1. Abscond (verb) to run off and hide Synonyms: bolt, make off, skip town The kitty absconded with the kitty brush. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle… …and the dish absconded with the spoon.

2. Access (noun) approach or admittance to places, persons; things; an increase (verb) to get; obtain Synonyms: entry, admittance, entrée Access Hollywood gives its viewers access to the latest Hollywood gossip.

3. Anarchy (noun) a lack of government and law; confusion Synonyms: chaos, disorder, turmoil, pandemonium The bikers on the show Sons of Anarchy do not like rules or governmental influence. They like chaos.

4. Arduous (adjective) hard to do, requiring much effort Synonyms: hard, difficult, laborious, fatiguing Climbing a mountain can be quite an arduous experience.

5. Auspicious (adj) favorable; fortunate Synonyms: promising, encouraging, propitious A beautiful sunrise is an auspicious sign that it will be a good day.

6. Biased (adjective) favoring one side unduly; prejudiced Synonyms: unfair, partial, bigoted Judges are supposed to be unbiased, but sometimes they favor one side over the other, so we call them biased judges.

7. (verb) to overcome with fear, intimidate; to dishearten, discourage Synonyms: dismay, cow Daunt Looking at the mountain she was about to climb, the young woman was undaunted by fear she might fail.

8. Disentangle (verb) to free from tangles or complications Synonyms: unravel, unwind, unscramble, unsnarl This woman is having a hard time disentangling the snarls from her hair.

9. Fated (adjective) determined in advance by destiny or fortune Synonyms: destined, preordained, doomed. The Ancient Greeks believed that their future was fated, or determined by three goddesses they called fates. These women created their life lines, and determined their destiny.

10. Hoodwink (verb) to mislead by a trick, deceive Synonyms: dupe, put one over on In the fairy tale, little red Riding Hood, red is hoodwinked or duped by the big bad wolf. However, in the movie Hoodwinked, little red riding hood was mislead or hoodwinked by the clever bad guy. You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.

11. (adjective) not having life, without energy or spirit Synonyms: lifeless, dead, inert, spiritless Inanimate Rocks are inanimate objects because they don’t move, breath, or have life at all.

12. Incinerate (Verb) to burn to ashes Synonyms: burn up, cremate, reduce to ashes Incinerators get rid of garbage, but also pollute.

13. Intrepid (adjective) very brave, fearless, unshakable Synonyms: valiant, courageous, audacious, daring Unlike the car, Perseus was quite intrepid when he slayed medusa by beheading the gorgon. Of course it helps when your father is Zeus.

14. Larceny (noun) theft Synonyms: stealing, robbery, burglary Though stealing a hamburger may only be petty larceny, it is still a crime.

15. Pliant (Adjective) bending readily, easily influenced Synonyms: supple, flexible, elastic, plastic While this woman’s body is surely quite pliant, Labrador puppies are known for having easily influence or pliable personalities. That means they’re easy to train.

16. Pompous (adjective) overly self-important in speech and manner; excessively stately or ceremonious Synonyms: pretentious, highfalutin, bombastic This pompous queen thinks that she is better than you.

17. (noun) a very steep cliff, the brink or edge of disaster Synonyms: cliff, crag, bluff, promontory, ledge Precipice This guys clearly got too close to the precipice.

18. Rectify ( Verb) to make right, correct Synonyms: remedy, set right Rhinoplasty isn’t always for the vain. Sometimes it is needed to rectify a problem.

19. Reprieve (noun) a temporary relief or delay (verb) to grant a postponement Synonyms: stay, respite, postpone, delay While sleeping in class my be a momentary reprieve from a boring lecture, it does leave you open to attack from peers.

20. Revile (verb) To attack with words, call bad names Synonyms: inveigh, against, malign, vilify, denounce It looks like some of these protestors really revile the western worlds concepts of free speech.