abstruse \ab-STROOS; uhb-\ (adjective) - Difficult to comprehend or understand.

"When Tony Gate's critical sire had come up from Boston to watch his boy play Fluellen at a rehearsal and had taken him and Ronny out for ...Read More

urbane \ur-BAYN\ (adjective) - Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.

"My voice was dry, interested, but in an academic sort of way. It was the voice I'd cultivated at court. I had learned to watch ...Read More

commensurate \kuh-MEN(T)S-uhr-it; -shuhr-\ (adjective) - 1 : Equal in measure, extent, or duration. 2 : Corresponding in size or degree or extent; proportionate. 3 : Having a common measure; commensurable; reducible to a ...Read More

travail \truh-VAYL; TRAV-ayl\ (noun) - 1 : Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion. 2 : Agony; anguish. 3 : The labor of childbirth

(intransitive verb) - 1 : To work very hard; to toil. 2 : To suffer the pangs of...Read More

plaint \PLAYNT\ (noun) - 1 : An expression of sorrow; lamentation. 2 : A complaint.

"It then dawned on Sam this could be the plaint the walkers had been to so long ago. He asked if Reeds and Barns could scan the plaint ...Read More

toper \TOH-puhr\ (noun) - One who drinks frequently or to excess.

"He often gives breath to scurrilous conjecture. The toper suborns good fruit and gives it to decay, and the good person who wishes to enjoy the sanivacity...Read More