Chapter 4: History Flashcards
Draconian
Characterized by very strict laws, rules, and punishments
Laconic
Very brief; concise; SUCCINCT; TERSE
Spartian
Plain; simple; AUSTERE
Halcyon
Idyllically calm and peaceful; an untroubled golden time of satisfaction, happiness, and tranquility
Sophistry
A plausible but deliberately misleading or FALLACIOUS argument designed to deceive someone
Chimerical
Given to fantastic schemes; existing only in the imagination; impossible; vainly conceived
Ostracize
To deliberately exclude from a group; to BANISH
Impecunious
Poor; penniless; NOT AFFLUENT
Nefarious
Famous for being wicked; VILLAINOUS; vile
Jovial
Good-humored; cheerful; JOCULAR
Dirge
A funeral hymn; a slow, mournful, LUGUBRIOUS musical composition
Maudlin
Tearful; excessively sentimental, but not MAWKISH
Quixotic
Foolishly impractical in the pursuit of ideals; impractical idealism
Pandemonium
A wild uproar; tumult
Martinet
A strict disciplinarian; a person who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules
Fiasco
A complete failure; a DEBACLE
Bowdlerize
To remove or delete parts of a book, song or other work that are considered offensive; to EXPURGATE
Galvanize
To electrify; to stir into action as if with an electric shock
Picayune
Small value or importance; petty; trifling
Gerrymander
To divide a geographic are into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections
Maverick
An independent individual who does not go along with a group or party; a nonconformist
Juggernaut
An irresistible force that crushes everything in its path
Serendipity
Discovery by fortunate accidnet
Zenith
The highest point; the peak; the APEX
Nadir
The lowest point; the bottom
