a. capable of igniting and burning; easily aroused or excited
E.g. After the recent outbreak of fires in private homes, the fire commissioner ordered that all combustible materials be kept in safe containers.
a. pleasing or attractive to the eye; handsome; graceful
E.g. I would rather have a poor and comely wife than a rich and homely one.
n. first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginning; start
E.g. Yes, commencement is supposed to be a pleasant day.
a. of the same size, extent, or duration as another
E.g. Your reward will be commensurate with your effort.
v. feel or express pity or sympathy for
E.g. Her friends commiserate with the widow.
v. force; coerce; necessitate or pressure by force
E.g. Why, Jane, what would you have? I fear you will compel me to go through a private marriage ceremony.
v. put together or compose from materials gathered from several sources
E.g. We planned to compile a list of the words most frequently used on these examinations.
n. feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble
E.g. Your vague assurances are as meaningless as your obvious complacency.
a. yielding to request or desire; ready to accommodate; disposed or willing to comply
E.g. Because Joel usually gave in and went along with whatever his friends desired, his mother worried that he might be too compliant.
n. mental calmness; calm or tranquil state of mind
E.g. Even the latest work crisis failed to shake her composure.
n. device that produces pressure, such as a gas compressor that produces pressurized gas; anything which serves to compress
E.g. It maybe prudent to review the air conditioning compressor runtime log and preventive maintain schedule to find out what caused the failure.
a. mandatory; obligatory; required by rule
E.g. In 2004 Britain introduced a compulsory citizenship ceremony which required new citizens to take a broader oath promising to respect Britain's rights, freedoms and laws.
n. composition for orchestra and a soloist
E.g. Sara Davis Buechner has one of the widest concerto repertoires of any major pianist appearing before the public today.
a. brief and compact; expressing much in few words
E.g. When you define a new word, be concise: the shorter the definition, the easier it is to remember.
v. digest; convert into nourishment by the organs of nutrition.
E.g. It really does make you look rather stupid and like you're trying to concoct something where nothing exists.
n. agreement of opinions; harmonious state of things
E.g. The sisters are now in concord about the car they had to share.
n. blame
E.g. These kinds of cases are formally called regulatory takings or inverse condemnation cases.
v. stoop or descend; let one's self down; submit; waive the privilege of rank or dignity
E.g. You continue to condescend without addressing the main points.
n. seasoning; something used to give relish to food; something used to enhance the flavor of food, as salt or pepper
E.g. Indians rarely if ever use this condiment, which is so essential to the civilized white.
n. expression of sympathy with another in sorrow or grief.
E.g. The FBI has seized a two-page, handwritten letter of condolence sent by Jacqueline Kennedy to the widow of Robert F. Kennedy shortly after he was assassinated in 1968.
n. arrangement of parts or elements; outline
E.g. The outcome depends on the configuration of influences at the time.
n. act of two things flowing together; junction or meeting place where two things meet
E.g. At the political meeting, while planning a demonstration, there was a moving confluence of ideas between members.
a. compatible
E.g. Thus ideas already in consciousness always repel the entry uncompatible idea and make entry of the congenial idea.
a. present at birth; inborn; innate
E.g. A congenital heart defect is a problem with the structure of the heart.
n. act of gathering or heaping together or forming a mass
E.g. International contractors started tunneling under this city of fifteen million to help relieve horrendous congestion.
v. believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
E.g. I can now conjecture readily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood, a gleam from a lantern carried by someone across the lawn.
n. specialist; person with expert knowledge or training, especially in the fine arts
E.g. A literature professor by training and a self-taught art connoisseur, Charles Ryskamp served three decades as director first of the Pierpont Morgan Library.
n. greenhouse; school of music or dramatic art
E.g. Even though he was not conservatory trained, his passion for music took him to the point where eventually he was considered one of the best guitar accompanist in Cuba.
v. make solid; unite or press together into a compact mass; harden or make dense and firm
E.g. He bribes his leader to consolidate his position.
n. one who engages in a conspiracy; plotter
E.g. That conspirator was accused of conspiracy to murder.
v. make a secret agreement, to do some act, as to commit treason or a crime, or to do some unlawful deed; plot together
E.g. A group of men were charged to conspire against the duly elected government.
n. component or part; citizen, voter
E.g. A machine will not function properly if any constituent of it is defective.
a. worthy of contempt; deserving of scorn or disdain; mean
E.g. It's a contemptible trick to play on a friend!
n. competing as for profit or prize
E.g. The teams were in fierce contention for first place.
v. form by an exercise of ingenuity; devise; invent; design
E.g. Can you contrive to escape here early?
a. artificially formal; obviously planned or calculated; not natural
E.g. That kind of contrived writing is usually done when someone is weaseling or lying.
v. approach; tend to meet; come together
E.g. African-American men from all over the United States will converge on Washington to take part in the historic Million Men march.
a. coiled around; highly involved; intricate
E.g. His argument was so convoluted that few of us could follow it intelligently.
n. line around an area to enclose or guard it
E.g. The police cordon was so tight that the criminals could not leave the area.
n. goat's horn overflowing with fruit and grain; symbol of abundance
E.g. The encyclopedia salesman claimed the new edition was a veritable cornucopia of information, an inexhaustible source of knowledge for the entire family.