Essential Units 15-21 Flashcards
Coda
Coda (n)
Concluding part of a literacy or musical composition; something that summarizes or concludes.
The coda of the Danish composer per Norgand’s sixth symphony seems to return to the serene sounds of the opening.
Codify
Codify (v)
To systematize
The state legislature voted to codify regulations governing banking fraud.
Codification is the noun
Cognizant
Cognizant (adj)
Informed; conscious; aware
We saw a story about a husband and wife in straightened circumstances each sacrifice to buy Christmas presents for the other, not cognizant of what the other is doing.
Collage
Collage (n)
Artistic composition of materials pasted over a surface; an assemblage of diverse elements
Commensurate
Commensurate (adj)
Proportional
In the United States, malpractice suits have raised the cost of medicine because doctors must pay for insurance, and thus increase their fees commensurately.
Compendium
Compendium (n)
Brief, comprehensive summary
The Mozart compendium; a guide to Mozart’s life and music.
Complacent
Complacent (adj)
Self-satisfied
Although tom received an “A” on his midterm exam, professor Donovan warned him not to become complacent since the work in the second term would be harder.
Complaisant
Complaisant (adj)
Overly polite; willing to please; obliging
Although France and Germany have a close relationship, neither would consider the other a complaisant ally.
Complement
Complement (n)
Something that completes or makes up a whole.
Some people envision chess developing into a game between teams of humans and computers, each complementing the other.
Coalesce
Coalesce (v)
To cause to become one
JFK must be vigilant so that the interests of business and the military do not coalesce and thus undermine those of society as a whole.
Compliant
Compliant (adj)
Yielding
The young negotiator is trying to learn the skill of being open to proposals by the other side without seeming too compliant.
Compunction
Compunction (n)
Uneasiness caused by guilt
The American psychiatrist Frank Pittman said, “Men who have been raised violently have every reason to believe it is appropriate for them to control others through violence; they feel no compunction over being violent to women, children, and one another.
Concave
Concave (adj)
Curving inward
Concave lenses are used in glasses to compensate for myopia (nearsightedness)
Conciliatory
Conciliatory (adj)
Overcoming distrust or hostility
The leader of the country made conciliatory statements assuring the world that his country did not intend to acquire nuclear weapons.
Concoct
Concoct (v)
To invent
The various human cultures have concocted a great many explanations to describe the beginning of the Earth, life, and humanity.
Concomitant
Concomitant (n)
Existing concurrently
A rebuild of the argument that Homo sapiens higher cognitive functions could not be the result solely of evolution is that such abilities arose as concomitants of language, which gave early hominids a tremendous advantage over other species.
Condone
Condone (v)
To overlook voluntarily; forgive
Mahatma Gandhi believed in the principle of ahimsa and refused to condone violence of any kind, even if used in a just cause.
Confound
Confound (v)
To baffle; perplex; mix up
Everyone but astrophysicists seems to be confounded by the question, “what happened before the Big Bang?”
Congenial
Congenial (adj)
Similar in tastes and habits; friendly; suited to the physicist Freeman Dyson has expressed his awe at how congenial the universe is to intelligent life and consciousness.
Conjugal
Conjugal (adj)
Pertaining to marriage agreement
The goal of the Bennett sisters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is to find a suitable man to marry with whom they they can live in conjugal happiness.
Connoisseur
Connoisseur (n)
A person completely possessing expert knowledge or training; a person of informed and discriminating taste.
The art connoisseur selected works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso for the exhibition.
Conscript
Conscript (n)
Person compulsorily enrolled for military service
Consecrate
Consecrate (v)
To declare sacred
The brave men that died here have consecrated this ground.
Contentious
Contentious (adj)
Quarrelsome; causing quarrels
When genetic engineering began in the 1970’s, there was a contentious, and sometimes acrimonious, debate among scientists themselves about it’s dangers.
Contiguous
Contiguous (adj)
Touching; neighboring; connecting without a break
There are forty-eight contiguous states in the USA.
Continence
Continence (n)
Self-control; abstention from sexual activity
Contrite
Contrite (adj)
Very sorrowful for a wrong
In sentencing the convicted man to a life sentence, the judge took into account that he didn’t seem contrite about his offenses.
Contumacious
Contumacious (adj)
Disobedient; rebellious
In the late 18th century, Great Britain tried unsuccessfully to put down the uprising against their rule by contumacious Americans.