n. state of being predisposed; tendency or inclination
E.g. The players come to your game with a certain predisposition, it's nice to respect that.
a. most frequent or common; having superior power and influence
E.g. The predominant mood among policy-makers is optimism.
n. something spoken as introductory to a discourse, or written as introductory to a book or essay
E.g. The preface of this diary recounted her life in brief.
n. introduction; forerunner; preliminary or preface
E.g. I am afraid that this border raid is the prelude to more serious attacks.
n. proposition upon which an argument is based; assumption; land and the buildings on it
E.g. Our main premise is to get in and get out as quickly as possible, while performing a level of quality work equal to or greater than anything seen before.
n. act of presuming, or believing upon probable evidence; act of assuming; belief upon incomplete proof
E.g. And the poor old stick used to cry out 'Oh you villains childs!' -- and then we sermonized her on the presumption of attempting to teach such clever blades as we were, when she was herself so ignorant.
n. excuse; something serving to conceal plans; fictitious reason
E.g. He looked for a good pretext to get out of paying a visit to his aunt.
a. widespread; widely or commonly occurring, existing, accepted
E.g. A radical committed to social change, Reed had no patience with the conservative views prevalent in the America of his day.
v. declare; announce
E.g. But one year on, the company did proclaim it a success.
v. bring into possession; cause to accrue to, or to come into possession of; cause to come
E.g. Can you procure the rare old book for me?
a. impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous
E.g. Watching the weight lifter heave the barbell to shoulder height and then boost it overhead, we marveled at his prodigious strength.
n. quality or state of being productive; productiveness.
E.g. I believe the UK had experienced phenomenal increases in productivity before 1890.
v. violate; put to improper, unworthy, or degrading use; abuse
E.g. The members of the mysterious Far Eastern cult sought to kill the British explorer because they saw him profane the sanctity of their holy goblet by using it as an ashtray. .
n. skillfulness in command of fundamentals deriving from practice and familiarity; expertise
E.g. Practice greatly improves proficiency.
a. in great quantity or abundance; bountiful; exceedingly liberal
E.g. Help mom handle the profuse bleeding from her sweet little toddler's head.
v. ban; taboo; forbid
E.g. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.
a. producing offspring or fruit in great abundance; fertile
E.g. My editors must assume I'm a prolific writer: they expect me to revise six books this year!.
n. introduction, usually to a poem or play
E.g. In the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare introduces the audience to the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.
v. make longer; draw out; lengthen
E.g. In their determination to discover ways to prolong human life, doctors fail to take into account that longer lives are not always happier ones.
v. cause something to multiply or breed; cause to extend to broader area or larger number
E.g. Since bacteria propagate more quickly in unsanitary environments, it is important to keep hospital rooms clean.
v. drive forward; cause to move forward or onward; push
E.g. They hope to show that solar sails could replace traditional rockets and propel spacecraft to the stars.
n. fitness; correct conduct; quality of being proper; appropriateness
E.g. Miss Manners counsels her readers so that they may behave with due propriety in any social situation and not embarrass themselves.
n. push; driving force; act of propelling
E.g. Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites.
a. being within view or consideration, as a future event or contingency; relating to the future: expected
E.g. Under the double pressure of curiosity and prospective gain he did it with such spirit that he accomplished a shining success.
n. summary, plan, or scheme of something proposed, affording a prospect of its nature
E.g. It may not be perjury, but selling stock to private investors with a prospectus like that is fraud.
v. prolong; draw out or lengthen in time
E.g. Seeking to delay the union members' vote, the management team tried to protract the negotiations endlessly.
v. extend out or project in space; stick out
E.g. His fingers protrude from the holes in his gloves.
n. stipulated condition; act of supplying or fitting out; something provided
E.g. For young people entering the workforce in a bad economy, this provision is a critical safety net.
a. temporary; provided for present need only
E.g. Polanski is in provisional detention in Switzerland.
n. pen name; fictitious name used when someone performs a particular social role
E.g. Samuel Clemens' pseudonym was Mark Twain.
a. consisting in a point; limited to a point; unexpended; precise
E.g. My cat makes a punctual appearance at mealtimes.
a. stinging; sharp in taste or smell; caustic
E.g. I'm bracing myself to be met by heat, humidity and what Kerry describes as a pungent odor.
v. remove or get rid of something unwanted; free from blame or guilt; cleanse or purify
E.g. So it shouldn't be a surprise that county voter registrars received a list of 29,000 alleged felons to purge from the rolls.
n. an attribute that must be met
E.g. On top of it all, it appears that Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal will allow their old enemy, Croatia, to skip qualification and go straight to the final.
a. relating to quality; having the character of quality
E.g. Moody's makes five-year medium-term qualitative assessments for each country.
ad. every three months; in three month intervals
E.g. As many banks, its interest is compounded quarterly.
v. put out a fire; extinguish; put an end to; destroy
E.g. No matter how much water the hiker drank, she could not quench her thirst.
n. form containing a set of questions; submitted to people to gain statistical information
E.g. I've designed this questionnaire to help you communicate your needs to your spouse and help your spouse communicate his needs to you.
v. shake with slight, rapid, tremulous movement
E.g. The bird dog's nose twitches and his whiskers quiver as he strain eagerly against the leash.
v. spread out; effuse; issue or emerge in rays or waves
E.g. You can fell heat is going to radiate from the metal box.