22nd July 2021 Flashcards
vanquish
To vanquish is to be the complete and total winner, to overpower and overcome, whether in a contest, a race, or a war.
It reached the first final of a major tournament in 55 years, vanquishing Germany and Denmark.
stymie
The verb stymie means to obstruct or hinder.
Constantly texting with your friends will stymie your effort to finish your homework.
But even strong oversight boards are often stymied by police and political opposition, a Post investigation found.
Power outages stymied the effort, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The engineers found their plans stymied at every turn and were ultimately able to make almost no progress on the project
antiquated
Something is antiquated when it is so old that it is no longer useful. If your parents believe that you shouldn’t use the Internet when you write papers for school, you might call their ideas antiquated.
Although fans of the genre, as well as older dads, will certainly appreciate the films, Paramount did an enormous disservice to cinema connoisseurs by releasing the collection in the antiquated DVD format
vie
To vie for something means to compete for it. Two teams may vie for the gold medal, but one will have to go home with silver.
There is a media division, in which networks and websites vie for the attention of Americans with monsters under their beds.
Merkel’s party is leading in polls ahead of Germany’s Sept. 26 election, but the environmentalist Greens and the center-left Social Democrats are also vying to lead a future government.
staid
Something that is staid is dignified, respectable — possibly even boring, like a staid dinner party that is heavy on the important guests but light on the laughs.
Something that is staid is sedate, slightly dull, and tends to stay the same.
Nicholas Kristof’s column reminded me of the story my father, the journalist Stewart Alsop, told about interviewing Abbie Hoffman, one of the Chicago Seven, over lunch at the staid Metropolitan Club in Washington, D.C.
discreet
Discreet describes someone or something that is appropriately quiet, prudent, and restrained.
In the interview, Ms. Le Pen described herself as “very discreet,” and said she wanted to open up more about herself before the election.
aphorism
Use the noun aphorism when you have something compact and astute to say.
An aphorism is a statement or saying that is both efficiently presented and either witty or wise.
Mr. Hanson revised Winston Churchill’s famous aphorism to describe the current situation: “There’s no more appeasing the crocodile,” he said.
The founder of the drug company for which I once worked was remembered for the aphorism “Show me a drug with no side effects, and I’ll show you a drug with no effects.
abysmal
If you want to say something is really, really bad — then call it abysmal.
A 2014 report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that an abysmal 18% of American high school kids were proficient in U.S. history, never mind world history.
futile
Producing no result of effect.
My preparations towards GRE would be futile if I do not learn new words and remember them everyday.
paradoxical
Paradoxical is an adjective that describes a paradox, something with two meanings that don’t make sense together.
It is paradoxical that some public officials see creating profit-making opportunities for insurance companies as a solution to Baltimore’s housing crisis, given the city’s history.
