6/8/20(princeton,tc,set-2,set-3) Flashcards
backwater
- COUNTABLE NOUN
A backwater is a place that is isolated.
…a quiet rural backwater.
Synonyms: isolated place, backwoods, remote place, sleepy town More Synonyms of backwater - COUNTABLE NOUN
If you refer to a place or institution as a backwater, you think it is not developing properly because it is isolated from ideas and events in other places and institutions.
[disapproval]
Britain could become a political backwater with no serious influence in the world.
This agency will be relegated to the backwaters of Washington.
sprawling
ADJECTIVE
1. sitting or lying in an ungainly manner with one’s limbs spread out
2. spreading out in a straggling fashion
a sprawling and semi-abandoned chateau
The sprawling city contained some 4m people.
He keeps forgetting the words and the song is a sprawling mess.
picaresque
ADJECTIVE [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
A picaresque story is one in which a dishonest but likeable person travels around and has lots of exciting experiences.
[literary]
…a picaresque novel about the life and crimes of Joey Blueglass.
usurp
VERB
If you say that someone usurps a job, role, title, or position, they take it from someone when they have no right to do this.
[formal]
Did she usurp his place in his mother’s heart? [VERB noun]
The Congress wants to reverse the reforms and usurp the power of the presidency. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: seize, take over, assume, take
impotence
- UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
Impotence is a lack of power to influence people or events.
…a sense of impotence in the face of deplorable events.
Synonyms: powerlessness, inability, helplessness, weakness More Synonyms of impotence - UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
Impotence is a man’s sexual problem in which his penis fails to get hard or stay hard.
Impotence affects 10 million men in the U.S. alone.
heterodoxy
NOUN
Word forms: plural ˈheteroˌdoxies
1. the quality or fact of being heterodox
2. a heterodox belief or doctrine
glib
ADJECTIVE
If you describe what someone says as glib, you disapprove of it because it implies that something is simple or easy, or that there are no problems involved, when this is not the case.
[disapproval]
…the glib talk of ‘past misery’.
Mr. Lewis takes an insufferably glib attitude toward it all.
Synonyms: smooth, easy, ready, quick
parlous
ADJECTIVE [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
If something is in a parlous state, it is in a bad or dangerous condition.
[formal]
…the parlous state of our economy.
Synonyms: dangerous, difficult, desperate, risky
expatiate
VERB (intransitive) 1. (foll by on or upon) to enlarge (on a theme, topic, etc) at length or in detail; elaborate (on) 2. rare to wander about
impending
ADJECTIVE [ADJECTIVE noun]
An impending event is one that is going to happen very soon.
[formal]
On the morning of the expedition I awoke with a feeling of impending disaster.
He’d spoken to Simon that morning of his impending marriage.
Synonyms: looming, coming, approaching, near
ennui
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
Ennui is a feeling of being tired, bored, and dissatisfied.
[literary]
Synonyms: boredom, dissatisfaction, tiredness, the doldrums
hyperbole
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
If someone uses hyperbole, they say or write things that make something sound much more impressive than it really is.
[technical, formal]
…the hyperbole that portrays him as one of the greatest visionaries in the world.
Synonyms: exaggeration, hype [informal], overstatement, enlargement
opprobrium
UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
Opprobrium is open criticism or disapproval of something that someone has done.
[formal]
His political opinions have attracted the opprobrium of the Left. [+ of]
…public opprobrium.
Synonyms: censure, criticism, condemnation, discredit
inerrable
ADJECTIVE
less common words for infallible
ADJECTIVE
If a person or thing is infallible, they are never wrong.
Although he was experienced, he was not infallible.
She had an infallible eye for style.
Synonyms: perfect, impeccable, faultless, unerring More Synonyms of infallible
infallibility (ɪnfælɪbɪlɪti ) UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
…exaggerated views of the infallibility of science. [+ of]
Synonyms: reliability, safety, dependability, trustworthiness
encomiums
NOUN
Word forms: plural -miums or -mia (-mɪə)
a formal expression of praise; eulogy; panegyric
disruptive
- ADJECTIVE
To be disruptive means to prevent something from continuing or operating in a normal way.
There are many ways children’s disruptive behaviour can be managed.
The process of implementing these changes can be very disruptive to a small company.
Synonyms: disturbing, upsetting, disorderly, unsettling More Synonyms of disruptive - ADJECTIVE
Disruptive technology involves completely new methods that change the way something such as a market or a type of device works.
One example of disruptive technology is 3-D printing.
pilloried
- VERB [usually passive]
If someone is pilloried, a lot of people, especially journalists, criticize them and make them look stupid.
A man has been forced to resign as a result of being pilloried by some of the press. [be VERB-ed]
Synonyms: ridicule, denounce, stigmatize, brand More Synonyms of pillory - COUNTABLE NOUN
A pillory is a wooden frame with holes for the head and hands. In Europe in former times criminals were sometimes locked in a pillory as a form of punishment.
surfeit
noun আতিশয্য intensity, surfeit, redundancy, exorbitance, exorbitancy, redundance ধুম surfeit, pomp, abundance, excess অপরিমিতভাজন surfeit, over-eating verb অমিতাচারী হত্তয়া surfeit, be intemperate in food or drink
feigning
VERB
If someone feigns a particular feeling, attitude, or physical condition, they try to make other people think that they have it or are experiencing it, although this is not true.
[formal]
One morning, I didn’t want to go to school, and decided to feign illness. [VERB noun]
‘Giles phoned this morning,’ Mirella said with feigned indifference. [VERB-ed]
[Also VERB to-infinitive]
Synonyms: pretend, affect, assume, put on
lambasted
VERB
If you lambast someone, you criticize them severely, usually in public.
[formal]
Grey took every opportunity to lambast Thompson and his organization. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: reprimand, carpet [informal], flame [informal], censure