Direct Hits volume 1 -- set 3 Flashcards
panache / verve / flamboyant
great vigor and energy
provocative
provoking controversy
placid
very calm; quiet
charlatan
a fake; a fraud; a cheat
skeptic
a doubter
rhetorician
an eloquent writer or speaker
hedonist
seeker of pleasure
ascetic
one who leads life of self-denial
raconteur
one who tells anecdotes well
iconoclast
unconventional person; attacks institutions
dilettante
an amateur or dabbler
partisan
a person with biased beliefs
mentor
a teacher; a guide; an advisor
acolyte
a devoted student
demagogue
speaker appealing to fears or prejudices
automaton
a mindless, mechanical follower
recluse
one who leads a secluded life
bungler
a clumsy or inept person
clairvoyant
a seer
prognosticator
one who predicts based on data
pundit
a professional commentator
zealot
a fanatically committed person
neophyte / novice / greenhorn
a beginner
benefactor
a person who gives gifts
beneficiary
a person who receives benefits
dissembler / prevaricator
a liar; deceiver
proponent / advocate
a champion of a cause
prodigy
a young genius
oracle
a person giving prophetic advice
misanthrope
a person who hates humankind
innovator
a person who introduces something new
sycophant / obsequious
one who behaves in a servile manner; a toady
unctuous
oily; excessively flattering
stoic
not showing pain; emotionless
reprobate
a morally unprincipled person
renegade
a disloyal person
draconian
strict or harsh (as in laws)
laconic / succint / terse
very concise; brief
spartan
plain; simple
halcyon
idyllically calm and tranquil
sophistry
a deliberately misleading argument
chimera
a fanciful mental illusion
ostracize
to deliberately exclude from a group
impecunious
poor; penniless; not affluent
nefarious
extremely wicked; vile
jovial / jocular
good-humored; cheerful
dirge
a funeral hymn; mournful music
maudlin
excessively sentimental
quixotic
foolishly impractical
pandemonium
a wild uproar; tumult
martinet
a strict disciplinarian
fiasco / debacle
a complete failure
bowdlerize
to censure or expurgate parts of a book