General Vocabulary 6 Flashcards
Insurrection (n)
Organized opposition to authority, a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another.
Invidious (adj)
Likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others.
She’d put herself in an invidious position.
Subterfuge (n)
Something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity.
Odium (n)
Hate coupled with disgust, state of disgrace resulting from detestable behavior.
Squinting (adj)
Having eyes half closed in order to see better.
Feral (adj)
Wild and menacing.
A pack of feral dogs.
Stifle (v)
To suppress, curb, or withhold.
To stifle a yawn.
Refractory (adj)
Stubbornly resistant to authority or control, temporarily unresponsive or not fully responsive to a process or stimulus
Controverting (v)
Prove to be false or incorrect, be resistant to.
The board controverted his motion.
Obtuse (adj)
Slow to learn or understand, lacking intellectual acuity.
Shibboleth (n)
A manner of speaking that is distinctive of a particular group of people.
Intrinsic (adj)
Situated within or belonging solely to the organ or body part on which it acts.
Warble (n)
A lumpy abscess under the hide of domestic mammals caused by larvae of a bot fly or warble fly.
Ingenuous (adj)
Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings.
Truncheon (n)
A short stout club used primarily by policemen.
Lenity (n)
Merciful as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant.
Ideogram (n)
A graphic character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it.
Prophylactic (adj)
Preventing or contributing to the prevention of disease.
Nave (n)
The central area of a church.
Render (n)
A substance similar to stucco but exclusively applied to masonry walls.
Punctilious (adj)
Marked by precise accordance with details.
Meticulous research.
Gainsay (v)
To deny, dispute, or contradict.
But it will be a cost, and it will be large – nobody can gainsay that.
Exigent (adj)
Requiring immediate action or aid.
Charles immediately revealed the full and exigent nature of his demands.
Contagion (n)
The communication of disease by direct or indirect contact.
Frenetic (adj)
Excessively agitated, distraught with fear or other violent emotion
Parchment (n)
Skin of a sheep or goat prepared for writing on.
Vile (adj)
Morally reprehensible.
Would do something as vile and despicable as murder.
Vellum (n)
Fine parchment prepared from the skin of a young animal e.g. a calf or lamb.
Portend (v)
Indicate, as with a sign or an omen.
These signs portend bad news.
Squib (n)
Firework consisting of a tube filled with powder (as a broken firecracker) that burns with a fizzing noise.
Cincture (n)
A band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers.
Sibilant (adj)
Of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as f', s’, z', or th’ in both thin' and then’)
Impervious (adj)
Not admitting of passage or capable of being affected.
Primogeniture (n)
Right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son
Obstreperous (adj)
Boisterously and noisily aggressive.
They kept up an obstreperous clamor.
Obsequious (adj)
Servilely compliant or deferential
Pique (n)
To affect with sharp irritation and resentment, especially by some wound to pride.
She was greatly piqued when they refused her invitation.
Paean (n)
Any song of praise, joy, or triumph.
Scurrilous (adj)
Grossly or obscenely abusive.
A scurrilous attack on the mayor.
Parred (n)
The standard number of strokes set for each hole on a golf course, or for the entire course.
Pretentious (adj)
Making claim to or creating an appearance of (often undeserved) importance or distinction.
Sylvan (adj)
Relating to or characteristic of wooded regions.
Veritable (adj)
Being truly so.
A veritable triumph.
Ingenious (adj)
Showing inventiveness and skill.
Subaltern (adj)
Inferior in rank or status.
Sanguine (adj)
Inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life.
Elysium (n)
A place or condition of ideal happiness, (Greek mythology) the abode of the blessed after death.
Hyacinths (n)
Any of numerous bulbous perennial herbs, a red transparent variety of zircon used as a gemstone.
Renege (n)
The mistake of not following suit when able to do so.
Encumbrance (n)
Any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome, an onerous or difficult concern.
Sullied (adj)
Charge falsely or with malicious intent, attack the good name and reputation of someone.
Succor (n)
Assistance in time of difficulty.
The contributions provided some succor for the victims.
Obstreperous (adj)
Boisterously and noisily aggressive.
Kept up an obstreperous clamor.
Lubricious (adj)
Characterized by lust.
Eluding lubricious embraces.
Limpid (adj)
Transparently clear, easily understandable.
Postulate (n)
A proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning.
Valise (n)
A small overnight bag for short trips.
Orb (n)
The ball-shaped capsule containing the vertebrate eye.
Sinology (n)
The study of Chinese history and language and culture.
Wallow (n)
An indolent or clumsy rolling about.
A good wallow in the water.
Ingenuous (adj)
Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings.
Honorific (adj)
Conferring or showing honor or respect, an expression of respect.
Beguile (v)
Attract, or influence by trickery, flattery.
She beguiled all the men’s hearts.
Promulgate (v)
State or announce.
I am not a Communist, he promulgated.
Slovenly (adj)
Negligent of neatness especially in dress and person.
Usherette (n)
A female usher.
Impetuous (adj)
Characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation.
Urbanity (n)
Polished courtesy, elegance of manner.
Moribund (adj)
Being on the point of death, breathing your last.
Refectory (n)
A communal dining-hall (usually in a monastery).
Effusive (adj)
Extravagantly demonstrative, “insincere and effusive demonstrations of sentimental friendship”.
Equivocal (adj)
Uncertain as a sign or indication.
The evidence from bacteriologic analysis was equivocal.
Specious (adj)
Apparently good or right though lacking real merit
Specious arguments.
Whet (v)
Sharpen by rubbing, as on a whetstone, make keen or more acute.
Stymie (n)
A thwarting and distressing situation, a situation in golf where an opponent’s ball blocks the line between your ball and the hole.
Travesty (n)
A comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations
Pockmark (n)
A scar or pit on the skin that is left by a pustule of smallpox or acne or other eruptive disease.
Prolix (adj)
Tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length.
Patio (n)
Usually paved outdoor area adjoining a residence.
Supine (adj)
Passive as a result of indolence or indifference.
Sorority (n)
A social club for female undergraduates.
Shard (n)
A broken piece of a brittle artifact.
Invective (n)
Abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will.
Nymph (n)
A mythical spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful woman
OR
An immature form of an insect that does not change greatly as it grows, e.g. a dragonfly,
Impudent (adj)
Improperly forward or bold.
Denouement (n)
The final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work.
Parochial (adj)
Narrowly restricted in outlook or scope.
I have little sympathy for those with parochial mentality.
Stump (n)
Any of three upright wooden posts that form the wicket.
Accolade (n)
A tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction.
Traduce (v)
Speak unfavorably about.
She traduces her husband everywhere.
Skulk (v)
Move stealthily.
The lonely man skulks down the main street all day.
Dotard (n)
An oldster in his dotage, someone whose age has impaired his intellect.
Divan (n)
A long backless sofa (usually with pillows against a wall).
Pliant (adj)
Capable of being bent or flexed or twisted without breaking.
Contrite (adj)
Feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses.
Ingratiate (v)
Gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts.
Hearsay (adj)
Heard through another rather than directly.
Hallow (v)
Render holy by means of religious rites.
Cozen (v)
Cheat or trick.
He cozened the money out of the old man.
Turbid (adj)
Clouded as with sediment.
