Recently Added Articles Page #121

quiescent - vocabulary

adjectiveBeing quiet, at rest, still, motionless, as in quiescent thoughts. There is a brief time for sex, and a long time when sex is out of place. But when it is out of place as an activity there still should be the large and quiet space in the con...

quintessence - vocabulary

nounThe most essential part of anything; the pure essence of a substance; the most typical example of something. O my lady Dulcinea of Toboso! the sun of all beauty, the end and quintessence of discretion, the treasury of sweet countenance and carria...

raillery - vocabulary

nounGood-humored satire, ridicule, or banter. There is a simple but effective test of satire, one that hails back to Aristotle. "Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor," he said, "for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspici...

rapacious - vocabulary

adjectiveDisposed to seize by violence or by unlawful or greedy methods; extremely greedy, predatory, extortionate. The American goes to Paris, always has, and comes back and tells his neighbor, always does, how exorbitant and inhospitable it is, how...

ravenous - vocabulary

adjectiveExtremely hungry, voracious, famished. The will to domination is a ravenous beast. There are never enough warm bodies to satiate its monstrous hunger. Once alive, this beast grows and grows, feeding on all the life around it, scouring the ea...

recant - vocabulary

verbTo formally withdraw or disavow one's belief, position, or statement about something previously believed or maintained. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other...

recapitulate - vocabulary

verbTo repeat again the principal points of; to summarize. “But, for heaven’s sake, don’t get hot!” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, touching his brother-in-law’s knee. “The matter is not ended. If you will allow me to recapitulate, it was like ...

recluse - vocabulary

nounOne who lives in seclusion, often for religious meditation.Note: The adjective form is either recluse or reclusive. Henry David Thoreau and Charles Darwin form both a spectacular comparison and contrast. Both Thoreau and Darwin were voyagers. One...

redolent - vocabulary

adjectiveSmelling sweet and agreeable; also, suggestive or reminiscent.Note: The word redolent is often followed by the preposition of. They are very proper forest houses, the stems of the trees collected together and piled up around a man to keep ou...

redoubtable - vocabulary

adjectiveArousing awe or fear, formidable; commanding respect or reverence. In "Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King," Brooklyn College film historian Foster Hirsch weaves interviews with industry players and family members into a straightforwar...

regale - vocabulary

verbTo entertain agreeably or lavishly, with food or drink; delight.Note: The word regale also acts as a noun, as in steaks were grilled for the regale of the guests. Going along the narrow path to a little uncut meadow covered on one side with thick...

relegate - vocabulary

verbTo send off or consign to an inferior position or remote destination; to assign or commit a task to a person; to banish or exile. Children need people in order to become human . . . . It is primarily through observing, playing, and working wi...

remiss - vocabulary

adjectiveNegligent, slow, careless in performing a task or duty; also, languid, sluggish. Perhaps this hut has never been required to shelter a shipwrecked man, and the benevolent person who promised to inspect it annually, to see that the straw and ...

repertory - vocabulary

nounA place where things are stored or gathered together, a collection; also, a type of theatrical presentation in which the theater group presents several works. Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 pl...

replete - vocabulary

adjectiveFull to the uttermost, abundantly provided or supplied, filled with; complete, as in a legal brief replete in its citations to authority. The highway is replete with culinary land mines disguised as quaint local restaurants that carry such r...

repute - vocabulary

nounEstimation in the view of others; reputation, as in a house of ill repute.verbTo believe a person or thing to be as specified; to regard.Note: The verb form repute usually appears in the passive voice, as in he was reputed to be quite wealthy. Wo...

requisite - vocabulary

nounA required thing, something necessary or indispensable.adjectiveNecessary or required for a particular purpose, as in the requisite skills. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this professio...

respite - vocabulary

nounInterval of rest; a delay or cessation of anything trying or distressing. Whatever choice Elizabeth Bouvia may ultimately make, I can only hope that her courage, persistence and example will cause our society to deal realistically with the plight...

resplendent - vocabulary

adjectiveVery bright, shining brightly, gleaming, splendid, as in the dancers resplendent in their native costumes. In the luxuriance of a bowl of grapes set out in ritual display, in a bottle of wine, the soil and sunshine of California reached mill...

reticence, reticent - vocabulary

nounReticence: the quality of habitually keeping silent or being reserved in utterance.adjectiveReticent: disposed to be silent or reserved. Ted had come down from the University for the week-end. Though he no longer spoke of mechanical engineering a...

retroactive - vocabulary

adjectiveOperative on, affecting, or having reference to past events, transactions, responsibilities; pertaining to a pay raise effective in the past. In June, the Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the documents underlying the warrantless surveillance p...

retrospective - vocabulary

nounAn exhibition of art or performance of works produced by an artist or composer over time.adjectiveDirected to past events or situations; looking backward, looking back on. The university must be retrospective. The gale that gives direction to the...

revile - vocabulary

verbTo address or speak of with abuse; vilify, berate, disparage. You shall not revile God, or curse a leader of your people. —Exodus 22:28Old Testament...

rife - vocabulary

adjectiveOf frequent or common occurrence; in widespread existence, prevalent, use, or activity; abundant, numerous, plentiful. I love to see that Nature is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one a...

ruminate - vocabulary

verbTo chew over again, as food previously swallowed and regurgitated; to meditate about, ponder. Let's start with their explication of depression, which has metastasized in the West over the past two generations. Victims can see that Griffin and Tyr...