Yes! Your word expedition starts here.

abject

low, servile, or mean; debasing, humbling; utterly hopeless or miserable

Sightings:

Possessing the charm of a cockroach

Human sacrifice in Massachusetts

Echoes from Chiapas

Resources in African-American history

Shakespeare's art of insult

An underground campaign against racism

Jean Genet, turning soot into diamonds

A walker's guide to Amsterdam

Don't play practical jokes in Mammoth Cave -- they might come back to haunt you

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