High Frequency Flashcards
Abridge (v.)
Condense or shorten. Because the publishers felt the public wanted a shorter version of War and Peace, they proceeded to ABRIDGE the novel.
Abstemious (adj.)
Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate. Concerned whether her vegetarian son’s ABSTEMIOUS diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.
Abstract (adj.)
Theoretical; not concrete; nonrepresentational. To him, hunger was an ABSTRACT concept; he had never missed a meal.
Abstruse (adj.)
Obscure; profound; difficult to understand. Baffled by the ABSTRUSE philosophical texts assigned in class, Dave asked Lexy to explain Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
Accessible (adj.)
Easy to approach; obtainable. We asked our guide whether the ruins were ACCESSIBLE on foot.
Acclaim (v.)
Applaud; announce with great approval. The NBC sportscasters ACCLAIMED every American victory in the Olympics and decried every American defeat.
Acknowledge (v.)
Recognize; admit. Although Iris ACKNOWLEDGED that the Beatles’ tunes sounded pretty dated nowadays, she still preferred them to the hip-hop songs her brothers played.
Adulation (n.)
Flattery; admiration. The rock star thrived on the ADULATION of his groupies and yes men.
Adversary (n.)
Opponent. The young wrestler struggled to defeat his ADVERSARY.
Adversity (n.)
Unfavorable fortune; hardship; a calamitous event. According to the humorist Mark Twain, anyone can easily learn to endure ADVERSITY, as long as it is another man’s.
Advocate (v.)
Urge; plead for. The abolitionists ADVOCATED freedom for the slaves.
Aesthetic (adj.)
Artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciation of the beautiful. The beauty of Tiffany’s stained glass appealed to Esther’s AESTHETIC sense.
Affable (adj.)
Easily approachable; warmly friendly. Accustomed to cold, aloof supervisor, Nicholas was amazed at how AFFABLE his new employer was.
Affirmation (n.)
positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge b one who refuses to take an oath. Despite Tom’s AFFIRMATIONS of innocence, Aunt Polly still suspected he had eaten the pie.
Alleviate (v.)
Relieve. This should ALLEVIATE the pain; if it does not, we shall not have to use stronger drugs.
Aloof (adj.)
Apart; reserved. Shy by nature, she remained ALOOF while all the rest conversed.
Altruistic (adj.)
Unselfishly generous; concerned for others. In providing tutorial assistance and college scholarships for hundreds of economically disadvantaged youths, Eugene Lang performed a truly ALTRUISTIC deed.
Ambiguous (adj.)
Unclear or doubtful in meaning. His AMBIGUOUS instructions misled us; we did not know which road to take.
Ambivalence (n.)
The state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes. Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the AMBIVALENCE of her feelings.
Analogous (adj.)
Comparable. She called our attention to the things that had been done in an ANALOGOUS and recommend that we do the same.
Anarchist (n.)
Person who seeks to overturn the established government; advocate of abolishing authority. Denying she was an ANARCHIST, Kayta maintained she wished only to make charges in our government, not to destroy it entirely.
Anecdote (n.)
Short account of an amusing or interesting event. Rather than make concrete proposals for welfare reform, President Reagan told ANECDOTES about poor people who became wealthy despite their impoverished backgrounds.
Animosity (n.)
Active enmity. he incurred the ANIMOSITY of the ruling class because he advocated limitations of their power.
Antagonism (n.)
Hostility; active resistance. Barry showed his ANTAGONISM toward his new stepmother by ignoring her whether she tried talking to him.
Antidote (n.)
Medicine to counteract a poison or disease. When Marge’s child accidentally swallowed some cleaning fluid, the local poison control hotline instructed Marge how to administer the ANTIDOTE.
Antiquated (adj.)
Old-fashioned; obsolete. Philip had grown so accustomed to editing his papers on word processors that he thought typewriters were too ANTIQUATED for him to use.
Apathy (n.)
Lack of caring; indifference. A firm believer in democratic government, she could not understand the APATHY of people who never bothered to vote.
Appease (v.)
Pacify or soothe; relieve. Tom and Jody tried to APPEASE the crying baby by offering him one toy after another, but he would not calm down until they APPEASED his hunger by giving him a bottle.
Apprehension (n)
Fear. His nervous glances at the passerby on the deserted street revealed his APPREHENSION.
Arbitrary (adj.)
Given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior (capricious); randomly chosen; tyrannical. Tom’s ARBITRARY dismissal angered him; his boss had no reason to fire him. He threw an ARBITRARY assortment of clothes into his suitcase and headed off, not caring where he went.
Archaic (adj.)
Antiquated. ARCHAIC words that are no longer part of our normal vocabulary.
Arrogance (n.)
Pride; haughtiness. Convinced that Emma thought she was better than anyone else in the class, Ed rebuked her for her ARROGANCE.
Articulate (adj.)
Effective; distinct. Her ARTICULATE presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her employers.
Artifact (n.)
Object made by human beings, either handmade or mass-produced. Archaeologists debate the significance of the ARTIFACTS discovered in the ruins of Asia Minor but came to no conclusions about the culture they represented.
Artisan (n.)
Manually skilled worker; craftsman, as opposed to artist. A noted ARTISAN, Arturo was known for the fine craftsmanship of his inlaid cabinets.
Ascendancy (n.)
Controlling influence; domination. Leaders of religious cults maintain ASCENDANCY over their followers by methods that can verge on brainwashing.
Ascetic (adj.)
Practicing self-denial; austere (severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance). The wealthy, self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict, ASCETIC life led by members of some monastic orders.
Aspire (v.)
Seek to attain; long for. Because he ASPIRED to a career in professional sports, Philip enrolled in a graduate program in sports management.
Astute (adj.)
Wise; shrewd; keen. John Jacob Astor made ASTUTE investments in land, shrewdly purchasing valuable plots throughout New York City.
Attribute (v.)
Ascribe; explain. I ATTRIBUTE her success in science to the encouragement she received from her parents.
Augment (v.)
Increase; add to. Armies AUGMENT their forces by calling up reinforcements; teachers AUGMENT their salaries by taking odd jobs.
Austere (adj.)
Forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented. The headmaster’s AUSTERE demeanor tended to scare off the more timid students, who never visited his study willingly. The room reflected the man, AUSTERE and bare, like a monk’s cell, with no touches of luxury to moderate its AUSTERITY.
Authoritarian (adj.)
Subordinating the individual to the state; completely dominating another’s will. The leaders of the AUTHORITARIAN regime ordered the suppression of the democratic protest movement. After years of submitting to the will of her AUTHORITARIAN father, Elizabeth Barrett ran away from home with the poet Robert Browning.
Aversion (n.)
Firm dislike. Bert had an AVERSION to yuppies; Alex had an AVERSION to punks. Their mutual AVERSION was so great that they refused to speak to one another.
Belie (v.)
Contradict; give a false impression. His coarse, hard-bitten exterior BELIED his inner sensitivity.
Benevolent (adj.)
Generous; charitable. Mr. Fezziwig was a BENEVOLENT employer, who wished to make Christmas merrier for young Scrooge and his other employees.
Bolster (v.)
Support; reinforce. The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to BOLSTER their arguments.
Braggart (n.)
Boaster. Modest by nature, she was no BRAGGART, preferring to let her accomplishments speak for themselves.
Brevity (n.)
Conciseness. BREVITY is essential when you send a telegram or cablegram; you are charged for every word.
Cajole (v.)
Coax; wheedle. (employ endearments or flattery to persuade someone to do something or give one something) Diane tried to cajole her father into letting her to drive the family car.
Calculated (adj.)
Deliberately planned; likely. Lexy’s choice of clothes to wear to the debate tournament was carefully calculated. her conventional suit was CALCULATED to appeal to the conservative judges.
Candor (n.)
Frankness; open honesty. Jack can carry CANDOR too far: when he told Jill his honest opinion of her, she nearly slapped his face.
Capricious (adj.)
Unpredictable; fickle; fanciful. The storm was CAPRICIOUS: it changed course constantly. Jill was CAPRICIOUS, too: she changed boyfriends almost as often as she changed clothes.
Censorious (adj.)
Critical. CENSORIOUS people delight in casting blame.
Censure (v.)
Blame; criticize. The senator was CENSURED for behavior inappropriate to a member of Congress.
Charlatan (n.)
Quack (a person who dishonestly claims to have special knowledge and skill in some field, typically in medicine); pretender to knowledge. When they realized that the Wizard didn’t know how to get them back to Kansas, Dorothy and her companions were indignant that they’d been duped by a CHARLATAN.
Coercion (n.)
Use of force to get someone to obey. The inquisitors used both physical and psychological COERCION to force Joan of Arc to deny that her visions were sent by God.
Commemorate (v.)
Honor the memory of. The statue of the Minute Man COMMEMORATES the valiant soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Compile (v.)
Assemble; gather; accumulate. We planned to COMPILE a list of the words most frequently used on the SAT examinations.
Complacency (n.)
Self-satisfaction; smugness. Full of COMPLACENCY about his latest victories, he looked smugly at the row of trophies on his mantel piece.
Compliance (n.)
Readiness to yield; conformity in fulfilling requirements. Bullheaded Bill was not noted for easy COMPLIANCE with the demands of others. As an architect, however, Bill recognized that his design had to be in COMPLIANCE with the local building code.
Composure (n.)
Mental calmness. Even the latest work crisis failed to shake her COMPOSURE.