<B>sorcery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ceries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> magic performed with the supposed aid of evil spirits; witchcraft. <BR> <I>Ex. The prince had been changed into a toad by sorcery.</I> (SYN) necromancy. </DL>
<A NAME="sordamente">
<B>sordamente, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) in a muted or muffled manner; softly. </DL>
<A NAME="sordellina">
<B>sordellina, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small bagpipe. </DL>
<A NAME="sordes">
<B>sordes, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>dirt; filth. <DD><B> b. </B>foul matter such as that gathering on the teeth or in the stomach. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Medicine.) scabs from fever blisters. </DL>
<A NAME="sordid">
<B>sordid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>dirty; filthy. <BR> <I>Ex. The poor family lived in a sordid hut.</I> (SYN) foul, squalid. <DD><B> 2a. </B>caring too much for money; meanly selfish. <BR> <I>Ex. His ambitions are a little sordid ... he is too intent upon growing rich (Winston Churchill).</I> (SYN) greedy. <DD><B> b. </B>mean; low; base. <BR> <I>Ex. It is through Art ... that we shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence (Oscar Wilde).</I> (SYN) contemptible, ignoble, degraded. <DD><B> 3. </B>of a dull or dirty color, as some birds and fishes. adv. <B>sordidly.</B> noun <B>sordidness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sordine">
<B>sordine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a mute, as for a trumpet; sourdine. <DD><B> 2. </B>a trumpet fitted with this. </DL>
<A NAME="sordino">
<B>sordino, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ni.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a mute. </DL>
<A NAME="sordor">
<B>sordor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> sordid character. <BR> <I>Ex. the sordor of civilisation (Byron).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sore">
<B>sore, </B>adjective, <B>sorer,</B> <B>sorest,</B> noun, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>causing sharp or continuous pain; painful; aching; smarting; tender. <BR> <I>Ex. a sore finger.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>sad; sorrowful or grieving; distressed. <BR> <I>Ex. The suffering of the poor makes her heart sore. Why speak I vain words to a heart still sore With sudden death of happiness? (William Morris).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) easily angered or offended; irritable; touchy. (SYN) sensitive. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) offended; angered; vexed. <BR> <I>Ex. He is sore at missing the game.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) causing pain, misery, anger, or offense; vexing. <BR> <I>Ex. Their defeat is a sore subject with the members of the team.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>severe; distressing. <BR> <I>Ex. Your going away is a sore grief to us. For want of money the poor family was in sore need.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a painful place on the body where the skin or flesh is infected, broken, or bruised. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a cause of pain, sorrow, sadness, anger, or offense. (SYN) affliction. <DD><I>adv. </I> (Archaic.) in a sore manner. adv. <B>sorely.</B> noun <B>soreness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="soredial">
<B>soredial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) having the appearance of a soredium. </DL>
<A NAME="soredium">
<B>soredium, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dia.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) a gonidium of a lichen that is able to develop into a new thallus when detached from the surface of the thallus. </DL>
<A NAME="sorefalcon">
<B>sorefalcon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a falcon in the reddish-brown plumage of the first year. </DL>
<A NAME="sorehead">
<B>sorehead, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who is easily angered or offended. <DD><B> 2. </B>a disappointed politician. <DD><I>adj. </I> soreheaded; irritable. <BR> <I>Ex. In a special issue in 1956, it offered a sorehead view of Harvard and a garish mix of ideas (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="soreheaded">
<B>soreheaded, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) feeling angered or offended. <BR> <I>Ex. You were soreheaded about something (Sinclair Lewis).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sorehon">
<B>sorehon, </B>noun. =sorren.</DL>
<A NAME="sorespot">
<B>sore spot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> something that angers or offends easily. <BR> <I>Ex. Everybody has a few sore spots, such as an embarrassing occurrence he would rather not discuss.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sorethroat">
<B>sore throat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> inflammation of the throat, causing pain especially when one is swallowing. </DL>
<A NAME="sorghum">
<B>sorghum, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a tall cereal grass resembling corn. One kind of sorghum has a sweet juice used for making molasses or syrup. Some kinds provide food for livestock either by their grain or as hay, and other furnish material for brushes or brooms. <DD><B> 2. </B>molasses or syrup made from a sweet sorghum plant. </DL>
<A NAME="sorgo">
<B>sorgo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-gos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the sweet sorghums. </DL>
<A NAME="sori">
<B>sori, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> plural of <B>sorus.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="soricine">
<B>soricine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or belonging to the family comprising the shrews. <DD><B> 2. </B>shrewlike. </DL>
<A NAME="sorites">
<B>sorites, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tes.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of argument having several premises and one conclusion. A sorites can be resolved into a number of syllogisms, the conclusion of each being the premise of the next. </DL>
<A NAME="soritical">
<B>soritical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with a sorites. <DD><B> 2. </B>resembling a sorites. </DL>
<A NAME="sorn">
<B>sorn, </B>intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) to sponge for food or lodging. </DL>
<A NAME="soroban">
<B>soroban, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the type of abacus used in Japan. <BR> <I>Ex. The Japanese start using the abacus or soroban in the fourth grade and develop a concrete familiarity with numbers (Scientific American).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Compare <B>suan pan.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="soroche">
<B>soroche, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in the Andes Mountains) mountain sickness; puna. </DL>
<A NAME="soroptimist">
<B>Soroptimist</B> or <B>soroptimist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of an international organization of service clubs for professional and executive businesswomen. </DL>
<A NAME="sororal">
<B>sororal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having to do with a sister. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=sisterly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sororate">
<B>sororate, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the custom among some primitive peoples that allows or requires a man to marry his deceased wife's younger sister. </DL>
<A NAME="sororicidal">
<B>sororicidal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with sorricide. <DD><B> 2. </B>tending towards sororicide. </DL>
<A NAME="sororicide">
<B>sororicide</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of killing one's sister. </DL>
<A NAME="sororicide">
<B>sororicide</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who kills one's sister. </DL>
<A NAME="sorority">
<B>sorority, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a club or society of women or girls, especially at a college. <DD><B> 2. </B>a sisterhood. </DL>
<A NAME="sorosis">
<B>sorosis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Botany.) a fleshy multiple fruit composed of the ovaries, receptacles, and associated parts of an entire cluster of flowers, as in the pineapple and mulberry. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) a society, especially a women's society or club. </DL>
<B>sorrel</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a plant with sour leaves. It is a small perennial herb that belongs to the buckwheat family. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of various plants resembling this. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=oxalis.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sorreltree">
<B>sorrel tree,</B> =sourwood.</DL>
<A NAME="sorren">
<B>sorren, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>hospitality formerly due to the lord or his men in Ireland and Scotland. <DD><B> 2. </B>a tax imposed instead of this. </DL>
<A NAME="sorrow">
<B>sorrow, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>grief, sadness, or regret. <BR> <I>Ex. She felt sorrow at the loss of her kitten. Sorrow comes with years (Elizabeth Barrett Browning).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a cause of grief, sadness, or regret; trouble; suffering; misfortune. <BR> <I>Ex. Her sorrows, have aged her. Call ignorance my sorrow, not my sin (Robert Browning).</I> (SYN) afflication, woe. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to feel or show grief, sadness, or regret; be sad; feel sorry; grieve. <BR> <I>Ex. She sorrowed over the lost kitten.</I> (SYN) mourn. noun <B>sorrower.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sorrowful">
<B>sorrowful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of sorrow; feeling sorrow; sad. <BR> <I>Ex. a sorrowful person.</I> (SYN) unhappy, mournful. <DD><B> 2. </B>showing sorrow. <BR> <I>Ex. a sorrowful smile.</I> (SYN) unhappy, mournful. <DD><B> 3. </B>causing sorrow. <BR> <I>Ex. A death in the family is a sorrowful occurrence.</I> adv. <B>sorrowfully.</B> noun <B>sorrowfulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sorrowless">
<B>sorrowless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> feeling no sorrow; free from sorrow. </DL>
<A NAME="sorry">
<B>sorry, </B>adjective, <B>-rier,</B> <B>-riest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>feeling pity, regret, or sympathy; sad. <BR> <I>Ex. I am sorry that you are sick. We are sorry that we cannot come to the party. Everyone is sorry for a blind animal.</I> (SYN) distressed, sorrowful. <DD><B> 2. </B>wretched; poor; pitiful. <BR> <I>Ex. The baron ... grew fat and wanton, and a sorry brute (Emerson). Slipshod handling once the packages reach the grocery can reduce even the finest brand to a sorry and sometimes dangerous mess (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>painful; distressing. <BR> <I>Ex. The blind beggar in his ragged clothes was a sorry sight. Nothing dear goes cheap except for a sorry reason (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>worthless. <BR> <I>Ex. a sorry excuse.</I> adv. <B>sorrily.</B> noun <B>sorriness.</B> </DL>
