common 6 Flashcards
sullen
1 A bad-tempered or gloomy person is sullen. Sullen people are down in the dumps. like bleak
Bill sat in sullen silence and refused to eat his lunch.
Teenagers are often described as sullen, especially when they’re being grumpy and silent.
2 literary a sullen sky or sea is dark and looks as if bad weather is coming SYN overcast
misconsture
interpret in a wrong way. misinterpret
the politician never trusted journalists because he thought they would misconstrue his words and misrepresent his positions.
truncate
to make something shorter SYN shorten
If the list is too long, it will be truncated by the computer.
The report is also available in a truncated version.
impartial
If you’re in a contest, you’d better hope the judges are impartial. That means that they aren’t biased toward one competitor over another. بی طرف unbiased, disinterested
biased
1 unfairly preferring one person or group over another
Of course I’m biased, but I thought my daughter’s paintings were the best.
racially biased attitudes
biased against/towards/in favour of
news reporting that was heavily biased towards the government
duress
compulsory force or threat اجبار
the witness said he signed the contract under duress and argued the court should cancel the agreement.
timorous
timid or shy
your timorous friend who likes to hang out with close pals but gets nervous around big groups of new people.
“timorous little mouse”
“in a timorous tone”
jovial
Use jovial to describe people who show good humor and are full of joy. Santa Claus, with his constant “ho-ho-hoing” is a jovial figure.
harried
harry. Like harass or hound. Or badger , pester
1 to keep attacking an enemy
2 to keep asking someone for something in a way that is upsetting or annoying
Someone who is harried is feeling the stress of being rushed, overworked, or harassed (آزار و اذیت شده).
All day, every day, they are harried by everyone they meet.
posit
1 to assume or suggest that it is true.
You can posit an idea or opinion.
initially Einstein posited a repulsive force to balance gravity, but then rejected that idea as a blunder (embarrassing mistake)
2 verb put (something somewhere) firmly
“She posited her hand on his shoulder”
deleterious
harmful to living things کشنده detrimental
Smoking has obvious deleterious effects on your health, not to mention your social life.
capricious
impulsive and unpredictable. Like impetuous and precipitous
like a capricious bride who suddenly leaves her groom standing at the wedding altar.
every month our capricious CEO had a new plan to turn the company around.
Captious: pedantic گیر
specious
1 based on pretense; deceptively pleasing
almost every image on TV is specious and not to be trusted.
2 plausible but false like spurious
“a specious claim”
specious theory of the solar system
disseminate
to spread information or ideas to as many people as possible. Like promulgate
Her findings have been widely disseminated.
esoteric
arcane
known and understood by only a few people who have special knowledge about something
the esoteric world of scientific supercomputing
maladroit
adroit تیز و بز و زبر و زرنگ
an adroit negotiator
maladroit شل و ول و دس پا چلفتی clumsy
clumsy like bumbling
moving or doing things in a careless way, especially so that you drop things, knock into things etc
A clumsy waiter spilled wine all over her new skirt.
a clumsy attempt to catch the ball
anomaly
s.th that is not normal, standard or expected
abnormality inconsistency incongruity deviation
after finding an anomaly in the data, she knew that she would have to conduct her experiment again.
opulence
luxury like ostentatious
Something with opulence is drenched in wealth and luxury.
• Morishita leads an opulent lifestyle.
contrition
Contrition is a strong, powerful feeling that people get when they’ve done something wrong. احساس گناه
If you did wrong and feel bad about it, you’re feeling contrition — you’re contrite.
expiate: to show you are sorry for something you have done wrong by accepting your punishment willingly, or trying to do something to improve what you did
craven
coward
lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful
“the craven fellow turned and ran”
“a craven proposal to raise the white flag”
arduous
دشوار و پرزحمت
an activity that takes a lot of effort. Writing all those college essays and filling out the applications is an arduous process!
appease
To make peace with someone by giving in to their demands. SYN propitiate
• This was a clever attempt to appease the people, but it backfired.
Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler and in doing so sent a clear message, you can walk all over us.
the cold drink appeased his thirst.
appease, propitiate, conciliate, mollify, placate, pacify
reproach
verb , noun
to criticize
He argued that the reproaches were unfair.
He publicly reproached his son for his behavior.
reproach, excoriate, vituperate, objurgate, censure, lambast
polemic
a strong verbal or written attack
A polemic is something that stirs up controversy by having a negative opinion.
She has published a fierce anti-war polemic.
diatribe, broadside, vitriol, tirade, harangue, polemic
ignominious
humiliating
ignominious defeat/failure/retreat etc
an ignominious end to his career
Losing a football game stinks, but losing a game where, at the end, you are lying face down in a puddle of mud and the fans are burning effigies of you in the streets? That is an ignominious defeat.
