lit 2 Flashcards
assiduous
adjective
showing great care and perseverance.
“she was assiduous in pointing out every feature”
synonyms: diligent, careful, meticulous, thorough, sedulous, attentive, industrious, laborious, hard-working, conscientious, ultracareful, punctilious, painstaking, demanding, exacting, persevering, unflagging, searching, close, elaborate, minute, accurate, correct, studious, rigorous, particular
egalitarian
adjective
relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
“a fairer, more egalitarian society”
insidious
adjective
proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects.
“sexually transmitted diseases can be insidious and sometimes without symptoms”
synonyms: stealthy, subtle, surreptitious, sneaking, cunning, crafty, Machiavellian, artful, guileful, sly, wily, tricky, slick, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, underhand, backhanded, indirect; informal sneaky
lassitude
noun
a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.
“she was overcome by lassitude and retired to bed”
synonyms: lethargy, listlessness, weariness, languor, sluggishness, enervation, tiredness, exhaustion, fatigue, sleepiness, drowsiness, torpor, torpidity, ennui, lifelessness, sloth, apathy
assuage
verb
make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense.
“the letter assuaged the fears of most members”
synonyms: relieve, ease, alleviate, soothe, mitigate, dampen, allay, calm, palliate, abate, lull, temper, suppress, smother, stifle, subdue, tranquillize, mollify, moderate, modify, tone down, attenuate, dilute, lessen, diminish, decrease, reduce, lower; More
satisfy (an appetite or desire).
“an opportunity occurred to assuage her desire for knowledge”
synonyms: satisfy, fulfill, gratify, appease, indulge, relieve, slake, sate, satiate, quench, quell, overcome, check, keep in check, dull, blunt, allay, take the edge off, diminish
languor
noun
1.
the state or feeling, often pleasant, of tiredness or inertia.
“he remembered the languor and warm happiness of those golden afternoons”
synonyms: lassitude, lethargy, listlessness, tiredness, torpor, fatigue, weariness; More
2.
an oppressive stillness of the air.
“the afternoon was hot, quiet, and heavy with languor”
synonyms: stillness, tranquility, calm, calmness, lull, silence, windlessness, oppressiveness, heaviness
“the languor of a hot, breezeless day”
equanimity
noun
mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.
“she accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity”
synonyms: composure, calmness, calm, level-headedness, self-possession, self-control, even-temperedness, coolness, coolheadedness, presence of mind;
lugubrious
adjective
looking or sounding sad and dismal.
“his face looked even more lugubrious than usual”
synonyms: mournful, gloomy, sad, unhappy, doleful, Eeyorish, glum, melancholy, melancholic, woeful, miserable, woebegone, forlorn, despondent, dejected, depressed, long-faced, somber, solemn, serious, sorrowful, morose, dour, mirthless, cheerless, joyless, wretched, dismal, grim, saturnine, pessimistic;
Coalesce
verb
come together to form one mass or whole.
“the puddles had coalesced into shallow streams”
synonyms: unite, join together, combine, merge, fuse, mingle, meld, blend, intermingle, knit (together), amalgamate, consolidate, integrate, affiliate, link up, homogenize, synthesize, converge; More
combine (elements) in a mass or whole.
“to help coalesce the community, they established an office”
ubiquitous
adjective
present, appearing, or found everywhere.
“his ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family”
synonyms: omnipresent, ever-present, present everywhere, everywhere, all-over, all over the place, pervasive, all-pervasive, universal, worldwide, global
inexorable
adjective
impossible to stop or prevent.
“the seemingly inexorable march of new technology”
synonyms: relentless, unstoppable, unavoidable, inescapable, inevitable, irrevocable;
“the doctors were inexorable, and there was nothing to be done”
synonyms: intransigent, unbending, unyielding, inflexible, unswerving, unwavering, adamant, obdurate, determined, immovable, unshakeable, implacable, unappeasable, unpacifiable, unplacatable, unmollifiable, unforgiving, unsparing, uncompromising;
culpable
adjective
deserving blame.
“sometimes you’re just as culpable when you watch something as when you actually participate”
synonyms: to blame, guilty, at fault, in the wrong, blameworthy, blameable, censurable, reproachable, reprovable, found wanting;
importunate
adjective
persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion.
“importunate creditors”
synonyms: persistent, insistent, tenacious, persevering, dogged, unremitting, unrelenting, tireless, indefatigable;
fastidious
adjective
very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail.
“he chooses his words with fastidious care”
synonyms: scrupulous, punctilious, painstaking, meticulous, assiduous, sedulous, perfectionist, fussy, finicky, dainty, over-particular; critical, overcritical, hypercritical, hard/difficult/impossible to please; pedantic, precise, exact, hairsplitting, exacting, demanding; pass-remarkable; informalpernickety, nitpicking, choosy, picky;
incipient
adjective
in an initial stage; beginning to happen or develop.
“he could feel incipient anger building up”
