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–adjective
1. (of persons, the body, etc.) characterized by trembling, as from fear, nervousness, or weakness.
2. timid; timorous; fearful.
3. (of things) vibratory, shaking, or quivering.
4. (of writing) done with a trembling hand.

Synonyms:
1. faltering, hesitant, wavering. 2. frightened; afraid.

Example:
This scarcely perceptible but ubiquitous twitching, described by Ludens as like the slight tremulous movement of leaves on a tree or ripples on a pool, was one of the strangest, and in an odd way most convincing manifestations of the raising of Patrick.

–adjective
1. suggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful.
2. given to shedding tears readily; tearful.

Example:

The delightful tunes are all there, but some of them are taken too slowly, and some of the settings are either lachrymose or slurred.

–verb (used with object)
1. to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check (an action, impulse, etc.).
2. to prohibit; forbid.
3. Psychology. to consciously or unconsciously suppress or restrain (psychologically or sociologically unacceptable behavior).
4. Chemistry. to decrease the rate of action of or stop (a chemical reaction).

Synonyms:
1. repress, discourage, obstruct. 2. interdict.

Example:
We need a system of assessment that will encourage, not inhibit, the development of the imagination, and the new emphasis on practical skills as of equal importance with scholarship and learning.

–verb (used with object)
1. to go around or bypass: to circumvent the lake; to circumvent the real issues. 
2. to avoid (defeat, failure, unpleasantness, etc.) by artfulness or deception; avoid by anticipating or outwitting: He circumvented capture by anticipating their movements. 
3. to surround or encompass, as by stratagem; entrap: to circumvent a body of enemy troops. 

Synonyms:
1. escape, elude, evade, outwit. 2. encircle; ensnare.

Example:
A better understanding of the toxin's mode of action at the molecular level could lead to other strategies to circumvent resistance, for instance by redesigning the target-selecting region of the toxins.

–noun
1. a member of the clergy or other person in religious orders.
2. a member of the ecclesia in ancient Athens.

Example:
Ecclesiastic obligations include attending mass.

–adjective
1. open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; equivocal: an ambiguous answer. 
2. Linguistics. (of an expression) exhibiting constructional homonymity; having two or more structural descriptions, as the sequence Flying planes can be dangerous.
3. of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend, distinguish, or classify: a rock of ambiguous character. 
4. lacking clearness or definiteness; obscure; indistinct: an ambiguous shape; an ambiguous future. 

Synonyms:
1. dubious, vague, indeterminate, unclassifiable, anomalous. 2. puzzling, enigmatic, problematic.

Example:
The ambiguous law did not make a clear distinction between the new and old land boundary.

adjective, -er, -est.
1. devoted to divine worship or service; pious; religious: a devout Catholic. 
2. expressing devotion or piety: devout prayer. 
3. earnest or sincere; hearty: He had a devout allegiance to the political regime. 

Synonyms:
1. worshipful; holy, saintly. 2. intense, serious, fervent, ardent.

Example:
The leading layman of the York diocese was the politician whose judgment was likely to weigh with the Crown: Lord Halifax, the former Foreign Secretary, and a devout Anglo-Catholic.