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unthinkable consequences?" I. F. Stone, "The Weekly Reader"

fastidious

"A single small elephant tusk took no less than two months of fastidious work to excavate." Brian Fagan, Time Detectives

fatal

"What caused him to lose the election was his fatal mistake of not raising sufficient funds to publicize himself." Jewell Bellush and Dick Netzer, Urban Politics

fatuous

"After only a few seconds of silence, speakers of English seem obligated to say something, even making a fatuous comment about the weather." Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue

feasible

"Everyone who has looked at the smart guns said there is no quick, feasible way of doing this." Leslie Wayne, "Smart Guns," New York Times, 6/15/99

feint

"Young as Oliver was, he had sense enough to make a feint of feeling great regret at going away." Charles Dickens,

Oliver Twist

felicitous

"The evening of hypnotism was not a felicitous one; we were frightened that we would lose our will or enter into unpleasant acts." Diary of Anais Nin

felon

"I was surprised to see this notorious felon become a regular at our bible discussion classes." Rabbi Myron David, A Chaplain's Jail Tales [adapted]

ferment

"She herself yearned for calm, but lived in a neighborhood of ferment and daily chaos." Alan Lelchuk, American Mischief

fervid

"I'm a mixture of my mother's determination and my father's fervid optimism." Gwen Robyns, Light of A Star

fetish

"Today the automobile has become a fetish for one's standing and accomplishments." Mark Twain, Autobiography

fetters

"The cruel fetters of the galley slaves were wet with blood." Alex Haley, Roots

fiasco

"Your $25 contribution to our fund will bring you an hilarious tape of the fiasco of an elementary school's production of 'Peter Pan.'" Public Broadcasting Announcement, 12/25/98

fiat

"Pitching Coach Bob Apodaca's fiat to Met hurlers was simple: pitch fast, change speeds, throw strikes." Howie Rose, baseball announcer, Fox Sports, 7/8/99

flabbergasted

"The President was flabbergasted when his private office recorded conversations were made public." Herbert Brucker, Journalist

flagrant

"Gene Savoy's flagrant name dropping doesn't seem to bother any of the visitors on board." Brad Wetzler, "Crazy for Adventure," New York Times, 6/6/99

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fluctuated

"He fluctuated between mindless talk and endless silence." Alix Shulman, "Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen"

foist

"Eventually, advertisements began to foist off the use of perfume as a way to snare a man." E. S. Turner, The Shocking History of Advertising [adapted]

foment

"The petitioners were not attempting to foment violence by their peaceful actions." Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, decision, 1960

forthwith

"Get down to your Toyota dealer forthwith and take advantage of our holiday saleabration." Toyota advertisement, CBS TV

fortuitous

"Representative Foley resumed a corridor interview, making a point about the fortuitous beauty of bipartisanship." Francis X. Clines, "Gun Control Debate," New York Times, 6/18/99

fracas

"Once the will was read, there followed a fracas that involved numerous law suits and lasted years." Fortune, 2/16/91

fractious

"The fractious couple received a tongue lashing from Judge Judy." Arnold Feigenbaum, "Television Justice?"

frail

"This frail woman has the strength to work where the strong turn away." "Mother Teresa," New Republic, 10/16/97

fraught

"Ev'ry sigh comes forth so fraught with sweets, 'Tis incense to be offered to a god." Nathaniel Lee, The Rival Queens

fray

"To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast, Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest." William Shakespeare,

Henry IV

frenetic

"There is no place more frenetic than a newspaper office when a major story is breaking." Herbert Brucker,

Journalist

frenzy

"They had a sense of the wildest adventure, which mounted to frenzy, when some men rose on the shore and shouted to them, 'Hello, there! What are you doing with that boat?' " William Dean Howells, A Boy's Town

fretful

"When Mike Nichols directed 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' Warner Bros. was fretful, worrying about the Legion of Decency." Liz Smith, "Century's Choice," New York Post, 6/23/99

frugal

"He was famously frugal'so tight he damn near squeaked' says a colleague." Eric Pooley, "How George Got His Groove," TIME, 6/21/99

fruitless

"Since launching a diplomatic shuttle, the Russian envoy had spent dozens of fruitless hours with the Yugoslav dictator." Johanna McGeary, "Why He Blinked," TIME, 6/14/99

frustrated

"I will not be frustrated by reality." Ray Bradbury, Forever and the Earth