Advanced Essential Vocab Flashcards
semantic
Definition: Relating to the different meanings of words or other symbols
Usage: Bob said plastic surgery should be covered under the health care plan and Marion said it shouldn’t, but it turns out that their disagreement was purely semantic—what Bob meant was reconstructive surgery and what Marion meant was cosmetic surgery.
More Info: Semantic comes from a Greek root for “sign.” When an argument becomes muddled due to language confusion, or when an arguer appears to be redefining a word rather than making a real point, it is common to call the person’s remarks “mere semantics” or to say, “You’re just playing semantics.”
pulchritude
Definition: Physical beauty
Usage: Marilyn Monroe’s mystique is based not only on her obvious pulchritude, but also on her mysterious death and likely dalliance with JFK.
Related Words: Comeliness is a synonym. Aesthetic (concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste, pertaining to the science of what is beautiful)
Memory Trick: This word is so ugly sounding! Would you ever have guessed it meant beauty? Imagine a man telling a woman she is the epitome of pulchritude. Unless she has a very good vocabulary, it probably won’t go very well.
encomium
Definition: Warm, glowing praise, esp. a formal expression of praise
Usage: Just after all the encomium at his retirement party, he received a gold watch. / The first draft of your dissertation is little but encomium of the works of Christopher Marlowe, whereas I’m afraid that doctoral-level work requires a more nuanced and critical view.
Related Words: Laudation (praise, tribute), Eulogy (a speech of praise or written work of praise, esp. a speech given at a funeral), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks)
brandish
Definition: Shake, wave, or flourish, as a weapon
Usage: The Renaissance Fair ended badly, with one drunken fellow brandishing a sword and refusing to leave the ladies’ dressing tent.
More Info: Brandish comes from the Germanic “brand,” or sword.
inquest
Definition: Legal or judicial inquiry, especially before a jury and especially made by a coroner into the cause of someone’s death; the results of such an inquiry
Usage: The family waited nervously for the results of the inquest, which finally returned a verdict of misadventure; that is, their grandfather had not been murdered, but rather died in a freak accident of his own doing.
More Info: Inquest is simply a form of the Latin word for “inquire.”
hermetic
Definition: Airtight, sealed, isolated; reclusive; pertaining to alchemy, occult
Usage: These packaged meals are hermetically sealed—they’ll last years in storage, but once opened, you need to finish the contents within a couple of days. / While writing hundreds of vocabulary flashcards, the GRE instructor lived a hermetic lifestyle, her skin growing pallid and her social network drastically shrinking.
More Info: Hermetic comes from Hermes Trismegistus, a Greek/Egyptian god of magic and alchemy; he supposedly invented a magic airtight seal for containers.
euphony
Definition: Pleasing or sweet sound, especially as formed by a harmonious use of words
Usage: Poetry in translation can keep its meaning, but often loses the euphony the poet worked so laboriously to create.
Related Words: Dulcet (melodious, agreeable to the ear), Mellifluous (richly and smoothly flowing, as “a mellifluous voice”)
More Info: Euphony is simply a combination of two roots: “eu” for “good” and “phon” for “sound” (as in telephone, phonics, etc.) A euphonium is an instrument similar to a small tuba.
squalid
Definition: Disgusting, filthy, foul, extremely neglected
Usage: Social Services removed the children from the home due to the squalid conditions, including rats running freely in the kitchen and spoiled food all over the house.
Related Words: Sordid can mean squalid, or morally squalid, as in “The recovered junkie told a sordid tale of his time on the streets, full of every type of degradation.”
unconscionable
Definition: Not guided by conscience; morally wrong, unjust, unreasonable
Usage: It is unconscionable that you would deny your sister a bone marrow transplant knowing that you’re the only person in the family who’s a match.
Related Words: Unscrupulous or unprincipled also mean not guided by moral rules.
nontrivial
Definition: Important or big enough to matter
Usage: The chief of staff told the assembled doctors, “We all make mistakes. But this mistake was nontrivial, and there is going to be an investigation.”
Related Words: Trivial, of course, means “too small to matter,” and has the synonyms trifling and nugatory. Trivia (as in the questions on Jeopardy) is called that because the questions are about small facts and details—that is, you never go on a trivia show and get asked about a nontrivial topic, like the meaning of life.
declivity
Definition: Downward slope
Usage: Not just any declivity can serve as a wheelchair ramp—I’m pretty sure this thing is too steep to pass regulations.
Related Words: Declination (downward slope, deterioration, deviation from the norm, refusal)
More Info: The opposite of declivity is acclivity, an upward slope.
milieu
Definition: Environment, atmosphere; the environmental setting in which something happens or develops
Usage: Becoming a priest in the anything-goes milieu of the 1960s gave Father Bryant an interesting perspective on two contrasting philosophies. / After the fall of the Soviet Union, a milieu of crushing poverty, yet hopeful aspiration, existed in the former satellite state.
Related Words: Zeitgeist (the “spirit of an age,” the cultural or intellectual mood of a time period), Ethos (the character, personality, or moral values specific to a person, group, time period, etc.)
More Info: Milieu comes from a French word for “middle.” A milieu is certainly something you’re in the middle of.
livid
Definition: Furiously angry, enraged
Usage: Diane was livid when she discovered that her daughter had borrowed her wedding dress to wear to an ‘80s party. “I have never been angrier in my life,” she said.
Related Words: Irascible means easily angered and the related irate means angry (ire is anger).
More Info: Originally from a French word for a bluish color, livid has the sense of turning blue from rage (although Americans would say that we turn purple with rage—same idea). Livid can also mean bruised or “black-and-blue,” or even turning pale (from sickness) or red (from anger)—but whatever livid is, it’s never good.
repast
Definition: A meal (noun); to eat or feast (verb)
Usage: After a light repast in a country inn, the men got back on their horses and rode away.
Related Words: Comestibles (food), Gustatory (pertaining to taste)
More Info: From a Latin root for feeding, also found in pasture (where farm animals eat).
connote
Definition: Suggest or imply in addition to the precise, literal meaning
Usage: The word “titanic” simply means large or majestic, but because of the word’s association with the sunken ship, “titanic” has a negative connotation to many people.
Related Words: Evoke (call forth, esp. of feelings or imagination)
More Info: A denotation is the literal meaning of a word; a connotation is the feeling that accompanies that word.
phlegmatic
Definition: Apathetic, sluggish, not easily excited or made emotional
Usage: A phlegmatic child, he declined to participate in the youth soccer league. He preferred to stay at home, mostly sitting outside poking at dirt with a stick, and occasionally stopping for naptime.
Related Words: Indolent, torpid, sluggish, idle, lethargic, loafing, and slack are all related to laziness or slowness.
More Info: The ancient Greeks thought that people were ruled by the “four humors:” blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. A person with too much phlegm would be phlegmatic; a person with too much bile would be bilious (bitter, mean), and a person ruled by blood would be sanguine (cheerful).
appropriate
Definition: Set aside or authorize (such as money) for a particular purpose; take for one’s own use
Usage: The School Board appropriated money for new textbooks. / In putting together the perfect outfit for “Career Day” at her high school, Mackenzie appropriated her mother’s stethoscope and her little brother’s stuffed pig, making it clear to everyone that she wanted to be a veterinarian.
Related Words: Arrogate (claim or take presumptuously or without right)
More Info: The last syllable of the more common adjective “appropriate” is pronounced “it”; the last syllable of the verb appropriate is pronounced “ate.”
synoptic
Definition: Relating to a synopsis or summary; giving a general view
Usage: The movie studio had interns read screenplays and write up synoptic outlines for the executives to review.
Related Words: Digest (a periodical containing shortened versions of works published elsewhere), Recapitulation (summary or the act of summing up), Précis (summary or abstract), Compendium (concise but complete summary; a list or collection)
More Info: The root “sym/syn” means “together” and “op” comes from a Latin root for “eye” (optometrist, optical, ocular, myopia). Thus, synoptic literally means “see all together,” which is what a good summary allows you to do.
circumspect
Definition: Cautious, prudent; careful to consider the circumstances and consequences
Usage: Luann immediately forked over an initiation fee to become a vitamin distributor, but her more circumspect brother had a list of at least twenty questions he wanted answered before he would consider joining.
Related Words: Staid (restrained, prim, settled)
More Info: The root “circum” means “around” and “spect” means “see”—thus, circumspect people “look around” before acting, much as in the idiom “look before you leap.”
jettison
Definition: Discard, cast off; throw items overboard in order to lighten a ship in an emergency
Usage: We got so tired while hiking the Appalachian Trail that we jettisoned some of our fancy camping supplies just so we could drag ourselves to a place where we could get medical attention.
Related Words: Cargo jettisoned off a ship is called jetsam. Any bunch of discarded, worthless stuff can be called flotsam and jetsam.
More Info: Jettison comes from a root for “throw” that also gives us jetty, “a wharf, pier, or other structure that juts out into the water.”
