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alchemist
(n.) a person who studies chemistry
The alchemist's laboratory was full of bottles and tubes of strange looking
liquids.
alchemy
(n.) any mysterious change of substance or nature
The magician used alchemy to change the powder into a liquid
allegory
(n.) a symbolic description
The book contained many allegories on Russian history.
alleviate
(v.) to lessen or make easier
The airport's monorail alleviates vehicular traffic.
allocate
(v.) set aside; designate; assign
There have been front row seats allocated to the performer's family.
The farmer allocated three acres of his fields to corn.
allude
(v.) to refer indirectly to something
The story alludes to part of the author's life.
Without stating that the defendant was an ex-convict, the prosecutor alluded
to the fact by mentioning his length of unemployment.
allure
(v.; n.) to attract; entice; attraction; temptation; glamour
The romantic young man allured the beautiful woman by preparing a wonderful
dinner.
Singapore's allure is its bustling economy.
allusion
(n.) an indirect reference (often literary); a hint
The mention of the pet snake was an allusion to the man's sneaky ways.
In modern plays allusions are often made to ancient drama.
aloof
(adj.) distant in interest; reserved; cool
Even though the new coworker was aloof, we attempted to be friendly.
The calm defendant remained aloof when he was wrongly accused of fabricating
his story.
altercation
(n.) controversy; dispute
A serious altercation caused the marriage to end in a bitter divorce.
altruism
(n.) unselfish devotion to the welfare of others
After the organization aided the catastrophe victims, it was given an
award for altruism.
She displayed such altruism by giving up all of her belongings and joining
a peace corps in Africa.
altruistic
(adj.) unselfish
The altruistic volunteer donated much time and energy in an effort to
raise funds for the children's hospital.
amalgam
(n.) a mixture or combination (often of metals)
The art display was an amalgam of modern and traditional pieces.
That ring is made from an amalgam of minerals; if it were pure gold it
would never hold its shape.
amalgamate
(v.) to mix, merge, combine
If the economy does not grow, the business may need to amalgamate with
a rival company.
The three presidents decided to amalgamate their businesses to build one
strong company.
amass
(v.) to collect together; accumulate
Over the years the sailor has amassed many replicas of boats.
The women amassed a huge collection of priceless diamonds and pearls.
ambiguous
(adj.) not clear; uncertain; vague
The ambiguous law did not make a clear distinction between the new and
old land boundary.
ambivalent
(adj.) undecided
The ambivalent jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
ameliorate
(v.) to improve or make better
A consistent routine of exercise has shown to ameliorate health.
We can ameliorate the flooding problem by changing the grading.
amendment
(n.) a positive change
The amendment in his ways showed there was still reason for hope.
amiable
(adj.) friendly
The newcomer picked the most amiable person to sit next to during the
meeting.
amiss
(adj.; adv.) wrong; awry; wrongly; in a defective manner
Seeing that his anorak was gone, he knew something was amiss .
Its new muffler aside, the car was behaving amiss.
amity
(n.) friendly relations
The amity between the two bordering nations put the populations at ease.
amorphous
(adj.) with no shape; unorganized; having no determinate form
The amorphous gel seeped through the cracks.
The amorphous group quickly got lost.
The scientist could not determine the sex of the amorphous organism.
amortize
(v.) to put money into a fund at fixed intervals
The couple was able to amortize their mortgage sooner than they thought.
anachronism
(n.) something out of place in time (e.g., an airplane in 1492)
The editor recognized an anachronism in the manuscript where the character
from the 1500s boarded an airplane.
He realized that the film about cavemen contained an anachronism when
he saw a jet cut across the horizon during a hunting scene.
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