From practice tests Flashcards
eminence
successful; fame;
ex: the more his eminence as an artist increased, the more tumultuous (uproarish, thunderous) his life become
precariously
about to collapse, not securely held; uncertain
ex: she made a precarious living by writing
trifling
trivial; not important
ex: a trifling sum of money
ascertain
to discover; find out
ex: an attempt to ascertain the cause of the accident
proliferation
to multiply extremely in numbers
ex: the proliferation of ragwort was ill-timed
profligate
wasteful; unnecessarily extravagant
conspicuous
clear; noticable
ex: he was very thin, with a conspicuous adam’s apple
concomitant
accompanying; associating
ex: she loved to travel with all its concomitant worries
confer
grant or bestow
ex: she conferred a knighthood on him
obscure
not clear; confusing; obfuscate;
ex: she was obscuring her words on purpose to fool us
predilection
preference
ex: he had a predilection for focusing on morbid subjects
recondite
little known; abstruse
ex: this class is awful - all the professor does is spew recondite information.
fecklessness
lacking initiative
ex: the media once portrayed the governor as anything but ineffective; they now, however, make her out to be the epitome of fecklessness
scintillating
sparkiling; bright
luminaries
inspirations
incendiary
designed to cause fire
veracious
truth
acquisitiveness
like to acquire; interested in materialism
tepid
unenthusiastic, apathetic
ex: after her mediocre performance, the audience produced a tepid repsponse
conspire
scheme; to plot against or make plans jointly to commit a harmful act
ex: the monkeys conspired together to fool the zookeeper
dissemble
disguise or conceal; feign; pretend
ex: the monkeys dissembled an injury to trick the zookeeper
abstruse
little known information; recondite
adverse
harmful effect; hostile
ex: adverse book reviews
transgressions
offenses
ex: her transgressions were pointed out in her criticizing book reviews
penchant
a strong habitual liking for something
ex: she had a penchant for old-school movies
capricious
fickle; prone to changing emotions often
ex: when she is having a bad day, her actions are very capricious
relish
to enjoy
confound
to trick, confuse
ex: confounded again!
banal
lacking originality to the point that it is boring
sims: hackneyed, trite, insipid
prescient
foresight; knowing beforehand
ex: the band’s long-standing strategy of laying leisurely explorations atop a steady funk beat has proven to be surprisingly prescient: a concert in cologne from 1972 sounds as if it could have taken place today.
serendipitous
happy/lucky chance
lucrative
profitable
ex: kpop is a lucrative business
pretensions
claims, usually a false claim
commensurate
corresponding in size/proportion
kindred
similar (think “kin”); related
imperative
critical/essential
ex: this next goal is imperative – if we dont finish it by the deadline, we will be pushed back by a week
doctrinaire
imposing one’s beliefs without care; inflexible in ones beliefs; fixedly opinionated
sims: dogmatic
dogmatic
focused on one’s beliefs; peremptory, fixedly opinionated
sims: doctrinare
ubiquitous
omnipresent; everywhere
scanty
limited in quantity, meager
ex: scanty wages
outmoded
old-fashioned; outdated
sims: obselete
disparate
contrasting/different; especially different
panacea
cure to diseases; cure-all
herald
official messenger bringing news
harbinger
person who announces signals for others
sims: herald
perfunctory
cursory; doing something hastily without reflection on actions
cursory
perfunctory; hasty and not detailed
Arcane
Mysterious or secret
Equivocal
ambiguous; uncertain
Ambivalent
Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something
Adroit
Clever or skillful in hands or mind
Ex: he was far less adroit than his opponent
Spurious
Not what it is meant to be; false; fake; illegitimate
Impetus
Forcs or energy
Vindicate
Clear of blame or suspision
Sims: exculpate, exonerate
Boon
Something that is good or beneficial
Debacle
Failure
Hidebound
Unwilling to change bc of tradition or convention
Surly
Bad tempered and unfriendly
Sims: inimical, sullen
acerbic
sharp and forthright - style of speaking
ex: in his unexpurgated autobio, M.T. commented freely on the flaws and foibles of his country, some observations so acerbic that his heirs feared it would damage his reputation.
unexpurgate
unremoved, uncensored
premonitory
a given warning, predictive
temperate
mild conditions
provincial
concerning only one area, narrow domain
loquacious
talkative
alacrity
cheerful eagerness
rhapsody
exuberant expression of emotions
devolve
transfer power to a lower level
quandary
a state of perplexity or uncertainty of what to do in a situation
inconsequential
not important, insignificant. ant: substantive
zealot
a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.
sycophant
a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.
adulator
praise excessively or obsequiously
