|
| vacillate |
to sway through lack of equilibrium:FLUCTUATE, OSCILLATE |
| vacuous |
marked by lack of ideas or intelligence:STUPID, INANE |
| vagary |
an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation,
action, or notion |
| vagrant |
one who has no established residence and wanders idly
from place to place without lawful or visible means of
support |
| vague |
not thinking or expressing one's thoughts clearly or
precisely |
| valediction |
an act of bidding farewell |
| valiant |
possessing or acting with bravery or boldness:COURAGEOUS |
| valid |
logically correct |
| vanquish |
to defeat in a conflict or contest |
| vapid |
lacking liveliness, tang, briskness, or force:FLAT,
DULL |
| vaporize |
to convert (as by the application of heat or by spraying)
into vapor |
| variance |
the fact, quality, or state of being variable or variant:
DIFFERENCE, VARIATION |
| varnish |
to apply varnish to |
| vault |
a room or compartment for the safekeeping of valuables |
| vaunt |
to make a vain display of one's own worth or attainments:BRAG |
| veer |
to change direction or course |
| vehement |
marked by forceful energy:POWERFUL |
| venal |
capable of being bought or obtained for money or other
valuable consideration:PURCHASABLE; especially :open to
corrupt influence and especially bribery:MERCENARY |
| vendor |
one that sell especially as a hawker or peddler |
| veneer |
a layer of wood of superior value or excellent grain
to be glued to an inferior wood |
| venerate |
to regard with reverential respect or with admiring
deference |
| vengeful |
serving to gain vengeance |
| venial |
of a kind that can be remitted:FORGIVABLE, PARDONABLE;
also :meriting no particular censure or notice:EXCUSABLE |
| venom |
poisonous matter normally secreted by some animals (as
snakes, scorpions, or bees) and transmitted to prey or
an enemy chiefly by biting or stinging |
| ventilate |
to examine, discuss, or investigate freely and openly:EXPOSE |
| veracious |
TRUTHFUL, HONEST |
| verbatim |
being in or following the exact words:WORD-FOR-WORD |
| verbose |
containing more words than necessary:WORDY |
| verdant |
green with growing plants |
| verdict |
the finding or decision of a jury on the matter submitted
to it in trial |
| verify |
to establish the truth, accuracy, or reality of |
| vernacular |
The standard native language of a country or locality |
| versatile |
having many uses or applications |
| versed |
acquainted through study or experience; knowledgeable
or skilled |
| versemonger |
|
| vertigo |
a disordered state in which the individual or the individual's
surroundings seem to whirl dizzily |
| verve |
the spirit and enthusiasm animating artistic composition
or performance:VIVACITY |
| vessel |
a tube or canal (as an artery) in which a body fluid
is contained and conveyed or circulated |
| vestigial |
a bodily part or organ that is small and degenerate
or imperfectly developed in comparison to one more fully
developed in an earlier stage of the individual, in a
past generation, or in closely related forms |
| veteran |
an old soldier of long service |
| veto |
an authoritative prohibition:INTERDICTION |
| vex |
to bring trouble, distress, or agitation to |
| viable |
capable of living; especially :capable of surviving
outside the mother's womb without artificial support |
| vibrant |
oscillating or pulsating rapidly |
| vicarious |
performed or suffered by one person as a substitute
for another or to the benefit or advantage of another:SUBSTITUTIONARY |
| vicious |
having the nature or quality of vice or immorality:DEPRAVED |
| vicissitude |
change (esp. from good to bad); change of fortune |
| victimize |
to subject to deception or fraud:CHEAT |
| vigilant |
alertly watchful especially to avoid danger |
| vignette |
a brief incident or scene (as in a play or movie) |
| vigor |
active bodily or mental strength or force |
| vilify |
to utter slanderous and abusive statements against:DEFAME |
| vim |
robust energy and enthusiasm |
| vindicate |
to free from allegation or blame |
| vindictive |
disposed to seek revenge:VENGEFUL |
| violate |
to do harm to the person or especially the chastity
of; specifically :RAPE |
| virility |
the quality or state of being virile:a:MANHOOD b:manly
vigor:MASCULINITY |
| virtuoso |
an experimenter or investigator especially in the arts
and sciences:SAVANT |
| virtuous |
morally excellent:RIGHTEOUS |
| virulent |
marked by a rapid, severe, and malignant course |
| viscous |
having a glutinous consistency:VISCID |
| visionary |
incapable of being realized or achieved:UTOPIAN |
| vista |
a distant view through or along an avenue or opening:PROSPECT |
| vitality |
capacity to live and develop; also :physical or mental
vigor especially when highly developed |
| vitiate |
to make faulty or defective:IMPAIR |
| vitrify |
to convert into glass or a glassy substance by heat
and fusion |
| vitriolic |
bitterly scathing; caustic |
| vituperative |
uttering or given to censure:containing or characterized
by verbal abuse |
| vivacious |
lively in temper, conduct, or spirit:SPRIGHTLY |
| vivid |
having the appearance of vigorous life or freshness:LIVELY |
| vociferous |
marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry |
| vogue |
popular acceptation or favor:POPULARITY |
| volatile |
characterized by or subject to rapid or unexpected change |
| volition |
an act of making a choice or decision; also :a choice
or decision made |
| voluble |
characterized by ready or rapid speech:GLIB, FLUENT |
| voluminous |
having or marked by great volume or bulk:LARGE also
:FULL |
| voluptuous |
given to or spent in enjoyments of luxury, pleasure,
or sensual gratifications |
| vomit |
an act or instance of disgorging the contents of the
stomach through the mouth; also :the disgorged matter |
| voracious |
excessively eager:INSATIABLE |
| votary |
a devout or zealous worshiper |
| vouch |
to summon into court to warrant or defend a title |
| vulgar |
lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste:COARSE |
|
| waffle |
to talk or write foolishly:BLATHER |
| wag |
WIT, JOKER |
| wan |
suggestive of poor health:SICKLY, PALLID |
| wane |
to fall gradually from power, prosperity, or influence |
| want |
grave and extreme poverty that deprives one of the necessities
of life |
| wanton |
playfully mean or cruel:MISCHIEVOUS |
| wardrobe |
a room or closet where clothes are kept:CLOTHESPRESS |
| warmonger |
one who urges or attempts to stir up war:JINGO |
| warp |
to turn or twist out of or as if out of shape; especially
:to twist or bend out of a plane |
| warrant |
to guarantee to a person good title to and undisturbed
possession of (as an estate) |
| wary |
marked by keen caution, cunning, and watchful prudence
especially in detecting and escaping danger |
| wastrel |
one who dissipates resources foolishly and self-indulgently:PROFLIGATE |
| waterproof |
impervious to water; especially :covered or treated
with a material |
| watershed |
a crucial dividing point, line, or factor:TURNING POINT |
| wax |
1. to treat or rub with wax usually for polishing or
stiffening 2. to increase in phase or intensity ,used
chiefly of the moon, other satellites, and inferior planets |
| waylay |
to lie in wait for or attack from ambush |
| weld |
to unite (metallic parts) by heating and allowing the
metals to flow together or by hammering or compressing
with or without previous heating |
| welter |
to be in turmoil |
| wheedle |
to influence or entice by soft words or flattery |
| whet |
to make keen or more acute:EXCITE, STIMULATE |
| whiff |
a quick puff or slight gust especially of air, odor,
gas, smoke, or spray |
| whimsical |
resulting from or characterized by whim or caprice;
especially :lightly fanciful |
| wholesome |
promoting health or well-being of mind or spirit |
| wicked |
morally very bad:EVIL |
| wily |
full of wiles:CRAFTY |
| wince |
to shrink back involuntarily (as from pain):FLINCH |
| windbag |
an exhaustively talkative person |
| windy |
VERBOSE, BOMBASTIC |
| winnow |
to remove (as chaff) by a current of air |
| winsome |
generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike
charm and innocence |
| wit |
mental capability and resourcefulness:INGENUITY |
| witch |
one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural
powers; especially :a woman practicing usually black witchcraft
often with the aid of a devil or familiar:SORCERESS |
| withdraw |
to remove (money) from a place of deposit;to become
socially or emotionally detached |
| wither |
to become dry and sapless; especially :to shrivel from
or as if from loss of bodily moisture |
| withhold |
to refrain from granting, giving, or allowing |
| wizen |
to become dry, shrunken, and wrinkled often as a result
of aging or of failing vitality |
| wobble |
to move or proceed with an irregular rocking or staggering
motion or unsteadily and clumsily from side to side TREMBLE,
QUAVER |
| woo |
to sue for the affection of and usually marriage with:COURT |
| wordsmith |
a person who works with words; especially :a skillful
writer |
| worldly |
of, relating to, or devoted to this world and its pursuits
rather than to religion or spiritual affairs |
| worship |
extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to
an object of esteem |
| wrangler |
a ranch hand who takes care of the saddle horses; broadly
:COWBOY |
| wretched |
(adj.) miserable or unhappy; causing distress |
| writ |
a formal written document; specifically :a legal instrument
in epistolary form issued under seal in the name of the
English monarch |
| wry |
cleverly and often ironically or grimly humorous also
having a bent or twisted shape or condition |
|
| yawn |
to open the mouth wide usually as an involuntary reaction
to fatigue or boredom |
| yield |
to surrender or relinquish to the physical control of
another:hand over possession of |
| yoke |
to join as if by a yoke |
|
| zeal |
eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something:FERVOR |
| zest |
keen enjoyment:RELISH, GUSTO |
| zigzag |
one of a series of short sharp turns, angles, or alterations
in a course; also :something having the form or character
of such a series |
| zone |
to arrange in or mark off into zones; specifically :to
partition (a city, borough, or township) by ordinance
into sections reserved for different purposes (as residence
or business |
