General Vocabulary 4 Flashcards
Lesion (n)
Any visible abnormal structural change in a bodily part.
Swatch (n)
A sample piece of cloth.
Coloured swatches.
Becalm (v)
Make steady, stop being excited.
The wind never arrived, and the boats were left becalmed.
Jowls (n)
The lower part of a person’s or animal’s cheek.
She had a large nose and heavy jowls.
Graft (n)
Surgically transplanted living tissue OR bribery and other corrupt practices.
She had a skin graft.
Bier (n)
A stand to support a corpse or a coffin prior to burial.
Dappled (adj)
Having spots or patches of color.
The horse’s dappled flank.
Languid (adj)
Lacking spirit or being weak.
She was pale, languid, and weak.
Apothecary (n)
A person trained in preparing and dispensing drugs.
Risible (adj)
Arousing or provoking laughter.
A risible film with a steady stream of pranks and pratfalls..
Exegesis (n)
An explanation or critical interpretation (especially of scriptures).
The task of biblical exegesis.
Shears (n)
Large scissors with strong blades.
When cutting roses, always use a sharp, clean pair of shears.
Coiffe (v)
Arrange attractively.
Coiffe my hair for the wedding.
Statuesque (adj)
[stach-oo-esk]
Suggestive of a statue, of size and dignity suggestive of a statue.
Their frozen, statuesque attitudes irked her.
Scrimmage (n)
A noisy riotous fight.
The dispute over land led to a scrimmage.
Filament (n)
A threadlike structure (as a chain like series of cells).
Each myosin filament is usually surrounded by 12 actin filaments.
Sheaf (n)
A package of several things tied together for carrying or storing.
The corn and barley had to be sheafed.
Wearisome (adj)
Lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness.
They have schedules that tell them in wearisome detail.
Quiver (n)
The act of vibrating or case for holding arrows.
The tree’s branches stopped quivering.
Guttural (adj)
Like the sounds of frogs and crows.
A guttural voice.
Molting(n)
Periodic shedding of the cuticle or the outer skin in animals.
The adult birds were already molting.
Capacious (adj)
Large in capacity.
She carried a capacious bag.
Mollify (v)
To soften in feeling; pacify.
The women hoped to mollify the harsh wilderness environment.
Saurian (adj)
Of or relating to lizards.
A table with saurian legs.
Panegyric (n)
[Pane geric]
Formal speech or text in praise of something.
A panegyric on the pleasures of malt whisky.
Tableau (n)
[Tablo]
A group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story.
In the first act the action is presented in a series of tableaux.
Suppurate (v)
[suhp-yuh-rate]
Ripen and generate pus.
Her wounds are suppurating.
Glabrous (adj)
[Glebrous]
Having no hair or similar growth.
Smooth glabrous stems.
Askance (adv)
With an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval.
The reformers looked askance at the mystical tradition.
Marquee (n)
A very large tent that is used for parties, shows, etc.
Asinine (adj)
Extremely silly or stupid.
Lydia ignored his asinine remark.
Deracinated (v)
Uproot (someone) from their natural environment.
A deracinated writer who has complicated relations with his working-class background.
Xenophobia (n)
A fear of foreigners or strangers.
Racism and xenophobia are steadily growing in Europe.
Ilk (n)
A kind of person.
We’ll not see people of his ilk again.
Mottled (adj)
Having spots or patches of color.
Green leaves that are heavily mottled with chocolate.
Languid (adj)
Lacking spirit or liveliness, a lackadaisical attempt.
His languid demeanor irritated her.
Wallow (n)
An indolent or clumsy rolling about.
A good wallow in the water.
Libation (n)
The act of pouring a liquid offering as a religious ceremony.
He poured the libation of rum on the ground.
Exemplar (n)
Something to be imitated.
An exemplar of success.
Puerile (adj)
Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity .
A puerile argument.
Bogey (n)
An evil spirit or ghost.
Bogeys and other unpleasant denizens of the night.
Ministration (n)
Assistance in time of difficulty.
The ministrations provided some relief for the victims.
Masochist (n)
Someone who obtains pleasure from receiving punishment.
What kind of masochist would take part in such an experiment?
Misogynist (n)
A misanthrope who dislikes women in particular.
Misanthrope (n)
Someone who dislikes people in general.
Recreant (adj)
Lacking even the rudiments of courage, abjectly fearful.
What a recreant figure must he make.
Minutiae (n)
A small or minor detail.
He had memorized the many minutiae of the legal code.
Insuperable (adj)
Impossible to surmount, incapable of being surmounted or excelled.
Insuperable financial problems.
Egregious (adj)
Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible.
Egregious abuses of copyright.
Sinew (n)
[Seenew]
A piece of tough fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone.
The sinews in her neck stood out.
Vicariously (adv)
Indirectly, as, by, or through a substitute.
She enjoyed the wedding vicariously.
Seine (n)
A large fishnet that hangs vertically, with floats at the top and weights at the bottom.
Aegis (n)
Kindly endorsement and guidance.
The tournament was held under the auspices of the city council.
Detritus (n)
The remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up.
The streets were foul with detritus.
Reproach (n)
A mild rebuke or criticism.
Words of reproach, disgrace or shame.
Stochastic (adj)
Being or having a random variable.
A stochastic variable.
Scurrilous (adj)
Expressing offensive reproach.
Scurrilous attacks did not disuade him.
Foist (v)
To force onto another.
He foisted his work on me.
Subsume (v)
Contain or include.
This new system subsumes the old one.
Insurrection (n)
Organized opposition to authority, a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another.
The insurrection was savagely put down.
Epitaph (n)
[Epitaf]
An inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there.
A poignant epitaph to his creative career.
Epithet (n)
Descriptive word or phrase attributing a quality.
Old men are often unfairly awarded the epithet ‘dirty’.
Ingenue (n)
[Angenue]
The role of an innocent artless young woman in a play.
Nous (n)
[NAus]
Common sense, practical intelligence.
If he had any nous at all, he’d sell the film rights.
Obsequious (adj)
Attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner.
Obsequious shop assistants.
Concomitant (adj)
A phenomenon that naturally accompanies or follows something.
She loved travel, with all its concomitant worries.
Credence (n)
Belief in or acceptance of something as true.
Psychoanalysis finds little credence among laymen.
Electuary (n)
A medicinal substance mixed with honey or another sweet substance.
Declension (n)
A class of nouns or pronouns or adjectives in Indo-European languages having the same (or very similar) inflectional forms.
Rafter (n)
One of several parallel sloping beams that support a roof.
The rafters above his bed.
Scowl (n)
A facial expression of dislike or displeasure.
She stamped into the room with a scowl on her face.
Tithe (n)
[Taief]
One tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax.
He gives 10 percent of his income as tithe.
Bellow (n)
A very loud utterance (typically in pain or anger).
He bellowed in agony.
Billow (n)
A large undulating mass of cloud, smoke, or steam.
Billows of smoke left the chimneys of the factory.
Pew (n)
Long bench with backs, used in church by the congregation.
Insouciant (adj)
[insoosiant]
Marked by blithe unconcern.
An insouciant shrug.
Aver (v)
To declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true.
He averred that he was innocent of the allegations.
Fecundity (n)
The quality of something that causes or assists fertility.
The immense fecundity of his imagination made an impact on English literature.
Preclude (v)
Keep from happening or arising, make impossible.
My sense of tact precludes an honest answer.
Louring (v)
Dark and threatening.
A day of louring cloud.
Turnstile (n)
A gate consisting of a post that acts as a pivot for rotating arms.
Swaddle (v)
Wrap in swaddling clothes,
Swaddled the infant in warm clothes.
Solicitude (n)
A feeling of excessive concern.
I was touched by his solicitude.
Cussed (adj)
[kASID]
Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing or being annoying.
Why do you have to be so cussed?
Pique (n)
[peek]
A sudden outburst of anger.
He stormed from the room in a fit of pique.
Epitaph (n)
An inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there.
Indolent (adj)
Wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy.
They were indolent and addicted to a life of pleasure.
Macadamized (v)
Surface with macadam.
Macadam the road.
Remonstrate (v)
Argue in protest or opposition.
She remonstrated at legalized vice.
Parquet (n)
[parki]
The ground floor of a theater or auditorium, especially the orchestra pit.
Disavow (v)
Deny any responsibility or support for.
The union leaders resisted pressure to disavow picket-line violence.
Sallow (adj)
Unhealthy looking.
Her sallow complexion was cause for worry.
Abjure (v)
Formally reject a formerly held belief, usually under pressure.
MPs were urged to abjure their Jacobite allegiance.
Grove (n)
Garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth.
An olive grove.
Prurient (adj)
Characterized by lust or excessive interest in sex.
She was the subject of prurient curiosity.
Seminary (n)
A theological school for training ministers or priests or rabbis.
He went to a seminary to study for the priesthood.
Pillory (v)
A wooden instrument of punishment on a post with holes for the wrists and neck OR attack, ridicule publicly.
He found himself pilloried by members of his own party
Pathos (n)
A quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow).
The actor injects his customary pathos into the role.
Eulogy (n)
An expression of praise for someone who has died.
The sermon delivered an eulogy on the dead father.
Quiescent (adj)
Causing no symptoms(pathology).
A quiescent tumor.
