List 5

anomaly n./ anomalous adj.	irregularity or condition, motion, or behavior; an exceptional circumstance -- Female fire-fighters, while increasingly common, are still generally regarded as anomalous. -- Spontaneous genetic mutations are anomalies that play a significant role in evolution.
inexorable adj./ inexorability adj.	immovable by persuasion or entreaty; unrelenting; inflexible -- The risk of serious injury is an inexorable fact of life if you're on a football team.
brisk adj. / briskly adv.	quick and active; lively; sharp and stimulating -- I like walking briskly in the brisk fall air. -- Given her brisk manner, I wasn't surprised to find that her apartment was meticulously tidy and clean.
bracing adj.	stimulating; startling and invigorating -- After a bracing pep talk at halftime, the team went on to win the game. -- My father swears that the bracing effect of a cold shower beats caffeine any day.
catalyst n. / catalyze v.	something that causes activity between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected -- Though she did not say a word as she walked in the room, the teacher's mere presence acted as a catalyst--the students got busy right away.
lucrative adj. / lucre n.	profitable; moneymaking -- If you want to afford living in New York or San Francisco, you'd better find a lucrative career. -- Corrupt businesspeople sell their souls for filthy lucre. ["filthy lucre" is an old-school idiomatic phrase]
accrue v.i.	to happen or result as a natural growth, addition, etc.; to be added as a matter of periodic gain or advantage, as in interest or money. -- Having accrued a basement full of junk over the years, we finally had a yard sale. -- If you start saving your money early and steadily enough, the value of your investment is almost sure to accrue. -- He attributed his high scores on the verbal section of the SAT to the accrued benefit of studying for every vocabulary quiz since the 9th grade.
depreciate v.	to lessen the price or value of; to think or speak of as being of little worth; belittle -- Once I drove my new car off the lot, it depreciated in value.
deprecate v. / deprecating adj.	to feel and express disapproval of; plead against -- Aunt Hilda was always deprecating Granny's cooking, so Granny cut her out of the will.
bequeath v.	[distinguish from "bereave"] to designate something for another as an inheritance or heirloom -- My mom promises to bequeath me her secret chocolate chip cookie recipe when I leave for college.
expatriate v. / expatriot n.	1. to banish from his or her native country; 2. to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country -- Fitzgerald was an expatriot, an American who lived in Paris for about 12 years. -- From every country he conquered, Hitler expatriated the Jewish population to Nazi concentration camps.
haggard adj.	appearing worn and exhausted; wild and intractable -- After working a fourteen hour day, she looked haggard and disheveled.
incorrigible adj.	incapable of being corrected or reformed -- Jen's incorrigible habits led to her suspension from school.
odious adj. / odium n.	hateful, disgusting, offensive -- Smoking is an odious habit. [opprobium -- something oppressive]
foible n.	small weakness, slight frailty in character -- A predilection for chocolate is one of my foibles.
inane adj. / inanity n.	empty, void, silly, pointless -- The teacher could rely on the class clown’s inanity disrupting the flow of the lesson. -- I found her insistence – at age 25 – on writing exclusively in pink ink to be inane.
supercilious adj.	haughty; disdainful; aloof -- The girl was supercilious and proud towards her teammates because she ran five miles while no one else finished. – We all laughed when the supercilious prom queen tripped on her gown and wiped out.
consign v./ consignment n.	to give over to the care of another, entrust; to turn over permanently to another's charge or to a lasting condition. -- I was flattered that my boss was willing to consign a major project to my supervision. -- I sold my old clothes by consignment. The proceeds were shared 50/50 by the storeowner and me.
purvey v./ purveyor n.	to supply; to furnish; to advertise or circulate. -- Rare is the public school cafeteria that purveys meals cooked from scratch. Usually schools merely reheat frozen food. -- It was our job to purvey baked goods to sell at the fundraiser. -- It is a status symbol for English tea manufacturers to include the label "purveyors to the queen" on their packaging.
liaison n.	1. a linking up or connecting of parts or communication to bring about proper co-ordination of activities, orig. esp. military activities; 2. a person managing such linkings; 3. an illicit love affair -- The double-agent established a corrupt liaison between American and Russian gangsters. -- My Dutch aunt was able to act as a helpful liaison when I was figuring out the logistics of my year abroad. -- Ferdinand de Laclos' torrid epistolary novel about courtly life in pre-Revolutionary France is called Dangerous Liasons.
discern v. / discernment n. [cognate with discreet / discretion]	1. to understand a distinction, often a subtle or important one; 2. to distinguish with the eye of mind or detect -- Once the sun set, it was difficult to discern whether we were looking at the surface of the ocean or at the night sky. -- Though my friend put on a bright face, I know her well enough to discern that she was concealing her true feelings.
efface v.	to erase, rub, or strike out -- I'm so heavy footed that I can efface the treads on my sneakers within weeks. -- Once the tide comes in, all remnants of the sand castle will be entirely effaced.
mollify v.	to soothe or calm -- Desperate to mollify her screaming brat in the movie theater, the stressed-out mom shelled out four dollars for a candy bar.
elude v. / elusive adj.	baffling; hard to grasp -- Even though I follow my mother's pie crust recipe exactly, the secret of its flaky texture somehow eludes me. Mine always turn out hard as rocks. -- The escaping bank robbers managed to elude the cops in the maze of downtown streets. -- When asked to explain what he had been doing when his parents were out, the boy provided elusive answers.
feasible adj./ feasibility n.	practical, possible -- While it may seem feasible to carry on a long-distance relationship for a little while, it's not easy or practical in the long run. -- Although my first choice is Harvard, I will be sure to apply to schools that I can more feasibly get into.
plausible adj. / plausibility n./ implausible adj.	seemingly true, potentially the case [but often implying skepticism or doubt as to whether appearances are trustworthy]; specious -- Students commonly use "printer problems" as a plausible excuse for late work. -- We found her claim that she had been in the movies as a young child implausible. -- Joan Didion sardonically refers to Hoover Dam as the public works project that made "the Southwest plausible."
equivocal adj. / equivocate v. / equivocation n.	speaking, thinking, or acting in an ambiguous, doubtful, or contradictory fashion -- In his efforts to appeal to all voters, the politician began to seem weak and equivocal. -- She could equivocate for hours over the smallest decisions, like whether to go for chocolate or vanilla. [on FRESH list -- delete after 0910]
partial adj. / partiality n. / impartial adj.	feeling or demonstrating a particular inclination for or bias towards someone or something -- Now that you ask, I tend to be more partial to vanilla than to chocolate ice cream. -- Judges are expected to make impartial decisions.
penchant n.	an inclination, attration, or taste for someone or something [more intense than 'partial'] -- I have a penchant for coffee ice cream.