n. reservoir or water tank; vessel to hold water for household uses
E.g. The farmers were able to withstand the dry season by using rainwater they had stored in an underground cistern.
a. speaking and repeating loud words; full of clamor; calling or demanding loudly or urgently; vociferous; noisy; bawling; loud
E.g. He sprung his secret, but the surprise it occasioned was largely counterfeit and not as clamorous and effusive as it might have been under happier circumstances.
a. loud outcry; loud sustained noise
E.g. And the sneeze of the baby, the shriek of the Gryphon, and all the other queer noises, would change to the confused clamour of the busy farm yard.
n. place, especially a monastery or convent, devoted to religious seclusion; secluded, quiet place
E.g. The nuns lived a secluded life in the cloister.
a. distasteful because excessive; excessively sweet or sentimental
E.g. Disliking the cloying sweetness of standard wedding cakes, Jody and Tom chose to have homemade carrot cake at the reception.
v. cause transformation of liquid into or as if into soft, semisolid, or solid mass
E.g. Even after you remove the pudding from the burner, it will continue to coagulate as it stands; therefore, do not overcook the pudding, lest it become too thick.
v. combine; fuse; grow together; come together so as to form one whole; unite
E.g. Through it all, he tries to cling to a trembling grip on reality, as love and pain coalesce into a shocking.
n. casket, chest, or trunk, especially, one used for keeping money or other valuables
E.g. He put the money in coffer secretly.
n. power of proving or of producing belief; quality of being highly probable or convincing; force; credibility
E.g. Unfortunately, things are not so simple for, although a case can be made out for two existential uses, its cogency is still much disputed.
a. reasonable and convincing; based on evidence; forcefully persuasive
E.g. It was inevitable that David chose to go to Harvard: he had several cogent reasons for doing so, including a full-tuition scholarship.
v. think earnestly or studiously; meditate; ponder; think deeply
E.g. Cogitate on this problem; the solution will come.
a. related by blood; having common ancestor; related or analogous in nature, character, or function
E.g. The English word "mother" is cognate to the Latin word "mater," whose influence is visible in the words "maternal" and "maternity.".
n. bowl-shaped strainer, used to wash or drain foods
E.g. Before serving the spaghetti, place it in a colander to drain it.
v. examine in order to verify authenticity; arrange in order
E.g. They will collate the newly found manuscripts to determine their age.
a. spacious and comfortable; fit; proper; convenient
E.g. After sleeping in small roadside cabins, they found their hotel suite commodious.
a. trying to please; showing cheerful willingness to do favors for others
E.g. The courtier obeyed the king's orders in a complaisant manner.
n. feeling of deep regret; strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt
E.g. The judge was especially severe in his sentencing because he felt that the criminal had shown no compunction for his heinous crime.
n. calculation
E.g. Every time you revisit or reload one of these mathematics computation worksheets, it's all new!
a. hollow; curved like inner surface of sphere
E.g. The back-packers found partial shelter from the storm by huddling against the concave wall of the cliff.
n. overly high self-esteem; feelings of excessive pride
E.g. Although Jack was smug and puffed up with conceit, he was an entertaining companion, always expressing himself in witty turns of phrase.
a. in conjunction with; accompanying; associated with
E.g. These two-sided attributes are known as concomitant characteristics.
a. simultaneous; coincident; occurring or operating at the same time
E.g. The Winter War fought between Finland and the Soviet Union, was a concurrent war to World War II, and thus is covered in its own main article.
n. act of condescending; voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in intercourse with an inferior; courtesy toward inferiors
E.g. The equality between her and me was real; not the mere result of condescension on her par.
v. grieve; express sympathy; speak sympathetically to one in pain, grief, or misfortune
E.g. My hamster died this morning, my friends condole with me and help bury him in the yard.
a. large destructive fire; burning; large-scale military conflict
E.g. After the conflagration had finally died down, the city center was nothing but a mass of blackened embers.
v. assemble; convene; gather
E.g. It's Tuesday afternoon, the time when various bartenders congregate at The Professor's bar to swap cocktail recipes and discuss new products.
a. possessing congruity; suitable; agreeing; corresponding
E.g. I would have definitely given the film more marks were it something more congruent with my tastes.
n. relation or agreement between things; fitness; harmony; correspondence; consistency.
E.g. There must be, in spite of all indifference and hostility of nature to human interests, some congruity of nature with man or life could not exist.
n. any gymnospermous tree or shrub bearing cones
E.g. More than two-thirds of Canada’s forest land consists of conifer forests – cone-bearing and usually evergreen trees that are used for softwood.
v. give, transfer, or deliver in a formal manner, as if by signing over into the possession of another
E.g. Perhaps it would be better to consign it to a place where others may not so readily gain access to it.
n. intense state of fear or dismay; astonishment combined with terror
E.g. One would never think that a hunter would display such consternation when a bear closed to camp.
n. act of the mind in considering with attention; continued attention of the mind to a particular subject; meditation; expectation
E.g. Each morning the priest spent an hour in quiet contemplation.
a. quarrelsome; disagreeable; marked by heated arguments or controversy
E.g. The contentious gentleman in the bar ridiculed anything anyone said.
a. sharing an edge or boundary; touching; neighboring
E.g. The two houses had contiguous yards so the families shared the landscaping expenses.
n. self control; self restraint; partial or complete abstention from sexual activity
E.g. Lucy exhibited impressive continence in steering clear of fattening foods, and she lost 50 pounds.
v. oppose with arguments; attempt to prove to be false or incorrect; contradict
E.g. The witness's testimony was so clear and her reputation for honesty so well-established that the defense attorney decided it was wiser to make no attempt to controvert what she said.
v. recover gradually from an illness
E.g. After her bout with malaria, Tatiana needed to convalesce for a whole month.
a. familiar, as by study or experience; able to converse knowledgeably
E.g. The lawyer is conversant with all the evidence.
a. curving outward; having surface that bulges outward, as the exterior of sphere
E.g. He polished the convex lens of his telescope.
a. festive; occupied with or fond of the pleasures of good company
E.g. The convivial celebrators of the victory sang their college songs.