Page 277 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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debilitating (di BIL i TAYT ing) adj. weakening; making weak and feeble;
ennervating
• Lou Gehrig was a great baseball player before developing the debilitating
disease, ALS, which carries his name.
• When Dylan was 2 years old, he developed a debilitating temper that
caused him to bang his head on things.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. weakening]
decimate (DE sim ayt) vt. to kill or destroy a large part of the population
• The city officials are hoping that by spraying in swamps they will be able
to decimate the mosquito population.
• Every seven years or so, locusts decimate the crops in some farm areas.
[-d, decimating]
defamation (DEF im AY shin) n. an injuring of someone’s character by making
false statements about him or her; slandering; maligning
• Defamation of character is an offense that one can sue for in a civil court.
• The judge ruled that the false statements Girard made about Ruth consti-
tuted defamation.
[Syn. slander]
deficiency (di FISH in see) n. the state of lacking in some essential quality or
element; incompleteness; shortage; deficit
• Mark’s intellectual deficiency leaves him two cans short of a six-pack.
• When Violet bought the car, she found there was a deficiency in the rear
seat belt.
[Syn. shortage]
degenerate (di JEN er it for adj. and n., di JEN er AYT for v.) adj. 1. sunken below a
former normalcy of condition or character; 2. morally corrupt —n. a degenerate person,
especially one who is sexually perverse —vi. to decline morally, culturally, and so on
• Helen’s degenerate lifestyle was the result of a difficult childhood.
• Does reading degenerate magazines corrupt one, or must one be degenerate
to buy such magazines?
• Helen, mentioned above, is a degenerate.
• As one ages, one’s sense of humor tends to degenerate, and the jokes get racier.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. depraved]
demise (dim YZ) vt. 1. to transfer an estate by lease (especially for a fixed amount of
time); 2. to transfer sovereignty by abdication or death —n. 1. a transfer of an estate by
lease (for a fixed term); 2. the transfer of sovereignty by death or abdicating; 3. death
•“Demising an apartment” is not a phrase you’ll see or hear every day.
• The “demise of a monarch” is a much more likely use of the word, even
though there are few monarchs left today.
• “Death” is the most commonly used meaning of the term, so let this be
the demise of this discussion.
[-d, demising] [Syn. death]
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