c Flashcards
cacophony
(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school
orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)
cajole
(v.) to urge, coax (Fred’s buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)
calamity
(n.) an event with disastrous consequences (The earthquake in San Francisco
was a calamity worse than any other natural disaster in history.)
calibrate
(v.) to set, standardize (The mechanic calibrated the car’s transmission to
make the motor run most efficiently.)
callous
(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the
jury.)
calumny
(n.) an attempt to spoil someone else’s reputation by spreading lies (The local
official’s calumny ended up ruining his opponent’s prospect of winning the election.)
camaraderie
(n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees usually
leads to success in business.)
candor
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor’s speech
because he is usually rather evasive.)
canny
(adj.) shrewd, careful (The canny runner hung at the back of the pack through
much of the race to watch the other runners, and then sprinted past them at the end.)
canvas
canvas 1. (n.) a piece of cloth on which an artist paints (Picasso liked to work on canvas
rather than on bare cement.) 2. (v.) to cover, inspect (We canvassed the
neighborhood looking for clues.)
capacious
(adj.) very spacious (The workers delighted in their new capacious office
space.)
capitulate
(v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly
battle.)
capricious
(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it
difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)
captivate
(v.)to get the attention of, hold (The fireworks captivated the young boy, who
had never seen such things before.)
carouse
carouse
carp
(v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping
voice for decades.)
catalog
- (v.) to list, enter into a list (The judge cataloged the victim’s injuries before
calculating how much money he would award.) 2. (n.) a list or collection (We
received a catalog from J. Crew that displayed all of their new items.)
catalyze
(v.) to charge, inspire (The president’s speech catalyzed the nation and
resuscitated the economy.)
caucus
(n.) a meeting usually held by people working toward the same goal (The
ironworkers held a caucus to determine how much of a pay increase they would
request.)
caustic
(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic (The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an
hour during the debate.)
cavort
(v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio,
while the children cavorted around the pool.)
censure
(n.) harsh criticism (The frustrated teenager could not put up with anymore
of her critical mother’s censure.) 2. (v.) to rebuke formally (The principal censured
the head of the English Department for forcing students to learn esoteric
vocabulary.)
cerebral
(adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral—
they don’t engage my emotions at all.)
chastise
(v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking
Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)
chide
(v.) to voice disapproval (Lucy chided Russell for his vulgar habits and sloppy
appearance.)
choreography
(n.) the arrangement of dances (The plot of the musical was banal, but the
choreography was stunning.)
chronicle
(n.) a written history (The library featured the newly updated chronicle of
World War II.) 2. (v.) to write a history (Albert’s diary chronicled the day-to-day
growth of his obsession with Cynthia.)
chronological
(adj.) arranged in order of time (Lionel carefully arranged the snapshots
of his former girlfriends in chronological order, and then set fire to them.)
circuitous
(adj.) roundabout (The bus’s circuitous route took us through numerous
outlying suburbs.)
circumlocution
(n.) indirect and wordy language (The professor’s habit of speaking in
circumlocutions made it difficult to follow his lectures.)
circumscribed (adj.) marked off, bounded (The children were permitted to play tag
only within a carefully circumscribed area of the lawn.)
circumspect
(adj.) cautious (Though I promised Rachel’s father I would bring her home
promptly by midnight, it would have been more circumspect not to have specified a
time.)
circumvent
(v.) to get around (The school’s dress code forbidding navel-baring jeans
was circumvented by the determined students, who were careful to cover up with
long coats when administrators were nearby.)
clairvoyant
(adj.) able to perceive things that normal people cannot (Zelda’s uncanny
ability to detect my lies was nothing short of clairvoyant.)
clamor
(n.) loud noise (Each morning the birds outside my window make such a
clamor that they wake me up.) 2. (v.)to loudly insist (Neville’s fans clamored for
him to appear on stage, but he had passed out on the floor of his dressing room.)
clandestine
(adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the gym,
Sophie actually went to meet Joseph for a clandestine liaison.)
cleave
(v.) to divide into parts (Following the scandalous disgrace of their leader, the
entire political party cleaved into warring factions.) 2. (v.) to stick together firmly
(After resolving their marital problems, Junior and Rosa cleaved to one another all
the more tightly.)
clemency
(n.) mercy (After he forgot their anniversary, Martin could only beg Maria
for clemency.)
clergy
(n.) members of Christian holy orders (Though the villagers viewed the church
rectory as quaint and charming, the clergy who lived there regarded it as a mildewy
and dusty place that aggravated their allergies.)
cloying
(adj.) sickeningly sweet (Though Ronald was physically attractive, Maud
found his constant compliments and solicitous remarks cloying.)
coagulate
(v.) to thicken, clot (The top layer of the pudding had coagulated into a thick
skin.)
coalesce
(v.) to fuse into a whole (Gordon’s ensemble of thrift-shop garments coalesced
into a surprisingly handsome outfit.)
cobbler
(n.) a person who makes or repairs shoes (I had my neighborhood cobbler
replace my worn-out leather soles with new ones.)
coerce
(v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that
Vanilla Ice did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into
signing it.)
cogent
(adj.)intellectually convincing (Irene’s arguments in favor of abstinence were so
cogent that I could not resist them.)
cognizant
(adj.) aware, mindful (Jake avoided speaking to women in bars because he
was cognizant of the fact that drinking impairs his judgment.)
coherent
(adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (Renee could not figure out what
Monroe had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)
collateral
(adj.)secondary (Divorcing my wife had the collateral effect of making me
poor, as she was the only one of us with a job or money.) 2. (n.) security for a debt
(Jacob left his watch as collateral for the $500 loan.)
colloquial
(adj.) characteristic of informal conversation (Adam’s essay on sexual response in primates was marked down because it contained too many colloquial
expressions.)
collusion
(n.) secret agreement, conspiracy (The three law students worked in collusion
to steal the final exam.)
colossus
(n.) a gigantic statue or thing (For 56 years, the ancient city of Rhodes featured
a colossus standing astride its harbor.)
