n. repentance; sorrow; suffering; a means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it
E.g. He had done penance for his sins; we should forgive him.
n. strong inclination; definite liking
E.g. There is a certain penchant in true believers to ignore input which conflicts and contradicts that belief.
v. pierce; go through; permeate
E.g. You can hear her piano practice penetrate each room of the house.
a. sharp; having the power of entering or piercing
E.g. The cold winter wind was so penetrating that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
n. act or process of penetrating, piercing, or entering
E.g. If penetration is your desire I'd say that bullet would deliver.
n. small flag normally used by naval vessels to represent a special condition; pennon; championship symbolized by such a flag
E.g. In his first year, he hit 12 home runs and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant.
v. become aware of through the senses; detect
E.g. And though I don't comprehend how it is, I perceive you have acquired a degree of regard for that foolish little child Adele, too; and even for simple dame Fairfax?
n. danger; risk; hazard; jeopardy; exposure of person or property to injury, loss, or destruction
E.g. The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was desperate -- "My! Look behind you, aunt!" The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger.
v. be destroyed; pass away; become nothing
E.g. Almost a hundred people will perish in the cave unless we find them in 72 hours.
n. act of persecuting on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecutor
E.g. This persecution is to be an affirmation and encouragement to us that we are living a life different from the world.
a. having precise or logical relevance; pertaining or relating
E.g. That policy, in pertinent part, said as follows: "A person living at other countries should not be counted as a vote."
a. stubbornly wrongheaded; directed away from what is right or good
E.g. When Jack was in a perverse mood, he would do the opposite of whatever Jill asked him.
a. easily irritated or annoyed; unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered
E.g. Her narrow face was fixed in petulant defiance.
a. of or pertaining to knowledge of pharmacy or preparing medicines
E.g. In order to determine if a certain pharmaceutical is effective, researchers compare medical outcomes between one group given the drug and another given a placebo.
n. anxiety disorder by extreme and irrational fear; dislike
E.g. And a phobia is an uncontrollable response to fear, so I looked for another way to expose millions of people.
n. penetration; hole made in the body so that jewelry can be worn through it
E.g. Although the extremes of body modification have been made more popular in our culture, it has been done for hundreds of years, and ear piercing is one of its oldest kinds.
n. shelter where pigs are kept; pigpen; dirty or very untidy place
E.g. And then I can come home and clean this horrid pigsty.
n. board; lumber
E.g. By and by she comes along, and she drifted in so close that they could a run out a plank and walked ashore.
n. any flat, thin piece of metal, clay, ivory, or the like, used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon
E.g. A memorial honor plaque is to be installed in the school with the names of those students who have given their lives for their country.
a. very drunk; covered with a coat of plaster; made smooth by applying a sticky or glossy substance
E.g. There are very few directors who get their name plastered all over the marketing materials for their films.
a. not sexual in nature; of or relating to the philosophical views of Plato and his successors
E.g. I love you too, Pollyanna but our relationship must remain platonic.
a. likely but not certain to be or become true or real
E.g. Both sides can maintain plausible deniability and simply claim a misunderstanding.
n. someone who writes plays
E.g. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama.
n. a kind of small pinchers with long jaws, used for bending or cutting metal rods or wire
E.g. I also got jewelry-making tools, such as pliers for jump rings, and a jump ring maker.
v. pull or draw, especially, to pull with sudden force or effort, or to pull off or out from something
E.g. "Let another help me!" "No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall yourself pluck out your right eye; yourself cut off your right hand."
a. checking perpendicularity; exactly vertical
E.g. Before hanging wallpaper it is advisable to drop a plumb line from the ceiling as a guide.
a. sound of a sudden heavy fall; well-rounded and full in form
E.g. A New York City Ballet dancer says a newspaper critic needn't apologize for calling her plump in a performance of "The Nutcracker.
v. bend; lay on closely, or in folds; work upon steadily, or with repeated acts; press upon
E.g. Our company's ferryboats ply across the English Channel everyday.
n. platform raised above surrounding level to give prominence to person on it
E.g. For me to still stay on the podium is a great accomplishment for now.
n. a kind of cloak worn by the Spanish Americans, having the form of a blanket, with a slit in the middle for the head to pass through
E.g. A kind of poncho made of rubber or painted cloth is used by the mounted troops in the United States service.
v. weigh; weigh in the mind; view with deliberation; examine carefully; consider attentively
E.g. I ponder for some minutes before giving the answer.
n. ceramic ware made of a more or less translucent ceramic
E.g. The toughness, strength, and translucence of porcelain arise mainly from the formation at these high temperatures of glass and the mineral mullite within the fired body.
n. relatively large rodents with sharp erectile bristles mingled with the fur
E.g. After finishing his apple, the porcupine waddles away, oblivious to the entertainment he's brought us.
a. later in time; later in the order of proceeding or moving; coming after; located behind
E.g. The posterior leg pairs were slightly longer than those preceding it, giving the creature a pronounced trough between its 'back' and the vertically oriented front end.
n. descendants collectively; the race that proceeds from a progenitor; future generations
E.g. After all, what we term posterity is but a drop of water in the ocean of Time.
a. powerful; having power to influence or convince; having great control or authority
E.g. They remain potent forces, as evidenced by car bombings in both countries over the past two weeks.
a. practical as opposed to idealistic; concerned with the practical worth or impact of something
E.g. AIDS advocates are now wondering whether pragmatic is just a euphemism for cheap.
v. spring or bound, as a horse in high mettle; ride in an ostentatious manner; walk or strut about in a pompous, showy manner
E.g. When her mare began to prance about, Cay shifted in her saddle and calmed it down.
v. advocate; speak, plead; argue in favor of
E.g. You have no right to preach to me, you neophyte, that have not passed the porch of life, and are absolutely unacquainted with its mysteries."
a. uncertain; risky; dangerously lacking in security or stability
E.g. But that is why NASA used test pilots, men used to handling life and death decisions in precarious situations and instantly making the right choice.