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  1. absolution
    the act of being formally forgiven
    One EU official joked that this was a Catholic approach - granting sinners absolution - which would not work in mostly Protestant northern Europe.
  2. abundant
    present in great quantity
    But the crocodiles are especially abundant in the Northern Territory, where deadly encounters have been reported.
  3. allegory
    a short moral story
    Ancient mystics veiled all their thoughts in allegory and draped their sacred lessons in symbols. Westbrook, Richard B.
  4. anti-semitic
    relating to or characterized by anti-Semitism; hating Jews
    Of course, anti-Semitic attitudes persist in Poland as they do in most European countries.
  5. Aryan
    a Caucasian person of Nordic descent
    Aryan Nations offers a heavy focus on Christian identity. Slate (Mar 8, 2012)
  6. bar mitzvah
    a traditional coming-of-age ritual for Jewish boys
    It's been two years since Adam had his bar mitzvah, becoming a man according to Jewish law.
  7. barrack
    a building or group of buildings to house military personnel
    He said rebels would be confined to barracks from Monday.
  8. bribe
    payment made to corrupt a person in a position of trust
    He claimed he had helped get charges dismissed by offering bribes of laptops and cash to those involved in the cases’s prosecution.
  9. bungalow
    a small house with a single story
    Johnson recalls Canvey in his youth as "a cowboy town," with dirt roads and wooden bungalows built on reclaimed marshland beside an oil refinery. Seattle Times (Feb 4, 2013)
  10. bunker
    an underground shelter or fortification
    Somers has seven days before his brother, Bryan, who's locked in an underground bunker, runs out of air. Seattle Times (Feb 12, 2013)
  11. cache
    a hidden storage space
    Security forces had found several weapon caches holding 1,000 petrol bombs, 19 mock bombs, bullets and homemade guns, he added.
  12. caricature
    a representation of a person exaggerated for comic effect
    As the suffrage campaign became a major public issue, commercially produced novelty ornaments often caricatured suffragettes as being unfeminine and "haggardly".
  13. concentration camp
    a place where persecuted groups are forcibly confined
    Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz and Treblinka were located on Polish soil.
  14. conjugate
    undergo the act of becoming a single unit
    The students at Williamsburg Charter High School in Brooklyn are taught how to conjugate Latin verbs, analyze Shakespeare sonnets and decipher Arthur Miller plays. New York Times (Jun 28, 2012)
  15. conspire
    act in agreement and in secret towards a deceitful purpose
    Prosecutors also charged him with nearly two dozen other crimes, including racketeering and conspiring to kill other witnesses.
  16. convalesce
    get over an illness or shock
    He spent months convalescing, but he is now fighting again.
  17. crematorium
    a furnace where a corpse can be burned and reduced to ashes
    Later in the morning, her family held a private ceremony at a crematorium in southwest New Delhi, the local news media reported.
  18. dialect
    the usage or vocabulary characteristic of a group of people
    “It truly feels like a brother’s home,” he said Thursday after hearing the similarity in the local dialect.
  19. dowry
    money brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
    The proposal was accepted, but David could bring no dowry for his wife. Blaikie, William Garden
  20. epigraph
    a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing
    Indeed, the very presence of an epigraph can make us question what lies before us.
  21. eugenics
    the promotion of controlled breeding in human populations
    But he also draws a deeper, more troubling analogy by connecting the selective breeding of livestock to the early 20th‑century interest in eugenics.
  22. final solution
    the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime
    Part of the Nazis' "final solution", the camp in occupied Poland was dedicated to extermination, designed for efficient mass murder.
  23. gefilte fish
    well-seasoned balls of ground fish and eggs and crushed crumbs simmered in fish stock
    Multiple boxes of matzah would be needed, as well as jars of gefilte fish, horseradish, matzah meal, and various other kosher items.
  24. genocide
    systematic killing of a racial or cultural group
    Genocide trials have been rare for ex-leaders in Latin America, a region scarred by bloody civil conflicts and fierce repression.
  25. Gestapo
    the secret state police in Nazi Germany
    After evading capture for three months, the spy was imprisoned, tortured and eventually shot by the German Gestapo at Dachau concentration camp in 1944.
  26. ghetto
    a poor densely populated city district
    Looting—”early Easter shopping,” as one Harlem resident called it— was the predominant activity, though some ghettos were burned as well.
  27. glaucoma
    eye disease that damages the optic nerve and impairs vision
    With glaucoma, pressure inside the eye builds up over time, causing damage to the optic nerve.
  28. governess
    a woman who cares for and instructs a child in a household
    He had never said, "My dears, you must care no longer for mamma, and adore your governess." Wingfield, Lewis
  29. holocaust
    an act of mass destruction and loss of life
    Marking the day also makes sure the Holocaust is not forgotten and can help to stop anything like it ever happening again.
  30. irony
    incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
    Despite being superficially straightforward, the book contains a good deal of irony and quite a few paradoxes.
  31. liberation
    the act of freeing someone or something
    He was at the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp.
  32. listless
    lacking zest or vivacity
    They were listless, defenseless and plodding and found themselves down 21 points with less than 15 minutes remaining.
  33. mark
    formerly the basic unit of money in Germany
  34. meshuga
    senseless; crazy
  35. miserly
    characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity
    He could not recall one gracious action on the part of the miserly old man in all the years he had known him. Chapman, Allen
  36. munition
    weapons considered collectively
    Other officials have said that current plans do not include insertion of U.S. troops to secure chemical munitions.
  37. neurotic
    affected by worry due to a mental disturbance
    Jonah's relationships with his peers, while often awkward and untenable, are never neurotic. New York Times (Aug 24, 2012)
  38. Nitrostat
    a heavy yellow poisonous oily explosive liquid obtained by nitrating glycerol; used in making explosives and medically as a vasodilator (trade names Nitrospan and Nitrostat)
  39. obscure
    not clearly understood or expressed
    Obscured by some scaffolding, a small white plaque says the first canned food was produced on this site.
  40. persecute
    cause to suffer
    Saddam Hussein’s regime persecuted his family members and neighbors.
  41. pogrom
    organized persecution of an ethnic group, especially Jews
    Jews enraged their host countries and repeatedly suffered disastrous pogroms. Time (Feb 4, 2013)
  42. pragmatic
    concerned with practical matters
    However, unlike the current emotional debate surrounding gun control in the United States, the Swiss approach is more dispassionate and pragmatic.
  43. presumptuous
    going beyond what is appropriate, permitted, or courteous
    “It’s presumptuous and condescending to think that Hispanics, as a class, are only focused on immigration.” Slate (Jan 28, 2013)
  44. protectorate
    a state or territory partly controlled by a stronger state
    Several native states have placed themselves under a French protectorate. Badlam, Anna B.
  45. resistance
    the action of opposing something that you disagree with
    But it has faced resistance and still only commands few disciplined police or military officers, often outmatched by thousands of militiamen.
  46. sanctioned
    established by authority
    An increasing number of Americans are taking officially sanctioned trips to Cuba, for academic, cultural and religious motives.
  47. sanitarium
    a hospital for recuperation or for treating chronic diseases
    All his cases except one were treated at home—they were not obliged to go to a hospital or sanitarium. ?Malley, Austin
  48. sheik
    a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
    Hollywood has always held a certain fascination for the monied elite, from Wall Street bankers to Middle Eastern oil sheiks.
  49. smuggle
    import or export without paying customs duties
    He grew up in a government-owned high rise apartment, watching movies and playing video games that were smuggled across the border from the South.
  50. synagogue
    the place of worship for a Jewish congregation
    Various leaders from churches, synagogues and mosques throughout the city joined the protesters.
  51. systematic
    characterized by order and planning
    The totalitarian state also stands accused of systematic human rights abuses.
  52. textile
    artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting fibers
    Josie produces abstract landscapes from textiles, making use of mixed, often recycled fabrics as well as buttons, beads, wools and threads.
  53. valise
    a small overnight bag for short trips
    Our bags and valises were just opened, but scarcely examined.  Wardle, J.
  54. Yiddish
    a dialect of High German including some Hebrew and other words; spoken in Europe as a vernacular by many Jews; written in the Hebrew script
    Ethnically, it is a melting pot, with more than 100 languages spoken within Hackney alone, including Turkish, Yiddish and Bengali.
  55. zloty
    the basic unit of money in Poland
    To prop up the zloty, Poland’s central bank has sold euros and dollars on the currency market four times since Sept.
Created on Sun Apr 28 20:17:20 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Apr 29 19:41:17 EDT 2013)

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