Day 4 Flashcards
Cuminate (v)
End up: conclude: finish
Ex: A series of events for teachers and students will culminate in a Shakespeare festival next year.
Ex: Weeks of violence culminated in the brutal murder of a magistrate.
Cumbersome (adj)
Awkward: burdensome: weighty: unmanageable
Ex: Doctors are complaining that the system is cumbersome and bureaucratic.
Ex: cumbersome procedures
Ex: a large cumbersome machine (heavy and difficult to move)
Cushion(v)
protect
cushion somebody from/against something
Ex: Parents today often feel their children should be cushioned from the outside world.
Decimate (v)
Devastate: destroy: wreak havoc on
Ex: The population has been decimated by disease.
Ex: The recession decimated the industry.
Ex: Decimation of rain forests
Deficient (adj)
Lacking: inadequate: insufficient: scant: scarce: defective: inferior: weak
Ex: Women who are dieting can become iron deficient.
Ex: Patients were deficient in vitamin C.
Ex: Our prisons are our most deficient social service.
Deflect (v)
Turn aside: bend: deviate: diverge
Ex: He deflected the blow with his forearm.
Ex: He attempts to deflect attention away from his private life
Ex: The committee is seeking to deflect criticism by blaming me.
Ex: Nothing can deflect me from reaching my goal. (to take someone’s attention away from something)
Desiccated (adj)
Dehydrated: dried: completely dry
Ex: desiccated soil
Ex: Desiccated leaves/flowers
Deplete (v)
Use up: consume: drain: empty: exhaust: impoverish
Ex: Salmon populations have been depleted.
Ex: the depletion of the ozone layer
Detractor (n)
Fault-finder: critic
Ex: Even the President’s detractors admit that the decision was the right one.
deviate (v)
Differ: depart: diverge: stray
Ex: The plane had to deviate from its normal flight path.
Ex: He did not deviate from his plan.
Ex: They never deviated from their ideology
devoid of (adj)
Lacking: bereft: deficient: empty
Ex: His face was devoid of any warmth or humor.
Ex: The skies are devoid of birdlife
diffuse (v)
Spread: expand: propagate
Ex: The pollutants diffuse into the soil.
Ex: Their ideas diffused quickly across Europe.
Ex: an attempt to diffuse his anger(to make a bad feeling or situation less strong or serious)
dilute (v)
Weaken: reduce: decrease: lessen: mitigate
Ex: diluted fruit juice
Ex: Dilute the paint with a little oil.
Ex: an attempt to dilute the proposals (to make a quality, belief etc. weaker or less effective [↪ water down])
Ex: Any dilution of standards must be resisted.
adroit (adj)
Skillful: proficient: adept:deft:dexterous: expert:
Ex: an adroit negotiator/politician
disguise (v)
Hide: camouflage: conceal: shroud: cover: mask: veil
Ex: Maybe you could disguise yourself as a waiter and sneak in there.
Ex: He escaped across the border disguised as a priest.
Ex: There’s no way you can disguise that southern accent.
Ex: Try as he might, Dan couldn’t disguise his feelings for Katie.
Ex: There’s no disguising the fact that business is bad.
Ex: The speech was seen by many as a thinly disguised attack on the president
