#43 felicity ~ foment Flashcards
felicity
/fɪˈlɪsɪti/
n. happiness; skillfulness, esp. at expressing things; adeptness
- Love was not all felicity for Judy and Steve; they argued all the time. In fact their relationship was characterized by infelicity.
- Shakespeare wrote with great felicity. His works are filled with felicitous expressions.
fervor
/ˈfɜrvər/
n. great warmth or earnestness; ardor; zeal
- Avid baseball fans frequently display their fervor for the game by throwing food at bad players.
fetter
/ˈfɛtər/
v. to restrain; to hamper
- In his pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, the runner was fettered by multiple injuries.
A fetter is literally a chain (attached to the foot) that is used to restrain a criminal or, for hat matter, an innocent person. A figurative fetter can be anything that hampers or restrains someone.
- The housewife’s young children were the fetters that prevented her from pursuing a second Master’s degree.
unfettered
/ʌnˈfɛtəd/
adj. unrestrained; free of hindrances
- After the dictator was deposed, a novelist produced a fictional account of the dictatorship that was unfettered by he strict rules of censorship.
fidelity
/fɪˈdɛlɪti, faɪ-/
n. faithfulness; loyalty
- The motto of the United States Marine Corps is semper fidelis, which is Latin for always loyal.
A high-fidelity record player is one that is very faithful in reproducing the original sound of whatever was recorded.
- The crusader’s life was marked by fidelity to the cause of justice.
- The soldiers couldn’t shoot straight, but their fidelity to the cause of freedom was never in question.
infidelity
/ˌɪnfɪˈdɛlɪti/
n. faithlessness; disloyalty
- Marital infidelity is another way of saying adultery.
- Early phonograph records were marked by infidelity to the original.
figurative
/ˈfɪgyərətɪv/
adj. based on figures of speech; expressing sth. in terms usually used for sth. else; metaphorical
- When the mayor said that the housing market had sprouted wings, he was speaking figuratively. The housing market hadn’t really sprouted wings; it had merely risen so rapidly that it had almost seemed to fly.
- To say that the autumn hillside was a blaze of color is to use the word blaze in a figurative sense. The hillside wasn’t really on fire, but the colors of the leaves made it appear (somewhat) as though it were.
finesse
/fɪˈnɛss/
n. skillful maneuvering; subtlety; craftiness
- The doctor sewed up the wound with finesse, making stitches so small one could scarcely see them.
- The boxer moved with such finesse that his opponent never knew what hit him.
flagrant
/ˈfleɪgrənt/
adj. glaringly bad; notorious; scandalous
An example of a flagrant theft would be stealing a car from the parking lot of police station. A flagrant spelling error is a very noticeable one.
flaunt
/flɔnt/
v. to show off; to display ostentatiously
- The brand-new millionaire annoyed all his friends by driving around his old neighborhood to flaunt his new Rolls-Royce.
- Colleen flaunted her engagement ring, shoving it in the face of almost anyone who came near her.
flout
/flaʊt/
v. to disregard sth. out of disrespect
- A driver flouts the traffic laws by driving through red lights and knocking down pedestrians.
To flaunt success is to make certain everyone knows that you are successful. To flout success is to be contemptuous of success or to act as though it means nothing at all.
foible
/ˈfɔɪbəl/
n. a minor character flaw
- Patti’s foibles included a tendency to prefer dogs to people.
- The delegates to the state convention ignored the candidates’ on the major issues and concentrated on their foibles.
foment
/foʊˈmɛnt/
v. to stir up; to instigate
- The bad news from abroad fomented pessimism among professional investors.
- The radicals spread several rumors in an effort to foment rebellion among the peasants.
