1. EMBELLISH • (im BEL ish) • To beautify by adding ornaments; to add fanciful or fictitious details to • LINK: BELLY • “Belly dancers embellish their bellies with jewels.”

2. PETULANT • (PET you lant) • Ill humored, irritable, cranky • Link: PET HUNT • “The PET HUNT for the envelope made the mailman PETULANT.”

3. ASSUAGE • (uh SWAJE ) • To soothe; to make less severe; to satisfy, ease, lessen • LINK: MASSAGE • “A good massage will assuage sore muscles and relieve tension.”

4. CASTIGATE • (KASS tuh gate) • To criticise harshly, usually with the intention of correcting wrongdoing • Link: PASSED THE GATE • “The gate attendant CASTIGATED Herman for passing the gate.”

5. WREST • (rest) • Pull away; take by violence • Link: WRIST • “The girl grabbed the note and wrested it away from her classmate.”

6. PERVERSE • ( pur VERS ) • Stubborn, contrary, intractable • Link: REVERSE • “We are much too PERVERSE to pull in REVERSE.”

7. SERPENTINE • (SUR pun teen) • Snakelike in shape or movement; winding as a snake • Link: Serpent Teen • “A SERPENT TEEN hot-rodding on a SERPENTINE road.”

8. ABUT • (UH but) • Border upon; adjoin • Link: BUTT • The audience sat with ABUTTING BUTTS”

9. SEGREGATE • (SEG rug gate) • To separate or keep apart from others • Link: SEPARATE GATE • “At the track, race horses are SEGREGATED into SEPARATE GATES to begin the race.”

10. (WITH ur) Shrivel, shrink, dry up Link: WEATHER “Too much sun and too little rain makes corn WITHER in the summer WEATHER.” WITHER

11. GRANDIOSE • ( GRAN dee ohs ) • Grand and impressive; especially flashy and showy • Link: GRAND HOSE • “ The GRANDIOSE Alaskan Pipeline resembles nothing more than a GRAND HOSE.

12. SURFEIT • (SUR fit) • An overabundant amount, especially overindulgence in eating and drinking • Link: SURFERS • “ A SURFEIT of SURFERS leads to a wave of collisions.”

13. UNBRIDLED • (un BRIDE duld) • Violent; unbounded; unrestrained • Link: Bridle • “A wild horse without a bridle can be an UNBRIDLED demon to ride.”

14. FORTUITOUS • (for TWO uh tus) • Occurring by accident or chance • Link: For the Two Of Us • “The crash was not FORTUITOUS for the two of us.”

15. ENRAPTURE • (en RAP chur) • To delight, to thrill or give pleasure • Link: CAPTURE • “We were ENRAPTURED by our CAPTURE.”

16. GUILE • (gyle) • Craft, cunning, deceitfulness; artfulness • Link: SMILE • “His smile did not conceal his guile. He clearly was not to be trusted.”

17. MARSHAL • (MAHR shul) • To assemble together for the purpose of doing something; • Also, an officer in the police or military • Link: March All • “ We marshaled the people to March All the way to the Capital.”

18. Dessicate • (DES uh kayt) • To dry out completely; dehydrate • Link: THIS DRY STATE • “A long, long drought will DESSICATE this dry state.”

19. PHOTOGENIC • (phoh toe GIN ik) • Suitable or especially attractive for photography • Link: PHOTO GENIE • “May I take your photo genie; you will be PHOTOGENIC!”

20. LITERATE • (LIT ur ut) • Having the ability to read and write • Link: Little Rat • Fred was a very LITERATE little rat.”