affinity
1 use
Litvinoff had always felt a certain affinity with this friend, and he was anxious to know what he'd been doing the last few years.
affinity = natural attraction or feeling of kinship
Definition
Generally affinity means:a natural attraction or feeling of kinship
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
ardor
1 use
I knew because I heard her play while I stood outside her window, waiting for the secret to her heart to be revealed to me with the same ardor with which I'd...
ardor = feeling of strong enthusiasm
Definition
Generally ardor means:a feeling of strong enthusiasm or love — usually for a person or a cause
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
cardiac
1 use
One said, My wife is sleeping with another man, and the other said, How do you know? and the first said, I don't, I only suspect it, to which the second said, Why do you suspect it? while my heart went into cardiac arrest, It's just a feeling, the first said and I imagined the bullet that would enter my brain, I can't think straight, he said, I've lost my appetite completely.†
cardiac arrest = when the heart stops beating
(editor's note: Cardiac arrest is often used interchangeably with heart attack, but they have different technical meanings. Cardiac arrest usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart and might be treated with a defibrillator or CPR. A heart attack typically occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flowing to the heart.)
(editor's note: Cardiac arrest is often used interchangeably with heart attack, but they have different technical meanings. Cardiac arrest usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart and might be treated with a defibrillator or CPR. A heart attack typically occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flowing to the heart.)
Definition
Generally cardiac means:of or relating to the heart
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
chaos
3 uses
Without her, our lives would dissolve into chaos.
chaos = a state of extreme confusion and disorder
Word Statistics
| Book | 3 uses |
| Library | 26 uses in 10 avg bks |
colleague
5 uses
A few of his colleagues also complimented him.
colleagues = fellow workers
Definition
Generally colleague means:fellow worker — especially in a respected profession such as teaching, medicine, or law
Word Statistics
| Book | 5 uses |
| Library | 21 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
efface
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
efface herself
The tone of her prose, tender and effacing, is colored by the devotion of one who has dedicated her life to another's art.
effacing = making herself inconspicuous or unimportant
Definition
Generally this sense of efface means:to make oneself inconspicuous or unimportant
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 0 uses in 10 avg bks |
empathy
1 use
...the empathy they feel for the Living, so powerful it sometimes makes them weep.
empathy = understanding and entering into another's feelings
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 4 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
emulate
1 use
It's true that they don't have a sense of smell, but angels, in their infinite love for the Living, go around smelling everything in emulation.
emulation = imitation
(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 emulate means:imitate (copy)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
epitaph
1 use
It could be my epitaph.†
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 |
exhaustive
1 use
There, my research was exhaustive.
exhaustive = very thorough or complete
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
genre
1 use
...then tried to reconstruct the history of painting, including schools, styles, genres, and names of painters from...
genres = styles or kinds (of painting—such as impressionism)
Definition
Generally genre means:a style or kind - especially in the arts
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
immigrate
5 uses
My parents had immigrated to Chile from Krakow when I was very young,
immigrated = moved to (a new country)
Definition
Generally immigrate means:come to live in a new country
Word Statistics
| Book | 5 uses |
| Library | 20 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 2000 |
inevitable
1 use
...and only after the danger had passed did I allow my thoughts to unravel to their inevitable end.
inevitable = certain to happen
Definition
Generally inevitable means:certain to happen (even if one tried to prevent it)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 23 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 500 |
intuitive
2 uses
He learned to decipher the meaning of certain silences, which is like solving a tough case without any clues, with only intuition.
intuition = the ability to known instinctively rather than through reasoning
(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 intuitive means:based on feeling or instinct rather than conscious reasoning
or:
easy to understand without training or study
or:
easy to understand without training or study
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 6 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 2000 |
rhetorical question
1 use
To this rhetorical question, his conscience answered with a cold shoulder.†
rhetorical question = a question asked to emphasize a point or to generate interest rather than to get information
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
rigorous
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
we follow a rigorous procedure
crowded on the left by an overweight biography of a minor actress, and on the right by the once-bestselling novel of an author that everyone had since forgotten, it hardly left its spine visible to even the most rigorous browser.
rigorous = thorough and careful
Definition
Generally this sense of rigorous means:thorough and careful procedures
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 2000 |
serene
1 use
And yet, there's a serenity in his face, a sense of something that's survived its own ruin.
serenity = untroubled peacefulness and calm
Definition
Generally serene means:calm and untroubled
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 11 uses in 10 avg bks |
species
14 uses
It also said that an average of seventy-four species of insects, plants, and animals become extinct every day.
species = a similar group of animals or plants
Definition
Generally species means:a group of animals or plants that are similar — typically identified as a group because they can procreate together (reproduce new members of the group)
Word Statistics
| Book | 14 uses |
| Library | 14 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 2000 |
trite
1 use
I ... tried to work on a second letter to Jacob Marcus, but everything I tried to write sounded wrong, or trite, or like a lie.
trite = hackneyed or unoriginal and uninteresting (overly familiar through overuse)
Definition
Generally trite means:lacking impact — typically because it is common or overused
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
white lie
1 use
It wasn't that far so I decided to walk, and while I did I imagined rooms all over the city that housed archives no one has ever heard of, like last words, white lies, and false descendants of Catherine the Great.†
white lies = unimportant lies (especially when told to be polite or helpful)
Definition
Generally white lie means:an unimportant lie (especially one told to be polite or helpful)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |