| Question |
Answer |
| countenance |
approve; support; tolerate; Ex. countenance his rude behavior; N: face; appearance |
| countermand |
cancel; revoke (an order) |
| counterpart |
thing that completes another; things very much alike; thing that has the same purpose in a different system |
| coup |
highly successful action or sudden attack; coup(s) d'\'etat; CF. coup de gr\^ace: deathblow or shot which kills |
| couple |
join; unite; OP. uncouple |
| courier |
messenger |
| court |
attempt to gain; seek; woo; risk; behave so as to invite; attempt to gain the favor of by attention; Ex. court disaster |
| covenant |
binding agreement between two groups or people; compact; V: enter into a covenant; promise |
| covert |
secret; hidden; implied; OP. overt |
| covetous |
avaricious; desirous of (someone else's possessions); V. covet: desire eagerly (someone else's possessions) |
| cow |
terrorize; intimidate |
| cower |
shrink quivering as from fear; cringe |
| coy |
shy (flirtatiously); showing a (pretended) lack of self-confidence; modest; coquettish; CF. job offer |
| cozen |
cheat; hoodwink; swindle |
| crabbed |
sour; bad-tempered; peevish; difficult to read as handwriting |
| craft |
skill (esp. with one's hands); skill in deceiving people; guile; ADJ. crafty: cleverly deceitful; cunning |
| crass |
very unrefined; grossly insensible; crude and undiscriminating; Ex. crass behavior |
| crave |
desire; want intensely |
| craven |
cowardly |
| credence |
belief |
| credential |
evidence concerning one's authority; written proof of a person's position; Ex. The new ambassador presented his credentials to the court. |
| credo |
creed |
| credulity |
belief on slight evidence; gullibility; naivet\'e; ADJ. credulous |
| creed |
system of religious or ethical belief |
| creep |
move with body close to the ground; move stealthily or slowly; N. |
| cremate |
incinerate (a corpse); N. crematory, crematorium |
| crescendo |
increase in the volume or intensity as in a musical passage; climax; CF. crescent |
| crest |
top (as of a hill or wave); showy feathers on the head of a bird |
| crestfallen |
dejected; dispirited |
| crevice |
crack; fissure |
| cringe |
shrink back as if in fear; cower |
| crinkle |
wrinkle |
| criteria |
standards used in judging; CF. criterion |
| crochet |
make (a piece of needlework) by looping thread with a hooked needle; N. CF. crotchet |
| crone |
hag; ugly old woman |
| cross |
bad-tempered; showing ill-humor; angry |
| crossbreed |
hybridize; N: hybrid; CF. interbreed; CF. inbreed |
| crotchety |
(of someone old) eccentric; odd; whimsical; bad-tempered; N. crotchet: odd or whimsical notion |
| crust |
hard outer covering (as of earth or snow) |
| crux |
essential or main point; Ex. the crux of the problem; ADJ. crucial: of deciding importance |
| crypt |
secret recess or vault usually used for burial; underground room (under a church) |
| cryptic |
mysterious; hidden; secret |
| cubicle |
small chamber used for sleeping or work |
| cue |
word or signal (as in a play to prompt another actor's speech or entrance); reminder or hint; V: give a cue to |
| cuisine |
style of cooking; Ex. French cuisine |
| culinary |
relating to cooking or kitchen |
| cull |
pick out from others (to kill the weakest members); reject; select; collect (information); N. |
| culmination |
highest point; climax; V. culminate in: reach the highest point in; end in; Ex. a series of minor clashes culminating in war |
| culpable |
deserving blame; blameworthy |
| culprit |
one guilty of a crime |
| culvert |
artificial channel for water; drain crossing under a road |
| cumbersome |
heavy and awkward to carry or wear; burdensome; Ex. cumbersome parcel/uniform |
| cumulative |
growing by addition; accumulative |
| cunning |
clever in deceiving; sly; N: cleverness in deceiving; deceit |
| cupidity |
greed (for wealth); CF. cupid; CF. Cupid |
| curator |
superintendent; manager (in charge of a museum or a library) |
| curb |
chain or strap used with a bit to restrain a horse; something that checks; V: check; restrain |
| curfew |
regulation requiring all people to leave the streets at stated times; signal (as a bell) announcing the hour of a curfew |
| curmudgeon |
churlish, miserly individual; bad-tempered old person |
| cursive |
(of writing) flowing; running; having the successive letters joined |
| cursory |
casual; hastily done with little attention to detail |
| curtail |
shorten; reduce |
| cynical |
skeptical or distrustful of human motives; N. cynicism; CF. cynic: person who believes all people are motivated by selfishness |
| cynosure |
object of general attention; person or thing that is a center of attention; CF. Ursa Minor |
| dabble |
work at in a nonserious fashion; splash around; move noisily in a liquid |
| dainty |
delicate; delicately beautiful; fastidious; not easy to please; Ex. dainty movement/dress |
| dais |
raised platform for speakers or other important people |
| dally |
trifle with; toy with; treat without the necessary seriousness; procrastinate; waste time |
| damn |
condemn; criticize severely; condemn to everlasting punishment; doom; bring to ruin; N. damnation |
| dank |
damp; unpleasantly wet |
| dapper |
neat and trim (in appearance); (of small men) neat in appearance and quick in movements; neat; spry |
| dappled |
spotted |
| dart |
move or throw suddenly and quickly |
| daub |
smear (as with paint); cover with something sticky; Ex. daub one's clothes with mud/paint; N: small bit of sticky substance; Ex. a daub of paint |
| daunt |
intimidate; frighten; discourage; dishearten |
| dauntless |
bold; fearless |
| dawdle |
loiter; hang around; waste time doing nothing |
| daze |
stun as with a blow or shock; bemuse; benumb; N. |
| dazzle |
make blind with a sudden intense light; amaze; fill with wonder |
| deadlock |
standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces; stalemate |
| deadpan |
wooden; impassive; with no show of feeling; with an expressionless face |
| dearth |
scarcity |
| debacle |
sudden disastrous downfall or defeat; complete disaster |
| debar |
bar; forbid; exclude; Ex. debarred from jury services |
| debase |
degrade; reduce in quality or value; degenerate; lower in esteem; disgrace; N. debasement |
| debauch |
corrupt morally; seduce from virtue; N. debauchery: wild behavior (with sex and alcohol) |
| debilitate |
weaken (esp. through heat, hunger, illness); enfeeble |
| debonair |
(of men) friendly, charming, and fashionably dressed; aiming to please; CF. of good disposition |
| debris |
rubble; wreckage; scattered remains of something broken or destroyed |
| debunk |
expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc.; ridicule |
| debut |
d\'ebut; first public appearance; formal presentation of a young woman to society |
| debutante |
young woman making formal entrance into society |
| decadence |
decay; fall to a lower level (of morality, civilization, or art); ADJ. decadent |
| decant |
pour off gently (wine or liquid) |
| decapitate |
behead |
| decelerate |
slow down |
| deciduous |
falling off at a specific season or stage of growth as of leaves; Ex. deciduous tree/teeth |
| decimate |
kill (usually one out of ten or every tenth man); destroy or kill a large part of |
| decipher |
decode; CF. indecipherable |
| declivity |
downward slope |
500 Words
