Salman Rushdie: Shame

Bosse B. (Sweden)
49 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dumbwaiter
    a small elevator used to convey food (or other goods) from one floor of a building to another
  2. usury
    the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest
  3. extraneous
    not belonging to that in which it is contained
  4. inchoate
    only partly in existence; imperfectly formed
  5. vicarious
    experienced at secondhand
  6. canoodle
    fondle or pet affectionately
  7. bollard
    a strong post
  8. urchin
    a poor and often mischievous city child
  9. barb
    a point facing the main point making an arrowhead or spear
  10. emporium
    a large shop organized into sections
  11. treacle
    a syrup made of sugar cane
  12. treacly
    overly sweet
  13. frisson
    an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
  14. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
  15. implacable
    incapable of being appeased or pacified
  16. revenant
    a person who returns after a lengthy absence
  17. spawn
    the mass of eggs deposited by fish or amphibians or mollusks
  18. atavist
    an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive type of that organism
  19. harridan
    a scolding (even vicious) old woman
  20. mongoose
    agile grizzled Old World viverrine
  21. idolatry
    the worship of objects or images as gods
  22. lecher
    man with strong sexual desires
  23. dissolute
    unrestrained by convention or morality
  24. desultory
    marked by lack of definite plan, purpose, or enthusiasm
  25. tetanus
    an acute and serious infection of the central nervous system
  26. denizen
    a plant or animal naturalized in a region
  27. impervious
    not admitting of passage or capable of being affected
  28. rangy
    tall and thin and having long slender limbs
  29. extenuate
    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or degree of
  30. bespoke
    custom-made
  31. seditious
    inciting action or rebellion
  32. perfidy
    an act of deliberate betrayal
  33. till
    work land as by ploughing to make it ready for cultivation
  34. lugubrious
    excessively mournful
  35. dejection
    a state of melancholy depression
  36. geodesic
    relating to or determined by the study of the earth's shape
  37. preen
    clean with one's bill
  38. supercilious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
  39. adulterate
    make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance
  40. torticollis
    an unnatural condition in which the head leans to one side because the neck muscles on that side are contracted
  41. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
  42. apposite
    being of striking appropriateness and pertinence
  43. mendicant
    a pauper who lives by begging
  44. autocratic
    characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule
  45. buffeted
    pounded or hit repeatedly by storms or adversities
  46. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
  47. saw
    hand tool having a toothed blade for cutting
  48. peevish
    easily irritated or annoyed
  49. mulish
    unreasonably stubborn or rigid
Created on Thu May 09 23:38:55 EDT 2013 (updated Mon May 27 23:37:57 EDT 2013)

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