After Session 3 Flashcards
FLAG
A piece of cloth that represents country, group etc
A flag is a piece of cloth that represents a country, group, or institution. If you’re particularly proud of your Irish heritage, you might fly an Irish flag in your front yard.
(v) To signal with, or as with, a flag
(v) 1. To fall off in energy, vigor, interest, or activity
2. To droop or hang loose
SOMATIC
Characteristic of the body as opposed to the mind or spirit.
Somatic is a fancy word that just means dealing with the body. You may be tired of hearing your great-grandfather’s somatic complaints, but give him a break — his body has been working for 80 years!
(adj.) 1. Pertaining to the body (as opposed to the mind, a body part, or the
environment)
2. Relating to the wall of the body cavity
The shocks of the movie are crass and somatic, not disconcerting or social.
FLUKE
A stroke of luck
A fluke is an unexpected stroke of good luck. It was a fluke to find that fifty dollar bill on the ground, and it made you smile for the rest of the day.
(n) A stroke of good luck; a chance occurrence or accident
Tonight was another fluke, a lucky break, a gift.
DOFF
remove
Use the verb doff to describe removing something. You probably always doff your cap before the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
(v) 1. To take off or remove (as clothes); to tip or remove (one’s hat) in greeting
2. To put aside or discard
And doffing wasn’t as hard as farm work.
APOCRYPHAL
being of questionable authenticity
Urban legends — stories about phantom hitchhikers, deep-fried rats, and spider eggs in bubblegum — are classic examples of apocryphal tales. They’re told as if they’re true, but no one can ever verify their origins or authenticity.
(adj) being of questionable authenticity
Alas, like many good stories this one appears to be apocryphal.
SCURVY
A condition caused by a deficiency in ascorbic acid
If you are a pirate who doesn’t get to shore very often to shop for fresh fruits and veggies, you might suffer from scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency.
(n) A wasting disease caused by vitamin C deficiency
(adj.) Contemptible, despicable, or mean
APPOSITE
Being of striking appropriateness and pertinence
Something apposite is fitting or relevant. It is apposite that radio stations play Christmas carols on Christmas Eve and that your tax accountant takes vacation after April 15th. It all makes sense.
(adj.) Appropriate, relevant, or apt
It was apposite to our situation, and it would certainly become appropriate to Rushdie’s.
SQUALID
foul and run-down and repulsive
Squalid things appear neglected, or morally repulsive in nature, like a frat house after a semester of hard partying and zero cleanup.
(adj.) Foul, dirty, or wretched, as from extreme poverty or neglect
(adj.) Morally repulsive or sordid
Well, here’s one of the wonders, he told himself, gazing about the squalid, foul-smelling hall.
GARRULOUS
full of trivial conversation
A garrulous person just won’t stop talking (and talking, and talking, and talking…).
(adj) full of trivial conversation
I was relieved that Kali, most garrulous of women, had not come, but it was a short-lived relief.
GAMBOL
play or run boiserously
To gambol is to run around playing excitedly. Although the word sounds like “gamble,” when you gambol you never lose — you just have a great time!
(v) To frolic; to skip or leap about playfully
I leaned back in the embrasure in a more comfortable position, so that I could enjoy more fully the aërial gambolling.
FULMINATE
cause to explode violently and with a loud noise
Watch a bomb fulminate or explode and hope you’re under safe cover. Have your parents fulminate or blow up at you for coming home past curfew and hope you’re not grounded for too long.
(v) To send out or issue with denunciation, invective, or condemnation
(v) To explode
Speed heats the brain to a full boil, leaving the mouth to function as a fulminating exhaust pipe.
SALUBRIOUS
promoting health
Salubrious is a fancy way to describe something that’s good for you or is generally favorable to mind or body, but it need not be limited to describing healthy foods or liquids.
(adj.) Promoting or conducive to health or well being
A fine mist of pulverized concrete seems to cover everything, and the once salubrious climate is overwhelmed by smog.
ABSCISSION
the act of cutting something off
Abscission means the cutting off or removal of something, like an unsightly mole on the chin.
(n) The act of cutting off
Not abscisic acid, the one that “abscission zone” would seem to imply.
GAUCHE
lacking social poise or refinement
Use the word gauche when you want to call something tacky, graceless, tactless, rude, boorish, or awkward and foolish. Have you just pointed out someone’s misuse of this word? Oh dear, how gauche!
(adj.) Lacking in tact, sensitivity, or other social graces
You wouldn’t be as gauche as to ask, “Hey, are you related to the guy who makes vacuum cleaners?”
TRUCULENT
defiantly aggressive
If you are quick to argue, always looking for a fight, and hard to please, you are truculent. You can also write a truculent essay, and fans upset by a loss can become truculent.
(adj) defiantly aggressive
The decals glowed with a truculent orange in the dark.
ASPERITY
harshness of manner
Asperity is the harsh tone or behavior people exhibit when they’re angry, impatient, or just miserable. Did your supervisor snap “Late again!” when you showed up 20 minutes after your shift was supposed to start? She’s speaking with asperity.
(n.) harshness of manner
“Now where,” he answered with asperity, “where except in the great tea shop on the main street of the town?”
FINESSE
subtly skillful handling of a situation
Having finesse means you can handle difficult situations with diplomacy and tact, like the finesse it takes to help two friends work out their differences — without taking sides or alienating either one.
(n) Skillful or adroit handling
(n) Refinement or delicacy or performance, skill, or workmanship
Others, he thinks, would do this with less finesse.
GERMANE
relevant and appropaite
Germane means relevant; it fits in. If you are giving a speech on dog training, stick to the germane, canine stuff. Topics that would not be germane? Catnip toys, hamster wheels, and the use of a saddle.
(adj.) Relevant or closely related
VISCID
having the sticky properties of an adhesive
The adjective viscid is used to describe something that is sticky or a thick, slow-moving liquid. If you bake bread and you get flour all over your counters, clean it up carefully because adding water can turn the flour into a viscid paste, and then you’ll really have a mess!
(adj.) Having a sticky, adhesive, or viscous quality or consistency
I could hear the creature breathing in the dark, a viscid leaking like faulty pipeworks.
GLIB
artfully persuasive in speech
A hiring manager might think you’re being glib, or slick and insincere, if you say you’ve led a successful multinational corporation when you were actually in charge of flipping burgers for a fast-food restaurant chain.
(adj.) Fluent in speaking or writing to the point of insincerity or thoughtlessness
(adj.) Done with natural ease or off hand nonchalance
“Oh, a couple of hundred,” came the glib reply.
REQUITE
make repayment for or return something
You can requite a friend’s kindness by doing your friend a favor or by being kind in return. Requite means “to repay or return.”
(v) To repay or make return for; to reciprocate
(v) To avenge
(v) To recompense for a service, benefit, or injury
For months they’d been coming here, four or five nights a week as the Voice requited.
GROUSE
to complain or grumble
A grouse is a plump little bird. Don’t like birds? You can grouse, or complain, about them. The word grouse means both, but a grouse wouldn’t grouse because birds don’t whine.
(v) To complain, grumble
(n) A grievance; a persistent complaint
(n) Any of various types of plump, chicken-like gamebirds
He had pheasants and grouse and the ducks down on the pond and fishes behind all his dams.
APPRECIABLE
Enough to be estimated or measured
Movie theater popcorn tastes much better than microwave popcorn. The difference between them is appreciable — that is, you notice it.
(adj) Possible to see, measure, or estimate
“appreciable amounts of noxious wastes are dumped into the harbor”
DILATE
become wider
To dilate something is to make it wider. When the light fades, the pupil of your eye will dilate, meaning it looks bigger.
(v) 1. To cause to expand; to widen or enlarge
2. To speak or write at length on a subject
One of his pupils was dilated and the other wasn’t, but no one knew what that meant.
SUBSIDE
wear off or die down
To subside is to die down or become less violent, like rough ocean waves after a storm has passed (or your seasickness, if you happened to be sailing on that ocean).
(v) To sink to a lower or normal level (such as a fever);
to sink or settle down (as onto a couch or to the bottom of a river)
(v) To become less agitated or active
When the gales had finally subsided, he shook his index finger.
REDUNDANT
More than is needed or desired
The word redundant applies to things that are unnecessary or could be left out. Calling a blank sheet of paper empty is redundant.
(adj.) More than necessary; superfluous
(adj.) Excessively wordy or repetitive
“Oh, you mean, redundant, like saying the same thing over and over but in different ways?”
ANTIPATHY
A feeling of intense dislike.
An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually it’s a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for the Red Sox.
(n) An aversion, disliking, or distaste for
(n) An object of dislike or aversion
That eye of hers, that voice stirred every antipathy I had.
CONVOLUTED
Highly complex or intricate
If something is convoluted, it’s intricate and hard to understand. You’ll need to read over your brother’s convoluted investment scheme a few times before deciding whether or not to go in on it.
(adj.) Having a great number of coils, loops, or folds
(adj.) Intricate or involved
He pretended, for me, that his mind and his heart were not dark and convoluted places.
MITIGATE
lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
Choose the verb mitigate when something lessens the unpleasantness of a situation. You can mitigate your parents’ anger by telling them you were late to dinner because you were helping your elderly neighbor.
(v) To moderate (the force, intensity, or strength of) or alleviate
Just “running out of fuel, sir” at the end of a sentence, preceded by the mitigating “ah.”
SANG-FROID
great coolness and composure under strain
If you have sang-froid, you can keep your cool, even under stress. Your feathers aren’t easily ruffled.
(n) Self-possession or composure, especially under stress
IMPLOSION
a sudden inward collapse
An implosion is the abrupt, violent collapse of something large. When an old building needs to be removed to make way for new structures, implosion is often used as a controlled way to destroy it.
(n) Forceful collapse inward
CONDONE
excuse, overlook, or make allowances for
If you condone something, you allow it, approve of it, or at least can live with it. Some teachers condone chewing gum, and some don’t.
(v) To overlook, dismiss, or forgive (an offense)
CATALYST
an event or person causing a change.
A catalyst is an event or person causing a change. Getting kicked out of your parents’ house might be a catalyst for becoming more independent.
n) Something precipitating, provoking, or accelerating an action, event, or change
(n) A substance that starts or speeds a chemical reaction
It could be that this penury was the catalyst for Bobby’s often-criticized “greediness” later in his career.
INTEMPERANCE
Unable to hold yourself back. excess in action and immoderate indulgence of appetites
Intemperance is when you can’t do anything half way, or hold yourself back. You might describe your inability to eat a single slice of cake — instead, gobbling the whole thing — as intemperance.
(n) Indulgence of passions or appetites
(n) Excessive drinking of alcohol
It is a celebration of intemperance, and a condemnation of its destructiveness.
STALWART
having rugged physical strength
To be stalwart is to be courageous and dependable, like a stalwart knight who defends a kingdom from a ferocious dragon.
(adj.) Strong or vigorous in mind, body, or spirit
AUGMENT
enlarge or increase
Do you need to make something bigger, better, or stronger? Then you need to augment it. To augment is to increase the amount or strength of something.
(v) To enlarge; to make greater, more intense, or more numerous
Taylor’s force grew quickly, in no small part augmented by boys whom he armed and drugged into a killing frenzy.
ABRIDGE
Lessen, diminish
So the editor wants to cut your epic 800-page history of the stapler to a 150-page summary instead. Don’t cry — he just wants to abridge your masterpiece, trimming it down to the more readable essential elements.
(v) To cut short or condense (especially of a written work)
INDIFFERENT
marked by a lack of interest
If you’re indifferent about something, you don’t care much about it one way or another. You might feel indifferent about politics, changing the channel whenever the TV news comes on.
(n) Not caring; having no interest; unbiased, impartial
I don’t mean it to sound indifferent, but it does.
VERBOSE
using or containing too many words
If you’re verbose, you use far more words than you need to. A verbose book report goes on and on and is packed with long, complicated words that aren’t at all necessary.
(adj.) Using more words than necessary; wordy
SQUELCH
suppress or crush completely
When you squelch something, you’re putting an end to it. You can squelch an idea or a rebellion.
(v) To crush or squash as if by trampling
(v) To quell or suppress completely
(v) To silence, as by a crushing remark
(v) To emit a splashing, sucking sound
EMACIATE
grow weak and thin or waste away physically
To emaciate is to make someone extremely thin or very weak. A serious illness can often emaciate a person, leaving them gaunt and frail.
(adj.) Wasted away, enfeebled, or made extremely thin
The emaciated, dirty, bearded face: its eyes never even blinked.
EXTEMPORE
with little or no preparation or forethought.
Something extempore is spontaneous and unscripted. An extempore dance party on the city bus might be fun, while an extempore speech in front of the whole school could be terrifying.
(adj.) Done, said, or composed with little or no preparation; unpremeditated
There were no musical instruments and psalms were led, while prayers were extempore and interminable with some church members rambling on for 20 minutes minimum.
FORESTALL
keep from happening or arising; make impossible.
It takes a bit of planning to forestall something, meaning stop it from happening. To forestall the effects of aging, exercise and take care of your health all your life.
(v) To hinder or prevent in advance
(v) To anticipate or deal with in advance
(v) To buy up goods so as to drive up prices for resale
ANALOGOUS
similar or equivalent in some respects
Use the adjective analogous to describe something that is similar to something else and can be compared to another.
(adj.) Similar or related so that one can draw an analogy or comparison
QUIESCENCE
a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction
If there’s a particular time of day when your ten kittens settle down to nap, you can call that their period of quiescence, or the time when they are all quiet and restful.
(n) The state of being quiescent; tranquil restfulness or repose
I answered miserably that the disease hath a period of quiescence before it blooms.
ADULTERATE
make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance
If you adulterate something, you mess it up. You may not want to adulterate the beauty of freshly fallen snow by shoveling it, but how else are you going to get to work?
(v) To make impure or corrupt by adding foreign or inferior materials or
ingredients, particularly in preparation for sale
If the car hadn’t been adulterated for the mysterious and missing goats, it would hold thirty-two horses.
NABOB
a wealthy man
(n) A person who is wealthy, prominent, or important
(n) A provincial governor of India’s Mogul empire (historical)
CARDINAL
serving as an essential component. something that shouldn’t be broken.
A cardinal is a bright red songbird, and the word also refers to the bird’s crimson color. In Catholicism, a cardinal is a high-ranking bishop. In math, you use cardinal numbers to count. A cardinal rule is one that is central and should not be broken.
(adj.) Of prime importance; chief; main
NOISOME
causing or able to cause nausea
If you accidentally leave half a sandwich under your bed for a few days, cover your nose while you sleep because it will probably become quite noisome. This is a fancy way of saying that it will stink.
(adj.) Having an extremely offensive smell
I also became aware of the noisome stench arising from it.
PUISSANCE
power to influence or coerce
Puissance is the power to influence what other people do or believe. A celebrity who is extremely popular with teens has puissance to help end problems like bullying just by talking about it in interviews.
(n) Power; might
“the puissance of the labor vote”
