| Question |
Answer |
| cadence |
rhythmic rise and fall (of words or sounds); beat; regular beat of sound; rhythm |
| cadet |
student at a military school |
| cajole |
persuade by praise or false promise; coax; wheedle |
| calamity |
disaster; misery |
| calculated |
deliberately planned; likely |
| caldron(cauldron) |
large kettle |
| caliber |
ability; quality; diameter of the inside of a round cylinder; Ex. work of very high caliber |
| calligraphy |
beautiful writing; excellent penmanship |
| callous |
hardened; unfeeling; without sympathy for the sufferings of others; unkind |
| callow |
youthful; immature; inexperienced |
| callus |
area of thick hard skin |
| calorific |
heat-producing; N. calorie |
| calumny |
malicious misrepresentation; slander |
| camaraderie |
good-fellowship; CF. comrade |
| cameo |
shell or jewel carved in relief; star's special appearance in a minor role in a film |
| camp |
group sharing a common cause or opinion |
| canard |
unfounded false rumor; exaggerated false report |
| candor |
frankness; open honesty; ADJ. candid |
| canine |
related to dogs; doglike |
| canker |
any ulcerous sore; ulcer; any evil; CF. cancer |
| canny |
shrewd in money matters; thrifty |
| cant |
insincere speech or expression of piety; jargon of thieves; special words used by a particular group of people |
| cantankerous |
ill-humored; irritable |
| cantata |
story set to music to be sung by a chorus (shorter than an oratorio) |
| canter |
slow gallop; V. CF. trot |
| canto |
division of a long poem |
| canvass |
determine or seek opinions, votes, etc.; go through (a region) to solicit votes or orders; conduct a survey; N. |
| capacious |
spacious |
| capacity |
mental or physical ability; role; position or duty; ability to accommodate; Ex. in my capacity as president |
| capillary |
having a very fine bore; resembling a hair; fine and slender; Ex. capillary attraction; N: very fine hairlike tube; CF. capillarity |
| capitulate |
surrender; give up all resistance |
| caprice |
whim; sudden change of mind without any real cause |
| capricious |
unpredictable; fickle |
| capsize |
(of a boat) turn over |
| caption |
title; chapter heading; text under illustration |
| captious |
faultfinding; too critical |
| carafe |
glass water bottle; decanter |
| carapace |
shell covering the back (of a turtle, tortoise, crab, etc.) |
| carat(karat) |
unit of weight for precious stones; measure of the purity of gold |
| carcinogenic |
causing cancer; N. carcinogen |
| cardinal |
chief; most important; N: priest; cardinal number: number that shows quantity rather thatn order |
| cardiologist |
doctor specializing in ailments of the heart |
| careen |
lurch; sway from side to side; move with irregular swinging movement; stagger |
| career |
rush wildly; go at full speed |
| carefree |
free from worries; having no problems |
| caricature |
distortion; burlesque |
| carillon |
a set of bells (often in a tower) capable of being played |
| carnage |
destruction of life; slaughter; killing of large numbers of people or animals |
| carnal |
fleshly; sensual; concerning the desires of the body |
| carnivorous |
meat-eating; N. carnivore; CF. herbivore |
| carousal |
drunken revel; V. carouse |
| carping |
petty criticism; fault-finding; fretful complaining; quibble |
| carrion |
rotting flesh of a dead body; CF. vulture |
| cartographer |
map-maker |
| cascade |
small waterfall |
| caste |
one of the hereditary classes in Hindu society; social stratification; prestige |
| castigation |
punishment; severe criticism or disapproval |
| castrate |
remove the sex organs (of a male animal or person) |
| casual |
happening by chance; irregular; occasional; informal; showing or feeling little interest; Ex. casual reader/labor/remark |
| casualty |
serious or fatal accident; person killed or wounded in an accident or battle |
| cataclysm |
deluge; upheaval; earthquake; violent and sudden event or change |
| catalyst |
agent which brings about a chemical change while it remains unaffected and unchanged; CF. catalysis |
| catapult |
slingshot; hurling machine; V: fire from catapult |
| cataract |
great waterfall; eye abnormality (causing a gradual loss of eyesight) |
| catastrophe |
calamity ; disaster |
| catcall |
shout of disapproval or displeasure (made at the theater or a sports match); boo; V. |
| catechism |
book for religious instruction in question-and-answer form; religious instruction by question and answer; V. catechize |
| categorical |
without exceptions; made without any doubt in mind; unqualified; absolute |
| cater |
provide food and drink (for); cater to: try to satisfy (desires of a bad kind) |
| catharsis |
purging or cleansing of any passage of the body; purging and weakening of strong emotions as a result of experiencing a dramatic work of art |
| cathartic |
purgative; medicine that causes the bowels to empty; ADJ. |
| catholic |
(of likings and interests) universal; general; broad; including many different parts; wide-ranging liberal; Ex. catholic opinions/tastes |
| caucus |
private meeting of a group of people in a political party to select officers or determine policy; CF. the Caucus club of Boston |
| caulk(calk) |
make watertight (by blocking up cracks as in a ship) |
| causal |
implying a cause-and-effect relationship; N. causality |
| caustic |
burning; corrosive; able to burn by chemical action; sarcastically biting; (of remarks) intended to hurt; bitter; harmful; OP. harmless |
| cauterize |
burn (a wound or snakebite, etc.) with hot iron or caustic substance to stop bleeding and prevent infection |
| cavalcade |
procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages; parade; CF. cavalry |
| cavalier |
casual and offhand; arrogant; N: knight |
| cavil |
quibble; make frivolous objections; find fault unnecessarily |
| cede |
yield (title or territory) to (esp. after losing a war); surrender formally; N. cession |
| celerity |
speed; rapidity |
| celestial |
heavenly |
| celibate |
abstaining from sexual intercourse; unmarried; N. celibacy |
| cemetery |
place for burying the dead |
| censor |
(in ancient Rome) overseer of morals (also taking the census); person who eliminates inappropriate matter; V. |
| censorious |
severely critical |
| censure |
blame; criticize; express strong disapproval; N: severe criticism; strong disapproval |
| centaur |
mythical figure, half man and half horse |
| centigrade |
denoting a widely used temperature scale (basically same as Celsius) |
| centrifugal |
radiating; departing from the center |
| centrifuge |
machine that separates substances by whirling them |
| centripetal |
tending toward the center |
| centurion |
Roman army officer (commanding a company of about 100 soldiers) |
| cerebral |
pertaining to the brain or intellect; intellectual rather than emotional; CF. cerebrum |
| cerebration |
thought; working of the brain |
| ceremonious |
marked by formality; extremely formal and polite; CF. ceremony: conventional social courtesy |
| certitude |
certainty |
| cessation |
stoppage |
| cession |
yielding to another; ceding |
Poultry
