a. insisting capriciously on getting just what one wants; difficult to please; fussy
E.g. The little girl was finicky about her food, leaving over anything that wasn't to her taste.
n. fixed foundation; established base; region of the air; sky or heavens; the most remote of the celestial spheres
E.g. He raised his head and stared at the firmament.
n. business or practice of catching fish; fishing; a place for catching fish; the right to take fish at a certain place
E.g. The ship is engaged in pelagic fishery.
n. long narrow opening ; long narrow depression in surface
E.g. The mountain climbers secured footholds in the tiny fissure in the rock.
a. intermittently stopping and starting; irregular; variable; unstable
E.g. After several fitful attempts, he decided to postpone the start of the project until he felt more energetic.
a. acting in strength, firmness, or resilience
E.g. His sedentary life had left him with flaccid muscles.
a. obvious and offensive, blatant, scandalous; flaming into notice
E.g. The governor's appointment of his brother-in-law to the State Supreme Court was a flagrant violation of the state laws against nepotism.
n. a plant of the genus Linum, which has a single, slender stalk, about a foot and a half high, with blue flowers
E.g. Linen is produced from flax.
v. spot; make spot or mark onto; mark with small spots
E.g. Her cheeks, fleck with tears, are testimony to the hours of weeping.
a. lacking proper seriousness; speaking freely; talkative; communicative
E.g. When Mark told Mona he loved her, she dismissed his earnest declaration with a flippant "Oh, you say that to all the girls!".
a. reddish; elaborately or excessively ornamented
E.g. If you go to beach and get a sunburn, your complexion will look florid.
v. reject; mock; express contempt for rules by word or action; behave with contempt
E.g. The headstrong youth used to flout all authority; he refused to be curbed.
v. rise and fall in or as if in waves; shift; vary irregularly
E.g. The water pressure in our shower does fluctuate wildly.
v. confuse; hot and rosy, as with drinking; be in a heat or bustle; be agitated
E.g. The teacher's sudden question should fluster him and he stammered his reply.
n. moral weakness; failing; weak point; slight fault
E.g. You should overlook the foible of Lee; no one is perfect.
v. try to stir up public opinion; promote growth of; apply warm lotion to
E.g. These examples, and there are many others, reveal how fear is being used to foment anger and political zealotry.
n. patience; restraint of passions; act of forbearing or waiting
E.g. We must use forbearance in dealing with him because he is still weak from his illness.
v. foretell; tell in advance; indicate likelihood of; portend
E.g. The elevation we forebode is of the soul, not of the body.
n. expectation of misfortune; feeling of evil to come; unfavorable omen
E.g. Suspecting no conspiracies against him, Caesar gently ridiculed his wife's foreboding about the Ides of March.
v. prevent by taking action in advance
E.g. The prospective bride and groom hoped to forestall any potential arguments about money in the event of a divorce.
a. sad and lonely; wretched; abandoned or left behind
E.g. Deserted by her big sisters and her friends, the forlorn child sat sadly on the steps awaiting their return.
a. developing; forming; capable of forming or molding
E.g. Victor’s upbringing is a formative influence in his early life.
v. renounce or deny something, especially under oath; swear falsely, usually under pressure
E.g. The captured knight could escape death only if he agreed to forswear Christianity and embrace Islam as the one true faith.
n. noisy, disorderly fight or quarrel; disturbance
E.g. The military police stopped the fracas in the bar and arrested the belligerents.
a. inclined to make trouble; disobedient; irritable
E.g. Bucking and kicking, the fractious horse unseated its rider.
a. composed of fragments, or broken pieces; disconnected; not complete or entire
E.g. At first I could not make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentary sentences that reached me at intervals.
a. excessively agitated; transported with rage or other violent emotion
E.g. His frenetic activities convinced us that he had no organized plan of operation.
a. disposed to fret; ill-humored; peevish; angry; in a state of vexation
E.g. The child asked for another cake in a fretful voice.
n. architectural ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band between the architrave and the cornice; heavy woolen fabric with a long nap
E.g. The frieze rounds the top of the wall is delicate.
n. not serious or sensible; acting like a clown; something of little value or significance
E.g. While the first impression of a traditional clown may be one of frivolity, the exaggerated makeup, clothing, expressions.
a. full of high-spirited fun; gay; given to merry
E.g. The frolicsome puppy tried to lick the face of its master.
n. fern leaf, especially compound leaf; palm or banana leaf
E.g. After the storm the beach was littered with the leaves of palm trees. I can even see a frond in front of our door.
n. thrift; prudent economy; sparing use
E.g. In economically hard times, anyone who doesn't learn to practice frugality risks bankruptcy.
a. offensively flattering or insincere; offensive; disgusting
E.g. His fulsome praise of the dictator revolted his listeners.
v. treat with fumes; apply smoke to; expose to smoke or vapor, especially to disinfect or eradicate pests
E.g. The grower should sample for nematodes the year prior to planting and then decide whether or not to fumigate.
n. leave of absence; vacation granted a soldier or civil servant
E.g. Dreaming of her loved ones back in the States, the young soldier could hardly wait for her upcoming furlough.
n. trench in the earth made by a plow; any trench, channel, or groove, as in wood or metal; wrinkle on the face
E.g. A furrow or groove is formed by running water.
n. any of various flies, that bite or annoy livestock and other animals; irritating person
E.g. Like a gadfly, he irritated all the guests at the hotel; within forty-eight hours, everyone regarded him as an annoying busybody.
v. speak against; contradict; oppose in words; deny or declare not to be true
E.g. She was too honest to gainsay the truth of the report.
n. bravery
E.g. I had a theoretical reverence and homage for beauty, elegance, gallantry, fascination.