2 Flashcards
Abate
verb: To reduce in amount, degree, or intensity; to lessen.
Abdicate
verb: To relinquish power or responsibility formally.
Abridge
verb: To reduce the length of a written text; to condense.
Annex
verb: To append or attach, especially to a larger or more significant entity, often by force or without consent.
Arraign
verb: To call an accused person before a court of law to answer a charge made against them.
Augury
noun: An indication of what may happen in the future; an omen. (harbinger, portent)
Bulwark
noun: A wall or embankment used as a defense fortification; a rampart; something serving as a means of defense, protection, or safeguard.
Calumny
noun: A false statement maliciously made to harm another person’s reputation; a malicious attack. (denunciation, vituperation)
Churlish
adjective: Having a sour, difficult, or intractable disposition; difficult to work with. (imperious)
Cicatrice
noun: A scar left following the healing of a wound, whether emotional or physical.
Collateral
adjective: Of a secondary nature; subordinate.
Conjecture
noun: An inference, judgment, or opinion based on incomplete or inconclusive evidence or information. (hypothesis)
Craven
adjective: So lacking in courage as to be worthy of contempt; characterized by abject fear; cowardly.
Equivocate
verb: To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.
Gambol
verb: To frolic; to leap or skip about playfully; playful behavior.
Germane
adjective: Suitably related to something; fitting; appropriate; apropos; highly relevant. (felicitous)
Glean
verb: To obtain or learn information in small amounts or over a period of time.
Impute
verb: To attribute usually undesirable characteristics or actions to someone or something.
Numinous
adjective: A mysterious power that suggests the presence of spirit, deity, or god.
Objurgate
verb: To scold harshly; to rebuke or censure. (castigate)
Obscure
adjective: Difficult to understand or perceive because of a lack of clarity; unable to perceive distinctly.
Obsequies
noun: Rites or ceremonies carried out at a funeral or commemorative service.
Ostentatious
adjective: A vulgar display of wealth to impress people; pretentious; intended to attract, notice, or impress others.
Palliate
verb: To reduce the intensity or severity of something; to make an offense or crime seem less serious. (mitigate, extenuate, allay, assuage)
Palpable
adjective: Capable of being handled, touch, or felt; so intense as to be almost able to be felt physically. (tangible)
Paradox
noun: A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Prate
verb: To talk idly at length; to chatter; to engage in small-talk.
Promontory
noun: A high ridge of land or rock that juts out over a body of water.
Protean
adjective: Readily or easily assuming different forms, shapes, or characteristics; extremely variable, malleable, or highly adaptable.
Quiescent
adjective: Being quiet, still, or at rest; inactive.
Remiss
adjective: Negligent in performance or work; lax in attending to duties or meeting obligations.
Rueful
adjective: Characterized by regret that is often accompanied by sorrow; inspiring pity or compassion.
Sanctify
verb: To set apart for sacred use; to consecrate; to make holy; to purify.
Sovereign
noun: One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, as in a king or queen, especially in a nation or other form of government.
Unction
noun: Anointing with oil; genuine or pretended earnestness.
