Lesson 24 Flashcards
inanimate (adjective)
Syn: lifeless; spiritless; senseless; dead
→ Stones are inanimate objects that have no life of their own.
artifact (noun)
Syn: an object made by hand; rather than a thing as it occurs in nature
→ It has been suggested that the man who builds a better mousetrap will find the world beating a path to his door to possess this artifact.
fetish (noun)
Syn: an object that is thought to have magic powers; idol
→ The explorers saw the golden statue and thought of how much money it would bring them. But their lives would be in danger if they moved it because it was a powerful fetish to the natives.
anthropologist (noun)
Syn: an expert in the study of the races, beliefs, customs, etc of mankind
→ Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, fascinated thousands of readers with her studies of South Seas islanders.
bizarre (adjective)
Syn: fantastic; odd; abnormal; peculiar; strange; weird
→ It would be rather bizarre for a young man to come to school wearing a dress.
to get down off a high horse (idiom)
Syn: to act like an ordinary person
→ When Susan discovered that the young man who was trying to make conversation with her was the son of a millionaire, she immediately got down off her high horse.
taint (noun) (verb)
Syn: contamination; undesirable substance that spoils something; pollut
→ Unsanitary conditions in the bottling factory caused hundreds of cases of soda to be tainted by dirt and foreign objects. The health department refused to allow the soda to be sold.
prohibition (noun)
Syn: the act of forbidding certain behavior; restriction; prevention
→ Although a New Jersey high school principal placed a prohibition on boys wearing their hair long, one student fought in the courts and won his case.
imprudent (adjective)
Syn: unwise; not careful; careless
→ It is considered imprudent to give your computer code word to anyone not fully known to you.
taboo (adjective)
Syn: forbidden by custom or religious practice; disallowed; restricted; prohibited
→ It is taboo for certain South Seas islanders to eat some foods before they marry.
imperative (adjective)
Syn: urgent; necessary; compulsory
→ In the nuclear age it has become imperative for the nations of the world to learn to live in peace.
the first water (idiom)
Syn: of the best quality; the greatest
→ Lebron James is obviously a basketball player of the first water who would be of enormous value to any team.
contemptuous (adjective)
Syn: expressing a feeling that something is worthless; scornful
→ Bob felt contemptuous of his best friend after he saw him cheating during an exam.
absurd (adjective)
Syn: ridiculous; foolish; crazy
→ The teacher felt like laughing after he heard Sally’s absurd excuse for not having done her homework.
bigot (noun)
Syn: racist; dogmatist; a person who is intolerant of other people or ideas
→ One politician, a notorious bigot, hopes to get support as a presidential candidate on the basis of his prejudices and intolerance.
abhor (verb)
Syn: to detest; to despise; dislike
→ I abhor someone who is constantly changing channels with a remote while I’m trying to read in the same room.
universal (adjective)
Syn: present everywhere; total; global
→ Would relations between countries be simpler if a universal language were spoken rather than hundreds of separate ones?
dyed-in-the-wool (idiom)
Syn: set in one’s ways
→ He was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican who would not consider voting for a Democrat.
originate (verb)
Syn: begin; arise; create; generate
→ Some bad habits originate in adolescence and continue throughout a person’s life.
entreaty (noun)
Syn: appeal; plea; request
→ The murderer made an entreaty to the governor for a pardon.
inviolable (adjective)
Syn: safe (from destruction, etc)
→ Despite the inexorable torture, 007 kept the inviolable secret of the labyrinth leading to the underground headquarters.
vulnerable (adjective)
Syn: capable of being injured; weak
→ It appears that many computers are vulnerable to “viruses” that can cause great damage.
tradition (noun)
Syn: custom; way
→ Eskimos have a tradition of rubbing noses to show affection.
blue chip (idiom)
Syn: a highly valuable asset, stock or property
→ My father’s broker recommended that for safety we invest in blue chip stocks only.
