7/04 Flashcards
Abjure
v.
to solemnly renounce or reject
to recant; to avoid
Adumbrate
v.
to foreshadow vaguely or intimate;
to suggest or outline sketchily;
to obscure or overshadow
Anathema
n.
a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse;
accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing
Anodyne
adj. n.
soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts
Apogee
n.
farthest or highest point;
culmination;
zenith
Apostate
n.
one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions
Apotheosis
n.
deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection
Asperity
n.
severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability
Asseverate
v.
to aver, allege, or assert
Assiduous
adj.
diligent, hard-working, sedulous
Augury
n.
omen, portent
Bellicose
adj.
belligerent, pugnacious, war like
Calumniate
v.
to slander, to make a false accusation
calumny means slander, aspersion
kelein (GK): to bewitch, cast a spell
holon (Gothic): to slander
Captious
adj.
disposed to point out trivial faults;
calculated to confuse or entrap in argument
Cavil
v.
to find fault without good reason
Celerity
n.
speed, alacrity; think accelerate
Chimera
n.
an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster
Contumacious
adj.
insubordinate, rebellious
contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion
con- (LT): with
tumere (LT): to swell
Debacle
n.
rout, fiasco, complete failure
Denouement
n.
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
Descry
v.
to discriminate or discern
Desuetude
n.
disuse
Desultory
adj.
random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose
Diaphanous
adj.
transparent, gauzy
Diffident
adj.
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence
Dirge
n.
a song of grief or lamentation
Encomium
n.
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy
en- (LT): in
komos (LT): banquet
Eschew
v.
to shun or avoid
Excoriate
v.
to censure scathingly, to upbraid
ex- (LT): out
corium (LT): hide, skin
Execrate
v.
to denounce, to feel loathing for, to curse, to declare to be evil
Exegesis
n.
critical examination, explication
Expiate
v.
to atone or make amends for
Extirpate
v.
to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind
Fatuous
adj.
silly, inanely foolish
Fractious
adj.
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable
Gainsay
v.
to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose
gegn- (Old EN): against
Heterodox
adj.
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
Imbroglio
n.
difficult or embarrassing situation
in-: into
brouiller (IT): confuse
Indefatigable
adj.
not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged
Ineluctable
adj.
certain, inevitable