High-Frequency Words Flashcards
abate
subside or moderate
Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to ___.
aberrant
abnormal or deviant
Given the ___ nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.
abeyance
suspended action
Hostilities between the two rival ethnic groups have been in ___ since the arrival of the United Nations peacekeeping force last month.
abscond
depart secretly and hide
The teller who ___ with the bonds went uncaptured until someone recognized him from his photograph on “America’s Most Wanted.”
abstemious
sparing in eating and drinking; temperate
Concerned whether her vegetarian son’s ___ diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.
admonish
warn; reprove
When her courtiers questioned her religious beliefs, Mary Stuart ___ them, declaring that she would worship as she pleased.
adulterate
make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances
When consumers learned that he had ___ its apple juice by mixing it with water, they protested vigorously.
aesthetic
artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful
The beauty of her’s stained glass appealed to her ___ sense.
aggregate
gather; accumulate
Before the Wall Street scandals, dealers in so-called junk bonds managed to ___ great wealth in short periods of time.
alacrity
cheerful promptness; eagerness
They were excited to go to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with ___.
alleviate
relieve
This should ___ the pain; if it does not, we shall have to use stronger drugs.
amalgamate
combine; unite in one body
The unions will attempt to ___ their groups into one national body.
ambiguous
unclear or doubtful in meaning
His ___ instructions misled us; we did not know which road to take.
ambivalence
the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes
Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating then the next, she was confused by the ___ of her feelings.
ameliorate
improve
Many social workers have attempted to ___ the conditions of people living in the slums.
anachronism
something or someone misplaced in time
Shakespeare’s reference to clocks in Julius Caesar is an ___; no clocks existed in Caesar’s time.
analogous
comparable
Actors exploring a classic text often improvise, working through an ___ situation closer to their own experience.
anarchy
absence of governing body; state of disorder
The assassination of the leaders led to a period of ___.
anomalous
abnormal; irregular
She was placed in the ___ position of seeming to approve procedures that she despised.
antipathy
aversion; dislike
His extreme ___ for disputes kept him from getting into arguments with his temperamental wife.
apathy
lack of caring; indifference
A firm believer in democratic government, she could not understand the ___ of people who never bothered to vote.
appease
pacify or soothe; relieve
They tried to ___ the crying baby by offering him one toy after another.
apprise
inform
When NASA was ___ of the dangerous weather conditions, they decided to postpone the shuttle launch.
approbation
approval
Wanting her parents’ regard, she looked for some sign of their ___.
appropriate
acquire; take possession of for one’s own use
The ranch owners ___ the lands that had originally been set aside for the Indians’ use.
arduous
hard; strenuous
Her ___ efforts had sapped her energy.
artless
without guile; open and honest
Red Riding Hood’s ___ comment, “Grandma, what big eyes you have!” indicates the child’s innocent surprise at the changed appearance.
ascetic
practicing self-denial; austere
The wealthy, self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict, ___ life led by members of some monastic orders.
assiduous
diligent
It took him weeks of ___ work before he was satisfied with his portrait of his son.
assuage
ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)
Jilted by her, he tried to ___ his heartache by indulging in ice cream.
attenuate
make thinner; weaken or lessen (in density, force, degree)
The long, dry spell ___ the creek to the merest trickle.
audacious
daring; bold
Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their ___, death-defying leap to freedom and escaped Darth Vader’s troops.
austere
forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented
His ___ demeanor tended to scare off the more timid students, who never visited his study willingly.
autonomous
self-governing
Although UC Berkeley is just one part of the state university system, in many ways it is ___, for it runs several programs not subject to outside control.
aver
assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact
The self-proclaimed psychic ___ that, because he had extrasensory perception, he needed no seismographs to foretell earthquakes.
banal
hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality
The hack writer’s worn-out clichés made his comic sketch seem ___.
belie
contradict; give a false impression
His coarse, hard-bitten exterior ___ his innate sensitivity.
beneficent
kindly; doing good
The overgenerous philanthropist had to curb his ___ impulses before he gave away all his money and left himself with nothing.
bolster
support; reinforce
The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to ___ their arguments.
bombastic
pompous; using inflated language
Puffed up with conceit, the orator spoke in such a ___ manner that we longed to deflate him.
boorish
rude; insensitive
*Though he constantly interrupted his wife, she ignored his ___ behavior, for she had lost hope of teaching him courtesy.
burgeoning
flourishing; growing quickly; putting out buds
They could scarcely keep up with the ___ demand for the services of their production company.
burnish
make shiny by rubbing; polish
The maid ___ the brass fixtures until they reflected the lamplight.
buttress
support; prop up
Just as architects ___ the walls of cathedrals with flying ___, debaters ___ their arguments with facts.
cacophonous
discordant; inharmonious
Do the students in orchestra enjoy the ___ sounds they make when they’re tuning up? I don’t know how they can stand the racket.
capricious
unpredictable; fickle
The storm was ___: it changed course constantly.
castigation
punishment; severe criticism
Sensitive even to mild criticism, she could not bear the ___ that she found in certain reviews.
catalyst
agent that influences pace of chemical reaction; thing that causes action
After a banana is harvested, enzymes within its cells continue to act as a ___ for the biochemical processes of ripening, causing it to rot.
caustic
burning; sarcastically biting
The critic’s ___ remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm.
chicanery
trickery; deception
Those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, made up implausible scenarios to confuse jurors, and depended on ___ to win the case.
cogent
convincing
She argued her case with such ___ that the jury had to decide in favor of her client.
commensurate
corresponding in extent, degree, amount, etc.; proportionate
By the end of WWII, much progress had been made in assigning nurses rank and responsibilities ___ with their training and abilities.
compendium
brief, comprehensive summary
This text can serve as a ___ of the tremendous amount of new material being developed in this field.
complaisant
trying to please; overly polite; obliging
Someone ___ is not smug or complacent; he yields to others because he has an excessive need to please.
compliant
yielding; conforming to requirements
Because he usually gave in and went along with whatever his friends desired, his mother worried he was too ___.
conciliatory
reconciling; soothing
She was still angry despite his ___ words.
condone
overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse
Unlike Douglass, who ___ Huck’s minor offenses, Watson did nothing but scold.
confound
confuse; puzzle
No mystery could ___ Sherlock Holmes for long.
connoisseur
person competent to act as a judge of art, etc.; a lover of an art
The American art critic and ___ of Italian art was hired by wealthy art lovers to select paintings for their collections.
contention
claim; thesis
It is our ___ that, if you follow our tactics, you will boost your score on the GRE.
contentious
quarrelsome
Disagreeing violently with the referees’ ruling, the coach became so ___ that the referees threw him out of the game.
contrite
penitent, remorseful
Her ___ tears did not influence the judge when he imposed the sentence.
conundrum
riddle; difficult problem
During the long car ride, she invented ___ to entertain the children.
converge
approach; tend to meet; come together
African-American men from all over the US ___ on Washington to take part in the Million Man March.
convoluted
coiled around; involved; intricate
His argument was so ___ that few of us could follow it intelligently.
craven
cowardly
Her ___ refusal to join the protest was criticized by her comrades, who had expected her to be brave and stand up for her beliefs.
daunt
intimidate; frighten
“Boast all you want. Mere words cannot ___ me,” the hero answered the villain.
decorum
propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners
Even the best-mannered students have trouble behaving with ___ on the last day of school.
default
failure to act
When the visiting team failed to show up for the big game, they lost the game by ___.
deference
courteous regard for another’s wish
In ___ to the minister’s request, please do not take photographs during the wedding service.
delineate
portray; depict; sketch
Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen ___ the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move.
denigrate
diminish, belittle
All attempts to ___ the character of our late president have failed; the people still love him and cherish his memory.
deride
ridicule; make fun of
The critics ___ his pretentious dialogue and refused to consider his play seriously.
derivative
unoriginal; obtained from another source
Although her early poetry was clearly ___ in nature, the critics thought she had promise and eventually would find her own voice.
desiccate
dry up
A tour of this smokehouse will give you an idea of how the pioneers used to ___ food in order to preserve it.
desultory
aimless; haphazard; digressing at random
In prison he set himself the task of reading straight through the dictionary; to him, reading was purposeful, not ___.
deterrent
something that discourages; hindrance
Does the threat of capital punishment serve as a ___ to potential killers?
diatribe
bitter scolding; invective
Luther’s vitriolic ___ against the Jews are part of the history that leads to Kristallnacht.
dichotomy
split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones)
He didn’t know how to resolve the ___ between his ambition to go to college and his childhood longing to run away and join the circus.
diffidence
shyness
You must overcome your ___ if you intend to become a salesperson.
diffuse
wordy; rambling; spread out (like a gas)
If you pay authors by the word, you tempt them to produce ___ manuscripts rather than brief ones.
digression
wandering away from the subject
Nobody minded when his lectures wandered away from their official theme; his ___ were always more fascinating.
disabuse
correct a false impression; undeceive
Once she started teaching, she was quickly ___ of any romantic notions she had about her role.
discerning
mentally quick and observant; having insight
Though no genius, the star was sufficiently ___ to distinguish her true friends from the countless phonies who flattered her.
discordant
not harmonious; conflicting
Nothing is quite so ___ as the sound of a junior high school orchestra tuning up.
discredit
defame; destroy confidence in; disbelieve
The campaign was highly negative in tone; each candidate tried to ___ the other.
discrepancy
lack of consistency; difference
The police noticed some ___ in his description of the crime and did not believe him.
discrete
separate; unconnected; consisting of distinct parts
In programmed instruction, information is presented in ___ units; you must respond correctly to each unit before you advance to the next.
disingenuous
lacking genuine candor; insincere
Now that we know they are in a bitter divorce, we find their earlier remarks regretting their lack of time together to be ___.
disinterested
unprejudiced
Given the judge’s political ambitions and the lawyers’ financial interest in the case, the only ___ person was the court reporter.
disjointed
lacking coherence; separated at the joints
Unable to think of anything to say, the unprepared student scribbled a few ___ sentences on his answer sheet.
dismiss
eliminate from consideration; reject
Believing in his love for her, she ___ the notion that he might be unfaithful.
disparage
belittle
A doting mother, she was more likely to praise her son’s crude attempts at art than to ___ them.
disparate
basically different; unrelated
Unfortunately they have ___ notions of marriage: he sees it as a carefree extended love affair, while she sees it as solemn commitment.
dissemble
disguise; pretend
Even though he tried to ___ his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew he was there not to dance but to meet girls.
disseminate
distribute; spread; scatter (like seeds)
By their use of the Internet, propagandists have been able to ___ their doctrines to new audiences around the globe.
dissolution
disintegration; looseness in morals
The profligacy and ___ of life in Caligula’s Rome appall some historians.
dissonance
discord; opposite of harmony
The composer often used ___, or clashing or unresolved chords.
distend
expand; swell out
I can tell when he is under stress by the way the veins on his forehead ___.
distill
purify; refine; concentrate
A moonshiner ___ mash into whiskey; an epigrammatist ___ thoughts into quips.
diverge
vary; go in different directions from the same point
The spokes of the wheel ___ from the hub.
divest
strip; deprive
Before Eisenhower appointed Charlie Wilson as the Secretary of Defense, he required Wilson to ___ himself of his holdings in General Motors.
document
provide written evidence
She kept all the receipts from her business trip in order to ___ her expenses for the firm.
dogmatic
opinionated; arbitrary; doctrinal
We tried to discourage him from being so ___, but never could convince him that his opinions might be wrong.
dormant
sleeping; lethargic; latent
At fifty, her long-___ ambition to write flared up once more; within a year she had completed the first of her great historical novels.
dupe
someone easily fooled
While the gullible Watson often was made a ___ by unscrupulous parties, Sherlock Holmes was far more difficult to fool.
ebullient
showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm
Her ___ nature could not be repressed; she was always bubbling over with excitement.
eclectic
selective; composed of elements drawn from disparate sources
His style of interior decoration was ___: furnishings from widely divergent periods, strikingly juxtaposed to create a unique decor.
efficacy
power to produce desired effect
The ___ of this drug depends on the regularity of the dosage.
effrontery
impudence; shameless boldness; sheer nerve; presumptuousness
When the boss told him she was firing him for laziness and insubordination, he had the ___ to ask for a letter of recommendation.
elegy
poem or song expressing lamentation
On the death of Edward King, Milton composed the ___ “Lycidas.”
elicit
draw out by discussion
The detectives tried to ___ where he had hidden his loot.
embellish
adorn; ornament; enhance, as a story
The costume designer ___ the leading lady’s ball gown with yards of ribbon and lace.
empirical
based on experience
He distrusted hunches and intuitive flashes; he placed his reliance entirely on ___ data.
emulate
imitate; rival
*In a brief essay, describe a person you admire, someone whose virtues you’d like to ___. *
endemic
prevailing among a specific group of people or in area/country
This disease is ___ in this part of the world; more than 80% of the population are at one time or another affected by it.
enervate
weaken
She was slow to recover from her illness; even a short walk to the window ___ her.
engender
cause; produce
To receive praise for real accomplishments ___ self-confidence in a child.
enhance
increase; improve
You can ___ your chances of being admitted to your top college by learning to write well; an excellent essay will ___ any application.
ephemeral
short-lived; fleeting
The mayfly is an ___ creature: its adult life lasts little more than a day.
equanimity
calmness of temperament; composure
Even the inevitable strains of caring for an ailing mother did not disturb her ___.
equivocate
lie; mislead; attempt to conceal the truth
No matter how bad the news is, give it to us straight. Above all, don’t ___.
erudite
learned; scholarly
Unlike much scholarly writing, Huizinga’s prose was entertaining as well as ___, lively as well as learned.
esoteric
hard to understand; known only to the chosen few
New Yorker short stories often include ___ allusions to obscure people and events.
eulogy
expression of praise, often on the occasion of someone’s death
*Instead of delivering a spoken ___ at her memorial service, his sang a song he had written in her honor. *
euphemism
mild expression in place of an unpleasant one
The expression “he passed away” is a ___ for “he died.”
exacerbate
worsen; embitter
The latest bombing ___ England’s already existing bitterness against the IRS, causing the Prime Minister to break off the peace talks abruptly.
exculpate
clear from blame
Fearful of being implicated as a conspirator in the plot to kill him, he equivocated, prevaricated and lied to try to ___ himself.
