Barron's 3,500 Word List ~The Definitive List~ (Word List 02)

"adulation n. flattery; admiration. The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes-men. Adulate, v. "

"adulterate v. make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances. It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer; when consumers learned that Beechnut had adulterated its apple juice by mixing the juice with water, they protested vigorously, adulteration, n. "

advent n. arrival. Most Americans were unaware of the advent of the Nuclear Age until the news of Hiroshima reached them.

adventitious adj. accidental; casual. She found this adventitious meeting with her friend extremely fortunate.

"adversary n. opponent; enemy. Batman struggled to save Gotham City from the machinations of his wicked adversary, the Joker. "

adverse adj. unfavorable; hostile. The recession had a highly adverse effect on Father's investment portfolio: he lost so much money that he could no longer afford the butler and the upstairs maid.

adversity n. poverty; misfortune. We must learn to meet adversity gracefully.

"advert v. refer (to). Since you advert to this matter so frequently, you must regard it as important. "

advocacy n. support; active pleading on behalf of someone or something. No threats could dissuade Bishop Desmond Tutu from his advocacy of the human rights of black South Africans.

"advocate v. urge; plead for. The abolitionists advocated freedom for the slaves, also n. "

"aegis N. shield; defense. Under the aegis of the Bill of Rights, we enjoy our most treasured freedoms. "

"aerie n. nest of a large bird of prey (eagle, hawk). The mother eagle swooped down on the rabbit and bore it off to her aerie high in the Rocky Mountains. "

"aesthetic adj. artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful. The beauty of Tiffany's stained glass appealed to Alice's aesthetic sense. Aesthete, n. "

"affable adj. easily approachable; warmly friendly. Accustomed to cold, aloof supervisors, Nicholas was amazed at how affable his new employer was. Affability, N. "

"affected adj. artificial; pretended; assumed in order to impress. His affected mannerisms—his ""Harvard"" accent, his air of boredom, his use of obscure foreign words—bugged us: he acted as if he thought he was too good for his old high school friends, affectation, n. "

affidavit n. written statement made under oath. The court refused to accept her statement unless she presented it in the form of an affidavit.

affiliation n. joining; associating with. His affiliation with the political party was of short duration for he soon disagreed with his colleagues.

affinity n. kinship. She felt an affinity with all who suffered; their pains were her pains.

affirmation n. positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath. Despite Tom's affirmations of innocence. Aunt Polly still suspected he had eaten the pie.

affix V. attach or add on; fasten. First the registrar had to affix his signature to the license; then he had to affix his official seal.

"affliction n. state of distress; cause of suffering. Even in the midst of her affliction, Elizabeth tried to keep up the spirits of those around her. "

affluence n. abundance; wealth. Foreigners are amazed by the affluence and luxury of the American way of life.

"affront n. insult; offense; intentional act of disrespect. When Mrs. Proudie was not seated beside the Archdeacon at the head table, she took it as a personal affront and refused to speak to her hosts for a week, also v. "

"agape adj. openmouthed. She stared, agape, at the many strange animals in the zoo. "

agenda n. items of business at a meeting. We had so much difficulty agreeing upon an agenda that there was very little time for the meeting.

agglomeration n. collection; heap. It took weeks to assort the agglomeration of miscellaneous items she had collected on her trip.

"aggrandize v. increase or intensify; raise in power, wealth, rank or honor. The history of the past quarter century illustrates how a President may aggrandize his power to act aggressively in international affairs without considering the wishes of Congress. "

"aggregate v. gather; accumulate. Before the Wall Street scandals, dealers in so-called junk bonds managed to aggregate great wealth in short periods of time, also ADJ. aggregation, n. "

"aggressor n. attacker. Before you punish both boys for fighting, see whether you can determine which one was the aggressor. "

aghast adj. horrified; dumbfounded. Miss Manners was aghast at the crude behavior of the fraternity brothers at the annual toga party.

agility n. nimbleness. The agility of the acrobat amazed and thrilled the audience.

agitate v. stir up; disturb. Her fiery remarks agitated the already angry mob.

"agnostic n. one who is skeptical of the existence of a god or any ultimate reality. Agnostics say we can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God; we simply have no way to know, also adj. "

agog adj. highly excited; intensely curious. We were all agog at the news that the celebrated movie star was giving up his career in order to enter a monastery.

"agrarian adj. pertaining to land or its cultivation. As a result of its recent industrialization, the country is gradually losing its agrarian traditions. "

alacrity n. cheerful promptness; eagerness. Phil and Dave were raring to get off to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with alacrity.

"alchemy n. medieval chemistry. The changing of baser metals into gold was the goal of the students of alchemy. Alchemist, n. "

"alcove N. nook; recess. Though their apartment lacked a full-scale dining room, an alcove adjacent to the living room made an adequate breakfast nook for the young couple. "

"alias N. an assumed name. John Smith's alias was Bob Jones, also adv. "

alienate v. make hostile; separate. Her attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith in each other.

"alimentary adj. supplying nourishment. The alimentary canal in our bodies is so named because digestion of foods occurs there. When asked for the name of the digestive tract, Sherlock Holmes replied, ""Alimentary, my dear Watson."" "

"alimony n. payments made to an ex-spouse after divorce. Because Tony had supported Tina through medical school, on their divorce he asked the court to award him $500 a month in alimony. "

allay v. calm; pacify. The crew tried to allay the fears of the passengers by announcing that the fire had been controlled.

"allege v. state without proof. Although it is alleged that she has worked for the enemy, she denies the allegation and, legally, we can take no action against her without proof, allegation, n. "

"allegiance n. loyalty. Not even a term in prison could shake Lech Walesa's allegiance to Solidarity, the Polish trade union he had helped to found. "

"allegory n. story in which characters are used as symbols; fable. Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the temptations and victories of the human soul, allegorical, adj. "

"alleviate v. relieve. This should alleviate the pain; if it does not, we shall have to use stronger drugs. "

"alliteration n. repetition of beginning sound in poetry. ""The furrow followed free"" is an example of alliteration. "

"allocate v. assign. Even though the Red Cross had allocated a large sum for the relief of the sufferers of the disaster, many people perished. "

alloy N. a mixture as of metals. Alloys of gold are used more frequently than the pure metal.

"alloy V. mix; make less pure; lessen or moderate. Our delight at the Mets' victory was alloyed by our concern for AI Laites, who injured his pitching arm in the game. "

allude V. refer indirectly. Try not to mention divorce in Jack's presence because he will think you are alluding to his marital problems with Jill.

"allure v. entice; attract. Allured by the song of the sirens, the helmsman steered the ship toward the reef, also n. "

"allusion n. indirect reference. When Amanda said to the ticket scalper, ""One hundred bucks? What do you want, a pound of flesh?"" she was making an allusion to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. "

alluvial adj. pertaining to soil deposits left by running water. The farmers found the alluvial deposits at the mouth of the river very fertile.

"aloof adj. apart; reserved. Shy by nature, she remained aloof while all the rest conversed. "

aloft ADV. Upward. The sailor climbed aloft into the rigging.

"altercation n. noisy quarrel; heated dispute. In that hot-tempered household, no meal ever came to a peaceful conclusion; the inevitable altercation sometimes even ended in blows. "

"altruistic adj. unselfishly generous; concerned for others. In providing tutorial assistance and college scholarships for hundreds of economically disadvantaged youths, Eugene Lang performed a truly altruistic deed, altruism, n. "

amalgamate v. combine; unite in one body. The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups into one national body.

amass v. collect. The miser's aim is to amass and hoard as much gold as possible.

amazon n. female warrior. Ever since the days of Greek mythology we refer to strong and aggressive women as amazons.

ambidextrous adj. capable of using either hand with equal ease. A switch-hitter in baseball should be naturally ambidextrous.

ambience n. environment; atmosphere. She went to the restaurant not for the food but for the ambience.

"ambiguous adj. unclear or doubtful in meaning. His ambiguous instructions misled us; we did not know which road to take, ambiguity, n. "

"ambivalence n. the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes. Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the ambivalence of her feelings, ambivalent, ADJ. "

"amble n. moving at an easy pace. When she first mounted the horse, she was afraid to urge the animal to go faster than a gentle amble, also v. "

ambrosia n. food of the gods. Ambrosia was supposed to give immortality to any human who ate it.

"ambulatory adj. able to walk; not bedridden. Calvin was a highly ambulatory patient; not only did he refuse to be confined to bed, but also he insisted on riding his skateboard up and down the halls. "

ameliorate v. improve. Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in the slums.

"amenable adj. readily managed or willing to be led; answerable or accountable legally. Although the ambassador was usually amenable to friendly suggestions, he balked when we hinted he should pay his parking tickets. As a foreign diplomat, he claimed he was not amenable to minor local laws. "

"amend v. correct; change, generally for the better. Hoping to amend his condition, he left Vietnam for the United States"