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
