Vocabulary List #24: 3/23/98
apocryphal | of doubtful authenticity; spurious |
babbitt | extreme conformist; unthinking conformer |
bowdlerize | to remove offensive passages from a book; expurgate; censor |
comestible | eatable; edible |
commend | to entrust for care; to recommend as very worthy |
contumely | haughty and contemptuous rudeness; scornful insolence |
copious | present in large quantities; abundant |
credulous | easily convinced; believing too easily |
deterrent | anything that discourages or prevents an action |
disciple | one who accepts and spreads the doctrines of another |
divulge | to make known; reveal |
dolorous | expressive of misery or grief; mournful |
equine | relating to or resembling horses |
fluctuate | to shift back and forth uncertainly |
fraught | well-supplied or provided; full of or accompanied by something |
hovel | open shed or shelter |
inclement | unfavorable, rough, severe, stormy |
insatiable | incapable of being satisfied; wanting more; greedy |
insensate | lacking awareness or sensation; dulled |
insuperable | incapable of being overcome |
jabberwocky | meaningless speech or writing |
liege | a lord or sovereign; a subject or vassal |
lugubrious | exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful; tearful |
mendicant | begging; asking for handouts |
misnomer | the use of a wrong name or designation |
myopic | deficiency of foresight or discernment |
neolithic | relating to the Stone Age; outmoded or outdated |
ostensible | apparent; seeming |
usury | lending of money with interest charge (usually very high) |
utility | something useful or for a purpose; adapted for general use |