Page 245 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
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verifiable (VER i FY i bl) adj. capable of being proven true; ascertainible
• For an alibi to be any good, it must be verifiable.
• While Jack Benny’s age was clearly verifiable (he was born in 1894 and died
in 1974), he claimed to have been 39 for 41 years.
[verifiably adv.]
verisimilitude (ver i si MIL i tood) n. 1. the appearance of being true or real;
2. something having the appearance of being true or real
• The best cubic zirconiums have a verisimilitude that would fool all but an
experienced gem expert into thinking they were diamonds.
• Often, a verisimilitude is a truth, but if something appears to be too good to
be true, then it probably is.
[Syn. truth]
verity (VER i tee) n. 1. conforming to the truth or fact; reality; 2. a principle or
belief; a reality
• A skeptic does not believe anything he hears unless he can confirm its verity.
• It is a verity that men and women are different.
[Syn. truth]
vestige (VES tij) n. 1. remaining trace of something no longer used or that no
longer exists; 2. a trace; a bit; 3. an atrophied or rudimentary organ more fully
developed in earlier forms of a species
• The human appendix is a vestige, thought to be from the time when our
main source of protein was insects.
• A con man would never succeed in conning his mark, unless the story he
told had some vestige of truth.
• Apes and humans have vestiges of tails, suggesting that some earlier ances-
tors probably were tailed.
[vestigial adj., vestgially adv.]
vex (VEKS) vt. 1. to disturb, annoy, irritate, especially in a petty or nagging way;
2. to distress, afflict, or plague
• Ian questioned everything he was asked to do, just to vex his parents.
• Melissa found it vexing that two-year-old Sebastian listened carefully to what
she wanted him to do, smiled at her, and then did whatever he wanted.
• Marge continued to be vexed by her rheumatism.
[-ed, -ing] [Syn. annoy]
vicarious (vy KAR ee uhs) adj. 1. taking the place of another as a deputy or a
stand-in; substituting for another; 2. imagining participation in another’s activity
• The deputy sheriff acts with the vicarious powers of the sheriff when he
forms a posse.
• When Jill told Fran of her exciting ride down the rapids of the Colorado
River, Fran experienced a vicarious thrill.
[-ly adv.]