Practice Words for the SAT

SAT-Practice Words

3/31/2001: e -

3/30/2001: e -

3/29/2001: evanescent - fleeting - "As they parted for the night, Elmer decided that he would sleep on his idea of letting Bugs take over the garden, to make sure that this wasn't just an evanescent whim."

3/28/2001: raze - destroy completely - "I raise vegetables,' he thought. 'Bugs'll raze 'em!' And he laughed inwardly at this own joke.'"

3/27/2001: desiccated - to dry up - "Boy, if the vegetables had gotten dehydrated with Elmer caring for them, they'd be positively desiccated with Bugs' running the trolley."

3/26/2001: indolent- lazy - "Bugs would either give up his indolent ways and cultivate his garden, or he wouldn't eat."

3/25/2001: trifling - trivial, unimportant - "The more Elmer thought about that idea, the more he liked it. He could keep a trifling portion of it for himself, and let Bugs have the rest."

3/24/2001: bequeath - leave to someone by will, hand down - "He decided that he might as well bequeath his garden to Bugs. It was probably going to work out that way whether he intended it or not."

3/23/2001: dehydrated - to dry out - "Elmer noticed that some of the peas were looking a little dehydrated. He made a mental note to water them in the morning."

3/22/2001: corrugated - wrinkled, ridged - "By that time, they'd crossed row after corrugated row and were at Elmer's end of the garden."

3/21/2001: elegy - " ...in elegiac phrases--their empathy, their keen minds, their good taste, and their dedication to their animal friends as well as to humanity."

3/20/2001: eulogy - an expression of praise, often given at a funeral - "Bugs proceeded to eulogize the animal-rights activists... "

3/19/2001: idiocyncrasy - individual trait, eccentricity - "The story began to make a little more sense. Obviously, Bugs' election had pivoted upon the animal-rights idiosyncrasies of its voters."

3/18/2001: labyrinth - a maze (Originally, King Knossus' Cretan maze in which Theseus sought and slew the Minotaur.) - "Bugs proceeded to describe the labyrinthine political machinations that had permitted his successful election. It had all hinged, he said, upon the swing votes cast by animal-rights activists."

3/17/2001: lurid - wild, sensational, graphic - "Bugs must have been reading Elmer's mind. He began to analyze the election in minute and lurid detail."

3/16/2001: confluence - flowing together, crowd - "Elmer found himself wondering what confluence of interests would impel the voters of Looney Tunes County to elect a six-foot-tall rabbit as game warden."

3/15/2001: antediluvian - "before the deluge", from way, way back - "And then, he brightened. After all, nothing was about to change. He'd been supporting Bugs as surely in the antediluvian era before Bugs became Acting Game Warden as he had afterward."

3/14/2001: despondent - depressed, gloomy - "and, thinking about supporting Bugs until the next election and being even then unsure whether Bugs would lose, Elmer was becoming despondent."

3/13/2001: mercenary - interested in money or gain - "Meanwhile, responding to every mercenary voice within him,... "

3/12/2001: eclectic - composed of elements drawn from disparate sources - "As they walked and talked, he pulled up a carrot here and a beet there, punctuated with snap beans and snow peas--all part of his eclectic leporine diet."

3/11/2001: luxuriant - abundant, rich and splendid - "Bugs was obviously still luxuriating in his victory."

3/10/2001: meander - wind or turn in its course - "They began to meander down the garden.

3/9/2001: virtuoso - highly skilled artist - "He must have given a virtuoso performance. Bugs brightened, and looked very pleased over Elmer's kudos."

3/8/2001: viable - practical workable, capable of maintaining life - "Elmer decided that the only viable strategy was to grin and bear it. 'Well, congwatuwations, Bugs. I guess the best man--er... wabbit won.'"

3/7/2001: virulent - extremely poisonous, hostile, bitter - "He wondered if Bugs could detect the virulence he felt."

3/6/2001: rant - rave, scold, make a grandiloquent speech - "He felt like ranting and raving, but of course, that would only make matters worse."

3/5/2001: acrid - sharp, bitterly pungent - "But elect him they had, leaving Elmer to savor the acrid taste of defeat."

3/4/2001: pariah - social outcast - "How could the people of Looney Tunes County elect that lazy, shiftless pariah, Bugs Bunny, to any kind of office?"

3/3/2001: unprecedented - novel, unparalleled - "Elmer couldn't believe his big ears. Talk about unprecedented!"

3/2/2001: steadfast - loyal, unswerving - "'Now that the good citizens of this county have chosen me as their official game warden, I guess I'm going to do my steadfast duty,' quoth Bugs."

3/1/2001: parody - spoof, takeoff, travesty - "Bugs looked at him quizzically. 'What am I going to do now that I'm no longer Acting Game Warden?' Elmer had the feeling Bugs' question was a parody of what Elmer had just asked him."

2/28/2001: circumlocution - literally "talking" (locution) "around" (circum) - "After a few minutes of polite circumlocution, Elmer got around to asking Bugs what he planned to do, now that he was no longer the Acting Game Warden."

2/27/2001: resplendent - dazzling, gorgeous, brilliant - "That night, who should show up but Bugs, resplendent in his game warden's uniform."

2/26/2001: adversity - poverty, misfortune - "Elmer didn't see Bugs all day. He figured Bugs was embarrassed about his adverse showings in the election."

2/25/2001: penury - severe poverty, stinginess - "Wednesday. Election Day. The day that Bugs Bunny, who made a caweer out of penuwy and mooching, would be waughed out of the county ewection for game warden. Imagine having a wabbit for a game warden!"

2/24/2001: rescind - cancel - "Elmer decided to let it slide. Once Wednesday came and Bugs was no longer the Acting Game Warden, Elmer could wescind his agweement to supply that dwatted, wazy wabbit with half of Elmer's wegetable garden."

2/23/2001: arable - fit for growing crops - "There was no way that wascawy wabbit could have gotten past his intrusion detectors to his arable land to pull up cawwots or potatoes... was there?"

2/22/2001: stupefy - make numb, stun, amaze - "Saturday morning, Elmer noticed that there seemed to be a potato missing her and a carrot top missing there. He was stupefied.

2/21/2001: coalesce - combine, fuse - "Wednesday came and went, and the days coalesced into a week without incident--until Saturday morning."

2/20/2001: foolhardy - rash - "The next few days passed without incident. Surely, Bugs wouldn't be so foolhardy as to attempt to sneak into the garden now that all the sensors were facing outward!"

2/19/2001: cliche - phrase dulled in meaning by repetition - "Later, that morning, Bugs came by with his wheelbarrow. They talked in cliches, about the weather, the economy, and ballgames. Not a word was said about the alarm system."

2/18/2001: emend - correct; correct by a critic - "He got out his stepladder, and emended his alarm system by arranging the sensors so that they all overlapped and pointed outward, covering anyone approaching them from outside the garden."

2/17/2001:buttress - shore up, reinforce - "Obviously, Elmer was going to have to buttress his detection techniques, preferably with some supplemental detection aproach."

2/16/2001: tantamount - equivalent in effect or value - "...but given a six-foot-tall rabbit (pookah), Elmer's conjecture seemed tantamount to a certitude."

2/15/2001: conjecture - surmise, guess - "Of course, strictly speaking that was only a conjecture,"

2/14/2001: certitude - certainty - "Elmer got up on his ladder and took off the alarm's cover. One of the wires was loose, and had sprung up above its terminal. For a moment, Elmer entertained the thought that perhaps the wire had come loose by itself. Then he realized, with the certitude of common sense, that his leporine tenant wouldn't have dared to enter that quadrant of the garden unless he knew that the alarm were turned off. And the only way Bugs could have been confidant about that would be if he had turned off the alarm himself."

2/13/2001: blighted - suffering from a disease, destroyed - "He went back to his house and turned on his alarms. Then carefully skirting his other alarms, he made his way to the blighted section of garden where he suspected foul play. The alarm was as quiet as a husband returning late from a card game."

2/12/2001: fathom - comprehend - "On Saturday morning, when Elmer was strolling around his garden after turning off his alarm system, he noticed several spots where he remembered seeing beet tops or potato plants that were no longer there. With his alarm system on the job, that was unfathomable, unless... unless..."

2/11/2001: aviary - a bird enclosure, e. g., at the zoo - "In the meantime, Elmer was approaching that time of year when his cherries would ripe, and his gardenwould turn into an aviary."

2/10/2001: sedentary - requiring sitting - "..and in two more weeks, the county would elect a permanent game warden. Surely the county's hunters wouldn't vote in a six-foot tall rabbit to serve as their game warden, and the squirrels and raccoons weren't eligible to vote. Maybe then Elmer could quit supporting this dwatted sedentary rabbit and salvage what was left of his vegetable garden."

2/9/2001: quiescent - dormant - "The next few days were a quiescent period in Elmer's life..."

2/8/2001: replete - abundantly supplied - "Replete with his semi-weekly stash of comestibles, Bugs wheeled his (borrowed) barrow toward his burrow."

2/7/2001: buttress - to prop up - "Then, as a final lagniappe, he buttressed Bugs' cuisine with a serving of beets."

2/6/2001: complementary - serving to complete something - "Elmer gave him the usual complement of carrots, potatoes and snap beans."

2/5/2001: spurious - false, counterfeit - "Bugs made another attempt to look drawn and emaciated. It was so spurious that it was amusing."

2/4/2001: illicit - ilegal - "Bright and early Wednesday morning, after his illicit attempt to raid Elmer's garden the previous night, Bugs showed up bright and early with his wheelbarrow."

2/3/2001: pitfall - concealed trap - "It was a lucky thing, Elmer thought thought to himself, that he had set up this pitfall. It was clearly the only standing between what he had and an empty vegetable garden."

2/2/2001: discrepency - difference - "'Well, that was certainly conscientious of you,' said Elmer.Elmer decided he wouldn't press the discrepency between Bugs' noble claim and his cheeks stuffed full of carrots."

2/1/2001: apocryphal - of doubtful origin, made up - "Well, ya' see, Doc, I heard an apocryphal noise out here, and I figured I better make sure no wee creature of the forest was absconding with our veggies."

1/31/2001: anomaly - irregularity - "Well, Mr. Wabbit, this is such an unexpected surpwise! What anomawous circumstances might have wed you into the wange of my waccoon detectors?"

1/30/2001: distend - expand, swell out - "Bugs' hands were empty, but Elmer noticed that his cheeks were distended."

1/29/2001: insolvent - bankrupt, unable to pay one's debts - "When Elmer turned on his lights, he discovered--who else?--his insolvent neighbor, Bugs Bunny standing in his vegetable garden."

1/28/2001: cacophony - discordant, inharmonious - "Tuesday night, Elmer awoke to the cacophonous howl of one of his alarms going off."

1/27/2001: peripheral - marginal, outer - "Several times during the week, Elmer saw Bugs peripherally checking with sidelong glances to see whether Elmer were home."

1/26/2001: laconic - brief and to the point - "Bugs' response was a laconic 'Thanks'."

1/25/2001: voluble - fluent, glin, talkative - "Just as Elmer was finishing his job, who should come strolling up to pass the time of day but B. Bunny. 'Eh-h-h-h--what's up, Doc?' The voluble Elmer explained that inasmuch as Bugs' very survival now depended upon Elmer's vegetable garden, Elmer was taking no chance that raccoons, squirrels, opossums and other wee beasts of field and forest didn't co-opt Bugs' food for themselves."

1/24/2001: strident - loud and harsh, insistent - "That afternoon, Elmer got into his garden with a shovel and installed two tall, concrete-anchored 4 X 4's with strident, motion detectors and battery-powered alarms."

1/23/2001: illicit - illegal - "Elmer reminded himself that he'd probaby have to be on guard against illicit nocturnal raids on his vegetable garden."

1/22/2001: accolade - award of merit - 'Elmer tossed two more carrots into Bugs' wheelbarrow. Then, in a mock accolade, he touched Bugs' shoulder with his trowel and said, "I now dub thee Sir Munch-a-Lot."

1/21/2001: debilitate - weaken, enfeeble - "Elmer placed a little more in the bottom of Bugs' wheelbarrow than he had on Wednesday, since this installment of veggies had to run four days instead of three. 'Uh--Doc--uh, couldja' add a couple more carrots to this? I'm trying to work with you on this, but as you can see, I'm getting a little debilitated from this low-calorie diet.' Bugs looked about as debilitated as a Malibu surfer."

1/20/2001: emaciated - thin and wasted - "Early on Saturday morning, Bugs showed up with his wheelbarrow--his big tin cup--trying to look as emaciated as he could. But it didn't work very well. He looked as well-nourished as a rabbit can be."

1/19/2001: munificent - very generous - "That night, under cover of darkness, the munificent Elmer picked as many vegetables for freezing as he could, so that his mooching tenant couldn't outsneak him."

1/18/2001: edify - instruct, morally correct - "Bugs looked gum. Although Fuddsy's arguments were edifying enough, the paucity of veggies in the bottom of Bugs' wheelbarrow didn't give him a warm feeling. It was going to be a long winter."

1/17/2001: spurn - reject - "Bugs, of course, was in no position to spurn this sensible offer."

1/16/2001: assuage - ease, satisfy - "If you need more wegetables between now and Saturday, just let me know," said Elmer, by way of assuaging his indolent customer. "We want to make sure we have enough food to feed you through the winter.."

1/15/2001: bleak - cold or cheerless - "Elmer saw that Bugs was looking bleakly at the thin scattering of vegetables in the bottom of the wheelbarrow."

1/14/2001: savory - tasty, attractive - "Elmer and Bugs went through Elmer's garden, pulling up a savory potato or carrot here, or picking a few peas or snap beans there, until the bottom of Bugs' wheelbarrow was scattered with vegetables."

1/13/2001: acquiesce - assent, agree without protesting - "The next Wednesday, Bugs showed up with his wheelbarrow. Elmer decided that he would pretend to acquiesce, but he would keep reducing the amount he gave Bugs until Bugs was no longer mooching much off him."

1/12/2001: rancor - bitterness, hatred - " "He'll bring a wheelbawwow, will he?' thought Elmer. 'See what I put into his Wheelbawwow!' But Elmer wisely kept his rancor to himself."

1/11/2001: incidental - not essential, minor - "Well, let's see. How about Saturdays and Wednesdays?" Bugs thought a moment. Then he addedincidentally, "I'll bring the wheelbarrow."

1/10/2001: respite - interval of relief, delay in punishment - "'How often would you like, Mr. Game Warden, sir?' Turning it into a question bought him a short respite."

1/9/2001: avert - prevent, turn away - "Elmer thought fast, seeking some way to avert the looming commitment."

1/8/2001: jocular- said or done in jest - "Fuddsy, this sounds better all the time. How often could I restock my pantry?" Buggs seemed now to be in quite a jocular mood.

1/7/2001: sycophantic - servile flatterer, yes man - "Well, let's see," said the sycophantic Fudd. "There's bwoccowwi and cawwots. Then there's cabbage and spinach. They're both healthy foods. Uh--there's sweet corn. Beets. Beans and peas."

1/6/2001: fallow -plowed but not sown; uncultivated - Bugs rubbed his jaw. "Elmer, old Fudd, you might have a good idea, there. It would be a shame to let this garden lie fallow the rest of the summer. Would you go over with me again just what kinds of healthy, tasty vegetables you have in mind?"

1/5/2001: efface - rub out, blend into the background - "'No, no, Mr. Game Warden, sir,'' said the suddenly-humble, self-effacing Elmer. 'I'm just concerned about what will happen to you if I'm not awound this summer to make sure you get the healthy, tasty vegetables you need to make it thwough the winter."

1/4/2001: mollify - soothe - "Fuddsy, are trying to mollify me with a bribe?"

1/3/2001: glacial - extremely cold - "Elmer lowered his shotgun. For a moment, he stared at the glacial-faced game warden. Then he said, 'Do you wike bwoccowi? There's some bwocowwi in the wast woe over. How about wettuce? Do you wike wettuce? And I know you wike cawwots!'"

1/2/2001: elucidate - explain, enlighten - "Fuddsy, old man, I don't think you've got the big picture here. Maybe I should elucidate. I've been appointed the acting game warden for LooneyTunes County pending the outcome of the election."

1/1/2001: charlatan - quack, pretender to knowledge - "You wascawwy chawatan, you! You're only wunning for county game warden. You can't fool me with that fake uniform."

12/31/2000: conjecture - guess - "Tch, tch, now Fuddsy. Let's not threaten an officer of the law with a popgun. Let's see, now. Reckless endangerment. Threatening the game warden with a lethal weapon. Hunting rabbits out of season. I'm conjecturing that you'll do time for this one, Fuddsy, old boy. Big time."

12/30/2000: stolid -impassive - "only to face the rock-stolid Bugs' olive-green game warden's uniform and his outthrust game warden's badge."

12/29/2000: raucous - disorderly and boisterous - "Elmer jumped as if stung, whirled, and trained his shotgun upon the raucous rabbit.... "

12/28/2000: ebullient - overflowing with enthusiasm - "Wearing his olive-green game warden's uniform, the ebullient Bugs tiptoed up behind the irascible Elmer, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Ny-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah... What's up, Doc?"

12/27/2000: iconoclastic - "But the iconoclastic Bugs had several entrances into his underground elysium."

12/26/2000: obdurate - stubborn - "And an obdurate E. Fudd. hid behind a tree with his shotgun, waiting for a temerarious B. Bunny to return to the scene of the crime."

12/25/2000: deleterious - harmful - "The next time he pokes his head up out of his wabbit hole, it's going to be dewetewious to his health."

12/24/2000: beguile - mislead or delude - "But this time, that wabbit is about to meet his Waterwoo. He won't beguile me again this time or my name isn't Fuddsy-- dwat!--Elmer Fudd."

12/23/2000: dupe - verb.: to con; noun.: someone easily fooled - "That dwatted wabbit has duped me again!. The office he's running for is 'county game warden'!"

12/22/2000: tirade - extended scolding, denunciation, harangue - "Surveying the desecration, Elmer launched into a tiwade--er...tirade ".

12/21/2000: florid -ruddy, reddish, flowery - "It wasn't until the next day that a florid Fudd discovered that some of his vegetables had been liberated from their sessile bedfellows."

12/20/2000: avarice - - "There was no sign of Elmer Fudd. His truck was gone. It wasn't long before avarice overtook trepidation. Bugs helped himself to a week's supply of vegetables out of Elmer's vegetable garden. "I don't think Fuddsy's going to be a fun guy about this,' he thought, as he carried his third armload of munchables back to his pantry."

12/19/2000: trepidation - - "It was two days before Bugs Bunny--pardon me, Senatorial Candidate Bugsworth T. Bunnye--ran out of carrots and emerged with some trepidation from his hole in the ground."

12/18/2000: misanthrope - one who hates mankind - "Bugs Bunny turned and headed for his rabbit hole, saying as he went, "'All right, Doc, if you want to be a misanthrope about it, but you'll be sorry!' And under his breath, he muttered, 'Fuddsy doesn't know that I stuck two carrots down the barrels of his shotgun.'"

12/17/2000: ignominy - deep disgrace, shame or dishonor - "As quick as a frugal bachelor can pocket free hors d'ouvres, the wily Fudd snatched back his shotgun even as Bugs was kissing him on both cheeks. 'As patwiotic as I am,' said Elmer, 'the ignominy of being kissed by a dwatted, wascawwy wabbit is just too much. Now go away before I wegwet my decision and dwill a neat, wound hole in your fwuntispiece.'"

12/16/2000: adulation - - "'Well, uh... uh... Fuddsy, when you put that way... ' Elmer Fudd's adulation was taking its toll on the usually-breezy Bugs Bunny. "I guess us Senatorial candidates have got to appease our constituencies. Put 'er there, neighbor!' And, lacking babies to kiss, the rascally rabbit kissed Elmer on both cheeks."

12/15/2000: deleterious - harmful - "Not at all, Candidate Bunnye. You wouldn't do anything deletewious when the Pwesident of the United States has endorsed you, would you?"

12/14/2000: precarious - uncertain, risky - "'Fuddsy, has it occurred to you that you might be in a precarious position?' said the arrant Bugs, waving Elmer's shotgun in his general direction."

12/13/2000: prattle - babble - "'Of course, Mr. Bunnye, sir,' prattled the beguiled Elmer, handing Bugs his double-barreled shotgun."

12/12/2000: audacious - daring, bold - "My good man, if you would be so kind and patriotic as to deliver your gun into my safekeeping, I shall be most happy to provide you with a receipt for it," said the audacious Bugs.

12/11/2000: assiduous - diligent - "Know all men by these pwesents," intoned the bemused Elmer," that the beawer of this scwoll, the Honorable Bugsworth T. Bunnye, is authowized by the powers vested in me, de wewum Natuwabiwis, e pwuwibus unum, to confiscate all firearms in his juwisdiction. Your assiduous compliance in this matter is weqwested. Signed, The Pwesident of the United States. "

12/10/2000: insuperable - insurmountable, unbeatable - "As quickly as the Infernal Revenue Service can empty your checking account, the insuperable Bugsworth T. Bunnye unfurled another scroll to once again bedazzle the befuddled Fudd."

12/9/2000: irreproachable - blameless, impeccable - "Moving closer, a wide-eyed Elmer Fudd read aloud, 'This is to affirm and assevewate that the beawer of this scwoll, the Honorable and Iwwepwoachable Bugsworth T. Bunnye, is under the personal pwotection of the U. S, Secwet Service as a Senatowial Candidate for the Congwess of the United States. Signed, The Pwesident of the United States of Amewica.' Oh my gwacious, Bugs! I had no idea!"

12/8/2000: ornate - excessively or elaborately decorated - "But working at the blinding speed of gossip, Bugsy suddenly produced an ornate scroll that he unrolled before the very eyes of the befuddled Fudd."

12/7/2000: nefarious - very wicked - "Then E. Fudd was on him in a thrice!
'You dwatted wascawwy wabbit! You won't get away fwum me this time with your nefawious, suwweptitious schemes!'"

12/6/2000: surreptitious - secret, furtive, sneaky - "Posing as Little Red Riding Hood, Bugs Bunny minced surreptitiously past a chivalrous Elmer Fudd--until Bugs' ears popped out."

12/5/2000: prattle - to babble - "...so he prattled on about his opinions about everything and everyone."

12/4/2000: profligate - dissipated, wasteful, wildly immoral - "Aye, lad, that 'ere Mr. Toad was a most profligatefrog, that 'e was!"

12/3/2000: torpor- lethargy, sluggishness, dormancy - "He's so laid back that for him, torpor is a manifestation of edge-of-his-chair excitement."

12/2/2000: surfeit - satiate, overindulge to excess - "Every Christmas season, we're surfeited with a superabundance of food and sweetmeats."

11/30/2000: culpable - deserving blame - "I hold rampant capitalism in general, and the tobacco companies in particular, culpable for inveigling teenagers to start smoking."

11/29/2000: abridge - condense or shorten - "I've restricted my vocabulary building forays to abridged dictionaries."

11/28/2000: soporific - sleep-inducing - "Professor Pringle's lectures were so soporific that even he fell asleep while lecturing in his in his class."

11/27/2000: obdurate - stubborn - "I tried to get him to change his mind and go with us, but that guy's the most obdurate cuss I ever met."

11/26/2000: fell - (1) cruel, deadly; (2) to cut down... e. g., a tree - "Paul Bunyan felled the largest oak with one blow from his mighty axe."

11/25/2000: fitful - spasmodic, intermittent - "I tossed and turned in fitful slumber."

11/24/2000: morose - sullen, melancholy, lugubrious - "Maurice was so morose, we nicknamed him, 'The world's saddest midget'."

11/12/2000: pithy- concise, meaty - "She told him what she thought of him in a few pithy remarks."

1/11/2000: depose- dethrone - "It was Cromwell and his "Roundhead" who first deposed, and then decapitated King Charles I of England."

11/10/2000: indolent - lazy - "He seems to have developed into a playboy, an indolent wastrel."

11/9/2000: falter - hesitate - "Told to dive off the high board, she didn't falter. but dove unflinchingly into the pool."

11/8/2000: precarious - uncertain, risky - "After forgetting their anniversary, his reputation with his wife as a romantic husband was in a precarious state."

11-7-2000: abate - subside, lessen - "We didn't leave until the storm had abated."

11-6-2000: debunk - To expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc., to ridicule - "Experts were quick to debunk Albert Gore's claim to have invented the Internet."

11-5-2000: querulous - whining, complaining - "What could be more querulous than a kvetch?

11-4-2000: perfunctory - superficial, not thorough, lacking interest, care or enthusiasm - "His perfunctory inspection of the premises missed many serious structural problems."

11-3-2000: hackneyed - commonplace, trite - "I always find myself using the same old hackneyed ways of saying things."

11-2-2000: ornate - excessively or elaborately decorated. Their house lay beyond the bounds of clean high fashion. It was overdecorated to the point of being ornate."

11-1-2000: falter - hesitate - "When it came his turn to jump, he didn't falter.

10-31-2000: surreptitious - secret, furtive, sneaky, hidden - "Remaining always downwind, the catamount surreptitiouslycrept up on its prey."

10-30-2000: ignominy - deep disgrace, shame, or dishonor. "Oh, the ignominy of it all. And to think that I was top dog until last December!"

10-29-2000: recant - disclaim, openly confess error - "Those who can are true to their faith; those who can't, recant."

10-28-2000:elicit - to draw out by discussion. "I tried to elicit her opinions in the matter, but to no avail."

10-27-2000: abate - subside, decrease, lessen - "Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.

10-26-2000: obdurate - stubborn, obstinate. "He was obdurate in his unwillingness to work on his problem."

10-25-2000: fitful - spasmodic, intermittent. "He tossed and turned all night in fitful slumber."

10-24-2000: paucity - scarcity. "A paucity of money left him.impecunious"

10-23-2000: misanthrope - "mis-" (against) + "anthro" (man) = manhater: One who hates mankind. "In some quarters, Jonathon Swift is considered a misanthrope."

10-22-2000: parsimony - stinginess, excessive frugality. "As mentioned below, Scoorge wasn't impecunious. The old skinflint was parsimonious."

10-21-2000: threadbare - worn through until the threads show, shabby and poor. "His impecunious state was manifested by his threadbare appearance."

10-20-2000: impecunious: im (not)- pecunia (money) "Though Scrooge claimed to be impecunious, he could easily have afforded to give alms." "..in case any impecunioussuitors come to Cairo to personally press their suit, or whatever fraction of a suit they may be wearing."