Descriptionary

pecuniary adj. (pe KYOO nee air ee) of money; financial. The workers' concerns are purely pecuni­ary; they think they deserve higher pay.

pedantic adj. (puh DANT ik) nitpicking with fac­tual matters; overprecise or scholarly to an extreme, showy, or unnecessary manner. Know-it-alls are fre­quently pedantic, much to everyone's annoyance.

pedestrian adj. (puh DES tree un) unimaginative or so ordinary as to be dull. You might have gotten the grammar right, but your story and characters are thoroughly pedestrian.

pejorative adj. (pi JOR uh tiv) belittling; negative.

Any more pejorative remarks like that to your sister and you'll go to bed early.

penchant n. (PEN chunt) a strong fondness for something. I have a penchant for chocolate swirl ice

penitent adj. (PEN i tunt) full of regret; sorry. The child was quite penitent after he was caught stealing cookies.

pensive adj. (PEN siv) deep in thought, particularly about sad things. My mother appeared so pensive, I was tempted to ask her what was so troubling.

perennial adj. (puh REN ee ul) continuous, perpet­ual, or returning again and again. The movie version of the Wizard of Oz is a perennial favorite.

perfunctory adj. (pur FUNK tuh ree) performed superficially or routinely. The border guard made a perfunctory inspection of our car and then let us go through.

peripheral adj. (pur IF ur ul) along the side or neighboring. Computers often require several periph­eral components.

perjury n. (PURJ ur ee) lying under oath. Commit­ting perjury in a court of law is illegal.

permeate vb. (PERM ee ayt) to penetrate, as a thick and strong odor. Seconds after he entered the room, his strong cologne would permeate the room and make people gag.

pernicious adj. (purn ISH us) harmful; deadly. The liberal sale of firearms in this city is highly pernicious.

perquisite n. (PUR kwi zit) a fringe benefit or spe­cial privilege that stems from working at a particular job. One of the perquisites of my job is a company car, which I'm allowed to drive at any time.

personable adj. (PUR sun uh bul) friendly; sociable. Salespeople must have personable dispositions.

pertinent adj. (PUR tuh nunt) relevant. We're talk­ing about the weather, not football; please keep your remarks pertinent to the subject.

perturb vb. (pur TURB) to annoy or trouble. You perturb me with your constant requests for money.

peruse vb. (puh ROOZ) to look over or study care­fully. Please peruse the contract at your leisure before signing.

pervade vb. (pur VAYD) to spread, penetrate, per­meate. The odor of skunk pervades our neighborhood on trash night.

pervasive adj. (pur VAY siv) spreading throughout.

If not countered regularly by rational thought, racism will become pervasive.