#1 abash ~ absolve Flashcards
abash
/əˈbæʃ/
v. to make ashamed; to embarrass
- Meredith fell abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus or “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”
unabashedly
adv. to do something without shame or embarrassment
- Karl handed in a term paper that he had unabashedly copied from Wikipedia.
abate
/əˈbeɪt/
v. to subside; to reduce
- George spilled a cup of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated.
- Bad weather abates when good weather begins to return. A rainstorm that does not let up continues unabated.
- A tax abatement is a reduction in taxes.
abdicate
/ˈæbdɪˌkeɪt/
v. to step down from a position of power or responsibility
- When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Walis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcée, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated.
- Abby abdicated her responsibilities as a vice president by dumping in the garbage the reports she was supposed to present to the board of directors and flying to the Bahamas.
aberration
/ˌæbəˈreɪʃən/
n. something not typical; a deviation from the standard
- Seren’s bad behavior was an aberration. So was Harry’s good behavior. That is, Seren’s was usually good, and Harry’s was usually bad.
- The chef at this restaurant is dreadful; the meal we just had was an aberration.
- A snowstorm in June is an aberration; snow doesn’t normally fall in June.
An aberration is an abberant occurrence.
- Seren’s behavior was aberrant. The summer snowstorm was aberrant.
abhor
/æbˈhɔr/
v. to hate very, very much; to detest
- Emanuel abhorred having to wake up before dawn.
To abhor something is to view it with horror. Hating a person is almost friendly in comparison with abhorring him or her.
- To abhor raw chicken livers is to have an abhorrence of them or to find them abhorrent.
abject
/ˈæbdʒɛkt, æbˈdʒɛkt/
adj. hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated
- While most people would quickly recover from a stumble on stage, Mia felt abject humiliation.
An abject person is one who is crushed and without hope. A slave would be abject, in all likelihood.
- Abject poverty is hopeless, desperate poverty.
abnegate
/ˈæbnɪˌgeɪt/
v. to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce
- Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity,
- Self-abnegation is giving up oneself, usually for some higher cause.
abortive
/əˈbɔrtɪv/
adj. unsuccessful
- Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake.
- Fred’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive; he injured himself when he was halfway up.
abort
/əˈbɔrt/
v. to end something before it is completed
abortion
/əˈbɔrʃən/
n. an aborted pregnancy; one that ends before the baby is born; doesn’t have to be the result of a controversial medical procedure.
abridge
/əˈbrɪdʒ/
v. to shorten; to condense
- The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts.
- An abridged dictionary is one that has been shortened to keep it from crushing desks and people’s laps.
abridgment
/əˈbrɪdʒmənt/
n. a shortened or condensed work
absolute
/ˈæbsəˌlut, ˌæbsəˈlut/
adj, total; unlimited
- An absolve ruler is one who is ruled by no one else.
- An absolute mess is a total mess.
- An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow, no two ways about it.
Absolute is also a noun. It means something that is toal, unlimited or perfect. Death, for living things, is an absolute. There just isn’t any way around it.
absolve
/æbˈzɒlv, -ˈsɒlv/
v. to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation
- The priest absolved the sinner who had come to church to confess.
- Tom’s admission of guilt absolved Mary, who had originally been accused of the crime.
- Jake absolved Ciara of her obligation to go to the prom with him; he told her it was all right if she went with the captain of the football team instead.
