| Term | Definition |
|---|
| conglomerate | corporation made up of several different companies in diversified fields; mass of various material gathered together; rock consisting of small stones held together by clay; V. |
| conglomeration | mass of material sticking together |
| congruence | correspondence of parts; harmonious relationship; CF. congruity |
| congruent | in agreement; harmonious; corresponding; coinciding exactly; CF. congruous |
| conifer | pine tree (usu. evergreen); cone-bearing tree; ADJ. coniferous; CF. deciduous; CF. evergreen |
| conjecture | surmise; guess; V. |
| conjugal | pertaining to marriage |
| conjure | cause to appear by magic; summon (a devil or a spirit) by magical power; practice magic (esp. by very quick movement of the hands); evoke; conjure up: bring into the mind; Ex. The magician conjured a rabbit out of his hat. |
| connivance | pretense of ignorance of something wrong; assistance; permission to offend; V. connive: feign ignorance (of a wrong); cooperate secretly in an illegal action; conspire |
| connoisseur | person competent to act as a judge of art, etc. (whose judgments are respected); a lover of an art |
| connotation | suggested or implied meaning of an expression; V. connote |
| connubial | pertaining to marriage or the matrimonial state |
| consanguineous(consanguine) | having a common ancestor |
| consanguinity | kinship; relationship by birth |
| conscientious | scrupulous; through and careful; Ex. conscientious worker |
| conscript | draftee; person forced into military service; V. |
| consecrate | dedicate; sanctify; declare as sacred; Ex. consecrate one's life to helping the poor |
| consensus | general agreement; opinion reached by a group |
| consequential | self-important; significant; consequent; following as a result; Ex. consequential air; CF. subsequent |
| conservatory(conservatoire) | school of the fine arts (especially music or drama); glass-enclosed area; CF. conservancy |
| consign | send to a person or place for sale; deliver officially; entrust; put into the care of another; set apart (for a special purpose); N. consignment; CF. consignor, consignee |
| consistency | absence of contradictions; uniformity; degree of thickness or firmness; Ex. consistency of thick cream; CF. viscous |
| console | lessen sadness or disappointment; give comfort; allay the sorrow of; N. consolation |
| consolidation | unification; process of becoming firmer or stronger; V. consolidate: merge; strengthen |
| consonance | harmony; agreement |
| consonant | harmonious; in agreement; N. |
| consort | associate with; keep company; N: husband or wife (or a ruler) |
| conspiracy | treacherous plot; secret plan against the law (by two or more people) |
| conspire | take part in a conspiracy; (of events) work together; combine; Ex. Events conspired to produce great difficulties. |
| consternation | great shock; dismay |
| constituency | voters represented by an elected official; district so represented; group of supporters (or constituents) |
| constituent | supporter; voter; member of a constituency; component |
| constitution | constituting; system of laws; composition of something; physical makeup or structure of a person; Ex. men with strong constitutions |
| constraint | restraint; compulsion; repression of feelings; reticence; V. constrain: hold back; restrain; compel; oblige; confine forcibly; imprison |
| construe | explain; interpret; Ex. construe her silence as meaning that she agreed; CF. misconstrue |
| consummate | complete; V. |
| contagion | infection (by contact); ADJ. contagious; CF. infectious: that can be passed by infection in the air |
| contaminate | pollute |
| contempt | scorn; disdain; ADJ. contemptuous; CF. contemptible |
| contend | struggle; compete; assert earnestly; state strongly |
| contention | assertion; claim; thesis; struggling; competition |
| contentious | quarrelsome; controversial; likely to cause arguments |
| contest | dispute; argue about the rightness of; compete for; try to win; Ex. contest the election results; Ex. contest a seat in Parliament; N. |
| context | writings preceding and following the passage quoted; circumstance in which an event occurs |
| contiguous | adjacent to; touching upon |
| continence | self-restraint; sexual chastity; sexual abstinence; voluntary control over bladder and bowel functions; ADJ. continent |
| contingent | dependent on something uncertain or in the future; conditional; happening by chance; accidental; N: a group of soldiers, ships to a larger force; CF. contingency: future event that may or may not occur; possibility; Ex. prepare for every contingency |
| contortions | twistings; distortions; V. contort: twist violently out of shape; CF. contortionist |
| contraband | illegal trade; smuggling; smuggled goods; ADJ. |
| contravene | contradict; oppose; violate (a rule, law, or custom); N. contravention |
| contrite | penitent; repentant; N. contrition |
| contrivance | something contrived; machine or apparatus; clever deceitful plan; scheme |
| contrive | invent or fabricate in a clever way (by improvisation); manage; Ex. contrive to attract his attention |
| contrived | unnatural and forced; artificial; not spontaneous; Ex. The ending was rather contrived. |
| controvert | oppose with arguments; attempt to refute; contradict; ADJ. controversial; N. controversy |
| contumacious | stubborn and disobedient; resisting authority (esp. disobedient to an order made by a court) |
| contusion | bruise |
| conundrum | riddle; difficult problem |
| convene | come together; assemble; call to meet; Ex. convene the council |
| convention | social or moral custom; established practice; formal meeting; international agreement |
| conventional | ordinary; typical; not nuclear; Ex. conventional weapons |
| converge | approach; tend to meet; come together |
| conversant | familiar with; having knowledge of |
| converse | opposite; ADJ. |
| convert | one who has adopted a different religion or opinion; V: change into another form; (persuade to) adopt a particular religion or belief |
| convex | curving outward |
| conveyance | vehicle; transfer; act of conveying; Ex. public conveyance |
| conviction | judgment that someone is guilty of a crime; strongly held belief |
| convivial | pleasantly merry; festive; joyous; gay; characterized by joviality; jovial |
| convoke | call together; Ex. convoke Parliament; N. convocation |
| convoluted | coiled around; twisted; involved; complicated; intricate; complex; N. convolution: twist; one of the convex folds of the surface of the brain |
| convulsion | violent uncontrollable shaking movement (caused by illness); V. convulse; ADJ. convulsive |
| copious | plentiful |
| coquette | flirt; flirtatious woman; woman who tries to attract the admiration of men without sincere feelings; V. |
| cordial | warmly friendly; gracious; heartfelt; Ex. cordial welcome |
| cordon | extended line of men or fortifications to prevent access or egress; V. |
| cornice | projecting molding on building (usually above columns or pillars); |
| cornucopia | horn (or horn-shaped container) overflowing with fruit and grain; symbol of abundance; horn of plenty |
| corollary | natural consequence (which naturally follows from something else) |
| coroner | public official who investigates any death thought to be of other than natural causes |
| corporeal | bodily (rather than spiritual); of a bodily form; material; tangible |
| corpulent | very fat; N. corpulence |
| corpus | collection (of writings or information); Ex. the corpus of Shakespear's works; Cf. corpse |
| corpuscle | red or white cell in the blood |
| correlate | either of the correlated things; V. |
| correlation | mutual relationship |
| corroborate | confirm; support; strengthen |
| corrode | destroy or wear away gradually by chemical action (over a long period) |
| corrosive | eating away by chemicals or disease; (of language) fierce |
| corrugated | wrinkled; ridged |
| cosmic | pertaining to the universe; vast |
| coterie | group that meets socially; select circle; close group of people with shared interests |
| countenance | approve; support; tolerate; Ex. countenance his rude behavior; N: face; appearance |
| countermand | cancel; revoke (an order) |
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