DEFINITION: (verb) Practice sophistry; change the meaning of or be vague about in order to mislead or deceive.
SYNONYMS: pervert, sophisticate, twist.
USAGE: Her lawyer had warned her that the prosecutor would convolute her testimony and use it to implicate her in the crime, but it still shocked her to see him do it so shamelessly.
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DEFINITION: (adjective) Unproductive of success.
SYNONYMS: fruitless, futile, sleeveless, vain.
USAGE: He would like to have done with life and its vanity altogether—so bootless and unsatisfactory the struggle, so cheerless and dreary the prospect seemed to him.
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DEFINITION: (noun) A woman having literary or intellectual interests.
SYNONYMS: bas bleu.
USAGE: Calling me names like bluestocking or nerd will only strengthen my resolve to learn.
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DEFINITION: (adjective) Discontented as toward authority.
SYNONYMS: disaffected, ill-affected, rebellious.
USAGE: The film follows three malcontent teenagers as they gather a following of like-minded peers and wreak havoc with their attempts to buck the system.
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DEFINITION: (adjective) So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness.
SYNONYMS: boring, ho-hum, irksome, tedious, tiresome, wearisome, dull, slow.
USAGE: He envied Joe, down in the village,… fantastically and gloriously drunk and forgetful of Monday morning and the week of deadening toil to come.
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DEFINITION: (adjective) Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments.
SYNONYMS: menacing, ominous, sinister, baleful, forbidding.
USAGE: Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened and minatory look.
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DEFINITION: (noun) An exclusive circle of people with a common purpose.
SYNONYMS: clique, ingroup, camp, pack.
USAGE: This little coterie of friends was composed of seven famous men, who possessed many talents in common, being poets and musicians, alchemists, philosophers, and mostly hard drinkers as well.
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Tagged coterie
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DEFINITION: (noun) A negotiator who acts as a link between parties.
SYNONYMS: intercessor, intermediary, mediator.
USAGE: A skilled go-between can prove invaluable to businesses when negotiations become hostile or contentious.
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DEFINITION: (verb) Strike, usually with the fist.
SYNONYMS: biff.
USAGE: Arthur now uses the school’s back entrance because bullies are often loitering in the front, waiting to pommel him in the face.
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Posted in Word Of The Day
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Tagged pommel
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DEFINITION: (noun) The visual property of something that shines with reflected light.
SYNONYMS: sheen, shininess.
USAGE: Distant masses of plants and flowers, mingled in ever-varying forms of beauty, are touched by the melancholy luster of the rising moon.
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Posted in Word Of The Day
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Tagged luster
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