noun a nonessential component used for beauty, added pleasure, or convenience.This pearl necklace is a beautiful and useful accessory.The car’s CD player is considered an accessory. adjective subordinate, nonessential, or supplementary.You don’t…

With the Wordsmyth Vocabulary Center activities, you can study the words of the week, play games with them, and assess your knowledge of their meanings with a quiz. Go to the Vocabulary…

noun an introductory event or act; preface; preliminary.The arrest of these writers was only a prelude to large-scale government oppression.We thought he’d finished telling the story, but what we’d heard was only…

noun the titular head of an organization who has no real power.The younger Mr. Evans has the running of the whole company now, and his father is just a figurehead.Although the country…

transitive verb 1. to rid of anything impure or unwanted.They purged his stomach at the hospital. 2. to free or rid (usu. fol. by “of” or “from”).The mechanic purged the engine of…