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debase (verb)
To lower in character, quality, or value; to degrade.
To lower in position or rank.
To lower the value of (a currency) by reducing the amount of valuable metal in the coins.
uncouth (adjective)
Unfamiliar, strange, foreign.
Clumsy, awkward.
Unrefined, crude.
crude (adjective)
Being in a natural state.
e.g.: crude oil
Characterized by simplicity, especially something not carefully or expertly made.
e.g.: a crude shelter
Lacking concealing elements.
e.g.: a crude truth
Lacking tact or taste.
e.g.: a crude remark
patronize (verb)
To make a patron.
To assume a tone of unjustified superiority; to talk down to; to treat condescendingly.
To make oneself a customer of a business, especially a regular customer.
patron (noun)
One who protects or supports; a defender.
A customer.
e.g.: This car park is for patrons only.
A property owner who hires a contractor for construction works.
An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
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paternal (adjective)
Of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family; as, "paternal grandfather" (one's father's father).
Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father.
Received or inherited from one's father.
Acting as a father; as in "paternal filicide" (murder of a son committed by his father).
filicide (noun)
A person who kills his or her own child.
The killing of one's own child.
relinquish (verb)
To give up, abandon or retire from something.
To let go (free, away), physically release.
To metaphorically surrender, yield control or possession.
To accept to give up, withdraw etc.
e.g.: The delegations saved the negotiations by relinquishing their incompatible claims to sole jurisdiction
rudimentary(adjective)
of or relating to one or more rudiments
e.g.: I have only a rudimentary grasp of chemistry.
Basic; minimal; with less than, or only the minimum, necessary.
e.g.: His grasp of rudimentary English allowed him at least to do the shopping.
rudiment (noun)
A fundamental principle or skill, especially in a field of learning (often in the plural).
e.g.: We learn the rudiments of thermodynamics next week.
Something in an undeveloped form (often in the plural).
e.g.: I have the rudiments of an escape plan.
12/4
scorch (noun)
A slight or surface burn.
A discolouration caused by heat.
Brown discoloration on the leaves of plants caused by heat, lack of water or by fungi.
sift (verb)
To sieve or strain (something).
To separate or scatter (things) as if by sieving.
To examine (something) carefully.
sieve (noun)
A device to separate larger objects from smaller objects, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.
e.g.: Use the sieve to get the pasta from the water.
A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.
e.g.: Given a list of consecutive numbers starting at 1, the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm will find all of the prime numbers.
stain (noun)
A discoloured spot or area.
A blemish on one's character or reputation.
A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
blemish (noun)
A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
A moral defect; a character flaw.
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suffocate (verb)
To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
e.g.: Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
e.g.: He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.
trite (adjective)
Worn out; hackneyed; used so many times that it is no longer interesting or effective (often in reference to a word or phrase).
hackneyed (adjective)
Repeated too often.
e.g.: The sermon was full of hackneyed phrases and platitudes.
vicarious (adjective)
Experienced or gained by the loss or to the consequence of another, such as through watching or reading.
e.g.: People experience vicarious pleasures through watching television.
Done on behalf of others
e.g.: The concept of vicarious atonement, that one person can atone for the sins of another, is found in many religions.
anticlimax (noun)
A break in the final crescendo or climax of a narrative, producing a disappointing end.
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crescendo (noun)
An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ).
A gradual increase of anything, especially to a dramatic climax.
e.g.: Their fighting rose in a fearsome crescendo.
climax (noun)
The point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series; a culmination
The turning point in a plot or in dramatic action, especially one marking a change in the protagonist's affairs.
A stage of ecological development in which a community of organisms, is stable and capable of perpetuating itself.
perpetual (adjective)
Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long time
Set up to be in effect or have tenure for an unlimited duration
Continuing uninterrupted
Flowering throughout the growing season
plaudit (noun)
A mark or expression of applause; praise bestowed.
decisive (adjective)
Having the power or quality of deciding a question or controversy; putting an end to contest or controversy; final; conclusive.
e.g.: A decisive battle is fatal for one side's war chances
Marked by promptness and decision.
e.g.: A noble instance of this attribute of the decisive character. -J. Foster.
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