Interesting words 5 Flashcards
Contrition
The state of feeling remorseful and penitent.
Obsequious
Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
Servile
Having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others.
Coalesce
Come together to form one mass or whole.
Conurbation
An extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city.
Diplomat
An official representing a country abroad.
Devolved
Transfer or delegate (power) to a lower level, especially from central government to local or regional administration.
Ulterior
Existing beyond what is obvious or admitted; intentionally hidden.
Pernicious
Having a harmful effect; especially in a gradual or subtle way.
Asinine
Extremely stupid or foolish.
Vacuous
Having or showing lack of thought or intelligence, mindless
Stultifying
Cause to lose enthusiasm and initiative, especially as a result of a tedious or restrictive routine.
De facto
In fact, whether by right or not.
Abstruse
Difficult to understand. Obscure
Tiff
A petty quarrel, especially one between friends or lovers.
Refractory
Stubborn or unmanageable.
Crucible
A place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development. Or a severe test.
Remedial
Action taken to try to improve or rectify a situation
Dissemination
The act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation.
Bona fide
Genuine, real.
Bonanza
A situation which creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or profits.
Perennial
Lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring.
Chagrin
Annoyance or distress at having failed or been humiliated.
Lacuna
An unfilled space; a gap.
Repetoire
A stock of skills or types of behaviour that a person habitually uses.
Ontology
The philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
Epistemology
The nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief.
Methodology
The systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study.
Finesse
Impressive delicacy and skill.
In situ
In the original place.
Proxy
A figure that can be used to represent the value of something in a calculation. Or the authority to represent someone else.
Nascent
Just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.
Equifinal
Having the same end result
Ephemeral
Lasting only for a short time.
Arrears
Money that is owed that should’ve been paid earlier.
Serenity
The state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.
Husk
The dry outer covering of some fruits or seeds.
Desiccate
Remove the moisture from something usually to preserve it). Or lacking interest, passion and energy.
Renal
Relating to the kidneys
Bequest
Something that is or may be inhereted
Seminal
Strongly influencing later developments.
Formative
Serving to form something, especially having a profound influence on a person’s development.
Legacy
An amount of money or property left to someone in a will.
Directorates
A section of a government department in charge of a particular activity.
Impute
Attribute
Paradigm
A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model.
Prosaically
Commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative
Gestalt
An organised whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
Ostensible
Stated or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so.
Explicate
To go into further detail, not concerned whether a person understands, which is where it differs from explaining as the soul intention of explaining is to make someone understand.
Corollary
A proposition that follows from (and is often appended to) one already proved.
Append
Add/attach/affix something, usually at the end of a written document.
Fervour
Intense and passionate feeling.
Sanitise
Make clean, make (something) more palatable by removing elements that are likely to be unacceptable or controversial.
Predilection
A preference or special liking for something; a bias in favour of something.
Basque
A close-fitting bodice extending from the shoulders to the waist and typically with a short continuation below waist level.
Pander
Gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire or taste or a person with such a desire or taste).
Indomitable
Impossible to subdue or defeat
Burgeoning
Begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish.
Hellacious
Very great, bad, or overwhelming.
Vehemently
In a forceful, passionate, or intense manner; with great feeling.
Fasces
A bundle of rods with a projecting axe blade, carried by a lictor in ancient Rome as a symbol of a magistrate’s power, and used as an emblem of authority in Fascist Italy.
Cessation
The fact or process of ending or being brought to an end.
Antiquities
An object, building, or work of art from the ancient past.
Loco Parentis
In the place of a parent
Askance
With an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval.
Amenable
Open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded or controlled.
Genealogy
A line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor.
Awry
Away from the usual or expected course; amiss.
Vignette
A brief evocative description, account, or episode.
Sisyphean
Denoting a task that can never be completed.
Zeal
Rreat energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.
Zealous
Showing great passion and energy
Quell
Put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.
Lauded
Praised (a person or their achievements) highly.
Dour
Relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance.
Bullion
Gold or silver in bulk before coining, or valued by weight.
Cognizant
Being aware or having knowledge of
Circumvent
Find a way around (an obstacle)
Terse
Sparing in the use of words; abrupt.
Veritable
Used for emphasis, often to qualify a metaphor.
Zeitgeist
The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.
Byzantine
Excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail.
Idiosyncratic
Peculiar or individual.
Proclivity
A tendency to choose or do something regularly; an inclination or predisposition towards a particular thing.
Extradition
The action of extraditing a person accused or convicted of a crime.
Prosthesis
An artificial body part, such as a limb, a heart, or a breast implant.
Idiomatic
Using, containing, or denoting expressions that are natural to a native speaker.
Proto-
First or earliest/ original
Nominal
Existing in name only. or very small, below the real value or cost.
Supine
Lying face upwards. or Failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence.
Cumbersome
Large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; unwieldy.
Sanctimonious
Making a show of being morally superior to other people. Usually used to describe someone when they are acting against how they portrayed themselves to be.
Tripartite
Consisting of three parts or parties.
Despondent
In low spirits from loss of hope or courage.
Conniption
In a fit of rage or hysterics
Leverage
Use something to maximum advantage.
In finance: Using borrowed capital to make an investment expecting the profits to be made to be higher than the interest paid.
and The ratio of a company’s loan capital to the value of its ordinary shares.
Transient
Lasting only for a short time; impermanent.
Megalomaniac
A person who has an obsessive desire for power.
Homeostasis
The tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.
