2.  Unexpected appearance  Syn. ghost  Ant. mortals  The apparitions or ghostly figures that appeared in the haunted house scared me to death.

3.  To predict (some future event)  Syn. foretell  Supposedly, Miss Cleo has the ability to augur the future.

4.  Emotionally hardened; unfeeling; unsympathetic  Syn. insensitive  Ant. understanding; sensitive  The callous individual didn’t appear to have any sympathy whatsoever, and he was always bullying the other kids at school.

5.  To call or bring into existence by or as if by magic  Syn. summon; invoke  Ant. exorcise  People who conjure spirits often are able to contact the dead.

6.  Strong disrespect; evaluation as worthless or mean  Syn. disdain; scorn  Ant. respect; honor; admiration  Many people think of Hitler with contempt because they view him as a horrible man who committed terrible acts.

7.  To make certain; confirm  Syn. verify; support; validate  Ant. refute  He corroborated my account of the accident by providing details that matched my information.

8.  To enter into an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified  Syn. agreed  Ant. disagreed  The rulers of each nation covenanted to end the war, and they signed an official document to make it legal.

9.  A severe, searching test or trial  Syn. Test  Rebecca Nurse faced a crucible of her faith when she was accused of witchcraft; she had to decide if she would stay true to her beliefs or give a false confession.

10.  False or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another as by slander or libel  Syn. falsehood  Ant. truth  She sued the magazine for defamation of character because the writer of the article falsely said that she was in rehab for drug addiction.

11.  The giving of testimony under oath  Syn. affidavit  Ant. nullification  In his court deposition, Joe told the truth about his involvement in the robbery.

12.  Directly opposite  Syn. contrarily  Ant. similarly; identically  Sample sentence: Some Democrats are diametrically opposed to the ideas of the Republicans because their ideas are completely opposite.