| acerb | (adjective) sour or bitter in taste | Synonyms: acerbic, astringent |
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| (adjective) harsh or corrosive in tone | Synonyms: acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, caustic, sulfurous, sulphurous, virulent, vitriolic |
| acerbate | (verb) make sour or bitter | - |
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| (verb) cause to be bitter or resentful | Synonyms: embitter, envenom |
| acerbic | (adjective) sour or bitter in taste | Synonyms: acerb, astringent |
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| (adjective) harsh or corrosive in tone | Synonyms: acerb, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, caustic, sulfurous, sulphurous, virulent, vitriolic |
| acerbity | (noun) a rough and bitter manner | Synonyms: acrimony, bitterness, jaundice, tartness, thorniness |
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| (noun) a sharp sour taste | Synonyms: tartness |
| (noun) a sharp bitterness | - |
| adverb | (noun) a word that modifies something other than a noun | - |
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| (noun) the word class that qualifies verbs or clauses | - |
| adverbial | (adjective) of or relating to or functioning as an adverb | - |
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| (noun) a word or group of words function as an adverb | - |
| adverbially | (adverb) as an adverb | - |
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| afterbirth | (noun) the placenta and fetal membranes that are expelled from the uterus after the baby is born | - |
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| afterburner | (noun) a device that injects fuel into a hot exhaust for extra thrust | - |
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| amberbell | (noun) eastern North American dogtooth having solitary yellow flowers marked with brown or purple and spotted interiors | Synonyms: Erythronium americanum, trout lily, yellow adder's tongue |
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| blunderbuss | (noun) a short musket of wide bore with a flared muzzle | - |
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| bowerbird | (noun) any of various birds of the Australian region whose males build ornamented structures resembling bowers in order to attract females | Synonyms: catbird |
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| butcherbird | (noun) shrikes that impale their prey on thorns | - |
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| (noun) large carnivorous Australian bird with the shrike-like habit of impaling prey on thorns | - |
| butterball | (noun) small North American diving duck; males have bushy head plumage | Synonyms: Bucephela albeola, bufflehead, dipper |
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| (noun) a rotund individual | Synonyms: fat person, fatso, fatty, roly-poly |
| butterbean | (noun) small flat green bean similar to lima beans | Synonyms: butter bean, civet bean, sieva bean |
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| butterbur | (noun) small Eurasian herb having broad leaves and lilac-pink rayless flowers; found in moist areas | Synonyms: bog rhubarb, Petasites hybridus, Petasites vulgaris |
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| centerboard | (noun) a retractable fin keel used on sailboats to prevent drifting to leeward | Synonyms: centreboard, drop keel, sliding keel |
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| chatterbox | (noun) an obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker | Synonyms: babbler, chatterer, magpie, prater, spouter |
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| (noun) orchid growing along streams or ponds of western North America having leafy stems and 1 greenish-brown and pinkish flower in the axil of each upper leaf | Synonyms: Epipactis gigantea, giant helleborine, stream orchid |
| checkerberry | (noun) spicy red berrylike fruit; source of wintergreen oil | Synonyms: boxberry, spiceberry, teaberry, wintergreen |
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| (noun) creeping shrub of eastern North America having white bell-shaped flowers followed by spicy red berrylike fruit and shiny aromatic leaves that yield wintergreen oil | Synonyms: creeping wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, ground-berry, groundberry, mountain tea, teaberry, wintergreen |
| checkerbloom | (noun) perennial purple-flowered wild mallow of western North America that is also cultivated | Synonyms: Sidalcea malviflora, wild hollyhock |
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| checkerboard | (noun) a board having 64 squares of two alternating colors | Synonyms: checker board, chequerboard |
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| chequerboard | (noun) a board having 64 squares of two alternating colors | Synonyms: checker board, checkerboard |
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| clapperboard | (noun) photographic equipment used to synchronize sound and motion picture; boards held in front of a movie camera are banged together | - |
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| cornerback | (noun) a defensive football player stationed outside the linebackers | - |
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| counterbalance | (noun) a weight that balances another weight | Synonyms: balance, counterpoise, counterweight, equaliser, equalizer |
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| (noun) a compensating equivalent | Synonyms: offset |
| (noun) equality of distribution | Synonyms: balance, equilibrium, equipoise |
| (verb) oppose and mitigate the effects of by contrary actions | Synonyms: counteract, countervail, neutralize |
| (verb) contrast with equal weight or force | Synonyms: oppose |
| (verb) adjust for | Synonyms: compensate, correct, even off, even out, even up, make up |
| counterbalanced | (adjective) brought into equipoise by means of a weight or force that offsets another | Synonyms: counterpoised |
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| counterblast | (noun) a vigorous and unrestrained response | - |
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| counterblow | (noun) a return blow; a retaliatory blow | - |
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| counterbombardment | (noun) bombardment intended to destroy or neutralize enemy weapons | - |
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| counterbore | (noun) a bit for enlarging the upper part of a hole | Synonyms: countersink, countersink bit |
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| cowherb | (noun) European annual with pale rose-colored flowers; cultivated flower or self-sown grainfield weed; introduced in North America; sometimes classified as a soapwort | Synonyms: cow cockle, Saponaria vaccaria, Vaccaria hispanica, Vaccaria pyramidata |
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| crackerberry | (noun) creeping perennial herb distinguished by red berries and clustered leaf whorls at the tips of shoots; Greenland to Alaska | Synonyms: bunchberry, Cornus canadensis, dwarf cornel, pudding berry |
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| cummerbund | (noun) a broad pleated sash worn as formal dress with a tuxedo | - |
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| daggerboard | (noun) a removable centerboard on a small sailboat that can be lowered into the water to serve as a keel | - |
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| deerberry | (noun) small branching blueberry common in marshy areas of the eastern United States having greenish or yellowish unpalatable berries reputedly eaten by deer | Synonyms: squaw huckleberry, Vaccinium stamineum |
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| derby | (noun) a felt hat that is round and hard with a narrow brim | Synonyms: bowler, bowler hat, derby hat, plug hat |
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| elderberry | (noun) berrylike fruit of an elder used for e.g. wines and jellies | - |
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| (noun) a common shrub with black fruit or a small tree of Europe and Asia; fruit used for wines and jellies | Synonyms: black elder, bourtree, common elder, European elder, Sambucus nigra |
| erbium | (noun) a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs with yttrium | Synonyms: atomic number 68, Er |
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| exacerbate | (verb) make worse | Synonyms: aggravate, exasperate, worsen |
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| (verb) exasperate or irritate | Synonyms: aggravate, exasperate |
| exacerbating | (adjective) making worse | Synonyms: aggravating, exasperating |
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| exacerbation | (noun) violent and bitter exasperation | - |
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| (noun) action that makes a problem or a disease (or its symptoms) worse | Synonyms: aggravation |
| featherbed | (noun) a mattress stuffed with feathers | Synonyms: feather bed |
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| (verb) hire more workers than are necessary | - |
| (verb) treat with excessive indulgence | Synonyms: baby, cocker, coddle, cosset, indulge, mollycoddle, pamper, spoil |
| featherbedding | (noun) the practice (usually by a labor union) of requiring an employer to hire more workers than are required | - |
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| featherbrained | (adjective) lacking seriousness; given to frivolity | Synonyms: airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, giddy, light-headed, lightheaded, silly |
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| fetterbush | (noun) showy evergreen shrub of southeastern United States with shiny leaves and angled branches and clusters of pink to reddish flowers that resemble an umbel | Synonyms: fetter bush, Lyonia lucida, shiny lyonia |
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| (noun) ornamental evergreen shrub of southeastern United States having small white bell-shaped flowers | Synonyms: mountain andromeda, mountain fetterbush, Pieris floribunda |
| fiberboard | (noun) wallboard composed of wood chips or shavings bonded together with resin and compressed into rigid sheets | Synonyms: fibreboard, particle board |
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| fingerboard | (noun) a narrow strip of wood on the neck of some stringed instruments (violin or cello or guitar etc) where the strings are held against the wood with the fingers | - |
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| (noun) a bank of keys on a musical instrument | Synonyms: clavier, piano keyboard |
| (noun) a guidepost resembling a hand with a pointing index finger | Synonyms: fingerpost |
| fingerbreadth | (noun) the length of breadth of a finger used as a linear measure | Synonyms: digit, finger's breadth, finger |
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| flowerbed | (noun) a bed in which flowers are growing | Synonyms: bed of flowers, flower bed |
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| gerbil | (noun) small Old World burrowing desert rodent with long soft pale fur and hind legs adapted for leaping | Synonyms: gerbille |
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| gerbille | (noun) small Old World burrowing desert rodent with long soft pale fur and hind legs adapted for leaping | Synonyms: gerbil |
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| gingerbread | (noun) cake flavored with ginger | - |
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| herb | (noun) aromatic potherb used in cookery for its savory qualities | - |
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| (noun) a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests | Synonyms: herbaceous plant |
| herbaceous | (adjective) characteristic of a nonwoody herb or plant part | - |
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| herbage | (noun) succulent herbaceous vegetation of pastureland | Synonyms: pasturage |
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| herbal | (adjective) of or relating to herbs | - |
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| (noun) tea-like drink made of leaves of various herbs | Synonyms: herb tea, herbal tea |
| herbalist | (noun) a therapist who heals by the use of herbs | Synonyms: herb doctor |
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| herbarium | (noun) a collection of dried plants that are mounted and systematically classified for study | - |
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| herbicide | (noun) a chemical agent that destroys plants or inhibits their growth | Synonyms: weed killer, weedkiller |
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| herbivore | (noun) any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants | - |
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| herbivorous | (adjective) feeding only on plants | - |
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| hoverboard | (noun) A device resembling a skateboard without wheels that can hover above the ground | - |
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| hyperbaton | (noun) reversal of normal word order (as in `cheese I love') | - |
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| hyperbetalipoproteinemia | (noun) a genetic disorder characterized by high levels of beta-lipoproteins and cholesterol; can lead to atherosclerosis at an early age | - |
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| hyperbilirubinemia | (noun) abnormally high amounts of bile pigment (bilirubin) in the blood | - |
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| hyperbola | (noun) an open curve formed by a plane that cuts the base of a right circular cone | - |
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| hyperbole | (noun) extravagant exaggeration | Synonyms: exaggeration |
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| hyperbolic | (adjective) of or relating to a hyperbola | - |
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| (adjective) enlarged beyond truth or reasonableness | Synonyms: inflated |
| hyperbolically | (adverb) in an exaggerated manner | Synonyms: exaggeratedly |
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| hyperbolise | (verb) to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth | Synonyms: amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolize, magnify, overdraw, overstate |
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| hyperbolism | (noun) the use of hyperbole. | - |
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| hyperbolize | (verb) to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth | Synonyms: amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolise, magnify, overdraw, overstate |
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| hyperboloid | (noun) a quadric surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around its main axis | - |
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| hyperboloidal | (adjective) having the shape of a hyperboloid | - |
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| interbrain | (noun) the posterior division of the forebrain; connects the cerebral hemispheres with the mesencephalon | Synonyms: betweenbrain, diencephalon, thalmencephalon |
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| interbred | (adjective) bred of closely related parents | - |
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| interbreed | (verb) breed animals or plants using parents of different races and varieties | Synonyms: cross, crossbreed, hybridise, hybridize |
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| interbreeding | (noun) (genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids | Synonyms: cross, crossbreeding, crossing, hybridisation, hybridization, hybridizing |
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| (noun) reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons) | Synonyms: crossbreeding, miscegenation |
| jerboa | (noun) mouselike jumping rodent | - |
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| jitterbug | (noun) a jerky American dance that was popular in the 1940s | - |
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| (verb) do the jitterbug | - |
| kerb | (noun) an edge between a sidewalk and a roadway consisting of a line of curbstones (usually forming part of a gutter) | Synonyms: curb, curbing |
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| kerbstone | (noun) a paving stone forming part of a curb | Synonyms: curbstone |
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| knickerbockers | (noun) (used in the plural) trousers ending above the knee | Synonyms: breeches, knee breeches, knee pants, knickers |
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| lawyerbush | (noun) stout-stemmed trailing shrub of New Zealand that scrambles over other growth | Synonyms: bush lawyer, lawyer bush, Rubus australis, Rubus cissoides |
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| leatherback | (noun) wide-ranging marine turtle with flexible leathery carapace; largest living turtle | Synonyms: Dermochelys coriacea, leatherback turtle, leathery turtle |
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| litterbin | (noun) bin (usually in or outside a public building) into which the public can put rubbish | Synonyms: litter-basket, litter basket |
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| litterbug | (noun) a person who litters public places with refuse | Synonyms: litter lout, litterer |
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| lobsterback | (noun) British soldier; so-called because of his red coat (especially during the American Revolution) | Synonyms: redcoat |
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| merbromine | (noun) a mercurial compound applied topically as an antiseptic; Mercurochrome is the trademark | Synonyms: Mercurochrome |
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| nonverbal | (adjective) involving little use of language | - |
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| (adjective) being other than verbal communication | Synonyms: gestural |
| (adjective) lacking verbal skill | - |
| nonverbally | (adverb) without words | Synonyms: non-verbally |
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| overbalance | (verb) cause to be off balance | - |
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| (verb) weigh more heavily | Synonyms: outbalance, outweigh, preponderate |
| overbear | (verb) contract the abdominal muscles during childbirth to ease delivery | Synonyms: bear down |
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| (verb) bear too much | - |
| (verb) overcome | - |
| overbearing | (adjective) expecting unquestioning obedience | Synonyms: authoritarian, dictatorial |
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| (adjective) having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy | Synonyms: disdainful, haughty, imperious, lordly, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, swaggering |
| overbearingly | (adverb) in an overbearing manner | - |
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| overbearingness | (noun) the trait of being imperious and overbearing | Synonyms: domineeringness, imperiousness |
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| overbid | (noun) a bid that is higher than preceding bids | - |
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| (noun) (bridge) a bid that is higher than your opponent's bid (especially when your partner has not bid at all and your bid exceeds the value of your hand) | Synonyms: overcall |
| (verb) bid more than the object is worth | - |
| (verb) to bid for more tricks than one can expect to win | - |
| overbite | (noun) (dentistry) malocclusion in which the upper teeth extend abnormally far over the lower teeth | - |
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| overblown | (adjective) past the stage of full bloom | - |
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| (adjective) puffed up with vanity | Synonyms: grandiloquent, pompous, pontifical, portentous |
| overboard | (adverb) from on board a vessel into the water | - |
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| (adverb) to extremes | - |