All Flashcards
Impetuous
Quick to act without thinking
Insipid
Lacking interest or flavour
Pungent
Sharp and irritating to the senses
Prevaricate
To lie or deviate from the truth
Stolid
Unemotional; lacking sensitivity
Antipathy
Extreme dislike
Foment
To arouse or incite
Capricious
Changing one’s mind quickly and often
Dissemble
To present a false appearance; to disguise one’s real intentions or character
Sublime
Lofty or grand
Plethora
Excess
Dilate
To make larger; to expand
Propitiate
To conciliate; to appease
Candid
Impartial and honest in speech
Iconoclast
One who opposes established beliefs, customs and institutions
Rarefy
To make thinner or sparser
Discern
To perceive; to recognize
Efficacy
Effectiveness
Imperturbable
Not capable of being disturbed
Obdurate
Hardened in feeling; resistant to persuasion
Malinger
To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill
Plastic
Able to be moulded, altered, or bent
Florid
Excessively decorated or embellished
Meticulous
Extremely careful about details
Dilatory
Intended to delay
Anachronism
Something out of place in time
Anomaly
Deviation from what is normal
Arbitrate
To judge a dispute between 2 opposing parties
Onerous
Troublesome and oppressive; burdensome
Rhetoric
Effective writing or speaking
Implacable
Unable to be calmed down or made peaceful
Inimical
Hostile, unfriendly
Naive
Lacking sophistication or experience
Proliferate
To increase in number quickly
Permeate
To penetrate
Abate
To reduce in amount, degree, or severity
Emulate
To copy; to try to equal or excel
Philanthropy
Charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness
Engender
To produce, cause, or bring about
Aesthetic
Concerning the appreciation of beauty
Dissonance
A harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds
Chicanery
Deception by means of craft or guile
Assuage
To make something unpleasant less severe
Dogma
A firmly held opinion, often a religious belief
Transitory
Temporary, lasting a brief time
Pragmatic
Practical as opposed to idealistic
Bombastic
Pompous in speech and manner
Perfidious
Willing to betray one’s trust
Frugality
A tendency to be thrifty or cheap
Exigent
Urgent; requiring immediate action
Vex
To annoy
Propriety
Correct behaviour; obedience to rules and customs
Antagonize
To annoy or provoke to anger
Mollify
To calm or make less severe
Eclectic
Selecting from or made up from a variety of sources
Exonerate
To clear from blame
Tacit
Done without using words
Lavish
To give unsparingly; extremely generous or extravagant
Elegy
A sorrowful poem or speech
Paradox
A contradiction or dilemma
Venerate
To respect deeply
Veracity
Filled with truth and accuracy
Quiescent
Motionless
Vacillate
To sway physically; to be indecisive
Euphemism
Use of an inoffensive word it phrase in place if a more distasteful one
Exculpatory
To clear from blame; prove innocent