c Flashcards
1
Q
cacophony
A
(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school
orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)
2
Q
cajole
A
(v.) to urge, coax (Fred’s buddies cajoled him into attending the bachelor party.)
3
Q
calamity
A
(n.) an event with disastrous consequences (The earthquake in San Francisco
was a calamity worse than any other natural disaster in history.)
4
Q
calibrate
A
(v.) to set, standardize (The mechanic calibrated the car’s transmission to
make the motor run most efficiently.)
5
Q
callous
A
(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the
jury.)
6
Q
calumny
A
(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.)
7
Q
camaraderie
A
(n.) brotherhood, jovial unity (Camaraderie among employees usually
leads to success in business.)
8
Q
candor
A
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor’s speech
because he is usually rather evasive.)
9
Q
canny
A
(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.)
10
Q
canvas
A
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.)
11
Q
capacious
A
(adj.) very spacious (The workers delighted in their new capacious office
space.)
12
Q
capitulate
A
(v.) to surrender (The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly
battle.)
13
Q
capricious
A
(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it
difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)
14
Q
captivate
A
(v.)to get the attention of, hold (The fireworks captivated the young boy, who
had never seen such things before.)
15
Q
carouse
A
carouse
16
Q
carp
A
(v.) to annoy, pester (The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping
voice for decades.)
17
Q
catalog
A
- (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.)
18
Q
catalyze
A
(v.) to charge, inspire (The president’s speech catalyzed the nation and
resuscitated the economy.)
19
Q
caucus
A
(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.)
20
Q
caustic
A
(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic (The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an
hour during the debate.)
21
Q
cavort
A
(v.) to leap about, behave boisterously (The adults ate their dinners on the patio,
while the children cavorted around the pool.)
22
Q
censure
A
(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.)
23
Q
cerebral
A
(adj.) related to the intellect (The books we read in this class are too cerebral—
they don’t engage my emotions at all.)
24
Q
chastise
A
(v.) to criticize severely (After being chastised by her peers for mimicking
Britney Spears, Miranda dyed her hair black and affected a Gothic style.)
25
chide
(v.) to voice disapproval (Lucy chided Russell for his vulgar habits and sloppy
appearance.)
26
choreography
(n.) the arrangement of dances (The plot of the musical was banal, but the
choreography was stunning.)
27
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.)
28
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.)
29
circuitous
(adj.) roundabout (The bus’s circuitous route took us through numerous
outlying suburbs.)
30
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.)
31
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.)
32
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.)
33
clairvoyant
(adj.) able to perceive things that normal people cannot (Zelda’s uncanny
ability to detect my lies was nothing short of clairvoyant.)
34
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.)
35
clandestine
(adj.) secret (Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the gym,
Sophie actually went to meet Joseph for a clandestine liaison.)
36
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.)
37
clemency
(n.) mercy (After he forgot their anniversary, Martin could only beg Maria
for clemency.)
38
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.)
39
cloying
(adj.) sickeningly sweet (Though Ronald was physically attractive, Maud
found his constant compliments and solicitous remarks cloying.)
40
coagulate
(v.) to thicken, clot (The top layer of the pudding had coagulated into a thick
skin.)
41
coalesce
(v.) to fuse into a whole (Gordon’s ensemble of thrift-shop garments coalesced
into a surprisingly handsome outfit.)
42
cobbler
(n.) a person who makes or repairs shoes (I had my neighborhood cobbler
replace my worn-out leather soles with new ones.)
43
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.)
44
cogent
(adj.)intellectually convincing (Irene’s arguments in favor of abstinence were so
cogent that I could not resist them.)
45
cognizant
(adj.) aware, mindful (Jake avoided speaking to women in bars because he
was cognizant of the fact that drinking impairs his judgment.)
46
coherent
(adj.) logically consistent, intelligible (Renee could not figure out what
Monroe had seen because he was too distraught to deliver a coherent statement.)
47
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.)
48
colloquial
(adj.) characteristic of informal conversation (Adam’s essay on sexual response in primates was marked down because it contained too many colloquial
expressions.)
49
collusion
(n.) secret agreement, conspiracy (The three law students worked in collusion
to steal the final exam.)
50
colossus
(n.) a gigantic statue or thing (For 56 years, the ancient city of Rhodes featured
a colossus standing astride its harbor.)
51
combustion
(n.) the act or process of burning (The unexpected combustion of the
prosecution’s evidence forced the judge to dismiss the case against Ramirez.)
52
commendation
(n.) a notice of approval or recognition (Jared received a commendation
from Linda, his supervisor, for his stellar performance.)
53
commensurate
(adj.) corresponding in size or amount (Ahab selected a very long roll
and proceeded to prepare a tuna salad sandwich commensurate with his enormous
appetite.)
54
commodious
(adj.) roomy (Holden invited the three women to join him in the back seat
of the taxicab, assuring them that the car was quite commodious.)
55
compelling
(adj.) forceful, demanding attention (Eliot’s speech was so compelling that
Lenore accepted his proposal on the spot.)
56
compensate
(v.) to make an appropriate payment for something (Reginald bought
Sharona a new dress to compensate her for the one he’d spilled his ice cream on.)
57
complacency
(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger (Colin tried to shock his friends out
of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)
58
complement
(v.) to complete, make perfect (Ann’s scarf complements her blouse
beautifully, making her seem fully dressed even though she isn’t wearing a coat.)
59
compliant
(adj.) ready to adapt oneself to another’s wishes (Sue had very
strong opinions about what to do on a first date, and Ted was
absolutely compliant.)
60
complicit
(adj.) being an accomplice in a wrongful act (By keeping her daughter’s affair
a secret, Maddie became complicit in it.)
61
compound
1. (v.) to combine parts (The difficulty of finding a fire escape amid the smoke
was compounded with the dangers posed by the panicking crowds.) 2. (n.) a
combination of different parts (My attraction to Donna was a compound of
curiosity about the unknown, physical desire, and intellectual admiration.) 3. (n.) a
walled area containing a group of buildings (When the fighting started, Joseph
rushed into the family compound because it was safe and well defended.)
62
comprehensive
(adj.) including everything (She sent me a comprehensive list of the
ingredients needed to cook rabbit soufflé.)
63
compress
(v.) to apply pressure, squeeze together (Lynn compressed her lips into a
frown.)
64
compunction
(n.) distress caused by feeling guilty (He felt compunction for the shabby
way he’d treated her.)
65
concede
(v.) to accept as valid (Andrew had to concede that what his mother said about
Diana made sense.)
66
conciliatory
(adj.) friendly, agreeable (I took Amanda’s invitation to dinner as a very
conciliatory gesture.)
67
concise
(adj.) brief and direct in expression (Gordon did not like to waste time, and his
instructions to Brenda were nothing if not concise.)
68
concoct
(v.) to fabricate, make up (She concocted the most ridiculous story to explain her
absence.)
69
concomitant
(adj.) accompanying in a subordinate fashion (His dislike of hard work
carried with it a concomitant lack of funds.)
70
concord
(n.) harmonious agreement (Julie and Harold began the evening with a
disagreement, but ended it in a state of perfect concord.)
71
condolence
(n.) an expression of sympathy in sorrow (Brian lamely offered his
condolences on the loss of his sister’s roommate’s cat.)
72
condone
(v.) to pardon, deliberately overlook (He refused to condone his brother’s
crime.)
73
conduit
(n.) a pipe or channel through which something passes (The water flowed
through the conduit into the container.)
74
confection
(n.) a sweet, fancy food (We went to the mall food court and purchased a
delicious confection.)
75
confidant
(n.) a person entrusted with secrets (Shortly after we met, she became my
chief confidant.)
76
conflagration
(n.) great fire (The conflagration consumed the entire building.)
77
confluence
(n.) a gathering together (A confluence of different factors made tonight the
perfect night.)
78
conformist
| confound (v.) to frustrate, confuse (MacGuyver confounded the policemen
(n.) one who behaves the same as others (Julian was such a conformist that
he had to wait and see if his friends would do something before he would commit.)
79
confound
(v.) to frustrate, confuse (MacGuyver confounded the policemen pursuing
him by covering his tracks.)
80
congeal
(v.) to thicken into a solid (The sauce had congealed into a thick paste.)
81
congenial
(adj.) pleasantly agreeable (His congenial manner made him popular
wherever he went.)
82
congregation
(n.) a gathering of people, especially for religious services (The priest told
the congregation that he would be retiring.)
83
congruity
(n.) the quality of being in agreement (Bill and Veronica achieved a perfect
congruity of opinion.)
84
consecrate (v.) to dedicate something to a holy purpose (Arvin consecrated his spare
bedroom as a shrine to Christina.)connive
(v.) to plot, scheme (She connived to get me to give up my vacation plans.)
85
consecrate
(v.) to dedicate something to a holy purpose (Arvin consecrated his spare
bedroom as a shrine to Christina.)
86
consensus
(n.) an agreement of opinion (The jury was able to reach a consensus only
after days of deliberation.)
87
consign
(v.) to give something over to another’s care (Unwillingly, he consigned his
mother to a nursing home.)
88
consolation
(n.) an act of comforting (Darren found Alexandra’s presence to be aconsolation for his suffering.)
89
consonant
(adj.) in harmony (The singers’ consonant voices were beautiful.)
90
constituent
(n.) an essential part (The most important constituent of her perfume is
something called ambergris.)
91
constrain
(v.) to forcibly restrict (His belief in nonviolence constrained him from taking
revenge on his attackers.)
92
construe
(v.) to interpret (He construed her throwing his clothes out the window as a
signal that she wanted him to leave.)
93
consummate
(v.) to complete a deal; to complete a marriage ceremony through sexual
intercourse (Erica and Donald consummated their agreement in the executive
boardroom.)
94
contemporaneous
(adj.) existing during the same time (Though her novels do not
feature the themes of Romanticism, Jane Austen’s work was contemporaneous with
that of Wordsworth and Byron.)
95
contentious
(adj.) having a tendency to quarrel or dispute (George’s contentious
personality made him unpopular with his classmates.)
96
contravene
(v.) to contradict, oppose, violate (Edwidge contravened his landlady’s rule
against overnight guests.)
97
contrite
(adj.) penitent, eager to be forgiven (Blake’s contrite behavior made it
impossible to stay angry at him.)
98
contusion
(n.) bruise, injury (The contusions on his face suggested he’d been in a fight.)
99
conundrum
(n.) puzzle, problem (Interpreting Jane’s behavior was a constant
conundrum.)
100
convene
(v.) to call together (Jason convened his entire extended family for a
discussion.)
101
convention
1. (n.) an assembly of people (The hotel was full because of the cattleranchers’ convention.) 2. (n.) a rule, custom (The cattle-ranchers have a convention
that you take off your boots before entering their houses.)
102
convivial
(adj.) characterized by feasting, drinking, merriment (The restaurant’s
convivial atmosphere put me immediately at ease.)
103
convoluted
(adj.) intricate, complicated (Grace’s story was so convoluted that I couldn’t
follow it.)
104
copious
(adj.) profuse, abundant (Copious amounts of Snapple were imbibed in the
cafeteria.)
105
cordial
(adj.) warm, affectionate (His cordial greeting melted my anger at once.)
106
coronation
(n.) the act of crowning (The new king’s coronation occurred the day after
his father’s death.)
107
corpulence
(adj.)extreme fatness (Henry’s corpulence did not make him any less
attractive to his charming, svelte wife.)
108
corroborate
(v.) to support with evidence (Luke’s seemingly outrageous claim was
corroborated by witnesses.)
109
corrosive
(adj.) having the tendency to erode or eat away (The effect of the chemical
was highly corrosive.)
110
cosmopolitan
(adj.) sophisticated, worldly (Lloyd’s education and upbringing were
cosmopolitan, so he felt right at home among the powerful and learned.)
111
counteract
(v.) to neutralize, make ineffective (The antidote counteracted the effect of
the poison.)
112
coup
1. (n.) a brilliant, unexpected act (Alexander pulled off an amazing coup when he
got a date with Cynthia by purposely getting hit by her car.) 2. (n.) the overthrow of
a government and assumption of authority (In their coup attempt, the army officers
stormed the Parliament and took all the legislators hostage.)
113
covet
(v.) to desire enviously (I coveted Moses’s house, wife, and car.)
114
covert
(adj.)secretly engaged in (Nerwin waged a covertcampaign against his enemies,
while outwardly appearing to remain friendly.)
115
credulity
(n.) readiness to believe (His credulity made him an easy target for con men.)
116
crescendo
(n.) a steady increase in intensity or volume (The crescendo of the brass
instruments gave the piece a patriotic feel.)
117
criteria
(n.) standards by which something is judged (Among Mrs. Fields’s criteria for
good cookies are that they be moist and chewy.)
118
culmination
(n.) the climax toward which something progresses (The culmination of
the couple’s argument was the decision to divorce.)
119
culpable
(adj.) deserving blame (He was culpable of the crime, and was sentenced to
perform community service for 75 years.)
120
cultivate
(v.) to nurture, improve, refine (At the library, she cultivated her interest in
spy novels.)
121
cumulative
(adj.) increasing, building upon itself (The cumulative effect of hours spent
in the sun was a deep tan.)
122
cupidity
(n.) greed, strong desire (His cupidity made him enter the abandoned gold
mine despite the obvious dangers.)
123
cursory
(adj.) brief to the point of being superficial (Late for the meeting, she cast a
cursory glance at the agenda.)
124
curt
(adj.) abruptly and rudely short (Her curt reply to my question made me realize
that she was upset at me.)
125
curtail
(v.) to lessen, reduce (Since losing his job, he had to curtail his spending.)
