n. sudden flood or strong outburst; sudden heavy fall of rain
E.g. After the spate of angry words that came pouring out of him, Mary was sure they would never be reconciled.
n. ghostly apparition; phantom; haunting or disturbing image or prospect
E.g. The terrible specter of nuclear war is coming to this country.
n. game; play; curling-match; talk
E.g. Her spiel is about relationships and making the best of your relationships.
n. woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying; one whose occupation is to spin
E.g. A high-earning woman might rather be a spinster than marry a high-school drop-out.
a. prickly; barbed; having or covered with protective thorns
E.g. Its mouth is full of low, flat, grinding teeth like the smooth dogfish, but the spiny dogfish also possesses an extra set of small, very sharp teeth.
a. full of dirty water; wet and muddy, so as be easily splashed about; slushy
E.g. On Facebook, big splashy ads appear along the border and in the middle of the pages, pushing content further down the page.
n. something similar to such a cylinder in shape or function; the amount of wire, thread, or string wound on such a cylinder
E.g. We split the ball open with the hatchet, and there was a spool in it.
v. extend; stretch; spread; sit or lie with the body and limbs spread out awkwardly
E.g. When they were well exhausted, they would run out and sprawl on the dry, hot sand.
n. a small shoot or twig of a tree or other plant; spray; a youth; a lad; a brad, or nail without a head
E.g. An olive branch or sprig is located above the Roman numerals, with a bound cluster of three arrows below.
a. lively; brisk; animated; vigorous; airy; gay
E.g. The patient smiled when he heard the sprightly music on the radio.
a. small amount scattered here and there, as if sprinkled; small quantity falling in distinct drops or parts, or coming moderately
E.g. A few years ago, my boyfriend Sean was fined while spinning fire in a deserted open concrete area amidst the sprinkling of light rain.
n. filthy and wretched condition or quality; dirty or neglected state
E.g. Rusted, broken-down cars in its yard, trash piled up on the porch, tar paper peeling from the roof, the shack was the picture of squalor.
v. sway; walk as if unable to control one's movements
E.g. The two drunken men stagger into the room.
a. not moving or flowing; lacking vitality or briskness; stale; dull
E.g. Mosquitoes commonly breed in ponds of stagnant water.
n. deadlock; situation in which further action is blocked
E.g. Negotiations between the union and the employers have reached a stalemate; neither side is willing to budge from previously stated positions.
a. marked by imposing physical strength; firmly built; firm and resolute
E.g. His consistent support of the party has proved that he is a stalwart and loyal member.
n. unit of poem, written or printed as a paragraph
E.g. Do you know the last stanza of the national anthem?
n. spire, also, the tower and spire taken together; the whole of a structure if the roof is of spire form
E.g. Orthodox Christian church often has elaborate steeple.
v. make sterile or unproductive; impoverish, as land; exhaust of fertility.
E.g. Doctors are working round the clock to sterilize those who disobeyed the one child policy.
n. drug that temporarily quickens some vital process; acts to arouse action
E.g. Stimulant drugs are drugs that temporarily increase alertness and awareness.
n. helps something to happen more quickly
E.g. In particular the economists say that the proposed abolition of taxes is not credible as a short term stimulus.
a. stinging; able to sting; giving or spending reluctantly
E.g. I only wish people knew that: then they wouldn't be so stingy about it.
v. specify or arrange in agreement; express demand in agreement; promise in agreement
E.g. Before agreeing to reduce American military forces in Europe, the president would stipulate that NATO inspection teams be allowed to inspect Soviet bases.
n. provision; an agreement made by parties in a judicial proceeding
E.g. The only stipulation is that they can't have internet and bother me.
n. a line of stout posts set firmly in contact with each other to form a barrier, or defensive fortification; enclosure, made with posts and stakes
E.g. The sheep were surrounded by stockade in case a sudden storm.
a. solid; heavy and compact in form
E.g. Challenging the England goalkeeper for the ball, the short and stocky Maradona raised his left arm into the air to fist the ball into the net.
a. dull, unimaginative, and commonplace; old-fashioned; stuffy
E.g. For a young person, Winston seems remarkably stodgy: you'd expect someone his age to show a little more life.
a. indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain
E.g. I wasn't particularly stoic when I had my flu shot; I squealed like a stuck pig.
v. stir up fire; feed plentifully; supply a furnace with fuel
E.g. As a Scout, Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely.
n. person who hides aboard a ship or other conveyance in order to obtain free passage
E.g. Dressed as a dead man in a giant's suit, a 19-year-old stowaway escapes the country in a coffin by keeping alive hope.
n. act of strangling, or the state of being strangled; excessive or abnormal constriction of any kind
E.g. If the strangulation is prolonged, which is something that can happen very quickly, death or serious injury can result.
a. arduous; intense; performed with much energy or force;
E.g. These are the men who fear the strenuous life, who fear the only national life which is really worth leading.
n. act of striving; earnest endeavor; exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts
E.g. Both partners now resent your interference; that's what you get when you fish in the troubled waters of marital strife.
n. man who substitutes for a performer in scenes requiring physical daring or involving physical risk
E.g. Not only are you showing your naivete regarding moviemaking, but you are seriously insulting the brave stuntman who actually performed the feat.
a. astonishing; wonderful; amazing, especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation
E.g. The lads came back and went at their sports again with a will, chattering all the time about Tom's stupendous plan and admiring the genius of it.
n. state of reduced or suspended sensibility; daze; lack of awareness
E.g. In his stupor, the addict was unaware of the events taking place around him.
v. quiet or bring under control by physical force or persuasion; make less intense; tone down
E.g. Cops shouldn't use it to subdue people who are not carrying weapons and present no threat.
a. below threshold of conscious perception, especially if still able to produce a response
E.g. We may not be aware of the subliminal influences that affect our thinking.
a. yielding; inclined or ready to submit
E.g. She sat still, in submissive patience, her cheek pale with the working of a heart too big for that little body.
a. occupying lower rank; inferior; submissive
E.g. Bishop Proudie's wife expected all the subordinate clergy to behave with great deference to the wife of their superior.