Book/Newspaper Words & Quotes Flashcards
Quandary - a state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation.
Taut - concise and controlled
Pithy - terse and vigorously expressive
Incisive - intelligently analytical and clear-thinking
Decadence - luxurious self-indulgence, moral or cultural decline as characterised by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury
Pathos - a quality that evokes pity or sadness, sorrowfulness. “The actor injects his pathos into the role”
Nebulous - vague or ill-defined, unclear, hazy “his nebulous ideas about salvation”
Virtuosity - mastery, expertise, prowess, great skill in music or other artistic pursuit
Morbid desire/curiosity
Slavish conformity
Civility - formal politeness and courtesy in behaviour
Rapier-like wit/intelligence - very quick and accurate or incisive
Trenchant - vigorous or incisive in expression or style
Elicit - evoke or draw out (a reaction, answer, or fact) from someone.
Unnerve - to make someone lose courage or confidence
Indictment - a thing that serves to illustrate that a system or situation is bad and deserves to be condemned.
Evoke - bring or recall to the conscious mind
evocative - bring strong images, feelings or memories to mind; reminiscent
Melancholy - a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause
Misgiving - a feeling or doubt or apprehension
Cerebral pyrotechnics - brilliance of display
Admonish - reprimand firmly, rebuke
Veritable - bona fide, authentic, genuine, used an intensifier, often to qualify a metaphor
Exemplary - serving as a desirable model; representing the best of its kind
Decorum - behaviour in keeping with good taste and propriety
Disparage - regard or represent as being of little worth
Substantive - having a firm basis in reality and therefore important, meaningful or considerable
All-consuming loathing
Supplant - supersede and replace
Meandering emptiness
Pilloried - criticised
Beset - trouble persistently, plague, bedevil, afflict
Beleagured - hard-pressed, troubled, in difficulties
Palpable - so intense as to seem tangible
Belittle - make someone or something seem unimportant
Bellicose - demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight
Anti-establishment fervour
Searing nostalgia
Confound - cause surprise or confusion in
Self-alienation - the process of distancing oneself from one’s own feelings or activities, such as may occur in mental illness or as a symptom of emotional distress.
overweening - showing excessive confidence or pride
overweening confidence/ambition
self-avowed - self-declared - self-professed
self-assured - confident in ones own abilities or character
Manifestly - obviously, plainly, unmistakably
Barbed reference - hurtful, biting, snide, ill-natured
Uncritical adulation/Medieval superstition
Profane - not respectful of religious practice; irreverent, ungodly, godless, impious, disrespectful, irreligious, unbelieving, disbelieving, sacrilegious, idolatrous
Agreeable - enjoyable and pleasant
Problematic - constituting or presenting a problem
Snarl - say something in an angry / bad-tempered voice
Hand-wringing
Desecrate - treat (a sacred place or thing) with violent disrespect
Xenophobic bile of right-wing press
Monopoly on faith but not on reason
Disdain cultivated in the aftermath of a divide quickly exceeds the original grievance
Smug disdain
Angst - a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general.
Anxiety - a feeling of woes, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.
Ambivalence - the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about someone or something.
Redolent - strongly reminiscent or suggestive of
Temperance - moderation of self-restraint
Mandate - give authority to act in a certain way
Smokescreen - ruse
Half-baked - hare-brained, foolish, brainless, witless
Disinformation - false information intended to mislead
Assiduous - showing great care and perseverance
Turmoil - upheaval, commotion, disorder
Stagnate - cease development, languish, lie dormant
Exemplify - be an example of
Calamitous - ruinous, tragic, catastrophic
Scant - insufficient, minimal
Stigmatise - condemn, villify
Parochial - narrow-minded, insular
Pontificate - dogmatise, moralise, preach
Partisan - biased, partial, prejudiced
Stultify - render ineffectual, impede
Irrepressible - uncontrolled, unrestrained
Spurn - reject with disdain or contempt
Bamboozle - to deceive, trick, hoodwink
Cognisant - aware, knowledgeable
Fixate - acquire obsessive attachment to
Equanimity - calmness, composure
The micro-disappointments of an average day
Legitimise - make legitimate
Ruction - disturbance or quarrel
Squalid - showing or involving a contemptible lack of
Frivolity - lack of seriousness, lightheartedness
Gerrymander - manipulate electoral results
Juggernaut - a huge powerful and overwhelming force
Duplicitous - deceitful
Hyperbolic - exaggerated
Nominally - only by name
Disingenuous - insincere
Countenance - admit as acceptable or possible
Luxuriate - to be self-indulgent; enjoy oneself in a luxurious way
Saccharine - excessively sweet or sentimental
Stupor - a state of near-unconsciousness; the lack of critical mental function
Endogamy - the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe
Faustian (dow) bargain - from the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the devil, exchanging his soul for worldly gains. The word Faustian describes a circumstance in which a person compromises her beliefs or morals in order to achieve some kind of success.
Lassitude - a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy; lethargy, weariness
Effrontery - insolent or impertinent behaviour; rude and not showing respect; impudence. cheek
Leaden dispiritedness that envelops so many persons both young and old (S-Town)
Inestimably - too large or too great to be estimated or appreciated.
Alacrity - brisk and cheerful readiness, willingness, eagerness
