anonymous
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
an anonymous, uninteresting house
Middens of anonymous trash.
anonymous = lacking individuality or interesting features
(editor's note: A midden is a pile of trash.)
(editor's note: A midden is a pile of trash.)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 5 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 2000 |
caustic
1 use
In the past when he walked out like that and sat looking over the country lying in just the faintest visible shape where the lost moon tracked the caustic waste he'd sometimes see a light.†
caustic = corrosive or harsh
Definition
Generally caustic means:of a chemical substance: corrosive; capable of destroying or eating away such as a strong acid
or:
of a person: sarcastic, critical, or harsh
or:
of a person: sarcastic, critical, or harsh
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
cease
7 uses
In the night the rain ceased and he woke and lay listening.
ceased = stopped or discontinued
Definition
Generally cease means:to stop or discontinue
Word Statistics
| Book | 7 uses |
| Library | 26 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
coagulate
2 uses
They stood on the far shore of a river... Trekking the dried floor of a mineral sea where it lay cracked and broken like a fallen plate. ...in the coagulate sands.
coagulate = changed from liquid to a solid state
Definition
Generally coagulate means:change from a liquid to a thickened or solid state
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
emaciated
2 uses
He came forward, holding his belt by one hand. The holes in it marked the progress of his emaciation and...
emaciation = becoming unhealthfully thin
(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 emaciated means:very thin — especially from disease or hunger or cold
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 3 uses in 10 avg bks |
facade
1 use
They stood in the yard studying the facade. The handmade brick of the house...
facade = face or visible appearance (in this case, of a house)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 8 uses in 10 avg bks |
grotto
1 use
The burning snakes twisted horribly and some crawled burning across the floor of the grotto to illuminate its darker recesses.
grotto = small cave
Definition
Generally grotto means:a small cave — usually with attractive features
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
immolate
1 use
People sitting on the sidewalk in the dawn half immolate and smoking in their clothes. Like failed sectarian suicides.
immolate = burned as a sacrifice
(editor's note: In this context, sectarian describes the suicides as related to the beliefs of a sect, or a group of people who hold firm beliefs that are not open to question. Sect and sectarian are usually used to describe people who hold firmly to religious beliefs with which other people disagree.)
(editor's note: In this context, sectarian describes the suicides as related to the beliefs of a sect, or a group of people who hold firm beliefs that are not open to question. Sect and sectarian are usually used to describe people who hold firmly to religious beliefs with which other people disagree.)
Definition
Generally immolate means:commit suicide by burning as a protest or sacrifice
or:
offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction
or:
offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
junction
2 uses
He sat studying the twisted matrix of routes in red and black with his finger at the junction where he thought that they might be.
junction = place where roads come together (in this case, two roads on a map)
Definition
Generally junction means:a place where two or more things come together
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 4 uses in 10 avg bks |
loath
1 use
Rich dreams now which he was loath[e] to wake from.
loath = very reluctant
(editor's note: At least one edition of this book has loath misspelled as loathe. They are actually two different words. Loathe means to strongly dislike someone or something.)
(editor's note: At least one edition of this book has loath misspelled as loathe. They are actually two different words. Loathe means to strongly dislike someone or something.)
Definition
Generally loath means:reluctant or unwilling to do something
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
myriad
1 use
Lying under such a myriad of stars.
myriad = a very large number
Definition
Generally myriad means:a very large number — often of things that are not identical
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 4 uses in 10 avg bks |
phalanx
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
a phalanx of riot police
The phalanx following carried spears or lances tasseled with ribbons, the long blades hammered out of trucksprings in some crude forge upcountry.
phalanx = a group standing and moving together — especially an ancient Greek military formation
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 1 use in 10 avg bks |
render
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
rendered interpretation
In the yard was an old iron harrow propped up on piers of stacked brick and someone had wedged between the rails of it a forty gallon castiron cauldron of the kind once used for rendering hogs.
rendering = extracting (in this case, lard from hogs)
Definition
Generally this sense of render means:to portray or create something in a particular way; or to interpret, translate, or extract from
The exact meaning of this sense of render depends upon its context. For example:
- "Each artist will render a different interpretation when painting a portrait." — create in a particular way
- "A Supreme Court judge may render his own interpretation of the Constitution." — interpret in a particular way
- "The computer you are using, rendered this page from software instructions." — created through interpretation
- "A graph is rendered from the underlying data." — made
- "Fat can be rendered (extracted) by cooking meat slowly." — extracted from
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 6 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 1000 |
ruse
1 use
Then he dragged out a mattress and laid it over the hatch and from inside he pulled it up over the plywood and carefully lowered the door so that the mattress covered it completely. It wasn't much of a ruse but it was better than nothing.
ruse = a deceptive maneuver — such as a trick or lie
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 3 uses in 10 avg bks |
skeptical
1 use
They wandered through the rooms like skeptical housebuyers.
skeptical = doubtful (in this case, that the house is of good quality)
Definition
Generally skeptical means:doubtful (that something is true or worthwhile)
or more rarely:
generally tending to doubt what others believe
or more rarely:
generally tending to doubt what others believe
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 14 uses in 10 avg bks |
| SAT®* | top 500 |
stagnant
1 use
A stagnant bilge along the lower bulkhead filled with wet papers and trash.
stagnant = not circulating or flowing
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
translucent
2 uses
The boy's candlecolored skin was all but translucent.
translucent = almost transparent; allowing light to pass through diffusely
(editor's note: He is saying the boy is very pale and you could almost see through his skin.)
(editor's note: He is saying the boy is very pale and you could almost see through his skin.)
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 7 uses in 10 avg bks |
vigilant
2 uses
We have to be vigilant.
vigilant = carefully observant or attentive to possible danger
Definition
Generally vigilant means:carefully observant or attentive — often to possible danger
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 5 uses in 10 avg bks |
visceral
1 use
1 —1 use as in:
visceral muscles
Shapes of dried blood in the stubble grass and gray coils of viscera where the slain had been field-dressed and hauled away.
viscera = internal organs
Definition
Generally this sense of visceral means:relating to or affecting the viscera (internal organs)
Word Statistics
| Book | 1 use |
| Library | 2 uses in 10 avg bks |
wary
2 uses
When he saw them he veered to the side of the road and turned and stood warily.
warily = in a careful or distrustful manner
Definition
Generally wary means:nervous about (or distrustful of) someone or something
Word Statistics
| Book | 2 uses |
| Library | 22 uses in 10 avg bks |