coiffure is a fancy French word for hairdo. If you spend a lot of time working on
your coiffure, you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror fixing your hair.

The word coiffure originally meant hairstylist, now it means the style. The word
implies an elaborate style, not just a regular haircut. A beehive hairdo, for instance,
would be rightly called a coiffure. A military-style buzz cut is just a trim. The word
can be shortened to coif, but be careful as this word has other meanings as well.

25. Then she put upon her the white frock that Tess had worn at the club-walking,
the airy fulness of which, supplementing her enlarged coiffure, imparted to her
developing figure an amplitude which belied her age, and might cause her to be
estimated as a woman when she was not much more than a child.

26. inexorable

When a person is inexorable, they're stubborn. When a thing or process

is inexorable, it can't be stopped.

This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable
person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter
what. You can also say that a process, like the progress of a deadly illness, is
inexorable because it can't be stopped. A speeding train with no brakes is
inexorable; it's not stopping till it crashes. When you see the word inexorable, think
"No one's stopping that."

27. rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is the act of restoring something to its original state, like

the rehabilitation of the forest that had once been cleared for use as an amusement
park.

The noun rehabilitation comes from the Latin prefix re-, meaning again
and habitare, meaning make fit. When something falls in to disrepair and needs to
be restored to a better condition, it needs rehabilitation. People seek rehabilitation
after an accident or surgery to restore their strength, or to learn to live without
drugs or other addictive substances or behaviors.

28. accomplishment

An accomplishment is something notable that you've done. Graduating from college

with honors is an accomplishment.

First used in the 15th century, the noun accomplishment derives from the Old
French word acomplir, meaning "to fulfill, fill up, complete." An accomplishment is
something you've completed successfully. The word often refers to a goal that
you've achieved. If you're a runner, you'd consider completing a marathon to be a
great accomplishment. Gaining a new skill can also be an accomplishment.
Speaking French fluently might be an accomplishment that makes you really proud.

29. vexation

Vexation is both something that causes annoyance and the state of mind that
results from being annoyed. The test-taker next to you tapping her pencil is
a vexation. You breaking her pencil in half makes her feel vexation.

Vexation can also refer to something that causes anxiety and worry more than
annoyance. When the parents of the kid you're babysitting are two hours late to
return and arent answering their phones, that could be a vexation. You are less
annoyed than worried. (Though, to be honest, you're still a little annoyed).

But he persisted in his demand, and at last, to get rid of him, she did put up her lips
as directed for producing a clear note; laughing distressfully, however, and then
blushing with vexation that she had laughed.

30. temptation

Temptation is something you want to have or to do, even though you know you
shouldn't. That bag of peanut butter cups on top of your fridge might be an
example of a temptation.

The thing that you want despite knowing it's not good for you like the cool
sneakers you really can't afford is a temptation. The feeling is also a temptation
so wanting those shoes is temptation. The Latin word temptare, or to taste, is
where temptation comes from, which makes a lot of sense when you think of that
bag of peanut butter cups calling to you from the kitchen.

31. pliable

Pliable means bendable but not breakable. Wax is pliable, good leather is pliable. If
you describe a person as pliable, it usually means that he's easily influenced, like a
nightclub owner who takes orders from a crime boss.
When Madame barks "Plier!" (rhymes with "okay") in ballet class, all the students
obediently bend their knees into a graceful semi-crouch. Plier is French for bend and
it's the root of the word pliable. The word pliable itself is quite pliable, an apt
description for everything from building materials to a person's character.

32. respectable

Something or someone respectable is honest, good, and proper. Respectable

behavior includes things like contributing to charity, volunteering at an animal
shelter, and helping your friends study vocabulary.

Anything or anyone respectable deserves respect for being honorable or moral. If

you return a wallet that you find on the street, thats respectable behavior. People
would probably view you as a respectable person. However, if you removed all the
money from the wallet before returning it, thats not respectable. Respectable can
also be used to describe to an adequate or large amount of something. If you return
the wallet untouched, you might get a respectable sum as a reward.

33. adventitious

Adventitious is a word you use to talk about things that "just kind of happen," not
because you are trying to do them, but because they just come along.

Christopher Columbus's stumbling upon the Caribbean while searching for a new
route to India was adventitious. When you make an adventitious rhyme while
speaking, you might hear, "You're a poet, you didn't know it, your long feet show it."

34. stagger

If you see someone stagger out of a bar, or walk unsteadily, like he's about to fall,
chances are he's had a few too many drinks.

The word stagger isn't just used to describe the physical action of stumbling. When
you're really shocked about a piece of news, it can stagger or shock you. When you
want to spread something out overtime, like paying a large bill, you can stagger the
payments over time. But, remember that if you fall behind, the debt you fall into
might stagger you.

Tess soon perceived as she walked in the flock, sometimes with this one, sometimes
with that, that the fresh night air was producing staggerings and serpentine courses
among the men who had partaken too freely; some of the more careless women
also were wandering in their gait

35. vituperation
Vituperation is a noun that refers to critical, abusive language. It's always a messy
scene when a political debate slips into vituperation.

Vituperation is from the Latin root words vitium, meaning "a fault or defect,"
and parare, meaning provide, which combined to make vituperare meaning
"disparage." Vituperation can also be used to refer to feelings of bitter resentment
and deep-seated antipathy toward another like your vituperation toward the
meter maid who just placed that ticket on your windshield.

36. animus

Saying you have animus toward a person is a fancy way of saying that you hate
their guts. You could also say that an animus exists between two people. That's
when they hate each others' guts.

If you're familiar with the word animosity, meaning bad feelings, you're only a hop,
skip, or jump away from understanding animus. But then it gets tricky. The word can
also mean a motivating forceyou could refer to the fear of infection as
the animus behind a movement to sterilize public buildings.

37. proffer

If you present something for acceptance or rejection, you proffer it. Say your mom is
under so much stress she forgets her own birthday. You may want to proffer her
some advice, like, "Quit that job."

What's the difference between proffer and offer? If you say you "proffered"
something to a friend, it suggests a spirit of generosity and it signals that your
friend was welcome to accept or reject it as he saw fit. In other words, proffer is
usually a little more polite than offer. To remember this, think of the following
equation: p[oliteness] + offer = proffer.

38. precarious

Grab for the adjective precarious when something is unstable, dangerous or difficult
and likely to get worse. Are you totally broke and the people you owe money to
keep calling? You're in a precarious financial situation!

The Latin root of precarious means "obtained by asking or praying." This fits well
as precarious always signals that help is needed desperately. If your life is
precarious or you are in a precarious situation, things could become difficult, maybe
even dangerous, for you. If your footing or hold on something is precarious, it is
unstable or not firmly placed, so that you are likely to slip or lose your grip.

She had perceived that the horse was not the spirited one he sometimes rose, and
felt no alarm on that score, though her seat was precarious enough despite her
tight hold of him.
39. unconscionable

Something that is almost unimaginably unacceptable is unconscionable. Think of it

as being something that no reasonable person would even think of doing or saying
something unbelievable, outrageous, and often horrible.

The word unconscionable is related to the word conscience. Add the un-, and you
can see that it refers to something done without applying good moral judgment.
The word first appeared in the mid-16th century presumably everyone up until
that time had high scruples and never did or said anything beyond the boundaries
of conscience. Sadly, the antonym, conscionable, is rarely used, and, in fact, has
been obsolete since the 18th century, though unconscionable remains in frequent
use.

40. coarse

Coarse can mean rough to the touch or vulgar. It's good to have coarse sand paper,
but not good to have coarse manners.

Do you lick your dinner plate, wipe your nose on your sleeve, and generally behave
like an oaf? No, of course not. You're the kind of person who reads online
dictionaries. But if you did do any of things, you'd be coarse that is, unrefined,
boorish, and downright vulgar. Coarse can apply to a wide variety of things other
than behavior. If something is of poor quality, cheap and inferior, it's considered
coarse.

Why it was that upon this beautiful feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer, and
practically blank as snow as yet, there should have been traced such
acoarse pattern as it was doomed to receive; why so often
the coarse appropriates the finer thus, the wrong man the woman, the wrong
woman the man, many thousand years of analytical philosophy have failed to
explain to our sense of order.

41. fatalistic

Use the adjective fatalistic to describe someone who believes outcomes are
determined in advance and can't be changed. If you think theres no way you can
pass your math exam and studying wont change anything, then youre fatalistic.

When you pronounce fatalistic, you can hear the word fate. Thats a clue
that fatalistic is in some way related to fate as in destiny. A fatalistic person
believes in destiny: whatever is meant to happen will happen. Fatalistic often
relates to bad things. If someone has a fatalistic attitude toward a situation,
chances are that means the person is expecting things to turn out badly and sees
no point in trying to change that outcome.

42. communion
A communion is an intimate connection. Many people enjoy hiking in the woods in
order to have a sort of communion with nature.

When you connect in a meaningful way with something, or intimately share your
feelings with someone, you experience a communion. The word implies a deep
connection, particularly a spiritual one. A Communion, with a capital C and also
called Holy Communion, is a Christian religious service involving consecrated bread
and wine. The Latin root of communion is communionem, meaning "fellowship,
mutual participation, or sharing."

43. parish

A parish is a local church community that has one main church and one
pastor. Parish members do more than just attend church. They organize community
activities, social events, and very important coffee and donuts on Sunday
mornings.

A parish is technically a piece of land. Its a section of a diocese that has the right
number of churchgoers to have its own church. But when you refer to a parish,
youre usually talking about more than the space itself. You're describing the people
who attend the church, as well as the church property. So if someone says,
"Our parish is thriving," it means there's a full congregation and enough funds to
maintain the church in good condition.

44. solemnity

Put on a straight face when you think of the word solemnity; it is used for occasions
that are all about seriousness and dignity.

The word solemnity has been around since the fourteenth century helping people
describe the mood of occasions ranging from funerals of beloved public figures to
ceremonies welcoming United Nations dignitaries. This is the noun form of the
adjective solemn, and youll often see it used with of, as in the solemnity of the
occasion called for hushed voices.

45. native

The word native has to do with where you're from. You're native to the country
where you were born, and places have native plants and animals too.

Things that are native are indigenous they were born there. This is where the
term Native Americans comes from they were on this land before Europeans
came over. Native plants were originally in a place they weren't transplanted. The
same is true of native animals. Sometimes people born in a place are called natives,
as in "You are a native of Cleveland." When you see the word native, think "born
there."
46. triumphant

If you're triumphant, you're proud of a huge success, like your triumphant victory at
your ping-pong tournament.

Winning an honor or a competition means that you're triumphant. The joy you feel
about your win is called described as triumphant. You might flash a triumphant
smile at the audience during the curtain call after your excellent performance in the
school play. Triumphant comes from the Latin word triumphus, which means
triumph, but also describes a procession for a victorious general or admiral.

47. modesty

Modesty is that shy feeling you get when someone brags about how great you are,
or when you need to take off your shirt to go swimming and showing skin makes
you squirm. If you blush, youve got some modesty.

Modesty comes from the Latin modestus, which literally translates as keeping due
measure. Knowing the correct measure of yourself is modesty, and when someone
praises you too much, your modesty might kick in and make you want to tell them
to be quiet. Modesty also means you keep things decent and not too outrageous,
like wearing clothes that hide your skin, or painting your walls beige instead of
covering them with glow-in-the-dark diamond wallpaper.

48. mortal

You are a mortal because you are mortal. This means that you are an individual
destined to die because you are susceptible to death.

The word mortal has one of the most ancient genealogies of any word in English or
any other language. It is related to English words like "murder" and "mortuary," and
to the French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian words for "death." Something that can
kill you can also be described as mortal. If you're in mortal danger, you're in a
deadly situation. Action heroes often think they are dealing their enemy a mortal
blow, but sometimes the enemy manages to come back to life. People are called
mortals because at some point, they die.

49. secular

Secular things are not religious. Anything not affiliated with a church or faith can be
called secular.

Non-religious people can be called atheists or agnostics, but to describe things,

activities, or attitudes that have nothing to do with religion, you can use the
word secular. Public schools are secular, but Catholic schools are not. Grocery stores
are secular; a synagogue is not. If there's no religion involved, then you're in
"the secular world" as people sometimes call everything that exists outside of
religion.

50. jagged

Something is jagged when it has an uneven edge or quality to it. Teeth can
be jagged, saw blades can be jagged, and the edges of leaves can be jagged.

Jagged comes from 16th century English/Scottish and originally referred to a cloth,
cut in a way so that the edge is not straight, but that is toothed. Imagine a tipsy
seamstress trying to cut cloth in a straight line, but her sheers stray this way then
that. Shes leaving a jagged edge on the cloth. Or perhaps you have a crush on the
seamstress, but she is seen kissing another. Here, shes leaving a jagged wound on
your heart.

51. swell

To swell is to expand or grow larger. If your brother's face started to swell after he
ate lobster for the first time, you'd probably guess that he's allergic to shellfish.

You can use the word swell to describe what happens to an injured body part, like a
black eye that swells up, or in a figurative way, to describe a feeling of fullness, like
when your heart swells with pride at your sister's big music performance. In the
1930s, swell became a popular slang term meaning great or excellent. But it also
can describe a wealthy, elegant person, like a group of swells at a fancy restaurant.

52. limp

If you walk unevenly, you have a limp. Maybe you pulled your hamstring at the
annual Thanksgiving Day Football Showdown, or maybe one leg is three inches
shorter than the other. Whatever the reason, if your gait is off kilter, you limp.

You can have a limp (the noun), or you can limp (the verb), and both mean that for
some reason your legs dont work quite in synch. Limp can also be an adjective that
means "not strong or firm," like your friends' limp response to your invitation to
come help paint your house or when your hair looks limp, meaning it's just hanging,
with no volume or style.

53. intone

To intone is to to chant in a flat voice. When you recite a poem you had to memorize
in English class, you're likely to intone the lines without much expression.

You might intone bad news over the phone, bluntly and unemotionally, and
librarians often intone a low command to keep the noise down in the library. People
reciting prayers usually intone them as well. In the fourteenth century, the word
was entunen, "sing, chant or recite," from a Latin root, intonare, "sing according to
tone."
54. compliment

A compliment is an expression of respect or admiration, like, "You're such a good

writer," or "You know so many words!" Keep them coming.

Compliments are always welcome, because they usually make people feel good. Its
saying something nice about someone or something. If you get mysterious flowers,
look at the card perhaps it will say compliments of your upstairs neighbors, as
an apology for playing their music too loud all night. Or if you say, my compliments
to the chef! you really liked your meal.

55. colonial

The colonial period of United States history occurred before 1776, when America
was still 13 colonies under British rule.

You can use the word colonial to describe an inhabitant of a colony ruled by another
country, but you wouldnt call a painter living in an artists' colony a colonial. On the
other hand, ants, which live in ant colonies, are colonial insects. British colonial is a
style of furniture the British favored for their houses and tents in India or on safari in
Africa when India and parts of Africa were British colonies.

56. figurine

A figurine is a small carved or molded statue, especially one in the shape of a

person. If you have an extensive collection of figurines, you need to keep them high
up and safe so your kids don't break them.

The word figurine is from the Italian word figurina, which itself is based on the Latin
word figura, which means shape, body, or figure. You can buy all sorts of figurines. If
you like movies, you can collect figurines that depict famous movie characters. You
can also get figurines of comic book heroes. It's even common to have the figurine
of a saint.

57. defiance

Stand up when the powers that be order you to sit down, and you've given a fine
example of defiance. It happens when someone or a group of someones openly
flouts or challenges authority.

We owe this lovely descriptive term to the French specifically to the Old French
word defier, which means to defy. (Don't mix it up with deify; that means to make
someone or something into a god.) If you've ever studied Latin, you'll spot
the fi from fidare "to trust" that inspired the Marines' "semper fi" motto and the
popular moniker for pooches"Fido." Combining fi with de- negates it. So an act of
defiance is essentially an act of not trusting.

58. 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.

59. mysterious

Something that is mysterious has a secret-like quality that makes it hard to

understand or define, like your mysterious answers that made your friends curious
about what you were really up to.

A dark shadow skims across the surface of lake...a strange disease makes a city's
inhabitants violently ill...a large, hairy creature is spotted wandering in the woods.
These situations are all mysterious because we don't know their causes. You can see
the word mystery in mysterious. A mystery is a hidden or secret thing, so something
that is mysterious takes effort to understand, unless it is beyond our
comprehension.

60. meticulously

If you clean your house meticulously, you take plenty of time and scour every single
nook and cranny, maybe even behind the oven and under the doormat.

Meticulous means extremely careful and thorough, so if you do something

meticulously, you are painstaking about doing it perfectly. Someone who would
never leave her house with an un-ironed t-shirt or a thread hanging loose is
someone who dresses meticulously. If your town historian documents every event,
from births to remodeled living rooms, then she does her job meticulously, maybe a
little too meticulously.

61. martial

An adjective referring to the military, the word martial adds a warlike tone to any
noun it describes.

The word martial derives from Mars, the Roman god of war. It refers to almost much
anything military, including "martial law," in which the government orders the
military to administer the law. The word definitely makes one think of fighting, as in
the physical discipline known as the martial arts. But there is a lighter side to the
word, too. Martial music, usually associated with the military, is usually bright and
inspiring.

62. coup
A coup is a pretty major achievement, whether it involves taking over a government
by force, or landing a major business contract.

When the word coup is used on the nightly news, it's usually describing a military
government takeover. In the business section of the daily newspaper,coup might
refer to a big corporation landing an important contract or deal. However you use
the word coup, don't say the "p" at the end. It's not pronounced like chicken coop. It
sounds more like a dove's coo.

63. corrupt

If someone or something is corrupt, theyre broken morally or in some other

way. Corrupt people perform immoral or illegal acts for personal gain, without
apology. Corrupt politicians take bribes and deny it.

When you corrupt someone, you convince them to do something wrong or even
illegal. If you talk your little brother into stealing cookies from the cookie jar, you're
corrupting him. Something corrupt is rotten, spoiled, or out of commission, like a file
that makes your computer crash. A corrupt person a criminal, a crook, or a cookie
thief brings society down with immoral and dishonest behavior. Corrupt goes
back to the Latin roots cor-, "altogether," and rumpere, "break."

64. deliver

Whether you deliver a package, a baby, or a promise, you're bringing or carrying

out something that was expected.

The Post Office and UPS deliver packages, but a doctor helps deliver a baby: in that
case, the doctor is helping the baby get born safely. If you promise to get an A and
then you do, you delivered on your promise. Religious people ask God to deliver
them from sin. Politicians often have to deliver meaning give speeches. In just
about every case, deliver refers to something positive that's being moved, fulfilled,
rescued, or carried out.

65. demonstrator

If you participate in a political protest, you are a demonstrator. Demonstrate means

to show, and by dint of your presence, you are showing that you agree with the
protest message.

Demonstrator can also mean someone who demonstrates how something works.
Electrolux vacuums were sold by door-to-door salespeople who were also
demonstratorsthey put horrible messes down on the rug to demonstrate their
vacuum's power.

66. benediction
A benediction is a blessing either a formal one that you might hear in a church
service or an informal one that you might utter when you take any leap of faith.

The noun benediction comes from the Latin roots bene, meaning "well"
and diction meaning "to speak" literally to speak well of. Although it is most often
used in the religious sense of prayer and blessing especially a ceremonial prayer
at the end of a church service it can mean any expression of good wishes. "Good
luck on the test!" the mother cried in benediction as her son set off for school.

67. thwart

A villain's worst nightmare is the superhero who always seems to thwart his efforts,
preventing him from carrying out his plans to take over the world.

Thwart is a word you'll hear in a lot of action movies, and usually it's the hero who is
trying to thwart the evil plan of some super-villain. Yet even mere mortals can be
thwarted in their efforts; the word simply means to prevent someone from carrying
out his or her plans. An aggressive driver can thwart your attempt to snag a parking
space at a crowded mall by pulling into the space before you. An aggressive
shopper at that same mall can thwart your efforts to buy the last Dancing Snoopy
doll by grabbing it off the shelf first.

68. execution

The planning stage of building a tree house is the fun part the hard part is
the execution of your plan. Execution is taking an idea and actually making it
happen.

The execution of a plan is when you put it into effect, like the execution on the field
of a football team's game plan. It can also mean the style in which a project is
carried out, like a ballet's creative execution. Execution can also refer to the death
of a person, either a prisoner who's been sentenced to death by a court of law, or a
deliberate, targeted murder, especially when it's done for political reasons.

69. vulnerable

Use the adjective vulnerable to describe something or someone open to being

physically or emotionally wounded, like a newborn chick or an overly sensitive
teenager.

Vulnerable is from Latin and is based on vulnus "wound." From its literal meaning, it
has come to be more often used for someone who is easily hurt or likely to succumb
to temptation. It's best used for a person whose feelings are so delicate that they
can't withstand any criticism or pressure: "Don't speak harshly to her, she's
very vulnerable today."

70. fragment
A fragment is a small piece thats come off a larger whole, and to fragment is to
break. If your teacher writes "frag" on your paper, you've got an incomplete
sentence.

Fragment, meaning "a tiny, brittle shard," first appeared as a noun and later as a
verb. That afternoon you hacked away at the fireplace in your parents living room
in search of secret treasure as a child? Those dusty chunks of brick you scattered all
over their shag carpet were fragments of a once-intact wall, and a happier time
before you were grounded. Not only did you cause physical damage that day, but
you also fragmented their trust in you.

71. stale

If something is stale, it's no longer fresh. Ever bite into a piece of bread that's been
left out a little too long? Chances are it's stale, or dry and hard to eat. Try making
some croutons out of it.

The word stale comes from the Old French estaler meaning "to halt," which is what
happens to your jaw when you try and bite down on a piece of stale bread it just
can't chew through it. But stale isn't a word that's used only when talking about
food. When an idea is stale, it's old or boring. And when a horse stales, it's not old
and crusty, it's urinating. Step aside.

72. baron

A baron is a nobleman a member of the aristocracy. Barons are also important,

powerful businessmen with huge influence over their industries. In Britain,
a baron is called Lord, but in the States, we call them rich.

Barons are members of the aristocracy wealthy people born into power and
influence. How high a baron ranks depends on the country, but the title always
carries respect. Similarly, a business leader who is rich, powerful, and influential is a
baron. The term is used in phrases such as oil baron and baron of industry. You can
also call that kind of baron a big businessman, magnate, mogul, top executive, or
tycoon.

73. desolate

If you feel alone, left out, and devastated, you feel desolate. A deserted, empty,
depressing place can be desolate too.

If you know the word deserted, you have a clue to the meaning of desolate, a grim
word that can describes feelings and places. When a person feels desolate, he feels
deserted, lonely, hopeless, and sad. When a location is desolate, there's almost
nothing there. Think of a rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere, with no running
water and no stores or other people anywhere. That's a desolate setting. Being in a
desolate place usually makes people feel desolate.
74. turbulence

Use the noun turbulence to describe instability or disturbance. If youre on an

airplane during a storm, turbulence is that horrible thing that is causing the plane
(and your stomach) to bounce around.

The word turbulence can be used to refer to atmospheric instability, such as

sudden, unpredictable air movements resulting from a storm, but the word has a
broader meaning as well and you will often hear it used to describe any situation
characterized by unrest and disorder. If your stocks are fluctuating wildly in price,
that could be a result of turbulence in the stock market. If last year was filled with
unpredictable change, you could describe it as a year of great turbulence.

75. acknowledge

To show that you know something is to acknowledge it. Waving "hello"

to acknowledge a friend and nodding your head "yes" to acknowledge that you
agree with what's being said are both acts showing knowledge or acceptance of
someone or something.

Dictionaries acknowledge that the word acknowledge has roots in the 15th and 16th
centuries and is a combination of roots meaning "accord," "recognize," and
"understand." Whereas "knowledge" is what you know, acknowledging is showing
that you know. You might acknowledge that the world is round and that the moon is
not made of cheese. You also can acknowledge, or give recognition, to the people
who discovered these truths.

76. urge

If you have an urge to eat candy, you really want to eat those sweets. Your mother
might urge you to wait until after dinner. As a noun, urge means a desire. As a verb,
it means to strongly encourage.

Urge is related to the word, urgent, or 'pressing.' An urge is a pressing want, one
that is almost a compulsion, like when you're so frustrated, you have the urge to
scream. If you urge someone to do something, you feel strongly about it. You might
urge a friend to wear an orange shirt not because you happen to like orange, but
because they're walking in the woods during hunting season.

77. demolish

Demolish means completely destroy, as a wrecking ball might demolish a

building, or as hanging out with ones parents might, supposedly, demolish a
teenagers reputation.

In casual speech, demolish can also mean devour, as a group of hungry teenagers
might demolish a pizza. The noun form of demolish is demolition, which often
implies destruction by means of explosives. Demolish combines the prefix de-,
which can mean undo, with the Latin verb moliri, meaning to build" which
makes sense if you are thinking of 'undoing a building' with explosives!

78. missionary

A missionary is a person whose mission is to go somewhere to help others. In many

cases, the goal of a missionary is to teach about a religion so that the people
convert to that faith.

Missionary can be a noun the person who goes on a mission or an adjective

the type of work done on such a trip. If your great-grandmother was a missionary
for the Methodist church in Japan in the 1920s, her purpose there was to convince
people to abandon their religion for Methodism. Presumably she did this missionary
work because she thought it would save their souls.

79. faithful

Faithful describes someone who is reliable and consistent. If you're

a faithful volunteer at the animal shelter, you show up every Saturday and work
hard to help the animals.

A faithful friend is loyal and steadfast it's no wonder that many people consider
their dogs to be their most faithful companions. Though faithful usually describes a
person, you can also use it to talk about a particularly reliable object, like your
faithful hiking boots. There's another sense of faithful that means "remaining true
to," like faithful believers who pray and attend religious services regularly.

80. confession

A confession is an admission of guilt, fault, or a mistake.

Youve probably seen TV shows or movies where a detective says to a suspect

"Confess!" The detective is trying to get a confession, which is a statement that
admits some type of guilt. "I killed the mayor!" is a confession. "I forgot your
birthday" is a confession. In some religions, confession is a sacrament where people
admit their sins and seek forgiveness. When people have something painful to
admit, they often start by saying, "I have a confession to make."

81. steady

The adjective steady describes something that is firmly fixed in position. If you have
to climb up on your roof, you definitely want to have a steady ladder. Otherwise,
you risk ending up in the bushes instead of on the roof.

The adjective steady can also describe something that isn't going to fluctuate wildly.
If you have a steady income from a salary, you bring in approximately the same
amount of money each month. If you are paid on commission, on the other hand,
you may make Midas look poor in some months and beggars look rich in others. As
a verb, to steady means "to make something steady" (big surprise): You can steady
a wobbly table by sticking a matchbook under its shortest leg, or you could steady a
nervous dog with a reassuring pat.

82. convey

When you convey something, you carry or deliver it. Little Red Riding
Hood conveyed a basket of muffins to her grandmother. Your sad smile
might convey more about your feelings than words ever could.

You can also convey a message or information, which means that you communicate
it to someone directly or indirectly through your words or actions. In law, the
word convey means to transfer or pass property to someone. This verb is from
Middle English conveyen, from Old French conveier, ultimately from the Latin
prefix com- "together" plus via "way."

83. jest

A jest is a joke. Are you a playful prankster? A jocular jokester? A witty wisecracker?
Then you are definitely well versed in the art of the jest.

To jest means to tease and joke in a playful way like that "court jester"! Back in
medieval times, the court jester was hired to tell funny gestes, or tales. But
nowadays he's always cracking jokes and teasing the ladies about their wacky
hairdos. All in jest of course. Otherwise the king would have his head.

84. dulcet

Use the adjective dulcet to describe a sound that is soothing and soft, like
the dulcet harmonies in a 70s pop song or the dulcet tones of a harp.

The word dulcet worked its way into English by way of the French word doucet,
which is related to the word doux, meaning sweet. Originally applied to anything
sweet or pleasing, such as something that tastes sweet or a sweet glance from a
stranger, nowadays the word is most often used to describe sounds that are gentle
and melodious sweet sounds.

85. submissive

When animals live in packs, one animal is usually the dominant leader, while the
others fall into more submissive roles. To be submissive is to obey or yield to
someone else.

When you are submissive, you submit to someone else's will, which literally, you put
your own desires lower than theirs. You can see this in the Latin root of
submit, submittere, which is formed by sub- "under" + mittere "send, put."
And if he chance to speak, be ready straight,
And with a low submissive reverence
Say 'What is it your honour will command?'

86. mourn

To mourn is to grieve for someone who has died, especially a loved one. One of the
hardest experiences of childhood is when you mourn the loss of a beloved pet.

You can also mourn for things that you've lost, not only pets and people who have
died. If your local library branch is forced to close, you might mourn its loss, missing
being able to walk there from your house. The Old English root word
of mourn is murnan, which means not only to mourn, but also to be anxious.
Related words include "mourner" and "mournful."

87. lunatic

A lunatic is someone who is either clinically insane or just acting really crazy.
Someone driving too fast and zigging in and out of traffic is driving like a lunatic.

The root of this word is luna, which means moon. That's because lunatic originally
meant someone who went crazy with every phase of the moon, kind of like a
werewolf. Most people these days don't believe in moon-caused insanity, but we still
talk about lunatics, sometimes meaning clinically insane people. More often this is a
slang term, used mainly in exaggerations, for anyone who seems wild and out of
control.

88. diligence

If you practice diligence, you are a hard and careful worker. Do you have
the diligence to read all the collected works of Henry James? Of course not. Nobody
has, but a couple of his early novels won't hurt.

Here's a tip: never buy anything big, like a house or a car or a boat, without first
exercising what lawyers call "due diligence" that is, a real degree of care and
attention and effort, not to mention a close reading of the small print. Diligence may
help you realize the Brooklyn Bridge is not actually yours to buy, or that your
potential neighbor has 112 cats living next door.

89. cunning

In fairy tales, always watch out for the cunning fox or the cunning
witch. Cunning means clever, in the sense of trickery. A cunning plan might involve
setting traps for the innocent and pure at heart to fall into.

This adjective goes back to the 14th century English verb cunnen, which meant "to
know," and is actually related to our English verb know. In earlier times, the noun
was used to mean a high level of skill in using the hands. You can be cunning, but
you can also use your cunning to figure out a very clever and tricky plan.

90. antic

An antic is a prank to the extreme. Its outrageous, but its usually meant to be
funny. When the senior class steals the principals car and manages to get it inside
the gym, the antic may be condemned by the school, but everyone else probably
thinks its hilarious.

The noun antic is most commonly used in the plural form, as in the coach was
growing tired of his star players silly antics after scoring. Sometimes antics can
lean toward the not-so-funny side as well. Really ridiculous behavior, that is more
foolish than funny, can also be called antics. Antic can also be used an as adjective,
as in "her antic stand-up routine had everyone rolling in the aisles." It more
infrequently can be used as a verb meaning basically "to act like a clown."

91. obeisance

An obeisance is an act, usually physical, showing dutiful obedience. A supplicant

might perform obeisance, touching his face to the ground, before humbly asking for
help.

Obeisance is often used in historical or religious contexts and often refers to bowing
or kneeling. Figuratively, it means an act of respect though sometimes with the
negative connotation of slavishly doing as expected. Your boyfriend might bring you
and your mother flowers in obeisance to the idea that the parents should be courted
as much as the child. Consumers who want this software must show obeisance to
the Internet it can't be bought in a store or anywhere else.

92. courtesy

A courtesy is a polite remark or respectful act. Complain about a bad meal, and you
might get kicked out. But the common courtesy is usually an apology from the
manager and, if you're lucky, a free dinner.

Courtesy is all about using your good manners, which is why it shares roots with the
word courteous. Holding the door open for someone, writing a thank-you note for a
gift, and letting the pregnant lady have the last seat on the bus are all courtesies
that would make your parents proud. And if something is kindly presented to you
free of charge, the gift-giver may say it's "courtesy of" someone special.

93. 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.

94. homage

Homage means great respect and honor, or something done to honor a person or
thing. We pay homage to our ancestors and say prayers in homage to their memory.

In Middle English, homage specifically referred to respect for and loyalty to a feudal
lord. The word was borrowed from Old French, probably from omne, homme "man,"
from Latin hom. The noun suffix age is used to mean "an action, process, result,
or state."

95. 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).

96. humor

Humor is a word for the quality of being funny or for appreciating comedy, as in
"sense of humor."

Many movies and TV shows comedies are full of humor, but there might be
humor in any show or even any situation. Since different people find different things
funny, there are many different senses of humor and types of humor. Some like
wordplay, while others might enjoy slapstick. If you're in good humor, you're in a
good mood. The humors are also the liquid parts of the body (you might remember
that because many people find bodily fluids humorous).

97. abject

If it reeks of humiliation or looks like the lowest of lows, then you can safely
describe it as abject.

The pronunciation of abject is up for debate: you can decide whether to stress the
first or the second syllable. But what's more important is understanding how
extreme this adjective is. Abject means absolutely miserable, the most unfortunate,
with utter humiliation. You might have heard the phrase abject poverty, which is the
absolute worst, most hopeless level of poverty you've ever seen.

98. malady

A malady is an illness, like a malady that keeps you home, sick in bed for days, or
something that causes you to have trouble or to suffer, like jet lag a malady that
affects travelers.

Malady, pronounced "MAL-uh-dee," comes from the Latin words male, meaning "bad
or ill" and habitus for "have, hold." When you have a malady, it is like something
bad is holding you, such as an illness the common cold: a malady of winter. Some
bad habits cause maladies, such as never having any money the malady of
people who spend freely, not thinking of the future.

99. malady

A malady is an illness, like a malady that keeps you home, sick in bed for days, or
something that causes you to have trouble or to suffer, like jet lag a malady that
affects travelers.

Malady, pronounced "MAL-uh-dee," comes from the Latin words male, meaning "bad
or ill" and habitus for "have, hold." When you have a malady, it is like something
bad is holding you, such as an illness the common cold: a malady of winter. Some
bad habits cause maladies, such as never having any money the malady of
people who spend freely, not thinking of the future.

100. frenzy

In a frenzy, people go into a state of hysteria. Stay away from hungry sharks or kids
at a 16th birthday party when the pizza arrives if you don't want to get caught up in
a feeding frenzy.

Frenzy is derived from the Latin word phreneticus meaning "delirious." If you're in a
frenzy, you're certainly delirious. You can be in a frenzy because something made
you mad, happy, or even just hungry whatever makes you so crazy you're not
thinking clearly. Frenzy is often used when talking about a group of people (or
animals) who get worked up at the same time about the same thing, like sharks
near tasty fish or teenagers near pizza.

Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,

Are come to play a pleasant comedy;
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.

101. mirth
Mirth is a formal or literary term meaning fun and enjoyment as shown by laughter.
If you and your friends stayed up all night at a sleepover laughing, you might refer
to that as a night of mirth.

In 1905, Edith Wharton published a novel "The House of Mirth," whose title derives
from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart
of fools is in the house of mirth." But studies show that when human beings laugh,
smile or otherwise engage in mirthful activity, our brains release hormones that
help us live longer. Mirth may be foolish, but it's good for you.

Therefore they thought it good you hear a play

And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.

As this example sentence shows, the induction is an "act that sets in motion some
course of events." It also sets the merry tone for the rest of the play. But aside from
a brief scene in Act 1 where a servant notices that Sly, the tinker/lord, is nodding
off, the frame story is not mentioned. This suggests that it is not important. But
attitudes of marriage are revealed here, and comparisons can be made between the
characters' goals, roles, and deceits.

102. consider

Consider is a verb that simply means to think about, look at, or judge. Consider, for
a moment, the perks of house sitting for your pool-owning neighbors before you
immediately refuse their request.

Coming to us from the Latin word considerare, meaning to look at closely" or

"observe, consider is a very common word that describes something you likely do
multiple times a day: You probably consider what to wear in the morning, weigh
your options for lunch, take into account the weather when deciding to grab your
umbrella. Your life is full of consideration and you didn't even know it!

103. minute

Craftsmen can paint whole villages or detailed portraits of people on a grain of rice
using minute, or tiny, paintbrushes. Often the works of art are so minute that you
can only see them with a magnifying glass.

Minutus is the Latin word for "small," and it gave rise to both the
adjective minute (my-NOOT), or incredibly small, and the noun minute (MIN-it), or
60 seconds of time. Though they are pronounced differently, both words refer to
small measurements. An object can be minute, like a flea compared with its dog,
and less concrete things can be minute, like your minute chance of winning the
lottery. A minute freckle on the side of your nose is a minute detail of your whole
face.
104. accord

If you clean your room of your own accord, your parents will be pleasedit means
you did it without having to be asked. They might even accord you an extra
privilege. Warring nations make peace accords.

A Honda Accord is a nice, agreeable car, and the word accord is all about
agreement, or unity. If a whole class begs with one accord to postpone a quiz for a
day to allow more review, the teacher is more likely to listen than if it was just one
student asking.

105. evident

If something is evident, it's visible. If you blush furiously and start shaking every
time your crush comes near, your infatuation will be evident to everyone.

Evident means conspicuously visible, often the mark of an action or a feeling. If a

room is in total disarray, with everything pulled out of the drawers, it's evident that
someone has been searching for something. If you leave the room in the middle of a
tense meeting, your frustration will be evident. Evident can also simply mean
visible. If you look closely at a key hole of your car door, small scratches will be
evident in the paint.

106. practice

Practice can be a noun or a verb, but either way it's about how things are done on a
regular basis. You can practice shotput every day because your town has
a practice of supporting track-and-field events.

One can practice the tuba for hours on end, repeating the same song over and over,
serving to both get better at the tuba and to convince the neighbors they should
move to Florida. You could learn the common practice of offering a guest a
beverage when they arrive at your party, if you care to be polite. One can
also practice a profession or a religion, as in I practice Buddhism and I have a
booming international law practice.

107. intend

If you intend to do something, you mean to do it or have it in mind as a goal. Do you

plan on getting your holiday cards in the mail before February this year? Then
you intend on getting them out early.

The world is full of good intentions, meaning there are lots of people who intend to
be nice, eat better, floss more, or pick up their dirty socks. But things don't always
go as planned. Your actions could produce results that you didn't expect, specify, or
ever intend that might explain the well-known proverb, "The road to Hell is paved
with good intentions."
108. concern

Concern is both a noun and a verb. As a noun it's something that you find
particularly important. If you love pizza, getting the crust just so is a
major concern during your pizza party.

Concern can also be something or someone that makes you upset or anxious, like
your concern over the quality of the pizza crust. It can be a feeling of sympathy, like
when your mom expresses concern over your obsession with pizza crust. As a
verb, concern means to be relevant to something. Your main goal today may
concern studying for your math test. Concern can also describe worry. When you
stay out past curfew, your mom will be concerned.

109. commit

To commit is to fully dedicate yourself to something. To commit yourself to being the

coolest kid on the beach means spending hours at the mall trying on trunks and flip-
flops.

Commit can also mean "perform an act" often the kind that can get you in
trouble. Just ask anyone who's committed theft, or arson, or vandalism. If you are
committing another person, that means you are sending that person to an
institution. Someone may be committed to prison, or to a psychiatric hospital for
treatment.

110. issue

One copy of "Celebrities are Cool" magazine is an issue. It is issued, or put out, by
the publisher. You and your mother may argue over the issue, or topic, of whether or
not you should read it.

The original meaning of the word issue was to put something out. If a celebrity
issues a statement or the post office issues new stamps, they put them out for the
public. Likewise, an issue is a current topic, sometimes controversial, that is being
discussed. Politicians often say they want to talk about the issues (and not their
personal lives!). You might hear someone say, "He's got issues" about a person who
has some problems, usually emotional ones, but this is a very new use for the word.

111. approach

To approach is to get near something. An airplane is cleared for a final approach just
as the wheels approach the landing strip.

Approach comes from the Latin word appropriare which means "go nearer to." You
can physically approach something, like a waiter going to a table. Or, you can
approach a subject, usually one you're a little nervous about like a new employee
might approach her boss about getting a raise. Time can also approach, like winter,
midnight, or even old age.

112. establish

To establish something means to begin it or bring it about. If you want everyone in

your family to bring you chocolate every evening, you can establish a Chocolates
for Me policy requiring it.

Establish is related to stable through its Latin roots and has many meanings, but all
have the feel of building on a stable foundation. Besides the meaning of setting a
policy, establish can also mean to prove one's value. You should establish yourself
in a community before you try to bring change to it. Similarly, if you like to debate
controversial issues, you'd best begin with facts that have been established and are
not open to question. If you have a lot of money and want to build up your
community, you can establish, or found, a school or library there.

113. utter

The adjective utter is often used as an intensifier to mean "total" often with
negative connotations (like "utter failure"). As a verb, the word has a totally
unrelated meaning: to speak or to articulate a sound.

If you utter something, you give it voice. You could utter a cry or utter complete
sentences; either way, you are expressing yourself. However, if you declare
someone an utter moron, you are saying he is a complete and total moron; not that
he is a moron expressing himself. Don't confuse the spelling of utter with udder
the latter is the part of the cow that you milk.

114. conduct

Conduct is about how you behave"conduct unbecoming"and also about carrying

something through"the survey was conducted in May and June."

Conduct's two senses are connected. Your conduct or your own behavior is the way
you conduct or lead yourself. Think of your brain as a little man in tails and white
tie, holding up a baton to conduct the various parts of you the way he would a
symphony orchestra.

115. engage

Engage means to bind, catch, or involve. If your sink is stopped up, engage, or hire,
a plumber to fix it. Otherwise the smell of rotten food in the garbage disposal
will engage your attention (in a bad way).

Engage comes from a French word for pledge. If you agree to marry your
sweetheart, you are engaged to marry. If you engage the kid next door to water
your plants, she will expect to be paid for it. Engagement is also used to talk about
war or conflict. An army engages its enemy in battle, just as you might engage in
debate with a traffic cop over whether the light was yellow or red.

116. obtain

Obtain means to get something that is not so easy to come by such as knowledge,
rights, or a large amount of money. You wouldn't say you obtained a pair of pants,
unless they were one of a kind.

At times in its history, obtain has meant to be victorious or to succeed. Today, it

mostly means to acquire, but keeping its prior meanings in mind helps you to use it
in the right way. College degrees are something that you obtain as is permission
from your parents to go to a party. When you obtain something, you have worked
hard to get it, so you are pretty happy to have it.

117. harry

When one army sends raiding parties into another's territory, they're harrying them.
They're not making an all-out attack, they're just trying to bother and distract the
other army.

Although harry is not a word you hear commonly now, it does frequently occur
as harried which is an adjective used to describe what it feels like to be asked for
things from all sides. You might feel harried during final exams, or two days before
Christmas, if you haven't yet started your shopping.

118. notwithstanding

Notwithstanding means "in spite of something." Your boasts about having

memorized the entire textbook and bribing the teacher with apples notwithstanding,
you still managed to fail the final exam with flying colors.

You don't have to look too closely at the word to be able to break it into three
parts: not- + withstand (to successfully oppose or resist) + the participial ending -
ing. In the most literal sense, notwithstanding actually means to successfully
oppose or resist. Top-of-the-line wet-traction tires notwithstanding, the car still got
stuck in the mud. Notwithstanding works just as well in a more figurative context.
His reputation for charm and tact notwithstanding, he offended everyone in the
room.

119. multitude

A multitude is a very large number or a huge crowd. If you see a multitude of

zombies approaching, you're in trouble.

Sometimes the word multitude refers to the common people, or the masses that
is, everyone in a society apart from the political elite. There are a lot of words and
phrases for this, like hoi polloi, which is Greek for "the many," and "the great
unwashed." Those last two terms are usually used in a disapproving way, but
multitudes is generally a positive term. If you were to say that a leader inspired the
multitudes to rise up against their oppressor, we'd assume that you sympathized
with the multitudes.

120. tread

When you tread on the earth, you walk on it. The next time your pal thinks you have
it too easy, you might ask him, Why dont you tread in my shoes for a day?

Tread usually implies stepping with force, but it can also simply mean placing your
feet, one after the other, on the ground. You might try to tread lightly on the moss in
the backyard so you don't damage it. Tread is also a noun that means the mark that
a tire leaves on the ground, or the actual grooves on the tire. You might be relieved
that the tread marks at the crime scene didn't match your brother's truck after all.

121. facile

If someone does something easily, or shows ease, it is described as facile in a good

way, but if someone takes the easy way out and shows a lack of thought or care, it
is facile in a bad way.

While it is a lovely sounding French word, facile is both a compliment and an insult
depending on how it's used. Something that shows ready skill is facile, such as
being facile with text messaging. But if something is too simple and superficial, or
shows little care, it can also be called facile, or lame. "Being too cowardly to tell the
truth and admit he didn't do it, he used the facile and sarcastic excuse that the dog
ate his homework."

122. sob

If you're so upset you're crying loudly, taking in big gasps of air and heaving your
chest, you are sobbing.

Picture a child on the playground who has fallen and can't find his or her mother.
The child's face is red and streaked with tears, and he or she is gasping from crying
so hard. This poor little boy or girl is sobbing uncontrollably. Sometimes, while trying
not to cry, you might let out a single sob. A "sob story" is a story meant to make
you feel bad for someone, so bad you might sob for them.

123. ordain

To ordain is to make someone a minister, priest, monk, or other member of the

clergy. In the Catholic church, for example, a bishop ordains new priests.

When you say that people have been ordained, you usually mean that they've been
invested with special religion-related powers. In many Buddhist traditions, senior
monks ordain new monks and, increasingly, female monks (or nuns) as well.
Occasionally, this chiefly religious verb is used to mean "officially declare" or
"decree" in a secular matter, as when a court ordains desegregation.

124.clarion

If you hear the clarion call of the stage, it means you want to be an actor. Clarion
means loud and clear, and a clarion call is a call to something that is hard to ignore.

A clarion is a medieval horn with a clear sound. Hard to ignore, but also pure and
clear in tone. There's nothing shrill about a "clarion call." Martin Luther King Jr.'s
clarion call for all races in the US to live together in peace and harmony has lived on
after his death.

125. bugle

A bugle is a very simple brass instrument. Bugles are commonly used in the military
to mark parts of the day, including first thing in the morning.

Bugles are notable for their lack of valves instead of controlling pitch with the
fingers, a bugler does it entirely with her lips on the mouthpiece. The traditional
bugle call is the series of notes used in military camps to signal daybreak and dusk,
and sometimes other daily routines. Bugle was originally an Old French word
meaning "musical horn," but also "wild ox" or "buffalo." The "horn" meaning came
from the curled shape of an animal's horn.

126 facsimile

A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of something. Many parents hope their children

will be facsimiles of themselves; many children have other plans in mind.

Facsimile comes from two Latin roots: facere, meaning "to make," and simile,
meaning "like." Fax machines are so called because they copy and transmit
facsimiles of documents, or faxes for short, over phone lines. Grammatically
speaking, photocopiers also make facsimiles, but oddly enough those are referred to
as copies not faxes.

127 . expatriate

An expatriate is someone who lives in another country by choice. If you leave your
split-level ranch in Ohio and move to a writers' commune in Paris for good, you've
become an expatriate.

Expatriate can also be a verb, so that American in Paris has expatriated. There was
a scene of expatriates, or expats, living in Paris in the roaring '20s that included
writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. The word used to mean to get
kicked out of your native country it's from the French word expatrier which means
"banish." The prefix ex means "out of" and the Latin patria "one's native country,"
but the word took a turn and now refers to people who left without getting shoved
out.

128. evince

The verb evince means to show or express clearly; to make plain. Evidence can
evince the innocence of the accused, and tears can evince the grief of the
mourning.

Evince is a rather formal word that reveals the presence of something hidden
usually a feeling. So, if you are happy, your smile might evince your happiness. And
if you are angry, the skull and crossbones on your tee shirt might evince your anger.
Evincing is about expressing. If you are keeping your feelings inside, there's not a
lot of evincing going on.

129. grimace

The grimace on her face when he asked her to the prom told him her answer was
"no" before she said a word. A grimace is a facial expression that usually suggests
disgust or pain, but sometimes comic exaggeration.

Picture someone wrinkling his nose, squeezing his eyes shut, and twisting his mouth
and you'll have a pretty solid mental image of a grimace. It can be a verb, as in "the
class grimaced at the teacher's suggestion of a pop quiz." Or it words as a noun.
"The class gave a grimace when the teacher suggested a pop quiz." Its forerunner
was the 17th century Spanish grimazo, meaning caricature, and grima, meaning
fright.

130 . allude

When you allude to something, you don't identify it or mention it specifically. If you
allude to the fact that a cop is sitting right behind you, your friends might stop
talking about their plans to rob a bank.

Choose Your Words

Allude is from Latin alldere "to play with, joke" from the prefix ad- "toward" plus
ldere "to play." The corresponding noun is allusion, which is often used of an
indirect reference in literature: Helen, a fitting name for a woman of great beauty, is
an allusion to Helen of Troy.

131. impute
The verb impute can be used to blame someone for doing something bad, give
credit for good work, or just tell it like it is, like when you impute your lateness to
my not telling you where to meet me.

When you impute something, you name the cause of something that has happened.
For example, you might impute your ability to sing well to the thousands of dollars
your parents spent in voice lessons. In other words, you name the source. You can
also impute a person, like imputing to a teacher your love of learning he or she
helped you become more interested in school and your classes.

132. refute

The verb refute is to prove that something is wrong. When the kids you're
babysitting swear they brushed their teeth, you can refute their claim by presenting
the dry toothbrushes.

Evidence and arguments are used to refute something. So are facts. For example, if
children who eat chocolate before going to bed go straight to sleep, that refutes the
idea that sugar keeps them up. Refute comes from the Latin refutare for "to check,
suppress." A near synonym is confute, but save refute as an everyday word for
proving something is false.

140 . mirth

Mirth is a formal or literary term meaning fun and enjoyment as shown by laughter.
If you and your friends stayed up all night at a sleepover laughing, you might refer
to that as a night of mirth.

In 1905, Edith Wharton published a novel "The House of Mirth," whose title derives
from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart
of fools is in the house of mirth." But studies show that when human beings laugh,
smile or otherwise engage in mirthful activity, our brains release hormones that
help us live longer. Mirth may be foolish, but it's good for you.

141. succor

Succor is relief or help. If you've just woken up in the midst of a lion's den, wearing
nothing but raw meat pajamas sounds like you could use some succor!

In archaic times, succor meant a reinforcement of troops during a hard battle. These
days though, those reinforcements are a bit more figurative. Succor is a helping
hand in a time of need, relief when the going gets tough. Succor can also be used
as a verb, as in, "After Bob fell overboard, he was saved succored by a life
preserver."
142 . myopic

Myopic is an adjective meaning shortsighted in every sense. Whether you need

glasses or a new attitude, if you can't see the forest for the trees, you're myopic.

Myopic began as a description of the condition that made people squint and was
easily cured with a pair of pink cat-eye glasses, but it came to include people or
plans with a lack of foresight. Although it's good to live in the moment, it's not a
compliment to be called myopic a myopic party host might have festive
decorations but no food for hungry guests, and myopic students have no interest in
anything beyond what's on the test. In terms of pronunciation: it's a
tomato/tomahto word: pronounce it "my-OP-ick" or "my-OH-pick," although that
short o sound is preferred.

143. glee

If you learned that you'd won a trip for four to Disney World, it would be hard to hide
your glee. Glee means extreme happiness or delight.

Anything that makes you full of joy, so happy you could laugh out loud, fills you with
glee. If your favorite football team wins the Super Bowl, your glee will make you
cheer, and a kid let loose with a ten dollar bill in a candy shop might dance around
with glee. In the 1700s and 1800s, a glee was a song written for men's a cappella
singing groups, which were sometimes called glee clubs.

144. gaiety

A festive, happy event, like a big summer backyard party, will be full of gaiety or
merriment and playfulness.

The noun gaiety is the feeling of happiness and delight that might be present at a
child's birthday party or a festive square dance. Gaiety can describe a person's
generally joyful personality, or the sound of laughter in your house. It comes from
the French word gaiet, "joy, merriment, lightheartedness," which evolved from gai,
"charming, joyful, happy." The word can be correctly spelled gaiety or gayety,
although the first spelling is much more common.

145. merriment

Merriment can refer to fun activities or a feeling of happiness. Either way, a good
time is being had.

You know how merry means happy? Merriment refers to events and feelings that are
happy. A party is a perfect example of merriment. If you hear a bunch of people
laughing and joking, you might say, "Why all the merriment?" Merriment can also be
an emotion: if you're very excited or happy, you're experiencing merriment.

146. buoyant
Something that is buoyant floats in water. Since floating is happier than sinking,
buoyant also refers to things are fun and upbeat.

Someone with a buoyant personality is fun to be around, laughs a lot, smiles, and
cheers other people up. Buoyant people are lively and lighthearted the opposite
of sad, depressed, and bummed out. Buoyant people are also called bubbly and
cheerful, and it should help to remember that buoyant objects float just like a
buoyant person can seem like they're floating too (as in the expression "floating on
air").

147. contentment

Contentment is the state of being happy and satisfied. On Thanksgiving when you
think about all you are grateful for, hopefully you feel a sense of contentment. If
not, have another piece of pie and then youll feel contentment.

Contentment isnt an excited kind of happy, its more like a peaceful ease of mind.
Its being satisfied with what you have, whatever that is. You might feel a sense of
contentment knowing you have a cup of hot chocolate and a good movie to look
forward to tonight. Or you might experience contentment thinking about the vast
estate you just purchased in the Hamptons. Whatever is going on in your life, youre
pleased about it.

148. ecstatic

The adjective ecstatic turns the noun "ecstasy" into a descriptive word. When Celine
hit that high note, the audience was ecstatic.

Originally, ecstatic had religious connotations having to do with the sheer joy of
knowing God or someone truly holy. That meaning remains today, but ecstatic now
includes almost anything that's really pleasurable or wonderful. I was ecstatic at the
news that I'd been nominated for an award. The entire world reacted with an
ecstatic sense of glee when the Berlin Wall finally came down. The hangover the
next day, though, wasn't so ecstatic.

149. elated

If you're elated you aren't just happy you're over the moon, absolutely excited
and bursting with pride. Like the way you feel after winning a scholarship to an Ivy
league school or mastering a back handspring.

You might be elated to hear you got that dream job. That is, until you find out it
doesn't come with any vacation days or health benefits. But don't let that dampen
your elation. Feeling Elated is all about being so extremely proud and overjoyed,
and usually happens as a result of an accomplishment. So if you've just achieved
something big, feel free to be elated and enjoy your time on cloud 9.
150. exultant

Use the adjective exultant to describe the triumphant feeling you get when you
succeed at something. The kids who win the Little League championship game will
be exultant.

The kid who's elected sixth grade president will feel exultant, and so will a singer
who's just given the performance of her lifetime. Exultant describes an excitement
that's a combination of pride, happiness, and triumph. The word exultant comes
from the Latin exsilire, "to leap up," from the prefix ex-, "up or out," plus salire, "to
leap." In other words, when you're exultant, you're jumping for joy.

151. exuberant

Are you feeling really happy and enthusiastic about something? Describe yourself
with the adjective exuberant!

Exuberant can be traced back to the same Indo-European root that has brought the
word udder. If you picture the plentiful amount of milk a cow can give, it is easy to
remember that exuberant always describes something that is abundant or plentiful
like exuberant foliage. Abundance also comes into play in its primary use today to
mean very enthusiastic, full of energy or overjoyed. When the bell rings on the last
day of school, you will be exuberant.

From Latin exuberare "be abundant, grow luxuriously." From ex- "thoroughly" and
uberare "to be fruitful."

152. jaunty

Jaunty combines ideas such as cheerful, spiffy, upbeat, and natty into one
delightfully economical adjective that means all of those things at once!

A jaunty hat is one that's stylish and cheerful at the same time, a quality that can
be accentuated if the person wears it in a jaunty fashion, perhaps off to the side or
over one eye. Playing the part of a jaunty person is easy if you're feeling upbeat and
chipper and want the world to know it. Elves are often jaunty in their own way.
Sporting their spiffy outfits and featuring that trademark cheerful spring in their
step. The fact they always seem so lively and eager to chat only increases the
jaunty impression they make. One can't be blamed for wanting to take a jaunt with
the jaunty little guys.

153. jubilant

If you were the quarterback that threw the touchdown pass that won the Super
Bowl, you would be jubilant: filled with joy.

When you feel jubilant, youre full of extreme happiness. Usually people are jubilant
after great victories, whether in sports, politics, or life. When you're jubilant, it's a
moment of extreme happiness, like giving birth or watching a child graduate. There
can also be jubilant songs, jubilant performances, even jubilant periods in history,
times when people are especially proud and filled with triumph. The end of World
War II was just such a jubilant moment.

154. effervescent

Something effervescent has bubbles or froth, like a sparkling wine or a bubble bath.
If you have a happy, light, cheerful personality if you are "bubbly" you too are
effervescent.

Coming from the Latin effervscere, the original meaning was more boiling than
bubbly, thanks to the ferv part, which means "hot." The word literally refers to
bubbles giving off gas, and any drinks you enjoy that are nose-ticklingly
effervescent make bubbles that pop and release into the air. Remember, someone
with an effervescent personality is just bubbly, not full of gas!

155. ebullient

More than chipper, more than happy, more than delighted is ebullient meaning
bubbling over with joy and delight.

There are two senses of the word of ebullient. One describes an immediate, and
ultimately short-lived, reaction to a particular event for example if you've just
won the lottery, you are ebullient. The other describes someone who is perpetually
upbeat and cheerful, for example, as in "an ebullient personality." Watch out for
ebullient personalities: they can often be "over the top" as well.

156. euphoric

To be euphoric is to be carried away with amazingly good feelings. The euphoric

feeling of having won the lottery ended quickly when you saw your pet ferret
chewing up your lottery ticket.

When someone's euphoric, they're so happy that they might have lost touch with
reality for the moment. This too good to be true quality is one reason some drug-
induced states get described as euphoric. In fact, euphoria, which euphoric stems
from, originally meant a feeling of wellness caused in the sick by the use of drugs.

From Greek euphoria "power of enduring easily", this word originally referred to
feeling healthy and comfortable even when sick, from eu- "well" and pherein "to
carry.

157. appurtenance

Something that is an accessory to something but not an integral part of it is an

appurtenance. If you buy a car, you may want to purchase a few appurtenances for
it, like an ice scraper and fuzzy dice to hang from your rear view mirror.
The noun appurtenance does not only refer to tangible objects, such as
appurtenances of a certain lifestyle. It can also mean equipment or gear for a
certain task. By the time you fill your locker with all the appurtenances of a high
school student, you won't have room for a coat. Perhaps the appurtenances you
should invest in are heavy sweatshirts.

158. appurtenant

Something that is appurtenant helps or supports something else. Good physical

health is appurtenant to mental well-being.

The adjective appurtenant sounds similar to pertinent, and you can use the two
words in the same way, to show that something relates or belongs to something
else. Appurtenant shows up a lot in scholarly writing, in situations like a building
addition that fits, or is appurtenant to the original structure, or a legal decision
about whether a claim of discrimination is appurtenant to a particular law.

159. accoutrement

Does that shiny new car come with all the bells and whistles? Then it has plenty of
accoutrements, or accessories.

Say accoutrement with a French accent and you'll be referring to an outfit a

particularly bizarre outfit. But when we borrowed the word from France, it evolved to
refer to any kind of trappings or extras, especially clothing accessories. So an
accoutrement can be anything from a belt or bangles, to extra cup holders and
heated bucket seats.

160. bowdlerize

To bowdlerize means to edit offensive parts out of something. If the hero in an R-

rated movie adapted for TV exclaims, Oh shoot fudge darn! but his lips seem to
be saying something else, that movie has been bowdlerized.

The word bowdlerized comes from the name of Dr. T. Bowdler, who decided to
publish an edition of Shakespeare without sexual references or double-entendres
(which is when a word has two meanings, one of them cheeky). Mr. Bowdler thought
he was performing a great service for humanity, but generally if we call something
bowdlerized, were implying that it was edited in a prudish way.

161. obloquy

If you are on the receiving end of obloquy, then society has turned against you and
you are in a state of disgrace. Poor Hester Prynne who was forced to wear a red "A"
on her chest for "adultery" knows all about obloquy.

If you break the word obloquy into its two Latin roots, you have ob, meaning
against and loqui, meaning "to speak" so obloquy means to speak against," in
an especially mean way. Obloquy can also be the result of public shame, or
criticism. Get scolded in front of the other shoppers by the grocery store manager
for knocking over a display of bottles, and you will understand what obloquy is!

162. opprobrium

If you go against or oppose what's good, you might earn opprobrium the opposite
of getting attention for something good. Bad behavior leads to opprobrium. If you
throw a soft drink off the theater balcony, the opprobrium might keep you from
getting dates to the movies.

Even though the words aren't related, the "opp-" of the word opprobrium sounds a
bit like the "app" part of "inappropriate." Opprobrium isn't an action that leads to
disgrace, it's something that comes from the inappropriate thing that was done. A
very inappropriate act leads to opprobrium for the person who did the act. "Infamy"
extreme dishonor, often with lasting consequences is a synonym for
opprobrium.

163. elegy

An elegy is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone
who is dead. Although a speech at a funeral is a eulogy, you might later compose an
elegy to someone you have loved and lost to the grave.

The purpose of this kind of poem is to express feelings rather than tell a story.
Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem that reflects on
the lives of common people buried in a church cemetery, and on the nature of
human mortality. The noun elegy was borrowed in the 16th century from Middle
French lgie, from Latin elega, from Greek elegeia, from elegos "mournful poem or
song."

164. pandemonium

Pandemonium is chaos, total and utter craziness like the stampede after your
team won the championship, when everyone spilled onto the field at once, bouncing
off each other.

If you look carefully at the word pandemonium, youll see the word demon inside it.
This makes sense, since the word pandemonium was coined in Miltons Paradise
Lost, where it was the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell. Milton wrote
back in the 17th century. Nowadays, pandemonium crops up whenever journalists
are describing a chaotic scene. High school students have been heard to use it to
describe their lunchroom.

165. panegyric
A formal, high-minded speech can be described with a formal, high-minded word
the word panegyric, which is a very elaborate tribute to someone. You could
consider most eulogies as panegyrics.

It stands to reason that the original use of the word panegyris, from which
panegyric derives, was to describe a public gathering in honor of a Greek god. The
Latin, L. panegyricus, altered slightly to mean "public eulogy," which around the
16th Century shifted to the French pangyrique, which meant "laudation." In any
case, the word today stands for high praise given in a speech or tribute as
highfalutin as the word itself sounds.

166. encomium

An encomium is a fancy word for a formal speech or piece of writing that warmly
praises someone or something.

Encomium comes from the Greek word enkomion which, in a nutshell, is to honor
someone or something at a party in a poetic speech. It used to refer to the song for
the winner of the Olympic Games, sung at a victory celebration. You might hear an
encomium at a retirement party, after you publish a fabulous book, or even at a
funeral (a eulogy, or speech at a funeral about the person who died, is a kind of
encomium). It's pronounced with a long O, en-CO-mium.

167.