After Session 2 Flashcards
SANCTION
Official permission or approval
Sanction has two nearly opposite meanings: to sanction can be to approve of something, but it can also mean to punish, or speak harshly to. Likewise, a sanction can be a punishment or approval. Very confusing — the person who invented this word should be publicly sanctioned!
- (POSITIVE meaning) Official or authoritative permission or authorization;
support or encouragement
(v) To approve or authorize officially;
to support or tolerate by showing approval - (NEGATIVE meaning) A penalty meant to force compliance;
a military or economic measure adopted by several nations and meant to coerce
another nation violating international law
(v) To penalize, especially for a violation of international law
The South African government was under growing international pressure, as nations all across the globe began to impose economic sanctions on Pretoria.
COMPLAISANT
agreeable
If only the world were populated entirely with complaisant people! Complaisant means willing to do something to please others, and complaisant people or animals are wonderful to be around.
(adj.) Agreeable, eager to please, obliging
Onstage, there was absolutely nothing complaisant about her.
UBIQUITOUS
It’s everywhere! It’s everywhere! When something seems like it’s present in all places at the same time, reach for the adjective ubiquitous.
(adj.) Existing or present everywhere; constantly encountered or widespread
The ubiquitous experience shown in this New Yorker cartoon.
DISTEND
Cause to expand as if by internal pressure
A soda and pizza binge might make your stomach distend, meaning your stomach will swell as a result of pressure from the inside.
(v) To extend; to swell from internal pressure
Swollen legs and arms flopped with distended disjointedness.
VACILLATE
Be undecided about something
Vacillate means to waver back and forth, unable to decide. You might vacillate between ordering waffles and pancakes at your favorite diner — it’s hard to pick just one when both are so tasty!
(v) To hesitate or waver in forming an opinion or making a decision
(v) To fluctuate or oscillate
My love for him vacillated from one entry to another.
PERFIDY
An act of deliberate betrayal
If you shared your most embarrassing secrets with a friend who then told them to everyone he knows, his betrayal could be described as perfidy.
(n) 1. The quality or state of being disloyal; treachery; faithlessness
2. An act of disloyalty
I was cold, unconfident, obsessed by perfidy, and solitude, and fear.
DERIVATIVE
A compound obtained from another compound
Alert: shifting parts of speech! As a noun, a derivative is kind of financial agreement or deal. As an adjective, though, derivative describes something that borrows heavily from something else that came before it.
(adj.) Not original; secondary or copied
(adj.) Derived
And acceleration is nothing more than the derivative of velocity.
FRACAS
A noisy quarrel
If your marching band gets into a fight with another school’s pep squad, your principal might say the fracas was uncalled for and undignified. A fracas is a noisy quarrel.
(n) A noisy, loud quarrel, brawl, or disturbance
His hat had tumbled off in the fracas, and now he just looked like a little kid.
EXPLICIT
Precisely and clearly expressed or readily observeable
Anything explicit is completely clear and includes details. If you don’t want your little brother to become a snake snack, you’ll need to give him explicit instructions for feeding your pet boa constrictor safely.
(adj.) Fully and clearly expressed, without leaving anything to implication
(adj.) Fully developed or defined
(adj.) Forthright and unambiguous in expression
Nicodemus had been friendly—they had all been friendly—but explicit.
PRESUMPTUOUS
Going beyond what is appropriate, permitted
When someone takes liberties, doing things too boldly, you can describe them with the adjective presumptuous.
(adj.) Overstepping the bounds of what’s right or proper; inappropriately forward or taking liberties
Stilt, it was presumptuous of him to measure her windows for new curtains. assure/ensure/insure.
EXTRANEOUS
Extraneous means coming from the outside, like the extraneous noise you hear when you’re in a theater and a train passes by. Extraneous can also mean not relevant or essential, like all the extraneous information in your long-winded science report.
(adj.) Irrelevant, unrelated, not pertinent
(adj.) Nonessential, not vital
(adj.) Coming from outside
They have no compulsion to prevent one coming to harm through an extraneous agency such as gamma rays.
SLIGHT
Anything slight is very small. There’s a slight chance you’ll run into a celebrity in New York City — in other words, don’t count on it. A slight is also an insult, like giving someone the cold shoulder. Burr.
(v) 1. To treat as unimportant or make light of
2. To treat with disdain or discourteous inattention
3. To do inattentively or negligently
(n) An instance of being slighted
(adj.) 1. Slim or delicate of body
2. Small in size, extent, or quantity
3. Trifling, trivial, or unimportant
4. Lacking strength or substance; flimsy
Neither of them looked even the slightest bit agitated.
VIGOR
If your new puppy runs all over the house, jumps on the furniture, and enthusiastically chews up your socks, you may congratulate yourself on your new pup’s vigor, or lively sense of energy.
(n) Active strength or energy; vitality
He found himself chewing the jerky with loud, thrashing vigor, hoping it made him look tough, not just hungry.
TRANSPARENT
You can see right through something transparent. A window is transparent — unless it’s really, really dirty. Time to break out some soap!
(adj.) Permitting the passage of light; sheer enough to see through
(adj.) Frank, candid, and free of deceit or pretense
(adj.) Obvious; readily seen or understood
(adj.) Open with regards to methods or practices, especially in business
He is almost transparent, like a ghost, or a reflection in glass.
PRISTINE
If something is pristine it’s immaculately clean or has never been used. So please check your shoes before walking on a pristine white carpet.
(adj.) Belonging or related to the original, earliest condition; primitive
(adj.) Remaining in a pure, unspoiled state; untouched by civilization
(adj.) Clean as if new
At dawn we return our campsite pretty much to its original pristine appearance and walk on down the brook.
CONFOUND
If you have an identical twin, you’ve probably tried dressing alike so that people confound you with, or mistake you for, one another. You’ve also probably learned that, unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work on your mom.
(v) To confuse, perplex, or stump; to throw into disorder
(v) To mix up; to fail to notice differences
(v) To refute, prove wrong, or put to shame
The Sisters of the Star lived in the Tower, a massive structure that unsettled the eye and confounded the mind.
CONSOLE
Perhaps you avoid babysitting your baby brother because you’re worried that if he starts to cry, you won’t be able to console him or make him feel better. Or maybe you just hate changing diapers.
(v) To comfort; to alleviate someone’s grief, suffering, or sense of loss
(n) 1. a cabinet (such as for a television) designed to stand on the floor
2. the control unit of a computer, electrical system, vehicle, etc.
He tried to console himself with the idea that his dad could help when they found him.
DISCRETE
Discrete means separate or divided. A discrete unit is a separate part of something larger. A room is a discrete space within a house, just as the crankshaft is a discrete part of a car engine.
(n) Separate or distinct; an individual thing
(n) Consisting of unconnected individual parts; not continuous
The “information” in the sheets of paper remains discrete.
SPECIOUS
Use specious to describe an argument that seems to be good, correct, or logical, but is not so. We live on the earth, therefore the earth must be the center of the universe. This has been proven to be a specious theory of the solar system.
(adj.) Deceptive in attractions or allure
(adj.) Falsely appearing true, genuine, or plausible
Any connection, no matter how specious, might be used to justify his incarceration and extend it.
APPROBATION
Approbation is a formal word for approval or praise. Approbation is like getting the nod in a big way. Politicians rely on the public’s approbation to get elected.
(n) Official approval
(n) Commendation; praise; a warm expression of approval
His approbation laps me like a warm bath.
