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96 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Alloy
v |
To commingle; to debase by mixing with something inferior; "unalloyed means pure"
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Appropriate
v |
To take for one's own use, confiscate
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August
adj |
majestic, venerable
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broach
v |
bring up, announce, begin to talk about
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brook
v |
to tolerate, endure, countenance
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chauvinist
n |
a blindly devoted patriot
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consequential
adj |
pompous, self-important (primary definitions are: logically following; important)
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essay
v |
to test or try; experiment
"the newly born fawn essayed a few wobbly steps" |
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exact
v |
to demand, call for, require, take
"even a victorious war exacts a heavy price." |
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flag
v |
to sag or droop, to become spiritless, to decline: thihnk of a flag on a windless, in her flagging spirits
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guy
n/v |
a rope, cord, or cable attached to something as a brace or guide; to steady or reinforce using a guy; Think GUIDE
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Intimate
v |
to imply, suggest, or insinuate: "Are you intimidating that I cannot be trusted?"
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Lumber
v |
To move heavily and clumsily
"lumbering giants on land, walruses are actually graceful swimmers" |
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meet
adj |
Fitting, proper
"It is altogether meet that Jackie Robinson is in the baseball hall of fame." |
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mince
v |
pronounce or speak affectedly, euphemize, speak too carefully
"Don't mince words" |
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nice
adj |
exacting, fastidious, extremely precise: "He made a nice distinction between the two cases."
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obtain
adj |
to be established, accepted, or customary: "Those standards no longer obtain"
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occult
adj |
hidden, concealed, beyond comprehension
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pine
v |
to lose vigor (as through grief); to yearn
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plastic
adj |
moldable, pliable, not rigid
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prize
v |
to pry, to press or force with a lever; something taken by force, spoils: "The information was prized from him."
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rail
v |
To complain about bitterly: "early american progressives railed against the railroad barons."
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rent
v/n |
torn, past of rend: "He rent his garments;" An opening or tear caused by such: "A large rent in the fabric."
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quail
v |
to lose courage, turn frightened
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qualify
v |
to limit: "let me qualify that statement."
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sap
v |
to enervate or weaken the vitality of
"That race sapped my strength" |
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scurvy
adj |
contemptible, despicable: "he was a scurvy old reprobate"
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singular
adj |
exceptional, unusual, odd: "He was singularly well-suited for the job"
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stand
n |
a group of trees
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table
v |
to remove (as a parliamentary motion) from consideration: "they tabled the motion and will consider it again later."
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tender
v |
to proffer or ofter "He tendered his resignation."
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wag
n |
wit, joker
"Groucho Marx was a well known wag" |
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abjure
v |
to renounce or reject solemny; to recant; to avoid
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adumbrate
v |
to foreshadow vaguely or intimidate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow
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anodyne
adj/n |
soothing, something that assuages or allays pain or comforts
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apostate
n |
one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions
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apotheosis
n |
deification, glorification to godliness, an exalted example, a model of excellence or perfection
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asperity
n |
severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability
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calumniate
v |
to slander, make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion
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captious
adj |
disposed to point out trivial faults, calculated to confuse or entrap in argument
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cavil
v |
to find fault without good reason
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celerity
n |
speed, alacrity, think "accelerate"
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chimera
n |
an illusion; originally an imaginary fire-breathing, she-monster
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contumacious
adj |
insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion
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denouement
n |
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
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descry
v |
to discriminate or discern
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desuetude
n |
disuse: "after years of desuetude, my French skills were finally put to use"
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desultory
adj |
random, aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose: "Her desultory performance impressed no one."
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diaphanous
adj |
tranparent, gauzy
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dirge
n |
song of grief or lamentation
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encomium
n |
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy
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eschew
v |
to shun or avoid: "She chose to eschew the movie theatre, preferring to watch DVDs at home."
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excoriate
v |
to censure scathingly, to upbraid
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execrate
v |
denounce, feel loating for, curse, declare to be evil
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exegesis
n |
critical examination, explication
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expiate
v |
to atone or make amends for: "Pia Zadora has expiated her movie career by good works and charity."
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fatuous
adj |
silly, inanely foolish: "I would ignore such a fatuous comment"
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fractious
adj |
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable
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gainsay
v |
to deny, dispute, contradict, oppose
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heterodox
adj |
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
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imbroglio
n |
difficult or embarrassing situation
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indefatigable
adj |
not easily exhaustible, tireless, dogged
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ineluctable
adj |
certain, inevitable
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inimitable
adj |
one of a kind, peerless
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insouciant
adj |
unconcerned, carefree, heedless
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inveterate
adj |
deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
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jejune
adj |
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile
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lubricious
adj |
lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
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mendicant
n |
a begger, supplicant
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meretricious
adj |
cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show
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minatory
adj |
menacing, threatening, (reminds ou of the minotaur)
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nadir
n |
low point, perigee
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nonplussed
adj |
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think
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obstreperous
adj |
noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous
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palliate
v |
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less sever or intense
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panegyric
n |
formal praise, eulogy, encomium; "panegyrical" means expressing elaborate praise.
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pellucid
adj |
transparent, easy to understand, limpid
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peroration
n |
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech
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plangent
adj |
pounding, thundering, resounding
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prolix
adj |
long-winded, verbose: "prolixity" means verbosity: "Michael Gorbachev is famous for his prolixity"
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propitiate
v |
to appease; to conciliate; "propitious" means auspicious, favorable
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puerile
adj |
childish, immature, jejune, nugatory
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puissance
n |
power, strength; "puissant" means powerful, strong: "The senator delivered a puissant speech to the convention
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remonstrate
v |
to protest, object
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salacious
adj |
lustful, lascivious, bawdy
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salutary
adj |
remedial, wholesome, causing improvement
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sanguine
adj |
cheerful, confident, optimistic
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saturnine
adj |
gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
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sententious
adj |
aphoristic or moralistic, epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively
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stentorian
adj |
extremely loud and powerful
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stygian
adj |
gloomy, dark
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sycophant
n |
toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer, parasite
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tendentious
adj |
biased; showing marked tendencies
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tyro
n |
novice, greenhorn, rank amateur
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vitiate
v |
to corrupt, debase, spoil, make ineffective
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voluble
adj |
fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language
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