Category: Word of the Day

Definition: (noun) A state of alarm or dread.

Synonyms: apprehension.

Usage: With trepidation, the children approached the haunted house.
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Definition: (verb) To censure strongly.

Synonyms: abrade, condemn, denounce.

Usage: The newspaper printed an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction.
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Definition: (verb) To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility.

Synonyms: cower, cringe, fawn.

Usage: The prisoners groveled before the emperor, hoping that he would commute their sentences.
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity.

Synonyms: overblown, grandiloquent, portentous.

Usage: He read the proclamation aloud in a pompous voice, although nobody was paying attention.
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Definition: (noun) A jumble; a hodgepodge.

Synonyms: patchwork, melange, ragbag.

Usage: Inside the chest, he found a gaudy gallimaufry of old dresses, feathers, and sequins.
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Definition: (noun) An agreement, as between lovers, to meet at a certain time and place.

Synonyms: assignation, rendezvous.

Usage: They tried to keep their weekly meetings a secret, but soon neighbors began to whisper about their trysts.
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Definition: (adjective) Tediously prolonged; tending to speak or write at excessive length.

Synonyms: voluble, wordy.

Usage: She was engaged in editing a prolix manuscript, trying to cut the length by at least a third.
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Definition: (noun) The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits.

Synonyms: abbey, monastery, retreat.

Usage: He spent two years in his hermitage near the lake, pondering the mysteries of the universe.
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Definition: (noun) The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.

Synonyms: ambage, periphrasis, evasion.

Usage: He is long-winded and prone to circumlocution in his public speeches.
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Definition: (noun) A rounded projection, especially an anatomical part.

Synonyms: projection.

Usage: She fastened her earrings, three brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the pierced lobes of her ears.
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