Thursday, January 01, 2009

January - High frequency words

1. Fathomable - Capable of being readily understood; of depth; capable of being sounded or measured; (of meaning) capable of being penetrated or comprehended
2. Fatuous - The quality or condition of being stupid; stupid act, remark, or idea; foolishness; lack of intelligence; a poor ability to understand or to profit from experience; a stupid mistake
3. Fiasco - A complete or humiliating failure; catastrophe
4. Futility - The quality of having no useful result; uselessness; lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness; condition or quality of being useless or ineffective; fruitlessness
5.
Contrite - Feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses, feeling regret for a fault or offence
6.
Uncanny - Peculiarly unsettling, as if of supernatural origin or nature; so keen and perceptive as to seem preternatural; of a mysteriously strange and usually frightening nature; very strange, unusual
7.
Insouciant - Marked by blithe unconcern; nonchalant; easygoing, casual
8. Reminiscence - The act or process of recollecting past experiences or events; event that brings to mind a similar, former event; calling to mind of incidents within the range of personal knowledge or experience; narrative of experiences undergone by the writer. commentary (often used in plural)
9. Nepotism - Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives, as in business; favor a relative, especially in regard to political office; favoritism
10. Chagrin - A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event; displeasure; cause displeasure
11. Surfeit - To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust; overindulge; excessive amount; satisfy to the full or to excess; Immoderate indulgence, as in food or drink; overfill; state of being more than full; quality of being so overabundant that prices fall
12.
Cinnamon - A light brown spice made from the inner bark of a tree that grows in the East Indies; of a light reddish brown
13. Audit - An examination of records or financial accounts to check their accuracy; adjustment or correction of accounts; examined and verified account; examine financial accounts; a post-treatment record review or clinical examination to verify information reported on claims
14. Siren - A warning signal that is a loud wailing sound; an acoustic device producing a loud often wailing sound as a signal or warning; eel-like aquatic North American salamander with small forelimbs and no hind limbs; have permanent external gills; a woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive

15. Alarmist - A person who needlessly alarms or attempts to alarm others, as by inventing or spreading false or exaggerated rumors of impending danger or catastrophe; scaremonger; a person who alarms others needlessly
16. Banquet - An elaborate, sumptuous repast; ceremonial dinner honoring a particular guest or occasion; honor at or partake of a banquet; large meal elaborately prepared or served; dinner
17. Gainsay - To declare false; deny; to oppose, especially by contradiction; refuse to admit the truth, reality, value, or worth of
18.
Dire - Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous; urgent; desperate; terrible, ominous; urgent; crucial
19. Equivocation - Intentionally vague or ambiguous; falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language; a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth; expression or term liable to more than one interpretation; use or an instance of equivocal language
20. Voluble - Marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent; turning easily on an axis; rotating; talkative; marked by a ready flow of speech
21.
Lurk - To lie in wait, as in ambush; move furtively; sneak; exist unobserved or unsuspected; read but not contribute to the discussion in a newsgroup, chatroom, or other online forum; hide; move stealthily; to hide in order to attack
22. Complacency - A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy; instance of contented self-satisfaction; smugness; the feeling you have when you are satisfied with yourself

23. Unadulterated - Not mingled or diluted with extraneous matter; pure; not mixed with impurities; produced by nature; not artificial or man made
24. Exculpate - To clear of guilt or blame; free from a charge or imputation of guilt; forgive
25. Brevity - The quality or state of being brief in duration; shortness, briefness; concise expression; terseness
26. Taint - To affect with or as if with a disease; contamination, corruption; dirty, contaminate; ruin; touch or affect slightly with something bad; mark of discredit or disgrace
27. Epitomic -
A brief presentation or statement of something; a summary of a written work; a typical or ideal example; brief or miniature form
28.
Reticent - Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself; restrained or reserved in style; reluctant; unwilling; secretive, quiet; reserved; quiet; not saying much, especially about one's thoughts
29. Inimical - Injurious or harmful in effect; adverse; unfriendly; hostile; antagonistic, contrary

30. Ossified - Changed to bone or something resembling bone; hardened by deposits of mineral matter of any kind; -- said of tissues; rigid, unimaginative convention; process of becoming set in a rigidly conventional pattern, as of behavior, habits, or beliefs
31.
Nebulous - Cloudy, misty, or hazy; lacking definite form or limits; vague; liable to more than one interpretation; confused, obscure
32.
Hyperbole - A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; act or an instance of exaggerating; exaggeration
33. Effrontery - Brazen boldness; presumptuousness; state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident; nerve, boldness; impudence; arrogance
34. Luculent - Easily understood; clear or lucid; (of language) transparently clear; easily understandable
35. Discommode - To put to inconvenience; trouble; annoy; cause inconvenience or discomfort to
36.
Graze - To feed on grass or other plants; make light and momentary contact with, as in passing; strike a surface at such an angle as to be deflected; light and momentary contact with another person or thing
37. Ennui - Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom; condition of being bored
38.
Subterfuge - A deceptive stratagem or device; indirect, usually cunning means of gaining an end; trickery; something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity
39.
Commensurate - Of the same size, extent, or duration as another; proportionate; adequate, corresponding; equal; properly proportioned
40.
Panache - Dash; verve; bunch of feathers or a plume, especially on a helmet; person's flamboyant spirit; dash or flamboyance in style
41.
Quaff - To drink (a beverage) heartily; to swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught
42. Spurious - Lacking authenticity or validity in essence or origin; not genuine; false; of illegitimate birth; similar in appearance but unlike in structure or function; counterfeit, fake; fraudulently or deceptively imitative
43. Afflatus - A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration; divine guidance and motivation imparted directly; a creative impulse, an inspiration
44.
Imbue - To inspire or influence thoroughly; pervade; to permeate or saturate; to stain or dye deeply; to cause to be filled, as with a particular mood or tone; infuse, saturate
45. Hoodwink - To take in by deceptive means; deceive; trick or mislead; cause to accept what is false, especially by trickery or misrepresentation; influence by slyness; conceal one's true motives from esp. by elaborately feigning good intentions so as to gain an end
46. Chuckle - To laugh quietly or to oneself; cluck or chuck, as a hen; quiet laugh of mild amusement or satisfaction; a soft partly suppressed laugh
47.
Haven - A harbor or anchorage; a port; place of refuge or rest; a sanctuary; an inlet providing shelter for ships or boats; a harbor or small port; something that physically protects, especially from danger; to give refuge to
48.
Plethora - A superabundance; an excess; excess of blood in the circulatory system or in one organ or area; condition of going or being beyond what is needed, desired, or appropriate
49.
Derision - Tending to make or become worse; disparaging or belittling word or expression; tending to demean or belittle; negative

50. Emancipate - The state of not being in confinement or servitude; action or process of setting free, especially from legal, social, or political restrictions; action or process of delivering from slavery
51. Palliate - To make (an offense or crime) seem less serious; extenuate; make less severe or intense; mitigate; relieve the symptoms of a disease or disorder; loss over; cover up
52. Callous - Emotionally hardened; unfeeling; having calluses; toughened; completely lacking in compassion; cruel, insensitive; without regard for the feelings or sufferings of others
53. Impervious - Incapable of being penetrated; incapable of being affected; having the capacity to withstand; not allowing to pass through
54.
Crutch - A means or device that keeps something erect, stable, or secure; a support used under the arm by an injured person to help in walking; a staff or support used by the physically injured or disabled as an aid in walking, usually designed to fit under the armpit and often used in pairs
55.
Mace - A ceremonial staff borne or displayed as the symbol of authority of a legislative body; heavy medieval war club with a spiked or flanged metal head, used to crush armor; aromatic spice made from the dried, waxy, scarlet or yellowish covering that partly encloses the kernel of the nutmeg; kind of spice made from nutmeg
56. Susceptible - Yielding readily to or capable of; exposed, naive; easily influenced or affected; sensitive; highly impressionable; easily impressed emotionally
57.
Trite - Lacking power to evoke interest through overuse or repetition; hackneyed; without freshness or appeal because of overuse;silly, commonplace
58.
Embolden - To foster boldness or courage in; encourage; impart courage, inspiration, and resolution to; give courage
59.
Secluded - Removed or remote from others; solitary; screened from view; sequestered; remote; isolated

60. Resurgence - A continuing after interruption; a renewal; restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor; a revival; bringing again into activity and prominence
61. Hermitage - The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits; monastery or abbey; place where one can live in seclusion; a retreat; condition or way of life of a hermit; abode of a loner; rich, full-bodied, usually red wine produced in southeast France
62. Snarl - A tangle of hairs, thread or traffic; an angry growl; complication, mess; complicate, mess up; grumble; speak angrily or threateningly
63. Conceit - The trait of being unduly vain and egotistical; artistic device or effect; witty or ingenious turn of phrase; elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things; feelings of excessive pride; egotism; impulsive, often illogical turn of mind
64. Labyrinthine - Difficult to understand because of intricacy; of, relating to, resembling, or constituting a labyrinth; complicated
65.
Euphemism - The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive; use or an instance of equivocal language; polite term
66.
Intermittent - Stopping and starting at intervals; alternately containing and empty of water; irregular, sporadic; happening or appearing now and then
67. Adroit - Dexterous; deft; skillful and adept under pressing conditions; very able or skilled; lively
68.
Eclectic - Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles; made up of or combining elements from a variety of sources; comprehensive, general
69. Eschew - To avoid; shun; have nothing to do with
70. Procrastinate - To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness; postpone or delay needlessly; delay, put off doing
71.
Extol - To praise highly; exalt; pay tribute or homage to; sing the praises of; praise in the highest terms; to honor (a deity) in religious worship
72. Exalt - To raise in rank, character, or status; elevate; glorify, praise, or honor; increase the effect or intensity of; heighten; fill with sublime emotion; elate; promote, praise
73. Gully - A deep ditch or channel cut in the earth by running water after a prolonged downpour; to wear a deep ditch or channel in; deep ditch cut by running water
74. Mettlesome - Full of mettle; spirited and plucky; having a proud and unbroken spirit; willing to face danger; showing courage; characterized by a lively, emphatic, eager quality

75. Malodorous - Having a bad odor; foul; foul-smelling; unpleasant-smelling
76.
Callow - Lacking adult maturity or experience; immature
77. Supercilious - Overly convinced of one's own superiority and importance; arrogant, stuck-up
78. Inquiline - An animal that characteristically lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species; being or living as an inquiline

79. Roil - To make (a liquid) muddy or cloudy by stirring up sediment; displease or disturb; vex; be in a state of turbulence or agitation; make turbid by stirring up the sediments of
80. Din - A jumble of loud, usually discordant sounds; stun with deafening noise; instill by wearying repetition; sounds or a sound, especially when loud, confused, or disagreeable; uproar
81. Sybarite - A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary; native or inhabitant of Sybaris; a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses

82. Tacit - Implied by or inferred from actions or statements; not spoken; not voiced or expressed; conveyed indirectly without words or speech; taken for granted; understood, implied
83.
Encomium - Warm, glowing praise; formal expression of praise; a tribute
84. Drake - A male duck; mayfly used as fishing bait
85.
Vivify - To give or bring life to; animate; to make more lively, intense, or striking; to make alive
86.
Boorish - Lacking in delicacy or refinement; crude, awkward; ill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance
87. Complaisance - Agreeableness; disposition or tendency to yield to the will of
others
88. Fretwork - Ornamental work consisting of three-dimensional frets; geometric openwork; design of short bars or lines fitted together
89. Repudiate - To refuse to recognize or acknowledge; reject; turn one's back on; disown
90.
Gullible - Easily deceived or duped; easily imposed on or tricked; naive, trusting
91.
Embezzling - To take (money, for example) for one's own use in violation of a trust; steal money, often from employer; steal what was entrusted to one's care
92.
Proofread - To read (copy or proof) in order to find errors and mark correction; to read copy or proof for purposes of error detection and correction
93. Wary - On guard; watchful; characterized by caution; vigilantly attentive; trying attentively to avoid danger, risk, or error; careful, cautious; openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
94.
Alienate - To make distant, hostile, or unsympathetic; change the ownership of (property) by means of a legal document; cause unfriendliness, hostility; cause one to leave or turn away; cause to become withdrawn or unresponsive; isolate or dissociate emotionally
95.
Upbraid - To criticize for a fault or an offense; to scold; utter a reproach to
96.
Archaic - Belonging to, existing, or occurring in times long past; of a style or method formerly in vogue; very old; old-fashioned, ancient
97.
Penurious - Unwilling to spend money; stingy; yielding little; barren; poverty-stricken; destitute; mean; poor; ungenerously or pettily reluctant to spend money
98.
Paralyze - To deprive of the power to move or feel in a part of the body; make powerless and unable to function; cause to be paralyzed and immobile; impair the progress or functioning of; make inoperative or powerless
99.
Infuriate - To make furious, enrage; make very angry
100.
Devious - Marked by treachery or deceit; not taking a direct or straight line or course; without a fixed or regular course; crooked; indirect; dishonest, crafty
100.
Lachrymose - Weeping or inclined to weep; tearful; causing or tending to cause tears
101.
Banal - Commonplace; without freshness or appeal because of overuse
102.
Puckish - Mischievous; impish; naughtily or annoyingly playful
103.
Capitulate - To surrender under specified conditions; come to terms; give up all resistance; acquiesce; to give in from or as if from a gradual loss of strength
104.
Feisty - Touchy; quarrelsome; full of spirit or pluck; frisky or spunky; showing courage; irritable and looking for trouble
105.
Succinct - Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse
106.
Futon - A thin mattress of tufted cotton batting or similar material, placed on a floor or on a raised, foldable frame; mattress consisting of a pad of cotton batting that is used for sleeping on the floor or on a raised frame
107. Hasty - Characterized by speed; rapid; done or made too quickly to be accurate or wise; rash
108.
Bawdy - Offensive to accepted standards of decency; vulgar, dirty; lewd or obscene talk or writing; humorously vulgar
109. Bewilderment - The condition of being confused or disoriented; situation of perplexity or confusion; a tangle; state of being confused; confusion resulting from failure to understand
110.
Crass - So crude and unrefined as to be lacking in discrimination and sensibility; coarse, insensitive; lacking in delicacy or refinement
111. Aphid - Any of various small, soft-bodied insects of the family Aphididae that have mouthparts specially adapted for piercing and feed by sucking sap from plants; A small sucking insect that feeds primarily on new soft growth
112. Truculent - Disposed to fight; pugnacious; expressing bitter opposition; scathing; disposed to or exhibiting violence or destructiveness; fierce; belligerent, hateful; defiantly aggressive
113. Transgression - A violation of a law, command, or duty; exceeding of due bounds or limits; relative rise in sea level resulting in deposition of marine strata over terrestrial strata; an act or instance of breaking a law or regulation or of nonfulfillment of an obligation or promise; violation, misbehavior
114. Gaunt - Thin and bony; angular; emaciated and haggard; drawn; bleak and desolate; barren; skinny, pale; having little flesh or fat on the body; worn and lean, as from hunger or illness
115. Coagulant - An agent that causes a liquid or sol to coagulate; agent that causes a sol or liquid, especially blood, to
coagulate
116. Extricate - To release from an entanglement or difficulty; disengage; get out of situation; relieve of responsibility
117.
Estrange - To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate; remove from an accustomed place or set of associations; to make distant, hostile, or unsympathetic; destroy the affections of
118.
Nuance - A subtle or slight degree of difference, as in meaning, feeling, or tone; a gradation; expression or appreciation of subtle shades of meaning, feeling, or tone; slight difference; shading; slight variation between nearly identical entities
119. Debunk - To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of; cause to be no longer believed or valued; disprove, ridicule; expose the falseness in something

120. Harebrained - Foolish; flighty; stupid, unthinking; senseless as to be laughable; very foolish
121. Ballad - A song/ poem that tells a story; narrative poem, often of folk origin and intended to be sung, consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain
122. Flagging - Declining; weakening; languid; drooping; pavement laid with flagstones; becoming weak
123. Accolade - An expression of approval; praise; special acknowledgment; an award; ceremonial embrace, as of greeting or salutation; ceremonial bestowal of knighthood; recognition; ornamental treatment, used over an arch, a door, or a window, composed of two curves meeting in the middle; often a richly decorated molding; approval
124. Buoyed - To keep from yielding or failing during stress or difficulty; to raise the spirits of;

float; bright-colored; mark with a floating object; keep afloat; float on the surface of water; float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, or indicate a navigational channel; hearten or inspire; uplift
125. Liken - To see, mention, or show as similar; compare; represent as similar; consider or describe as similar, equal, or analogous
126. Modicum - A small, moderate, or token amount
127.
Obfuscate - To render indistinct or dim; darken; to make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand
128.
Cognizant - Fully informed; conscious
129.
Itinerant - Traveling from place to place, especially to perform work or a duty; one who travels from place to place; roaming
130. Carouse - To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking; drink excessively; make merry, often with liquor
131.
Exacerbate - To increase the severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate; infuriate; make more sharp, severe, or virulent
132.
Insalubrious - Not promoting health; unwholesome; not sustaining or promoting health; detrimental to health
133.
Circumspect - Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent; trying attentively to avoid danger, risk, or error; cautious, discreet
134.
Rash - Characterized by or resulting from ill-considered haste or boldness; skin eruption; outbreak of many instances within a brief period; sudden increase in something, as the occurrence of a disease; careless, impulsive; sore reddened place on the skin; too hasty and reckless
135. Artlessness - The quality of being artless, or void of art or guile; simplicity; sincerity
136. Guile - Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit; trick or stratagem; slyness, cleverness
137. Disingenuous - Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating; pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; unaware or uninformed; naive; insincere; not honest and candid
138. Ingratiate - To bring (oneself, for example) into the favor or good graces of another, especially by deliberate effort; get on the good side of someone; win confidence or good graces for oneself; gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts
139. Naive - One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical; free from guile, cunning, or deceit; guileless, unsophisticated person; easily imposed on or tricked; childlike, trusting
140.
Rakish - Having a trim, streamlined appearance; dashingly or sportingly stylish; jaunty; dissolute; immoral; marked by smartness in dress and manners; marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness

141. Extant - Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct; standing out; projecting; in existence; occurring or existing in act or fact: actual
142.
Precarious - Dangerously lacking in security or stability; subject to chance or unknown conditions; based on uncertain, unwarranted, or unproved premises; tricky, doubtful; not safe or sure
143.
Gallant - Smartly or boldly stylish; dashing; unflinching in battle or action; valiant; nobly or selflessly resolute; courteously attentive especially to women; chivalrous; fashionable young man; having or showing courage; brave, gentlemanly
144.
Craving - A consuming desire; a yearning; strong desire; an intense desire for some particular thing
145. Morbid - Of, relating to, or caused by disease; pathological or diseased; psychologically unhealthy or unwholesome; characterized by preoccupation with unwholesome thoughts or feelings; gruesome; grisly; gloomy, nasty, sickly; diseased
146. Pluck - The quality of mind enabling one to face danger or hardship resolutely; remove from a fixed position; person's resolution, courage; grab, pull out; pick at
147. Salubrious - Conducive or favorable to health or well-being; promoting good health; health-giving
148.
Winnow - To set apart (one kind or type) from others; be in a state of motion, as air; the act of separating grain from chaff; blow on; treat by exposure to a current of air so that waste matter is eliminated, as of grain; remove by a current of air, as of chaff
149. Harbinger - One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner; signal the approach of; presage
150.
Presage - A phenomenon that serves as a sign or warning of some future good or evil; give an indication of something in advance; a foreboding about what is about to happen; a sign of something about to happen; indicate by signs
151. Gasification - The process of changing into gas
152, Phial - a small bottle that contains a drug (especially a sealed sterile container for injection by needle); a vial
153. Garrulous - Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative; wordy and rambling; talkative
154.
Avid - Having an ardent desire or unbounded craving; greedy; marked by keen interest and enthusiasm; enthusiastic; excessively eager or greedy; having a strong urge to obtain or possess something, especially material wealth, in quantity; intensely desirous or interested
155. Ignite - To cause to burn; set on fire; arouse the passions of; excite
156. Assuage - To make less severe or more bearable; soothe, relieve; reduce fear, excitement, pain, or disease
157.
Ungainly - Lacking grace or ease of movement or form; clumsy; Difficult to move or use; unwieldy; awkward; lacking dexterity and grace in physical movement; difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
158.
Tawdry - Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance; cheap, tasteless
159.
Boor - A person with rude, clumsy manners and little refinement; a peasant; clod; a rude or ill-mannered person
160.
Fawn - To seek favor or attention by flattery and obsequious behavior; to support slavishly every opinion or suggestion of a superior; a young deer, less than one year old; a grayish yellow-brown to moderate reddish brown