When something bedevils you, it causes you a lot of problems and difficulties over a period of time.
When you beleaguer someone, you act with the intent to annoy or harass that person repeatedly until they finally give you what you want.
If you are beset by something, you are experiencing serious problems or dangers because of it.
If one’s powers or rights are circumscribed, they are limited or restricted.
If you circumvent something, such as a rule or restriction, you try to get around it in a clever and perhaps dishonest way.
You coerce people when you force them to do something that they don’t want to do.
To contravene a law, rule, or agreement is to do something that is not allowed or is forbidden by that law, rule, or agreement.
Duress is the application or threat of force to compel someone to act in a particular way.
If a fact or idea eludes you, you cannot remember or understand it; if you elude someone, you manage to escape or hide from them.
If something is formidable, it is impressive in size, power, or skill; therefore, it can make you feel frightened, alarmed, or in awe because it is so powerful or difficult to deal with.
Something that is inconspicuous does not attract attention and is not easily seen or noticed because it is small or ordinary.
A maelstrom is either a large whirlpool in the sea or a violent or agitated state of affairs.
An organization or system that is a monolith is extremely large; additionally, it is unwilling or very slow to change or adopt something new.
To obviate a problem is to eliminate it or do something that makes solving the problem unnecessary.
To parry is to ward something off or deflect it.
If someone is rotund, they have a round and fat body.
Stasis is a state of little change over a long period of time, or a condition of inactivity caused by an equal balance of opposing forces.
A tumultuous event or period of time is filled with great excitement, confusion, or violence; a tumultuous reaction to something is likewise very loud and noisy because people are happy and excited.
If someone acts in an unobtrusive way, their actions are not easily noticed and do not stand out in any way.
To wallow in something is to immerse, roll, or absorb oneself lazily in it; wallow can also refer to being very involved in a negative feeling, such as wallowing in misery or self-pity.
Noun
vortex
VAWR-teks
Context
Young people aspiring to be models are often swept up from every state into the spinning and energetic central vortex of the New York City modeling scene. Rarely can one make it big outside of this modeling vortex or whirling force that absorbs all within its attractive center. The New York City agencies that govern the power and success of the world’s supermodels have created this modeling vortex or commercial whirlpool into which all are drawn.
Quiz:Try again!
What is dangerous about a vortex?
Its ability to suck things into itself as it spins.
The Vortex of Texas The vortex of Texas is about to devour all the other states--luckily it's big enough to do so!
Examples
Phil, Tiger and Ernie accounted for all of the one-name star power, but the most intriguing [golfer] was Dustin Johnson, who was effortlessly smashing one perfect drive after another with his vortex-inducing swing.
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Sports Illustrated
He made his first prototype of the Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE)—a machine that produces mini tornadoes–in 2005, and launched the Ontario, Canada-based company AVEtec the following year to see the project through.
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Popular Science
The stormy weather pattern over the North Atlantic is related to an unusually strong polar vortex, which is bottling up frigid air over the Arctic rather than releasing much to the south and, at the same time, helping to generate extreme weather in the high latitudes.
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Washington Post
Sedona is famous for its so-called vortex sites, spots where the earth’s energy is supposedly increased, leading to self-awareness and various kinds of healing.
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The New York Times
The nature of a vortex is the force it creates while “turning” quickly, and thus attracting things into it.
Word Theater
The Pretender Jarod discovered the natural heat vortex just by watching the hawks.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
