Recently Added Articles Page #122

impecunious - vocabulary

adjectiveHaving little or no money; penniless; poor. He was an eccentric, disheveled, toothless and impecunious lifelong bachelor, an amateur poet and musician and an autodidact able to converse knowledgeably with experts in many different fields. An...

impervious - vocabulary

adjectiveImpenetrable, as in impervious to rain; incapable of being injured or impaired, as in impervious to wear and tear; incapable of being persuaded, influenced, or affected, as in impervious to another person’s suffering. Over the past several...

implicate, implicit - vocabulary

verbImplicate: to show to be also involved, usually in an incriminating manner, as in He was implicated in the crime; to imply as a necessary circumstance, or as something to be inferred or understood; to connect or relate to intimately; affect as a ...

importune - vocabulary

verbTo beset with solicitations, to demand with urgency; to beg for something urgently. When Benedict comes to the United States, he is likely to be importuned by conservative Catholics to side with the hard-liners. He would be wiser to listen to oth...

improvident - vocabulary

adjectiveLacking foresight; incautious; neglecting to provide for future needs. In the House of Representatives late this afternoon a sensational appeal was made by Representative John J. Fitzgerald of New York to vote against improvident and imprope...

impugn - vocabulary

verbTo challenge as false, cast doubt upon. “This was a great N.Y.P.D. officer who dedicated himself—put his life in harm’s way hundreds of times during his career—and you can use your own definition,” Mr. [Michael R.] Bloomberg said at a n...

impute - vocabulary

verbTo ascribe or attribute, as in She imputed special powers to the new software program. Kings are much to be pitied, who, misled by weak ministers, and deceived by wicked favourites, run into political errors, which involve their families in ruin:...

inane - vocabulary

adjectiveLacking sense, ideas, or significance; silly; empty or void. Anna made no answer. The conductor and her two fellow-passengers did not notice under her veil her panic-stricken face. She went back to her corner and sat down. The couple seated ...

inanimate - vocabulary

adjectiveLacking the qualities associated with living organisms; sluggish, dull. “Do you call that happiness—the ownership of human beings?” cried Miss Stackpole. “He owns his tenants, and he has thousands of them. It is pleasant to own somet...

inchoate - vocabulary

adjectiveNot yet completed or fully developed; just begun, incipient; not organized, lacking order. Until an employee has earned his retirement pay, or until the time arrives when he may retire, his retirement pay is but an inchoate right; but when t...

incipient - vocabulary

adjectiveBeginning to appear or exist, in an initial stage, as in an incipient disease. [Brent] Scowcroft predicted "an incipient civil war" would grip Iraq and said the best hope for pulling the country from chaos would be to turn the U.S. operation...

indolent - vocabulary

adjectiveLaziness; having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion or work. In pathology, causing little or no pain, as in an indolent sore slow to heal. Miss Bingley was engrossed by Mr. Darcy, her sister scarcely less so; and as for Mr. Hurst, by...

ineffable - vocabulary

adjectiveIncapable of being expressed or described in words, as in ineffable joy; not to be spoken because of its sacredness, unutterable, as in the ineffable name of the deity. He began with being a young man of promise; at Oxford he distinguished h...

inexorable - vocabulary

adjectiveUnalterable, unyielding, as in an inexorable truth; unrelenting, not to be moved, persuaded, affected by entreaties or prayers, as in an inexorable bill collector. And never has this lesson been taught with sterner and more unpitying force t...

infer, imply - vocabulary

verbInfer: to derive by reasoning, to conclude or judge from evidence or premises.Imply: to suggest or indicate a conclusion without its being explicitly stated; to involve as a necessary circumstance, as in speech implies a speaker. Note: Infer is s...

ingenuous, disingenuous - vocabulary

adjectiveIngenuous: candid, frank, or open in character or quality; characterized by an inability to mask feelings, not devious.Disingenuous: the dis- prefix establishes the negative; thus, not candid, not frank, not open in character or quality; ins...

ingratiate - vocabulary

verbTo win confidence or good graces for oneself, especially through deliberate effort. “Yes, this is a monument he is setting up here,” said Anna, turning to Dolly with that sly smile of comprehension with which she had previously talked about t...

inimical - vocabulary

adjectiveAdverse in effect or tendency, harmful, unfavorable; unfriendly, hostile. In other words, Mr. Dimmesdale, whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware that something inimical to his ...

insatiable - vocabulary

adjectiveIncapable of being satisfied or appeased, as in an insatiable thirst for fine wine. Sonia said this as though in despair, wringing her hands in excitement and distress. Her pale cheeks flushed, there was a look of anguish in her eyes. It was...

inscrutable - vocabulary

adjectiveIncapable of being analyzed, investigated, or scrutinized; impenetrable, not easily understood; unfathomable; mysterious, as in an inscrutable smile; incapable of being seen through, as in the inscrutable depths of the ocean. We have as yet ...

insidious - vocabulary

adjectiveIntended to beguile or entrap, as in an insidious plot; stealthily deceitful or treacherous, as in an insidious foe; proceeding in a seemingly harmless way but actually with dangerous effect, as in an insidious disease. She was terror-strick...

insipid - vocabulary

adjectiveLacking interesting, stimulating, or distinctive qualities, as in an insipid, boring speaker; without a sufficient taste to be pleasing, as in an insipid meal. Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two e...

intrepid - vocabulary

adjectiveFearless, courageous, and bold. Unchecked, the tourist will climb over the fence and come right into your house to take pictures of you in your habitat. Cities mindful of tourists have built elaborate “tourist traps” which, luckily, work...

intrinsic - vocabulary

adjectiveBelonging to a thing by its nature, inherent, as in the intrinsic value of gold. And yet, beyond that, she hardly knew what he had—save of course his intrinsic qualities. Oh, he was intrinsic enough; she never thought of his even looking f...

invective - vocabulary

nounAn utterance intended to cast censure or reproach; vehement denunciation; an insulting word or utterance. The art of invective resembles the art of boxing. Very few fights are won with the straight left. It is too obvious, and it can be too easil...