NOT A STRAIGHT LINE

1. askance – a) with suspicion, mistrust or disapproval; b) with a side glance, sidewise, obliquely; c) skeptically, suspiciously

2. carom – a) any strike or rebound, as a ball striking the wall and glancing off, to strike and rebound

3. gyrate – a) to move in a circle or spiral or around a fixed point; to whirl; b) spin, twirl, revolve, swirl, pirouette

4. oblique – a) neither perpendicular or parallel, slanting, sloping; b) not straight or direct, diverging from a straight line; c) indirect, veiled, masked, covert

5. sinuous – a) having many curves, bends or turns; b) indirect, devious; c) curving, meandering, twining, twisting, coiled, curved, serpentine, roundabout

6. awry – a) with a turn or twist to one side, askew; b) away from the expected or proper direction, amiss, wrong

7. circuitous – a) roundabout, not direct; b) circular, winding, indirect, meandering

8. labyrinthine – a) an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one’s way or reach the exit; b) any confusingly intricate state of things or events; b) a complicated or tortuous arrangement, as of streets or buildings

9. serpentine – a) of, characteristic of or resembling a serpent, as in form or movement; b) having a winding course (as a road) sinuous; c) shrewd, wily, cunning; d) twisting, snaking, tortuous

10. tortuous – a) full of twists, turns or bends; b) twisting, winding or crooked; c) not direct or straightforward, as in procedure or speech; d) deceitfully indirect or morally crooked; e) bent, sinuous, serpentine, evasive, roundabout, indirect

11. serrated – a) having a notched edge or saw-like teeth, esp. for cutting

12. undulating

13. careen – a) to lean, sway or tip to one side while in motion; b) to lean or bend away from a vertical position

14. circumvent – a) to go around or bypass; b) to avoid (defeat, failure) by artfulness or deception; to avoid by anticipating or outwitting; c) escape, elude, evade, outwit

15. meander – a) to proceed by or take a winding or indirect course; b) to wander aimlessly, ramble; c) wander, wind, twist, snake, coil

16. sidle – a) to move sideways or obliquely; b) to edge along furtively

17. vortex – a whirling mass of water (maelstrom), esp. one in which a force of suction operates, as a whirlpool; b) something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it; a vortex of war

INVESTIGATE

1. appraise – a) to estimate the monetary value of; determine the worth of; assess; b) to estimate the nature, quality, importance of

2. descry – a) to see something (unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern, espy; b) to discover, perceive, detect, notice; c) to proclaim, decry

3. ascertain – a) to find out definitely; to learn with certainty or assurance; determine

4. peruse – a) to read through with thoroughness or care; b) to survey or examine in detail

5. assay – a) to examine or analyze (to assay a situation); b) to judge the quality of, assess, evaluate; c) to attempt, try, essay

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16