abrogate
1 use
There were strict laws protecting card privacy but laws had a bad habit of being ignored or abrogated when societal push came to totalitarian shove.†
abrogated = formally abolished (did away with)
Definition
Generally abrogate means:to abolish (do away with) something
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 5 |
antediluvian
2 uses
He listened to the antediluvian night sounds rising from the swamps and he thought about morning, about setting out in the Vikken EMV at first light, about spending the day in sunshine, about hunting big game in the fern forests to the south and then returning to the ship in the evening for a good steak and a cold beer.†
antediluvian = very old; or relating to the period before the biblical flood
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Pro. |
aphorism
2 uses
The person questioned smiles beatifically and responds in some non sequitur that would make the babble of the Web's worst village idiot seem like sage aphorisms in comparison.†
aphorisms = short sayings intended to impart wisdom
Definition
Generally aphorism means:a short saying intended to impart wisdom
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
arable
1 use
Four centuries of terra-forming had made the atmosphere breathable and a few million acres of land arable.†
arable = capable of being farmed productively
Definition
Generally arable means:of land: capable of being farmed productively
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 4 |
arbiter
1 use
Our Church is the final arbiter of spiritual salvation.†
arbiter = someone who settles disputes
Definition
Generally arbiter means:someone who settles disputes — often because of reputation
or:
someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue
or:
someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 4 |
ascetic
1 use
Tall, thin, ascetic, with white hair receding from a noble brow and eyes too filled with the sharp edge "of experience to hide their pain, Paul Dur was a follower of St Tellhard as well as an archaeologist, ethnologist, and eminent Jesuit theologian.†
ascetic = someone who practices self-denial; or something that is severely plain
Definition
Generally ascetic means:someone who practices self-denial (often to encourage spiritual growth); or relating to such self-denial
or:
severely plain (without decoration)
or:
severely plain (without decoration)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
beatific
2 uses
The person questioned smiles beatifically and responds in some non sequitur that would make the babble of the Web's worst village idiot seem like sage aphorisms in comparison.†
beatifically = in a manner that expresses or produces a calm joy
Definition
Generally beatific means:expressing or producing a calm joy — especially from a holy source
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
beguile
2 uses
The future of the Church depended upon my survival and l had thrown both away by beguiling myself into believing that the Bikura were dull, harmless children.†
beguiling = charming or enchanting; or deceiving through charm
Definition
Generally beguile means:to charm, enchant, or entertain someone; or to deceive — especially through charm
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
capitalize
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
capitalize on our strength
Gladstone explained to me how the Hegemony planned to capitalize on that obsession.†
capitalize on = get advantage from
Definition
Generally this sense of capitalize means:benefit from an advantage
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
| 1st use | Part 6 |
cessation
1 use
When I opened my eyes, more of the Bikura had arrived... There was a cessation of movement, as if a quorum had been filled, a decision reached.†
cessation = a stopping
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
consonant
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
consonant or vowel?
A hooded figure stood in the doorway and for a second the Consul thought it was Het Masteen, but then he realized that this man was much shorter, his voice not accented with the stilted Templar consonants.†
consonants = letters of the alphabet (or a speech sounds) that are not a vowels
Definition
Generally this sense of consonant means:a letter of the alphabet (or a speech sound) that is not a vowel
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2 |
contiguous
2 uses
Urine is conducted through a primitive urethra terminating in a small chamber contiguous with the anus-a sort of crude cloaca.†
contiguous = with a common boundary; or very close in space or time
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
corpulent
1 use
I have no doubt that this is one Bikura who will tend toward corpulence in coming years, swelling and ripening like some obscene E coli cell in a petri dish.†
corpulence = having excessive body fat
Definition
Generally corpulent means:with excessive body fat
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 1 |
dissemble
1 use
"Let us not trivialize or dissemble," he said.†
dissemble = hide or disguise the truth without outright lying
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 4 |
doleful
1 use
King Billy nodded dolefully.†
dolefully = in a manner that is full of sadness
Definition
Generally doleful means:expressing or causing sadness
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3 |
edify
1 use
I just thought it might be entertaining-as well as edifying and enlightening-if at some point we exchanged lists of all the locations at which we have either robbed or been robbed.†
edifying = instructive
Definition
Generally edify means:to instruct — morally or intellectually
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2 |
egress
1 use
Every FORCE:space shuttle carried some sort of atmospheric egress device-it was a custom dating back almost eight centuries to when the entire realm of space flight consisted only of tentative excursions just above the skin of Old Earth's atmosphere.†
egress = exit (departure from)
Definition
Generally egress means:to exit
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 2 |
epitaph
1 use
He told of the hemorrhages in the night, of Dr Clark bleeding him and prescribing "exercise and good air," and of the ultimate religious and personal despair which had led Keats to demand his own epitaph be carved in stone as: "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water."†
epitaph = a short text in memory of a dead person
Definition
Generally epitaph means:a short text in memory of a dead person — especially text written on a tombstone
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 5 |
expiate
1 use
It was not as if I had a choice; more like the dying beauty all about breathed its last breath in me and commanded that I be doomed to play with words the rest of my days, as if in expiation for our race's thoughtless slaughter of its crib world.†
expiation = atonement (a way of demonstrating sorrow for a wrong either by doing something good in return for the wrong, or by accepting punishment)
(editor's note: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.)
(editor's note: The suffix "-tion", converts a verb into a noun that denotes the action or result of the verb. Typically, there is a slight change in the ending of the root verb, as in action, education, and observation.)
Definition
Generally expiate means:atone (demonstrate sorrow for a wrong either by doing something good to make up for the wrong, or accepting punishment)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 3 |
nexus
4 uses
Not so much as a diskey or C-spot nexus.†
nexus = an important connection; or a place where things connect or come together
Word Statistics
| Book | 4 uses |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
| 1st use | Part 4 |