General Vocabulary 1 Flashcards
Vassal (n)
[vaas-uh l]
A person holding a fief, a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord.
He was forced to become the vassal of the king of Babylonia, and furnish a contingent to his army.
Reproach (n)
A mild rebuke or criticism.
Her friends reproached her for not thinking enough about her family.
Ember (n)
A hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering.
Calypso (n)
Rare north temperate bog orchid bearing a solitary white to pink flower marked with purple at the tip of an erect reddish stalk above 1 basal leaf.
Elicit (v)
Evoke or draw out (a reaction, answer, or fact) from someone.
I tried to elicit a response from Joanna.
Elucidation (n)
To make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain.
An explanation that elucidated his recent strange behavior.
Mortification (n)
The act of killing the lusts of the flesh by self-denial and privation.
Mortification of the flesh has a long tradition in some religions.
Progenitors (n)
An ancestor in the direct line.
Our progenitors lived contended lives.
Primeval (adj)
Having existed from the beginning, in an earliest or original stage or state.
The primeval state of being.
Primate (n)
Any placental mammal of the order Primates, has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet.
Primordial (adj)
Having existed from the beginning, in an earliest or original stage or state.
The primordial oceans.
Primal (adj)
Relating to the needs, fears, or behavior that are to form the origins of emotional life.
He preys on people’s primal fears.
Decrepit (adj)
Lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality.
or worn out by long use.
A decrepit man who can hardly walk.
Gaggle (n)
A flock of geese, OR
An often noisy or disorderly group or gathering.
A politician followed by a gaggle of supporters.
Plinth (n)
An architectural support or base (as for a column or statue).
Busts of the King and Queen on marble plinths.
Anecdotes (n)
Short account of an incident (especially a biographical one).
He told anecdotes about his job.
Oxymoron (n)
Conjoining contradictory terms.
Deafening silence.
Epitaph (n)
[ɛpɪtaf]
An inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there.
A poignant epitaph to his creative career.
Expurgate (v)
Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate.
Most children read an expurgated version of Grimms’ fairy tales.
Expatiate (v)
[ik-spey-shee-eyt]
Add details, as to an account or idea.
To expatiate upon a theme.
Extirpate (v)
Surgically remove (an organ), pull up by or as if by the roots.
To extirpate an unwanted hair.
Execrate (v)
Curse or declare to be evil or anathema or threaten with divine punishment
He execrated all who opposed him.
Excoriate (v)
Express strong disapproval of or criticize (someone) severely.
He was excoriated for his mistakes.
Sweltering (adj)
Excessively hot and humid or marked by sweating and faintness.
A sweltering English summer.
Recondite (adj)
Difficult to penetrate, incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge.
The book is full of recondite information.
Dappled (adj)
Having spots or patches of color.
The horse’s dappled flank.
Languid (adj)
Lacking spirit or liveliness, a lackadaisical attempt
In or out of uniform his motion is languid, his voice relaxed.
Wicker (n)
Work made of interlaced slender branches (especially willow branches) of twigs
The large bottle is served slightly on its side in a wicker basket
Rheumy (adj)
[roo my]
A thin discharge of the mucous membranes, especially during a cold.
Five rheumy old-timers lolled about the one gate that would be open for the night.
Magpie (n)
Long-tailed black-and-white crow that utters a raucous chattering call
Troll (v)
Angling by drawing a baited line through the water.
To post inappropriate messages on the Internet, for the purpose of upsetting other users.
Cowslip (n)
Early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers.
Impertinent (adj)
Improperly forward or bold.
Would it be impertinent of me to offer some advice to you and your readers?
Insidious (adj)
Working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way.
Sexual harassment is a serious and insidious problem.
Invidious (adj)
Likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others
She’d put herself in an invidious position.
Condign (adj)
Fitting or appropriate and deserved, used especially of punishment.
Our guerdon is shame in this world and condign punishment in the next.
Concomitant adj)
An event or situation that happens at the same time as or in connection with another.
She loved travel, with all its concomitant worries.
Marsupials (adj)
Any non-placental mammal of the order Marsupialia, comprising the opossums, kangaroos, wombats, and bandicoots,
The marsupial animals bring forth their young before they are fully developed.
Buckram (n)
A stiff cotton fabric for interlinings, book bindings.
Our sewn bindings incorporate buckram and leather.
Predicate (n)
State, affirm, or assert (something) about the subject of a sentence or an argument of a proposition.
His retraction predicates a change of attitude.
Axiomatic (adj)
Evident without proof or argument.
When you pay them more, it is axiomatic that they will spend more.
Rind (n)
[rahynd]
The natural outer covering of food (usually removed before eating).
Watermelon rind.
Panache (n)
A grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair
The actor who would play Cyrano must have panache.
Edify (v)
To instruct or enlighten, to teach.
He had no idea even now how bad matters were, nor did she care to edify him.
Reed (n)
A musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed.
Corbel (n)
A short horizontal timber supporting a girder.
A very high corbelled vault.
Succulent (adj)
Tender and full of juice
Succulent roast beef.
Grafter (n)
A person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud.
Puckered (n)
An irregular fold in an otherwise even surface (as in cloth)
Worry puckered his brow.
Bellhop (n)
Someone employed as an errand boy and luggage carrier around hotels.
Dewlap (n)
A hanging fold of loose skin on an elderly person’s neck.
Ferret (v)
Search and discover through persistent investigation.
He ferreted out the paper from under a large tome.
Retch (n) (v)
An involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting.
The sour taste in her mouth made her retch.
Sash (n)
A long strip or loop of cloth worn over one shoulder or round the waist, especially as part of a uniform or official dress.
Schnitzel (n)
Deep-fried breaded veal cutlets.
Privation (n)
Act of depriving someone of food or money or rights.
Privations and other hardships are routinely endured by the people.
Pallor (n)
[paalor]
Unnatural lack of color in the skin or appearance.
The deathlike pallor of his face.
Busker (n)
A person who entertains people for money in public.
Gofer (n)
An employee whose duties include running errands.
He was employed as a menial gofer.
Millstone (n)
One of a pair of heavy flat disk-shaped stones that are rotated against one another to grind the grain
Irreverent (adj)
Showing a lack of respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously.
She is irreverent about the whole business of politics
Irascible (adj)
Easily provoked to anger; very irritable.
An irascible old man.
Ineluctable (adj)
Impossible to avoid or evade.
An Ineluctable destiny.
Indelible (adj)
Cannot be removed or erased.
An indelible stain.
Inchoate (adj)
Only partly in existence, imperfectly formed.
A still inchoate democracy.
Ingratiate (v)
Gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts.
An attempt to ingratiate herself with the local aristocracy
Impasse (n)
A situation in which no progress is possible, a deadlock.
The current political impasse.
Importune (v)
Beg persistently and urgently.
I importune you to help them.
Inveigle (v)
Influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering.
He inveigled her back to his room.
Manger (n)
A container (usually in a barn or stable) from which cattle or horses feed
Knapsack (n)
A bag carried by a strap on your back or shoulder
Unitard (n)
A tight-fitting garment of stretchy material that covers the body from the shoulders to the thighs.
Cretin (n)
A person of subnormal intelligence.
A stupid person.
Mea culpa (n)
[me-ah koo l-pah]
An acknowledgment of guilt.
‘Well, whose fault was that?’ ‘Mea culpa!’ Frank said.
Muse (n)
The source of an artist’s inspiration.
Euterpe was his muse.
Transmogrification (n)
The act of changing into a different form or appearance (especially a fantastic or grotesque one).
Confabulation (n)
A plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered.
Entomology (n)
The branch of zoology dealing with insects.
Waif (n)
A homeless, neglected, or abandoned person, especially a child.
She is foster-mother to various waifs and strays.
Penumbral (adj)
Of or pertaining to the region of partial shadow around an umbra(shadow).
Whining (v)
To utter a low, usually nasal, complaining cry or sound
Mewl (v)
Cry weakly or softly.
She mewled with pain.
Cuticles (n)
Hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles.
Spangled (adj)
Covered with beads or jewels or sequins.
A spangled dress.
Gnome (n)
[nOUm]
A legendary creature resembling a tiny old man
Pernickety (adj)
Characterized by excessive precision and attention to trivial details
I remember she was most pernickety about her blacks after my father’s death.
Fleck (n)
A small contrasting part of something
A fleck of dirt or a fleck of baldness.
Oedema (n)
[ih-dee-muh]
Swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities
Scab (n)
The crust like surface of a healing skin lesion, OR
someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.
Squelch (v)
To strike or press with crushing force, crush down or squash.
Attempting to squelch political speech by calling it hate speech only makes Israel look weaker.
Dell (n)
A small wooded valley
Lush green valleys and wooded dells.
Knoll (n)
A small natural hill.
A grassy knoll.
Hoover (v)
Clean with a vacuum cleaner.
Hoover the carpets please.
Pared (v)
Reduce (something) in size, extent, or quantity in a number.
The Defense Department must be pared down.
Sprig (n)
An ornament that resembles a spray of leaves or flowers.
Flappable (adj)
Easily upset when in stress.
Both politicians were, in fact, flappable.
Legerdemain (n)
Deception or Trickery
A classic piece of management legerdemain.
Wiseacre (n)
A person who pretends to know everything.
Paranthetic (adj)
Related to or inserting a parenthesis.
For a few parenthetic decades after independence, life seemed full of expectations.
Esperanto (n)
An artificial language invented by Dr Esperanto with the goal of being able to facility communication between different linguistic groups.
In contrast to the garbled modernity of these northern towns, a quite different trend is represented by the aspiring
esperanto of Bangalore
