Monday, February 01, 2010

FEBRUARY - High Frequency Words

1. Waif - A homeless person, especially a forsaken or orphaned child; abandoned young animal; something found and unclaimed, as an object cast up by the sea
2. Gainsay - To declare false; deny; to oppose, especially by contradiction; refuse to admit the truth, reality, value, or worth of
3. Chafe - To make (the skin) raw by or as if by friction; worry over trifles; annoy; feel irritated or impatient
4. Doggerel - Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature; crude and comic verse
5. Gusty - Windy; blowing in loud and abrupt bursts; marked by gusts
6. Portentous - Portending future disaster; of momentous or ominous significance; full of unspecifiable significance; exciting wonder and awe; marked by pompousness; pretentiously weighty
7. Effete - No longer possessing a unique quality; spoiled, exhausted; unproductive; infertile
8. Coo - To utter the murmuring sound of a dove or pigeon or a sound resembling it; talk fondly or amorously in murmurs
9. Jejune - Not interesting; dull; lacking maturity; childish; lacking in nutrition
10. Clavier - A keyboard; a bank of keys on a musical instrument; a stringed instrument that has a keyboard
11. Lectern - A reading desk with a slanted top used to hold a sacred text from which passages are read in a religious service; stand that serves as a support for the notes or books of a speaker; desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold a text at the proper height for a lecturer
12. Lambaste - To give a thrashing to; beat; scold sharply; berate; punish, beat with a cane; censure severely or angrily
13. Berate - Reprimand loudly or harshly; rebuke or scold angrily and at length; criticize hatefully; censure severely or angrily
14. Alleviate - To make (pain, for example) more bearable; make less severe or more bearable; relieve; lessen
15. Exonerate - To free from blame; free from a responsibility, obligation, or task; excuse, clear of responsibility or blame
16. Tendentious - Marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan; having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one; bias
17. Heretical - Of or relating to heresy or heretics; characterized by, revealing, or approaching departure from established beliefs or standards; unorthodox; characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards
18. Obloquy - Harsh, often insulting language; loss of or damage to one's reputation; vilification
19. Sham - A fraudulent imitation; a display of insincere behavior; to behave affectedly or insincerely or take on a false or misleading appearance of; to assume a false appearance or character; dissemble; a decorative cover made to simulate an article of household linen and used over or in place of it
20. Maroon - To put ashore on a deserted island or coast and intentionally abandon; to abandon or isolate with little hope of ready rescue or escape; a fugitive Black slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries; a dark reddish brown to dark purplish red
21. Laryngitis - Inflammation of the larynx; laryngitis is caused by inflammation of the larynx, often resulting in a temporary loss of voice
22. Hiatus - An interval during which continuity is suspended; pause, interruption; a separation, aperture, fissure, or short passage in an organ or body part
23. Vouchsafe - To condescend to grant or bestow (a privilege, for example); deign; to let have as a favor, prerogative, or privilege; to descend to a level considered inappropriate to one's dignity; ose; grant
24. Symphony - Pleasing agreement, as of musical sounds; harmony, especially of sound or color
25. Blatant - Unpleasantly loud and noisy; deafening; obvious; brazen
26. Flagrant - Conspicuously bad, offensive, or reprehensible; flaunting, blatant; without shame; extremely obvious or conspicuou
27. Spiny - Bearing or covered with spines, thorns, or similar stiff projections; difficult; troublesome
28. Perspicacious - Having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted; observant, perceptive
29. Lassitude - A state or feeling of weariness, diminished energy, or listlessness; lethargy; fatigue; deficiency in mental and physical alertness and activity; lack of emotion or interest
30. Camouflage - To use protective coloring or garments for concealment; disguise, cover; conceal by the use of disguise or by protective coloring or garments that blend in with the surrounding environment
31. Desultory - Having no set plan; haphazard or random; moving or jumping from one thing to another; disconnected; without aim, purpose, or intent; marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose; jumping from one thing to another
32. Cosseted - A pet, especially a pet lamb; treat with indulgence and often overtender care; treat with excessive indulgence
33. Stupefy - To astonish or bewilder; make dull or stupid; to muddle with drunkenness or infatuation; be a mystery or bewildering to; make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow; dull the senses; astonish, amaze
34. Esoteric - Beyond the understanding of an average mind; mysterious, obscure; not publicly disclosed; confidential; confined to a small group; intended for or understood by only a particular group; of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people
35. Shun - To avoid deliberately; keep away from; avoid; ignore 83. Dapper - Neatly dressed; trim; very stylish in dress; lively and alert
36. Limp - To walk lamely, especially with irregularity, as if favoring one leg; move or proceed haltingly or unsteadily; not stiff; weak; lopsided or uneven way of walking
37. Oaf - A person regarded as stupid or clumsy; large, ungainly, and dull-witted person; person who is clumsy, stupid; awkward person
38. Ostracize - To exclude from a group; to exclude from normal social or professional activities; to force to leave a country or place by official decree; exile, banish; to put into public disfavor
39. Irascibility - The quality or state of being irascible; irritability of temper; irascibleness; tendency to become angry or irritable; a feeling of resentful anger
40. Irascible - Prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered; characterized by or resulting from anger; crabby; quick to anger
41. Palpitate - To move with a slight tremulous motion; tremble, shake, or quiver; beat with excessive rapidity; throb; beat rapidly and irregularly
42. Superfluous - Being beyond what is required or sufficient; extra, unnecessary; serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; more than is needed, desired, or required
43. Salve - An analgesic or medicinal ointment; ointment that soothes or cools wounds; something that soothes or heals; a balm; flattery or commendation; ease the distress or agitation of; assuage
44. Intransigence - The quality or state of being stubbornly inflexible; the trait of being intransigent; stubbornly refusing to compromise
45. Discombobulate - To throw into a state of confusion; cause to be unclear in mind or intent; cause to be confused emotionally; be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly
46. Mournful - Feeling or expressing sorrow or grief; sorrowful; causing or suggesting sadness or melancholy; sad; filled with or evoking sadness
47. Disingenuous - Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating; insincere; pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated
48. Enchant - To cast a spell over; bewitch; attract and delight; entrance; delight, mesmerize
49. Frivolous - Unworthy of serious attention; trivial; silly
50. Glee - Jubilant delight; joy; extreme happiness
51. Inert - Unable to move or act; not moving; lifeless; not readily reactive with other elements; forming few or no chemical compounds; without the ability to act, move, change, or resist
52. Intimidate - To make timid; fill with fear; to coerce or inhibit by or as if by threats; frighten, threaten
53. Scrutiny - A close, careful examination or study; close observation; surveillance
54. Recant - To make a formal retraction or disavowal of (a statement or belief to which one has previously committed oneself); make a formal retraction or disavowal of a previously held statement or belief; to disavow (something previously written or said) irrevocably and usually formally; take back something said; to take back formally an opinion or belief
55. Retraction - A formal statement of disavowal; power of drawing back or of being drawn back; act of recanting or disavowing a previously held statement or belief; drawing or shrinking back
56. Abstain - To refrain from something by one's own choice; hold back from doing; withhold something from oneself; refrain from voting
57. Forbidden - Having an extremely low probability of occurrence; outlawed, prohibited; not allowed
58. Wane - To decrease gradually in size, amount, intensity, or degree; decline
59. Protean - Readily taking on varied shapes, forms, or meanings; exhibiting considerable variety or diversity
60. Prolific - Producing offspring or fruit in great abundance; fertile; producing abundant works or results; fruitful, productive; producing many offsprin