Friday, May 18, 2007

Increase Your Vocabulary

doughty \DOW-tee\, adjective:

Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.

doughty \DOW-tee\, adjective:

Marked by fearless resolution; valiant; brave.


acrimony \AK-ruh-moh-nee\, noun:

Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.


denouement \day-noo-MAWN\, noun:

1. The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work.
2. The outcome of a complex sequence of events.

celerity \suh-LAIR-uh-tee\, noun:

Rapidity of motion or action; quickness; swiftness.


pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun:

1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works.
3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients.

moil \MOYL\, intransitive verb:

1. To work with painful effort; to labor; to toil; to drudge.
2. To churn or swirl about continuously.
3. Toil; hard work; drudgery.

sapid \SAP-id\, adjective:

1. Having taste or flavor, especially having a strong pleasant flavor.

argot \AHR-go; -gut\, noun:

1. A specialized and often secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group.
2. A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps, and vagabonds.


prepotency \pree-POTE-n-see\, noun:

1. The quality or condition of having superior power, influence, or force; predominance.



circumspect \SUR-kuhm-spekt\, adjective:

Marked by attention to all circumstances and probable consequences; cautious; prudent.



gregarious \grih-GAIR-ee-us\, adjective:

1. Tending to form a group with others of the same kind.
2. Seeking and enjoying the company of others.



prolix \pro-LIKS; PRO-liks\, adjective:

1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; wordy.
2. Tending to speak or write at excessive length.



bedaub \bih-DOB\, transitive verb:

1. To smudge over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty.
2. To overdecorate; to ornament showily or excessively.



refractory \rih-FRAK-tuh-ree\, adjective:

1. Stubbornly disobedient; unmanageable.
2. Resisting ordinary treatment or cure.
3. Difficult to melt or work; capable of enduring high temperature.



abecedarian \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn\, noun:

1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.



obviate \OB-vee-ayt\, transitive verb:

To prevent by interception; to anticipate and dispose of or make unnecessary.




toper \TOH-puhr\, noun:

One who drinks frequently or to excess.



errant \AIR-uhnt\, adjective:

1. Wandering; roving, especially in search of adventure.
2. Deviating from an appointed course; straying.
3. Straying from the proper standards (as of truth or propriety).
4. Moving aimlessly or irregularly; as, an errant breeze.



excursus \ik-SKUR-sus\, noun:

1. A dissertation that is appended to a work and that contains a more extended exposition of some important point or topic.
2. A digression.




presentiment \prih-ZEN-tuh-muhnt\, noun:

A sense that something will or is about to happen; a premonition.




autochthonous \aw-TOK-thuh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Aboriginal; indigenous; native.
2. Formed or originating in the place where found.



expunge \ik-SPUNJ\, transitive verb:

1. To strike out, erase, or mark for deletion; to obliterate; as, "to expunge words, lines, or sentences."
2. To wipe out or destroy; to annihilate.




dour \DOO-uhr; DOW-uhr\, adjective:

1. Harsh; stern.
2. Unyielding; inflexible; obstinate.
3. Marked by ill humor; gloomy; sullen.




clerisy \KLER-uh-see\, noun:

The well educated class; the intelligentsia.

empyrean \em-py-REE-uhn; -PEER-ee-\, noun:

1. The highest heaven, in ancient belief usually thought to be a realm of pure fire or light.
2. Heaven; paradise.
3. The heavens; the sky.
4. Of or pertaining to the empyrean of ancient belief.



cogitate \KOJ-uh-tayt\, intransitive verb:

1. To think deeply or intently; to ponder; to meditate.
2. To think about; to ponder on; to meditate upon; to plan or plot.



entreat \en-TREET\, intransitive verb:

1. To make an earnest petition or request; to plead.
2. To ask earnestly; to beseech; to petition for.

"Woeful Wails" - My Dad's account of what happened in 1989 at Srinagar, Kashmir

A Shiver, a shudder goes down my spine To have lost what once was mine The merciless devils who strode the streets With guns pointing at u...