racking, adj. torturous, torturesome, excruciating, agonizing, scathing; severe, sharp, acute, piercing, poignant; insufferable, unbearable, unendurable, extreme, terrific; painful, abusive, harmful, hurtful, injurious; backbreaking, killing, murderous, laborious, toilsome, operose, exacting, tough, hard; hellish, awful, terrible, horrible, dreadful, bad; anguishing, distressing, distressful, afflictive, harrowing; worrisome, troublesome, oppressive, burdensome, wearing; distressing, disturbing, upsetting, disquieting, discomfiting.
raconteur, n. storyteller, anecdotist, relator, narrator, Scheherazade; teller of tales, romancer, spinner of yarns.
racy, adj. 1. suggestive, risqud, off-color, ribald, bawdy; lewd, obscene, pornographic, SI. porno or porny, erotic; immodest, indecent, shameless, Inf. blue; vulgar, filthy, dirty, smutty, SI. raunchy; gross, coarse, crude, rude, indelicate, tactless.
2. vigorous, lively, alive, full of life, Inf. peppy, Inf. full of pep, full of vim and vigor, U.S. Inf. chipper, sprightly, spry; energetic, dynamic, spirited, mettlesome; animated, vivacious, enthusiastic, buoyant, bouncy.
3. piquant, pungent, strong, forceful, poignant; piercing, biting, sharp, trenchant, keen; stimulating, interesting, intriguing, fascinating, captivating; entertaining, electric, exciting, challenging, galvanizing.
4. flavorful, flavorous, good, tasty, savory; well-seasoned, spicy, tart, tangy, zesty, zestful, snappy, with a kick or bite; hot, acid, peppery, curried, spiced or highly spiced.
radial, adj. spokewise, centrifugal, fanlike, outspread, spread apart, divergent, divaricate, branching, branched.
radiance, n. 1. radiancy, resplendence, splendor, refulgence, brilliance; brightness, light, luminosity, luminance, luminousness, illumination; glow, effulgence, gleam, glare, dazzle; sparkle, luster, glitter, Archaic. glister, glisten, sparkle, coruscation, lambency, shimmer.
2. sunniness, warmth, cheeriness, blitheness, gladness, joyfulness, light-heartedness, gaiety.
radiant, adj. 1. shining, bright, sunny, sunshiny; illuminated, alight, lit, lighted; irradiant, lambent, resplendent, brilliant, beaming, beamy; dazzling, vivid, intense, ablaze, aflame, afire; fulgent, effulgent, refulgent; splendid, splendrous, gorgeous, rich, superb, magnificent; lustrous, lucid, lucent, Rare, relucent; glowing, aglow, luminous, luminescent, luminiferous, incandescent, phosphorescent; shiny, glossy, gleaming, agleam, glaring; sheenful, sheeny, nitid, polished, burnished; sparkling, scintillating, scintillant, coruscating, twinkling, shimmering; glimmering, aglimmer, glistening, aglisten, Archaic, glistering, aglint, glittering, aglitter, rutilant, fulgid.
2. happy, blissful, beatific, pleased, delighted, Inf. tickled pink; blithe, blithesome, merry, gay, gleeful; glad, gladsome, joyful, joyous, hopeful, sunny, animated; sparkling, bubbling, bubbly, effervescent; charming, winsome, riant, laughing, smiling, happy as a lark, in good or high spirits; buoyant, cheerful, cheery, sprightly, pert, jaunty; airy, light-hearted, jolly, jovial, convivial; mirthful, playful, jocose, frolicsome, jocund, sportive, zestful; excited, enthusiastic, enthused, exhilarated, rhapsodic, rhapsodistic; ecstatic, jubilant, overjoyed, elated, exultant, in seventh heaven; rapturous, enrapt, enraptured, enchanted, entranced, transported, intoxicated.
radiate, v. 1. spoke out, send out, branch out, divaricate, diverge, spread out.
2. irradiate, disseminate, disperse, diffuse, scatter, circulate.