Basic words Flashcards
Onerous
Troublesome and oppressive; burdensome
Obviate
To prevent or make unnecessary
Obdurate
Hardened in feeling; resistant to persuasion
Naive
Lacking sophistication or experience
Mollify
To calm; make less severe
Malinger
To evade responsibility; pretending to be ill. Exaggerate or feign illness to escape duty or work
Lavish
(v.) to give unsparingly
(adj.) extremely generous or extravagant
Laconic
Using few words
Irascible
Easily made angry
Intransigent
Uncompromising; refusing to be reconciled
Insipid
Lacking interest or flavor
Innocuous
Harmless
Inimical
hostile; unfriendly
Inchoate
not fully formed; disorganized
Impetuous
Quick to act without thinking
Iconoclast
One who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions
Guile
Deceit or trickery
Gregarious
Outgoing, sociable
Garrulous (antonym: laconic)
Tending to talk a lot
Foment
To arouse or incite
Florid
Excessively decorated or embellished
Fervid
Intensely emotional, feverish
Fanatical
acting excessively enthusiastic, filled with extreme, unquestioned devotion
Exculpate
to clear from blame; prove innocent
Eulogy
Speech in praise of someone
Estimable
admirable
Esoteric
Known or understood by only a few
Erudite
Learned, scholarly, bookish
Equivocate
To use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead
Equivocal
Open to more than one interpretation; misleading
Ephemeral
Lasting a short time
Enigma
Puzzle; mystery
Engender
To produce, cause, or bring about
Enervate
to reduce in strength
Eloquent
persuasive and moving (especially in speech)
Eclectic
Selecting from or made up from a variety of sources
Dogmatic
Dictatorial in one’s own opinions
Dissemble
to present a false appearance; to disguise one’s real intentions or character
Disparate (antonym: homogenous)
Fundamentally different; entirely unlike
Discern
to perceive; to recognize
Disabuse
to set right; to free from error
Dirge
a funeral hymn or mournful speech
Dilettante
Someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic
Dilatory
intended to delay
Diffident
Lacking self-confidence
Desultory
jumping from one thing to another; disconnected
Desiccate
to dry out thoroughly
Deride
to speak of or treat with contempt; to mock
Deference
respect, courtesy
Credulous
too trusting; gullible
Cogent
Convincing and well-reasoned
Chicanery
Deception by means of craft or guile
Chauvinist
Someone prejudiced in favor of a group to which he or she belongs
Caustic
Sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way
Castigate
To punish or criticize harshly
Cacophany
Harsh, jarring noise
Bombastic
Pompous in speech and manner
Austere
Rigorous, severe, stern in appearance
Audacious
Fearless and daring
Attenuate
To reduce in force or degree, to weaken
Assuage
to make something unpleasant, less severe
Ardor
Intense and passionate feeling
Antipathy
extreme dislike
Ameliorate
to make better; to improve
Amalgamate
to combine; mix together
Aggrandize
to increase in power, influence, and reputation
Adulterate
to make impure
Occlude
to stop up; prevent the passage of
Opprobrium
public disgrace
Ostentation
excessive showiness
Paragon
model of excellence or perfection
Pedant
someone who shows off learning
Perfidious
willing to betray one’s trust
Prevaricate
to lie or deviate from the truth
Perfunctory
done in a routine way, indifferent
- lack of interest, quickly and carelessly
Plastic
able to be shaped, molded, altered, or bent
Pragmatic
practical as opposed to idealistic
Precipitate
to throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation
Prodigal
lavish; wasteful
Proliferate
to increase in number quickly
Propitiate
to conciliate; to appease
Propriety
decorum; appropriate behavior; obedience to rules and customs
Prudence
wisdom, caution, or restraint
Quiescent
motionless
Rarefy
to make thinner or sparser
Repudiate
to reject the validity of
Reticent
silent; reserved
Rhetoric
effective writing or speaking
Soporific
causing sleep or lethargy
Specious
deceptively attractive, seemingly plausible but fallacious
Stolid
unemotional; lacking sensitivity
Sublime
lofty or grand
Tacit
done without using words
Taciturn
silent, not talkative
Torpor
extreme mental and physical sluggishness
Transitory (syn. - ephemeral)
temporary, lasting a brief time
Vacillate
to sway physically; to be indecisive
Venerate
to respect deeply
Veracity
truthfulness; accuracy
Verbose
wordy
Zeal
passion, excitement
Whimsical
acting in a fanciful or capricious manner, unpredictable
Waver
to fluctuate between choices
Volatile
easily aroused or changeable, lively or explosive
Vex
to annoy
Tirade
long, harsh speech or verbal attack
Stigma
a mark of shame or discredit
Satiate
to satisfy fully or overindulge
Pungent
sharp and irritating to the senses
Pristine
fresh and clean; uncorrupted
Plethora
excess
Placate
to soothe or pacify
Philanthropy
charity; a desire or an effort to promote goodness
Permeate
to penetrate
Paradox
contradiction or dilemma
Opaque
impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light
Obstinate
stubborn; unyielding
Obsequious
overly submissive and eager to please
Monotony
lack of variation
Mitigate
to soften; to lessen
Misanthrope
a person who dislikes others
Meticulous
extremely careful about details
Metaphor
a figure of speech comparing two different things; a symbol
Malleable
capable of being shaped
Luminous
bright, brilliant, glowing
Lucid
clear and easily understood
Loquacious
talkative
Lethargic
acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner
Laud
to praise
Lament
to express sorrow; to grieve
Inundate
to overwhelm; to cover with water
Ingenuous
showing innocence or childlike simplicity
Implacable
unable to be calmed down or made peaceful
Impervious
impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected
Imperturbable
not capable of being disturbed
Homogenous
of a similar kind
Gullible
easily deceived
Frugality
a tendency to be thrifty or cheap
Fawn
to grovel
Explicit
Clearly stated or shown; forthright in expression
Exonerate
to clear of blame
Exigent
urgent; requiring immediate action
Exacerbate
to make worse
Euphemism
use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one
Erratic
wandering and unpredictable
Enumerate
to count, list, or itemize
Emulate
to copy; to try to equal or excel
Elegy
a sorrowful poem or speech
Efficacy
effectiveness
Dupe
to deceive; a person who’s easily deceived
dogma
a firmly held opinion, often a religious belief
Dissonance
A harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds
Dilate
to make larger, to expand
Diatribe
an abusive, condemnatory speech
Decorum
appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety
Crescendo
steadily increasing in volume or force
Corroborate
to provide supporting evidence
Convoluted
intricate and complicated
Condone
to overlook, pardon, or disregard
Chaos
great disorder or confusion
Catalyst
something that brings about a change in something else
Capricious
Changing one’s mind quickly and often
Candid
Impartial and honest in speech
Bolster
to support, to prop up
Banal
predictable, cliched, boring
articulate
able to speak clearly and expressively
Archaic
ancient, old-fashioned
Arbitrate
to judge a dispute between two opposing parties
Apathy
lack of interest/emotion
Antagonize
to annoy or provoke to anger
Anomaly
deviation from what is normal
Analogous
similar or alike in some way; equivalent to
Anachronism
out of place in time
Ambiguous
doubtful or uncertain; able to be interpreted several ways
Alleviate
to make more bearable
Aesthetic
concerning the appreciation of beautty
Advocate
to speak in favor of
Abyss
an extremely deep hole
Abstain
to refrain from
Abscond
to leave secretly
Abate
to reduce in amount, degree, or severity
