 | Term | Definition |
| |
bacchanal |
(n) a drunken reveler; party-goer |
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badinage |
(n) witty conversation |
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baleful |
(adj) threatening; sinister; deadly |
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banal |
(adj) ordinary; commonplace; trite |
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bane |
(n) deadly poison; cause of harm; torment |
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bastion |
(n) fortress; stronghold |
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battery |
(n) the unlawful beating of another |
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bauble |
(n) small, showy, worthless trinket or decoration |
| |
beget |
(v) to sire, to procreate as the father; to produce as an effect, to cause |
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beguile |
(v) to charm, enchant; to deceive; to while away time |
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belabor |
(v) to repeat a point unnecessarily, even absurdly |
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beleaguer |
(v) to surround, besiege; to relentless harass |
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belie |
(v) to contradict; to make a false impression |
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belittle |
(v) to put someone down; to insult |
| |
bellicose |
(adj) quarrelsome; warlike |
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belligerent |
(adj) warlike; stubbornly inclined to fight |
| |
bemused |
(adj) confused; dazed; bewildered |
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benediction |
(n) blessing, consecreation |
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benign |
(adj) homeless; gentle; safe |
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bequest |
(n) something left to someone in a will; legacy |
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bereft |
(v) to left alone and esolate (esp. by the death of a loved one) |
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beset |
(v) to harass; to trouble; to overwhelm |
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betimes |
(adv) in good time; early (literary) |
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bevy |
(n) a group, flock |
| |
bicameral |
(adj) composed of two chambers of legislative branches |
| |
biennial |
(adj) occuring every two years |
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bilious |
(adj) foul-tempered; bitter; irritable |
| |
bilk |
(v) to cheat, swindle; to avoid payment |
| |
biopsy |
(n) the removal of a piece of tissue from a living body for examination |
| |
bombast |
(n) pompous language; pretentious, meaningless speech |
| |
bourgeois |
(adj) middle class; conventional; of narrow, materialistic interests |
| |
bovine |
(adj) like a cow in nature and shape; sluggish, stupid |
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braggadocio |
(n) empty boasting; vanity; swaggering |
| |
bravado |
(n) boldness intended to impress or intimidate |
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bravura |
(n) a display of daring; a brilliant performance |
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brevity |
(n) briefness |
| |
broach |
(v) to bring up a subject, particularly a difficult one |
| |
bucolic |
(adj) rustic, charmingly rural |
| |
bumptious |
(adj) irritatingly self-assertive; offensively conceited |
| |
burgeon |
(v) to expand, flourish, blossom |
