Chapter 9 Flashcards
deride
v.
To laugh at, speak of, or write about dismissively or contemptuously; to ridicule.
loquacious
adj.
Very talkative; garrulous.
ordain
v.
1.
a. To invest with ministerial or priestly authority; confer holy orders on: ordain a priest.
b. To authorize as a rabbi.
2. To order or decree by virtue of superior authority: The management ordained that business attire should be worn in the office at all times.
3. To prearrange unalterably; predestine: events that were ordained by fate.
precinct
n.
1.
a. A subdivision or district of a city or town under the jurisdiction of or patrolled by a specific unit of its police force.
b. The police station situated in and having jurisdiction over such a district.
2. An election district of a city or town.
3. often precincts
a. A place or enclosure marked off by definite limits, such as walls: the mysterious precincts of the old monastery.
b. A boundary: Hunting is not allowed within the precincts of the estate.
4. The neighborhood or surrounding area; the environs.
5. An area of thought or action; a province or domain: “It was in these spacious precincts that Dryden’s imagination was most at home”
sallow
adj.
Of a sickly yellowish hue or complexion.
cantankerous
adj.
- Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable: disliked her cantankerous landlord.
- Difficult to handle e.g. liquid helium
derogatory
adj.
- Disparaging; belittling: a derogatory comment.
- Tending to detract or diminish.
impecunious
adj.
Having little or no money.
lucid
adj.
- Clearly expressed; easily understood: a lucid analysis of the problem.
- Thinking or expressing oneself clearly, especially between periods of confusion; clearheaded: The feverish patient was lucid now and then.
- Brightly lit; luminous e.g. moon
- Clear; transparent: a lucid stream.
ornate
adj.
- Elaborately, heavily, and often excessively ornamented.
- Elaborate or showy, as in style: ornate rhetoric.
salubrious
adj.
Conducive or favorable to health or well-being.
capacious
adj.
Capable of containing a large quantity; spacious or roomy: a capacious office building.
desecrate
v.
To violate the sacredness of; profane.
impious
adj.
- Lacking reverence; not pious.
- Lacking due respect or dutifulness: impious toward one’s parents.
precipitous
adj.
- Resembling a precipice; extremely steep.
- Having several precipices: a precipitous bluff.
- Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate: a precipitous collapse in prices.
salutary
adj.
- Effecting or designed to effect an improvement; remedial: salutary advice.
- Favorable to health; wholesome: a salutary climate.
capitulate
v.
- To surrender under specified conditions: The garrison capitulated after the bombardment.
- To give up all resistance; acquiesce: capitulate to the pressure of public opinion.
exonerate
v.
- To free from blame.
- To free from a responsibility, obligation, or task.
ossify
v.
- To change into bone; become bony.
- To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern: “The central ideas of liberalism have ossified”
preclude
v.
- To make impossible, as by action taken in advance; prevent.
- To exclude or prevent (someone) from a given condition or activity: Modesty precludes me from accepting the honor.
sanctimony
n.
Righteousness accompanied by an unwarranted attitude of moral or social superiority; smug or hypocritical righteousness.
carping
adj.
Naggingly critical or complaining.
n.
Constant criticism.
desist
v.
To cease doing something.
lummox
n.
informal.
A clumsy or stupid person.
ostentation
n.
Pretentious display meant to impress others; pretentious showiness.
