When the prodigal son comes home in Luke 15:20, "His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers
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assess
verb evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
The contractor came to assess the damage of the home
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deter
verb turn away from by persuasion
Prison did not deter crime significantly, many experts concluded. The New Jim Crow
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complacent
adjective contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
He was not complacent about the challenges, though the obstacles he foresaw were geographical and financial, not technical. Big Science
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contempt
noun lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
Mammachi's rage at the old one-eyed Paravan standing in the rain, drunk, dribbling and covered in mud was re-directed into a cold contempt for her daughter and what she had done. The God of Small Things
She did not speak, but she looked up at him with a face made very eloquent by happiness, and a smile which said, "No one can refuse me anything today." Little Women
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virtue
noun the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong
I had less success arguing that the States' greatest virtue was its wide-open spaces where people never went. Double Helix
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ineviteble
adjective incapable of being avoided or prevented
The spread of infectious diseases was inevitable, as were bitter arguments among old neighbors who fought over ownership of the land that was left. Mountains Beyond Mountains
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enigma
noun something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
Would Momma, who knew the ways of the whites and the wiles of the Blacks, try to answer her grandson, whose very life depended on his not truly understanding the enigma? I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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abstract
adjective existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment
She didn't have any particular style; some of her paintings were what she called primitive, some were impressionistic and abstract, some were realistic. The Glass Castle
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reprove
verb take to task
But she also felt reproved for her homebound boredom. Atonement
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eccentric
adjective conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
He is eccentric, and there is no changing that. Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers
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hypocritcal
adjective professing feelings or virtues one does not have
Just two artificial words, coming from my own hypocritical mouth. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
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guile
noun shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
What if history was not a reasonable citizen, but a madman full of paranoid guile and these boys his agents, his big surprise! Invisible Man
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disdain
noun lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
It was as though his disdain of human contact had converted itself into a craving for things humans had touched. The Bluest Eye
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