#61 pacify ~ partisan Flashcards
pacify
/ˈpæsəˌfaɪ/
v. to calm someone down; to placate
A parent gives a baby a pacifier to pacify him or her. A pacifist is someone who does not believe in war.
painstaking
/ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ, ˈpeɪnˌsteɪ-/
adj. extremely careful; taking pains
Painstaking = pains-taking = taking pains
- The jeweler was painstaking in his effort not to ruin the $50 million diamond necklace.
palliate
/ˈpæliˌeɪt/
v. to relive or alleviate sth. without getting rid of the problem; to assuage; to mitigate
- You take aspirin in the hope that it will palliate your headache.
Aspirin is a palliative.
palpable
/ˈpælpəbəl/
adj. capable of being touched; obvious; tangible
- The tumor was palpable; the doctor could feel it with his finger.
- Harry’s disappointment at being rejected by every college in America as palpable; it was so obvious that you could almost reach out and touch it.
- There was palpable danger in flying the kite in a thunderstorm.
The opposite of palpable is impalpable.
paltry
/ˈpɔltri/
adj. insignificant; worthless
- The lawyer’s efforts on our behalf were paltry; they didn’t add up to anything.
- The paltry fee he paid us was scarcely large enough to cover our expenses.
panacea
/ˌpænəˈsiə/
n. sth. that cures everything
- The administration seemed to believe that a tax cut would be a panacea for the country’s economic ills.
- Granny believed that her “rheumatiz medicine” was a panacea. No matter what you were sick with, that was what she prescribed.
paradigm
/ˈpærəˌdaɪm, -dɪm/
n. a model or example
- Mr. Hufstader is the best teacher in the whole world; his classroom should be the paradigm for all classrooms.
- In selecting her wardrobe, messy Ana apparently used a scarecrow as her paradigm.
A paradigm is paradigmatic (/ˌpærədɪgˈmætɪk/).
- Virtually all the cars the company produced were based on a single, paradigmatic design.
paradox
/ˈpærəˌdɒks/
n. a true statement or phenomenon that nonetheless seems to contradict itself; an untrue statement or phenomenon that nonetheless seems logical
- Mr. Cooper is a political paradox; he’s staunch Republican who votes only for Democrats.
- One of Xeno’s paradoxes seems to prove the impossibility of an arrow’s ever reaching its target: If the arrow first moves half the distance to the target, then half the remaining distance, then half the remaining distance, and so on, it can never arrive.
A paradox is paradoxical.
- Pasquale’s dislike of ice cream was paradoxical considering that he worked as an ice-cream hater.
parochial
/pəˈroʊkiəl/
adj. narrow or confined in point of view; provincial
- The townspeople’s concerns were entirely parochial; they worried only about what happened in their town and not about the larger world around it.
- The journalist’s parochial point of view prevented him from becoming a nationally known figure.
A lot of people think a parochial school is a religious school. Traditionally, a parochial school is just the school of the parish or neighborhood. In other contexts parochial has negative connotations.
parody
/ˈpærədi/
n. a satirical imitation
- At the talent show the girls sang a terrible parody of a Beatles song called “I Want to Hold Your Foot.”
Some parodies are unintentional and not very funny.
- The unhappy student accused Mr. Benson of being not a teacher but a parody of one.
Parody can also be a verb. To parody sth. is to make a parody of it. A parody is parodic (/pəˈrɒdɪk/).
parsimonious
/ˌpɑrsəˈmoʊniəs/
adj. stingy
- The widow was so parsimonious that she hung used teabags out to dry on her clothesline so that she would be able to use them again.
- We tried to be parsimonious, but without success. After just a few days at the resort we realized we had spent all the money we had set aside for our entire month-long vacation.
To be parsimonious is to practice parsimony.
partisan (n)
/ˈpɑrtəzən, -sən; British ˌpɑrtəˈzæn/
n. one who supports a particular person, cause, or idea
- Henry’s plan to give himself the award had no partisan except himself.
- I am the partisan of any candidate who promises not to make promises.
- The mountain village was attacked by partisans of the rebel chieftain.
partisan (adj)
/ˈpɑrtəzən, -sən; British ˌpɑrtəˈzæn/
adj. biased, as in partisan politics.
An issue that everyone agrees on regardless of the party he or she belongs to is a nonpartisan issue. Bipartisan means supported by two (bi) parties.
- Both the Republican and Democratic senators voted to give themselves a raise. The motion had bipartisan support.
