General Vocabulary 19 Flashcards
Consilience (n)
Evidence or study from multiple, independent sources “converge,” or are in agreement, to support a conclusion.
Gerontocracy (n)
A state with oligarchic rule where the rulers are much older than the populace.
Whippersnapper (n)
A young upstart immature and overly confident.
I know her better than you, you whippersnapper.
Hermeneutics (adj)
The theory and methodology of interpretation especially of religious and philosophical text.
There is no objective determination in the matter, something that the courts have always in their hermeneutical foolishness tried to maintain.
Tribune (n)
A popular leader someone who champions peoples rights.
Subliminal (adj)
(Of a stimulus or mental activity) below the threshold of sensation or consciousness.
Humanoid (adj) (n)
Having the appearance or characteristics of a human.
The crew watches in horror as a tall, emaciated humanoid appears behind him and brutally murders him.
Autochthonous (adj)
Indigenous rather than descending from immigrants or colonists.
Nor would anyone deny that there are still some virulent autochthonous anti-semites in Europe
Provost (n)
Head or senior administration officer of an university.
Discommode (v)
Cause (someone) trouble or inconvenience.
I am sorry to have discommoded you.
Twaddle (n)
Trivial or foolish speech or writing; nonsense.
He dismissed the novel as self-indulgent twaddle.
Tragediennes (n)
[TRA JI DIAN]
An actress who specializes in tragic roles.
Tableau (n)
A scene showing, for example, events and people from history, that is presented by a group of actors who do not move or speak
Teetering (v)
Move or balance unsteadily; sway back and forth.
She teetered after him in her high-heeled sandals.
Castanets (n)
Small concave pieces of wood, ivory, or plastic, joined in pairs by a cord and clicked together by the fingers as a rhythmic accompaniment to Spanish dancing.
The gypsies appeared with their pebble filled castanets.
Curlicued (adj)
Having decorative curls or twists.
A page of elaborately curlicued and unintelligible script.
Arrhythmia (n)
A condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm.
A heartbeat that fluctuated between frantic arrhythmia and calm comatose.
Loutishness
Rude offensive behavior.
Brawling on and off the field has sparked a debate about increasing loutishness by sports figures.
Avowal (n)
A statement in which you say or admit something that you believe, support, or intend to do.
They were imprisoned for their avowal of anti-government beliefs
Garnet (n)
A precious stone consisting of a deep red vitreous silicate mineral.
A garnet ring.
Cower (v)
To move back or into a low position because of fear.
Outside the night cowered in its own terrors.
Hecate (n)
A Greek goddess associated with the underworld, night and witchcraft.
Palimpsest (n)
A manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing.
Sutton Place is a palimpsest of the taste of successive owners.
Centaur (n)
Creature with the head, arms, and torso of a man and the body and legs of a horse.
Scry (v)
Foretell the future using a crystal ball or other reflective object or surface.
Priests scried the skies when a child was born.
Trousseau (n)
[TRUE SO]
Clothes and other possessions collected by a woman who is to be married soon to begin her married life with.
She will come with her trousseau and wear them as she pleases.
Ditty (n)
A short, simple song.
A lovely little music-hall ditty.
Coloratura (n)
Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal melody, especially in operatic singing.
Penelope bursts into joyful cascades of coloratura.
Guipure (n)
[GEY PURE]
A heavy lace consisting of embroidered motifs held together by large connecting stitches.
Trice (n)
In a moment; very quickly.
In a trice, she had flown up the stairs.
Shimmied (v)
Move effortlessly; glide with a swaying motion.
Her hair swung in waves as she shimmied down the catwalk.
Pirouette (v)
Spin a or fast turn that a person, especially a ballet dancer, makes on one foot or toe
She pirouetted daintily, twirling on trim ankles.
Vitiligo (n)
A condition in which the pigment is lost from areas of the skin, causing whitish patches.
The walls revealed gleaming patches of vitiligo where picture frames once nested.
Madeleine (n)
[Mad lane]
A small rich sponge cake, baked in a fluted tin or mould and decorated with coconut and jam.
Stippled (v)
Mark (a surface) with numerous small dots or specks.
To finish, stipple the picture with the original base color.
Undulant (adj)
Having a rising and falling motion or appearance like that of waves; undulating.
Ikebana (n)
The art of Japanese flower arrangement, with formal display according to strict rules.
Bombs bloomed like floral fallout strewing an ikebana of annihilating petals.
Affiance (n)
Be engaged to marry.
Edward was too powerless to affiance himself to anybody.
Nimbus (n)
A large grey rain cloud.
The rain bearing nimbuses that floated across the hours.
Huffiness (adj)
An exaggerated sense of one’s importance that shows itself in the making of excessive or unjustified claims.
The huffiness in his voice put off his coworkers.
Paisley (n)
A detailed pattern of curved shapes, printed especially on cloth.
A paisley embroidered arm-chair.
Flail (v)
To wave or move about without control.
She held the ball in one palm and flailed the other wildly in waves searching for her sisters.
Ravelled (adj)
Unravel; fray.
A shirt with a ravelled collar.
Dwadle (v)
To deliberately walk slow, in a way that does not allow others around you to walk briskly.
Ruby dawdled at the kitchen door, watching as her mother flecked the chicken.
Expectorate (v)
Cough or spit out (phlegm) from the throat or lungs.
She was expectorating dirty colored sputum.
Hydra (n)
A minute freshwater coelenterate with a tubular body and a ring of tentacles around the mouth.
Pail (n)
A bucket.
He hoisted his pail of wares and walked downstairs.
Trilled (v)
Produce a quavering or warbling sound.
A skylark was trilling overhead.
Stirrup (n)
One of the two metal objects that you put your feet in when you are riding a horse.
Grubby (adj)
Dirty after being used and not washed.
He shook his head and pointed his grubby fingers at his sneakers.
Taffeta (n)
A fine lustrous silk or similar synthetic fabric with a crisp texture.
Two taffeta dresses and some T-shirts.
Liquesce (v)
To become liquid.
Grey chips of stone liquesced to lava under the intense heat.
Faceted (adj)
Having or involving many different aspects or features.
The world of opera is highly faceted.
Addled (adj)
Unable to think clearly; confused.
This might just be my addled brain playing tricks.
Loll (v)
Sit, lie, or stand in a lazy, relaxed way.
The two girls lolled in their chairs.
Leaden (adj)
Slow or heavy.
She walked back home with leaden steps after the quarrel.
Lictor (n)
A magisterial assistant in Ancient Rome.
Imperator (n)
A commander in chief of the ancient Roman Empire.
Ratiocination (n)
Form judgements based on logic reasons.
A tendency to ratiocination in private.
Anabolism (n)
The synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones including storage of energy.
Catabolism (n)
The breakdown of larger complex molecules into simpler ones with the release of energy.
Bracing (adj)
Giving strength, vigour or freshness.
Of all leaders of his generation his clarity is the most bracing.
Disconcerting (v)
Unsettling, to disturb the composure of.
His speeches disconcert at many levels.
Maven (n)
An expert or connoisseur.
Fashion mavens would baulk at the idea of such changes.
Colophon (n)
A publishers emblem usually on the title page of a book
Imposture (n)
Pretending to be someone else to deceive others.
She realised the imposture as soon as his doppelgänger arrived.
Flannel (n)
A soft woven fabric made of wool or cotton.
Stylobate
The top step of a crepidoma - the stepped platform upon which the colonnades of temples in Greece were built.
Entablature (n)
The upper portion of a building supported by columns in classical Greek architecture.
Phonation (n)
The production or utterance of sound.
Immediately there is a phonation in my head: “I wish to come with you”.
Instrumentalities (n)
The quality of serving as a means to an end.
Cognomen (n)
The third personal name given to a Roman citizen such as Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Today Dhaulagiri fulfils it’s cognomen yet it’s magnificence is not the reason for my feelings.
Prehension (n)
Philosophy - The interaction of a subject with an entity that involves perception but not cognition.
Anthropomorphism (n)
The attribution of human like qualities to a God, animal or other object.
A human God conceived by the anthropomorphism of the adolescent human mind.
Animus (n)
Hostility or ill feeling.
The author’s animus towards her.
Palimpsest (n)
A piece of writing material on which future writing has been superimposed by erasure of previous writings.
Adamantine (adj)
Unbreakable
Adamantine chains bound and gagged the restless primate.
Imperative (n) (adj)
Of vital importance.
It is imperative that standards be maintained.
Salience (n)
The quality of being particularly noticeable or prominent.
The political salience of religion has a particular impact.
Impenitent (adj)
Not repentant. Not feeling any shame about one’s wrong doings.
This man is an impenitent criminal.
Impertinent (adj)
Rude, not showing respect. OR
Not pertinent or relevant.
An impertinent response to a legitimate query.
Wheedle (v)
To coax or flatter someone into doing something.
She was wheedled into spending money on the party
Cumbrous (adj)
Heavy, cumbersome and weighty.
Ontology (n)
The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
Whether God exists or not may be an external ontological question.
Reprove (v)
Reprimand.
She was reproved by the councillor for her unacceptable behaviour.
Affray (n)
An instance of a group of people fighting in a public space.
Elan (n)
Style, flair
They performed with uncommon elan on stage.
Rhetorical (adj)
(Of a question) Asked in order to produce a result or to make a statement rather than elicit a response.
The general expected his question to be purely rhetorical.
Incubus (n)
A male demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women.
Dragoon (n)
A cavalry man of the British army.
Indentured labourers we’re dragooned into the armies on either side.
Proletariat (n)
A social class of wage earners.
Bourgeois (n)
A class of business owners and traders - in social hierarchy between the peasants and the aristocracy.
Dissever (v)
Divide or sever something.
He was known as the man who wanted to dissever his country.
Infantilise (v)
Treat someone as a child or in a way that denies. Their maturity.
Harijans, with a view to infantilise them, we’re know as “Children of God”.
Autochthonous (adj)
Indigenous rather than descended from migrants.
These autochthonous tribes spoke in a dialect native to their region.
Persona grata (n)
A person especially a diplomat acceptable to others.
I know I’m not a persona grata with them.
Interdict (n)
An authoritative prohibition.
But what is the purpose of the interdict placed on inter-dining between castes and sub-castes alike?
Latitudinarianism (n)
Allowing latitude in religion. Showing no specific inclination to any creed or form of worship.
The latitudinarian clergy of the established church.
Profundity (n)
Showing deep insight and knowledge about something.
The simplicity and profundity of the message.
Tyke (n)
A small child, especially a cheeky or mischievous one.
Is the little tyke up to his tricks again?
