A Flashcards

Question

completely unwilling to change a decision, opinion, demand, etc.:

Answer 1

unyielding /ʌnˈjiːl.dɪŋ/ ## Footnote *Korea is **unyielding** in its demands for a new treaty*

Answer 2

to adress | The issue of funding has yet to be addressed ## Footnote *To **address a convention** is to give a speech to the convention. To **address a problem** is to face it and set about solving it*

Answer 3

an adherent /ədˈhɪə.rənt/ | The king’s adherents threw a big birthday party for him ## Footnote *To **adhere to** something is to stick to it. **Adherents** are people who **adhere to**, or stick to, something or someone. Following someone or something, especially rules or laws, is **adherence***

Answer 4

to admonish | The noun is **admonition**, and the adjective is **admonitory** ## Footnote *The boys’ father **admonished** them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he **admonished** them*

Answer 5

adroit /əˈdrɔɪt/ ## Footnote *Julio was an **adroit** salesperson: his highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale*

Answer 6

gauche ## Footnote *It was **gauche** to invite them just two days before the party*

Answer 7

an adulation /ˌædʒ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/ | to adulate ## Footnote *The rock star grew to abhor the **adulation** of his fans*

Answer 8

to adulterate | **Unadulterated** means pure. ## Footnote *We discovered that the town’s drinking water had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been **adulterated***

Answer 9

adverse | We had to play our soccer match under **adverse** conditions. ## Footnote *Airplanes often don’t fly in **adverse** weather. An airplane that took off in bad weather and reached its destination safely would be said to have **overcome adversity*** **adverse ≠ averse** To **be averse to** something is to be opposed to doing it—to have an aversion to doing it

Answer 10

aesthetic *aesthete* | Someone who greatly admires beautiful things can be called an *aesthete* ## Footnote *Our art professor had a highly developed **aesthetic** **sense**; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage*

Answer 11

affable | **affability** ## Footnote *Susan was an **affable** girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone*

Answer 12

an affectation ## Footnote *Elizabeth had somehow acquired the absurd **affectation** of pretending that she didn’t know how to turn on a television set* **To affect** a characteristic or habit is to adopt it consciously, usually in the hope of impressing other people. *Edward **affected to** be more of an artist than he really was. Everyone hated him for it*

Answer 13

an affinity ## Footnote *Ducks have an **affinity** **for** water; that is, they like to be in it* *Magnets and iron have an **affinity for** each other; that is, each is attracted to the other* **Affinity** also means *similarity* or *resemblance*. There is an affinity between snow and sleet

Answer 14

affluent | **Affluence** means the same thing as wealth or prosperity. ## Footnote *A person can be **affluent**; all it takes is money. A country can be **affluent**, too, if it’s full of **affluent** people*

Answer 15

an agenda ## Footnote *What’s **on the agenda** for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch*

Answer 16

an aggregate | *Chili is an **aggregate** of meat and beans* ## Footnote Aggregate can also be a verb or an adjective. You would make chili by *aggregating* meat and beans. Chili is an *aggregate* food. Similar and related words include congregate, segregate, and integrate. **To aggregate** is to bring together; **to congregate** is to get together; **to segregate** is to keep apart (or separate); **to integrate** is to unite.

Answer 17

an agnostic ## Footnote An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god. An **agnostic**, on the other hand, isn’t sure.

Answer 18

agrarian ## Footnote Politics in this country often pit the rural, **agrarian** interests against the urban interests.

Answer 19

an alacrity ## Footnote David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great **alacrity**.

Answer 20

to allege /əˈledʒ/ | **an allegation** ## Footnote *If I say, “Cedrick alleges that I stole his hat,” I am saying two things: 1. Cedrick says I stole his hat. 2. I say I didn’t do it.* *The police have **alleged** that Mary committed the crime, but a jury hasn’t made a decision yet*

Answer 21

to alleviate ## Footnote *Visiting the charming pet cemetery **alleviated** the woman’s grief over the death of her canary*

Answer 22

to allocate ## Footnote *The office manager had allocated just seven paper clips for our entire department*

Answer 23

an alloy | **Unalloyed** means undiluted or pure. ## Footnote *Brass is an **alloy** of copper and zinc, meaning you make brass by combining copper and zinc* **To alloy** two things is to mix them together. There is usually an implication *that the mixture is less than the sum of the parts*. That is, there is often something undesirable or debased about an **alloy**.

Answer 24

an allusion | **to allude to something** ## Footnote *When Ralph said, “I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be,” he was **alluding** to a famous line in Hamlet.* If Ralph had said, “As Hamlet said, ‘To be or not to be, that is the question,’” his statement would have been *a direct reference, not an allusion.*

Answer 25

aloof ## Footnote *Cats are often said to be **aloof** because they usually mind their own business and don’t crave the affection of people*

Answer 26

an altruism ## Footnote To be **altruistic** is to help others without expectation of personal gain. Giving money to charity is an act of **altruism**.

Answer 27

an ambience /ˈæm.bi.əns/ ## Footnote *By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful **ambience** that delighted young children.*

Answer 28

ambiguous /æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs/ ## Footnote *The poem we read in English class was **ambiguous**; no one had any idea what the poet was trying to say*

Answer 29

ambivalent ## Footnote *Susan felt **ambivalent** about Alec as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this **ambivalence***

Answer 30

to ameliorate ## Footnote *The mood of the prisoners was **ameliorated** when the warden gave them extra free time outside*

Answer 31

amenable /əˈmiː.nə.bəl/ ## Footnote *The plumber was **amenable** to my paying my bill with jelly beans, which was lucky because I had more jelly beans than money*

Answer 32

an amenity ## Footnote *The **amenities** at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a tennis court* If an older guest at your house asks you where the **amenities** are, he or she is probably asking for directions to the *bathroom*. Those *little bars of soap* and *bottles of shampoo* found in hotel rooms are known in the hotel business as **amenities**.

Answer 33

amiable /ˈeɪ.mi.ə.bəl/ ## Footnote *Our **amiable** guide made us feel right at home in what would otherwise have been a cold and forbidding museum*

Answer 34

an amnesty ## Footnote *Most political prisoners were freed under the terms of the **amnesty*** The word amnesty always refers to a pardon given to a group or class of people. A pardon granted to a single person is simply a pardon.

Answer 35

amoral ## Footnote A moral person does right; an immoral person does wrong; an **amoral** person simply does

Answer 36

amorous ## Footnote *The **amorous** couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty **amorous** itself. It was about an **amorous** couple, one of whom died*

Answer 37

amorphous /əˈmɔː.fəs/ ## Footnote *Ed’s teacher said that his term paper was **amorphous**; it was as shapeless and disorganized as a cloud.*

Answer 38

an anachronism ## Footnote *In this day of impersonal hospitals, a doctor who remembers your name seems like an **anachronism***

Answer 39

an analogy ## Footnote *To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw an **analogy** between an allergy and an alligator bite.*

Answer 40

an anarchy ## Footnote *The country **fell into a state of anarchy** after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol*

Answer 41

an anguish ## Footnote *Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for twenty years, but she had never gotten used to the **anguish** of accident victims* ***In her anguish** she forgot to leave a message*

Answer 42

an animosity ## Footnote *The rivals for the state championship felt great **animosity** toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled* **A person whose look could kill** is a person whose animosity is evident

Answer 43

an anomaly ## Footnote *A snowy winter day is not an **anomaly**, but a snowy July day is*. Something that is **anomalous** is something that is not normal or regular.

Answer 44

(an) antecedent /ˌæn.tiˈsiː.dənt/ ## Footnote *The horse-drawn wagon is an **antecedent** of the modern automobile* *The oil lamp was **antecedent** to the light bulb*

Answer 45

an antipathy ## Footnote *I feel **antipathy toward** bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner*

Answer 46

an antithesis /ænˈtɪθ.ə.sɪs/ ## Footnote *Erin is the **antithesis** of Aaron: Erin is bright and beautiful; Aaron is dull and plain*

Answer 47

an apathy ## Footnote *Jill didn’t care one bit about current events; she was entirely **apathetic***

Answer 48

an aphorism ## Footnote *Benjamin Franklin was fond of **aphorisms**. He was frequently **aphoristic***

Answer 49

an apocalypse /əˈpɒk.ə.lɪps/

Answer 50

an apocryphal /əˈpɒk.rɪ.fəl/ ## Footnote *Brandi’s blog discredited the **apocryphal** report of Martians in Congress*

Answer 51

an apotheosis /əˌpɒθ.iˈəʊ.sɪs/ pl. apotheoses /əˌpɒθ.iˈəʊ.siːz/ ## Footnote *Some people think that the Corvette is the **apotheosis** of American car making. They think it’s the ideal*

Answer 52

to appease | **an appeasement** ## Footnote *Jaleel **appeased** his angry mother by promising to make his bed every morning without fail until the end of time*

Answer 53

to appreciate | opp. depreciate ## Footnote *Harry bought Joe’s collection of old chewing tobacco tins as an investment. His hope was that the tins would **appreciate** over the next few years, enabling him to turn a profit by selling them to someone else*

Answer 54

apprehensive | **misapprehension = misunderstanding** ## Footnote *The **apprehensive** child clung to his father’s leg as the two of them walked into the main circus tent to watch the lion tamer*

Answer 55

an approbation ## Footnote *The crowd expressed its **approbation** of the team’s performance by gleefully covering the field with toilet paper*

Answer 56

to appropriate ## Footnote Nick appropriated my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it. So I **appropriated** Ed’s.

Answer 57

an aptitude /ˈæp.tɪ.tʃuːd/ ## Footnote *Some rare students **have a marked aptitude for** taking the SAT. They earn high scores without any preparation.*

Answer 58

an arbiter ## Footnote *An **arbiter** of fashion determines what other people will wear by wearing it herself.* An **arbiter** **arbitrates**, or weighs opposing viewpoints and makes decisions. The words **arbiter** and **arbitrator** mean the same thing.

Answer 59

arbirtrary /ˈɑː.bɪ.trər.i/ ## Footnote *The grades Mr. Simone gave his English students appeared to be **arbitrary**; they didn’t seem related to the work the students has done in class*

Answer 60

arcane ## Footnote *The rites of the secret cult were **arcane**; no one outside the cult knew what they were*

Answer 61

archaic ## Footnote *The tribe’s traditions are **archaic**. They have been in force for thousands of years*

Answer 62

an archetype ## Footnote *Plato is the **archetype** of all philosophers* An **archetype** is similar to a **prototype**. A **prototype** is a first, tentative model that is made but that will be improved in later versions. An **archetype** is usually something that precedes something else.

Answer 63

ardent | be ardent = **have ardor** ## Footnote *Blanche happily made cakes from morning to night. She was an **ardent** baker*

Answer 64

arduous /ˈɑː.dʒu.əs/ ## Footnote Climbing the mountain was **arduous**. We were so exhausted when we got to the top that we forgot to enjoy the view.

Answer 65

artful /ˈɑːt.fəl/ ## Footnote *He has shown himself to be an **artful** politician*

Answer 66

an artifice ## Footnote *The Trojan Horse was an **artifice** designed to get the soldiers inside the walls*

Answer 67

an ascendancy ## Footnote *Handheld gadgets have been **in ascendancy** for the past few years*

Answer 68

ascetic ## Footnote *The college student’s apartment, which contained no furniture except a single tattered mattress, was uncomfortably **ascetic***

Answer 69

assiduous ## Footnote *The workmen were **assiduous** in their effort to get nothing done; instead of working, they drank coffee all day long*