Y98 Radio

DEFINITION: (noun) A song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. SYNONYMS: coronach, dirge, requiem, threnody. USAGE: And when the Duke's wife died Chaucer wrote a lament which is called the Dethe of Blaunche the Duchess, or sometimes the Book of the Duchess.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Deserving blame or censure as being wrong or evil or injurious. SYNONYMS: blameworthy, censurable, culpable. USAGE: You are aware that I am no way blamable in this matter.

DEFINITION: (noun) Desecration, profanation, misuse, or theft of something sacred. SYNONYMS: blasphemy, desecration, profanation. USAGE: I entreat you, if you be a Christian gentleman, not to kill me, which will be committing grave sacrilege, for I am a licentiate and I hold first orders.

DEFINITION: (noun) An object or a source of fear, dread, or harassment. SYNONYMS: bugbear. USAGE: But this encompassment of her own characterization...was a sorry and mistaken creation of Tess's fancy--a cloud of moral hobgoblins by which she was terrified without reason.

DEFINITION: (verb) To speak with involuntary pauses or repetitions. SYNONYMS: bumble, falter, stutter. USAGE: "You--you must think me crazy," stammered Anne, trying to recover her self-possession.

DEFINITION: (noun) A person of no influence. SYNONYMS: nobody, nonentity. USAGE: He was a cipher in the estimation of the public, and nobody attached any importance to what he thought or did.

DEFINITION: (verb) Move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position. SYNONYMS: cuddle, draw close, nest, nestle, snuggle. USAGE: We nuzzled against each other to keep warm and quickly fell asleep.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Harsh or corrosive in tone. SYNONYMS: acid, blistering, caustic, vitriolic, sulphurous, acrid, acerbic, bitter, virulent. USAGE: Her sulfurous denunciation of the governor was aired on the news that evening.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Marked by pompousness; pretentiously weighty. SYNONYMS: overblown, pompous, grandiloquent, pontifical. USAGE: His hands, large and coarse, were plentifully bedecked with rings; and he wore a heavy gold watch-chain, with a bundle of seals of portentous size, and a great variety of colors, attached to it.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Turned or twisted toward one side. SYNONYMS: askew, awry, lopsided, skew-whiff, wonky. USAGE: He noticed that his tie was cockeyed and made sure to straighten it before meeting with the company executives.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Nervous and unable to relax. SYNONYMS: fidgety, fretful, itchy. USAGE: The long wait made the children antsy.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Spoken, carried out, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought. SYNONYMS: ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, impromptu, off-the-cuff, offhand, offhanded, unrehearsed. USAGE: The class performed an extempore skit that condensed the complex plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet into a single, 15-minute act.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Lax in attending to duty. SYNONYMS: delinquent, derelict, neglectful. USAGE: I had been remiss in the fulfillment of my obligations and failed to pay my bills on time, so my landlord evicted me.

DEFINITION: (verb) To turn aside from a course, direction, or purpose. SYNONYMS: curve, cut, sheer, slew, slue, swerve, trend. USAGE: The car veered sharply to the left at the intersection and narrowly missed hitting a pedestrian.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Not having the qualities associated with active, living organisms. SYNONYMS: pulseless, breathless. USAGE: I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.

DEFINITION: (noun) A light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards. SYNONYMS: leaping, bounce, bound, spring. USAGE: The kangaroo's effortless saltation was balletic and graceful.

DEFINITION: (adjective) Only superficially relevant; divergent. SYNONYMS: digressive. USAGE: His tangential anecdotes added much-needed humor to the talk, though some found the digressions tiresome.

DEFINITION: (noun) A warning or an intimation of something imminent, especially of impending danger. SYNONYMS: admonition, warning, word of advice. USAGE: Verily, all too well do I understand the dream's portent and monition.

DEFINITION: (noun) Amends or reparation made for an injury or wrong. SYNONYMS: expiation, satisfaction. USAGE: But Adam could receive no amends; his suffering could not be cancelled; his respect and affection could not be recovered by any prompt deeds of atonement.

DEFINITION: (verb) To be pervaded by something unpleasant. SYNONYMS: smack, smell. USAGE: His speeches reek of sarcasm.