Lesson 23 Flashcards
maladjusted (adjective)
Syn: poorly adjusted; disturbed; confused
→ The Bureau of Child Guidance has been the salvation for some maladjusted children.
heterogeneous (adjective)
Syn: dissimilar; different; unlike
→ Our algebra class is a heterogeneous one in which bright students are juxtaposed with slower ones.
perspicacious (adjective)
Syn: acutely perceptive; shrewd
→ Senator Thorpe was perspicacious enough to realize that the scurrilous charge would have little effect upon the voters.
analogous (adjective)
Syn: comparable; similar
→ Although the lawyer acknowledged that the two cases were hardly analogous, he still felt that he had a good precedent on his side.
gamut (noun)
Syn: range; area; field
→ The actress ran the gamut of emotions in a poignant performance that thrilled the audience.
the distaff side (idiom)
Syn: women
→ The men had brandy on the porch, while the distaff side gathered to gossip in the kitchen.
neurotic (adjective)
Syn: suffering from a nervous disorder; abnormal
→ Irritability is one of the salient features of a neurotic personality.
decade (noun)
Syn: ten years
→ After a decade of connubial acrimony, the couple decided to consult with a marriage counselor.
mortality (noun)
Syn: death; dying
→ If a miner were to ponder over the high mortality rate in his occupation, he might want to quit.
susceptible (adjective)
Syn: easily affected; unusually liable; sensitive
→ Ethan Frome soon learned that his querulous wife was susceptible to a variety of ailments.
phenomenon (noun)
Syn: unusual occurrence; incident
→ There was no paucity of witnesses to describe the phenomenon of the flying saucer.
on the qui vive (idiom)
Syn: on the alert
→ My mother is always on the qui vive for bargains.
enunciate (verb)
Syn: to utter; proclaim; say; voice
→ Reporters were expecting the candidate to enunciate his policy on the escalation of the war.
irascible (adjective)
Syn: irritable; impatient
→ His profligate son made the parsimonious old crank even more irascible.
introspective (adjective)
Syn: looking into one’s own feelings
→ Since Alice is so gregarious it surprised me to learn that she is also an introspective girl.
pedagogue (noun)
Syn: teacher; professor; trainer
→ Mr. Ford is proud to be called a teacher, but he demurs at the title of pedagogue.
inordinate (adjective)
Syn: excessive; great
→ In an attempt to show how assiduous he was, the executive spent an inordinate amount of time on his report.
to get one’s back up (idiom)
Syn: to become angry
→ Every time his mother mentioned getting a haircut, the young guitarist got his back up.
perpetuate (verb)
Syn: to cause to continue; preserve; keep alive
→ Don Ricardo hoped that his son would perpetuate the family business, but Manuel was too involved with chimerical schemes to want to run a restaurant.
catastrophic (adjective)
Syn: disastrous; destructive
→ If the draconian regulations are to continue unabated, they will have catastrophic results.
neutralize (verb)
Syn: to counteract; undo
→ Dr. Meyers prescribed medication to neutralize the acid condition that had incapacitated my uncle.
mandate (noun)
Syn: command; commission; an authoritative order or command
→ As a prelude to his victory speech, the mayor announced that he considered the large vote to be a mandate from the people.
compensatory (adjective)
Syn: serving to pay back
→ Compensatory education may help minority groups to cope with their plight.
to bring home the bacon (idiom)
Syn: to earn a living; to succeed
→ The man’s inability to bring home the bacon was the actual reason for the couple’s incompatibility.
