r%m
(SMS) room

radius

• Remote authentication dial-in user service
• Remote
• authentication
• dial-in
• user
• service
• dial

1. The length of a line segment between the center and circumference of a circle or sphere. 2. A straight line from the center to the perimeter of a circle (or from the center to the surface of a sphere). 3. A circular region whose area is indicated by the length of its radius. 4. The outer and slightly shorter of the two bones of the human forearm. 5. Support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim.
6. RADIUS (Remote authentication dial-in user service) - a server for remote user authentication and accounting.
Examples:
1) They located it within a radius of 2 miles.
2) The relationship between the radius and the circumference is r = \frac{c}{2\pi}.
3) RADIUS is currently the de-facto standard for remote authentication.
Etymology:
"Radius" means "beam of light" in Latin.



raffish

• raff
• riffraff

[RAF-ish]
1. Characterized by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity, crudeness, or rowdiness; tawdry.
2. Marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness; rakish.
Examples:
1) The speaker was in his forties, an attractive-looking man with a black eye patch that gave him the raffish look of an amiable pirate. (Sidney Sheldon, "The Best Laid Plans")
2) Sometimes we would go to the Gargoyle Club,... but it was too full of raffish upper-class drunks for my taste. (John Richardson, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice")
3) We are told about Bacon's taste for raffish, lower-class lovers, his penchant for gambling and his almost complete disregard for money. (Michiko Kakutani, "Portrait of a Portraitist Of a Century's Horrors", New York Times, December 14, 1993)
4) Tristan was a raffish young rebel, a free spirit who sought every opportunity to flout convention and challenge authority.
Etymology:
"Raffish" derives from the noun "raff" (chiefly used in the compound or duplicate, "riffraff"), meaning "people of a low reputation". "Raffish" sounds like it should mean "resembling the raff". But what is "raff"? Originally, "raff" was "rubbish". That term derives from the Middle English "raf", and it was being used for trash and refuse back in the 1400s. At around the same time, English speakers were also using the word "riffraff" to mean "disreputable characters" or "rabble". The origins of "riffraff" are distinct from the "rubbish" sense of "raff"; "riffraff" derives from an Anglo-French phrase meaning "one and all". By the mid-1600s, the similarities between "raff" and "riffraff" had prompted people to start using the two words as synonyms, and "raff" gained a "rabble" sense. It was that ragtag "raff" that gave rise to the adjective "raffish" in the late 1700s.

rail

• fulminate
• inveigh
• rail in
• rail off
• railing
• rails
• revile
• track
• train
• vilify
• vituperate

1. any of numerous widely distributed small wading birds of the family Rallidae having short wings and very long toes for running on soft mud
2. horizontal bar (usually of wood)
3. short for railway
Example: He traveled by rail.
4. barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports
5. bar or bars of rolled steel making a track along, which vehicles can roll
6. criticize severely; revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language
Example: He railed against the Republicans' plan to cut Medicare.
7. spread negative information about
Example:
The Nazi propaganda railed the Jews.
Etymology:
Probably comes from Old French "reillier" ("to growl" or "to mutter") and ultimately from Late Latin "ragere" ("to neigh").
8. complain bitterly
9. fish with a hand-line aver the rails of a boat
Example: They are railing for fresh fish.
10. lay with rails
Example: Hundreds of miles were railed out here.
11. travel by rail or train
Example: They railed from Rome to Venice.
12. convey (goods etc.) by rails
Example: Fresh fruit are railed from Italy to Belgium.
13. separate with a railing
Example: Rail off the crowds from the Presidential palace.
14. provide or enclose with rails
Example: The yard was railed.
15. enclose with rails
Example: They rail in the old graves.
General Synonyms:
fulminate, inveigh, rail in, rail off, railing, rails, revile, track, train, vilify, vituperate


raillery

• rail
• banter

1. Good-humored banter or teasing; good-natured ridicule.
Synonym: banter.
2. An instance of good-humored teasing; a jest.
Examples:
1) Anticipating the raillery he'd be subjected to at his 50th birthday party, Dan got the jump on everyone by signing his invitations "The Old Geezer."
2) I moved from one knot of people to another, surrounded by a kind of envious respect because of Sophie's interest in me, although subjected to a certain mordant raillery from some of this witty company. (Peter Brooks, "World Elsewhere")
3) Her raillery and mockery are fun - but ultimately rather tiring, and tiresome. (Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, "Eastward Ho!" review of Shards of Memory, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, New York Times, September 17, 1995)
Etymology:
"Raillery" is the anglicized form of the French word "raillerie," which stems from the Middle French verb "railler," meaning "to mock." "Railler", which probably comes from Old French "reillier" ("to growl" or "to mutter") and ultimately from Late Latin "ragere" ("to neigh"), also gave us our verb "rail". But "rail" and "raillery" are quite different in tone. "Rail" means "to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language," whereas "raillery" usually suggests cutting wit that pokes fun good-naturedly.


raiment
[RAY-ment]
Clothing in general; garments (usually singular in form, with a collective sense).
Examples:
1) People want "habitations for shelter and safety, and raiment for warmth and decency." (Richard A. Epstein, "Principles for a Free Society")
2) Agog with expectation, Stella opened her package and found not the golden raiment of a queen or a princess, but the drab uniform of a cook. She wept for the rest of the day. (William Weaver, "Almost Irresistible Stella" New York Times, March 4, 1984)
3) A man in his Sunday raiment, lemon-yellow gloves even, was visible inside the window. (H.G. Wells, "The War of the Worlds")
Etymology:
"Raiment" is from Middle English "rayment" (short for "arrayment"), from "arrayen" ("to array").


rain on one's parade

• rain on your parade
• rain
• parade

To change the mood of an occasion from happy to unhappy; to create a negative atmosphere.
Examples:
1) Who rained on your parade? You were so happy ten minutes ago. 2) I don't want to rain on your parade, but I have to tell you that I just saw someone steal your car.
Etymology:
A "parade" is a festive, outdoor occasion, with marching bands and floats and cotton candy. If it rains, though, the parade is usually ruined.


rain or shine

• rain
• shine
• by all means
• all means
• means

In all weather; no matter what the weather is like (describing something scheduled).
Synonym: by all means
Example:
I know that John will be at home at 8 p.m. rain or shine.



raise the roof

• raise
• roof

To have fun and make a lot of noise.
Examples:
1) We're going to raise the roof at Stephanie's party tonight! 2) The band raised the roof with one great song after another.
Etymology: A 'roof' covers a house. Sometimes, usually at parties, you can make so much noise that it seems like the roof is going to blow right off.

raise the wind

• raise
• wind

To borrow some money.
Example: Can you raise the wind to help me (to) buy a car?

ram smth. down one's throat

• ram smth. down
• throat
• ram down
• ram

To force someone to do something that they really don't want to do; to coerce.
Example: I complained about having to work on the project, so the boss just rammed the whole thing down my throat.

ramify

• biramous
• ramage

[RAM-uh-fye]
intransitive verb
1. To split up into branches or constituent parts.
2. To send forth branches or extensions.
Example:
The bus system ramified so widely that it became possible to travel to Athens in a single day from a very large proportion of the villages of Greece... (William H. McNeill, "The Metamorphosis of Greece Since World War II")
transitive verb
3. To cause to branch.
4. To separate into divisions.
Etymology, related words, more examples:
"Ramify" has been part of English since the 15th century and is an offshoot of the Latin word for "branch," which is "ramus." English acquired several scientific words from "ramus," including "biramous" ("having two branches"). Another English word derived from "ramus" is the now obsolete "ramage," meaning "untamed" or "wild." "Ramage" originated in falconry - it was originally used of young hawks that had begun to fly from branch to branch in trees. "Ramify" started out as a scientific word, at first referring to branching parts of plants and trees and later to veins and nerves. But it soon branched out into non-scientific and even figurative uses, as in "ideas that ramify throughout society."


ramping cat

• ramping
• ramp
• cat
• rampant

A cat that is rearing up or standing on its hind legs, with its front paws raised, as though it were about to climb something; the expression refers to a cat doing something that is entirely in its nature.
Example:
At the twilight hour, if you become a Cat, you can find out a lot, so much more that they are loved and respected here. You can find their standard image, a ramping cat of all sizes and colors with it's left paw raised in salute and a coin, guit, in it's right paw, in every shop, cafe, dressmaker's and dry cleaner's. ("Notes Of Not A Stranger", http://wushu.org.ua/Articles/Article5_eng.html)
History:
It's a quotation from Shakespeare, from a speech by Hotspur in "King Henry IV", who is explaining that Glendower angers him through telling him
Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophecies;
And of a dragon and a finless fish,
A clipt-wing'd griffin and a moulten raven,
A couching lion, and a ramping cat.
This last line is especially confusing to modern readers. We would replace "couching" by "crouching" (more specifically and accurately the technical term "couchant") and replace "ramping" by "rampant". Shakespeare's terms were from the heraldry of his time, describing the stereotyped ways in which animals were portrayed on shields.
A couching or couchant animal is crouching, but specifically lying with its body on its legs but its head erect. Shakespeare's "ramping" is thought to derive from the Old French verb "ramper" ("to creep, crawl or climb") that has also given us "rampant". In its original English usage, "rampant" was a heraldic term for an animal, usually a lion, that was shown in profile facing right, standing on one hind foot with its forefeet in the air. This was taken to be a threatening or aggressive posture, which is why "rampant" now often has the sense of something wild or unrestrained.
All the examples from that of the fish onwards are of animals that are in some way acting against their true natures. The fish is without fins, the griffin has had his wings clipped, the raven has moulted, the lion is lying down submissively and the cat is adopting a threatening posture quite alien to our usual image of a timid puss.
If there is any fear of animal abuse at your local hostelry, it's likely to be the cat that's doing it.

ranchburger

• ranch-burger

A traditional, one-story ranch-style house, particularly one in a suburban development where the surrounding houses have a similar design. Also: ranch-burger, ranch burger.
Examples:
1) You'll see examples of Ranch homes whose only charm may have been their location transformed into a wide variety of architectural expressions. In an odd twist, the very fact that many of these homes began as plain and ordinary "Ranchburgers" is exactly the reason they are great makeover candidates. (M. Caren Connolly, "Ranches: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New", Taunton Press, August, 2003)
2) Such Ox-Bow incidentals are to be expected in this "back porch country" of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle region, now mostly hardscrabble and pocked with more characterless "prefab ranchburgers" than in its renowned oil-rich or cattle country days. (Gordon Hauptfleisch, "Hogman, Pass By", The San Diego Union-Tribune, December 15, 2002)
3) What has the ''modern'' stolen from the average house? And is it comfort that is missing? I cannot think so. What, instead, has been scorned for some time is any serious consideration of bourgeois taste. The architectural historian and critic Colin Rowe called one favorite design ''the ranchburger,'' and now such buildings get from the critics little better than bites. (William H. Gass, "Making ourselves comfortable", The New York Times, August 3, 1986)
Etymology:
The name comes from those ubiquitous ranch houses (also called "ranchers" or "ramblers") that, in neighborhoods around the country, have been replicated with the zeal of McDonald's hamburgers.


rapier
[RAY-pee-er]
1. A type of narrow-bladed sword used in the 18th century; a type of double-edged sword used in the 16th and 17th centuries.
2. A swordfish.
3. Extremely sharp or keen.
Example:
In the June 1992 issue of "Field & Stream" magazine, Dave Hughes offered the following fly-fishing advice: "In one fluid motion, lift the rod up and back, and drive it forward with a rapier thrust."
Etymology, more examples:
A rapier is a straight, two-edged sword with a narrow pointed blade, designed especially for thrusting. According to "Encyclopaedia Britannica", "the long rapier was beautifully balanced, excellent in attack, and superb for keeping an opponent at a distance." The word itself, which we borrowed in the 16th century, is from Middle French "rapiere." (It has no connection to the word "rape.") The first time that "rapier" was used as an adjective in its figurative "cutting" sense, it described a smile: "Who can bear a rapier smile? A kiss that dooms the soul to death?" ("The Lover's Lament" by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, 1824). Wit was first described as "rapier-like" by an author in 1853, and, these days, the most common use of the adjective "rapier" is to describe wit.


rapine
[RAP-in] The act of plundering; the seizing and carrying away of another's property by force.
Examples:
1) He who has once begun to live by rapine always finds reasons for taking what is not his. (Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince", translated by N.H. Thomson)
2) Extortion and rapine are poor providers. (Olaudah Equiano, "Unchained Voices: an anthology of Black authors in the English-Speaking World of the 18th Century")
3) The war, proclaimed William Lloyd Garrison, was one "of aggression, of invasion, of conquest, and rapine - marked by ruffianism, perfidy, and every other feature of national depravity." (Robert W. Johannsen, "America's Forgotten War (Mexican War, 1846-1848)", The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 1996)
Etymology, related words:
"Rapine" derives from Latin "rapina", from "rapere" ("to seize and carry off, to snatch or hurry away"), which also gives us "rapid".



rapprochement
[rap-rosh-MAWN]
The establishment or state of cordial relations.
Examples:
1) Mikhail Gorbachev and his team of self-described reformers were publicly heralding a new era of rapprochement with the West. (Ken Alibek with Stephen Handelman, "Biohazard")
2) The documentary record of initial White House-level efforts to initiate rapprochement with China... remains slim. (William Burr, "The Kissinger Transcripts")
3) But I have no desire for some kissy rapprochement. (Zo? Heller, "Everything You Know")
Etymology:
"Rapprochement" comes from the French, from "rapprocher" ("to bring nearer"), from Middle French, from "re-" + "approcher" ("to approach"), from Old French "aprochier", from Late Latin "appropire", from Latin "ad-" + "propius" ("nearer"), comparative of "prope" ("near").


rapscallion

• Rascallion
• blackguard
• scoundrel
• miscreant

rascal, ne'er-do-well
Example:
"The film ["Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"] stars Johnny Depp as the sauntering, dark-eyed rapscallion Capt. Jack Sparrow...." (Anthony Breznican, "The Associated Press", July 9, 2003)
Etymology:
The word "rascal" has been part of English since the 15th century, but on its own it apparently didn't quite capture the roguish nature of the wily knaves of yore. By the 17th century, English speakers had modified "rascal" to create "rascallion". But it seems that even that term didn't sound quite mischievous enough. By the century's end, "rascallion" had been further altered to create "rapscallion". "Rascallion" is still around as well, but it's very rare.
Synonyms:
blackguard, scoundrel, miscreant


rara avis

• rara
• avis
• rara avises
• avises
• rarae aves
• rarae
• aves

[RAIR-uh-AY-vis]
plural: rara avises [RAIR-uh-AY-vuh-suhz] or rarae aves [RAIR-ee-AY-veez]
A rare or unique person or thing.
Examples:
1) He was, after all, that rara avis, a Jewish Catholic priest with a wife and children. (Jeremy Sams, "Lorenzo the magnificent," Independent, May 16, 2000)
2) "First of all," Arthur said, "Jack is that rara avis among Ivy League radicals, a birthright member of the proletariat." (Charles McCarry, "Lucky Bastard")
3) Rara avis. You'd have to go far and wide to find someone like that, especially in these times. (Andrew Holleran, "In September, the Light Changes")
Etymology:
"Rara avis" is Latin for "rare bird."


rat pack

• rat
• pack

Etymology and meaning: Originally, this referred to a group of same-age, same-interests young Hollywood dudes that included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. (as the token Negro), and a few others. In the 1950s and the early 1960s, they acted in films together, hung out together, drank and womanized together, and in general raised hell together, but didn't get in trouble because they were famous. In the early 1980s, this term was applied to another crop of talented but spoiled young actors who were all about the same age who also acted and hung around and raised hell together.

rathskeller
[RAHT-skell-er]
A usually basement tavern or restaurant.
Example:
Many workers from the town's mills and factories liked to gather after hours at the rathskeller located underneath the banquet hall.
Etymology:
"Rathskeller" is a product of Germany, deriving from two German nouns: "Rat" (also spelled "Rath" in early Modern German), which means "council," and "Keller," which means "cellar." The etymology reflects the fact that many early rathskellers were located in the basements of "council houses," which were equivalent to town halls. (The oldest rathskeller found in Germany today is said to date from the first half of the 13th century.) The earliest known use of "rathskeller" in English dates from 1766, but the word wasn't commonly used until the 1900s. Although the German word is now spelled "Ratskeller," English writers have always preferred the spelling with the "h" - most likely to avoid any association with the word "rat."


rationale

• ratio

[rash-uh-NAL]
1. An explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena.
2. An underlying reason.
Synonym: basis
Example:
One rationale for year-round school is that it reduces the need to review old material forgotten over summer vacation.
Etymology; related words; more meanings, examples:
The word "rationale" appeared in the second half of the 17th century, just in time for the Age of Reason. It is based on the Latin "ratio," which means "reason," and "rationalis," which means "endowed with reason." At first, "rationale" meant "an explanation of controlling principles" ("a rationale of religious practices," for example), but soon it began to refer to the underlying reason for something (as in "the rationale for her behavior"). The latter meaning is now the most common use of the term. The English word "ratio" can also mean "underlying reason" (in fact, it had this meaning before "rationale" did), but in current use, it more often refers to the relationship (in number, quantity, or degree) between things.


razzmatazz

• razzle-dazzle
• razzle
• dazzle
• double-talk
• double
• talk
• razzamatazz

[raz-muh-TAZ]
1. A confusing or colorful often gaudy action or display.
Synonym: razzle-dazzle
2. Inflated, involved, and often deliberately ambiguous language.
Synonym: double-talk
3. Vim, zing.
Example:
It was a rally like any other, perhaps, but amidst all the flag-waving and razzmatazz, we detected a stronger than usual strain of genuine patriotic feeling.
History, alternative spelling:
Before early forms of "razzmatazz" entered English, "razzle-dazzle" appeared on the scene, and long before "razzle-dazzle" there was simply "dazzle" (from "daze"). English speakers are fond of forming new words through reduplication of a base word, usually with just a slight change of sound. Think of "okey-dokey," "fuddy-duddy," "super-duper," "roly-poly," "fiddle-faddle," and "dilly-dally." A hundred or so years ago, the spirit that prompted "razzle-dazzle" seems to have also inspired "razzmatazz" shortly afterward. The coiners of "razzmatazz" may have had "jazz" in mind. Some of the earliest turn-of-the century uses of "razzmatazz" refer to rag-time or early jazz styles. By the 40s, we'd come round to the "razzle-dazzle" sense, though we still haven't completely settled on the spelling. You might, for example, see "razzamatazz."


read between the lines

• read
• between the lines
• between
• lines
• line

When you "read between the lines", you go beyond the surface of what someone says or does so you can find out what they really mean.
Example:
"Clare keeps telling me she's too busy to go to school dances," Tanya said. "But when you read between the lines, you can tell she's afraid she won't have fun if she goes."

real estate

• real
• estate

(Amer.) Tangible items of property, such as land and buildings, as well as intangible rights in land, such as easements or the right to graze animals on someone else's land etc.
In the UK, one would use the term "real property" (see) as distinct from "personal property" which refers to all other kinds of property.

real property

• real
• property

(Brit.) Tangible items of property, such as land and buildings, as well as intangible rights in land, such as easements or the right to graze animals on someone else's land etc.
The term "real property" is used as distinct from "personal property" which refers to all other kinds of property, to describe what Americans would call "real estate" (see).

realia

• memorabilia
• juvenilia
• marginalia

[ree-AL-ee-uh, reh-yal'yuh]
Noun plural; there is no singular form for this word, because "realia" refers to a group of or classification of things.
1. (educ.) Objects, as coins, tools, etc., used by a teacher to illustrate everyday living;
objects or activities used to relate classroom teaching to the real life especially of peoples studied.
Example:
The teacher asked the exchange student from Brazil to bring in photos, food items, and other realia to share with the class.
2. (philos.) Things that are real.
History:
"Realia," a word invented in the 1930s, is still mostly used in the classroom by teachers, especially foreign language teachers, and in the library by cataloguers (realia in libraries can consist of things as bizarre as an author's hair and teeth donated posthumously), but it's seeping out. You might, for example, hear of someone putting "realia" - objects that represent present-day life - in a time capsule. "Realia" is also sometimes used philosophically to distinguish real things from the theories about them. "Realia" is one of those plural formations without a corresponding singular form. Like "memorabilia" ("memorable things" or "mementos"), "juvenilia" ("works produced in an artist's or author's youth"), and "marginalia" ("marginal notes or embellishments"), it incorporates the Latin plural ending "-ia."
Etymology: Late Latin, neuter plural of "realis" - "real".


recalcitrant

• calcaneus

[rih-KAL-suh-trunt]
1. obstinately defiant of authority or restraint
Example:
Anna's doctor ordered a week of complete bed rest, but, ever recalcitrant when it comes to doctors' orders, she was up and baking a cake after two days.
2. a) difficult to manage or operate; b) not responsive to treatment; c) resistant
Etymology:
Long before any human was dubbed "recalcitrant" in English (that first occurred, as best we know, in one of William Thackeray's works in 1843), there were stubborn mules (and horses) kicking back their heels. The ancient Romans noted as much (Pliny the Elder among them), and they had a word for it - "recalcitrare", which literally means "to kick back". (Its root "calc-", meaning "heel," is also the root of "calcaneus", the large bone of the heel in humans.) Certainly Roman citizens in Pliny's time were sometimes willful and hardheaded - as attested by various Latin words meaning "stubborn" - but it wasn't until later that writers of Late Latin applied "recalcitrare" and its derivative adjective to humans who were stubborn as mules.

recherche
[ruh-sher-SHAY]
1. Uncommon; exotic; rare.
2. Exquisite; choice.
3. Excessively refined; affected.
4. Pretentious; overblown.
Examples:
1) . . . recherche topics interesting only to university specialists. (Katharine Washburn and John F. Thornton, "Dumbing Down")
2) She was mocking the pretensions of the cookery writer who insists on recherche ingredients not because of their qualities but their snob value. (Angela Carter, "Shaking a Leg")
3) In recent years, Garber's appetite for the rigors of theory seems to have diminished. The books have kept coming, but the italics-heavy meditations and the recherche terminology have receded. (Zo? Heller, "House Arrest," The New Republic, July 3, 2000)
Etymology:
"Recherche" comes from French, from "rechercher" ("to seek out"), from "re-" + "chercher" ("to look for, to seek").


reciprocate

• Retaliate
• Requite
• Return

[rih-SIP-ruh-kayt]
1. To move backward and forward alternately.
2. To give and take mutually.
3. To make a return for something done or given.
Example:
We had a great time at our neighbors' dinner party, and we hope to reciprocate with an invitation to a party of our own soon.
Etymology, synonyms, more examples:
The verb "reciprocate" is recorded from 1820; from Latin "reciprocus" ("returning the same way, alternating"), from pre-L. "reco-proco-", from "recus" (from "re-" = "back" and "-cus", adjective formation) + "procus" (from "pro-" = "forward" and "-cus").
"Reciprocate," "retaliate," "requite," and "return" all mean "to give back," usually in kind or in quantity. "Reciprocate" implies a mutual or equivalent exchange or a paying back of what one has received ("We reciprocated their hospitality by offering to let them stay for a week"). "Retaliate" usually implies a paying back of an injury or offense in exact kind, often vengefully ("Susan retaliated by spreading equally nasty rumors about them"). "Requite" implies a paying back according to one's preference, and often not in an equivalent fashion ("He requited her love with cold indifference"). "Return" implies simply a paying or giving back ("returned their call" or "return good for evil").


recondite
[REK-uhn-dyt]
1. Difficult to understand; abstruse.
2. Concerned with obscure subject matter.
Examples:
1) And his fondness for stopping his readers short in their tracks with evidence of his recondite vocabulary is wonderfully irritating. ("Books of the Times," New York Times, February 23, 1951)
2) Among his playmates he counts the Italian novelist and semiotics professor Umberto Eco, whom he befriended 15 years ago when they engaged in a fierce ottava rima competition that lasted for weeks. They still trade complicated riddles and recondite guessing games by mail. ("Roberto Benigni: The Funniest Italian You've Probably Never Heard Of," New York Times, October 11, 1998)
3) He is a poet's poet, says another admirer, sometimes recondite and always deeply aware of the formal tradition of poetry. ("Crown prince of puns to give the past new life," Irish Times, Saturday, May 22, 1999)
Etymology:
"Recondite" is from Latin "reconditus", past participle of "recondere" ("to store back", i.e., "out of the way," hence "to hide"); itself from "re-" ("back, again") + "condere" ("to put away, to store"). Thus, recondite knowledge is "hidden" (because of obscurity or difficulty) from the understanding of the average person.


recreant
[REK-ree-uh]
adjective:
1. Cowardly; craven.
2. Unfaithful; disloyal.
noun:
1. A coward.
2. An unfaithful or disloyal person.
Examples:
1) His recreant companion disappears around the fence, but he remains, smiling affably. (Eric J. Segal, "Norman Rockwell and the fashioning of American masculinity," Art Bulletin, December 1, 1996)
2) To any man there may come at times a consciousness that there blows, through all the articulations of his body, the wind of a spirit not wholly his; that his mind rebels; that another girds him and carries him whither he would not... The open door was closed in his recreant face. (Genie Babb, "Where the bodies are buried," Narrative, October 1, 2002)
3) Wordsworth compares himself to a truant, a false steward, a recreant, when he does not write poetry, when poetic numbers fail to come spontaneously, when his harp is defrauded and the singer ends in silence. (J. Douglas Kneale, "Majestic Indolence: English Romantic Poetry and the Work of Art," Criticism, September 22, 1996)
4) And it appears in the way the review essay was set up: Aronson versus Miliband, the recreant versus the faithful one. (Ronald Aronson, "Response to Victor Wallis," Monthly Review, October 1, 1996)
5) But was it worth surrendering your religion, hence your honor, and becoming a recreant? (Eugen Weber, "The Ups and Downs of Honor," American Scholar, January 1, 1999)
Etymology:
"Recreant" comes from Old French, from the present participle of "recroire" ("to yield in a trial by battle"), from "re-" + "croire" ("to believe"), from Latin "credere".


recrudescent
[ree-kroo-DES-uhnt]
Breaking out again after temporary abatement or suppression; as, "a recrudescent epidemic".
Examples:
1. Now they are recrudescent like other old maladies we thought we had eliminated. (Marilynne Robinson, "The way we work, the way we live", Christian Century, September 9, 1998)
2. Imagining the prospect of a recrudescent Marxist revolutionary movement, the State Police became politicised in a way reminiscent of the 1919-22 period. (Richard Oliver Collin, "Italy: A Tale of Two Police Forces", History Today, September 1999)
3. At the end of a six- to eight-month treatment regimen, only about half the first cohort of prisoners were declared cured -- and some of these later developed signs of recrudescent disease. (Paul Farmer, "TB Superbugs: The Coming Plague on All our Houses", Natural History, April 1999)
Etymology:
Recrudescent derives from the present participle of Latin recrudescere, "to bleed again, hence to break out again", from "re-" ("again") + "crudescere", from "crudus" ("bleeding, raw"). The state or condition of being recrudescent is recrudescence.


rectitudinous

• rectitude

[rek-tuh-TOO-duh-nuss]
1. characterized by straightness or moral integrity
Example:
Their leader-to-be was . . . a sternly rectitudinous former federal judge who may be the straightest straight arrow in Washington. ("Newsweek", March 16, 1987)
2. piously self-righteous
History, related words:
"Rectitudinous" comes to us straight from the Late Latin "rectitudin-" (English added the "-ous" ending), which is, in turn, ultimately derived from the Latin word "rectus," meaning both "straight" and "right." (There are other "rectus" descendants in English, including "rectitude," of course, and "rectilinear," "rectangle," and "rectify.") When "rectitudinous" first appeared in print in 1897, it was in the phrase "notoriously and unctuously rectitudinous." Although "rectitude" often expresses an admirable moral integrity, "rectitudinous" has always had a less flattering side. It can suggest not only moral uprightness but also a displeasing holier-than-thou attitude.


recumbent
1. Reclining; lying down.
2. Resting; inactive; idle.
Examples:
1) While the lovers' intricately carved tombs - with their host of angels surrounding the recumbent figures of the deceased - draw crowds, the soaring space of the Gothic cathedral and the peaceful abbey cloisters seem to swallow and silence the busloads of visitors. (Jill Knight Weinberger, "Monuments To Love's Labors", New York Times, August 15, 1999)
2) Winser was still recumbent but in his frenzy he was trying to writhe his way back onto his knees, kicking and twisting like a felled animal, struggling to wedge his heels under him, half rising, only to topple back again onto his side. (John le Carr?, "Single & Single")
3) Mr. Bloom, semi-recumbent on a reclining chair, speaks in long sentences, interrupting himself with long parenthetical remarks that contain parentheses of their own. (Richard Bernstein, "A Perennial Scrapper Takes On God and the Bible", New York Times, October 24, 1990)
Etymology:
"Recumbent" comes from the present participle of Latin "recumbere" ("lie back, to recline"), from "re-" ("back") + "-cumbere" ("to lie").


recusant
[RECK-yuh-zunt]
Refusing to submit to authority.
Example:
Several recusant senators refused to vote along party lines.
History, more meanings:
In 1534, Henry VIII of England declared himself the head of the Church of England, separating it from the Roman Catholic Church, and the resultant furor led to increased attention focused on people's religious observances. A "recusant" was someone who (from about 1570-1791) refused to attend services of the Church of England, and therefore violated the laws of mandatory church attendance. The word derives from the Latin verb "recusare," meaning "reject" or "oppose." The adjective "recusant" has been in use since the early 17th century. Originally, it meant "refusing to attend the services of the Church of England," but by the century's end, both the adjective and the noun were also being used generally to suggest resistance to authority of any form.


red tape

• red
• tape

Excessive rules and regulations; bureaucratic details and delays.
Examples:
1) With all the red tape, it took me weeks to get a license for my new business. 2) The red tape at my job is driving me crazy! I can't do anything without filling out a ton of paperwork.
Etymology:
In 18th century England, the official documents of the royal government were tied together with red ribbon or tape.


redaction
[rih-DACK-shun]
1. An act or instance of putting something in writing or adapting it for publication.
2. A work that has been adapted for publication.
Synonyms: edition, version.
Example:
Tina was introduced to a number of literary classics as a child via age-appropriate redactions, sometimes in the style of comic books.
Etymology, related words:
"Redaction" is from the Latin verb "redigere" ("to bring back" or "to reduce"), which was formed by adding the prefix "red-" ("back") to "agere", meaning to "to drive, lead, act, or do. Some other "agere" offsprings include "act," "agenda," "cogent," "litigate," "chasten," "agile," and "transact", as well as "prodigal", "agent", "essay", "navigate" and "ambiguous".


redivivus
[red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-]
Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.
Examples:
1) Augustine redivivus, R. contends, would find in the history of the present century confirmation of his pessimistic views of human nature. (Roland J. Teske, "Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized," Theological Studies, June 1, 1995)
2) She is the young Magda redivivus to the last degree, including the way she arches her eyebrow when she speaks. (Judith Dunford, "Exit Laughing," Newsday, May 8, 1994)
3) As for Neeson - of the nose-heavy, asymmetrical countenance and shrewdly darting, soul-searching eyes, he is a lopsided Gary Cooper redivivus - hardly something to sneeze at. (John Simon, "Michael Collins," National Review, November 25, 1996)
4) Paulson appears as a Hogarth redivivus, promulgating his views with the same antiacademic and self-protective motivations he finds in Hogarth's rationale for writing the Analysis. (Therese Dolan, "The Beautiful, Novel, and Strange: Aesthetics and Heterodoxy," The Art Bulletin, March 1, 1998)
Etymology:
"Redivivus" comes from Latin, from the prefix "red-" / "re-" ("again") + "vivus" ("alive").
Usage note: "Redivivus" is used postpositively - that is, after the noun it modifies.


redolent

• olfactory

[RED-uh-lunt]
1. Having or exuding fragrance.
Synonyms: scented; aromatic.
2. Full of fragrance; odorous; smelling (usually used with 'of' or 'with').
3. Serving to bring to mind (usually used with 'of' or 'with').
Synonyms: evocative; suggestive; reminiscent.
Examples:
1) The 142-foot-long sidewheeled steamer... ferried people from place to place,... its two decks redolent with the aroma of fresh grapes, peaches, and other fruit headed for the rail spur at the Canandaigua pier, then on to markets in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. (A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax, "Bogart")
2) The simple, semisweet and moist cake was redolent of cinnamon and nutmeg and studded with Mr. McCartney's favorite nuts, pecans. (Bryan Miller, "Lots of Smidgens, But Hold the Meat," New York Times, September 7, 1994)
3) Backed by soaring sax and energetic percussion, Martin makes the sort of celebratory, Spanish party music redolent of warm weather and cocktails. (Lisa Verrico, "Times" (London), November 10, 2000)
4) It's a fine word, "Fellowship", redolent of Oxbridge high tables and intellectual excellence. (Paul Hoggart, "Times" (London), February 24, 2001)
5) The forest grove beside the lake was redolent of pine and spread with a soft carpet of moss and pine needles - the ideal spot for a picnic.
Etymology, more examples:
"Redolent" derives from Latin "redolens, -entis", present participle of "redolere" ("to emit a scent, to diffuse an odor"), from "red-, re-" + "olere" ("to exhale an odor"). So, "redolent" is a relative of "olfactory" ("of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell"). In its earliest English uses in the 15th century, "redolent" simply meant "having an aroma." Today, it usually applies to a place or thing impregnated with odors, as in "the kitchen was redolent of garlic and tomatoes". It can also be used of something that reminds us of something else or evokes a certain emotional response, as in "a city redolent of antiquity."


redoubt
[rih-DOWT]
1. A small and usually temporary defensive fortification.
2. A defended position or protective barrier.
3. A secure place of refuge or defense; a stronghold.
Examples:
1) Evicting the intruders from their mountain redoubts with ground forces alone was beginning to look like a protracted and expensive task. ("Kashmir's violent spring," The Economist, May 29, 1999)
2) First, Milosevic himself will be absent, apparently fearful of leaving his redoubt in Belgrade. ("Lessons of Balkans Applied to Kosovo," New York Times, February 1, 1999)
Etymology:
"Redoubt" derives from French "redoute", from Italian "ridotto", from Latin "reductus" ("a refuge, a retreat"), from "reducere" ("to lead or draw back"), from "re-" ("back") + "ducere" ("to lead").


redoubtable
1. Arousing fear or alarm.
Synonym: formidable.
2. Illustrious; eminent; broadly: worthy of respect or honor.
Examples:
1) He had been particularly involved in and articulate over policy toward East Asia, stressing the threat from China after the Communists won power there in 1949, and had made dramatic impressions of competence and coolness on two occasions -- under the physical threat of a crowd in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1958, and in a dramatic kitchen debate in the Soviet Union in 1959 with the redoubtable Nikita Khrushchev. (William Bundy, "A Tangled Web")
2) The prospect was daunting, not least because Evelyn was still a redoubtable figure on campus whom I saw almost every day and to whom I went for advice almost as regularly. (Keith Stewart Thomson, "The Common But Less Frequent Loon and Other Essays")
3) At the head of the table, as committee chair, sat the redoubtable Howard Mumford Jones - a teacher famed even at Harvard for his fierce authority, his wide-ranging erudition, and his intolerant exacting preciseness. (Nicholas Delbanco, "The Lost Suitcase")
Etymology:
"Redoubtable" comes to us through Middle English, from the Anglo-French verb "reduter" ("to dread"); it derives from Old French "redouter" ("to dread"), from Medieval Latin "redubitare" ("to fear", literally "to doubt back at"), from Latin "re-" (prefix that means "anew, once more, again") + "dubitare" ("to doubt", "duter").
The word "redoubtable" is worthy of respect itself, if only for its longevity; it has been used in English for things formidable since at least the 15th century. Things or people that are formidable and alarming can also inspire awe and even admiration, however, and it wasn't long before the meaning of "redoubtable" was extended from "formidable" to "illustrious" and "worthy of respect."


redound

• redound to
• redound to smth.

[rih-DOWND]
1. To have a consequence or effect.
2. To return; to rebound; to reflect.
3. To become added or transferred; to accrue.
Examples:
1) Even if we don't officially round them up, as we did with Japanese Americans in World War II, the unofficial acts of meanness and hatred against those who look like our blood enemies are likely to redound to our shame. (William Raspberry, "Worse to Come", Washington Post, September 15, 2001)
2) Women are so inclined to vote Democratic that a Republican drive to get out the women's vote may actually redound to the Democrats' advantage. (Ruth Conniff, "No more angry feminists", The Progressive, October 1, 1996)
3) The Kemp Commission tracked three periods of reduced taxation in this century. Each was followed by an economic boom that redounded to the benefit of the entire society. (Mona Charen, "You Can't Punish the Rich Without Hurting the Rest of Us", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 25, 1996)
4) O'Sullivan busied himself writing would-be contributors, outlining his plan for the enterprise and how its glory would redound to all associated with the project. (Edward L. Widmer, "Young America")
5) [George] Washington was convinced that treating other nations equally and fairly would ultimately redound to the well-being of the United States. (Jay Tolson, "U.S. News & World Report", September 22, 2003)
Etymology, related words, more examples:
"Redound", originally "to be in excess or to overflow," derives from the Middle French "redunder," which in turn came from Latin "redundare" ("to overflow", "to be in abundance or excess"), from "re-" + "unda" ("wave").
Although it looks and sounds like a number of similar words (including "rebound," "resound," "abound," and "redundant"), "redound" is a distinct term. In its earliest known English uses in the late 1300s, "redound" meant "to overflow" or "to abound," but those senses are now considered archaic. In current use, "redound" is often followed by "to," and the effect can be positive (as in our last example sentence) or negative: "[It] probably would have redounded strongly to my disadvantage if I had pursued to completion my resolution...." (Joseph Heller, "God Knows").


redux

• Fortuna Redux
• Fortuna

[ree-DUKS]
Brought back.
Example:
Polka dots, stripes and florals with ... a distinct '50s and '60s redux aura ... are a trend we're glad to see returning. (Jaimee Rose, "The Arizona Republic", July 15, 2005)
History:
In Latin, "redux" (from the verb "reducere," meaning "to lead back") could mean "brought back" or "bringing back." The Romans used "redux" as an epithet for the Goddess Fortuna with its "bringing back" meaning; Fortuna Redux was "one who brings another safely home." But it was the "brought back" meaning that made its way into English. "Redux" belongs to a small class of English adjectives that are always used postpositively - that is, they always follow the words they modify. "Redux" has a history of showing up in titles of English works, such as John Dryden's "Astraea Redux" (a poem "on the happy restoration and return of his sacred majesty, Charles the Second"), Anthony Trollope's "Phineas Redux", and John Updike's "Rabbit Redux".


refractory
1. Stubbornly disobedient; unmanageable.
2. Resisting ordinary treatment or cure.
3. Difficult to melt or work; capable of enduring high temperature.
Examples:
1) It's a head shot of Lucien Bouchard peering out of the dark, openmouthed, teeth showing, eyes glittering and appearing not to have shaved in a week. In another age, the shot might have been held up to a refractory kid with the warning, "The boogeyman will get you if you don't watch out." (George Bain, "Whose Reality?" Time, October 13, 1997)
2) And even those most refractory infections of all, those caused by viruses - formerly dismissed as untreatable because viruses disappeared into the inner labyrinths of the living cells, merging into the very genomes - were becoming amenable to early treatments. (Frank Ryan, M.D., "Virus X")
3) Bauxite is mined in only a few places. It is used to make aluminum, iron, copper and dozens of refractory products such as the bricks used to line blast furnaces. (Robert Goodrich, "Melvin Price Support Center's Bauxite Will Be Sold," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 10, 2000)
Etymology:
"Refractory" comes from Latin "refractarius" - "stubborn," from "refragari" - "to oppose, to withstand, to thwart."


refulgence

• effulgence

[rih-FULL-junss]
A radiant or resplendent quality or state.
Synonym: brilliance.
Example:
Cervantes' Don Quixote compares his beloved's hair to "threads of the brightest gold of Araby, whose refulgence dimmed the sun himself."
History, more examples, a related synonym:
"The full bow of the crescent moon peeps above the plain and shoots its gleaming arrows far and wide, filling the earth with a faint refulgence, as the glow of a good man's deeds shines for a while upon his little world after his sun has set, lighting the fainthearted travellers who follow on towards a fuller dawn." So British author Sir Henry Rider Haggard described the light of the moon in "King Solomon's Mines". Haggard's example reflects both the modern meaning and the history of "refulgence." That word derives from the Latin "refulgere," which means "to shine brightly" and which is itself a descendant of the verb "fulgere," meaning "to shine." By the way, "fulgere" also underlies "effulgence," a shining synonym of "refulgence."


refulgent
[rih-FUL-juhnt]
Shining brightly; radiant; brilliant; resplendent.
Examples:
1) If Moore was not quite a burned-out case, his once refulgent light flickered only dimly in his sad last years. (Martin Filler, "The Spirit of '76", New Republic, July 9, 2001)
2) With its improbable towers tilting against themselves and its titanium sheathing in full refulgent glow, it brings on a question that the world has not enjoyed asking itself since the first moon landings: If this is possible, what isn't? (Richard Lacayo, "The Frank Gehry Experience," Time, June 26, 2000)
3) To the Renaissance, they [the Middle Ages] were nothing but a dank patch of history, a barren stretch of time between luminous antiquity and an equally refulgent present. (Justin Davidson, "On the Record," Newsday, January 19, 1997)
Etymology:
"Refulgent" comes from the present participle of Latin "refulgere" ("to flash back, to shine brightly"), from "re-" ("back") + "fulgere" ("to shine").


regale

• Gala

[rih-GAY(uh)L]
Transitive verb:
1. To entertain with something that delights; to give pleasure or amusement to.
2. To entertain sumptuously with fine food and drink.
Intransitive verb:
3. To feast; to feed.
Noun:
4. A sumptuous feast.
5. A choice food; a delicacy.
6. Refreshment.
Examples:
1) If I've been away, and the boys do remember to ask about my trip, I remark on their thoughtfulness by saying, 'Thanks for asking!' and then regale them with stories about my journey. (Lucy Calkins, "Raising Lifelong Learners: A Parent's Guide")
2) He might also regale them with tales of how his Magic team beat Jordan's Bulls, 108-102, in Game 6 to win their four-of-seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal series before a stunned crowd of 24,332 tonight at the United Center. ("Bulls Burst in the Air as Magic Moves On," New York Times, May 19, 1995)
3) Levin settled his guests in the dense, cool shade of the young aspens on a bench and some stumps purposely put there for visitors to the bee-house who might be afraid of the bees, and he went off himself to the hut to get bread, cucumbers, and fresh honey, to regale them with. (Leo Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina", translated by Constance Garnett)
4) We often stopped to visit our neighbor, knowing the garrulous man would regale us with hilarious tales of his boyhood adventures.
Etymology, related words, more examples:
"Regale" has been a verb since at least 1656; it was adapted from the French "regaler" ("to entertain"). It is related to gallant. The French verb goes back to Middle French "galer", which means "to have a good time", and to Old French "gale", meaning "pleasure". ("Gala", meaning "a festive celebration," is from the same source.) "Regale" also has a history as a noun meaning "a sumptuous feast". That use dates back to at least 1670, when someone penned the following notice for posterity: "My Lord Duke will not be able to get away yet .., all the regales that are intended for him not being yet at an end." (The lord referred to is the Duke of Buccleuch, whose regales ended once and for all 15 years later when he was beheaded.)


regardless

• regard
• irregardless

[rih-GARD-luss]
despite everything
Example:
The weather forecast called for wind and rain, but Susan decided to continue with her plans regardless.
History, related words:
"Regardless" is rather simply derived from the noun "regard" ("attention, concern") plus "-less" - nothing too shocking about that. But poor "regardless" became embroiled in a usage scandal through no fault of its own when people began using "irregardless" as its synonym (probably blending "irrespective" and "regardless"). "Irregardless" originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century, and usage commentators have been decrying it since the 1920s, often declaring "there is no such word." "Irregardless" does exist, of course, but it tends to be used primarily in speech and it is still considered nonstandard. "Regardless" is greatly preferred.


regifting

• regift
• regifted
• regifter

The activity of giving something as a gift that you yourself originally received as a gift.
Example:
They say there's really only one fruitcake in the world and it just gets passed from person to person. Call it recycling or regifting, but passing on gifts we don't want or need is becoming a more acceptable part of our culture, experts say ... Many Americans are devoted regifters. Nearly a third of shoppers have regifted at least one or more times, according to the 2003 American Express Retail Index on holiday shopping. On average, those who regift have done so at least three times. About 60 percent of women regift and 40 percent of men. ("The Beacon Journal", 21st December 2003)
History, more meanings, related words, examples:
Christmas is almost upon us, the culmination of several weeks of frenzied shopping activity, with many of us trying very hard to make the dreams of important people in our lives come true. If, however, Christmas shopping is your worst nightmare, have you ever been tempted to search your bottom drawer for an effortless solution which is free of expenditure? On the other hand, have you ever opened a present and thought that its contents looked strangely familiar? If the answer to either of these questions is yes', then you're likely to have been a participant or victim in the increasingly popular activity of regifting. Though the phenomenon of regifting is probably something that has existed since gift-giving began, the lexical gap for a description of this activity was only filled in the mid-nineties. Into the noughties, the phenomenon of regifting is becoming more and more established with the popularity of Internet sites such as eBay, which reinforce the idea of recycling unwanted goods.
The verb "regift" has likewise now entered at least one online dictionary with the definition to resell or auction an unwanted gift on the Internet'. This verb often occurs intransitively as illustrated in the citation above, but it can also be used transitively - "I regifted that pasta maker" - and frequently ditransitively or with a prepositional object - "I regifted her that pasta maker or I regifted that pasta maker to my mother-in-law". Other derivatives include an adjective "regifted" - "a regifted pasta maker" - a noun "regift", referring to the regiven gift itself, and an agent nominalization "regifter" for people who participate in the activity, a rather derogatory way of describing someone during the festive season! The word "regifting" is a synthesis of the gerund deriving from the verb "gift" (to give something as a gift'), and the prefix "re-" meaning again'. The first use of the term and its derivatives is attributed to the American comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In a 1995 TV show "Superbowl", tickets and a label maker were regifted, and the episode took a light-hearted look at the mistakes people make while trying to conceal the fact that something is a regift.
When it first appeared, the phenomenon of regifting took on rather negative overtones due to its association with deception, i.e. the idea that by regifting you were not only deceiving the recipient, but also the person who originally gave you the gift by not being honest about the fact that you didn't want it. However, the increasing popularity of the world and its more recent link to Internet-based auctions has made the phenomenon of regifting more acceptable, and brought with it more light-hearted, humorous overtones.

rejoinder
[rih-JOIN-dur]
An answer to a reply; or, in general, an answer or reply.
Examples:
1) I kept looking for exceptions to his pronouncements, flaws in his reasoning, my constant rejoinders to his critical remarks being "Yes, but..." (Richard Elman, "Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs")
2) The comment immediately drew a sharp rejoinder from a friend. (Howard W. French, "Tokyo Displays Mixed Feelings at Premiere of 'Pearl Harbor,' " New York Times, June 21, 2001)
3) Chance on an unbelieving clod, and the ultimate rejoinder is ready at hand: "Listen, dummy, it actually happened!" (Benjamin Cheever, "Like Watching Tennis," New York Times, August 17, 1997)
Etymology:
"Rejoinder" derives from Old French "rejoindre" ("to answer, rejoin"), from "re-" + "joindre" ("to join"), from Latin "iungere" ("to join").


remonstrate
[rih-MAHN-strayt; REH-mun-strayt]
1. To present and urge reasons in opposition to an act, measure, or any course of proceedings - usually used with 'with'.
2. To say or plead in protest, opposition, or reproof.
Examples:
1) If a hailstorm starts, surely instead of remonstrating with it, you try to take shelter. (Victor Pelevin, "A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories")
2) When things went beyond the control of her forceful personality, inventiveness or charm, if the problem was something she could not alter or manipulate, she didn't pine or remonstrate, she merely buried what was threatening or damaging to her sense of worth. (Colin Thubron, "Sophisticated Traveler", New York Times, October 10, 1999)
3) Tories and Liberal Democrats remonstrated with each other. (Matthew Parris, "Cockney market forces drive Ginger bananas", Times (London), May 16, 2001)
Etymology:
"Remonstrate" comes from Medieval Latin "remonstrare" ("to show again, to point back to, as a fault"), from "re-" + "monstrare" ("to show").


remunerate
[rih-MYOO-nuh-rate]
1. To pay an equivalent to for any service, loss, or expense; to recompense.
2. To compensate for; to make payment for.
Examples:
1) Not to suggest that our bosses remunerate us for our high moral standards, but creative bureaucrats at Mesa City Hall have invented a new fund from tax revenue that sets up a $20,000 account for each virtuous City Council member. (Art Thomason, "Mesa Puts Quite a Price on Discretion," Arizona Republic, May 18, 2000)
2) The plaintiff could therefore only recover payment for her services if there was evidence of an implied or express contract by the business of which he was a partner (or by the plaintiff personally) to remunerate her for the work which she had done. (Kate O'Hanlon, "No damages for wife's gratuitous work," Independent, May 27, 1999)
3) [The firm] wanted to meet long-term investment requirements out of retained profits and also to be able to properly remunerate all the staff and give them a share of the profits. (Roger Trapp, "Legal firms 'go offshore' to avoid litigation," Independent, May 2, 1996)
Etymology:
"Remunerate" comes from Latin "remunerari" - "to reward," from "re-" ("back, again") + "munerari" ("to give, to present"), from "munus" - "a gift."


remuneration

• recompense
• pay
• Renumeration
• munificent

1. something that remunerates
Synonyms: recompense, pay
Example: "I've put in a lot of hard work and long hours on this project and I expect proper remuneration for my efforts," Brad said fiercely.
2. an act or fact of remunerating
Etymology:
The evidence shows "remuneration" to be most at home in writing that concerns serious financial matters, especially when large amounts of money - or other forms of compensation - are involved. Whether it's because money denotes numerals, or simply because the "n" and "m" are adjacent to each other on our keyboards, "reMUNeration" appears misspelled as "reNUMeration" to a rather inordinate degree in an electronic database of published periodicals. ("Renumeration," a very rare word, means "to enumerate [to count or list] again".) It pays to know that the "-mun-" in "remuneration" is from Latin "munus", meaning "gift", a root it shares with "munificent", an adjective which means "very liberal in giving".


renascent
[rih-NAS-uhnt]
Springing or rising again into being; showing renewed vigor.
Examples:
1) Their goal: to give voters in the June presidential elections a realistic choice between the rough-and-tumble reforms of President Boris Yeltsin and the Soviet-era nostalgia of Gennadi Zyuganov, leader of the renascent Russian Communist Party. (James O. Jackson, "Can Opposites Attract?" Time, May 13, 1996)
2) Where are the new ideas upon which a renascent Toryism can build? (David Aaronovitch, "There's no setting for Hague's Tories at the nation's kitchen table," Independent, March 11, 1999)
3) Rabbinical students saw themselves at the center of a renascent American Judaism, pioneers of a nationwide - no, worldwide - Jewish faith rooted in the best of the past and vigorous with contemporary innovations. (Chaim Potok, "Legitimate Voyeurism," Forward, November 4, 1994)
4) Heading the pack of institutional investors were dedicated "emerging-market funds", set up specifically to reap high returns in renascent stock and bond markets. ("The miracle unmasked," The Economist, December 9, 1995)
Etymology:
"Renascent" comes from Latin "renascens", present participle of "renasci" ("to be born again"), from "re-" ("again") + "nasci" ("to be born").


rendition

• renditioning
• renditioned
• rendered
• render
• torture-by-proxy
• torture
• proxy

Also: renditioning
The practice of capturing a criminal suspect and handing them over to the authorities of a different country for interrogation or imprisonment.
Examples:
1) Human rights groups consider the practice of rendition a run-around to avoid the judicial processes that the United States has long championed. (CBS News, 27th December 2005) 2) Take the practice, known in the spy trade as renditioning, of nabbing jihadists and, without arresting them, bundling them off to foreign jurisdictions. There, it's hoped, interrogators who don't follow Queensbury rules might uncover enemy plans(Investors Business Daily, 30th December 2005) 3) Renditions are broadened not only to bring serious, wanted suspects to justice, but also to capture suspected terrorists before they act. (San Francisco Chronicle, 27th December 2005) 4) US officials acknowledge that they have "renditioned" suspects to third countries for interrogation. (Hartford Courant, 11th December 2005) History, related words, synonyms:
The word "rendition" has existed in the English language since the early 17th century. Although dictionaries currently only feature the established sense relating to a musical or theatrical performance, this new sense of "rendition" in fact relates more directly to the word's origins, since it derives from the French word "rendre", meaning to give back'. In 2005, a new sense of the word "rendition" was born. In the same year that the media talked about Sir Paul McCartney's rendition of a famous "Beatles" song at the London Live8 <http://www.live8live.com> concert, the same word was being used in a serious context which in no way related to the conventional definition of a particular performance or interpretation of a piece of music or drama'. In December 2005, the sense of "rendition" that dominated the media was nothing to do with entertainment, but rather the process of capture and extradition of suspected terrorists. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in November 2001 President Bush issued a military order which, contrary to national and international law, included the right to indefinitely detain any non-US citizen anywhere in the world. This controversial practice, described as "rendition", involves grabbing terrorist suspects in one country and flying them to their home or another country where they are wanted for questioning. "Rendition" in this sense occurs as both an uncountable and countable noun, with the uncountable noun referring to the process and the countable form to an instance of it. "Renditioning" is an alternative process noun. "Rendition" is also used as a transitive verb, mainly in the passive form as in "be/get renditioned (to somewhere)", and the form "renditioned" therefore frequently occurs as a participle adjective. Terrorist suspects who have been renditioned are sometimes described with the attributive adjective "rendered", as in "rendered suspects were detained at&", and "render" is sometimes also used as an alternative verb form. Some 100 to 150 people have been renditioned since 9/11, the CIA claiming that the procedure is restricted to those considered to be the most serious terror suspects. Rendition continues to be a highly controversial practice however, mainly because it allegedly involves the extradition of suspects to countries where torture forms a legal part of interrogation procedures. Opponents often describe the term "rendition" as a euphemism for "torture-by-proxy".


renege
[rih-NIG; -NEG]
To go back on a promise or commitment.
Examples:
1) Today, politicians everywhere routinely renege on pledges in the belief that any problem can be solved by short-term fixes, spin-doctoring or character assassination. (Larry Elliott, "Universal man must take responsibility for slaying Beveridge's five giants", The Guardian, January 10, 2000)
2) But now the Senate is proposing to renege on the deal, and the governors are furious. (By Judith Havemann, Washington Post, March 13, 1999)
3) And George W. Bush knows from seeing his father renege on his "no new taxes" pledge how a single judgment can end up crippling a presidency. (James Carney and Karen Tumulty, "How They Run the Show", Time, October 29, 2000)
Etymology:
"Renege" is from Medieval Latin "renegare" ("to deny again, to go back upon"), from Latin "re-" ("back, again") + "negare" ("to say no, to deny").


repast

• pasture

[rih-PAST]
Something taken as food; a meal.
Examples:
1) This repast could scarcely have been digested before a "tea" of fresh bread, butter, cheese, cold meat, and cake was served at half past six. (Joan Druett, "Hen Frigates")
2) On June 1, 1563, in Basel, Thomas sat down to a meal, probably the evening repast. (Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, "The Beggar and the Professor", translated by Arthur Goldhammer)
3) When staying with friends in American in 1949, the philosopher demanded bread and cheese at all meals. Every time the dull repast was laid before him, he would exclaim, as if for the first time, "Hot diggetty!", a phrase he had picked up from the movies. (Bee Wilson, "Stomach tracts," New Statesman, January 8, 1999)
Etymology, related words:
"Repast" comes from Old French "repaistre" ("to feed"), from Latin "re-" + "pascere" ("to feed"). It is related to "pasture" ("the grass grown for the feeding of grazing animals, or the land used for grazing").


repletion
1. The condition of being completely filled or supplied.
2. Excessive fullness, as from overeating.
Examples:
1) We have to earn silence, then, to work for it: to make it not an absence but a presence; not emptiness but repletion. (Pico Iyer, "The Eloquent Sounds of Silence", Time, January 1993)
2) With distended belly and bursting waistcoat, his eyes glazed with repletion, he picks listlessly at his teeth with a fork. (Kenneth Rose, "Madness of King George's son", Daily Telegraph, November 14, 1998)
3) He lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion. (Jeff Guinn, "The Ghoul, the Bad, the Ugly", Arizona Republic, June 7, 1999)
Etymology:
"Repletion" is derived from Latin "replere" ("to fill again, to fill up"), from "re-" ("again, once more") + "plere" ("to fill"). "Plenty" is a related word.


repo man

• repo
• man

One who seizes property and returns it to its owners; usually, the term refers to someone who takes cars back to the car dealer, when the driver of the car has failed to pay for it in full.
Example: Maya was having trouble paying her bills, so it was no surprise to hear the repo man knocking on her door.
Etymology: 'Repo' is short for 'repossess', meaning 'to take back property'. A film called "Repo Man", about a man who repossesses cars in southern California, was popular in the 1980's.


reprobate
[REP-ruh-bayt]
1. A person foreordained to damnation.
2. A depraved person.
Synonym: scoundrel.
Example:
He was just an old reprobate who lived poor and died broke... (Richard Peck, "A Long Way from Chicago")
Etymology, more examples:
The earliest form of the word in Eng. was a verb, meaning "to disapprove" (1432). In 1545, an adjective appeared, "rejected as worthless," from L.L. "reprobatus", pp. of "reprobare" ("disapprove, reject, condemn"), from L. "re-" ("opposite of, reversal of previous condition") + "probare" ("prove to be worthy").
These days, calling Uncle Fred a "reprobate" is hardly a condemnation to hellfire and brimstone, but the original reprobates of the 16th century were hardened sinners who had fallen from God's grace. The noun is recorded from 1545 ("one rejected by God"). Sense of "abandoned or unprincipled person" is from 1592. By the 19th century, "reprobate" had acquired the milder, but still utterly condemnatory, sense of "a depraved person." Gradually, though, the criticism implied by "reprobate" became touched with tolerance and even a bit of humor. It is now most likely to be used as it was in this August 1995 "New Yorker" magazine article about the death of musician Jerry Garcia: "It was suddenly obvious that Garcia had become, against all odds, an American icon: by Thursday morning, the avuncular old reprobate had smuggled his way onto the front pages of newspapers around the world."


repudiate
[rih-PYOO-dee-ayt]
1. to refuse to have anything to do with
Synonym: disown
2. to reject as untrue or unjust
Example:
The clerk repudiated the charges that he had stolen money from the cash register.
History:
In Latin, the noun "repudium" refers to the rejection of a spouse or prospective spouse, and the related verb "repudiare" means "to divorce" or "to reject." In the 16th century, English writers used the derivative "repudiate" to mean "to divorce," when in reference to a wife, or "to disown," when in reference to a member of one's family, or just generally "to reject or cast off." By the 19th century the word had acquired a separate sense meaning "to reject as untrue," which was often used in reference to opinions, claims and accusations. Nowadays this second sense is the more common of the two.


repugn

• oppose
• repugnant
• pugnacious
• impugn
• pungent

[rih-PYOON]
To contend against.
Synonym: to oppose.
Example:
First and chief.... let the others repugn as they will: all Titles of Nobility, from Duke to Esquire, or lower, are henceforth abolished. (Thomas Carlyle, "The French Revolution: A History")
History, related words:
"Repugn" is a word that was relatively common in English in the 16th and 17th centuries. These days, however, English speakers are more likely to be familiar with one of its close relatives, namely, the adjective "repugnant," which formerly meant "hostile" but today most commonly means "exciting distaste or aversion." The Latin root for both of these words is "pugnare," meaning "to fight." Other English derivatives from this root are "pugnacious," meaning "belligerent," and "impugn," meaning "to assail with words or arguments." Even "pungent" ("spicy, piquant, sharp - of flavor, odor, etc.; biting, caustic, sarcastic; clever, witty") is a relative of "pugnare." Therefore, don't try to repugn, or impugn for that matter, the influence of "pugnare" on English - lest you appear pugnacious!


requisite
[REK-wuh-zit]
Essential, necessary.
Example:
The menu had all the requisite summer cookout offerings: hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and watermelon.
History, related words:
Acquiring an understanding of where today's word comes from won't require a formal inquiry. Without question, the quest begins with Latin "quaerere," which means "to ask" and is an ancestor of a number of English words, including "acquire," "require," "inquiry," "question," "quest," and, of course, "requisite." From "quaerere" came "requirere," meaning "to ask again." Repeated requests can express a need, and the past participle of "requirere," which is "requisitus," came to mean "needed" or "necessary." The English language acquired "requisite" when it was adopted into Middle English back in the 1400s.


resile

• resilient

[rih-ZYLE]
To recoil, retract; especially: to return to a prior position.
Example:
The politician said he was sorry that his comments had caused offense, but he stopped short of resiling from his position.
Etymology, related words:
"Resile" is a resilient word; it's been around in English since at least 1529. It's also a cousin of "resilient" - both words derive from the Latin verb "resilire," which means to "jump back" or "recoil." ("Resilire" in turn comes from "salire," meaning "to jump.") "Resilient" focuses on the ability of something to "bounce back" from damage, whereas "resile" generally applies to someone or something that withdraws from an agreement or "jumps back" from a stated position. "Resile" is a word that shows up only occasionally in U.S. sources; it is more common in British and especially Australian English.


retrodict
to utilize present information or ideas to infer or explain (a past event or state of affairs)
Example:
Geologists have retrodicted the positions of the continents millions of years ago.
Etymology:
English speakers had started using "predict" by at least the early 17th century; it's a word formed by combining "prae-" (meaning "before") and "dicere" (meaning "to say"). Since the rough translation of "predict" is "to say before", it's no surprise that when people in the 1950s wanted a word for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the word for "backward" ("retro-") with the "-dict" of "predict" and got "retrodict". Other "dicere" descendants in English include "contradict", "benediction", "dictate", "diction", "inter dict", "malediction", and, of course, "dictionary".


revanche
revenge; especially, a usually political policy designed to recover lost territory or status
Example:
Soon after losing the northern territory to the invading army, the general began drafting a plan of revanche to get it back.
Etymology:
"Revanche" first appeared in English in the mid-19th century, deriving, along with our noun "revenge", from the Middle French verb "revenchier" ("to revenge"). The word developed its specific political application in the years following the Franco-German War (1870-71), which resulted in France losing the territory known as Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. (The territory was returned to France following World War I and then twice switched hands again during World War II.) Although "revanche" appears occasionally in English today, you are more likely to encounter its relatives "revanchism", which refers to a government's policy of revanche, and "revanchist", referring to a follower of such a policy. These words did not appear in English until the 20th century.


revenant
[REV-uh-nahng (the final "ng" is not pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)]
One that returns after death or a long absence.
Example:
The play is about a family of revenants who come back to their ancestral home after years of political exile.
History, more meanings:
Frightening or friendly, the classic revenant was a ghost - a specter returned from the dead. Even in figurative uses, death played its hand. When Sir Walter Scott, in his 1828 novel "The Fair Maid of Perth", used "revenant" in one of the earliest uses of the word in English, he was referring to a criminal who had survived the gallows, who "was cut down and given to his friends before life was extinct, and ... recovered." Eventually, though, we appended a more earthly meaning: a revenant can be a flesh-and-blood returnee when we use it simply to mean a person who shows up after a long absence. We borrowed "revenant" from the French, who created it from their verb "revenir," which means simply "to return," as does its Latin ancestor, "revenire."


reverberate
[rih-VER-buh-rayt]
1. Reflect; repel; echo.
2. To become driven back or reflected.
3. To continue in or as if in a series of echoes.
Synonym: resound.
Example:
The pastor's sermon on the importance of loving one's neighbor reverberated with special meaning during the holidays.
Etymology:
The letter sequence "v-e-r-b" in "reverberate" might make you think at first of such word-related brethren as "proverb," "verbal," and "verbose," all of which derive from the Latin noun "verbum," meaning "word." In fact, "reverberate" comes from a much different source: the Latin verb "verberare," meaning "to whip, beat, or lash," which is related to the noun "verber," meaning "rod." "Reverberate" entered the English language in the 15th century, and one of its early meanings was "to beat, drive, or cast back." By the early 1600s it began to appear in contexts associated with sound that repeats or returns the way an echo does.


ribald
[RIB-uhld; RY-bawld]
1. Characterized by or given to vulgar humor; coarse.
2. A ribald person; a lewd fellow.
Examoles:
1) Mr. Plummer's Barrymore delights you with his own delight in his silly, ribald jokes (most of which are unprintable here). (Ben Brantley, "A Dazzler of a Drunk, Full of Gab and Grief," New York Times, March 26, 1997)
2) The blues took form in the late nineteenth century as a musical synthesis that combined "worksongs, group seculars, field hollers, sacred harmonies, proverbial wisdom, folk philosophy, political commentary, ribald humor and elegiac lament." (Constance Valis Hill, "Brotherhood in Rhythm")
3) Their contrasting habits and preoccupations are telling and endearing: Piccard, the fussy one, sleeps in pajamas, Jones in the nude. Piccard scribbles homages in his journal to Antoine de Saint-Exup?ry, while Jones tosses off ribald limericks. (Louise Jarvis, "Are We There Yet?", New York Times, November 14, 1999)
Etymology:
"Ribald" derives from Old French "ribaud", from "riber" - "to be wanton," from Old High German "riban" - "to be amorous" (originally, "to rub").


rictus

• risible

[RIK-tuhs]
1. The gape of a bird's mouth.
2. The mouth orifice.
3. A gaping grin or grimace.
Examples:
1) A rictus of cruel malignity lit up greyly their old bony faces. (James Joyce, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man")
2) His belly swelled grotesquely, his hands curled, his cheeks puffed out, his mouth contorted in a rictus of pain and astonishment. (Tony Horwitz, "Confederates in the Attic")
3) Then, as the sympathy and praise engulfed him, Hector would invariably roll over onto his back, legs in the air, his mouth twisted into an otherworldly rictus. (Bruce McCall, "Writers Who Were Really Dogs," New York Times, June 5, 1994)
4) Randy's face contorted into a rictus that made his promise to keep Phoebe's secret seem insincere.
History, more examples, related words:
"Rictus" is from Latin "rictus" ("the open mouth"), from "ringi" ("to show the teeth", "to open the mouth").
When "rictus" was first used in English in the early 19th century, it referred to the hole formed by the mouth of a bird. Later, it was applied to the mouths of other animals, including humans. In English, "rictus" eventually acquired a sense referring to the expression of someone grinning widely, as in Lawrence Durrell's 1957 novel "Justine": "This ghastly rictus gouged out in his taut cheeks." Although "rictus" might be used to describe the mouth of a laughing or smiling person, it is not related to "risible," a word associated with laughter ("laughable, causing laughter, funny; pertaining to laughter; having a tendency to laugh"). Rather, "risible" descends from Latin "ridere," which means "to laugh."


ride shotgun

• ride
• shotgun

To sit in the front passenger seat of a vehicle.
Example:
Whenever we take a trip in Billy's pickup, Sally always rides shotgun.

rife
[RYFE]
1. Prevalent, especially to an increasing degree.
2. Abundant, common.
3. Copiously supplied; abounding (usually used with "with").
Example:
The article was rife with grammatical and factual errors.
History, more meanings and examples:
English is rife with words that have Germanic connections, many of which have been handed down to us from Old English. "Rife" is one of those words - it's related to Middle Low German "rive," meaning "abundant." Not a whole lot has changed with "rife" in its 900-year history. We continue to use the word, as we have since the 12th century, for negative things, especially those that are widespread or prevalent. Typical examples are "shoplifting was rife" or "the city was rife with greed and corruption". "Rumors" and "speculation" are also frequently described as "rife," as well. But "rife" can also be appropriately used, as it has been for hundreds of years, for good or neutral things. For example, you might speak of "the summer garden, rife with scents".


rigmarole

• rigamarole

[RIG-uh-muh-rol]
1. Confused or meaningless talk.
2. A complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure.
Example:
Instead of going through the rigmarole of filling out deposit and withdrawal slips, waiting in line, and explaining her transactions to the bank teller, Lauren usually finds it simpler to use the ATM.
History, spelling variant:
In the Middle Ages, the term "Rageman" or "Ragman" referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse. The roll was called a Ragman roll after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses. By the 16th century, "ragman" and "ragman roll" were being used figuratively to mean "a list or catalog." Both terms fell out of written use, but "ragman roll" persisted in speech, and in the 18th century it resurfaced in writing as "rigmarole," with the meaning "a succession of confused, meaningless, or foolish statements." Only in the last century did "rigmarole" (also spelled "rigamarole," reflecting its common pronunciation) acquire its most recent sense, "a complex and ritualistic procedure."


rinky-dink

• rinky
• dink

Of poor quality, not serious.
Example: Most things with a "Made in China" label on them are rinky-dink.

riparian

• riparian rights
• riparian right

relating to or living on the bank of a natural watercourse or sometimes of a lake or tidewater
Example:
Residents of the riparian community learned to brace themselves for a flood whenever the river was close to cresting its banks.
Etymology:
"Riparian" came to English from the same source that gave us "river" - the Latin "riparius", a noun deriving from "ripa", meaning "bank" or "shore". First appearing in English in the 19th century, "riparian" can apply to things that occur alongside a river (such as riparian towns, trees, etc.) as well as things that are found within it (riparian rocks, fish, etc.). Some river communities have laws called "riparian rights", referring to the rights of those owning land along a river to have access to the waterway. Note the distinction of this word from "littoral", which usually refers to things that occur along the shore of a sea or ocean.


riposte
[rih-POST, rih-POAST]
1. A quick thrust given after parrying an opponent's lunge in fencing.
2. A quick and effective reply by word or act; a retaliatory maneuver or measure; a retaliatory verbal sally; retort.
3. To make a riposte.
Examples:
1. She had an agile, teasing sense of humor that included a sure grasp of the absurd and an instinct for punchy ripostes. (Sally Bedell Smith, "Diana in Search of Herself")
2. It was an inelegant riposte, especially for one so quick-witted as Neumann. (Peter Gay, "My German Question")
3. When she told him how much she hated being called an old trout, he'd riposte: "The trout is the most beautiful of fish." (Angela Carter, "Shaking a Leg")
Etymology:
In the sport of fencing, a riposte is a counterattack made after successfully fending off one's opponent. English speakers borrowed the name for this particular maneuver from French in the early 1700s, but the French had simply modified Italian "riposta," which literally means "answer." Ultimately these words come from the Latin verb "respondere," meaning "to promise in return, to answer, to respond", from "re-" + "spondere" ("to promise"). It seems fitting that "riposte" has since come full circle to now refer to a quick and witty response performed as a form of retaliation in the thrust and parry of a verbal contest.


risorgimento
[ree-zor-juh-MEN-toh]
1. (Often capitalized) The 19th century movement for Italian political unity.
2. A time of renewal or renaissance; revival.
Example:
Retailers hope the new biography and CD box set will spark a risorgimento of interest in the long-forgotten songwriter.
History:
During the period of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars (1796-1815), the French dominated Italy and introduced many new reforms to the Italian states. After the wars, the states were restored to their former rulers, the Austrians, and took on a conservative character. In response, a number of secret societies arose as part of an ideological and literary movement in support of a united Italy free of foreign domination. This movement was given the name "Risorgimento," which literally translates from Italian as "rising again." Although most modern use of the term still refers to this movement, the word also has another broader meaning in English; it acquired its second sense ("revival") in the mid-20th century.


rivulet

• streamlet

[RIV-yuh-lut]
A small stream or brook.
Synonym: streamlet.
Examples:
1) But Stephen speaks of water in the desert, and triumphal swelling progress: raindrop, runnel, rivulet, river, sea. (Blake Morrison, "As If")
2) There was a rivulet of scummy water heading for his highly polished black shoe. (Joanne Harris, "Chocolat")
3) After two minutes in the steam chamber, sweat began to flow in rivulets from every pore in my body, dripping steadily from my fingertips. (Fen Montaigne, "Reeling in Russia")
Etymology:
"Rivulet" is from Italian "rivoletto", diminutive of "rivolo", from Latin "rivulus", diminutive of "rivus" - "a brook, a stream."


roborant
[ROB-uh-ruhnt]
1. Strengthening; restoring vigor.
2. A strengthening medicine; a tonic; a restorative.
Examples:
1) A major field study of the effect of pollen extracts on the common cold and its roborant... effects in 775 Swedish military recruits did not give unequivocal results in relation to the prophylactic effect of the preparation used against the common cold. (James P. Carter, "Racketeering in Medicine")
2) That day, I felt the need of a roborant after my ghost-ridden night, and I swigged down two doses. (William Least Heat Moon, "River Horse")
Etymology:
"Roborant" derives from the present participle of Latin "roborare" - "to strengthen," from "robur, roboris" - "strength."


roll out the red carpet

• roll out
• red carpet
• roll
• red
• carpet

To treat a visitor very well; to give someone a grand, elaborate welcome.
Example:
The city rolled out the red carpet for the visiting royalty.
Etymology:
In England, the Queen walks on a 'red carpet' (or rug) whenever she attends a formal event. The carpet is temporary, and is literally rolled out onto the ground just for the occasion.


roly-poly

• roly
• poly

1. An adjective to describe a round and fuzzy thing, like a puppy or a kitten.
2. Can also be used to describe someone who is chubby in a not-unpleasant way (in this case, the person doesn't need to be fuzzy!), like a human teddy bear.

romzomcom

• RomZomCom

Abbreviation for "romantic zombie comedy".
Example:
Styling itself a "Romzomcom" (a romantic zombie comedy, if you please), it's closer to the spirit of Romero's original 1968 zombie masterpiece, Night Of The Living Dead, and it culminates in a gore-strewn siege, with a local pub in place of the original's isolated farmhouse.
History:
This is a word that will pass so fast that the linguistic radar will have only a few moments to observe it. It's being used to describe and promote the new British film "Shaun of the Dead", which is tagged with the by-line "A romantic comedy, with zombies". It's an everyday tale of life, love and the living dead, in which the main character wakes up one morning with a hangover, only to discover that the dead have risen in the night and taken over the world.


roo

• roos

1. (Austr. slang) kangaroo. (Plural - roos.)
Example:
Roo Island is a small island off the coast of Neopia Central. It is inhabited mostly by, yes, you guessed it!..
Etymology:
Early 20th century. Shortening.
2. To pluck the wool from the fleece of a sheep.
Example:
They survived and prospered in isolation on the Shetland Islands. Their fleece was rooed and spun into fine yarn.
History:
The word is closely associated with the crofting communities of Orkney and Shetland, though the technique is now rarely practised because it takes so long. It's a Scandinavian term, brought to the islands by Norse settlers more than a thousand years ago, and it has modern equivalents in such languages as Norwegian and Icelandic. In such harsh northern climates, to shear sheep would be to put them at risk of dying from the cold and wet, even in summer. However, the local breeds naturally shed their old wool in the Spring as the new fleece grows out. With a lot of painstaking work that required nimble fingers, local women would pluck or "roo" the old wool close to the sheep's skin as it grew out on various parts of the body. The new fleece was left in place, providing protection for the skin against the elements. One of the advantages of this method was that the fibres, being uncut, had no sharp ends and so the spun wool was softer than that obtained by shearing.
3. (Abbr., econ.) Rules Of Origin. Rules included in a FTA specifying when a good will be regarded as produced within the FTA, so as to cross between members without tariff.
Example:
Typical ROOs are based on percentage of value added or on changes in tariff heading.
4. (Abbr.) Rules Of Order.
Example:
Robert's Rules Association is an unincorporated membership association representing Robert's Rules of Order (ROO).
5. (Abbr.) Return On Opportunity.
Example:
This Hurwitz Group white paper discusses the driving forces behind Business Service Management  and how companies can realize Return on Opportunity (ROO) from Business Service Management solutions.
6. (Abbr.) Reserve Officer Orientation.
Example:
The ROO (Reserve Officer orientation) meeting is held on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm at the following location: ...
7. (Abbr.) Research On Optics.
Example:
A special feature of the group is the parallel research on optics (ROO) for this wavelength range.
8. The Airport Code of Rondonopolis, Mt, Brazil.





rookie

• rooky
• newbie
• greenhorn
• newby

A beginner; one who is new to a profession or field.
Examples:
1) The older players taught the rookie how to play the game. 2) It's not easy being a rookie police officer.
Etymology: This word is derived from 'recruit', a new member of an army.
Synonyms: newbie, greenhorn

roseate
1. resembling a rose especially in color
2. overly optimistic; viewed favorably
Example:
Alicia was making some fairly roseate predictions about the outcome of the contest, but Ben was trying not to get his hopes up.
Etymology, more examples:
"Everything's coming up roses." "He views the world through rose-tinted glasses." "She has a rosy outlook on life." In English, and not only, they tend to associate roses and rose color with optimism, and "roseate" is no exception. "Roseate" comes from the Latin adjective "roseus", and ultimately from the noun "rosa", meaning "rose". Figurative use of "roseate" began in the 19th century, and the literal sense of the term has been in the language since the 16th century. Literal uses of "roseate" are often found in descriptions of sunrises and sunsets. "Through yon peaks of cloud-like snow / The roseate sunlight quivers," wrote Shelley in "Prometheus Unbound". And in an early short story "Mrs. Manstey's View", Edith Wharton wrote, "The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered late in the west".


roue
[roo-AY]
A man devoted to a life of sensual pleasure; a debauchee; a rake.
Examples:
1) I spent some time with Desmond, an old roue who was recovering from a lifetime of excesses in a village near Fontainebleau. (Roger Scruton, "Purely medicinal", New Statesman, October 15, 2001)
2) She caught the eye of New York aristocrat Gouverneur Morris, ex-U.S. Minister to France, a one-legged cosmopolitan roue. (Rumor had it that a jealous husband had shot Morris's leg off.) (Bill Kauffman, "Unwise Passions", American Enterprise, January 2001)
3) Yet he acted the roue to the end, carrying on an intimate liaison with a girl who worked at the asylum - he was 74, she was 17. (Rex Roberts, "Write Stuff", Insight on the News, December 11, 2000)
Etymology:
"Roue" comes from French, from the past participle of "rouer" - "to break upon the wheel" (from the feeling that a roue deserves such a punishment), ultimately from Latin "rota" - "wheel".


rub one's fur the wrong way

• rub
• fur
• the wrong way
• wrong way
• wrong
• way

To irritate or upset someone.
Etymology: Reference to the annoyance a cat displays if his fur is stroked backwards.

rubicund

• blushing
• sanguine
• flush
• roseate

[ROO-bih-kund]
Inclining to redness; ruddy; red.
Synonyms: blushing, sanguine, flush, roseate.
Examples:
1) The men are second cousins, around forty, resembling each other not very much, one taller and leaner, less rubicund than the other, who has just returned from California. (John Lukacs, "A Thread of Years")
2) Rubicund from his cocktail, big, broad, lustrous with power, he exuded what Walter Pater called the "charm of an exquisite character, felt in some way to be inseparable from his person." (Edmund Morris, "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan")
Etymology:
"Rubicund" comes from Latin "rubicundus" ("red, ruddy"), from "rubere" ("to be red").


rubric

• red-letter day
• red-letter
• red
• letter
• day

[ROO-brik]
1. Heading, title;
2. Class, category.
3. A rule, especially for the conduct of a liturgical service.
Example:
The new magazine includes a section of odd news items that fall under the rubric "Odds & Ends."
History:
Centuries ago, whenever manuscript writers inserted special instructions or explanations into a book, they put them in red ink to set them off from the black used in the main text. (They used the same practice to highlight saints' names and holy days in calendars, a practice which gave us the term "red-letter day.") Ultimately, such special headings or comments came to be called "rubrics," a term that traces back to "ruber," the Latin word for "red." While the printing sense remains in use today, "rubric" also has an extended sense referring to any class or category under which something is organized.


ruddy

• red
• bloody

[RUDD-ee]
1. Having a healthy reddish color.
2. Red, reddish.
3. (British) Used as an intensive.
Example:
I noticed a man who looked like a gentleman farmer...; he had a broad back and round shoulders, a kind, ruddy face, and he wore a broad-brimmed hat. (Anna Sewell, "Black Beauty")
History, related words, more examples:
In Old English, there were two words meaning "red": "read" and "rudu." "Read" evolved into our present-day "red." "Rudu" evolved into "rud" (a word now encountered only in dialect or archaic usage) and "ruddy." Most often, "ruddy" is applied to the face when it has the red glow of good health or is red from a suffusion of blood from exercise or excitement. It is also used in the names of some birds, such as the American ruddy duck. In British English, "ruddy" is sometimes used as a colorful euphemism for the intensive "bloody," as English writer Sir Kingsley Amis illustrates in "The Riverside Villas Murder": "Ruddy marvelous, the way these coppers' minds work.... I take a swing at Chris Inman in public means I probably done him in."


rule of thumb

• rule
• thumb

In contrast to an official rule or an exact measurement, a rule of thumb is a general
principle or a rough estimate that has been shown by experience to work.
Example:
"I'm going to get some potato chips. Want some?" Dorothy asked her brother.
"Nope, my rule of thumb while I'm training for the race is "Don't eat anything you enjoy too much," said Andrew.

rule the roost

• rule
• roost

People use this phrase to describe a person who bosses other people around.
Example:
Katie and June were watching television in their living room. When Janice came in from playing, she ran in front of her sisters and changed the channel.
"Hey!" Katie said. "We were here first." "Too bad," Janice said. "I'm the oldest." "You may be the oldest," June said, "but that doesn't mean you rule the roost!"
Etymology: It comes from the way a rooster acts in a chicken house, or "roost".

run with the pack

• go with the flow
• run
• pack
• go
• flow

To fit in with a group; to go along with everyone else.
Examples:
1) Greedie Co. isn't a bad company, but they're just running with the pack in terms of new products. 2) Julie is an easy-going person; she just runs with the pack, so she makes friends easily.
Etymology: Animals of similar species will often congregate and coexist together as an individual unit made up of many members.
Synonym: go with the flow


run-of-the-mill

• run of
• mill
• run

People use this phrase when they are describing something that is very ordinary.
Example:
"How was your day, Carmen?" Mrs. Morello asked. "Oh, nothing unusual, just run-of-the-mill," replied Carmen. "But I'm really looking forward to our field trip to the museum tomorrow."

rural rebound

• rural renaissance
• rural revival
• booming boondocks
• booming boondock
• revival
• renaissance
• rural
• rebound
• booming
• boondocks
• boondock

The recent and significant population increases in rural and exurban areas following years of declining or stagnant population growth.
Examples:
1) Many urban dwellers began to seek "second places" outside town. Many now - to be followed by many more in the future - are returning to the exurban frontier full-time. Among so-called developed regions, this "rural rebound" is especially marked in North America - Europe is so ancient, and so small, that a rural/urban synergy has perforce operated there for centuries. (Peter Ferguson, "Rural migration", The Globe and Mail, April 26, 2004)
2) Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at Loyola University-Chicago who has written about the rural rebound, said that non-metro areas with populations under 50,000 gained 5.2 million residents between 1990 and 2000. Populations still declined in the Great Plains, western Corn Belt and Mississippi Delta regions. But they increased in the Mountain West, Upper Great Lakes (including parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin), Ozarks, and parts of the South and Northeast. Also, 86 percent of rural counties adjacent to metropolitan areas grew in the 1990s. (Jon Tevlin, "Greener acres," Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), December 28, 2003)
Synonyms, history:
Proving that the rural rebound is at heart an alliterative trend, this phenomenon also goes by the names "rural renaissance" (1984), "rural revival" (1986), and "booming boondocks" (1998). The acknowledged rural rebound expert is Kenneth M. Johnson, a sociologist at Loyola University-Chicago. In a paper co-authored with Calvin L. Beale of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the case for the rural rebound is neatly summarized: Most rural areas of the United States are now growing at the fastest rate in more than 20 years. Rural population gains between 1990 and 2000 have been both extremely widespread and substantial. Fueled by an influx of migrants from urban areas and fewer people leaving, rural gains since 1990 are near record levels. They reflect a sharp reversal of the trend of the 1980s, when most rural (nonmetropolitan) areas lost population. This is only the second period of widespread nonmetropolitan growth in 80 years. Nonmetropolitan areas - those without an urban center of 50,000 or more - gained 5.2 million additional residents (10.3 percent) between April 1990 and April 2000. In contrast, such areas grew by only 1.3 million during the 1980s. The rate of population increase in rural areas since 1990 is nearly four times as great as that during the 1980s. Almost 74 percent of the 2303 rural counties are now growing, compared to only 45 percent during the 1980s. (Kenneth M. Johnson, Calvin L. Beale, "The Rural Rebound: Recent Nonmetropolitan Demographic Trends in the United States", <http://www.luc.edu/depts/ sociology/johnson/p99webn.html>, March 14, 2003)


rusticate
[RUHS-tih-kayt]
Intransitive verb
1. To go into or reside in the country; to pursue a rustic life.
Transitive verb:
2. To require or compel to reside in the country; to banish or send away temporarily. 3. (Chiefly British) To suspend from school or college.
4. To build with usually rough-surfaced masonry blocks having beveled or rebated edges producing pronounced joints.
5. To lend a rustic character to; to cause to become rustic.
Examples:
1) Ezra holds out in London, and refuses to rusticate. (T. S. Eliot to Conrad Aiken, "21 August 1916", The Letters of T. S. Eliot: Volume I, 1898-1922, edited by Valerie Eliot)
2) For the longest time, we're stuck in a cabin hewn out of the ground in a parcel of woods as the boys hide and mend; for another, we rusticate on a farm bounded by fields that must be tilled by the hard labor of man and beast. (Stephen Hunter, "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home", Washington Post, December 17, 1999)
3) Czechoslovak Communists would imprison or rusticate those who had been active in the Prague Spring. (Charles S. Maier, "Dissolution")
Etymology:
"Rusticate" comes from the past participle of Latin "rusticari" ("to live in the country"), from "rusticus" ("rural, rustic"), from "rus" ("the country").