Words that start with E

Ebullient

adj. boiling; bubbling with excitement; exuberant

A boiling liquid can be called ____. More often, though, this word describes excited or enthusiastic people.

Eccentric

adj. not conventional; a little kooky; irregular

The ____ inventor spent all her waking hours fiddling with what she said was a time machine, but it was actually just an old telephone booth.

Eclectic

adj. choosing the best from many sources; drawn from many sources

Adolfo’s taste in art was _____. He liked the Old Masters, the Impressionists, and Walt Disney.

Edify

v. to enlighten; to instruct; especially in moral or religious matters

The teacher’s goal was to ____ her students, not to force a handful of facts down their throats.

Efface

v. to erase; to rub away the features of

We tried to ___ the dirty words that had been written on the front of our house, but nothing would remove them.

Effusion

n. a pouring forth

When the child was rescued from the well, there was an intense ___ of emotion from the crowd that has gathered around the hole.

Egalitarian

adj. believing in the social and economic equality of all people

People often lose interest in ____ measures when such measures interfere with their interests.

Egocentric

adj. selfish; believing that one is the center of everything

Nellie was so ___ that she could never give anyone else credit for doing anything.

Egregious

adj. extremely bad; flagrant

The mother’s ___ neglect was responsible for her child’s accidental cross-country ride on the freight train.

Elicit

v. to bring out; to call forth

The defendant tried to ___ the sympathy of the jury by appearing at the trial in a wheel chair, but the jury convicted her anyway.

Elliptical

adj. oval; missing a word or words

The orbit of the earth is not perfectly round; it is ____.

Elusive

adj. hard to pin down; evasive

The answer to the problem was ____; every time the mathematician thought she was close, she discovered another error.

Emigrate

v. to leave a country permanently; to expatriate

Pierre ____ed from France because he had grown tired to speaking French.

Eminent

adj. well known and respected; standing out from all others in quality or accomplishment; outstanding

The visiting poet was so ____ that our English teacher asked the poet for his autograph.

Empirical

adj. relying on experience or observation; not merely theoretical

The apple dropping experiment gave the scientists _____ evidence that gravity exists.

Emulate

v. to strive to be equal or excel, usually through imitation

To ____ someone is to try to be just as good as, or better than, him or her.

Encroach

v. to make gradual or stealthy inroads into; to trespass

As the city grew, it _____ed on the countryside surrounding it.

Endemic

adj. native; restricted to a particular region or era; indigenous

You won’t find that kind of tree in California; it’s ___ to our part of the country.

Enervate

v. to reduce the strength or energy of, especially to do so gradually

Sander felt _____ed by his long ordeal and couldn’t make himself get out of bed.

Enfranchise

v. to grant the privileges of citizenship, especially the right to vote

In the United States, citizens become ____ed on their 18th birthdays.

Engender

v. to bring into existence; to create; to cause

Smiles _____ more smiles.

Enigma

n. a mystery

Ben is an ____; he never does any homework but he always gets good grades.

Enormity

n. extreme evi; a hideous offense; immensity

Hitler’s soldiers stormed through the village, committing one ____ after another.

Ephemeral

adj. lasting a very short time

Youth and flowers are both _____. They’re gone before you know it.

Epigram

n. a brief and usually witty or satirical saying

Epitome

n. a brief summary that captures the meaning of the whole; the perfect example of something; a paradigm

The first paragraph of the new novel is an _____ of the entire book; you can read it and understand what the author is trying to get across.

Equanimity

n. composure; calm

The entire apartment was crumbling, but Rachel faced the disaster with _____. She ducked out of the way of a falling beam and continued searching for an exit.

Equitable

adj. fair

King Solomon’s decision was certainly ____; each mother would receive half the child.

Equivocal

adj. amibigious; intentionally confusing; capable of being interpreted in more than one way

____ means unclear.

Erudite

adj. scholarly; deeply learned

The professor said ___ things that none of us had the slightest idea of what he was saying.

Esoteric

adj. hard to understand; understood by only a select few; peculiar

Chicken wrestling and underwear yodeling were just two of Earl’s ____ hobbies.

Espouse

v. to support; to advocate

Some cultures used to ____ polygamy, or marriage to more than one woman.

Ethereal

adj. heavenly; as light and insubstantial as a gas or ether

The _____ music we heard turned out to be not angels plucking on their harps but the wind blowing through the slats of the metal awning.

Euphemism

n. a pleasant or inoffensive expression used in place of an unpleasant or offensive one

Aunt Angie, who couldn’t bring herself to say the world death, said that Uncle George had taken the big bus uptown. “Taking the big bus uptown” was her ___ for dying.

Evanescent

adj. fleeting; vanishing; happening for only the briefest period

Meteors are _____: they last so briefly that it is hard to tell whether one has actually appeared.

Exacerbate

v. to make worse

Dipping Austin in lye _____ed his skin condition.

Exacting

adj. extremely demanding; difficult; requiring great skill or care

The ___ math teacher substracted points if you didn’t show every step of your work.

Exalt

v. to raise high; to glorify

The manager decided to ____ the lowly batboy by asking him to throw the first pitch in the opening game of the World Series.

Exasperate

v. to annoy thoroughly; to make very angry; to try the patience of

The child’s insistence on hopping backward on one foot ____ed her mother, who was in a hurry.

Exemplify

v. to illustrate by example; to serve as a good example

Fred participated in every class discussion and typed all of his papers. His teacher thought Fred ____ed the model student; Fred’s classmates thought he was sycophantic.

Exhaustive

adj. thorough; rigorous; complete; painstaking

Before you use a parachute, you should examine it ____Y for defects.

Exhort

v. to urge strongly; to give a serious warning to

The coach used her bullhorn to ______ to try harder.