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- sacrifice
- v. To make an offering of to deity, especially by presenting on an altar.
- sacrificial
- adj. Offering or offered as an atonement for sin.
- sacrilege
- n. The act of violating or profaning anything sacred.
- sacrilegious
- adj. Impious.
- safeguard
- v. To protect.
- sagacious
- adj. Able to discern and distinguish with wise perception.
- salacious
- adj. Having strong sexual desires.
- salience
- n. The condition of standing out distinctly.
- salient
- adj. Standing out prominently.
- saline
- adj. Constituting or consisting of salt.
- salutary
- adj. Beneficial.
- salutation
- n. Any form of greeting, hailing, or welcome, whether by word or act.
- salutatory
- n. The opening oration at the commencement in American colleges.
- salvage
- n. Any act of saving property.
- salvo
- n. A salute given by firing all the guns, as at the funeral of an officer.
- sanctimonious
- adj. Making an ostentatious display or hypocritical pretense of holiness or piety.
- sanction
- v. To approve authoritatively.
- sanctity
- n. Holiness.
- sanguinary
- adj. Bloody.
- sanguine
- adj. Having the color of blood.
- sanguineous
- adj. Consisting of blood.
- sapid
- adj. Affecting the sense of taste.
- sapience
- n. Deep wisdom or knowledge.
- sapient
- adj. Possessing wisdom.
- sapiential
- adj. Possessing wisdom.
- saponaceous
- adj. Having the nature or quality of soap.
- sarcasm
- n. Cutting and reproachful language.
- sarcophagus
- n. A stone coffin or a chest-like tomb.
- sardonic
- adj. Scornfully or bitterly sarcastic.
- satiate
- v. To satisfy fully the appetite or desire of.
- satire
- n. The employment of sarcasm, irony, or keenness of wit in ridiculing vices.
- satiric
- adj. Resembling poetry, in which vice, incapacity ,or corruption is held up to ridicule.
- satirize
- v. To treat with sarcasm or derisive wit.
- satyr
- n. A very lascivious person.
- savage
- n. A wild and uncivilized human being.
- savor
- v. To perceive by taste or smell.
- scabbard
- n. The sheath of a sword or similar bladed weapon.
- scarcity
- n. Insufficiency of supply for needs or ordinary demands.
- scholarly
- adj. Characteristic of an erudite person.
- scholastic
- adj. Pertaining to education or schools.
- scintilla
- n. The faintest ray.
- scintillate
- v. To emit or send forth sparks or little flashes of light.
- scope
- n. A range of action or view.
- scoundrel
- n. A man without principle.
- scribble
- n. Hasty, careless writing.
- scribe
- n. One who writes or is skilled in writing.
- script
- n. Writing or handwriting of the ordinary cursive form.
- Scriptural
- adj. Pertaining to, contained in, or warranted by the Holy Scriptures.
- scruple
- n. Doubt or uncertainty regarding a question of moral right or duty.
- scrupulous
- adj. Cautious in action for fear of doing wrong.
- scurrilous
- adj. Grossly indecent or vulgar.
- scuttle
- v. To sink (a ship) by making holes in the bottom.
- scythe
- n. A long curved blade for mowing, reaping, etc.
- seance
- n. A meeting of spirituals for consulting spirits.
- sear
- v. To burn on the surface.
- sebaceous
- adj. Pertaining to or appearing like fat.
- secant
- adj. Cutting, especially into two parts.
- secede
- v. To withdraw from union or association, especially from a political or religious body.
- secession
- n. Voluntary withdrawal from fellowship, especially from political or religious bodies.
- seclude
- v. To place, keep, or withdraw from the companionship of others.
- seclusion
- n. Solitude.
- secondary
- adj. Less important or effective than that which is primary.
- secondly
- adv. In the second place in order or succession.
- second-rate
- adj. Second in quality, size, rank, importance, etc.
- secrecy
- n. Concealment.
- secretary
- n. One who attends to correspondence, keeps records. or does other writing for others.
- secretive
- adj. Having a tendency to conceal.
- sedate
- adj. Even-tempered.
- sedentary
- adj. Involving or requiring much sitting.
- sediment
- n. Matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.
- sedition
- n. Conduct directed against public order and the tranquillity of the state.
- seditious
- adj. Promotive of conduct directed against public order and the tranquillity of the state.
- seduce
- v. To entice to surrender chastity.
- sedulous
- adj. Persevering in effort or endeavor.
- seer
- n. A prophet.
- seethe
- v. To be violently excited or agitated.
- seignior
- n. A title of honor or respectful address, equivalent to sir.
- seismograph
- n. An instrument for recording the phenomena of earthquakes.
- seize
- v. To catch or take hold of suddenly and forcibly.
- selective
- adj. Having the power of choice.
- self-respect
- n. Rational self-esteem.
- semblance
- n. Outward appearance.
- semicivilized
- adj. Half-civilized.
- semiconscious
- adj. Partially conscious.
- semiannual
- adj. Recurring at intervals of six months.
- semicircle
- n. A half-circle.
- seminar
- n. Any assemblage of pupils for real research in some specific study under a teacher.
- seminary
- n. A special school, as of theology or pedagogics.
- senile
- adj. Peculiar to or proceeding from the weakness or infirmity of old age.
- sensation
- n. A condition of mind resulting from spiritual or inherent feeling.
- sense
- n. The signification conveyed by some word, phrase, or action.
- sensibility
- n. Power to perceive or feel.
- sensitive
- adj. Easily affected by outside operations or influences.
- sensorium
- n. The sensory apparatus.
- sensual
- adj. Pertaining to the body or the physical senses.
- sensuous
- adj. Having a warm appreciation of the beautiful or of the refinements of luxury.
- sentence
- n. A related group of words containing a subject and a predicate and expressing a complete thought.
- sentience
- n. Capacity for sensation or sense-perception.
- sentient
- adj. Possessing the power of sense or sense-perception.
- sentinel
- n. Any guard or watch stationed for protection.
- separable
- adj. Capable of being disjoined or divided.
- separate
- v. To take apart.
- separatist
- n. A seceder.
- septennial
- adj. Recurring every seven years.
- sepulcher
- n. A burial-place.
- sequacious
- adj. Ready to be led.
- sequel
- n. That which follows in consequence of what has previously happened.
- sequence
- n. The order in which a number or persons, things, or events follow one another in space or time.
- sequent
- adj. Following in the order of time.
- sequester
- v. To cause to withdraw or retire, as from society or public life.
- sequestrate
- v. To confiscate.
- sergeant
- n. A non-commissioned military officer ranking next above a corporal.
- sergeant-at-arms
- n. An executive officer in legislative bodies who enforces the orders of the presiding officer.
- sergeant-major
- n. The highest non-commissioned officer in a regiment.
- service
- n. Any work done for the benefit of another.
- serviceable
- adj. Durable.
- servitude
- n. Slavery.
- severance
- n. Separation.
- severely
- adv. Extremely.
- sextet
- n. A band of six singers or players.
- sextuple
- adj. Multiplied by six.
- sheer
- adj. Absolute.
- shiftless
- adj. Wanting in resource, energy, or executive ability.
- shrewd
- adj. Characterized by skill at understanding and profiting by circumstances.
- shriek
- n. A sharp, shrill outcry or scream, caused by agony or terror.
- shrinkage
- n. A contraction of any material into less bulk or dimension.
- shrivel
- v. To draw or be drawn into wrinkles.
- shuffle
- n. A mixing or changing the order of things.
- sibilance
- n. A hissing sound.
- sibilant
- adj. Made with a hissing sound.
- sibilate
- v. To give a hissing sound to, as in pronouncing the letter s.
- sidelong
- adj. Inclining or tending to one side.
- sidereal
- adj. Pertaining to stars or constellations.
- siege
- n. A beleaguerment.
- significance
- n. Importance.
- significant
- adj. Important, especially as pointing something out.
- signification
- n. The meaning conveyed by language, actions, or signs.
- similar
- adj. Bearing resemblance to one another or to something else.
- simile
- n. A comparison which directs the mind to the representative object itself.
- similitude
- n. Similarity.
- simplify
- v. To make less complex or difficult.
- simulate
- v. Imitate.
- simultaneous
- adj. Occurring, done, or existing at the same time.
- sinecure
- n. Any position having emoluments with few or no duties.
- singe
- v. To burn slightly or superficially.
- sinister
- adj. Evil.
- sinuosity
- n. The quality of curving in and out.
- sinuous
- adj. Curving in and out.
- sinus
- n. An opening or cavity.
- siren
- n. A sea-nymph, described by Homer as dwelling between the island of Circe and Scylla.
- sirocco
- n. hot winds from Africa.
- sisterhood
- n. A body of sisters united by some bond of sympathy or by a religious vow.
- skeptic
- n. One who doubts any statements.
- skepticism
- n. The entertainment of doubt concerning something.
- skiff
- n. Usually, a small light boat propelled by oars.
- skirmish
- n. Desultory fighting between advanced detachments of two armies.
- sleight
- n. A trick or feat so deftly done that the manner of performance escapes observation.
- slight
- adj. Of a small importance or significance.
- slothful
- adj. Lazy.
- sluggard
- n. A person habitually lazy or idle.
- sociable
- adj. Inclined to seek company.
- socialism
- n. A theory of civil polity that aims to secure the reconstruction of society.
- socialist
- adj. One who advocates reconstruction of society by collective ownership of land and capital.
- sociology
- n. The philosophical study of society.
- Sol
- n. The sun.
- solace
- n. Comfort in grief, trouble, or calamity.
- solar
- adj. Pertaining to the sun.
- solder
- n. A fusible alloy used for joining metallic surfaces or margins.
- soldier
- n. A person engaged in military service.
- solecism
- n. Any violation of established rules or customs.
- solicitor
- n. One who represents a client in court of justice; an attorney.
- solicitude
- n. Uneasiness of mind occasioned by desire, anxiety, or fear.
- soliloquy
- n. A monologue.
- solstice
- n. The time of year when the sun is at its greatest declination.
- soluble
- adj. Capable of being dissolved, as in a fluid.
- solvent
- adj. Having sufficient funds to pay all debts.
- somber
- adj. Gloomy.
- somniferous
- adj. Tending to produce sleep.
- somnolence
- n. Oppressive drowsiness.
- somnolent
- adj. Sleepy.
- sonata
- n. An instrumental composition.
- sonnet
- n. A poem of fourteen decasyllabic or octosyllabiclines expressing two successive phrases.
- sonorous
- adj. Resonant.
- soothsayer
- n. One who claims to have supernatural insight or foresight.
- sophism
- n. A false argument understood to be such by the reasoner himself and intentionally used to deceive
- sophistical
- adj. Fallacious.
- sophisticate
- v. To deprive of simplicity of mind or manner.
- sophistry
- n. Reasoning sound in appearance only, especially when designedly deceptive.
- soprano
- n. A woman's or boy's voice of high range.
- sorcery
- n. Witchcraft.
- sordid
- adj. Of degraded character or nature.
- souvenir
- n. A token of remembrance.
- sparse
- adj. Thinly diffused.
- Spartan
- adj. Exceptionally brave; rigorously severe.
- spasmodic
- adj. Convulsive.
- specialize
- v. To assume an individual or specific character, or adopt a singular or special course.
- specialty
- n. An employment limited to one particular line of work.
- specie
- n. A coin or coins of gold, silver, copper, or other metal.
- species
- n. A classificatory group of animals or plants subordinate to a genus.
- specimen
- n. One of a class of persons or things regarded as representative of the class.
- specious
- adj. Plausible.
- spectator
- n. One who beholds or looks on.
- specter
- n. Apparition.
- spectrum
- n. An image formed by rays of light or other radiant energy.
- speculate
- v. To pursue inquiries and form conjectures.
- speculator
- n. One who makes an investment that involves a risk of loss, but also a chance of profit.
- sphericity
- n. The state or condition of being a sphere.
- spheroid
- n. A body having nearly the form of a sphere.
- spherometer
- n. An instrument for measuring curvature or radii of spherical surfaces.
- spinous
- adj. Having spines.
- spinster
- n. A woman who has never been married.
- spontaneous
- adj. Arising from inherent qualities or tendencies without external efficient cause.
- sprightly
- adj. Vivacious.
- spurious
- adj. Not genuine.
- squabble
- v. To quarrel.
- squalid
- adj. Having a dirty, mean, poverty-stricken appearance.
- squatter
- n. One who settles on land without permission or right.
- stagnant
- adj. Not flowing: said of water, as in a pool.
- stagnate
- v. To become dull or inert.
- stagnation
- n. The condition of not flowing or not changing.
- stagy
- adj. Having a theatrical manner.
- staid
- adj. Of a steady and sober character.
- stallion
- n. An uncastrated male horse, commonly one kept for breeding.
- stanchion
- n. A vertical bar, or a pair of bars, used to confine cattle in a stall.
- stanza
- n. A group of rimed lines, usually forming one of a series of similar divisions in a poem.
- statecraft
- n. The art of conducting state affairs.
- static
- adj. Pertaining to or designating bodies at rest or forces in equilibrium.
- statics
- n. The branch of mechanics that treats of the relations that subsist among forces in order.
- stationary
- adj. Not moving.
- statistician
- n. One who is skilled in collecting and tabulating numerical facts.
- statuesque
- adj. Having the grace, pose, or quietude of a statue.
- statuette
- n. A figurine.
- stature
- n. The natural height of an animal body.
- statute
- n. Any authoritatively declared rule, ordinance, decree, or law.
- stealth
- n. A concealed manner of acting.
- stellar
- adj. Pertaining to the stars.
- steppe
- n. One of the extensive plains in Russia and Siberia.
- sterling
- adj. Genuine.
- stifle
- v. To smother.
- stigma
- n. A mark of infamy or token of disgrace attaching to a person as the result of evil-doing.
- stiletto
- n. A small dagger.
- stimulant
- n. Anything that rouses to activity or to quickened action.
- stimulate
- v. To rouse to activity or to quickened action.
- stimulus
- n. Incentive.
- stingy
- adj. Cheap, unwilling to spend money.
- stipend
- n. A definite amount paid at stated periods in compensation for services or as an allowance.
- Stoicism
- n. The principles or the practice of the Stoics-being very even tempered in success and failure.
- stolid
- adj. Expressing no power of feeling or perceiving.
- strait
- n. A narrow passage of water connecting two larger bodies of water.
- stratagem
- n. Any clever trick or device for obtaining an advantage.
- stratum
- n. A natural or artificial layer, bed, or thickness of any substance or material.
- streamlet
- n. Rivulet.
- stringency
- n. Strictness.
- stringent
- adj. Rigid.
- stripling
- n. A mere youth.
- studious
- adj. Having or showing devotion to the acquisition of knowledge.
- stultify
- v. To give an appearance of foolishness to.
- stupendous
- adj. Of prodigious size, bulk, or degree.
- stupor
- n. Profound lethargy.
- suasion
- n. The act of persuading.
- suave
- adj. Smooth and pleasant in manner.
- subacid
- adj. Somewhat sharp or biting.
- subaquatic
- adj. Being, formed, or operating under water.
- subconscious
- adj. Being or occurring in the mind, but without attendant consciousness or conscious perception.
- subjacent
- adj. Situated directly underneath.
- subjection
- n. The act of bringing into a state of submission.
- subjugate
- v. To conquer.
- subliminal
- adj. Being beneath the threshold of consciousness.
- sublingual
- adj. Situated beneath the tongue.
- submarine
- adj. Existing, done, or operating beneath the surface of the sea.
- submerge
- v. To place or plunge under water.
- submergence
- n. The act of submerging.
- submersible
- adj. Capable of being put underwater.
- submersion
- n. The act of submerging.
- submission
- n. A yielding to the power or authority of another.
- submittal
- n. The act of submitting.
- subordinate
- adj. Belonging to an inferior order in a classification.
- subsequent
- adj. Following in time.
- subservience
- n. The quality, character, or condition of being servilely following another's behests.
- subservient
- adj. Servilely following another's behests.
- subside
- v. To relapse into a state of repose and tranquillity.
- subsist
- v. To be maintained or sustained.
- subsistence
- n. Sustenance.
- substantive
- adj. Solid.
- subtend
- v. To extend opposite to.
- subterfuge
- n. Evasion.
- subterranean
- adj. Situated or occurring below the surface of the earth.
- subtle
- adj. Discriminating.
- subtrahend
- n. That which is to be subtracted.
- subversion
- n. An overthrow, as from the foundation.
- subvert
- v. To bring to ruin.
- succeed
- v. To accomplish what is attempted or intended.
- success
- n. A favorable or prosperous course or termination of anything attempted.
- successful
- adj. Having reached a high degree of worldly prosperity.
- successor
- n. One who or that which takes the place of a predecessor or preceding thing.
- succinct
- adj. Concise.
- succulent
- adj. Juicy.
- succumb
- v. To cease to resist.
- sufferance
- n. Toleration.
- sufficiency
- n. An ample or adequate supply.
- suffrage
- n. The right or privilege of voting.
- suffuse
- v. To cover or fill the surface of.
- suggestible
- adj. That can be suggested.
- suggestive
- adj. Stimulating to thought or reflection.
- summary
- n. An abstract.
- sumptuous
- adj. Rich and costly.
- superabundance
- n. An excessive amount.
- superadd
- v. To add in addition to what has been added.
- superannuate
- v. To become deteriorated or incapacitated by long service.
- superb
- adj. Sumptuously elegant.
- supercilious
- adj. Exhibiting haughty and careless contempt.
- superficial
- adj. Knowing and understanding only the ordinary and the obvious.
- superfluity
- n. That part of anything that is in excess of what is needed.
- superfluous
- adj. Being more than is needed.
- superheat
- v. To heat to excess.
- superintend
- v. To have the charge and direction of, especially of some work or movement.
- superintendence
- n. Direction and management.
- superintendent
- n. One who has the charge and direction of, especially of some work or movement.
- superlative
- n. That which is of the highest possible excellence or eminence.
- supernatural
- adj. Caused miraculously or by the immediate exercise of divine power.
- supernumerary
- adj. Superfluous.
- supersede
- v. To displace.
- supine
- adj. Lying on the back.
- supplant
- v. To take the place of.
- supple
- adj. Easily bent.
- supplementary
- adj. Being an addition to.
- supplicant
- n. One who asks humbly and earnestly.
- supplicate
- v. To beg.
- supposition
- n. Conjecture.
- suppress
- v. To prevent from being disclosed or punished.
- suppressible
- adj. Capable of being suppressed.
- suppression
- n. A forcible putting or keeping down.
- supramundane
- adj. Supernatural.
- surcharge
- n. An additional amount charged.
- surety
- n. Security for payment or performance.
- surfeit
- v. To feed to fullness or to satiety.
- surmise
- v. To conjecture.
- surmount
- v. To overcome by force of will.
- surreptitious
- adj. Clandestine.
- surrogate
- n. One who or that which is substituted for or appointed to act in place of another.
- surround
- v. To encircle.
- surveyor
- n. A land-measurer.
- susceptibility
- n. A specific capability of feeling or emotion.
- susceptible
- adj. Easily under a specified power or influence.
- suspense
- n. Uncertainty.
- suspension
- n. A hanging from a support.
- suspicious
- adj. Inclined to doubt or mistrust.
- sustenance
- n. Food.
- swarthy
- adj. Having a dark hue, especially a dark or sunburned complexion.
- Sybarite
- n. A luxurious person.
- sycophant
- n. A servile flatterer, especially of those in authority or influence.
- syllabic
- adj. Consisting of that which is uttered in a single vocal impulse.
- syllabication
- n. Division of words into that which is uttered in a single vocal impulse.
- syllable
- n. That which is uttered in a single vocal impulse.
- syllabus
- n. Outline of a subject, course, lecture, or treatise.
- sylph
- n. A slender, graceful young woman or girl.
- symmetrical
- adj. Well-balanced.
- symmetry
- n. Relative proportion and harmony.
- sympathetic
- adj. Having a fellow-feeling for or like feelings with another or others.
- sympathize
- v. To share the sentiments or mental states of another.
- symphonic
- adj. Characterized by a harmonious or agreeable mingling of sounds.
- symphonious
- adj. Marked by a harmonious or agreeable mingling of sounds.
- symphony
- n. A harmonious or agreeable mingling of sounds.
- synchronism
- n. Simultaneousness.
- syndicate
- n. An association of individuals united for the prosecution of some enterprise.
- syneresis
- n. The coalescence of two vowels or syllables, as e'er for ever.
- synod
- n. An ecclesiastical council.
- synonym
- n. A word having the same or almost the same meaning as some other.
- synopsis
- n. A syllabus or summary.
- systematic
- adj. Methodical.