The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate Read Online Free PDF Page A

plural assiduities ( AS -i-DOO-i-teez)
     
    1. diligence, industry.
     
    2. the continuing application of attention.
     
     
    Related words: assiduous ( e -SIJ-oo- e s) adjective , assiduously adverb , assiduousness noun .
     
     
     
    assignation ( AS -ig-NAY-sh e n) noun
     
    1. an appointment, especially a lovers' secret rendezvous.
     
    2. the act of assigning; an assignment.
     
     
    assuage ( e -SWAYJ) verb
     
    1. make less severe.
     
    2. satisfy, appease.
     
    3. soothe, mollify.
     
     
    Related words: assuagement and assuager both nouns .
     
     
     
    atavism (AT- e - VIZ - e m) noun
     
    1. reversion to an earlier type.
     
    2. a reappearance of characteristics resembling those of one's grandparents or even more remote ancestors of one's parents.
     
     
    Related words: atavistic ( AT - e -VIS-tik) adjective , atavistically adverb .
     
     
     
    athanasia ( ATH - e -NAY-zh e ) noun , also given as athanasy ( e -THAN- e -see) immortality; deathlessness.
     
     
    atrabilious ( A -tr e -BIL-y e s) adjective , also given as atrabiliar ( A -tr e -BIL-y e r)
     
    1. melancholy.
     
    2. morbid.
     
     
    Related word: atrabiliousness noun .
     
     
     
    augur (AW-g e r) verb
     
    predict; portend.
     
     
    Do not confuse augur with auger , a noun that means a tool used in boring . Perhaps a sentence will help you remember the difference: “The carpenter's discovery that all his augers had been stolen did not augur well for the day's work that lay before him.”
     
     
     
    auspicious (aw-SPISH- e s) adjective
     
    1. propitious, favorable.
     
    2. of good omen, promising success.
     
     
    Do not confuse auspicious with inauspicious , which means unfavorable, not of good omen . Perhaps a sentence will help you use the two words correctly: “Morning sunshine was taken as an auspicious sign that the game would go well for the Yankees, but soon enough there came the inauspicious report that their star pitcher had a lame arm.”
     
     
     
    Related words: auspiciously adverb , auspiciousness noun .
     
     
     
    autarchy (AW-tahr-kee) noun , also given as autarky , plural autarchies and autarkies
     
    1. despotism; absolute sovereignty.
     
    2. self-government.
     
    3. a national policy of economic independence or self-sufficiency.
     
     
    Related words: autarchic (aw-TAHR-kik) and autarchical (aw-TAHR-k e -k e l) both adjectives , autarchically adverb , autarchist (AW-tahr-kist) noun .
     
     
     
    autochthon (aw-TOK-th e n) noun, plural autochthons or autochthones (aw-TOK-th e - NEEZ )
     
    an aboriginal inhabitant of a place; an earliest known inhabitant of a place.
     
     
    autochthonous (aw-TOK-th e -n e s) adjective , also given as autochthonal (aw-TOK-th e -n e l) and autochthonic ( AW -tok-THON-ik)
     
    aboriginal, indigenous
     
     
    Related words: autochthonously (aw-TOK-th e -n e s-lee) adverb , autochthonism, autochthony , and autochthonousness all nouns .
     
     
     
    auto-da-fé ( AW -toh-d e -FAY) noun, plural autos-da-fé ( AW -tohz-d e -FAY)
     
    1. the public declaration of judgment passed on persons tried in the courts of the Spanish Inquisition.
     
    2. the execution by civil authorities of the sentences imposed by the courts of the Inquisition.
     
     
    autodidact ( AW -toh-D I -dakt) noun
     
    a self-taught person, especially one who has mastered a subject without benefit of formal education.
     
     
    Related words: autodidactic ( AW -toh-d I -DAK-tik) adjective , autodidactically ( AW -toh-d I -DAK-ti-klee) adverb .
     
     
     
    avarice (AV- e r-is) noun
     
    inordinate desire to acquire and hoard wealth.
     
     
    Related words: avaricious ( AV - e -RISH- e s) adjective , avariciously adverb , avariciousness noun .
     
     
     
    avatar (AV- e - TAHR ) noun
     
    1. an embodiment, incarnation, or personification, as of a principle or view of life.
     
    2. in Hindu mythology, the descent of a deity to earth in bodily form.
     
     
    averse ( e -VURS) adjective
     
     
    See adverse .
     
     
     
    aversion (