Category: Word of the Day

Definition: (adjective) Likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease.

Synonyms: pestiferous, plaguey.

Usage: I have a notion, and more than a notion, that I shall never pass back alive through these pestilential swamps.

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Definition: (adjective) Attracting and holding interest as if by a spell.

Synonyms: mesmeric, mesmerizing, spellbinding.

Usage: For a moment she tore her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and breathed a last prayer to her God.

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Definition: (adjective) Without precedent; unparalleled.

Synonyms: new.

Usage: It was a time of unexampled prosperity, and the once poor family was able to move to a lovely mansion in an affluent neighborhood.

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Definition: (noun) A going or being beyond what is needed, desired, or appropriate.

Synonyms: overmuch, overmuchness, superabundance.

Usage: Four-year-olds have an overabundance of energy and quickly exhaust even the most active, fit adults.

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Definition: (adjective) Not suitable to your tastes or needs.

Synonyms: incompatible.

Usage: I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own.

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Definition: (adverb) From that place; from there.

Synonyms: therefrom.

Usage: The train went south into Switzerland and thence on to Italy

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Definition: (adjective) Accompanied by bloodshed.

Synonyms: butcherly, gory, slaughterous.

Usage: A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore.

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Definition: (noun) A state of agitation or turbulent change or development.

Synonyms: agitation, fermentation, tempestuousness, unrest.

Usage: In 1789 a ferment arises in Paris; it grows, spreads, and is expressed by a movement of peoples from west to east.

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Definition: (adjective) Sharp or biting, as in character or expression.

Synonyms: blistering, caustic, acid, vitriolic, acerb, acrid, sulfurous, virulent, bitter.

Usage: The comedienne’s acerbic wit drew laughs from the crowd, though some found her jokes offensive.

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Definition: (verb) Range or extend over; occupy a certain area.

Synonyms: range.

Usage: With his car straddling two lanes of traffic and with fifteen police cruisers in hot pursuit, the out-of-control driver sped down the highway.

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