Category: Word of the Day

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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Definition: (noun) A broad, flat-topped elevation with one or more clifflike sides, common in the southwest United States.

Synonyms: table.

Usage: They scaled forest-clad heights until they emerged on a naked mesa.

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Definition: (noun) A new personification of a familiar idea.

Synonyms: avatar, incarnation.

Usage: The State is the visible embodiment of justice under the conditions of human society.

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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by little or inadequate light; shadowy.

Synonyms: twilight, twilit.

Usage: I met him on the road one dusky evening, and he insisted on seeing me safely home.

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Definition: (noun) One praying humbly for something.

Synonyms: petitioner, requester, supplicant.

Usage: “Oh, God!” prayed the kneeling suppliant, “protect my husband, guard my son, and take my wretched life instead!”

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Definition: (verb) Spread or diffuse through.

Synonyms: imbue, permeate, pervade, diffuse, riddle, penetrate.

Usage: Crossing his arms on his chest, as if to control this new sensation of delight, he drank in delicious draughts of that mysterious air which interpenetrates at night the loftiest forests.

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Definition: (adjective) Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one’s situation; self-righteously complacent.

Synonyms: self-satisfied.

Usage: On his face was the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies.

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