- Giving money to the poor is a benevolent act. To be benevolent is to bestow benefits. The
United Way, like any charity, is a benevolent organization. - Malevolent (muh LEV uh lunt) means evil, or wishing to do harm.
BENIGN (bih NYNE) adj gentle; not harmful; kind; mild
- The threat of revolution turned out to be benign; nothing much came of it.
- Charlie was worried that he had cancer, but the lump on his leg turned out to be benign.
BURGEON (BUR jun) v to expand; to flourish
- The burgeoning weeds in our yard soon overwhelmed the grass.
COMPLACENT (kum PLAY sunt) adj self-satisfied; overly pleased with oneself; contented to
a fault
- The complacent camper paid no attention to the poison ivy around his campsite and ended
up in the hospital. - The football team won so many games that it became complacent, leading them to be
defeated by the worst team in the league. - To fall into complacency is to become comfortably uncaring about the world around you.
Don’t confuse complacent with complaisant (kum PLAY zunt), which means eager to please.
CONGREGATE (KAHN grih gayt) v to come together
- Protestors were granted permission to congregate peacefully on the plaza.
The noun form is congregation, which often refers to the membership of a house of worship.
- About half of the congregation attended the sunrise service.
DEXTROUS (DEX trus) adj skillful; adroit
Dextrous often, but not always, connotes physical ability. Like adroit, it comes from the Latin
word for right (as in the direction) because right-handed people were once considered
physically and mentally superior.
- Ilya was determined not to sell the restaurant; even the most dextrous negotiator could
not sway him.
You may also see this word spelled dexterous. Dexterity is the noun form.
ELUSIVE (ih LOO siv) adj hard to pin down; evasive
To be elusive is to elude, which means to avoid, evade, or escape.
- The answer to the problem was elusive; every time the mathematician thought he was
close, he discovered another error. (One could also say that the answer to the problem
eluded the mathematician.)