2 Flashcards
5 Sep
cant
cant n. insincere talk; language of a particular group
Many of the beat artists of the 1950s reacted against what they regarded as the cant of bourgeois society.
capricious
capricious adj. fickle
The rule of law is regarded by many historians as one of humanity’s great achievements because since its inception citizens are no
longer subject to capricious decisions and penalties of rulers.
Caprice is a noun meaning an inclination to change one’s mind
compulsively.
Styles in high fashion seem governed by caprice as much as anything else.
castigation
castigation n. punishment; chastisement; criticism
Many British writers recall with loathing the castigation they
received at school.
catalyst
catalyst n. something causing change
Among the catalysts of the Romantic movement were the libertarian ideals of the French Revolution.
chicanery
chicanery n. trickery; fraud
The governor ordered an audit to investigate alleged financial chicanery.
coagulate
coagulate v. thicken; congeal
In normal individuals, blood begins to coagulate about 20 seconds
after a wound is sustained, thus preventing further bleeding.
commensurate
commensurate adj. proportional
In the United States, malpractice suits have raised the cost of
medicine because doctors must pay more for insurance, and thus
increase their fees commensurately.
compendium
compendium n. brief, comprehensive summary
The Mozart Compendium: A Guide to Mozart’s Life and Music
by H. C. Robbins Landon is a convenient reference for finding
information about the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
complaisant
complaisant adj. overly polite; willing to please; obliging
Although France and Germany have a close relationship, neither
would consider the other a complaisant ally.
conciliatory
conciliatory adj. overcoming distrust or hostility
The leader of the country made conciliatory statements assuring
the world that his country did not intend to acquire nuclear weapons.
concomitant
concomitant n. existing concurrently
A rebuttal of the argument that homo sapiens’s higher cognitive
functions could not be the result solely of evolution is that such
abilities arose as concomitants of language, which gave early
hominids a tremendous advantage over other species.
confound
confound v. to baffle; perplex; mix up
Everyone but astrophysicists seems to be confounded by the
question, “What happened before the Big Bang?”
contentious
contentious adj. quarrelsome; causing quarrels
When genetic engineering began in the 1970s, there was a
contentious, and sometimes acrimonious, debate among scientists
themselves about its dangers.
conundrum
conundrum n. riddle; puzzle with no solution
The paradoxical statement “This statement is false” presents us
with a conundrum.
convoluted
convoluted adj. twisted; complicated
Unraveling the convoluted genetic code is one of the great
achievements of modern science.
cosmology
cosmology n. study of the universe as a totality; theory of the origin
and structure of the universe
Albert Einstein downplayed the strength of the evidence for
quantum theory because a universe governed by laws that are
inconsistent in their application was not congruent with his
personal cosmology.
Cosmos is a noun meaning the physical universe regarded as a
totality.
Shakespeare embodies the incredible confidence and vitality of
Renaissance artists and writers, depicting the entire cosmos, not
intimidated by its vastness.
Cosmic is an adjective meaning relating to the physical universe,
especially as distinct from Earth, and suggests infinite vastness.
The gods of ancient Greece were concerned not only with cosmic
events, but also with the ordinary events of everyday life.
craven
craven adj. cowardly
In the Hindu epic poem the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna warns
the hero, who is reluctant to fight, that refusing to fight would be a
craven act.
credence
credence n. acceptance of something as true
One of the lessons in Aesop’s fable “The Shepherd Boy and the
Wolf ” is that if a person “cries wolf ” too many times without real
danger being present (that is, raises too many false alarms) people
will be less likely to give credence to future alarms raised by that
person.
decorum
decorum n. proper behavior
When addressing the nation, the president generally has an air of
decorum.
The adjective is decorous.
deference
deference n. respect; regard for another’s wish
There was a movement to condemn slavery among some of the
writers of the Declaration of Independence, but despite many
misgivings, the proposal was dropped in deference to the objections
of a number of people.
The verb defer means to submit to the wishes of another due to
respect or recognition of the person’s authority or knowledge.
The young lawyer deferred to the view of the senior partner in the
law firm.
delineate
delineate v. to represent or depict
Quantum theory led to the formulation of the uncertainty principle,
which was delineated in 1937 by Werner Heisenberg.
demotic
demotic adj. pertaining to people
Walt Whitman is considered by many to be a quintessentially
American poet, a poet who celebrated the glory of the ordinary
person; one critic praised him as a poet who was able to “make the
demotic sing.”
demur
demur v. to express doubt
The Supreme Court’s decision was not unanimous; one justice
demurred, saying that the majority decision used specious
reasoning.
denigrate
denigrate v. to slur someone’s reputation
According to a recent biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous
leader felt a need to denigrate women.
