JC's vocabulary Set 1 Flashcards
My vocabulary
secularist
世俗主义者
promiscuity
n. 破坏名誉, 中伤, 诽谤
【法】 破坏名誉, 中伤, 毁谤
smugness
沾沾自喜
immorality
n. 不道德, 道德败坏, 不道德的行为, 伤风败俗的行为
pilloried
嘲笑
rudimentary
adj. stripped down
Rudimentary is a pretty long and fancy word, for a word that just means stripped down or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials.
knack
n. skill or ability. a skill or ability
adj. a. tendency to do something silly or annoying.
If you have a knack for doing something, you do it well. You may have a knack for baking cakes or a knack for cracking jokes. These things come easy to you.
nomadic
[no ma dic]
adj. moving from place to place.
syn: itinerant
A nomad is someone who lives by traveling from place to place. Nomadic thus means anything that involves moving around a lot. Nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes follow the animals they hunt, carrying tents with them.
avarice
[a va rice]
n. greed
Avarice is a fancy word for good old-fashioned greed. It’s one of what some call “the seven deadly sins.”
garble
[gar ble]
v. to confuse a message or information so that it is misleading or unintelligible
v. scramble transmission of something
When you garble something, you warp or distort it, making it hard to understand. Talking with marbles in your mouth is one sure way of garbling your speech.
eloquence
Eloquence is powerful, moving, magnificent use of language. Simply put, if you have eloquence, then you’re one smooth talker.
renege
To renege is to go back on your word or fail to keep a promise.
uproarious
Uproarious describes a room of happy people laughing, or a noisy crowd at a soccer match. Uproarious situations are very loud, a little out of control, and often hilarious.
verdigris
Verdigris is the blue-green tarnish on certain metals after they are left outside for a long period of time. A lot of churches have rooftops coated with verdigris, and many capitol buildings have verdigris on their domes.
lusciously
adv. so as to produce a delightful taste
ethos
Ethos, a noun, is the fundamental set of beliefs that you, or a society, or group live by. A free spirit might live by the ethos of “anything goes.”
genesis
When you talk about the genesis of something, you’re talking about where it began. The genesis of hip-hop music was the party scene in New York City?s South Bronx in the 1970s.
exert
Exert basically means to put forth effort to do something. For example, when you exert yourself in a workout, you can really feel the burn in your muscles.
cradle
cradle: crib To cradle is to hold delicately and gently, like how you would hold an infant. A cradle is the tiny bed with rockers that the infant sleeps in.
leniency
leniency: (n.) mercy Leniency is a noun that refers to the lessening of a punishment or chore. Your father’s leniency, for example, resulted in you not having to paint the entire house like your mother wanted. Instead you just had to paint the garage.
indulgence
indulgence: (n.) tolerance, self-indulgence, indulgence in alcohol An indulgence is doing something that you enjoy even if it has negative consequences. Buying yourself something that you don’t need, be it a cookie, video game, or diamond necklace, is an indulgence.
mano-a-mano
mano-a-mano: hand to hand
imprimatur
imprimatur: [n. Formal] permission
wrested
wrested: take land, power, or possessions from someone. Grab, gain, extort To wrest is to forcefully grab or take something away. You can wrest away many things, such as remote controls and championships.
upheaval
upheaval: [n.] disturbance, sudden or violent change affecting people’s lives Upheaval means a violent or sudden change. You might talk about an upheaval in government following an election where many incumbents are replaced.
dictatorship
dictatorship: A dictatorship is a government or a social situation where one person makes all the rules and decisions without input from anyone else.
brutal
adj. brutal: extremely cruel Use brutal to describe something beastly and harsh, like training for a triathlon, a really cold winter in the Arctic, or a mean bouncer at a club who throws people out for no reason.
bequeath
bequeathed: give to sb. after death To bequeath is to leave your possessions to another person after you die. A man might love his classic cars but would be happy to bequeath them to his grandsons when he writes out his last will and testament.
visceral
adj. Visceral: When something’s visceral, you feel it in your guts. A visceral feeling is intuitive — there might not be a rational explanation, but you feel that you know what’s best, like your visceral reaction against egg salad.
conducive
adj conducive: Conducive means tending to cause or produce something. Regular exercise is conducive to happiness and a feeling of well-being.
balm
n. balm: If your lips are cracked and dry, lip balm will make them feel better. A balm is a soothing substance with a consistency somewhere between solid and liquid.
detoxify
Detoxifies: remove poison from
scant
Scant: Scant is an adjective that means “a tiny amount,” like your scant attendance at practice this week that results in being benched from the big game.
bode
bode The verb bode suggests prescience or forecasting. Something bodes well when the clues or signs imply a favorable outcome. But if something bode ill, you’d better watch out!
drachma
Drachma : Greece currency
savvy
Savvy You are known as someone with a lot of business savvy, but only because you’ve managed to keep your staggering debts a secret. Which is actually pretty savvy. Someone who is savvy is shrewd and perceptive.
technocrat
Technocrats : an expert who is a member of a highly skilled elite group
lambast
Lambasts: v. beat with a cane
radical
radically If something is considered extremist or very different from anything that has come before it, call it radical.
divergent
Divergent Something divergent is moving away from what is expected. Two divergent paths are moving in opposite directions — away from each other.
buttress
buttress You can buttress an argument with solid facts or your financial portfolio with safe investments. You may find that giving compliments to everyone you meet buttresses your popularity. To buttress is to sustain or reinforce.
precedent
precedent an example that is used to justify similar occurrences
peripheral
peripheral Scanners, printers, and speakers are peripheral devices for a computer because they aren’t central to the working of the computer itself. Anything peripheral is on the margin, or outside, while main things, like a computer’s processor, are not peripheral.
exasperation
exasperation If you’ve ever become so frustrated with someone or something that you feel like you’re at the end of your rope, you have experienced exasperation. You are fed up!
convergence
convergence the occurrence of two or more things coming together
apt
apt: Something apt is perfectly appropriate, clever and well-suited to the matter at hand. A “Cinderella story” might be an apt metaphor for an underdog team that makes it to the championships.
