| promontory | (noun) a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea) | Synonyms: foreland, head, headland |
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| propitiatory | (adjective) having power to atone for or offered by way of expiation or propitiation | Synonyms: expiative, expiatory |
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| (adjective) intended to reconcile or appease | Synonyms: propitiative |
| proprietary | (adjective) protected by trademark or patent or copyright; made or produced or distributed by one having exclusive rights | - |
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| (noun) an unincorporated business owned by a single person who is responsible for its liabilities and entitled to its profits | Synonyms: proprietorship |
| protohistory | (noun) the study of humans prior to the invention of writing | Synonyms: protoanthropology |
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| provisionary | (adjective) under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon | Synonyms: probationary, provisional, tentative |
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| provisory | (adjective) subject to a proviso | - |
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| prudery | (noun) excessive or affected modesty | Synonyms: Grundyism, primness, prudishness |
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| pry | (noun) a heavy iron lever with one end forged into a wedge | Synonyms: crowbar, pry bar, wrecking bar |
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| (verb) be nosey | - |
| (verb) to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open | Synonyms: jimmy, lever, prise, prize |
| (verb) make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry | Synonyms: prise |
| (verb) search or inquire in a meddlesome way | Synonyms: horn in, intrude, nose, poke |
| psaltery | (noun) an ancient stringed instrument similar to the lyre or zither but having a trapezoidal sounding board under the strings | - |
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| psychiatry | (noun) the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders | Synonyms: psychological medicine, psychopathology |
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| psychometry | (noun) any branch of psychology concerned with psychological measurements | Synonyms: psychometrics, psychometrika |
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| psychosurgery | (noun) brain surgery on human patients intended to relieve severe and otherwise intractable mental or behavioral problems | - |
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| puffery | (noun) a flattering commendation (especially when used for promotional purposes) | - |
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| pulmonary | (adjective) relating to or affecting the lungs | Synonyms: pneumonic, pulmonic |
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| punitory | (adjective) inflicting punishment | Synonyms: punitive |
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| pupillary | (adjective) of or relating to the pupil of the eye | - |
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| puppetry | (noun) a stilted dramatic performance (as if by puppets) | - |
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| (noun) the art of making puppets and presenting puppet shows | - |
| purgatory | (noun) (theology) in Roman Catholic theology the place where those who have died in a state of grace undergo limited torment to expiate their sins | - |
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| (noun) a temporary condition of torment or suffering | - |
| pycnometry | (noun) The determination of liquid density by weighing the liquid in a container (pycnometer) of known volume. | - |
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| pyrochemistry | (noun) processes for chemical reactions at high temperatures | Synonyms: pyrochemical process |
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| pyrolatry | (noun) the worship of fire | Synonyms: fire-worship |
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| quackery | (noun) medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings | Synonyms: empiricism |
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| (noun) the dishonesty of a charlatan | Synonyms: charlatanism |
| quandary | (noun) state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options | Synonyms: dilemma |
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| (noun) a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one | Synonyms: plight, predicament |
| quarry | (noun) animal hunted or caught for food | Synonyms: prey |
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| (noun) a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate | Synonyms: pit, stone pit |
| (noun) a person who is the aim of an attack (especially a victim of ridicule or exploitation) by some hostile person or influence | Synonyms: fair game, prey, target |
| (verb) extract (something such as stones) from or as if from a quarry | - |
| quatercentenary | (noun) the 400th anniversary (or the celebration of it) | Synonyms: quatercentennial |
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| quaternary | (adjective) consisting of or especially arranged in sets of four | Synonyms: quaternate |
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| (adjective) coming next after the third and just before the fifth in position or time or degree or magnitude | Synonyms: 4th, fourth |
| (noun) the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one | Synonyms: 4, four, foursome, IV, Little Joe, quadruplet, quartet, quatern, quaternion, quaternity, tetrad |
| query | (noun) an instance of questioning | Synonyms: enquiry, inquiry, interrogation, question |
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| (verb) pose a question | Synonyms: question |
| quincentenary | (adjective) of or relating to a 500th anniversary | Synonyms: quincentennial |
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| (noun) the 500th anniversary (or the celebration of it) | Synonyms: quincentennial |
| radiochemistry | (noun) the chemistry of radioactive substances | Synonyms: nuclear chemistry |
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| raillery | (noun) light teasing repartee | Synonyms: backchat, banter, give-and-take |
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| raspberry | (noun) a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt | Synonyms: bird, boo, Bronx cheer, hiss, hoot, razz, razzing, snort |
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| (noun) red or black edible aggregate berries usually smaller than the related blackberries | - |
| (noun) woody brambles bearing usually red but sometimes black or yellow fruits that separate from the receptacle when ripe and are rounder and smaller than blackberries | Synonyms: raspberry bush |
| reactionary | (adjective) opposed to political or social liberalism or reform | Synonyms: far-right, reactionist |
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| (noun) an extreme conservative; an opponent of progress or liberalism | Synonyms: extreme right-winger, ultraconservative |
| rebury | (verb) bury again | - |
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| recessionary | (adjective) of or pertaining to a recession | Synonyms: recessive |
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| reciprocatory | (adjective) moving alternately backward and forward | Synonyms: reciprocative |
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| (adjective) given or done or owed to each other | Synonyms: reciprocative |
| recovery | (noun) the act of regaining or saving something lost (or in danger of becoming lost) | Synonyms: retrieval |
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| (noun) return to an original state | - |
| (noun) gradual healing (through rest) after sickness or injury | Synonyms: convalescence, recuperation |
| recriminatory | (adjective) countering one charge with another | Synonyms: recriminative |
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| rectory | (noun) an official residence provided by a church for its parson or vicar or rector | Synonyms: parsonage, vicarage |
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| redberry | (noun) small spiny evergreen shrub of western United States and Mexico with minute flowers and bright red berries | Synonyms: red-berry, Rhamnus croceus |
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| (noun) North American perennial herb with alternately compound leaves and racemes of small white flowers followed by bright red oval poisonous berries | Synonyms: Actaea rubra, red-berry, red baneberry, snakeberry |
| redemptory | (adjective) of or relating to or resulting in redemption | Synonyms: redemptional, redemptive |
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| rediscovery | (noun) the act of discovering again | - |
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| reentry | (noun) the act of entering again | - |
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| refectory | (noun) a communal dining-hall (usually in a monastery) | - |
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| refinery | (noun) an industrial plant for purifying a crude substance | - |
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| reformatory | (adjective) tending to reform | Synonyms: reformative |
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| (noun) correctional institution for the detention and discipline and training of young or first offenders | Synonyms: reform school, training school |
| refractory | (adjective) stubbornly resistant to authority or control | Synonyms: fractious, recalcitrant |
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| (adjective) temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to a process or stimulus | - |
| (adjective) not responding to treatment | Synonyms: stubborn |
| (noun) lining consisting of material with a high melting point; used to line the inside walls of a furnace | Synonyms: furnace lining |
| registry | (noun) an official written record of names or events or transactions | Synonyms: register |
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| regulatory | (adjective) restricting according to rules or principles | Synonyms: regulative |
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| reliquary | (noun) a container where religious relics are stored or displayed (especially relics of saints) | - |
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| remarry | (verb) marry, not for the first time | - |
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| repertory | (noun) a storehouse where a stock of things is kept | - |
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| (noun) the entire range of skills or aptitudes or devices used in a particular field or occupation | Synonyms: repertoire |
| (noun) a collection of works (plays, songs, operas, ballets) that an artist or company can perform and do perform for short intervals on a regular schedule | Synonyms: repertoire |
| (noun) a theatrical company that performs plays from a repertoire | Synonyms: repertory company, stock company |
| repository | (noun) a facility where things can be deposited for storage or safekeeping | Synonyms: deposit, depositary, depository |
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| (noun) a burial vault (usually for some famous person) | Synonyms: monument |
| (noun) a person to whom a secret is entrusted | Synonyms: secretary |
| residuary | (adjective) relating to or indicating a remainder | Synonyms: residual |
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| (adjective) entitled to the residue of an estate (after payment of debts and specific gifts) | - |
| respiratory | (adjective) pertaining to respiration | - |
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| retaliatory | (adjective) of or relating to or having the nature of retribution | Synonyms: retaliative, retributive, retributory, vindicatory |
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| retributory | (adjective) given or inflicted in requital according to merits or deserts | Synonyms: retributive, vindicatory |
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| (adjective) of or relating to or having the nature of retribution | Synonyms: retaliative, retaliatory, retributive, vindicatory |
| retry | (verb) hear or try a court case anew | Synonyms: rehear |
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| rettery | (noun) a place or establishment where flax is retted. | - |
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| revelatory | (adjective) prophetic of devastation or ultimate doom | Synonyms: apocalyptic, apocalyptical |
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| (adjective) (usually followed by `of') pointing out or revealing clearly | Synonyms: indicative, indicatory, significative, suggestive |
| revelry | (noun) unrestrained merrymaking | Synonyms: revel |
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| reversionary | (adjective) of or relating to or involving a reversion (especially a legal reversion) | - |
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| revery | (noun) an abstracted state of absorption | Synonyms: reverie |
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| (noun) absentminded dreaming while awake | Synonyms: air castle, castle in Spain, castle in the air, daydream, daydreaming, oneirism, reverie |
| revolutionary | (adjective) advocating or engaged in revolution | - |
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| (adjective) relating to or having the nature of a revolution | - |
| (adjective) of or relating to or characteristic or causing an axial or orbital turn | Synonyms: rotatory |
| (adjective) markedly new or introducing radical change | Synonyms: radical |
| (noun) a radical supporter of political or social revolution | Synonyms: revolutionist, subversive, subverter |
| ribaldry | (noun) behavior or language bordering on indelicacy | Synonyms: gaminess, raciness, spiciness |
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| (noun) ribald humor | - |
| rivalry | (noun) the act of competing as for profit or a prize | Synonyms: competition, contention |
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| robbery | (noun) larceny by threat of violence | - |
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| (noun) plundering during riots or in wartime | Synonyms: looting |
| rockery | (noun) a garden featuring rocks; usually alpine plants | Synonyms: rock garden |
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| rocketry | (noun) the branch of engineering science that studies rocket design and operation | - |
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| roguery | (noun) reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others | Synonyms: devilment, devilry, deviltry, mischief-making, mischief, mischievousness, rascality, roguishness, shenanigan |
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| rookery | (noun) a breeding ground for gregarious birds (such as rooks) | - |
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| rosary | (noun) a string of beads used in counting prayers (especially by Catholics) | Synonyms: prayer beads |
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| rosemary | (noun) extremely pungent leaves used fresh or dried as seasoning for especially meats | - |
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| (noun) widely cultivated for its fragrant grey-green leaves used in cooking and in perfumery | Synonyms: Rosmarinus officinalis |
| rotary | (adjective) relating to or characterized by rotation | - |
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| (adjective) describing a circle; moving in a circle | Synonyms: circular, orbitual |
| (noun) a road junction at which traffic streams circularly around a central island | Synonyms: circle, roundabout, traffic circle |
| (noun) electrical converter consisting of a synchronous machine that converts alternating to direct current or vice versa | Synonyms: rotary converter, synchronous converter |
| rotatory | (adjective) of or relating to or characteristic or causing an axial or orbital turn | Synonyms: revolutionary |
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| rougeberry | (noun) bushy houseplant having white to pale pink flowers followed by racemes of scarlet berries; tropical Americas | Synonyms: blood berry, bloodberry, Rivina humilis, rouge plant |
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| rowanberry | (noun) decorative red berrylike fruit of a rowan tree | - |
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| rubbery | (adjective) having an elastic texture resembling rubber in flexibility or toughness | Synonyms: rubberlike |
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| (adjective) difficult to chew | Synonyms: cartilaginous, gristly |
| rudimentary | (adjective) being or involving basic facts or principles | Synonyms: fundamental, underlying |
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| (adjective) being in the earliest stages of development | - |
| (adjective) not fully developed in mature animals | Synonyms: vestigial |
| saddlery | (noun) gear for a horse | Synonyms: stable gear, tack |
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| (noun) workshop where a saddler works | - |
| salary | (noun) something that remunerates | Synonyms: earnings, pay, remuneration, wage |
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| salivary | (adjective) of or relating to saliva | - |
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| salmonberry | (noun) large erect red-flowered raspberry of western North America having large pinkish-orange berries | Synonyms: Rubus spectabilis |
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| (noun) white-flowered raspberry of western North America and northern Mexico with thimble-shaped orange berries | Synonyms: Rubus parviflorus, salmon berry, thimbleberry |
| (noun) creeping raspberry of north temperate regions with yellow or orange berries | Synonyms: bakeapple, baked-apple berry, cloudberry, dwarf mulberry, Rubus chamaemorus |
| salutary | (adjective) tending to promote physical well-being; beneficial to health | Synonyms: good |
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| salutatory | (noun) an opening or welcoming statement (especially one delivered at graduation exercises) | Synonyms: salutatory address, salutatory oration |
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| sanctuary | (noun) area around the altar of a church for the clergy and choir; often enclosed by a lattice or railing | Synonyms: bema, chancel |
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| (noun) a shelter from danger or hardship | Synonyms: asylum, refuge |
| (noun) a consecrated place where sacred objects are kept | - |
| sandberry | (noun) evergreen mat-forming shrub of North America and northern Eurasia having small white flowers and red berries; leaves turn red in autumn | Synonyms: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, bear's grape, common bearberry, creashak, hog cranberry, mealberry, mountain box, red bearberry, sand berry, wild cranberry |
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| sandpapery | (adjective) having the abrasive texture of sandpaper | - |
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| sanguinary | (adjective) marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed | Synonyms: bloodthirsty, bloody-minded |
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| (adjective) accompanied by bloodshed | Synonyms: butcherly, gory, sanguineous, slaughterous |
| sanitary | (adjective) free from filth and pathogens | Synonyms: healthful |
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| satisfactory | (adjective) giving satisfaction | - |
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| (adjective) meeting requirements | Synonyms: acceptable, decent |
| saury | (noun) slender long-beaked fish of temperate Atlantic waters | Synonyms: billfish, Scomberesox saurus |
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| savagery | (noun) a brutal barbarous savage act | Synonyms: barbarism, barbarity, brutality |
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| (noun) the trait of extreme cruelty | Synonyms: brutality, ferociousness, viciousness |
| (noun) the property of being untamed and ferocious | Synonyms: savageness |
| savory | (adjective) morally wholesome or acceptable | Synonyms: savoury |
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| (adjective) having a pleasant taste | Synonyms: mouth-watering, savoury |
| (adjective) having an agreeably pungent taste | Synonyms: piquant, savoury, zesty |
| (noun) either of two aromatic herbs of the mint family | Synonyms: savoury |
| (noun) an aromatic or spicy dish served at the end of dinner or as an hors d'oeuvre | Synonyms: savoury |
| (noun) any of several aromatic herbs or subshrubs of the genus Satureja having spikes of flowers attractive to bees | - |
| (noun) dwarf aromatic shrub of Mediterranean regions | Synonyms: Micromeria juliana |
| savoury | (adjective) morally wholesome or acceptable | Synonyms: savory |
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| (adjective) having a pleasant taste | Synonyms: mouth-watering, savory |
| (adjective) having an agreeably pungent taste | Synonyms: piquant, savory, zesty |
| (noun) either of two aromatic herbs of the mint family | Synonyms: savory |
| (noun) an aromatic or spicy dish served at the end of dinner or as an hors d'oeuvre | Synonyms: savory |
| scapulary | (noun) garment consisting of a long wide piece of woolen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head; part of a monastic habit | Synonyms: scapular |
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| scary | (adjective) provoking fear or terror | Synonyms: chilling, shivery, shuddery |
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| scenery | (noun) the painted structures of a stage set that are intended to suggest a particular locale | Synonyms: scene |
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| (noun) the appearance of a place | - |
| scry | (verb) divine by gazing into crystals | - |
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| scullery | (noun) a small room (in large old British houses) next to the kitchen; where kitchen utensils are cleaned and kept and other rough household jobs are done | - |
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| scurry | (noun) rushing about hastily in an undignified way | Synonyms: scamper, scramble |
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| (verb) to move about or proceed hurriedly | Synonyms: scamper, scuttle, skitter |