Final Flashcards
Abridged
transitive verb
1 a archaic : deprive
b : to reduce in scope : diminish
2 : to shorten in duration or extent
3 : to shorten by omission of words without sacrifice of sense : condense
synonyms see shorten
Examples
abridge a dictionary by omitting rare/uncommon words
unlawful attempts to abridge freedom of speech
an abridged dictionary
Abash
: to destroy the self-possession or self-confidence of : disconcert
synonyms embarrass
Examples
felt terribly abashed when she walked into the wrong hotel room
Adversaries
noun
: one that contends with, opposes, or resists : enemy
Synonyms: enemy, antagonist, foe, hostile, opponent
Antonyms: amigo, friend
Acumen
noun
: keenness and depth of perception, discernment, or discrimination especially in practical matters
synonyms see discernment, astuteness, caginess (also cageyness), canniness, clear-sightedness, foxiness, hardheadedness, intelligence, keenness, knowingness, sharpness, shrewdness, wit
Examples
had the business acumen to know that the market for sportswear was becoming oversaturated
Affluent
adjective
1 : flowing in abundance
2 : having a generously sufficient and typically increasing supply of material possessions
synonyms see rich, deep-pocketed, fat, fat-cat, flush, loaded, moneyed (also monied), opulent, silk-stocking, wealthy, well-endowed, well-fixed, well-heeled, well-off, well-to-do
Antonyms: destitute, impecunious, impoverished, indigent, needy, penniless, penurious, poor, poverty-stricken
Noun 1 : a tributary stream 2 : a wealthy or affluent person Synonyms: tributary, bayou, branch, confluent, feeder, influent Antonyms: distributary, effluent
Acrimonious
adjective
: caustic, biting, or rancorous especially in feeling, language, or manner
Synonyms: acrid, bitter, embittered, hard, rancorous, resentful, sore
Antonyms: unbitter
Examples
an acrimonious parting between the two former friends
Amendable
adjective
1 : liable to be brought to account : answerable
2 a : capable of submission (as to judgment or test) : suited
b : readily brought to yield, submit, or cooperate <a>
c : willing 1
synonyms see responsible, obedient, willing, disposed, fain, game, glad, inclined, minded, ready
Antonyms: disinclined, unamenable, unwilling
Examples
whatever you decide to do, I’m amenable—just let me know
our normally balky cat becomes the most amenable of creatures when confronted with the strange environment of the veterinary clinic
even our nation’s highest leaders must remain amenable to the law</a>
Arid
adjective
1 : excessively dry; specifically : having insufficient rainfall to support agriculture
2 : lacking in interest and life : jejune
Examples
an arid speech about duty and responsibility
arid wastelands unfit for human habitation
Synonyms: boring, colorless, drab, dreary, drudging, dry, dull, dusty, flat, heavy, ho-hum, humdrum, jading, jejune, leaden, mind-numbing, monochromatic, monotonous, numbing, old, pedestrian, ponderous, slow, stale, stodgy, stuffy, stupid, tame, tedious, tiresome, tiring, uninteresting, wearisome, weary, wearying
Antonyms: absorbing, engaging, engrossing, gripping, interesting, intriguing, involving, riveting
Apt
adjective
1 : unusually fitted or qualified : ready
2 a : having a tendency : likely
b : ordinarily disposed : inclined
3 : suited to a purpose; especially : being to the point
4 : keenly intelligent and responsive
synonyms see fit, quick
usage see liable
Synonyms: prone, given, inclined, tending
Antonyms: improper, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, inapt, incongruous, indecent, infelicitous, malapropos, misbecoming, unapt, unbecoming, unbeseeming, unfit, unfitting, unhappy, unmeet, unseemly, unsuitable, wrong
Aversion
noun
1 obsolete : the act of turning away
2 a : a feeling of repugnance toward something with a desire to avoid or turn from it
b : a settled dislike : antipathy
c : a tendency to extinguish a behavior or to avoid a thing or situation and especially a usually pleasurable one because it is or has been associated with a noxious stimulus
3 : an object of aversion
Examples
I simply have this ingrained aversion to the sight of bloodshed
couldn’t overcome her aversion to her brother-in-law and pointedly avoided his company
clichés should be the pet aversion of every good writer
Synonyms: disgust, distaste, horror, loathing, nausea, repugnance, repulsion, revulsion
Antonyms: appetite, favor, fondness, like, liking, partiality, preference, relish, shine, taste, use
Anecdote
noun
: a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident
Examples
told us once again that anecdote about the dog and the bike
Synonyms: story, tale, yarn
Admonish
1 a : to indicate duties or obligations to
b : to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner
2 : to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to
synonyms see reprove
Examples
admonished her for littering
my physician is always admonishing me to eat more healthy foods
Apprised
Verb \: to give notice to : tell synonyms see inform Examples let me apprise you of the current situation
Asseverate
transitive verb
: to affirm or declare positively or earnestly
Austere
Think like Amish lifestyle
adjective
1 a : stern and cold in appearance or manner
b : somber, grave
2 : morally strict : ascetic
3 : markedly simple or unadorned
4 : giving little or no scope for pleasure
5 of a wine : having the flavor of acid or tannin predominant over fruit flavors usually indicating a capacity for aging
synonyms see severe
Examples
an austere conductor who is as tough on himself as he is on the orchestra
an austere fortress at the top of some formidable cliffs
for the private office of the CEO of the large corporation, the room is unexpectedly austere
Synonyms: severe, authoritarian, flinty, hard, harsh, heavy-handed, ramrod, rigid, rigorous, stern, strict, tough
Antonyms: clement, forbearing, gentle, indulgent, lax, lenient, tolerant
Baneful
adjective
1 : productive of destruction or woe : seriously harmful <a>
2 archaic : poisonous
synonyms see pernicious
Examples
the incredibly baneful effect that drug dealing has on so many inner-city neighborhoods
Synonyms: adverse, bad, baleful, harmful, damaging, dangerous, deleterious, detrimental, evil, hurtful, ill, injurious, mischievous, nocuous, noxious, pernicious, prejudicial, wicked
Antonyms: anodyne, benign, harmless, hurtless, innocent, innocuous, inoffensive, safe</a>
Bellicose
adjective
: favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars
synonyms see belligerent
Examples
bellicose hockey players who always seem to spend more time fighting than playing
Synonyms: aggressive, agonistic, argumentative, assaultive, belligerent, brawly, chippy, combative, confrontational, contentious, discordant, disputatious, feisty, gladiatorial, militant, pugnacious, quarrelsome, scrappy, truculent, warlike
Antonyms: nonaggressive, nonbelligerent, pacific, peaceable, peaceful, unbelligerent, uncombative, uncontentious
Bereaved
transitive verb
1 : to deprive of something — usually used with of
2 : to take away (a valued or necessary possession) especially by force
Examples
news of a death in the family bereaved them of the unmitigated joy that normally prevails at a wedding
Bazaar
noun
1 : a market (as in the Middle East) consisting of rows of shops or stalls selling miscellaneous goods
2 a : a place for the sale of goods
b : department store
3 : a fair for the sale of articles especially for charitable purposes
Examples
we wandered around the bazaar looking to buy gifts
Synonyms: shop, emporium, store
Bland
adjective
1 a : smooth and soothing in manner or quality <a>
b : exhibiting no personal concern or embarrassment : unperturbed <a>
2 a : not irritating, stimulating, or invigorating : soothing
b : dull, insipid
synonyms see suave
Examples
a bland film
bland architecture
The vegetable soup was rather bland.
Synonyms: balmy, benign, gentle, delicate, light, mellow, mild, nonabrasive, soft, soothing, tender
Antonyms: abrasive, caustic, coarse, hard, harsh, rough, scathing, stern, ungentle</a></a>
Bombastic
Almost always describes words
adjective
: marked by or given to bombast : pompous, overblown
Examples
a bombastic speech intended to impress the voters in her congressional district
Synonyms: rhetorical, flatulent, fustian, gaseous, gassy, grandiloquent, oratorical, orotund, windy
Antonyms: unrhetorical
Blithe
adjective
1 : of a happy lighthearted character or disposition
2 : lacking due thought or consideration : casual, heedless
synonyms see merry
Examples
He showed blithe disregard for the rights of others.
He was blithe about the risks to his health.
a blithe spirit
Synonyms: cheerful, blithesome, bright, buoyant, canty [British dialect], cheery, chipper, eupeptic, gay, gladsome, lightsome, sunny, upbeat, winsome
Antonyms: dour, gloomy, glum, morose, saturnine, sulky, sullen
Astute
adjective
: having or showing shrewdness and perspicacity ; also : crafty, wily
synonyms see shrewd
Examples
a police detective known to be an astute judge of character
Synonyms: shrewd, canny, clear-eyed, clear-sighted, hard-boiled, hardheaded, heady, knowing, savvy, sharp, sharp-witted, smart
Antonyms: unknowing
Bucolic
adjective
1 : of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen : pastoral
2 a : relating to or typical of rural life
Examples
a bucolic region where farms are still common
Synonyms: rural, country, pastoral, rustic (also rustical)
Antonyms: urban
Captious
adjective
1 : marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections
2 : calculated to confuse, entrap, or entangle in argument <a>
synonyms see critical
Examples
a captious and cranky eater who’s never met a vegetable he didn’t hate
Synonyms: critical, carping, caviling (or cavilling), faultfinding, hypercritical, judgmental, overcritical, rejective
Antonyms: uncritical</a>
Clamorous
Almost always indicates a group
adjective
1 : marked by confused din or outcry : tumultuous
2 : noisily insistent
synonyms see vociferous
Examples
a clamorous objection to the play that the students have chosen to put on this year
a clamorous kindergarten classroom that would try the patience of any sane adult
a rock band whose clamorous concerts will rattle your bones
Synonyms: blatant, caterwauling, clamant, vociferous, obstreperous, squawking, vociferant, vociferating, yawping (or yauping), yowling
Antonyms: hushed, noiseless, quiet, silent, soundless, stilled, stilly
Clandestine
adjective
: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy : surreptitious <a>
synonyms see secret
Examples
I took a clandestine peek at the price tag on the diamond necklace
Synonyms: backstairs, behind-the-scenes, secret, covert, furtive, hole-and-corner, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, private, privy, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, stealth, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover, underground, underhand, underhanded
Antonyms: open, overt, public</a>
Cosmopolitan
adjective
1 : having worldwide rather than limited or provincial scope or bearing
2 : having wide international sophistication : worldly
3 : composed of persons, constituents, or elements from all or many parts of the world
4 : found in most parts of the world and under varied ecological conditions <a>
Examples
a young cosmopolitan
as someone who had lived in Paris for a year as an exchange student, she seemed very much the cosmopolitan to her old classmates
Synonyms: worldly–wise, smart, sophisticated, worldly
Antonyms: guileless, ingenuous, innocent, naive (or naïve), unsophisticated, untutored, unworldly, wide-eyed</a>
Circumvent
transitive verb
1 a : to hem in
b : to make a circuit around
2 : to manage to get around especially by ingenuity or stratagem
Examples
employees who try to circumvent the company’s dress code
circumvented the traffic jam by taking an alternate route
most casual joggers will be able to circumvent the reservoir without too much of a strain
Circumspect
adjective
: careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences : prudent
synonyms see cautious
Examples
she has a reputation for being quiet and circumspect in investigating charges of child abuse
Synonyms: alert, cautious, chary, careful, conservative, considerate, gingerly, guarded, heedful, safe, wary
Antonyms: careless, heedless, incautious, unguarded, unmindful, unsafe, unwary
construe
To interpret
transitive verb
1 : to analyze the arrangement and connection of words in (a sentence or sentence part)
2 : to understand or explain the sense or intention of usually in a particular way or with respect to a given set of circumstances
intransitive verb
: to construe a sentence or sentence part especially in connection with translating
Synonyms: clarify, clear (up), explain, demonstrate, demystify, elucidate, explicate, expound, get across, illuminate, illustrate, interpret, simplify, spell out, unriddle
Antonyms: obscure
Consecrate
adjective
: dedicated to a sacred purpose
Synonyms: blessed (also blest), holy, consecrated, hallowed, sacral, sacred, sacrosanct, sanctified
Antonyms: deconsecrated, desacralized, unconsecrated, unhallowed
2
transitive verb
1 : to induct (a person) into a permanent office with a religious rite; especially : to ordain to the office of bishop
2 a : to make or declare sacred; especially : to devote irrevocably to the worship of God by a solemn ceremony
b : to effect the liturgical transubstantiation of (eucharistic bread and wine)
c : to devote to a purpose with or as if with deep solemnity or dedication
3 : to make inviolable or venerable
synonyms see devote
Conjecture
noun
1 obsolete
a : interpretation of omens
b : supposition
2 a : inference from defective or presumptive evidence
b : a conclusion deduced by surmise or guesswork
c : a proposition (as in mathematics) before it has been proved or disproved
Synonyms: guess, shot, supposition, surmise, shot in the dark
Examples
Some have conjectured that the distant planet could sustain life.
We only conjecture about his motives.
Synonyms: calculate, call, estimate, figure, gauge (also gage), guess, judge, make, place, put, reckon, suppose
Compendium
noun
1 : a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge : abstract
2 a : a list of a number of items
b : collection, compilation
Examples
a book entirely devoted to poodles—a compendium of writings by breeders, trainers, and others in love with the breed
Synonyms: album, collectanea, anthology, compilation, florilegium, miscellany, reader
Coterie
noun
: an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose
Examples
a coterie of old friends who attend all of the home games of the high school basketball team
Synonyms: body, bunch, circle, clan, clique, community, gang, coven, crowd, fold, galère, klatch (also klatsch), lot, network, pack, ring, set
Delineate
transitive verb
1 a : to indicate or represent by drawn or painted lines
b : to mark the outline of
2 : to describe, portray, or set forth with accuracy or in detail
Examples
the man’s roly-poly shape was softly delineated by the glow of the fire
the story does a remarkable job of delineating the emotions that immigrants feel upon their arrival in a strange country
Demagogue
noun
1 : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power
2 : a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times
Synonyms: agitator (also demagog), exciter, firebrand, fomenter, incendiary, inciter, instigator, kindler, provocateur, rabble-rouser
Example:
Always placing blame and finding fault is called being a demagogue.
If the charismatic leader is a demagogue, things go terribly wrong.
Digression
noun
1 : the act or an instance of digressing in a discourse or other usually organized literary work
2 archaic : a going aside
Examples
the professor’s frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend
Synonyms: aside, tangent, divagation, excursion
Collusion
noun
: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose
Examples
there was collusion between the two companies to fix prices
Synonyms: complicity, connivance, conspiracy
