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Word Power Made Easy > Difficult Words -C > Flashcards

Difficult Words -C Flashcards

1
Q

Cacophony

A

Harsh sounding voice or sound

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2
Q

Euphony

A

Pleasing sound

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3
Q

Cadence

A

Rhythm,rise and fall of sound
We were happy when our fast-talking professor started to speak in a slow cadence we could understand.

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4
Q

Cajole

A

To persuade someone to do something he or she doesn’t want to do

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5
Q

Callow

A

Immature
To be callow is to be youthfully naive

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6
Q

Candor

A

Truthfulness ,sincere honesty
She spoke with candor about racism.I was impressed by the candor of his statement.

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7
Q

Capitalism

A

Capitalism refers to an economic system in which a society’s means of production are held by private individuals or organizations, not the government, and where products, prices, and the distribution of goods are determined mainly by competition in a free market.

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8
Q

Capitulate

A

To surrender ,to give up ,to give in
He finally capitulated and agreed to do the job my way.

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9
Q

Capricious

A

Unpredictable ,likely to change at any moment
This battle between cold and hot is why Easter weather is so capricious.

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10
Q

Caricature

A

a picture or description of somebody that makes his/her appearance or behaviour funnier and more extreme than it really is

Many of the people in the book are caricatures of the author’s friends.

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11
Q

Castigate

A

To criticize severely ,to chastise

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12
Q

Catalyst

A

a person or a thing that causes change

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13
Q

Categorical

A

very definite,absolute
The answer was a categorical ‘no

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14
Q

Catharsis

A

Purification that brings emotional relief or renewal
Some therapies ask you to hit a pillow or break dishes, because those can be cathartic activities.

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15
Q

Catholic

A

Universal ,embracing everything

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16
Q

Parochial

A

Narrow minded

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17
Q

Caustic

A

Acid ,corrosive
critical in a cruel way

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18
Q

Celibacy

A

Abstinence from sex

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19
Q

Censure

A

To condemn severely for doing something bad

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20
Q

Cerebral

A

Brainy ,intellectually refined
Cerebral discussions

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21
Q

Chagrin

A

Humiliation ,embarrassed disappointment
Much to my chagrin,I began to giggle during the eulogy at the funeral .

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22
Q

Charisma

A

A magically seeming ability to attract followers or inspire loyalty

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23
Q

Charlatan

A

Fraud con man a quack, a person who is trying to deceive you with false claims.

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24
Q

Chasm

A

a wide difference of feelings, interests, etc. between two people or groups

a deep hole in the ground

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25
Q

Chastise

A

To inflict punishment to ,to discipline
The waiter was chastised for forgetting the customer’s order.

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26
Q

Chicanery

A

Trickery ,deceitfulness,artifice

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27
Q

Chimera

A

An illusion ,a foolish fancy
Susan ‘s dream of becoming a movie star was just a chimera .

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28
Q

Choleric

A

Hot tempered ,quick to anger

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29
Q

Chronic

A

Lasting for a long tym ,inveterate ,

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30
Q

Chronicle

A

Record of events in order of time

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31
Q

Circuitous

A

Roundabout ,not following a direct path

The route through the forest seemed circuitous but the journey was pleasant .

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32
Q

Circumlocution

A

Use of wordy and evasive language ,roundabout manner

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33
Q

Circumscribe

A

To draw a line around ,to set the limit

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34
Q

Circumspect

A

Cautious
Officials were circumspect about saying what the talks had achieved.

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35
Q

Circumvent

A

to avoid something, especially cleverly or illegally: Ships were registered abroad to circumvent employment and safety

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36
Q

Civil

A

Polite ,courteous

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37
Q

Clandestine

A

Secret ,sneaky

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38
Q

Clemency

A

Mercy and lenience ,forgiveness

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39
Q

Clique

A

a small group of people with the same interests who do not want others to join their group

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40
Q

Coalesce

A

To come together as one ,to fuse ,to unite
The theory is that galaxies coalesced from smaller groupings…

41
Q

Coerce

A

To force someone to do or not do something

42
Q

Cogent

A

Powerfully convincing
Cogent reasons are extremely persuasive ones .

43
Q

Cognitive

A

Dealing with how we know the world around us through our senses ,mental

I think her cognitive functions may be diminished because she can’t remember her son’s name or the name of the current president.

44
Q

Cognizant

A

Aware , conscious
To be cognizant of your responsibilities.

45
Q

Coherent

A

To Cohere
Making sense
clear and easy to understand; logical

46
Q

Colloquial

A

Conversational ,informal in language

47
Q

Collusion

A

Secret conspiracy
He found no evidence of collusion between record companies and retailers

48
Q

Commensurate

A

Equal ,proportionate
Elle ‘s salary is commensurate with his abilities .

49
Q

Compelling

A

Forceful,causing to yield
Compelling argument for buying a recorder is one that makes you buy one .

50
Q

Compendium

A

Summary ,abridgement
He published a compendium of folk tales.

51
Q

Complacent

A

Self satisfied ,overly pleased with oneself .
To fall into complacency , is to become uncaring towards the world around you .

52
Q

Complicity

A

An act of accomplice ,participation in wrongdoing .

53
Q

Comprehensive

A

Covering or including everything

54
Q

Comprise

A

To consist of

55
Q

Conciliatory

A

Making peace ,attempting to resolve a dispute through goodwill

56
Q

Concise

A

A brief and to the point

57
Q

Concord

A

Harmony ,agreement
Nations that live in Concord are nations that live together in peace .

58
Q

Concurrent

A

Happening at the same time ,parallel
The criminal was sentenced to two concurrent 15 years sentences

59
Q

Concur

A

To agree

60
Q

Condescend

A

To stoop to someone else’s level
to do something that you believe is below your level of importance

Priyanka only condescends to speak to me when she wants me to do something for her.

61
Q

Condone

A

To overlook,permit to happen
No one should condone violence and abuse at work.

62
Q

Conducive

A

Promoting
The chairs in the office are conducive to sleep

63
Q

Confluence

A

Flowing together
Confluence of many factors
Confluence of ganga and yamuna

64
Q

Congenial

A

Pleasant ,agreeably suitable .
The little cabin in the woods was congenial to the writer.

65
Q

Genial

A

Pleasing
Genial weather

66
Q

Congenital

A

Trait or condition acquired between conception and birth . Innate

67
Q

Conjecture

A

To guess ,to deduce or infer from slight evidence .
If forced to conjecture ,I would say the volcano will erupt in 24 hrs .

68
Q

Conjure

A

to do tricks by clever, quick hand movements, that appear to be magic
The chef conjured a fabulous dish using meager ingredients in Lucy’s kitchen .

69
Q

Connoisseur

A

An expert ,in matters of art and taste .

70
Q

Consecrate

A

To make or declare sacred
The priest consecrated the building by sprinkling holy water .

71
Q

Consensus

A

Unanimity or general agreement

72
Q

Consonant

A

In agreement
Our desires were in consonant with that of theirs .

73
Q

Construe

A

To interpret
The meaning of the poem ,as I construed it ,had to do with love of a man and a dog .

74
Q

Consummate

A

Perfect ,complete ,supremely skillful consummate pianist
Signing a contract would consummate an agreement .

75
Q

Contentious

A

Quarrelsome,argumentative
A person looking for a fight is contentious .

76
Q

Contiguous

A

Side by side ,adjoining
Two countries that share boundaries are contiguous .

77
Q

Contrite

A
78
Q

Contrite

A

Admitting guilt ,especially feeling remorse
To be contrite is to admit whatever terrible thing you did .

79
Q

Contrived

A

Artificial
No one laughed at Sue’s contrived attempt at humour .

80
Q

Conventional

A

Common ,unexceptional
Tipping a waiter at a restaurant is a conventional courtesy .

81
Q

Convivial

A

Fond of partying ,festive
A convivial gathering is one in which the people enjoy .

82
Q

Copious

A

Abundant ,plentiful
We ate copiously at a banquet .

83
Q

Corollary

A

Something that follows ,natural consequence
Bloodshed and death are corollaries of any declaration of war .

84
Q

Corroborate

A

To confirm ,to back up with evidence
I knew my statement was correct ,when my colleague corroborated it .

85
Q

Cosmopolitan

A

containing people from all over the world
influenced by the culture of other countries

86
Q

Countenance

A

Facial expression ,especially an encouraging one ,expressing mood

87
Q

Coup

A

A brilliant victory or accomplishment ,violent overthrow of a govt by a small internal group .

88
Q

Covenant

A

A solemn agreement ,a contract,a pledge
The warring tribe made a covenant in which they agreed not to fight anymore .

89
Q

Covert

A

Secret ,hidden ,covered
Covert operations of the spies.

90
Q

Covet

A

To wish for enviously
To be covetous is to be envious .
Billy covered Harry’s bicycle and very nearly decided to steal it .

91
Q

Credulous

A

Eager to believe ,gullible

92
Q

Criterion

A

Basis for judgement

93
Q

Cryptic

A

Mysterious ,mystifying

94
Q

Culinary

A

Related to cooking

95
Q

Culminate

A

Climax,to reach full effect
Susan ‘s years of practice culminated in a great victory .

96
Q

Culpable

A

Deserving blame ,guilty

97
Q

Cursory

A

Hasty ,superficial
To give a book a cursory reading is to skim it .

98
Q

Curtail

A

To shorten ,to cut short

99
Q

Cynic

A

a person who believes that people only do things for themselves, rather than to help others.

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