a. disagreeing, especially with a majority; rebellious
E.g. In the purge that followed the student demonstrations, the government hunted down the dissident students and their supporters.
v. spend or expend wastefully; vanish by dispersion; drive away; disperse
E.g. He is a fine artist, but I fear he may dissipate his gifts if he keeps wasting his time playing games.
a. unrestrained by convention or morality; wasteful of health or possessions in pursuit of pleasure
E.g. I have myself - I tell it you without parable - been a worldly, dissipated, restless man.
v. persuade not to do; discourage
E.g. Since Tom could not dissuade Huck from running away from home, he decided to run away with him.
v. free of; rid; remove all of one's clothing
E.g. Most secretive of men, let him at last divest himself of secrets, both his and ours.
n. sum of money to be divided and distributed; share of a sum divided that falls to each individual; a distribute sum, share, or percentage
E.g. The company declared a large dividend at the end of the year.
n. stupid person; person who is not very bright
E.g. I thought I was talking to a mature audience; instead, I find myself addressing a dolt or idiot.
a. near the back or upper surface
E.g. The dorsal fin is the vertical fin on the back of a fish and certain marine mammals.
v. be excessively fond of; show signs of mental decline
E.g. Not only grandmothers bore you with stories about their brilliant grandchildren; grandfathers dote on the little rascals, too.
v. plunge into water; wet thoroughly; extinguish
E.g. They douse each other with hoses and water balloons.
a. lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby; old-fashioned
E.g. She tried to change her dowdy image by buying a new fashionable wardrobe.
a. dull; lacking color; lacking in liveliness, charm, or surprise
E.g. The Dutch woman's drab winter coat contrasted with the distinctive, colorful native costume she wore beneath it.
n. emptying accomplished by draining; gradual flowing off, as of a liquid
E.g. Look at the report and be prepared to be shocked by the photo of the main drainage canal.
n. sediment settled at bottom of liquid; waste or worthless matter
E.g. David poured the wine carefully to avoid stirring up the dregs.
a. sweet sounding; pleasing to ear; melodious
E.g. The dulcet sounds of the birds at dawn were soon drowned out by the roar of traffic passing our motel.
n. easily deceived person; duplicate of photographic image
E.g. While the gullible Watson often was made a dupe by unscrupulous parties, Sherlock Holmes was far more difficult to fool.
n. edges or lower borders of the roof of a building, which overhang the walls, and cast off the water that falls on the roof
E.g. The swallow has made a nest under our eaves.
v. fall away or back; decline or recede; fall back from the flood stage
E.g. Sitting on the beach, Mrs. Dalloway watched the tide ebb: the waters receded, drawing away from her as she sat there all alone.
a. composed of elements from a variety of sources
E.g. His style of interior decoration was eclectic: bits and pieces of furnishings from widely divergent periods, strikingly juxtaposed to create a unique decor.
n. decree ,especially issued by a sovereign; official command
E.g. The emperor issued an edict decreeing that everyone should come see him model his magnificent new clothes.
a. having some characteristic of a woman; womanlike; womanly; tender
E.g. Men who are effeminate for what ever reason do not equate to being homosexual.
n. crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group; likeness or image, especially of a person
E.g. The mob showed its irritation by hanging the judge in effigy.
a. caring only about oneself; selfish; self-centered
E.g. How egocentric is it for these postmodernist writers to whip up these verbose tomes without the slightest concern about reader engagement?
v. slip or glide away; pass away silently
E.g. If possible, let at least a week elapse between writing your original draft and attacking the second draft.
a. springing back; having the power of rebounding; able to return quickly to a former state or condition
E.g. The strong, elastic wood of this tree, used for furniture, tool handles, and sporting goods such as baseball bats.
a. overjoyed; extremely happy and excited
E.g. Grinning from ear to ear, Bonnie Blair was clearly elated by her fifth Olympic gold medal.
v. draw out; bring forth or to light; generate or provoke as response or answer
E.g. The detectives tried to elicit where he had hidden his loot.
n. substance believed to cure all ills
E.g. The news of her chance to go abroad acted on her like an elixir.
n. powerful and effective language; persuasive speech
E.g. The crowds were stirred by Martin Luther King's eloquence.
v. avoid cleverly; escape perception of
E.g. The logic of the concluding paragraph seems to elude me.
n. freeing someone from the control of another
E.g. Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that the power of emancipation is in the Federal Government.
n. ban on commerce or other activity
E.g. As a result of the embargo, trade with the colonies was at a standstill.
v. steal or misappropriate money that one has been trusted with, especially to steal money from one's employer
E.g. She is accused of attempting to embezzle $405 million from the state while heading a gas company in the 1990s
n. symbol; sign; distinctive badge, design, or device
E.g. The only solution is a third emblem, a red diamond on a white background, it has no cultural or religious significance.
v. give a bodily form to; represent in bodily or material form; incorporate
E.g. Cheering on his rival Mark McGwire's efforts to break Roger Maris's home run record, Sammy Sosa did embody the spirit of true sportsmanship.
n. completely undeveloped form; an animal organism in the early stages of growth
E.g. Chinese scientists said they’ve produced a cloned embryo of a giant panda.
v. remove from one country or State to another, for the purpose of residence; migrate from home
E.g. He planned to emigrate from Britain to Australia in order to find a better job.
a. standing out above other things; high in rank, office, or worth
E.g. After his appointment to this eminent position, he seldom had time for his former friends.
n. radiation; discharge; act of emitting
E.g. The Clean Cars Act is the first law in America to force car manufacturers to find ways of reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses.
v. give off; send out; give out as sound
E.g. Yesterday, I posted that the total budget of fossil fuel emissions we can ever emit is 1 trillion tones of Carbon.