2021 July Flashcards
Permalance
A portmanteau of the terms “permanent” and “freelance”
Noisome
Unpleasant
Epigrammatic
Concise
Bachata
A style of romantic music originating in the Dominican Republic
Emetophobic
Extreme fear of vomiting
Dervish
A member of a Sufi denomination who has taken vows of poverty and austerity
Jamais vu
A phenomenon in which one experiences a situation that one recognizes, but it seems novel
Peroration
The concluding part of a discourse
Perorate
To speak at great length, often in a grandiloquent manner
Declaim
Rebar
A steel reinforcing rod in concrete
Passim
To be found at various places throughout the text
Hardpan
A hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, occurring in or below the soil and impairing drainage and plant growth
Precator
Latin
I beseech
I beg
I pray
I wish
Leitmotif
A recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea or situation
Example
There are two leitmotifs in this score marking the heroine and her Fairy Godmother
Vignette
A brief evocative description, account or episode
(“A classic vignette of embassy life”)
A small illustration or portrait paragraph which fades into its background without a definite border
Palimpsest
Something reused or altered but still hearing visible traces of its earlier form
(e.g., Sutton Place is a palimpsest of the taste of successive owners)
Farce
Slapstick comedy
Absurdity
Eustasy
A change of sea levels around the world
Phantonym
A word that seems as though it contains one meaning, but means something completely different
Esquivalience
Deliberate shirking of one’s official duties
Enervate
To weaken
Exhaust
Zephyr
A soft, gentle breeze
Phlegmatic
Self-controlled
Ruritanian
Of, or relating to, an imagined European kingdom characterized by provincialism, nationalism, and political intrigue
Having the characteristics of an imaginary place of high romance
Succour
Assistance and support in times of hardship and distress
Caducous
(Of an organ or part) easily detached and shed at an early stage
Retune
To tune again or differently
Pulchritudinous
Beautiful
Bacchanal
Noun
An occasion of wild and drunken revelry
Gestalt
An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts