Common I Flashcards
venality
venality
noun: the condition of being susceptible to bribes or corruption
Even some of the most sacred sporting events are not immune to venality, as many of the officials have received substantial bribes to make biased calls.
When faced with $1000, Mark was not immune to venality and quickly took the money.
undermine
undermine
verb: to weaken (usually paired with an abstract term)
The student undermined the teacher’s authority by questioning the teacher’s judgment on numerous occasions.
Harry constantly undermined Snapes authority by talking back in class.
mercurial
mercurial
adjective: (of a person) prone to unexpected and unpredictable changes in mood
The fact that Ella’s moods were as mercurial as the weather was problematic for her relationships—it didn’t help that she lived in Chicago.
When trying to decide which Sephora birthday gift to get, Jess was mercurial and wavered back and forth.
parsimonious
parsimonious
adjective: extremely frugal; miserly
Katie is so parsimonious that she only buys a pair of socks if all of her other socks have holes in them.
Scrooge was known to be parsimonious and refused to give his lower-class workers vacation time at Christmas.
amorphous
amorphous
adjective: shapeless
His study plan for the GRE was at best amorphous; he would do questions from random pages in any one of seven test prep books.
Billy Elish looked amorphous in her baggy clothes, perhaps leading the way for others to care less about appearances and shape too.
prevaricate
prevaricate
verb: to speak in an evasive way
The cynic quipped, “There is not much variance in politicians; they all seem to prevaricate”.
Malfoy prevaricated around getting detention by lying to Snape about whose fault the incident was.
innocuous
innocuous
adjective: harmless and doesn’t produce any ill effects
Everyone found Nancy’s banter innocuous—except for Mike, who felt like she was intentionally picking on him.
While El looked innocuous to most, her hidden telepathy was anything but.
disintrested
disinterested
adjective: unbiased; neutral
The potential juror knew the defendant, and therefore could not serve on the jury, which must consist only of disinterested members.
Switzarland was disintrested during the way and was seem as a safe haven for people to flee to.
galvanize
galvanize
verb: to excite or inspire (someone) to action
At mile 23 of his first marathon, Kyle had all but given up, until he noticed his friends and family holding a banner that read, “Go Kyle”; galvanized, he broke into a gallop, finishing the last three miles in less than 20 minutes.
At hearing Griffindor was close to winning the house cup, Harry slipped the potion into Ron’s drink, hoping to galvanize him into winning the gave.
harangue
harangue
noun: a long pompous speech; a tirade
Dinner at Billy’s was more a punishment than a reward, since anyone who sat at the dinner table would have to listen to Billy’s father’s interminable harangues against the government.
verb: to deliver a long pompous speech or tirade
Tired of his parents haranguing him about his laziness and lack of initiative, Tyler finally moved out of home at the age of thirty-five.
wanting
wanting
adjective: lacking
She did not think her vocabulary was wanting, yet there were so many words that inevitably she found a few she didn’t know.
The new dress robes for Ron were wanting and he desired a new pair.
egregious
egregious
adjective: standing out in a negative way; shockingly bad
The dictator’s abuse of human rights was so egregious that many world leaders demanded that he be tried in an international court for genocide.
The men at the paper treated Nacy egregiously whenever she came up with good ideas.
ambiguous
ambiguous
adjective: open to more than one interpretation
The coach told his team, “Move towards that side of the field”; because he did not point, his directions were ambiguous, and the team had no idea to which side he was referring.
The van gogh painting was ambiguous as no one knew what it was supose to be.
extant
extant
adjective: still in existence (usually refers to documents).
Despite many bookstores closing, experts predict that some form of book dealing will still be extant generations from now.
At the rate things are going Old town road will be extant years from now.
intimate
intimate
verb: to suggest something subtly
At first Manfred’s teachers intimated to his parents that he was not suited to skip a grade; when his parents protested, teachers explicitly told them that, notwithstanding the boy’s precocity, he was simply too immature to jump to the 6th grade.
This word has other definitions but this is the most important one to study
He can raid area 51 the boys intimated.
venerate
venerate
verb: to respect deeply
The professor, despite his sleep-inducing lectures, was venerated amongst his colleagues, publishing more papers yearly than all of his peers combined.
The people venerated Aelin after she saved them all from the dam bursing open.
calumny
calumny
noun: making of a false statement meant to injure a person’s reputation
With the presidential primaries well under way, the air is thick with calumny, and the mud already waist-high.
maintain
maintain
verb: to assert
The scientist maintained that the extinction of dinosaurs was most likely brought about by a drastic change in climate.
This word has other definitions but this is the most important one to study
Hermionie Grander maintain her beilf in sciene to her last breath.
demur
demur
verb: to object or show reluctance
Wallace disliked the cold, so he demurred when his friends suggested they go skiing in the Alps.
He demured the fact that he had to walk 10 miles in the cold that day.
parochial
parochial
adjective: narrowly restricted in scope or outlook
Jasmine was sad to admit it, but her fledgling relationship with Jacob did not work out because his culinary tastes were simply too parochial; “After all,” she quipped on her blog, “he considered Chef Boyardee ethnic food.”
This word has other definitions but this is the most important one to study
The selection of fruits in the cafeteria was parochial
