abhor (v.

) to hate, detest
(Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to
play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)
abide 1.(v.) to put up with
(Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided to abide by it.)
2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they’ve taken from the weather
throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)
battery 1.(n.) a device that supplies power (Most cars run on a combination
of power
from a battery and gasoline.) 2. (n.)assault, beating (Her husband was
accused of
assault and battery after he attacked a man on the sidewalk.)
beguile (v.) to trick, deceive (The thief beguiled his partners into
surrendering all of
their money to him.)
calumny (n.) an attempt to spoil someone else’s reputation by spreading lies
(The local
official’s calumny ended up ruining his opponent’s prospect of winning the
election.)
camaraderie (n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees
usually
leads to success in business.)
decorous (adj.) socially proper, appropriate (The appreciative guest
displayed decorous
behavior toward his host.)
decry (v.) to criticize openly (The kind video rental clerk decried the policy of
charging
customers late fees.)
efficacious (adj.) effective (My doctor promised me that the cold medicine
was
efficacious, but I’m still sniffling.)
effrontery (n.) impudence, nerve, insolence (When I told my aunt that she
was boring,
my mother scolded me for my effrontery.)
fatuous (adj.) silly, foolish (He considers himself a serious poet, but in truth,
he only
writes fatuous limericks.)
fecund (adj.) fruitful, fertile (The fecund tree bore enough apples to last us
through the
entire season.)
grandiloquence (n.) lofty, pompous language (The student thought her
grandiloquence
would make her sound smart, but neither the class nor the teacher bought
it.)
haughty (adj.) disdainfully proud (The superstar’s haughty dismissal of her
costars will
backfire on her someday.)
hedonist (n.) one who believes pleasure should be the primary pursuit of
humans
(Because he’s such a hedonist, I knew Murray would appreciate the 11 cases
of wine
I bought him for his birthday.)
impassive (adj.) stoic, not susceptible to suffering (Stop being so impassive;
it’s healthy
to cry every now and then.)
impeccable (adj.) exemplary, flawless (If your grades were as impeccable as
your sister’s,
then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)
lavish 1. (adj.) given without limits (Because they had worked very hard, the
performers appreciated the critic’s lavish praise.) 2. (v.) to give without limits
(Because the performers had worked hard, they deserved the praise that the
critic
lavished on them.)
legerdemain (n.) deception, slight-of-hand (Smuggling the French plants
through
customs by claiming that they were fake was a remarkable bit of
legerdemain.)
manifold (adj.) diverse, varied (The popularity of Dante’s Inferno is partly
due to the
fact that the work allows for manifold interpretations.)
maudlin (adj.) weakly sentimental (Although many people enjoy romantic
comedies, I
usually find them maudlin and shallow.)
noisome (adj.) unpleasant, offensive, especially to the sense of smell
(Nobody would
enter the stalls until the horse’s noisome leavings were
taken away.)
nomadic (adj.) wandering from place to place (In the first six months after
college, Jose
led a nomadic life, living in New York, California, and Idaho.)
obsolete (adj.) no longer used, out of date (With the inventions of tape
decks and CDs,
which both have better sound and are easier to use, eight-track players are
now
entirely obsolete.)
obstinate (adj.) not yielding easily, stubborn (The obstinate child refused to
leave the
store until his mother bought him a candy bar.)
paradigm (n.) an example that is a perfect pattern or model (Because the
new SUV was
so popular, it became the paradigm upon which all others were modeled.)
paradox (n.) an apparently contradictory statement that is perhaps true
(The diplomat
refused to acknowledge the paradox that negotiating a peace treaty would
demand
more resources than waging war.)
sanctimonious (adj.) giving a hypocritical appearance of piety (The
sanctimonious
Bertrand delivered stern lectures on the Ten Commandments to anyone who
would
listen, but thought nothing of stealing cars to make some cash on the side.)
sanguine (adj.) optimistic, cheery (Polly reacted to any bad news with a
sanguine smile
and the chirpy cry, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!”)
tedious (adj.) dull, boring (As time passed and the history professor
continued to drone
on and on, the lecture became increasingly tedious.)