Hit Parade Group 6 Flashcards
abjure (v)
to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid
adumbrate (v)
to foreshadow vaguely or intimate
anathema (n)
a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse
anodyne (adj/n)
soothing; something that assuages or allays pain
apogee (n)
farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith
apostate (n)
one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions
apotheosis (n)
deification; glorification to godliness
asperity (n)
severity, rigor; roughness, harshness
asseverate (v)
to aver, allege, or assert
assiduous (adj)
diligent, hard-working, sedulous
augury (n)
omen, portent
bellicose (adj)
belligerent, pugnacious, warlike
calumniate (v)
to slander, to make a false accusation
captious (adj)
disposed to point out trivial faults
cavil (v)
to find fault without good reason
celerity (n)
speed, alacrity; think accelerate
chimera (n)
an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing, she-monster
contumacious (adj)
insubordinate, rebellious
debacle (n)
rout, fiasco, complete failure
denouement (n)
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
descry (v)
to discriminate or discern
desuetude (n)
disuse
desultory (adj)
random; aimless
diaphanous (adj)
transparent, gauzy
diffident (adj)
reserved, shy, unassuming
dirge (n)
a song of grief or lamentation
encomium (n)
glowing and enthusiastic praise
eschew (v)
to shun or avoid
excoriate (v)
to censure scathingly; to upbraid
execrate (v)
to denounce, to feel loathing for
exegesis (n)
critical examination
expiate (v)
to atone or make amends for
extirpate (v)
to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out
fatuous (adj)
silly, inanely foolish
fractious (adj)
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable
gainsay (v)
to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose
heterodox (adj)
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
imbroglio (n)
difficult or embarrassing situation
indefatigable (adj)
not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged
ineluctable (adj)
certain, inevitable
inimitable (adj)
one of a kind, peerless
insouciant (adj)
unconcerned, carefree, heedless
inveterate (adj)
deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
jejune (adj)
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile
lubricious (adj)
lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery
mendicant (n)
a beggar, supplicant
meretricious (adj)
cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show
minatory (adj)
menacing, threatening
nadir (n)
low point, perigee
nonplussed (adj)
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think
obstreperous (adj)
noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous
ossified (adj)
tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age
palliate (v)
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense
panegyric (n)
formal praise, eulogy, encomium
parsimonious (adj)
cheap, miserly
pellucid (adj)
transparent, easy to understand, limpid
peroration (n)
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech
plangent (adj)
pounding, thundering, resounding
prolix (adj)
long-winded, verbose
propitiate (v)
to appease; to conciliate
puerile (adj)
childish, immature, jejune, nugatory
puissance (n)
power, strength
pusillanimous (adj)
cowardly, craven
remonstrate (v)
to protest, to object
sagacious (adj)
having sound judgement; perceptive, wise, like a sage
salacious (adj)
lustful, lascivious, bawdy
salutary (adj)
remedial, wholesome, causing improvement
sanguine (adj)
cheerful, confident, optimistic
saturnine (adj)
gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
sententious (adj)
aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively
stentorian (adj)
extremely loud and powerful
stygian (adj)
gloomy, dark
sycophant (n)
toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite
tendentious (adj)
biased; showing marked tendencies
timorous (adj)
timid, fearful, diffident
tyro (n)
novice, greenhorn, rank amateur
vitiate (v)
to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective
voluble (adj)
fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language