n. moderation, especially regarding indulgence in alcohol; seriousness; gravity in manner or treatment
E.g. For my brother the celebration of his sobriety is as significant as his birthday.
a. filled with water; soft with moisture; sodden; soaked; wet
E.g. Are there precautions to take when working in soggy gardens?
n. comfort or relieve in sorrow, misfortune, or distress
E.g. I hope you will find solace in the thought that all of us share your loss.
n. union of interests, purposes, or sympathies among members of a group; accord
E.g. In the name of solidarity, Europeans are being asked to subsidize irresponsible behavior, in reckless violation of the EU's treaties.
n. state of being alone; seclusion; lonely or secluded place
E.g. She learns that she can feel happiness in solitude, at least for a period of time.
n. treble; the highest vocal register; the highest kind of female or boy's voice; upper part in harmony for mixed voices
E.g. This particular music was being sung in soprano.
a. having supreme rank or power; self governing; excellent; independent
E.g. Belarus, Albania, the Ukraine also have sovereign currencies, not using euro, they also have crashed.
v. plant; place seeds in or on
E.g. You would sow the ground with sunflower seeds.
a. wide; generous or large in area or extent; sizable
E.g. The apartment was spacious, in other words, and elegantly decorated, but it wasn't clear anyone actually lived there.
v. strike, as the breech, with the open hand; slap; move with a quick
E.g. My grandfather said to my father "your children don't listen to you," and my father was so embarrassed that he jumped up from the table like he was going to spank me.
a. quick and energetic; exceptional of its kind; remarkable
E.g. That night, he watched the Dallas Cowboys play their first game in their spanking, state of the art stadium.
v. be brilliant in performance; give off or reflect flashes of light; glitter
E.g. Their conversations sparkle all evening.
n. involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers
E.g. And then a spasm constricted her mouth for an instant: as it passed away she turned and left the room, and so did I.
n. minor dispute; brief quarrel
E.g. The most recent action in this spat is a complaint from Apple that mirrors Nokia's first complaint from October.
n. broad-bladed instrument used for spreading or mixing
E.g. The two case knives are needed for mixing the ingredients in the bowl, and the spatula is used in handling the paste.
n. a long, pointed weapon, used in war and hunting, by thrusting or throwing
E.g. The hunter hurled his spear at the tiger.
n. particle; a very small spot ; stain
E.g. I sought the orchard, driven to its shelter by the wind, which all day had blown strong and full from the south, without, however, bringing a speck of rain.
n. colored band produced when beam of light passes through a prism; a range of values
E.g. The FCC plans to obtain spectrum from a number of sources, including the Wireless Communications Service Band and the Advanced Wireless Services Band.
v. assume to be true without conclusive evidence; engage in buying or selling of a commodity for profit
E.g. Now, as to whether some people will probably speculate is Fidel Castro coming back to power, I definitely wouldn't go that far, but I think we can fairly say that the Cuban government wants to project an image of him as alive and well
n. in Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head upon body of a lion
E.g. A sphinx is a mythological creature that is depicted as a recumbent feline with a human head.
a. having no spine or spinal column; invertebrate; having no backbone, vigor, or courage; limp; weak
E.g. If they don't reply immediately , they are called spineless by their own supporters.
n. magnificence; Great light or luster; brilliance; grandeur
E.g. Inspired by the splendor of his own act, he took without an outcry.
v. fasten together; join at the ends; join by interweaving strands
E.g. Before you splice two strips of tape together, be sure to line them up evenly.
n. sharp-edged fragment of anything split or shivered off more or less in the direction of its length; a thin piece of wood
E.g. I got a splinter in my finger while I was moving the boxes.
n. naturalness; freedom from constraint; happening or arising without external cause; self-generated
E.g. Next to his spontaneity is his rare simplicity, his gift of speaking straight from a heart that never grew old.
v. throw out forcibly and abundantly, as liquids through an office or a pipe; eject in a jet; utter magniloquently
E.g. The firefighters spout water out of the pipe for more than 2 hours.
n. violent wrenching of the soft parts surrounding a joint; injury caused by pushing or pressing; painful injury to a joint caused by a sudden wrenching
E.g. More than half of people who take part in sport have suffered an injury such as sprain ligaments, tendon tears and broken bones.
n. one who sprinkles; a device with perforations through which water issues from a hose to sprinkle a lawn
E.g. In order to catch them and keep up with the demand I used to wait till dusk and go out and set the sprinkler in the lawn and turn it on for about an hour.
v. run very rapidly; run at full speed.
E.g. The guards slipped past on either side to sprint across the docks.
v. have new growth of a plant such as a new branch or a bud; shoot up
E.g. The plant will sprout early this year.
n. coniferous tree of the genus Picea; neat, trim, and smart in appearance
E.g. He looks very spruce in his new suit.
n. wood that readily takes fire; touchwood; very small fire; a fiery spark or small flame; courage to carry on; material for starting a fire
E.g. There was probably more spunk in his little toe than most of us had in our entire being.
v. spend wastefully; fail to take advantage of; lose a chance for
E.g. The real challenge here for the Obama campaign will be to avoid taking the bait, and let McCain squander his one asset.
a. causing great astonishment, amazement, or dismay; overwhelming; strikingly
E.g. He reports almost 16,000 incidents of fake notes in the first three months of 2006, a staggering 92 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago.
n. physical or moral strength to resist or withstand illness; enduring strength and energy
E.g. These exercises helped the monks gain stamina to withstand the long meditation sessions.
n. attitude or position of a standing person or animal; posture; mental posture; point of view
E.g. Peru has also toughened its stance toward foreign investors.
n. necessary foods or commodities; basic elements; secure or fasten; a short U-shaped wire nail for securing cables
E.g. For those who have only ground spices, a coffee filter and a staple is all it takes to make a little spice bag to steep in the cider.
n. one who deals in staple goods or staple fibers; device used to bind material together by means of staples
E.g. I often quickly hold sheets together in my bag when a stapler isn't available or practical.
a. fixed; immobile; static; not capable of being moved
E.g. When a warm or cold front stops moving, it becomes a stationary front.
n. paper cut to right size for writing letters; writing materials and office supplies
E.g. These stationery pages, available in Microsoft Word format, are easy to personalize and print.