a. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
E.g. He distrusted hunches and intuitive flashes; he placed his reliance entirely on empirical data.
v. be a match or counterpart for; eager to equal or excel
E.g. In a brief essay, describe a person you admire, someone whose virtues you would like to emulate.
v. decree; establish by legal and authoritative act; make into a law
E.g. The policy Kentucky needs to enact is one in which prisoners are able to worship the religion they choose.
n. inflammation of the brain, usually caused by a virus
E.g. One in 15 children can develop pneumonia and one in a thousand can develop encephalitis which is a swelling of the brain.
v. charm by sorcery; get control of by magical words and rites
E.g. She used to enchant with the flowers you sent her.
n. place where animals are kept
E.g. Molly made her debut weighing 70kg and was walking around her enclosure within half an hour, said a zoo spokesperson.
n. tender affection; love; act of showing affection
E.g. The gift and endearment cannot make me forget your earlier insolence.
n. hugeness in a bad sense; act of extreme evil or wickedness
E.g. He did not realize the enormity of his crime until he saw what suffering he had caused.
n. flag or banner, especially the national flag, or a banner indicating nationality, carried by a ship or a body of soldiers
E.g. The ensign of the United States is Stars and Stripes.
v. twist or interweave as not to be easily separated; make tangled, confused, and intricate; perplex; bewilder; puzzle
E.g. How did Mary manage to entangle her hair so badly in the brambles?
a. full of initiative; marked by aggressive ambition and energy and initiative
E.g. By coming up with fresh ways to market the company's products, Mike proved himself to be an enterprising businessman.
v. give right to; authorize; furnish with a right or claim to something; designate; give title to
E.g. The coupon should entitle its bearer to a 25 percent savings.
n. study of insects; branch of zoology which treats of insects
E.g. Kent found entomology the most annoying part of his biology course; studying insects bugged him.
v. plead; make earnest request of; ask for earnestly
E.g. She had to entreat her father to let her stay out till midnight.
a. established firmly and securely; rooted
E.g. Illegal logging is a lucrative business that enriches many of the country's most entrenched interests including the army and influential politicians.
v. give over something to another for care, protection, or performance; give as a trust to someone;
E.g. He still has the aura of the priest to whom you would entrust your darkest secrets.
n. any of several complex proteins that are produced by cells and act as catalysts in specific biochemical reactions
E.g. The firm, Mars, had said it would change the whey used in some of its products from a vegetarian source to one with traces of the animal enzyme, rennet.
a. short-lived; enduring a very short time
E.g. The mayfly is an ephemeral creature: its adult life lasts little more than a day.
n. inscription on tombstone in memory
E.g. In his will, he dictated the epitaph he wanted placed on his tombstone.
n. representative or perfect example of a class or type; brief summary, as of a book or article
E.g. Singing "I am the very model of a modern Major-General," in The Pirates of Penzance, Major-General Stanley proclaimed himself the epitome of an officer and a gentleman.
n. particular period of history, especially one considered remarkable
E.g. The glacial epoch lasted for thousands of years.
a. marked by or having equity; just and impartial
E.g. I am seeking an equitable solution to this dispute, one that will be fair and acceptable to both sides.
a. open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead
E.g. Rejecting the candidate's equivocal comments on tax reform, the reporters pressed him to state clearly where he stood on the issue.
v. eat away; wear away by abrasion; become worn
E.g. The film shows how dripping water to erode the limestone until only a thin shell remained.
n. corrosion; a gradual decline of something
E.g. After the accounting scandal there was an erosion of confidence in the auditors.
a. wandering; deviating from an appointed course, or from a direct path; roving; irregular in motion
E.g. The killing of three children, which is called an errant shelling, dramatically escalated the recent flare in violence.
n. outbreak; sudden, often violent outburst
E.g. The Philippine Institute of Seismology has set a level three alert, ranking the situation as critical, with an eruption possible within weeks.
a. hard to understand; known only in a particular group
E.g. The New Yorker short stories often include esoteric allusions to obscure people and events.
n. feeling of great happiness and well-being, sometimes exaggerated
E.g. Delighted with her high scores, sure that the university would accept her, Allison was filled with euphoria.
v. get away from by artifice; escape by dexterity; avoid giving a direct answer to
E.g. The truth that men evade there is that this small planet cannot survive a nuclear exchange.
v. take away a vital or essential part of
E.g. The compromise among the parties had to eviscerate the bill that had been proposed.
a. tending to call up emotions, memories
E.g. Scent can be remarkably evocative: the aroma of pipe tobacco evokes the memory of my father.
v. bring out; arouse; call forth
E.g. You can use highly descriptive and persuasive sentences to evoke a positive response from your reader.
v. increase severity, violence, or bitterness of; aggravate
E.g. The latest bombing would exacerbate England's already existing bitterness against the IRA, causing the prime minister to break off the peace talks abruptly.
a. making severe demands; rigorous; requiring great care, effort, or attention
E.g. Cleaning the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was an exacting task, one that demanded extremely meticulous care on the part of the restorers.
n. act of digging
E.g. There's an interesting excavation going on near Princeton.
v. be superior; distinguish oneself
E.g. She should excel in math.
n. rejection; act of excluding or shutting out
E.g. A recent study showed that up to two million people in France now live in areas blighted by social exclusion, domestic violence and racial discrimination.
n. one who executes or performs; doer
E.g. He was appointed to act as the executor.
n. permission not to do something
E.g. The government had argued that scrapping the exemption would have been deeply unhelpful to Britain and other member states.