List 6 Flashcards
avarice (n)
greediness for wealth
ex: King Midas is a perfect example of avarice, for he was so greedy that he wished everything he touched would turn to gold
avenge (v)
take vengeance for something (or on behalf of someone)
ex: Hamlet vowed he would avenge his father’s murder and punish Claudius for his horrible crime
averse (a)
reluctant, disinclined
ex: The reporter was averse to revealing the sources of his information
aversion (n)
firm dislike
ex: Bert had an aversion to yuppies; Alex had an aversion to punks. Their mutual aversion was so great that they refused to speak to one another.
avert (v)
- prevent
- turn away
ex: Hitting the brakes, the vigilant driver was able to avert what seemed like an inevitable collision. She averted her eyes from the dead opossum on the highway
avid (a)
-> avidity (n)
greedy; eager for
ex: Avid for pleasure, Abner partied with great avidity
avocation (n)
secondary or minor occupation
ex: His hobby proved to be so fascinating and profitable thay gradually he abandoned his regular occupation and concentrated on his avocation
avow (v)
-> avowal (n)
declare openly
ex: Lana avowed that she never meant to steal Debbie’s boyfriend, but no one believed her avowal of innocence.
awe (n)
solemn wonder
ex: The tourists gazed with awe at the tremendous expanse of the Grand Canyon
axiom (n)
self-evident truth requiring no proof (tien de, chan li, su that, duong nhien)
ex: Before a student can begin to think along the lines of Euclidean geometry, he must accept certain principles or axioms
babble (v), (n)
chatter idly (khong dau, vu vo, van vo), noi van vo, bap be noi ex: The little girl babbled about her doll
baffle (v)
frustrate, perplex (làm lúng túng, làm bối rối)
ex: The new code baffled the enemy agents
balk (v)
foil or thwart (cản trở, ngăn trở, phá ngang, làm trở ngại); stop short; refuse to go on
ex: When the warden learned that several inmates were planning to escape, he took steps to balk their attempt. However, he balked at punishing them by shackling them to the walls of their cells.
banal (a) /bə’nɑ:l/
-> banality
hackneyed; commonplace; trite (cũ rích, cũ kỹ, lặp đi lặp lại, sáo, nhàm); lacking originality
ex: The back writer;s worn-out clichés made his comic sketch seem banal. He even resorted to the banality of having someone slip on a banana peel!
bane (n)
-> baneful (a)
cause of ruin; curse (nguyên nhân suy sụp, sự suy sụp; tai ương)
ex: Lucy’s little brother was the bane of her existence: his attempts to make her life miserable worked so well that she could have poisoned him with ratsbane for having such a baneful effect.
baroque (a), (n)
highly ornate (hoa mỹ kỳ cục)
ex: Accustomed to the severe lines of contemporary buildings. the architecture students found the flamboyance of baroque architecture amusing
- They simple didn’t go for baroque
barren (a)
desolate (hoang vắng, không người ở, tiêu điều), fruitless and unproductive (không đem lại kết quả), lacking
ex: Looking out at the trackless, barren desert, Indiana Jones feared that his search for the missing expedition would prove barren
barricade (n), (v)
hastly put together defensive barrier; obstacle. (vat chuong ngai de chan, phong thu)
ex: Marius and his fellow students hurriedly improvised a rough barricade to block police access to the students’ quarter. Malcolm and his brothers barricaded themselves in their bedroom to keep their mother from seeing the hole in the bedroom floor.
beam (n) (v)
- (n) ray of light (chum anh sang); long piece of metal or wood; course of a radio signal (tin hieu radio (cho may bay))
- (v) smile radiantly (rang ro, tuoi cuoi)
ex: If a beam of light falls on you, it illuminates you; if a beam of iron falls on you, it eliminates you. (No one feels like beaming when crushed by an iron beam)
befuddle (v)
confuse thoroughly
ex: His attempts to clarify the situation succeeded only in befuddling her further.
begrudge (v)
resent (bất đắc dĩ phải, miễn cưỡng phải (làm cái gì, cho cái gì)
ex: I begrudge every minute I have to spend attending meetings; they’re a complete waste of time
beguile (v)
mislead or delude; pass time (đánh lừa, lừa dối; làm tiêu khiển, làm cho qua đi (thời gian))
ex: With flattery and big talk of easy money, the con men beguiled Kyle into betting his allowance on the shell game. Broke, he beguiled himself during the long hours by playing solitaire.
belabor (v)
explain to go over excessively or to a ridiculous degree; attack verbally
ex: The debate coach warned her student not to bore the audience by belaboring her point.
belated (a)
delayed
ex: He apologized for his belated note of condolence to the widow of his friend and explained that he had just learned of her husband’s untimely death.
belie (v)
/bi’lai/
contradict; give a false impression
ex: His coarse, hard-bitten exterior belied his inner sensitivity.
belittle (v)
disparage or depreciate; put down.
ex: Parents should not belittle their children’s early attempts at drawing, but should encourage their efforts. Barry was a put-down artist: he was a genius at belittling people and making them feel small.
belligerent (a)
-> belligerence (n)
quarrelsome (hay gay roi, hay sinh su)
ex: Whenever he had too much to drink, he became belligerent and tried to pick fights with strangers
bemoan (v)
lament; express disapproval of
ex: the widow bemoaned the death of her beloved husband. Although critics bemoaned the serious flaws in the author’s novels, each year his latest book topped the best-seller list
bemused (a)
confused; lost in thought; preoccupied
ex: Jill studied the garbled instructions with a bemused look on her face.
benefactor (v)
gift giver; patron
ex: Scrooge later became Tiny Tim’s benefactor and gave him gifts.
beneficial (a)
helpful, useful
beneficiary (n)
person entitled to benefits or proceeds of an insurance policy or will.
ex: In Scrooge’s will, he made Tiny Tim his beneficiary: everything he left would go to young Tim
benevolent (a)
generous; charitable
ex: Mr Fezziwig was a benevolent employer, who wished to make Christmas merrier for young Scrooge and his other employees
