abase - ANSWER (v.) to humiliate, degrade (After being overthrown and abased, the de-
posed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)
abate - ANSWER (v.) to reduce, lessen (The rain poured down for a while, then abated.)
abdicate - ANSWER (v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized
that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)
abduct - ANSWER (v.) to kidnap, take by force (The evildoers abducted the fairy princess
from her happy home.)
aberration - ANSWER (n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1918, the Boston Red
Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox
have not won a World Series since.)
abet - ANSWER (v.) to aid, help, encourage (The spy succeeded only because he had a
friend on the inside to abet him.)
abhor - ANSWER (v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the
head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)
abide - ANSWER 1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck
decided to abide by it.) 2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather
throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)
abject - ANSWER (adj.) wretched, pitiful (After losing all her money, falling into a puddle,
and breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)
1
,abjure - ANSWER (v.) to reject, renounce (To prove his honesty, the President abjured the
evil policies of his wicked predecessor.)
abnegation - ANSWER (n.) denial of comfort to oneself (The holy man slept on the floor,
took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)
abort - ANSWER (v.) to give up on a half-finished project or effort (After they ran out of
food, the men, attempting to jump rope around the world, had to abort and go home.)
abridge - ANSWER 1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was
too long and abridged it.) 2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the
abridged version is longer than most normal books.)
abrogate - ANSWER (v.) to abolish, usually by authority (The Bill of Rights assures that the
government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.)
abscond - ANSWER (v.) to sneak away and hide (In the confusion, the super-spy ab-
sconded into the night with the secret plans.)
absolution - ANSWER (n.) freedom from blame, guilt, sin (Once all the facts were known,
the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)
abstain - ANSWER (v.) to freely choose not to commit an action (Everyone demanded
that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)
abstruse - ANSWER (adj.) hard to comprehend (Everyone else in the class understood ge-
ometry easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)
2
,accede - ANSWER (v.) to agree (When the class asked the teacher whether they could
play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded
to their request.)
accentuate - ANSWER (v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who
are happiest accentuate the positive in life.)
accessible - ANSWER (adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and
getting a great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an Ivy-
League college was accessible.)
acclaim - ANSWER (n.) high praise (Greg's excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)
accolade (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after he
won the Noble Prize.)
accolade - ANSWER (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to
Sam after he won the Noble Prize.)
accommodating - ANSWER (adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not
big enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were accom-
modating to each other.)
accord - ANSWER (n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally
came to a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)
accost - ANSWER (v.) to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm,
when the waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and ac-
costed the man.)
accretion - ANSWER (n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the ac-
cretion of minerals from the roofs of caves.)
3
, acerbic - ANSWER (adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and
began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)
acquiesce - ANSWER (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay
outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner,
he acquiesced to her demands.)
acrimony - ANSWER (n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever
come between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their
friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)
acumen - ANSWER (n.) keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able
to figure out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)
acute - ANSWER 1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his
foot was so acute.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly
figured out how the magician pulled off his "magic.")
adamant - ANSWER (adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure
was intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)
adept - ANSWER (adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree
like a monkey.)
adhere - ANSWER 1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with
tape.) 2. (n.) to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)
admonish - ANSWER (v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe's mother admonished him not
to ruin his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)
4
posed leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)
abate - ANSWER (v.) to reduce, lessen (The rain poured down for a while, then abated.)
abdicate - ANSWER (v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized
that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)
abduct - ANSWER (v.) to kidnap, take by force (The evildoers abducted the fairy princess
from her happy home.)
aberration - ANSWER (n.) something that differs from the norm (In 1918, the Boston Red
Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox
have not won a World Series since.)
abet - ANSWER (v.) to aid, help, encourage (The spy succeeded only because he had a
friend on the inside to abet him.)
abhor - ANSWER (v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the
head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)
abide - ANSWER 1. (v.) to put up with (Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck
decided to abide by it.) 2. (v.) to remain (Despite the beating they've taken from the weather
throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)
abject - ANSWER (adj.) wretched, pitiful (After losing all her money, falling into a puddle,
and breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)
1
,abjure - ANSWER (v.) to reject, renounce (To prove his honesty, the President abjured the
evil policies of his wicked predecessor.)
abnegation - ANSWER (n.) denial of comfort to oneself (The holy man slept on the floor,
took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)
abort - ANSWER (v.) to give up on a half-finished project or effort (After they ran out of
food, the men, attempting to jump rope around the world, had to abort and go home.)
abridge - ANSWER 1. (v.) to cut down, shorten (The publisher thought the dictionary was
too long and abridged it.) 2. (adj.) shortened (Moby-Dick is such a long book that even the
abridged version is longer than most normal books.)
abrogate - ANSWER (v.) to abolish, usually by authority (The Bill of Rights assures that the
government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.)
abscond - ANSWER (v.) to sneak away and hide (In the confusion, the super-spy ab-
sconded into the night with the secret plans.)
absolution - ANSWER (n.) freedom from blame, guilt, sin (Once all the facts were known,
the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)
abstain - ANSWER (v.) to freely choose not to commit an action (Everyone demanded
that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)
abstruse - ANSWER (adj.) hard to comprehend (Everyone else in the class understood ge-
ometry easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)
2
,accede - ANSWER (v.) to agree (When the class asked the teacher whether they could
play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded
to their request.)
accentuate - ANSWER (v.) to stress, highlight (Psychologists agree that those people who
are happiest accentuate the positive in life.)
accessible - ANSWER (adj.) obtainable, reachable (After studying with SparkNotes and
getting a great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an Ivy-
League college was accessible.)
acclaim - ANSWER (n.) high praise (Greg's excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)
accolade (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to Sam after he
won the Noble Prize.)
accolade - ANSWER (n.) high praise, special distinction (Everyone offered accolades to
Sam after he won the Noble Prize.)
accommodating - ANSWER (adj.) helpful, obliging, polite (Though the apartment was not
big enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends and were accom-
modating to each other.)
accord - ANSWER (n.) an agreement (After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally
came to a mutually beneficial accord about fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)
accost - ANSWER (v.) to confront verbally (Though Antoinette was normally quite calm,
when the waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and ac-
costed the man.)
accretion - ANSWER (n.) slow growth in size or amount (Stalactites are formed by the ac-
cretion of minerals from the roofs of caves.)
3
, acerbic - ANSWER (adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and
began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)
acquiesce - ANSWER (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay
outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner,
he acquiesced to her demands.)
acrimony - ANSWER (n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever
come between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their
friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)
acumen - ANSWER (n.) keen insight (Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able
to figure out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)
acute - ANSWER 1. (adj.) sharp, severe (Arnold could not walk because the pain in his
foot was so acute.) 2. (adj.) having keen insight (Because she was so acute, Libby instantly
figured out how the magician pulled off his "magic.")
adamant - ANSWER (adj.) impervious, immovable, unyielding (Though public pressure
was intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)
adept - ANSWER (adj.) extremely skilled (Tarzan was adept at jumping from tree to tree
like a monkey.)
adhere - ANSWER 1. (n.) to stick to something (We adhered the poster to the wall with
tape.) 2. (n.) to follow devoutly (He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)
admonish - ANSWER (v.) to caution, criticize, reprove (Joe's mother admonished him not
to ruin his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)
4
