English 2: S2 Vocabulary Flashcards
Vindicate
v) to clear of suspicion or blame; to justify or support
Reticent
adj) reserved; reluctant; discreet
Temerity
n) recklessness boldness; rashness; foolhardiness
Fervid
adj) giving off intense heat; impassioned enthusiastic
Foment
v) to foster trouble, rebellion, or strife; to stir up; to incite
Solicitous
adj) showing concern or worry; anxiously concerned; eager
Auspices
n) approval and support; patronage
Hiatus
n) a space where something is missing; any break in continuity
Clandestine
adj) concealed, usually for a forbidden purpose; secret; covert
Vestige
n) a slight remnant; a trace of something that no longer exists; a minute quality
Propensity
n) a natural tendency or ability
Recant
v) to take a back formally or publicly; to withdraw or retract an opinion expressed in the past
Contingency
n) a possible happening; a chance event; something that depends on chance or uncertain conditions
Litigation
n) the carrying on of a lawsuit; a lawsuit
Retaliate
v) to return an injury for an injury; to get even
Calumny
n) a false statement made to injure someone’s reputation; slander
Sedentary
adj) used to sitting much of the time; moving little and rarely; staying in one place
Impassive
adj) not feeling or showing emotion
Repudiated
v) to completely reject; to disown; to refuse to accept
Mollify
v) to soothe the temper of; to appease; to pacify
Extricate
v) to release from an entanglement or a difficulty; to set free
Menial
adj) of or suited to a servant; servile
n) a domestic servant; a servile person
Rampant
adj) growing without check or restraint; flourishing; widespread
Cajole
v) to persuade by pleasant words; to coax with flattery and insincere talk; to wheedle
Pestilence
n) a contagious and often fatal disease that spreads rapidly; an illness of epidemic proportions; a destructive or evil influence or factor
Anarchy
n) the absence of government or law; political disorder
Nadir
n) the point in the celestial sphere directly below the observer and opposite the zenith; the lowest possible point
Ethnology
n) the branch of anthropology that deals with recent societies or language groups, their distribution, characteristics, and cultures
Impaired
v) to make worse; to damage or weaken
Commodious
adj) roomy; spacious
Profuse
adj) giving freely; extravagant; plentiful
Virulent
adj) very poisonous or harmful; deadly; intensely bitter or spiteful
Strident
adj) having or making a harsh sound; shrill
Consign
v) to deliver; to deliver goods to be sold; to send; to hand over; to assign to an undesirable position or place
Elocution
n) the art of public speaking; a style or manner of public speaking or reading
Subversion
n) the overthrowing or undermining of something established, such as a government
Cadaverous
adj) corpselike; pale and ghastly; thing and gaunt; haggard
Incorrigible
n) a person who will not be reformed
adj) incapable of being corrected or reformed; persistently bad
Promulgate
v) to make known to the public; declare; to make widespread
Maim
v) to wound or injure seriously; to disable in some way; to mutilate; to cripple
perfidious
adj) deliberately faithless; treacherous
Illicit
adj) forbidden by law; improper; unauthorized
Discrepancy
n) an inconsistently; a contradiction; a difference
Inundated
v) to cover by overflowing; to flood; to overwhelm (as if by flood)
Sumptuous
adj) costly; magnificent; luxurious; lavish
Inscrutable
adj) mysterious or obscure; hard to grasp; not easily understood
Abeyance
n) a temporary suspension of an activity; a state of being put aside for future action
Primordial
adj) from earliest times; primitive; fundamental; original
Homogeneous
adj) to the same kind or nature; composed of similar or identical parts or elemental; uniform
Pervaded
v) to extend all over; to spread or be diffused throughout
Harbinger
v) to announce; to indicate what will follow
n) a forerunner; a herald
Emanated
v) to issue from; to originate from
Demagogue
n) a leader who stirs up people by appealing to their emotions; a rabblerouser
Prevaricated
v) to evade the truth
Detriment
n) damage; harm; injury; anything that causes damage or injury
Obnoxious
adj) very disagreeable; highly offensive; hateful
Chastise
v) to punish; to criticize severely; to scold
Irrevocable
adj) not capable of being retracted, recalled, or withdrawn; unalterable
Deplore
v) to feel very sorry about; to regret deeply; to lament; to disapprove of
Interceded
v) to plead, or petition, on another’s behalf; to act as a mediator in a dispute
Gregarious
adj) outgoing; sociable
Exhilaration
n) highly spirit; invigoration; excitement
Patrimony
n) an inheritance from one’s father or ancestors any heritage or legacy
Obsequious
adj) too ready to please, praise, or obey; servile; fawning
Civility
n) politeness; courtesy. a polite action
Germane
adj) pertinent; to the point; truly relevant
Punctilious
adj) paying attention to the fine details of etiquette; meticulous; scrupulous; very exact
Foible
n) a minor weakness or fault; a minor but persistent personal failing; a shortcoming
Connoisseur
n) someone who is an expert in some field, especially in art or in matters of taste
Precocious
adj) showing unusually early development; mature or advanced for one’s age
Effusion
n) a pouring forth; an unrestrained expression of feeling in talking or writing
Querulous
adj) complaining; faultfinding; peevish
Indulgent
adj) very lenient; not strict enough; making allowances
Affront
n) an open, intentional insult
v) to insult openly; to offend
Propitious
adj) favorable; favorably inclined
Munificent
adj) extremely generous; very liberal and lavish in giving
Guffaw
n) a loud or coarse burst of laughter; a horselaugh
v) to laugh loudly or coarsely
Capitulate
v) to surrender on certain terms; to give up; to stop resisting
Incarcerate
v) to imprison; to confine
Magnanimous
adj) noble in spirit; generous in forgiving; unselfish; rising above petty, mean concerns
Artifice
n) a skill; a clever device; a sly or artful trick; trickery
Configuration
n) the position of parts or elements of something; a shape; an outline
Scrupulous
adj) giving strict attention to what is right or proper; exact and careful
Deduce
v) to infer by reasoning; to conclude from known facts and principles
Refute
v) to prove that someone or something is false or incorrect; to disapprove
Captivate
v) to catch the attention of, by beauty or excellence; to enchant; to charm; to attract
Proponent
n) a person who supports a cause or idea; someone who makes a proposition; an advocate
Extant
adj) still in existence; not extinct, lost, or destroyed
Chicanery
n) the use of clever talk or trickery to deceive or evade
Augury
n) the practice of foretelling the future from signs and omens; an omen or sign
Corroborates
v) to support or strengthen an idea or a statement; to attest to the truth of; to confirm
Aberration
n) a departure from the usual course; a deviation; an abnormal development
Herculean
adj) extremely demanding or difficult; requiring or having great courage or strength, like that possessed by Hercules
Retrospect
n) a contemplation or survey of things that happened in the past
Dearth
n) a scarcity, as of food; a lack; too small a supply of something
Salient
adj) standing out; easily seen or noticed; conspicuous; noticeable; prominent
Adjudged
v) to decree or decide by law; to pass sentence
Diurnal
adj) occurring every day; daily; occurring during the daytime
Candor
n) openness; saying what one really thinks; frankness; impartiality
Ludicrous
adj) amusingly absurd; ridiculous
