Level 4D Flashcards
ATTEST
(uh-TEST)
Verb:
To attest something or attest to something means to say, show, or prove that it is true.
Examples: a witness attesting to a defendant’s innocence; police records on road fatalities attest to the fact that drinking and driving is a terrible decision; the many great works of Picasso attest to his genius
Sentence: Police records attest to his long history of violence.
COPIOUS
(KOH-pee-us)
Adjective:
** A copious amount of something is a large amount of it.**
Examples: copious notes in a lecture based class; high level bankers make copious amounts of money; children eat copious amounts of candy during Halloween
Sentence: Mary went out last night and drank copious amounts of red wine.
FALLACIOUS
(fuh-LAY-shus)
Adjective:
If an idea, argument, or reason is fallacious, it is wrong because it is based on a fallacy. (Note: A fallacy is an idea that many people believe to be true, but which is in fact false because it is based on incorrect information or reasoning.)
Examples: people who practice sophistry often use fallacious reasoning; the United States went to war with Iraq based on fallacious claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction; many teachers believe that the idea that all people should get a college education is fallacious
Sentence: Their argument proved to be fallacious after it was discovered that the scientist they were quoting was actually a charlatan.
STOIC
(STOH-ik)
Adjective:
If people are stoic, they do not complain or show they are upset in bad situations.
Examples: a good sportsman prefers being stoic after losing a close game rather than making; a stoic person maintains his cool after a storm has ruined his home; a stoic man doesn’t cry when his beloved mother dies
Sentence: Many parents tried to be stoic after Hurricane Katrina because they didn’t want to upset their children.
RECRIMINATION
(ri-KRIM-uh-NAY-shin)
Noun:
Recriminations are accusations that two people or groups make about each other.
Examples: rival politicians make recriminations against each other during an election; two enemies will often make recriminations against each other; divorced couples sometimes make recriminations even years after their relationship has legally ended
Sentence: The bitter arguments and recriminations finally ended the relationship.
AFFINITY
(uh-FIN-i-tee)
Noun:
A. If you have an affinity with someone or something, you feel that you are similar to them or that you know and understand them very well.
B. Affinity can also mean a liking for or an attraction to something.
Examples A: you might have an affinity for a musician whose music and outlook you admire; people usually have an affinity with their best friends; you might have an affinity for a book whose main character you can identify with
Examples B: many women have an affinity for chocolate; great athletes usually showed an affinity for their sport at a young age; older readers generally have an affinity for printed books rather than electronic publications
- Sentence A*: He has a close affinity with the landscape and people he knew when he was growing up in Arizona.
- Sentence B*: John and Mary had an affinity for foreign films and would drive long distances to see them on the big screen.
VOLATILE
(VAHL-uh-tul; British people say VAHL-uh-tyl)
Adjective:
A. A situation that is volatile is likely to change in a very sudden or extreme way.
B. If people are volatile, then their mood often changes quickly or in an extreme fashion.
Examples A: a bank robbery that doesn’t go according to plan; combat is always a volatile situation; a boxing match between two evenly matched opponents who hate each other is usually volatile
Examples B: a volatile temper; an overly emotional person; many teenagers are volatile people prone to radical mood swings; volatile teachers who are prone to tirades as well as random acts of kindness
- Sentence A*: Classrooms with timid teachers and unruly students are often volatile places.
- Sentence B*: People who take hostages are often volatile, so specialists known as negotiators are often called in to deal with the precarious situation.
SQUALID
(SKWAHL-id)
Adjective:
A squalid place is dirty, messy, and in bad condition.
Examples: the bedrooms of many American teenage boys; a crack house; a filthy one room apartment in a slum
Sentence: The early industrial cities were squalid and unhealthy places.
EXPEDITE
(EK-spi-dyt)
Verb:
If you expedite something, you cause it to be done more quickly.
Examples: filling out paperwork online instead of waiting to fill it out in the office or mailing it; waiving the usual requirements to get something approved faster; passing laws that ease restrictions on new businesses
Sentence: John tried to expedite his friend’s plans by making all of the necessary phone calls for him.
ABJECT
(AB-jekt or ab-JEKT)
Adjective:
You use abject to emphasize that a situation or quality is extremely bad.
Examples: poverty in a third world country; an abject coward who would use his own child to shield himself from gunfire; an abject student who seems destined to drop out
Sentence: The man died in abject poverty despite winning the lottery when he was twenty years old.
What word goes with the definition?
To _____ something or _____ to something means to say, show, or prove that it is true.
ATTEST
(uh-TEST)
What word goes with the definition?
** A _____ amount of something is a large amount of it.**
COPIOUS
(KOH-pee-us)
What word goes with the definition?
If an idea, argument, or reason is _____, it is wrong because it is based on a fallacy.
FALLACIOUS
(fuh-LAY-shus)
What word goes with the definition?
If people are _____, they do not complain or show they are upset in bad situations.
STOIC
(STOH-ik)
What word goes with the definition?
_____ are accusations that two people or groups make about each other.
RECRIMINATION
(ri-KRIM-uh-NAY-shin)
