| Term | Definition |
|---|
| counterpart | thing that completes another; things very much alike; thing that has the same purpose in a different system |
| coup | highly successful action or sudden attack; coup(s) d'\'etat; CF. coup de gr\^ace: deathblow or shot which kills |
| couple | join; unite; OP. uncouple |
| courier | messenger |
| court | attempt to gain; seek; woo; risk; behave so as to invite; attempt to gain the favor of by attention; Ex. court disaster |
| covenant | binding agreement between two groups or people; compact; V: enter into a covenant; promise |
| covert | secret; hidden; implied; OP. overt |
| covetous | avaricious; desirous of (someone else's possessions); V. covet: desire eagerly (someone else's possessions) |
| cow | terrorize; intimidate |
| cower | shrink quivering as from fear; cringe |
| coy | shy (flirtatiously); showing a (pretended) lack of self-confidence; modest; coquettish; CF. job offer |
| cozen | cheat; hoodwink; swindle |
| crabbed | sour; bad-tempered; peevish; difficult to read as handwriting |
| craft | skill (esp. with one's hands); skill in deceiving people; guile; ADJ. crafty: cleverly deceitful; cunning |
| crass | very unrefined; grossly insensible; crude and undiscriminating; Ex. crass behavior |
| crave | desire; want intensely |
| craven | cowardly |
| credence | belief |
| credential | evidence concerning one's authority; written proof of a person's position; Ex. The new ambassador presented his credentials to the court. |
| credo | creed |
| credulity | belief on slight evidence; gullibility; naivet\'e; ADJ. credulous |
| creed | system of religious or ethical belief |
| creep | move with body close to the ground; move stealthily or slowly; N. |
| cremate | incinerate (a corpse); N. crematory, crematorium |
| crescendo | increase in the volume or intensity as in a musical passage; climax; CF. crescent |
| crest | top (as of a hill or wave); showy feathers on the head of a bird |
| crestfallen | dejected; dispirited |
| crevice | crack; fissure |
| cringe | shrink back as if in fear; cower |
| crinkle | wrinkle |
| criteria | standards used in judging; CF. criterion |
| crochet | make (a piece of needlework) by looping thread with a hooked needle; N. CF. crotchet |
| crone | hag; ugly old woman |
| cross | bad-tempered; showing ill-humor; angry |
| crossbreed | hybridize; N: hybrid; CF. interbreed; CF. inbreed |
| crotchety | (of someone old) eccentric; odd; whimsical; bad-tempered; N. crotchet: odd or whimsical notion |
| crust | hard outer covering (as of earth or snow) |
| crux | essential or main point; Ex. the crux of the problem; ADJ. crucial: of deciding importance |
| crypt | secret recess or vault usually used for burial; underground room (under a church) |
| cryptic | mysterious; hidden; secret |
| cubicle | small chamber used for sleeping or work |
| cue | word or signal (as in a play to prompt another actor's speech or entrance); reminder or hint; V: give a cue to |
| cuisine | style of cooking; Ex. French cuisine |
| culinary | relating to cooking or kitchen |
| cull | pick out from others (to kill the weakest members); reject; select; collect (information); N. |
| culmination | highest point; climax; V. culminate in: reach the highest point in; end in; Ex. a series of minor clashes culminating in war |
| culpable | deserving blame; blameworthy |
| culprit | one guilty of a crime |
| culvert | artificial channel for water; drain crossing under a road |
| cumbersome | heavy and awkward to carry or wear; burdensome; Ex. cumbersome parcel/uniform |
| cumulative | growing by addition; accumulative |
| cunning | clever in deceiving; sly; N: cleverness in deceiving; deceit |
| cupidity | greed (for wealth); CF. cupid; CF. Cupid |
| curator | superintendent; manager (in charge of a museum or a library) |
| curb | chain or strap used with a bit to restrain a horse; something that checks; V: check; restrain |
| curfew | regulation requiring all people to leave the streets at stated times; signal (as a bell) announcing the hour of a curfew |
| curmudgeon | churlish, miserly individual; bad-tempered old person |
| cursive | (of writing) flowing; running; having the successive letters joined |
| cursory | casual; hastily done with little attention to detail |
| curtail | shorten; reduce |
| cynical | skeptical or distrustful of human motives; N. cynicism; CF. cynic: person who believes all people are motivated by selfishness |
| cynosure | object of general attention; person or thing that is a center of attention; CF. Ursa Minor |
| dabble | work at in a nonserious fashion; splash around; move noisily in a liquid |
| dainty | delicate; delicately beautiful; fastidious; not easy to please; Ex. dainty movement/dress |
| dais | raised platform for speakers or other important people |
| dally | trifle with; toy with; treat without the necessary seriousness; procrastinate; waste time |
| damn | condemn; criticize severely; condemn to everlasting punishment; doom; bring to ruin; N. damnation |
| dank | damp; unpleasantly wet |
| dapper | neat and trim (in appearance); (of small men) neat in appearance and quick in movements; neat; spry |
| dappled | spotted |
| dart | move or throw suddenly and quickly |
| daub | smear (as with paint); cover with something sticky; Ex. daub one's clothes with mud/paint; N: small bit of sticky substance; Ex. a daub of paint |
| daunt | intimidate; frighten; discourage; dishearten |
| dauntless | bold; fearless |
| dawdle | loiter; hang around; waste time doing nothing |
| daze | stun as with a blow or shock; bemuse; benumb; N. |
| dazzle | make blind with a sudden intense light; amaze; fill with wonder |
| deadlock | standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces; stalemate |
| deadpan | wooden; impassive; with no show of feeling; with an expressionless face |
| dearth | scarcity |
| debacle | sudden disastrous downfall or defeat; complete disaster |
| debar | bar; forbid; exclude; Ex. debarred from jury services |
| debase | degrade; reduce in quality or value; degenerate; lower in esteem; disgrace; N. debasement |
| debauch | corrupt morally; seduce from virtue; N. debauchery: wild behavior (with sex and alcohol) |
| debilitate | weaken (esp. through heat, hunger, illness); enfeeble |
| debonair | (of men) friendly, charming, and fashionably dressed; aiming to please; CF. of good disposition |
| debris | rubble; wreckage; scattered remains of something broken or destroyed |
| debunk | expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc.; ridicule |
| debut | d\'ebut; first public appearance; formal presentation of a young woman to society |
| debutante | young woman making formal entrance into society |
| decadence | decay; fall to a lower level (of morality, civilization, or art); ADJ. decadent |
| decant | pour off gently (wine or liquid) |
| decapitate | behead |
| decelerate | slow down |
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