ABBREVIATE  To reduce in length, duration, etc. To make a story, a film, etc. briefer. To shorten a word or phrase by omitting letters. See also ELABORATE

ABDICATE  To renounce or relinquish a throne, right, or claim. To resign or give up an office, power, authority, etc., particularly in public affairs. To relinquish power.

ABROGATE  To cancel, repeal, annul, abolish formally or by official or authoritative act. To put aside or put an end to. See also NULLIFY

ACCENTUATE  To emphasize or give prominence to (something). To attribute special importance to. To pronounce or mark with an accent. See also EMPHASIZE

ACCLIMATIZE  To accustom, or become accustomed, to a new climate, environment, or conditions. To adapt. To acclimate. See also NATURALIZE

ACCOMMODATE  To adapt, adjust, or reconcile to. To resolve a difference, harmonize, or make suitable or consistent. To oblige, particularly by performing a kindness or favor. To hold, have space for, or provide lodging for. See also HARMONIZE  RECONCILE

ACCOMPANY  To go (somewhere) with someone to provide companionship or as escort, etc. To join one or more persons (or things) in action or in causing something to be done. Also, to occur in association with (one or more other persons or things). Finally, to play in accompaniment of someone else.

ACCOMPLISH  To perform, fulfill, carry out, complete, or bring to a successful conclusion. To bring to a conclusion. See also EXECUTE

ACCREDIT  To recognize or certify a school, college, or other educational institution as fulfilling specified requirements. Also to officially recognize an ambassador of a foreign government or an envoy, etc. To make creditable or authoritative, or provide  with credentials. In addition, to ascribe to or attribute to. See also RECOGNIZE

ACKNOWLEDGE  To take notice of, show or express recognition or realization of, or reply to. To show or express gratitude for. To recognize the existence or truth of. To recognize the authority or claims of (someone) or validity (of something). In law, to recognize as binding or of legal force. Finally, to report the receipt of (something). See also RECOGNIZE

ACTIVATE  To make active. In chemistry, to make a catalyst, carbon, or other molecule active, or facilitate or hasten a chemical reaction. To aerate sewage in order to hasten decomposition. In physics, to excite or make radioactive. Also, to place a military unit on an active status or resurrect to a state of readiness any dormant organization. See also INITIATE  EMBATTLE  REACTIVATE

ACTUALIZE  To make or become actual. To realize in fact or action. See also VISUALIZE

ADJUDICATE  To sit in judgment or determine or settle an issue judicially. To pronounce or decree judgment or judicial sentence. Also, to act as a judge in a contest. See also EXECUTE  TESTIFY

ADMINISTER  To manage or direct business affairs, an estate, trust, etc. To act as an administrator. To give, provide, contribute, dispense, serve (justice, sacraments, medicine, etc.). To tender an oath to someone. To manage or wind up a decedent's estate by the executor or administrator, or manage a trust by its trustee.

ADULATE  To praise fulsomely. To admire excessively. To flatter.

ADULTERATE  To make impure. To debase by using cheaper, inferior, or less desirable materials or elements in the production or marketing, if supposedly a genuine article. See also PURIFY

ADVOCATE  To plead on behalf of, use persuasion in support of, push for by argument, recommend publicly. See also AGITATE

AGGLUTINATE  To unite or join together, as if with glue. To cause to adhere, as if by glue.

AGGREGATE  To collect or bring together into one body. To combine into one mass, collection, or total. To sum or total. See also CALCULATE

AGITATE  To shake or move briskly, to move to and fro in a violent way. To impart motion to. To attempt to arouse public interest in, call attention to, or debate an idea, cause, or social or political issue. To attempt to stir up feelings and involve the public emotionally by writing or through demonstrations, slogans, etc. in order to create  disorder or demand reform. See also FLUCTUATE

ALLEVIATE  To lessen or moderate. To relieve, particularly pain. To make easier to endure. To mitigate. See also MITIGATE  MODERATE  PALLIATE

ANIMATE  To give life to. To have a direct or inspiring influence upon. To motivate or encourage, enliven, or add zest or spirit to. To make cheerful, lively, vivacious, or vigorous. To actuate, move to action. See also ENLIVEN

ANNIHILATE  To destroy completely, reduce to ruins, wipe from existence, defeat completely. To annul, nullify, cancel the effect of. See also DECIMATE

ANNOTATE  To supply with explanatory or critical notes written on, or for, a book or document. To make notes or annotations.

ANTAGONIZE  To make hostile or provoke to enmity. To compete with, or make an antagonist or enemy of. Oppose, act in opposition to. See also EMBITTER

ANTICIPATE  To foresee, feel or realize in advance, or look forward to, often accompanied by emotion, whether pleasant or painful. To achieve in advance of something or before someone else. To consider in advance.

APOLOGIZE  To express one's regret that (something), which one has done, was wrong. To express regret for an insult made, injury sustained, failure experienced, or fault incurred. Also, to make a formal defense of one's involvement by speech or writing.

APPERTAIN  To pertain or relate. To belong as a past right, part, attribute, possession, etc.

APPREHEND  To arrest legally, capture, or take into custody. To understand, grasp the meaning of, perceive. To expect with anxiety, fear, or suspicion. To be apprehensive. See also INCARCERATE  SURRENDER

APPROPRIATE  To take possession of (something) for oneself, or for one's own property. To expropriate, seize, or take without consent. To legislate, authorize, or set apart, for a particular use. To devote to special purposes. Suitable for a particular occasion or purpose. Belonging to, or associated with, to a certain person. See also ARROGATE  EXPROPRIATE

APPROXIMATE  To approach closely in amount, position, character, or other characteristic, or be almost the same. To give be roughly equal to or correct.

To estimate, simulate, or imitate. See also IMITATE  SIMULATE 

ARROGATE  To claim for oneself without right. To improperly appropriate to oneself or assign a quality or attribute to another without just reason. To claim presumptuously. See also APPROPRIATE

ARTICULATE  To pronounce words and syllables clearly and distinctly. To enunciate. To pronounce with clarity. To give clarity to. Also, to unite by joints. See also ENUNCIATE  VERBALIZE

ASPIRATE  To inhale fluid into the bronchi and lungs. Also, to remove fluid from the lungs or a body cavity by means of an aspirator. To pronounce the beginning of a word or syllable with an h sound.

ASSIMILATE  To take in and incorporate as one's own. To absorb (e.g., food into one's system, immigrants into a society), to make one's own. To make like, become like, bring into conformity, cause to resemble. See also INCORPORATE

ASSOCIATE  To join as a partner, ally, or companion. To keep company, as a friend or comrade. To unite, combine, or enter into a union with, or participate in a cooperative capacity.  To connect with (someone or something) in thoughts or feelings. See also ACCOMPANY  DISSOCIATE

ATTENUATE  To make thin, fine, or slender. To weaken or reduce in force, intensity, effect, quantity, or value. To dilute (a liquid).

AUTHENTICATE  To establish as genuine or valid. To make authoritative. To establish conclusively the authorship or origin of, particularly through techniques of scholarship. See also VALIDATE

AUTHORIZE  To empower. To give authority, official or legal power, or right to.(do something) To give permission for. To formally sanction (an act or proceeding), delegate power to, or establish by usage.

BARRICADE  To block or obstruct with a barricade. To shut in or defend with an barricade or obstruction, particularly one created quickly across a street or road.

BEAUTIFY  To make or become beautiful, adorn, embellish, enhance. See also DISFIGURE  EMBELLISH

BEDAZZLE  To dazzle completely. To impress forcefully someone so that he or she is blinded to the truth or oblivious to faults or shortcomings. See also OVERWHELM

BENEFIT  To do good to, or be of service to. To receive help or benefit. To derive advantage or profit. To make improvement.

BIFURCATE  To fork or divide into two branches.

BIVOUAC  To rest, assemble, or spend the night in a temporary (military) camp that uses improvised shelters. It has no tents, except for pup tents. See also MANOEUVER

CALCIFY  To make or become calcareous or bony; hardened by the deposit of calcium salts. To make or become rigid. intransigent, inflexible, or unwilling or unable to adapt, as in political philosophy or intellectual position. See also OSSIFY

CALCULATE  To determine or ascertain by mathematical method. To determine by reasoning, practical experience, or common sense. To think, guess, or count. To intend, plan, or arrange, for a particular purpose. See also AGGREGATE

CALIBRATE  To test the accuracy of a measuring instrument (and rectify) by comparison against an independent standard. To check and/or rectify the scale or gradations, graduations, or other indexes of degree, of any instrument, which provides quantitative measurements. Also, to determine the correct range for an artillery gun, mortar, etc., by observing where the fired projectile lands. See also RECTIFY

CAPTIVATE  To charm, enchant, or enthrall, as by beauty or excellence. To take captive. To capture, subjugate.

CASTIGATE  To criticize or rebuke severely. To punish in order to correct. See also DISCIPLINE  EXCORIATE

CELEBRATE  To praise widely, or to present to widespread and favorable notice, as by newspapers, novels, etc. To commemorate an event by means of festivities and ceremonies. To perform publicly a religious ceremony. To observe or honor a special occasion or event. To praise, sing the glories of. To seize an occasion for being festive. See also FELICITATE

CIRCUMSCRIBE  To draw a line around, encircle, surround. To mark the perimeter, enclose within bounds. To set limits to, confine, restrict. In geometry, define, or mark off. See also DELINEATE

CIVILIZE  To make a savage, uneducated, or rude state civil. To endow with law, order, and conditions favorable to the development of arts and sciences. To enlighten and refine the manners and tastes of private and social life.

CLARIFY  To make an idea or statement, etc., understandable, clear, and intelligible. To free from ambiguity. Also, to make a liquid) pure and transparent. To remove solids from a liquid. Finally, to free the mind of confusion. See also COMPLICATE

CLASSIFY  To organize and arrange in order by class. To group based on common characteristics or properties. To assign to a classification to (information, a document, etc.). Also, to restrict the availability of certain information to authorized persons.

COAGULATE  To change from a liquid into a thickened mass. To congeal, or cause to congeal, into a jellylike state. To precipitate (from a solution). See also PRECIPITATE

CO-EXIST  To exist peaceably side-by-side. To exist together at peace despite conflicting ideologies.

COINCIDE  To occur at the same time or occupy the same space or same relative position. To be equal in some non-spatial aspect. To correspond precisely in nature, character, etc.

COMMISSION  To authorize; commit, or give in charge. To give the order that puts (a warship, military command, etc.) into commission.(a state of readiness for active duty). To send on a mission. To give a commission to. See also ACTIVATE

COMMUNICATE  To Impart knowledge or transmit, feelings, information, diseases, etc. by speaking or writing. To enable others to understand one's ideas. To maintain contact through words and/or signals. To be joined by a common door, gate, etc. Also, to receive Communion.

COMPENSATE  To repay (someone) for a loss or a benefit or service previously provided. To adjust, offset, or counterbalance (a force) or make up for something.

To provide a means of neutralizing variations. See also INDEMNIFY  RECOMPENSE

COMPLICATE  To make complex, intricate, involved, difficult or confused. To cause to be more difficult to treat. See also CLARIFY  FACILITATE  SIMPLIFY

COMPROMISE  To settle a dispute through mutual concessions representing modification of positions. To bring under suspicion or exposure to loss of reputation. To endanger the reputation of. To affect unfavorably. See also MEDIATE  NEGOTIATE

CONCENTRATE  To bring or draw together into a single mass, or to one common center. To focus on a limited objective. To intensify, make denser, stronger, and purer by reducing the non-essentials and foreign elements.

CONCILIATE  To reconcile or make compatible views conflicting views. To placate,  overcome distrust or hostility; win over. To earn goodwill or favor by adoption of a welcoming and comforting approach. See also COMPROMISE  MEDIATE

CONDESCEND  To behave patronizingly. To behave as if believing to possess a superior rank and doing something, which is beneath one's dignity, in order to appear gracious to those of lower rank. Also, to waive dignity or the pretense of superiority voluntarily and assume equality with a person of lower status. See also PATRONIZE

CONGREGATE  To come or bring together as a group or body, or collect in a mass. To assemble together in a crowd, especially in large numbers.

CONJUGATE  In grammar, to recite or set out some, or all, voices, moods, tenses,  persons, and forms of a verb, in order. Also, to join together, especially in pairs or in marriage. To unite or fuse together, to undergo conjugation.

CONSECRATE  To devote or dedicate to a particular purpose. To make or declare sacred or holy. To dedicate to, or set apart for, the service of the Deity. To make someone a king or bishop by means of religious rite. To make something an object of veneration. See also DEDICATE  SANCTIFY

CONSIDER  To ponder, deliberate, reflect on, or think about before making a decision.  To assess the advantages and disadvantages of. Also, to regard with  thoughtfulness and respect. See also RECONSIDER

CONSOLIDATE  To strengthen, make firm, or become solid. To make or compress into a compact mass. To combine, merge, or bring together into a single whole.

CONSTITUTE  To compose, form, create, make up. To establish, set up, or give legal form to, such as a court, tribunal, assembly, etc. To possess certain qualities. To establish laws To appoint too an office or function. See also RECONSTITUTE

CONTEMPLATE  To survey or observe thoughtfully. To consider attentively. To meditate, ponder, or study. To have a purpose or intention concerning the object of contemplation, but for a future time. See also INTROSPECT   MEDITATE

CONTINUE  To go on with an action or remain on a course. To remain in existence or at a particular place or in the present condition. To last or endure. To extend or prolong someone's employment or tenure. 

CONTRIBUTE  To give money, time, knowledge, food or other assistance, often with others, for a charitable purpose, or to a common supply, fund (e.g., office coffee fund, condominium owners' association). To furnish an original written work) for publication, such as an article to a newspaper or other periodical. To help to make something happen. See also VOLUNTEER

CONVALESCE  To recover one's health following a prolonged illness, especially gradually. To become grow stronger following an illness; To progressively recover one's health. See also RECUPERATE

CORRESPOND  To communicate, particularly by letter. Also, to be in agreement,  conformity, or harmony. To be analogous or similar. To be similar or equivalent in position or function, amount, etc.

COUNTERACT  To act in opposition to. To neutralize. To frustrate or defeat by contrary action. See also NEUTRALIZE

CULMINATE  To complete, conclude, end, or bring to a close or climax. To terminate at the summit or highest point or development  To form or rise to an apex. See also TERMINATE

CULTIVATE  To prepare and work on land in order to raise plants or crops. To promote or improve plant growth by work and attention. To produce by culture. To develop, improve, or refine, whether by training, education, or experience.  

DEBILITATE  To weaken the body. To enfeeble.

DECELERATE  To reduce velocity. To slow down. To diminish speed.

DECIMATE  To destroy or kill a great number, or proportion, of a given population. Also, to put to death every tenth cowardly or mutinous soldier. Alternatively, put to death one man in ten, but selecting those to kill by lot. See also ANNIHILATE

DECIPHER  To interpret the meaning of poor or partially obliterated writing, or of anything that is difficult to understand or obscure, such as hieroglyphics. To convert transmitted in cipher into plain writing. To interpret by use of a key.

DEDICATE  To set apart and consecrate with solemn rite to a deity or to a sacred use. To devote wholly to any serious purpose or person. To inscribe (a book, piece of music, etc.) in honor of someone or a particular cause. See also CONSECRATE

DEFIBRILATE  To arrest fibrillation. To restore an irregular beating to a normal heart rhythm.

DEFOCUS  To lose focus. To deflect a beam of light off correct focus.

DEFOLIATE  To strip (a tree, bush, or other plant) of (leaves. To destroy an area of forest, jungle, etc. by chemical spray or other means in order to do away with places of concealment.

DELINEATE  To sketch or trace in outline; illustrate by drawing, show pictorially;

To portray, outline, or describe precisely in words. See also CIRCUMSCRIBE

DENIGRATE  To speak disparagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner. To sully; defame or blacken someone's character. See also DISPARAGE

DENOMINATE  To give a name to, designate, denote. See also DESIGNATE

DEPRECATE  To express earnest disapproval of (someone or something). To protest against, belittle, depreciate, urge against. See also DISAPPROVE

DEPRECIATE  To decline or diminish in value. To reduce the value or stated value of an asset. To claim as an allowable expense of an income-producing property when filing one's income tax return. To belittle or represent as having little value. To reduce the purchasing value of money. See also DENIGRATE  DEVALUE  DISPARAGE

DEPUTIZE  To act as a deputy or appoint as a deputy.

DEROGATE  To detract, take away part from a right, etc. To repeal a law or take away from authority, estimation, etc. To fall away, go astray, particularly in conduct or character. 

DESECRATE  To profane or treat with sacrilege. To outrage the sacred or hallowed character or sanctity of (something). To divert to a profane purpose from a sacred use. See also VIOLATE

DESEGREGATE  To abandon the practice of segregation, particularly racial segregation. See also DISCRIMINATE 

DESELECT  To dismiss or release someone from a position or program for which he or she had previously been selected.

DESENSITIZE  To make unaware of, or indifferent in feeling, or the like. To lessen an abnormal sensitivity of one's body to an external stimulus, such as a particular allergen. In photography, to render less sensitive or entirely insensitive to light, as an emulsion on a film.

DESICCATE  To dry thoroughly, especially for preservation. To dehydrate or become dehydrated. To deprive of moisture. To become dried up. See also RECONSTITUTE

DESIGNATE  To indicate, denote, show, identify, signify, or serve as distinctive mark. To name, entitle, describe. To nominate or select for an office, purpose, or duty, etc. See also DENOMINATE  SIGNIFY

DEVALUE  To devaluate. To reduce the legal value of a currency that is in crisis or under pressure. See also DEPRECIATE

DEVASTATE  To lay waste to, ravage, overwhelm, render obsolete.  See also OVERWHELM

DEVELOP  To come into being; grow, and expand, or cause to begin, grow, and expand. To cause to follow the natural process of evolution from a lower stage of development to a later and more complex state. To bring to an advanced state. To realize or achieve what previously was only an idea or potential. Also, to describe, or elaborate on, in detail. In addition, in photography, to treat an exposed plate or film chemically so that the image will appear. In mathematics, to expand to completion.  

DEVIATE  To turn aside or depart from a course, route, way, custom, topic, etc. To swerve or diverge or digress from a course of action, way, procedure, acceptable norm, or line of though. Also to cause to turn aside or depart from.

DISAGREE  To fail to agree. To differ in opinion, dissent. To quarrel, squabble. To prove harmful or unsuitable for digestion. To cause physical discomfort.

DISAPPOINT  To fail to meet the expectations, desires, hopes, or plans of someone or oneself. To defeat, thwart, or frustrate the fulfillment of expectations, desires, hopes, or plans. Thwart, frustrate. See also UNDERACHIEVE

DISAPPROVE  To withhold approval, refuse to sanction. To have or express an unfavorable opinion of. See also DEPRECATE

DISBELIEVE  To refuse to believe or accept as true. To have no faith in.

DISCIPLINE  To train by instruction, exercise; drill, and exercise of firm control. To correct, chastise, and punish or penalize for failure to follow direction. See also CASTIGATE  FLAGELLATE 

DISCOLOR  To stain, fade, or spoil the color of (something). To become stained, faded, or changed or spoiled in color.

DISCOMFIT  To confuse, deject defeat in battle, rout, thwart, foil, frustrate the plans of (someone).

DISCONCERT  To derange, perturb, upset the plans of, confuse, throw into disorder, confusion, or disarray. To disrupt, disturb, or ruffle the self-confidence of (someone).

DISCONNECT  To detach, sever, or break the connection between. To cause to be connected no longer. 

DISCONTINUE  To stop, give up or come to an end, terminate or put an end to, or cease using or abandon, or to cause to do so. In law, to abandon or terminate a claim, suit, or action. See also TERMINATE

DISCREDIT  To injure the credit or reputation for trustworthiness of someone or something. To reduce trust, belief, or confidence (someone or something). To attach no credence to, or disbelieve, (someone or something). To distrust.

DISCRIMINATE  To notice or distinguish differences between, or among, things, persons, or groups. To accurately observe differences between, or among. To  make a choice in favor of, or against, someone or something, on the basis of the group or category to which he, she, or it belongs. See also DESEGREGATE

DISEMBARK  To go or put ashore from a ship.

DISEMBODY  To divest a body of a soul or spirit. To separate from the body. Also, to separate the intangible, such as an idea, from the tangible.

DISENCHANT  To free from enchantment or illusion. Disillusion. See also DISILUSION

DISENCUMBER  To free from encumbrance. To unburden. See also ENCUMBER

DISENGAGE  To free, detach, or release (oneself) from attachment, connection, obligation, pledge, or engagement. To break loose, separate, loosen, unfasten. To cause the gears of a motor vehicle to stop supplying torque to the axles and wheels. To remove troops from combat, to break off action.

DISENTANGLE  To free, or become free, from entanglement. Unravel, untangle, extricate. To restore to order, free from complication. See also ENTANGLE.  EXTRICATE

DISFIGURE  To mar the appearance or beauty of. To deform or deface.

DISFRANCHISE  To deprive a citizen of his or her rights of citizenship, such as the right to cast a vote. To deprive of any franchise, privilege or right. See also ENFRANCHISE

DISGRUNTLE  To make discontent. To peeve, irritate, or cause to be petulant.

DISHEARTEN  To discourage, dispirit, or depress. See also ENCOURAGE

DISHONOR  To treat disrespectfully. To deprive of honor, to bring shame or  disgrace on, or reproach to (someone). Also, (a bank) to refuse to pay or accept a check. To rape or seduce. See also STIGMATIZE

DISILLUSION  To disenchant. To deprive of illusion or free from illusion. See also DISENCHANT

DISINTEGRATE  To separate into component parts or break into fragments. To go to pieces or reduce to pieces .To lose unity or destroy the cohesion of. See also INTEGRATE

DISINTER  To remove from the place of interment, take from the grave, exhume. To unearth.

DISORDER  To confuse, disarrange, destroy the regular order or arrangement of. To upset (someone's) physical or mental health, or functions.

DISORIENT  To cause someone to lose his or her way. To make someone unsure of his or her bearings, or where he belongs, by removing or obscuring something that has served as a guide to him or his group, or culture, such as customs, moral standards, etc. In psychiatry, to cause someone to lose a sense of time, place or personal identity. See also ORIENT

DISPARAGE  To belittle, deprecate, speak poorly of, treat slightingly of; depreciate. To bring discredit on, speak to the detriment of someone. See also DEPRECIATE  DISCREDIT

DISPOSSESS  To deprive (someone) of property, particularly real property. To oust or dislodge someone. To rid someone of an evil spirit. See also EXORCISE  EXPROPRIATE

DISREGARD  To pay no attention to, ignore, pay no heed to. To treat as not mattering. To omit from consideration, treat without due regard, respect or attentiveness. To slight.

DISSATISFY  To fail to satisfy. To cause displeasure, especially by failing to provide what was expected or desired. To make discontented. See also SATISFY

DISSEMBLE  To cloak, conceal, disguise (thoughts, feelings, character, intentions), fail to mention. To give a false impression, conceal the real motives or nature, feign, put on  appearances. To be a hypocrite. See also OBFUSCATE  PREVARICATE

DISSEMINATE  To spread abroad (information, beliefs, etc.), promulgate extensively; broadcast; disperse, or scatter widely, as if sowing seeds. See also PROPAGATE

DISSIPATE  To break up and drive away, dispel, disperse, scatter in various directions. To waste, squander, fritter away. To indulge in extravagant, intemperate, or dissolute behavior. See also OVERINDULGE

DISSOCIATE  To separate, disunite, sever the association. To keep apart in one's mind. In psychiatry, to subject to dissociation. In chemistry, to separate a compound into simpler constituents, which can be recombined under other conditions. See also ASSOCIATE

DISTINGUISH  To recognize (something) as distinct or different from other things. To perceive the differences in features or characteristics of two or more objects.  To make distinct, make out, characterize. To discern clearly by sight or other sense the differences. See also RECOGNIZE

DISUNITE  To sever the union of, separate, part, disjoin, set at variance, alienate, fall apart. To destroy the harmony or solidarity of. See also INTEGRATE

DOCUMENT  To support by documentary evidence. To set down in writing.

DOMESTICATE  To convert to domestic use, accustom to household life or affairs, tame (animals), cause to feel at home. To make fond of home and used to (or skilled) in household affairs. See also ACCLIMATIZE

DOMINATE  To exert authority, domination, power over. To govern, control, or rule over. To tower above, overshadow, hold a commanding position over, be predominant. See also LIBERATE  PREDOMINATE

DRAMATIZE  To behave dramatically about (an undramatic, everyday situation). To exaggerate in histrionics. To express or represent emotionally, strikingly, or vividly. To put a novel or other work of art into a form suitable for the stage. See also INTERPRET  OVERACT  UNDERPLAY

DUPLICATE  To repeat or perform again, or cause to be repeated or performed again. To make in duplicate. To make one or more exact copies of. To double or make double (for or of someone or something). See also REPLICATE

ELABORATE  To make or develop to perfection something that is complicated. To work out carefully in detail, often excessive. See also ABBREVIATE

ELEVATE To raise to a higher level, state, office, rank or dignity. To increase in price, value, importance, position, etc. To move to a higher moral or intellectual level. To encourage (hopes) or raise (sprits). Exalt. Promote. See also ENNOBLE

ELICIT  To bring forth in response. To evoke. To draw out through questioning. See also INTERROGATE

ELIMINATE  To get rid of. To void or expel from an organism. To omit or cause to be no longer included. To remove, especially for offensive, undesirable, or below standard. In mathematics, to remove a factor or quantity from an equation. 

ELONGATE  To lengthen or make longer. To extend or draw out to greater length.

ELUCIDATE  To make easier to understand. To make lucid, clear. To explain. See also EXPLICATE

ELUTRIATE  To separate the light particles from the heavy particles of a mixture by washing and decanting. To purify by washing and straining (or decanting).

EMACIATE  To make thin by a gradual wasting away of flesh. To become or make lean. as if by hunger and want. 

EMANATE  To emit, send forth, or originate. To issue, flow, or proceed, as from a source.

EMANCIPATE  To set free from oppression, slavery, bondage, or restrictive rules or conventions, etc. To end parental control over. See also LIBERATE

EMBARRASS  To cause to feel uncomfortably self-conscious, awkward, or ashamed. To abash, disconcert, or cause shame. To hinder, impede, or make things difficult or complicated for. To burden with financial difficulties. See also DISHONOR

EMBATTLE  To arrange in order of battle, arm, prepare for battle. To fortify a town, camp, etc. See also ACTIVATE  MANEUVER

EMBELLISH  To beautify or make more decorative by ornamentation. To adorn or ornament. To enhance a narrative or statement with fictitious details or additions in order to increase one's interest in telling it or listening to it. See also BEAUTIFY  ILLUMINATE

EMBITTER  To make hostile or bitter, or more bitter. To cause to bear rancor or have hard feelings. See also ANTAGONIZE  EXASPERATE

EMBOWER  To cover, enclose, or shelter, as though in a bower. To surround or cover with foliage. See also DEFOLIATE

EMBROCATE  To moisten and rub with a liniment or lotion to relieve muscular stiffness or pain.

EMIGRATE  To leave one's country or region and settle in another. To cause or help someone to emigrate. To migrate. See also EXPATRIATE  IMMIGRATE

EMPHASIZE  To give emphasis to, lay stress upon, or deliberate accent to, a word or syllable in order to make obvious its meaning or intention. To similarly give special emphasis to an action in order to convey an attitude or feeling. See also ACCENTUATE  UNDERSCORE

EMULATE  To imitate in an effort to do equally well as (someone else) or to excel. See also IMITATE

ENAMOR  To inspire or inflame with love, charm or delight.

ENCOUNTER  To come upon or meet unexpectedly. To meet in conflict or battle, or as rivals in sport. To contend with (difficulties, opposition, etc).

ENCOURAGE  To inspire or lend courage or confidence to. To raise the spirit or hopes of. To stimulate by approval, assistance, sympathetic advice, and interest. To reinforce a belief. To make it easier (for someone to do something).  See also DISHEARTEN

ENCUMBER  To burden or weigh down, as with obligations or debt. To hamper, impede, or retard. To block or fill with what is superfluous or obstructive. See also DISENCUMBER  JETTISON

ENDEAVOR  To make an effort (to do or effect something). To attempt or try to. To strive. To exert oneself (to do something).

ENERVATE  To deprive of nerve or willpower. To weaken or destroy the force or strength of. To lessen the vigor or vitality of. See also EXHILARATE  INNERVATE  VITALIZE

ENFRANCHISE  To grant political rights to one or more persons, particularly the right to vote. To endow a town, city, or constituency with municipal or parliamentary rights. to liberate, as from slavery. See also DISFRANCHISE

ENGENDER  To procreate, beget, or give rise to. To cause to come into existence or to produce or be produced. See also GENERATE

ENGINEER  To design, manage, arrange, or execute by skill, craft, or ingenuity in order to achieve a result. To act as an engineer or carry out an engineering work. See also EXECUTE

ENKINDLE  To kindle into flame, activity, or ardor, etc. See also EXTINGUISH

ENLIGHTEN  To instruct or inform. To impart knowledge to. To provide information or intellectual or spiritual advice to someone. To help someone to understand something that is difficult or obscure. To shed light on (a problem). To free from prejudice, ignorance, or superstition.  

ENLIVEN  To make more lively, gay, active, sprightly, or vigorous. To make brighter, more gay, more cheerful. To lend animation to. See also ANIMATE   VIVIFY

ENNOBLE  To elevate in degree, excellence, dignity, or respect. To make spiritually, intellectually or morally elevated. To elevate to the ranks of nobility. To exalt. See also ELEVATE

ENTANGLE  To ensnarl, ensnare, make tangled; or enmesh. To make into a tangle or complicated mix-up. To involve in difficulties. To confuse or perplex. See also DISENTANGLE

ENUMERATE  To mention individually as in counting. To name or specify each item. To count, ascertain the number of. See also NUMERATE

ENUNCIATE  To utter or pronounce words, sentences, sounds, syllables, etc., especially in a particular manner. To articulate. To state, give expression to, announce, or proclaim. See also ARTICULATE

ENVELOP  To cover completely, shroud, or wrap, as in a covering, especially a garment. To surround entirely.

ENVISAGE  To visualize, make a mental picture of. To contemplate or foresee the possibility of. See also VISUALIZE

EQUALIZE  To make even or uniform. To make equal to (e.g., score a tying goal).  

EQYILIBRATE  To balance equally two or more things against each other (e.g., weights, forces). To keep in equilibrium.

EQUIVOCATE  To use ambiguous or unclear expressions, rather than a clear answer or statement, usually to avoid commitment or to mislead. To hedge or prevaricate. See also OBFUSCATE  PREVARICATE

ERADICATE  To stamp out or destroy completely, remove, extricate, or erase by rubbing or using a chemical solvent.

ESCALATE  To increase in magnitude or intensity gradually but steadily. To rise or descend, or raise or lower, as on an escalator.

EULOGIZE  To praise highly in speech or writing. To write or deliver a eulogy.

EUPHEMIZE  To express by means of euphemism.

EVANGELIZE  To teach or preach the Christian gospel, convert to Christianity, help to spread the word of the Christian gospel, or act as an evangelist.

EXACERBATE  To increase the bitterness or violence of (ill feelings, a quarrel, a disease, etc.). To provoke (someone) to anger. To aggravate, exasperate, or irritate. To cause (a disease) to become more serious. See also MODERATE  MOLLIFY

EXASPERATE  To annoy or irritate extremely. To infuriate. To cause to become more bitter or violent. See also EMBITTER

EXCORIATE  To strip or remove skin by rubbing, tearing, scalding, etc. To criticize severely. To denounce or berate unmercifully. To verbally flay. See also CASTIGATE

EXCULPATE  To free from blame. To clear from a charge of guilt or fault. Vindicate See also EXONERATE  VINDICATE

EXECUTE  To do, perform, carry out, put into effect, accomplish, discharge, fulfill, or produce according to a plan. In law, to draw up in correct legal form, to give effect or force (to a law, decree, judgment, etc.) or to make valid by signing, witnessing and delivering an appropriate  instrument, etc. In addition, to inflict capital punishment on someone sentenced to death. See also ACCOMPLISH  FORMALIZE  IMPLEMENT

EXEMPLIFY  To show or illustrate by example. To serve as an example. In legal matters, to make a properly witnessed and sealed copy of (a document). See also ILLUSTRATE

EXFOLIATE  To shed in flakes, scales, or splinters. To throw off or peel off in thin fragments, as bark from a tree. To shed the surface of skin, bone, skin, etc. in scales.

EXHILARATE  To make cheerful or merry. To fill with feelings of well-being or delight. To enliven or invigorate. See also ENERVATE  ENLIVEN 

EXONERATE  To free from blame or a charge. To exculpate. To release from an obligation or duty. See also EXCULPATE

EXORCISE  To seek to drive out or ward off, from a person or place, an evil spirit by means of abjuration or religious or solemn ceremony. To free from possession by evil spirits or malignant influences. See also DISPOSSESS

EXPATIATE  To speak or write at great length. To be profuse in description or discussion. To wander without restraint intellectually or imaginatively. See also PERORATE

EXPATRIATE  To banish a person from his or her native country. To move one's residence from one's native country. To withdraw one's allegiance to one's country. See also EMIGRATE

EXPEDITE  To hasten, speed up the progress of; rid of difficulties, or accomplish promptly. To send, issue, or dispatch, as an official letter or document, etc.

EXPERIENCE  To have experience of. To undergo, meet with, or feel. To learn by experience.

EXPIATE  To atone, make amends, or make reparation for, and so eliminate guilt for sin or wrongdoing.

EXPLICATE  To explain in all details, make plain or clear the full meaning of. To develop a principle or theory. See also ELUCIDATE  THEORIZE

EXPOSTULATE  To remonstrate. To reason earnestly with someone against something he or she has done or plans to do. See also REMONSTRATE

EXPROPRIATE  To dispossess someone of ownership. To divest an owner of his title to a property, with or without compensation, particularly for public use under the right of eminent domain. See also APPROPRIATE  DISPOSSESS

EXPURGATE  To purge or cleanse (a book, play, film, speech, etc.) by removing matter, which is offensive, objectionable, or unsuitable to readers or an audience. To delete or cut out (some of the) text from a book or other printed material.

EXTENUATE  To make a crime, fault, mistake, offense, etc, seem to be less serious by suggesting a mitigating circumstance. To underestimate or underrate a fault or offense, etc.

EXTERNALIZE  To attribute to external causes. To attribute external reality to. To embody in an external form. To direct one's personality outward.

EXTINGUISH  To put out a light, flame, fire, or something that is burning or lighted. To bring to an end, destroy, annihilate, or make null. To silence an opponent or  outshine another person or thing. To obscure or eclipse. See also ENKINDLE

EXTIRPATE  To root out, do away with, exterminate, destroy entirely, get rid of. To pull up, as by the roots.

EXTRADITE  To turn over (a suspect, fugitive, or prisoner) for extradition to another nation or authority. To obtain the extradition of a person to a nation or authority.

EXTRAPOLATE  To infer that, which is unknown, from that, which is known. To estimate the value of a variable, which is  outside of the range of observed values, by assuming that what applies to known values will apply to similar unknown values.

EXTRICATE  To disengage or disentangle (someone or something) from difficulty, danger, or entanglement. In chemistry, to liberate a gas from combination with other elements, as in a chemical process. See also DISENGAGE  DISENTANGLE

FABRICATE  To construct, particularly by assembling standard parts or sections. To devise or invent. To make up nonexistent facts. To fake or forge a signature, document, etc. See also FALSIFY

FACILITATE  To make easy or less difficult. To assist the progress or execution of an action, task, or program. See also COMPLICATE  SIMPLIFY

FALSIFY  To alter fraudulently. To alter with intent or fraud. To make false statements so as to deceive. To misrepresent. See also FABRICATE  MANIPULATE

FAMILIARIZE  To cause oneself (or someone else) to become conversant with someone or something. To cause someone or something to become well known. To bring into common knowledge or use.

FASCINATE  To attract and hold spellbound by personal charm or some other quality. To allure, capture, and hold the interest, attention, or curiosity of. To bewitch or hold (someone) as if by a spell.

FEDERATE  To bring together in a federation. To unite (states) in a federation. To organize on a federal basis.

FELICITATE  To compliment on a happy event. To congratulate. See also CELEBRATE

FEMINIZE  To make or become feminine or cause (a male) to become female.

FERTILIZE  To make fertile or productive. To make soil productive by the addition of nitrogen compounds, phosphorous, and potassium. To make a female germ cell capable of development by uniting with a male germ cell. To  impregnate a plant or animal.

FILLIBUSTER  To obstruct legislative action (by a minority party) by means of delaying tactics, such as  making long time-consuming speeches in order to prevent the passage of a measure that the majority favors. To act as a filibusterer.

FINALIZE  To conclude negotiations, complete an agreement, complete all technical or administrative details of, or produce in final form.

FLAGELLATE  To whip, scourge, flog, or lash. See also DISCIPLINE

FLUCTUATE  To change constantly from one position to another, especially between opposites. To move back and forth. To vacillate, vary irregularly, waver. To be unstable or undecided. See also AGITATE  OSCILATE

FORMALIZE  To make formal or act with formality or ceremony. To put on in legal or official form or basis, particularly to obtain official or authorized approval. To give a definite shape or form to (something). See also EXECUTE

FORMULATE  To express a problem in precise or systematic terms. To state definitely or systematically, as in terms of a formula or system. To reduce to a formula. To devise a formula, system, or method. See also SYSTEMIZE

GALVANIZE  To stimulate by, or as by, an electrical current. To startle into sudden action. In medicine, to stimulate nerves or muscles with induced alternating current  In addition, to coat metal by electrolysis, particularly to coat iron or steel with zinc. See also STIMULATE

GENERALIZE  To draw a general rule or form, or infer, a general principle, opinion, or conclusion from facts, statistics, or particular examples. To generalize based on particular instances. To use generalities. To bring into general or popular use.

GENERATE  To produce, reproduce, procreate, or cause to be. To bring into existence or cause to bring into existence. To distribute profusely. See also ENGENDER 

GENTRIFY  To redevelop a deteriorated urban neighborhood through the purchase and renovation of its houses, especially by middle-income professionals, thereby raising property values and making the district attractive to a higher income clientele, but usually displacing low-income families.

GERMINATE  To come into existence, begin to grow, develop, sprout, or put forth shoots. To cause to come into existence or to grow, develop, or sprout. To develop into an individual, or plant, as a seed, bulb, spore, etc. To produce ideas.

GERRYMANDER  To manipulate the boundaries of electoral districts of a State or county in order to concentrate the opposition party's voting strength in as few districts as possible and provide a majority to the other political party in as many districts as possible.

GESTICULATE  To express oneself by the use of gestures, instead of speech,  particularly in an  excited manner. To wave the arms about while speaking. See also VERBALIZE

GLACIATE  To affect by glacial action. To cover (land) with ice or glaciers. To become ice.

GLAMORIZE  To make glamorous. To cause (something) to appear to be more attractive than it is. To add glamour. To romanticize or glorify. See also BEAUTIFY

GLORIFY  To magnify with praise or ascribe glory to. To extol. To invest with glory or promote the glory of. To regard as more impressive or magnificent than would normally be considered.

GRADUATE  to receive a degree or diploma upon completion of a course of study at a university, college, or school, or to confer a degree or diploma upon one who has done so. To become a graduate. To pass by gradations. To change gradually. To attach a scale of numbers to (a measuring instrument), or to mark it at specific values. To divide (a measuring instrument) into, or mark with, degrees or other divisions. To graduate according to a particular scale.

GRATIFY  To indulge, satisfy, or give pleasure to by catering to desires or feelings. To indulge one's desires or appetites. See also SATISFY

GRAVITATE  To move, or tend to move, under the influence of gravity. To be attracted compulsively towards a center of influence.

HARMONIZE  To sing or play in harmony. To accompany in appropriate harmony. To blend or cause to blend tastefully. To be in accord or agreement or cause to be brought into accord or agreement.

HEMORRHAGE   To bleed profusely. To experience copious bleeding from the body vessels, whether this occurs internally in body cavities or externally.

HESITATE  To pause before acting, whether because of indecision, reluctance, or doubts about the wisdom or ethics of the action. To pause repeatedly when speaking, falter in speech, or stammer.

HIBERNATE  To pass the winter in a dormant or torpid state, with the rate of body functions greatly slowed and body temperature reduced. Also, to withdraw into seclusion. To winter in a location that has a mild climate.

HUMIDIFY  To make humid. To increase the amount of water in the air of a room or building.

HUMILIATE  To cause a painful loss (to someone) of dignity or self-esteem. To mortify. See also MORTIFY

HYPHENATE  To join or divide by a hyphen. To write with the use of hyphens.

IDEALIZE  To make ideal or represent in an ideal form. To exalt or attribute perfection to. To visualize an ideal. See also VISUALIZE

IDENTIFY  To recognize, establish, or verify the identity of someone or something. To regard or associate oneself. someone else, or something, with other persons or things. To associate with another or others in feelings interest, or action, etc. To regard oneself or represent oneself as being part of, united to, or one with another person, a cause, or a thing. See also ASSOCIATE  RECOGNIZE

ILLUMINATE  To provide light to a space or area. To light, light up, supply with light. To display lights, as during a celebration. To decorate with bright or colored lamps. To enlighten, make clear or lucid, or throw light on a subject. To decorate a letter, page, or manuscript with gold or colored borders, initials, pictures, etc.

ILLUSTRATE  To make clear or intelligible, as by example. To clarify by picture, design, or example. To supplement a book, periodical, or verbal account with pictures or pictorial representations for explanation or adornment. Exemplify. See also EXEMPLIFY

IMAGINE  To use one's imagination. To create a mental image. To conceive of something not actually present to the senses. To conjecture, guess, believe, suppose, assume, or believe. See also VISUALIZE

IMITATE  To copy, mimic, replicate, assume the characteristics of, follow in manner and/or action, use as a model to govern ones own actions. See also REPLICATE  SIMULATE

IMMIGRATE  To enter a country, in which one is not a native, in order to establish a permanent residence. To come to a new place of residence or habitat. See also ASSIMILATE  E0IGRATE  NATURALIZE

IMMOBILIZE  To make immobile. To render incapable of movement or action. To make motionless.

IMPLEMENT  To perform, carry out, execute, or put into effect, often following a plan or procedure. To fill out, supplement, complete, fulfill. Also, to provide with implements. See also EXECUTE

IMPORTUNE  To solicit , demand, or beg persistently or urgently. To annoy or vex by demanding too frequently or vehemently. To beset or harass with solicitations. To make improper advances toward another. See also SOLICIT

IMPROVISE  To create, prepare, provide, or select a substitute for something, which is not  available, often hastily under time pressures. To compose, perform (music, verse, etc.), or speak extemporaneously.

INCARCERATE  To imprison, confine, or enclose. To constrict closely. See also APPREHEND

INCORPORATE  To include. To unite or combine into one body. To add, put or introduce into a body or mass as an integral part(s). To form or constitute a legal corporation. See also ASSIMILATE  INTEGRATE

INDEMNIFY  To compensate for damages, loss, or injury sustained or expenses incurred. To protect against future damage or liability. See also COMPENSATE

INDIVIDUALIZE  To create or adopt an individual characteristic. To make distinctive or individual in character. To particularize. To indicate, mention, or consider individuality.

INFILTRATE  To penetrate an organization or enemy territory in small numbers and at various points. To work unobtrusively and in small numbers within a territory or organization in an attempt to create a threat to its integrity or existence. To gradually occupy unobserved. To permeate or pass into or through a substance. See also PERMEATE

INITIATE  To begin or cause to begin. To originate or put into motion.

To teach the fundamentals of a subject. To introduce ceremonially into a society or to secret knowledge, etc. See also ACTIVATE

INNERVATE  To furnish a part of a body with nerves. To grow nerves. To stimulate through nerves. To communicate nervous energy to. See also ENERVATE

INOCULATE To transmit a disease into an organism (person, plant, or animal) by introducing the agent, which causes it, by a puncture of the skin in order to produce a mild form of the disease and subsequent immunity against it. To impregnate an organism with a virus or germs of a disease in this fashion. See also VACCINATE

INTEGRATE  To unite or combine. To bring together, combine, or incorporate into a whole. To absorb into an existing whole. To make up or produce a larger or whole unit. In mathematics to find the integral value of what is represented by various equations. See also DISINTEGRATE  DISUNITE  INCORPORATE

INTENSIFY  To make intense or more intense  (e.g., emotion, quality). To strengthen or make more acute. In photography, to increase the contrast and density of a negative. See also MODERATE

INTERCEDE  To intervene on behalf of another, as by pleading or petitioning for one in difficulty or trouble. To mediate between two people or groups in an effort to reconcile differences and effect reconciliation. See also RECONCILE

INTERCEPT  To halt, stop, or seize someone (or something) that is traveling from one place to another before he, she, or it can reach the intended destination. Also, to check or halt the natural course of water, light, sound, etc. To stop or check passage. In mathematics, to mark off (space) between two points.

INTERCHANGE  To exchange, give and receive reciprocally. To substitute one thing or group of things for other. To change places. To cause something to change place with another. See also RECIPROCATE

INTERJECT  To make a sudden remark or ask a question abruptly during a conversation, etc. To interpose, interpolate. See also INTERPOLATE  INTERRUPT

INTERLACE  To bind together by crossing over and under as if weaving. To

unite threads, strips, branches, etc. by passing alternately over and under. To  mingle. Also, to vary by mixing in other things. In computers, to arrange the data of a sequence in storage amidst the data of other sequences in storage, although retaining the separate identity of each.

INTERLEAVE  To insert blank leaves (pages) between the regular printed leaves of a book to provide space for notes or comments.

INTERMINGLE  To mix something with another, or several other things, or become mixed together. To mingle together. See also INTERSPERSE.

INTERPOLATE  To insert new words, passages, etc. into a text. To alter or corrupt a text by introducing additional or extraneous material to it, so as to give false impressions about date, etc. or without authorization. To insert intermediate values or terms into a given To interject remarks into a conversation between others. To introduce additional or extraneous material between other things or parts. See also INTERJECT

INTERPOSE  To place between, introduce something so that it intervenes, or cause something to intervene. To put an obstacle, vote, veto, authority, barrier, etc., in the way of (someone or something), or between (someone or something and its goal). To interject a remark or question into a conversation or discourse, etc. To interrupt. To bring influence or action, etc to bear between parties, or on behalf of someone.

INTERPRET  To explain or set forth the meaning of (a work of art, song, dream, role in a play, etc.). To express one's conception of a dramatic work by performing it. To perform a role or render a song, etc. according to one's understanding or sensitivity. Also, to act as a language translator. See also DEIPHER  DRAMATIZE

INTERROGATE  To ask questions of someone, as in an inquiry. To formally examine by questioning. To question someone for information which he or she holds secret or considers to be personal. See also ELICIT

INTERRUPT  To make a break in the continuity or uniformity of a condition, state, process, view, action, etc., or to cause such a break. To interfere in an action or activity underway. To cause someone, who is speaking, to cease abruptly, by beginning to speak while the former is still speaking. To similarly end a conversation by abruptly beginning to speak in the middle of a subject. See also INTERJECT

INTERSECT  To cut or divide by passing through or across, as lines or wires. To cross or cut each other.

INTERSPERSE  To scatter at intervals among other things. To place here and there among other things. See also INTERMINGLE 

INTIMATE  To hint, give someone to understand (something). To make known indirectly, imply.

INTOXICATE  To cause diminished control over mental and physical faculties temporarily mental powers by imbibing alcoholic, or an alcoholic beverage, or taking a drug or other substance into one's body. To make drunk. Stupefy with liquor. See also STUPEFY

INTROSPECT  To consider or examine one's own thoughts and feelings. To practice introspection. See also CONTEMPLATE  MEDITATE

INVALIDATE  To render invalid, deprive of legal force or efficacy. See also VALIDATE  VITIATE

IRRADIATE  To illuminate, radiate light, shine on, throw light on, make clear, brighten. To heat by radiant energy. treat by exposure to infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays or other rays. To illuminate intellectually or spiritually. See also RADIATE

ISOLATE  To set apart. To detach or separate. To free a substance from one of its combinations. To separate a patient, who has a contagious disease, from others in order to prevent the spread of the disease. To similarly insulate a bacterium in order to grow a culture in a pure state. See also QUARANTINE  SEQUESTER

JETTISON  To cast overboard as jetsam. To throw away goods (or any part of a load) which have become an encumbrance,. To cast off goods to lighten an aircraft or vessel, or to improve its stability in time of emergency. See also ENCUMBER

JOURNALIZE  To record in a journal. In double-entry bookkeeping, to make entries in a journal, prior to posting to the ledger.

JUSTIFY  To defend or uphold (an act, claim, statement, etc.) as blameless, right, just, or warranted. To prove (or attempt to prove) that someone or something is right or free of sin. Also, in word processing and printing, to adjust the spaces between words in order to cause lines to be equal in length. See also VINDICATE

LEGISLATE  To create laws. To effect, or cause to become, by enacting laws. To exercise the function of legislation.

LEGITIMIZE