July 10th Flashcards
garrulous
A garrulous person just won’t stop talking
He indulges in talking for talking sake — whether or not there’s a real conversation going on.
A very talkative person on areoplane
Beck Weathers, forty-nine, was a garrulous pathologist from Dallas.
munificent
If you give your best friend a bracelet for her birthday, then you’re a good friend. If you give her a diamond bracelet, an oil well, then you’re a munificent friend.
A very generous giver.
His father gave him a half-dollar and his mother a quarter and he thought them munificent.
On a recent visit to Ms. Catroux, occasioned by an exhibition based on a munificent donation she made of her wardrobe to the Yves Saint Laurent museum, we learned a thing or two.
admonish
To admonish is to scold. If you want to show someone you’re not happy with his behavior, admonish him.
If a child or subordinate is being admonished, it means “scold” or “rebuke” whereas if someone admonishes a person with equal standing, warn or advise are closer synonyms.
Before the concert began, the security personnel admonished the crowd not to come up on stage during the performance.
ostracize
If you banish someone or ignore him, you ostracize him.
Thousands of years ago, in the Greek city of Athens, there was a public process where you would write the name of someone you wanted to kick out of town on a broken ceramic fragment. If enough Athenians wrote the same name, that person was sent away for ten years. This process was called an ostracism.
On the other hand, I’d been eating lunch with Anna ever since being ostracized by Alexia and her clan.
prolific
1) Someone or something that is prolific is fruitful or highly productive. A prolific songwriter can churn out five hit tunes before breakfast.
2) bearing in abundance especially offspring
A prolific writer
Flying foxes are extremely prolific
After about a decade of comparative calm, paleo anthropology embarked on another period of swift and prolific discovery, which hasn’t abated yet.
pedestrian
Lacking imagination.
As an adjective it means “lacking wit or imagination.”
If someone calls your new poem pedestrian, they mean it’s dull.
While Nan was always engaged in philosophical speculation, her brother was occupied with far more pedestrian concerns on how to earn salary and run a household.
A pedestrian movie plot
inimical
Censorship is inimical to freedom.
To be inimical is to be harmful, antagonistic, or opposed to something.
The U.S. government might declare that another nation’s actions are inimical to national security — and your mom might declare that eating a dozen doughnuts every morning is inimical to your health.
Venus with a surface temperature that would turn rubber to liquid, is inimical to any form of life
arcane/esoteric
Something arcane is understood or known by only a few people.
Experts in academic fields often show off the depth of their knowledge by mentioning some arcane and esoteric fact as if it was common for everyone to know.
Imagination : secret, closed,” from arca, “a chest, box.
scrupulous
Scrupulous means very careful to do things properly and correctly.
If you’re scrupulous, you probably pay your friends back right away when they loan you money and never try to return clothing you’ve already worn.
scrupulous attention to details
He was scrupulous about the use of his title because, his investigations being so utterly unscientific, he hoped to borrow an air of respectability, even scholarly authority, from his education
taciturn
Someone who is taciturn is reserved, not loud and talkative.
Taciturnity is often considered a negative trait, as it suggests someone uncommunicative and too quiet.
While the CEO enthusiastically shares his plans and agenda with all who will listen, the CFO is far more taciturn, rarely revealing his perspective.
Obsequious -> Sycophant
Obsequious people are usually not being genuine; they resort to flattery and other fawning ways to stay in the good graces of authority figures.
Facing his professors, one of whom he obsequiously flatters, he smirks in a way that suggests he might soon break out into “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” the Nazi anthem from “Cabaret.”
propitious
When the timing of something is propitious, it’s likely to turn out well.
A propitious time for taking a big test is when you’ve studied hard and had a good night’s sleep.
If you believe in astrology, you might check your horoscope to settle on a propitious day for your wedding.
A propitious moment to ask your parents about that spring break trip to Cancun might be when you’ve just unveiled your straight-A report card.
The ambitious production presented under ArtsWest’s new management is a propitious new beginning for the theater.
trite
When you want to indicate that something is silly or overused, you would call it trite.
There’s a trite saying among the faithful, goes like this: “God answers all prayers. And sometimes his answer is no.
Many style guides recommend not using idioms in writing because these trite expressions are uninteresting and show a lack of imagination
audacity
aggressive boldness in social situations
If you have audacity then you’re one daring — and perhaps reckless — character.
Running a red light with three previous tickets under your belt certainly shows audacity. And stupidity.
Audacity can be admired or frowned upon, depending how far it’s taken and how it rears its head.
lionize
To lionize someone is to see them as important as a lion.
Assign great social importance to.
Students in the US learn to lionize Jefferson, Franklin and Washington because they are the founding fathers of the nation.
