Category: Today’s Word

Definition: (adjective) Lacking the usual or necessary number of workers, employees, or assistants. Synonyms: undermanned, understaffed. Usage: Three of our waitresses called in sick today, …

Definition: (noun) A whimsically eccentric person. Synonyms: fruitcake, nut case, screwball, crank. Usage: By wearing a tinfoil hat everywhere he goes, Mr. Williams has earned …

noun: The feeling or the belief that everyone around is out to get you.

Definition: (noun) Semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation. Synonyms: ointment, salve, balm, unction. Usage: The …

adjective: Relating to rocks. For example, living on, carved on, growing on, made of, etc.

Definition: (noun) A person who makes deceitful pretenses. Synonyms: pseudo, role player, sham, pretender, fraud, fake. Usage: I am not a hero to you now, …

adjective: Withering without falling off.

Definition: (noun) The face or facial expression of a person. Synonyms: physiognomy, smiler, kisser, phiz, countenance, mug. Usage: A small bonnet of black silk … …

noun: An abrupt breaking off in the middle of a sentence, as if one is unable or unwilling to proceed.

Definition: (verb) Overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself. Synonyms: binge, glut, gorge, ingurgitate, overeat, overindulge, pig out, scarf out, satiate, stuff. Usage: …

noun: Not growing old, or looking younger than one’s age.

Definition: (adjective) Experiencing or manifesting ecstatic joy or delight. Synonyms: rapt, rhapsodic. Usage: The audience greeted the speaker with rapturous applause. Discuss

Definition: (noun) Desk or stand with a slanted top used to hold a text at the proper height for a lecturer. Synonyms: reading desk. Usage: …

Definition: (noun) A motley assortment of things. Synonyms: farrago, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, melange, mishmash, mingle-mangle, oddments, omnium-gatherum. Usage: The bottom drawer of the teacher's desk contained …

noun: A female assistant, especially in an office, who does a wide variety of duties.

Definition: (noun) The sport of sitting on the back of a horse while controlling its movements. Synonyms: horseback riding. Usage: Arthur and Jennifer debated the …

noun: One who drives slowly, poorly, or overcautiously.

Definition: (adjective) Marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea. Synonyms: fanatical, rabid. Usage: The pop star's overzealous fans climbed …

noun: A depressing Monday.

Definition: (verb) Regret strongly. Synonyms: bewail, deplore, lament. Usage: When he is under the depressing influence of the after-consequences, he bemoans his sufferings and his …

noun: A powerful, devastating blow.

Definition: (adjective) Using or containing too many words. Synonyms: verbose, wordy, tedious, windy. Usage: To say the politician's speech was long-winded would be to utter …

noun: A glum expression or a person with such an expression.

Definition: (adjective) Quickly aroused to anger. Synonyms: hot-tempered, hotheaded, irascible, quick-tempered, short-tempered. Usage: Gordon was a man by nature ill-suited to be a schoolmaster: he …

Definition: (noun) An obsolete firearm with a long barrel. Synonyms: arquebus, hagbut, harquebus. Usage: It is unusual to encounter a hackbut outside of a museum, …

Definition: (adjective) Short and plump. Synonyms: pudgy, tubby, dumpy. Usage: He went about in fear and trembling of the fat roly-poly puppy who was unafraid …

noun: A gloomy, pessimistic person.

Definition: (noun) Someone who assists in a plot. Synonyms: collaborator, partner in crime, confederate. Usage: During the rest of that short and successful strike, Bill …

noun: Extreme optimism, even under most hopeless circumstances.

Definition: (noun) The slender stem that supports the blade of a leaf. Synonyms: leafstalk. Usage: Beth pruned her plants methodically, snipping dead leaves at their …

noun: Someone who is persistently negative and pessimist.

Definition: (noun) A person who inhabits a particular place. Synonyms: denizen, dweller. Usage: The cave's only habitant appeared filthy and unshaven, suggesting that he had …

noun; Someone filled with energy, cheerfulness, and optimism.

Definition: (noun) Someone who makes or repairs watches. Synonyms: watchmaker. Usage: My neighbor, Paula, is an amateur horologist, so she may be able to figure …

noun: An peevish, pessimistic person.

Definition: (noun) The act of detecting something; catching sight of something. Synonyms: catching, detection, spotting, spying. Usage: Laure refused to condescend to an act of …

Definition: (noun) The quality of shining with a bright reflected light. Synonyms: glitter, sparkle, scintillation. Usage: Brian had to shield his eyes from the glister …

Definition: (noun) An agent (as heat or radiation or a chemical) that destroys microorganisms that might carry disease. Synonyms: disinfectant, germicide. Usage: Karen attempts to …

noun: A dolphin rider.

Definition: (adjective) Too obvious to be doubted. Synonyms: veritable, undeniable, indisputable, irrefutable, unquestionable, incontrovertible, unarguable, incontestable. Usage: In the course of the day they saw …