Descriptionary

reticent adj. (RET i sunt) reserved, quiet. Joe is so reticent with his feelings, it's hard to know what he is thinking.

reverberate vb. (ree VUR bur ayt) to echo, resonate, or produce an aftereffect. Every toll of the bell would reverberate all the way across town.

revere vb. (ri VEER) to highly honor or respect. Young athletes will always revere the superstars of sports.

reverie n. (REV uh ree) fantasizing; daydreaming. I

was in the midst of pleasant reverie when a loud noise jarred me back to reality.

rhapsodize vb. (RAP suh dize) to speak about with great passion; to gush. My sons like to rhapsodize about all the latest rap groups, who are, apparently, something approaching gods.

rhetoric n. (RET uh rik) words and their artful employment in speech or writing. Also, artful speech that in reality says nothing meaningful. The crowd demanded more than rhetoric from the senator; they demanded action.

rife adj. (RIFE) abounding, widespread. The topic of evolution is rife with misunderstanding by those who are unschooled in natural science.

rudimentary adj. (rood uh MENT uh ree) basic; fundamental. Our introduction to biology was strictly rudimentary; we'll study it in more depth next year.

ruminate vb. (ROOM uh nayt) to contemplate; to think about. I like to ruminate on questions for a while before answering them.

rustic adj. (RUS tik) of rural life or simplicity. They lived in a rustic log cabin far on the outskirts of town.

saccharine adj. (SAK uh rin) sickeningly sweet. The movie's ending was so saccharine, we nearly all vom­ited into our popcorn containers.

sacred cow n. any institution, belief, object, etc., that is considered taboo to criticize or question. It takes great courage to gore sacred cows, as any athe­ist will readily tell you.

sacrilege n. (SAK ruh lij) a violation of that which is considered holy or sacred. By defacing the Christian cross and knocking over the gravestones, the vandals committed a sacrilege.

sacrosanct adj. (SAK ruh SANKT) sacred. The sym­bol of the Christian cross is considered sacrosanct.

sadistic adj. (suh DIS tik) gaining pleasure by inflict­ing pain on another. The torturer enjoyed great sadis­tic pleasure by stretching his victims on the rack.

salient adj. (SAYL yunt) prominent; outstanding.

The professor tends to be verbose, so I take notes only on his most salient points.

sanction n. (SANK shun) permission; formal autho­rization. We have received the official sanction of the National Basketball Association to hold this game for charity.

sanctimonious adj. (SANK tuh MOHN ee us) pre­tending to be holy or righteous. Our preacher is rather sanctimonious when it comes to gambling; he admonishes us to stay away from it, but then he goes and sponsors bingo games for charity every Saturday.