ACRIDACRID exhaust fumes from the
traffic inside the tunnel made me cough.
The comedian’s ACRID humor rubs salt into many wounds.
ARIDThe arroyo once had running
water in it, but now it is ARID.ARID air inside the plane dries
my skin.
AESTHETICBetty gets her sense of
AESTHETICS from her mother, who is a successful artist and designer.
There is something AESTHETICALLY wrong with that painting; it pushes you away instead of drawing you in.
ASCETICWhy would anyone claiming to
be an ASCETIC own five wristwatches and a suitcase full of jewelry?
ATHEISTICAlthough James was reared a
strict Catholic, he became an ATHEIST in college.
Communism is ATHEISTIC.
AMBIGUOUSThe author leaves the passage
AMBIGUOUS because he wants you, the reader, to decide what it means.
AMBIVALENTRose feels AMBIVALENT about the
trip. Part of her wants to go; part of her wants to stay home.
AMBIVALENCE paralyzes Penny; she can’t make up her mind about anything.
COALESCEBy the end of the meeting, the
various viewpoints had somehow COALESCED into a coherent policy.
Gravity forced billions of atoms to COALESCE into a single lump of rock.
CONVALESCEA CONVALESCENCE of two
months kept Joe from his job.Grandma is CONVALESCING
from a broken hip.
DELUSIONTo expect to get into Yale with
an 880 SAT score is nothing but a DELUSION.
The story tells of a lowly clerk who has DELUDED himself into thinking he’s the king of Spain.
ALLUSIONAdj. an indirect reference, often
to literature or a source with which an educated person
would be familiar
ALLUSIONThe book is hard to read unless you
understand the author’s ALLUSIONS to Greek and Roman mythology.
She ALLUDED to Jefferson’s penchant for architectural design.