DEFINITIONS
(v.) to assert without proof or confirmation
What is allege?
SYN: lack
What is paucity?
(n.) light and playful conversation
What is badinage?
In Shakespeare's tragedy the audience sees clearly that Iago is an ___ scoundrel, but Othello is blind to his treachery.
What is arrant?
(adj.) thoroughgoing, out-and-out; shameless, blatant
What is arrant?
(adj.) stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way
What is fatuous?
SYN: recall, revoke
What is countermand?
(v.) to make more violent, severe, bitter, or painful
What is exacerbate?
Any population that has experienced the ___ of war firsthand will not easily forget its destructive power.
What is juggernaut?
(v.) to overcome the distrust of, win over; to appease, pacify; to reconcile, make consistent
What is conciliate?
(v.) to withdraw a statement or belief to which one has previously been committed, renounce, retract
What is recant?
SYN: pull down, demolish, shave off
What is raze?
(v.) to indicate beforehand that something is about to happen; to give advance warning
What is portend?
A sponge that is ____ with water swells up but does not drip.
What is saturated?
(adj.) impossible to disprove; beyond argument
What is irrefutable?
(adj.) grisly, gruesome, horrible, distressing; having death as a subject
What is macabre?
SYN: indisputable, incontrovertible, undeniable
What is irrefutable?
(n.) a prayer consisting of short appeals to God recited by the leader alternating with responses from the congregation; any repetitive chant; a long list
What is litany?
Because of the weakness of our army, we had to try to ____ the enemy.
What is conciliate?
(v.) to cast off, discard; to get rid of something objectionable or unnecessary; to plod through as if through mud; (n.) a mire; a state of depression
What is slough?
(v.) to cancel or reverse one order or command with another that is contrary to the first
What is countermand?
SYN: shed, slog
What is slough?
(n.) one of a series of grades in an organization or field of activity; an organized military unit; a steplike formation or arrangement
What is echelon?
The senate campaign was marred by a ___ of original ideas.
What is paucity?
(adj.) lacking spirit or interest, halfhearted
(SYN: indolent, indifferent, lax)
What is lackadaisical?