Lexicon Flashcards
Increase vocabulary
Reliquary
A container for holy relics.
Pernicious
Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.
Bacchanalian
Characterized by or given to drunken revelry.
Languish
(Of a person, animal, or plant) lose or lack vitality; grow weak.
Fail to make progress or be successful.
Be forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation.
Commensurate
Corresponding in size or degree; in proportion.
(Un)assailable
(Un)able to be attacked, questioned, or defeated.
Salutary
(Especially with reference to something unwelcome or unpleasant) producing good effects; beneficial.
Fiat
A formal authorisation or proposition; a decree.
An arbitrary order.
Acrimonious
(Typically of speech or discussion) angry and bitter.
Accolade
An award or privilege granted as a special honour or as an acknowledgement of merit.
An expression of praise or admiration.
A touch on a person’s shoulders with a sword at the bestowing of a knighthood.
Fecundity
The ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertility.
The ability to produce many new ideas.
Vociferous
Expressing or characterized by vehement opinions; loud and forceful.
Temerity
Excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.
Ornery
Bad-tempered or difficult to deal with.
Facsimile
An exact copy, especially of written or printed material.
Make a copy of.
Capitulate
Cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; yield.
Recapitulate
Summarize and state again the main points of.
Congenial
(Of a person) pleasing or liked on account of having qualities or interests that are similar to one’s own.
(Of a thing) pleasant or agreeable because suited to one’s taste or inclination.
Denigrate
Criticize unfairly; disparage.
Pablum
Bland or insipid intellectual matter, entertainment, etc.
Insipid
Lacking flavour; weak or tasteless.
Lacking vigour or interest.
Aspersion
An attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something.
Obsequious
Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
Servile
Having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others.
Of or characteristic of a slave or slaves.
Ascetic
Characterised by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
A person who follows an ascetic life.
Mercurial
Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
Of or containing the element mercury.
Of the planet Mercury.
A drug or other compound containing mercury.
Inculcate
Instil (an idea, attitude, or habit) by persistent instruction.
Teach (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction.
Verisimilitude
The appearance of being true or real.
Cattail
A plant with long, thin parts suggestive of cats’ tails.
Dogma
A principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.
Saccharine
Excessively sweet or sentimental.
Relating to or containing sugar; sugary.
Saccharin
A sweet-tasting synthetic compound used in food and drink as a substitute for sugar.
Portmanteau
A large travelling bag, typically made of stiff leather and opening into two equal parts.
A word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel or brunch.
Consisting of or combining two or more aspects or qualities.
Benediction
The utterance of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service.
(In the Roman Catholic Church) a service in which the congregation is blessed with the sacrament.
A prayer asking for divine blessing.
The state of being blessed.
Reprobate
An unprincipled person.
Unprincipled.
Express or feel disapproval of.
Vehement
Showing strong feeling; forceful, passionate, or intense.
Propitiate
Win or regain the favour of (a god, spirit, or person) by doing something that pleases them.
Expedient
(Of an action) convenient and practical although possibly improper or immoral.
(Of an action) suitable or appropriate.
A means of attaining an end, especially one that is convenient but possibly improper or immoral.
Extricate
Free (someone or something) from a constraint or difficulty.
Disparage
Regard or represent as being of little worth.
