Magoosh - Learned Flashcards
Solicitous
✓ anxious to please
Our neighbors are constantly knocking on our door to make sure we are ok, and I don’t know how to ask them to stop being so solicitous about our health.
Resignation
accepting the unpleasant
Since Jack could not think of a convincing reason why he had to miss the seminar, he attended it with a sense of resignation.
denouement
✓ resolution of a story
إدراك الحبكة الفنية
At the denouement of the movie, all questions were answered, and the true identity of the robber was revealed.
celerity
✓ quickness
We aim to respond to customers’ questions with celerity and accuracy, with no longer than a 24 hour wait time.
Impregnable
✓ indestructible
As a child, Amy would build pillow castles and pretend they were impregnable fortresses.
enmity
✓ hate
Charles’s rude remark toward Sarah yesterday was due to his illness, not due to any real enmity toward Sarah.
nettlesome
✓ annoying
Maria found her coworker’s cell phone nettlesome, because every few minutes it would buzz to life with another text message.
Moment
importance
Despite the initial hullabaloo, the play was of no great moment in Hampton’s writing career, and within a few years the public quickly forgot his foray into theater art
illustrious
✓ famous
Einstein was possibly the most illustrious scientist in recent history.
vindictive
✓ seeking revenge
Though the other girl had only lightly poked fun of Vanessa’s choice in attire, Vanessa was so vindictive that she waited for an entire semester to get the perfect revenge.
sagacious
wise
Steve Jobs is surely one of the most sagacious CEOs, making Apple the most recognizable and valuable companies in the world.
dolorous
sorrowful
Chopin’s ballades are filled with sharp changes in moods–a dolorous melody can give way to a lighthearted tempo.
frustrate
prevent
I thought I would finish writing the paper by lunchtime, but a number of urgent interruptions served to frustrate my plan.
sardonic
✓ mocking
A stand-up comedian walks a fine line when making jokes about members of the audience; such fun and joking can quickly become sardonic and cutting.
precarious
✓ dangerous
People smoke to relax and forget their cares, but ironically, in terms of health risks, smoking is far more precarious than either mountain-climbing or skydiving.
lacerate
✓ distress deeply
The teacher was fired for lacerating a student who wrote a poor essay.
Tact
proper social behavior
In a tremendous display of tact, Shelly was able to maintain a strong friendship with Marcia, even though Marcia’s husband, Frank, confessed to finding Shelly more attractive than Marcia.
rebuke
criticize severely تعنيف، تبكيت
The police chief rebuked the two officers whose irresponsible decisions almost led to the deaths of seven innocent by-standers.
conflagration
✓ large fire
In the summer months, conflagrations are not uncommon in the southwest, due to the heat and lack of rain.
machinate
✓ scheme
The rebels met at night in an abandoned barn to machinate.
trite
✓ lacking originality
Many style guides recommend not using idioms in writing because these trite expressions are uninteresting and show a lack of imagination on the part of the writer.
disenfranchise
deprive of votes
حرمان من الحق الشرعي
The U.S. Constitution disenfranchised women until 1920 when they were given the right to vote.
halcyon
peaceful متقدم ومزدهر
The first decade after WWI was a halcyon period in America with new-found wealth and rapidly improving technology.
surreptitious
سِرّيّ؛مختَلَس؛زائف؛مُسْتَسِرّ؛عاملٌخِلسة
stealthy
Since his mom was a light sleeper, Timmy had to tiptoe surreptitiously through the entire house, careful to not make the floors creak, until he at last was able to enjoy his plunder: a box of chocolate chip cookies.
deride
يسخرمن؛يهزأ
put down
The nun derided the students for trying to sneak insects and worms into the classroom.
uncanny
✓ غريب؛خارقللطبيعة
strange, unsettling
Reggie has an uncanny ability to connect with animals: feral cats will readily approach him, and sometimes even wild birds will land on his finger.
disparate
تفاوُت؛تبايُن
With the advent of machines capable of looking inside the brain, fields as disparate as religion and biology have been brought together by scientists trying to understand what happens in the brain when people have a religious experience.
ostracize
exclude
ينفي؛ينبذ(منالمجتمع
Later in his life, Leo Tolstoy was ostracized from the Russian Orthodox Church for his writings that contradicted church doctrine.
dilapidated
خَرِب؛مُتهدّم.
✓ run down
The main house has been restored but the gazebo is still dilapidated and unuseable.
boon
عطيّة؛نِعمةَ
✓ helpful thing
Modern technology has been a boon to the travel industry.
retiring
✓ shy
Nelson was always the first to leave soirees—rather than mill about with “fashionable” folk, he was retiring, and preferred the solitude of his garret.
mellifluous
sweet-sounding
Chelsea’s grandmother thought Franz Schubert’s music to be the most mellifluous ever written; Chelsea demurred, and to her grandmother’s chagrin, would blast Rihanna on the home stereo speakers.
verisimilitude
✓ appearance of truth
All bad novels are bad for numerous reasons; all good novels are good for their verisimilitude of reality, placing the readers in a world that resembles the one they know.
complacent
✓ contented to a fault
After the water polo team won their sixth championship, they became complacent and didn’t even make it to the playoffs the next year.
reprisal
✓ retaliatory action
The Old Testament doctrine of an eye for an eye is not the kind of retaliation practiced in war; rather, an arm, a leg, and both ears are the reprisal for the smallest scratch.
firebrand
✓ troublemaker
Freddie is a firebrand: every time he walks into the office, he winds up at the center of heated argument.
ethereal
Extremely delicate رقيق
Because she dances with an ethereal style, ballet critics have called her Madame Butterfly.
obstreperous
✓ noisily defiant صاخب، صعب المراس
When the teacher asked the obstreperous student simply to bus his tray, the student threw the entire tray on the floor, shouted an epithet, and walked out.
punctilious
overly precise
The colonel was so punctilious about enforcing regulations that men feel compelled to polish even the soles of their shoes.
exasperate
annoy مسخط مغضب
As a child, I exasperated my mother with strings of never-ending questions.
serendipity
✓ luck
By pure serendipity, Sarah discovered, at a flea market in Peoria, a matching earring to replace the one that fell down the storm drain back home.
moribund
about to die
Whether you like it or not, jazz as a genre is moribund at best, possibly already dead.
chastise
scold
Though chastised for eating the snacks for the party, Lawrence shrugged off his mother’s harsh words, and continued to plow through jars of cookies and boxes of donuts.
martinet
✓ disciplinarian
The job seemed perfect to Rebecca, until she found out that her boss was a total martinet; after each project the boss would come by to scrutinize—and inevitably criticize—every little detail of the work Rebecca had done.
tender
offer up formally
The government was loath to tender more money in the fear that it might set off inflation.
magisterial
وقور
✓ domineering
Though she was only a third grade teacher, Ms. Martinet was magisterial in dealing with her class, lording over them like a queen.
effrontery
✓ cheeky behaviorوقاحة
The skateboarders acted with effrontery, skating through the church grounds and spray-painting signs warning trespassers.
enormity
فداحة شناعة
great wickedness
The enormity of Pol Pot’s regime is hard to capture in words–within months hundreds of thousands of Cambodians lost their lives.
tout
advertise strongly
At the conference, the CEO touted the extraordinary success of his company’s Research & Development division.
fecund
خصب
mentally productive
The artist had entered a fecund period, producing three masterpieces in the span of two months.
self-effacing
✓ modest
The most admirable teachers and respected leaders are those who are self-effacing, directing attention and praise to their students and workers.
vehement
✓ intensely emotional ملتهب، متحمس
While the other employees responded to the bad news in a measured way, Andrew responded in a vehement manner, tipping over his desk and shouting at the top of his lungs.
quixotic
✓ wildly impractical
For every thousand startups with quixotic plans to be the next big name in e-commerce, only a handful ever become profitable.
mettlesome
✓ courageous
For its raid on the Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Seal Team Six has become, for many Americans, the embodiment of mettle.
taciturn
✓ quiet
While the CEO enthusiastically shares his plans and agenda with all who will listen, the CFO is far more taciturn, rarely revealing his perspective.
consummate
مكتمل
✓ masterful
Tyler was the consummate musician: he was able to play the guitar, harmonica, and the drum at the same time.
pine
✓ yearn for
Standing forlornly by the window, she pined for her lost love.
foolhardy
✓ rash
متهور
The police regularly face dangerous situations, so for a police officer not to wear his bullet-proof vest is foolhardy.
malady
✓ illness
The town was struck by a malady throughout the winter that left most people sick in bed for two weeks.
vacuous
✓ lacking intelligence
فارغ ابله
To the journalist’s pointed question, the senator gave a vacuous response, mixing a few of his overall campaign slogans with platitudes and completely avoiding the controversial subject of the question.
rarefied
a rarefied place, organization, or type of activity is only available to or understood by a small group of people – used to show disapproval
✓ refined
Jack’s vulgar jokes were not so successful in the rarefied environment of college professors.
peruse
يقرأ بإمعان
✓ read closely
Instead of perusing important documents, people all too often rush to the bottom of the page and plaster their signatures at the bottom.
facile
✓ lacking depth
Many news shows provide facile explanations to complex politics, so I prefer to read the in-depth reporting of The New York Times.
sanctimonious
behaving as if you are morally better than other people, in a way that is annoying – used to show disapproval
✓ holier-than-thou
Even during the quiet sanctity of evening prayer, she held her chin high, a sanctimonious sneer forming on her face as she eyed those who were attending church for the first time.
snide
✓ indirectly mocking
The chairman interpreted Taylor’s question about promotions as a snide remark, but in all innocence Taylor was trying to figure out the company’s process.
burgeon
✓ grow rapidly
China’s housing market is burgeoning, but some predict that the growth is merely a bubble and will burst much like the U.S. real estate bubble of 2008.
stem
✓ limit growth
To stem the tide of applications, the prestigious Ivy requires that each applicant score at least 330 on the Revised GRE.
melee
عراك صاخب
✓ wild fight
After enduring daily taunts about my name, I became enraged and pummeled the schoolyard bully and his sycophantic friends in a brutal melee.
hedge
✓ limit a statement
When asked why he had decided to buy millions of shares at the very moment the tech companies stock soared, the CEO hedged, mentioning something vague about gut instinct.
haughty
✓ arrogant
The haughty manager didn’t believe that any of his subordinates could ever have an insight as brilliant his own.
Veneer
✓ disguising layer
Mark Twain referred to the Victorian Period in America as the Gilded Age, implying the ample moral corruption that lay beneath a mere veneer of respectability
sartorial
✓ relating to clothes
Monte was astute at navigating the world of finance; sartorially, however, he was found wanting—he typically would attempt to complement his beige tie with a gray suit and white pants.
flounder
✓ struggle
Sylvia has excelled at advanced calculus, but ironically, when she has deal with taxes, she flounders.
phantasmagoria
literary a scene that is confused, changing, and strange, like something from a dream
✓ illusive
Those suffering from malaria fall into a feverish sleep, their world a whirligig of phantasmagoria; if they recover, they are unsure of what actually took place and what was simply a product of their febrile imaginations.
impugn
يشكك
✓ call into question
Though many initially tried to impugn Darwin’s theory, in scientific circles today, the idea is taken as truth.
lampoon
هجاء
✓ poke fun at
Mark Twain understood that lampooning a bad idea with humor was the most effective criticism.
genteel
انيق لطيف
✓ refined
A live string quartet would provide a more genteel air to the wedding than would a folk singer.
incense
✓ make furious
When Herb bought football tickets for a game on the day of their wedding anniversary, Jill was incensed.
lascivious
✓ perverted
Lolita is a challenging novel for many, not necessarily because of the elevated prose style but because of the depravity of the main character, Humbert Humbert, who, as an old, lascivious man, falls in love with a girl.
wax
✓ increase gradually
Her enthusiasm for the diva’s new album only waxed with each song; by the end of the album, it was her favorite CD yet.
besotted
✓ very infatuated
Even though her father did not approve, Juliet became besotted with the young Romeo.
brusquely
using very few words, in a way that seems rude
SYN abrupt
✓ bluntly
Not one for social pleasantries, the Chief of Staff would brusquely ask his subordinates anything he wanted, even coffee.
respite
✓ pause from work
Every afternoon, the small company has a respite in which workers play foosball or board games.
paragon
✓ the best of its kind
Even with the rise of Kobe Bryant, many still believe that Michael Jordan is the paragon for basketball players.
colossal
✓ humongous
Few appreciate the colossal scale of the sun: if hollow, it could contain a million Earths.
meteoric
✓ very rapid
The early spectacular successes propelled the pitcher to meteoric stardom, but a terrible injury tragically cut short his career.
enthrall
مأسور مسحور
✓ captivate
She was so enthralled by the movie that she never heard people screaming, Fire! Fire! in the neighboring theater.
commendable
✓ worthy of praise
The efforts of the firefighters running into the burning building were commendable.
abysmal
✓ really horrible
Coach Ramsey took his newest player off the field after watching a few painful minutes of her abysmal performance.
perturb
✓ disturb
Now that Henry is recovering from a major illnesses, he no longer lets the little trivialities, such as late mail, perturb him.
steadfast
✓ unwavering
A good captain needs to be steadfast, continuing to hold the wheel and stay the course even during the most violent storm.
row
✓ angry dispute
The Prime Minister looked very foolish after his row with the foreign dignitary was caught on video and posted on youtube.
veritable
✓ without a doubt
Frank is a veritable life-saver – last year, on two different occasions, he revived people using CPR.
ploy
✓ clever scheme
Dennis arranged an elaborate ploy, involving 14 different people lying for him in different situations, so that it could appear that he was meeting Mary completely by chance at the wedding reception.
imbibe
✓ absorb ideas
Plato imbibed Socrates’ teachings to such an extent that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed, sometimes word for word, to Socrates.
hail
✓ celebrate something
Many college superstar athletes are hailed as the next big thing, but then flop at the professional level.
docile
✓ easily managed
Barnyard animals are considerably more docile than the wild animals.
affluent
✓ wealthy
The center of the city had sadly become a pit of penury, while, only five miles away, multi-million dollar homes spoke of affluence.
doleful
✓ very sad
No event is more doleful than the passing of my mother; she was a shining star in my life, and it brings me great sadness to think that she is now gone.
obtuse
✓ slow to learn
Jackson was the most obtuse member of the team: the manager’s subtle ironies were always lost on him.
unforthcoming
✓ not cooperative
The teacher demanded to know who broke the window while he was out of the room, but the students understandably were unforthcoming.
squelch
✓ suppress
After the dictator consolidated his power, he took steps to squelch all criticism, often arresting any journalist who said anything that could be interpreted as negative about his regime.
cede
✓ give up control
Eventually, all parents must cede control of their growing childrens’ educations and allow their offspring some autonomy.
panacea
✓ cure-all
While the company credit card has made most large purchases easier, it is no panacea: some smaller basic transactions still must be conducted in cash.
Obliging
✓ eager to help
Even after all his success, I found him to be accommodating and obliging, sharing with me his secret tips on how to gain wealth and make friends.
creditable
✓ good but not great
Critics agreed the movie was creditable, but few gave it more than three out of five stars.
flippant
✓ not showing respect
Although Sam was trying to honor Mark’s sense of humor, many found it quite flippant that he wore a comic nose and glasses mask to Mark’s funeral.
betray
✓ reveal
With the gold medal at stake, the gymnast awaited his turn, his quivering lip betraying his intense emotions.
bemoan
✓ lament
While the CFO carefully explained all the reasons for the cuts in benefits, after the meeting employees bemoaned the cuts as further evidence that management was against them.
languish
✓ become weak
Stranded in the wilderness for four days, the hiker languished, eating protein bars and nuts.
