| Word |
Meaning |
Example |
| Baleful |
(adj.) harmful, malign, detrimental |
After she was fired, she realized it was a baleful move to point the blame at her superior. The strange liquid could be baleful if ingested. |
| Banal |
(adj.) trite; without freshness or originality |
Attending parties became trite after a few weeks. It was a banal suggestion to have the annual picnic in the park, since that was where it had been for the past five years. |
| Baneful |
(adj.) deadly or causing distress, death |
Not wearing a seat belt could be baneful. |
| Baroque |
(adj.) extravagant; ornate; embellished |
The baroque artwork was made up of intricate details which kept the museum-goers enthralled. The baroque furnishings did not fit in the plain, modest home. |
| Bastion |
(n.) a fortified place or strong defense |
The strength of the bastion saved the soldiers inside of it. |
| Batten |
(v.) to gain |
The team could only batten by drafting the top player. |
| Bauble |
(n.) a showy yet useless thing |
The woman had many baubles on her bookshelf. |
| Beget |
(v.) to bring into being |
The king wished to beget a new heir. |
| Beholden |
(adj.) indebted to |
The children were beholden to their parents for the car loan. |
| Behoove |
(v.) to be advantageous; to be necessary |
It will behoove the students to buy their textbooks early. |
| Belittle |
(v.) to make small; to think lightly of |
The unsympathetic friend belittled her friend's problems and spoke of her own as the most important. |
| Bellicose |
(adj.) quarrelsome; warlike |
The bellicose guest would not be invited back again. |
| Bemuse |
(v.) to preoccupy in thought |
The girl was bemused by her troubles. |
| Benefactor |
(n.) one who helps others; a donor |
An anonymous benefactor donated $10,000 to the children's hospital. |
| Beneficent |
(adj.) conferring benefits; kindly; doing good |
He is a beneficent person, always taking in stray animals and talking to people who need someone to listen. A beneficent donation helped the organization meet its goal. |
| Benevolent |
(adj.) kind; generous |
The professor proved a tough questioner, but a benevolent grader. The benevolent gentleman volunteered his services. |
| Benign |
(adj.) mild; harmless |
A lamb is a benign animal, especially when compared with a lion. |
| Berate |
(v.) scold; reprove; reproach; criticize |
The child was berated by her parents for breaking the china. |
| Bereft |
(v.; adj.) to be deprived of; to be in a sad manner; hurt by someone's death |
The loss of his job will leave the man bereft of many luxuries. The widower was bereft for many years after his wife's death. |
| Beseech |
(v.) to ask earnestly |
The soldiers beseeched the civilians for help. |
| Besmirch |
(v.) to dirty or discolor |
The soot from the chimney will besmirch clean curtains. |
| Bestial |
(adj.) having the qualities of a beast; brutal |
The bestial employer made his employees work in an unheated room. |
| Betroth |
(v.) to promise or pledge in marriage |
The man betrothed his daughter to the prince. |
| Biased |
(adj.) prejudiced; influenced; not neutral |
The vegetarian had a biased opinion regarding what should be ordered for dinner. |
| Biennial |
(adj.; n.) happening every two years; a plant which blooms every two years |
The biennial journal's influence seemed only magnified by its infrequent publication. She has lived here for four years and has seen the biennials bloom twice. |
| Bilateral |
(adj.) pertaining to or affecting both sides or two sides; having two sides |
A bilateral decision was made so that both partners reaped equal benefits from the same amount of work. The brain is a bilateral organ, consisting of a left and right hemisphere. |
| Blasphemous |
(adj.) irreligious; away from acceptable standards; speaking ill of using profane language |
The upper-class parents thought that it was blasphemous for their son to marry a waitress. His blasphemous outburst was heard throughout the room. |
| Blatant |
(adj.) obvious; unmistakable; crude; vulgar |
The blatant foul was reason for ejection. The defendant was blatant in his testimony. |
| Blighted |
(adj.) causing frustration or destruction |
The blighted tornado left only one building standing in its wake. |
| Blithe |
(adj.) happy; cheery; merry; a cheerful disposition |
The wedding was a blithe celebration. The blithe child was a pleasant surprise. |
| Bode |
(v.) to foretell something |
The storm bode that we would not reach our destination. |
| Bombast |
(n.) pompous speech; pretentious words |
After he delivered his bombast at the podium, he arrogantly left the meeting. The presenter ended his bombast with a prediction of his future success. |
| Bombastic |
(adj.) pompous; wordy; turgid |
The bombastic woman talks a lot about herself. |
| Boor |
(n.) a rude person |
The boor was not invited to the party, but he came anyway. |
| Breadth |
(n.) the distance from one side to another |
The table cloth was too small to cover the breadth of the table. |
| Brevity |
(n.) briefness; shortness |
On Top 40 AM radio, brevity was the coin of the realm. |
| Brindled |
(adj.) mixed with a darker color |
In order to get matching paint we made a brindled mixture. |
| Broach |
(v.) to introduce into conversation |
Broaching the touchy subject was difficult. |
| Brusque |
(adj.) abrupt in manner or speech |
His brusque answer was neither acceptable nor polite. |
| Bucolic |
(adj.) having to do with shepherds or the country |
The bucolic setting inspired the artist. |
| Bumptious |
(adj.) arrogant |
He was bumptious in manner as he approached the podium to accept his anticipated award. |
| Bungler |
(n.) a clumsy person |
The one who broke the crystal vase was a true bungler. |
| Burgeon |
(v.) to grow or develop quickly |
The tumor appeared to burgeon more quickly than normal. After the first punch was thrown, the dispute burgeoned into a brawl. |
| Burlesque |
(v.; n.) to imitate in a non-serious manner; a comical imitation |
His stump speeches were so hackneyed, he seemed to be burlesquing of his role as a congressman. George Burns was considered one of the great practitioners of burlesque. |
| Burly |
(adj.) strong; bulky; stocky |
The lumberjack was a burly man. |
| Burnish |
(v.) to polish by rubbing |
The vase needed to be burnished to restore its beauty. |
Spanish 3
