manhattan #8 essential Flashcards
malleable
able to be bent, shaped or adapted. “The more malleable the material the easier, the easier it is to bend into jewelry. Related words include tractable, pliable and plastic. Mutable means changeable.
counterintuitive
against what one would intuitively expect. “Although it seems counterintuitive, for some extreme dieters, eating more can actually help them lose weight” Related words include paradoxical.
monotony
sameness or repetitiousness to the point of being boring, lack of variation, uniformity, sep repetition in sound. “The monotony of working on a factory assembly line made her feel as though she would go insane from boredom” related words include tedium (that which is tiresome due to being too long, dull or slow - the pilot moved at a tedious pace).
ponderous
heavy , bulky and unwieldy, dull, labored. “ the book assigned by her professor was a ponderous tome, more a reference book than something you could read straight through.” Related words: tedium,
ingrained
deep-rooted, forming part of the very essence, worked into the fiber. “Religious observance had been ingrained in him since birth, he could not remember a time when he didn’t pray five times a day”. Related words include inculcate (teach persistently, implant an idea in person. The grain root is related to using plant parts for dye, something ingrained is suffused into the very fiber, like dye.
lampoon
a harsh satire, ridicule or satirize. “As a democrat, sad bob, I can’t say I appreciate watching that comedian in the obama mask lampoon the state of the union address” Related words include satirize (use use ridicule), parody,
offhand
casual, informal, done without preparation or forethought, ude in a short way, brusque. “ I was pretty happy with my salary until my coworker deen mentioned offhandedly to me that she was think about buying a house now that she made six figures” Related words - extemporaneous and impromptu, Ad lib (to improvise, something improvised)
preamble
introductory statement, preface. “The preamble to the constitution” “the unusual outfit the pop star wore to her first awards ceremony was a mere preamble to a career of full - blown crazy dressing.” preamble literally means walk before. The root for walk is also found in amble, ambulance, ambulatory and circumambulate.
laudable
worthy of praise, “your loyalty to your friends is laudable, but if you don’t’ start naming names, you’ll end up in trouble yourself” Related words include encomium (warm, glowing praise, a formal expression of praise) paean (song of praise, triumph or thanks) Laud shares a root with applaud and plaudits (applause, approval)
oscillate
swing back and forth, waver, change one’s mind. “I wish we had air conditioning, but at least I replaced our old fan with this oscillating one that swings side to side and blows air on the whole room” Related words include equivocate, ambivalent, vacillate, and waffle, dither (act irresolutely), tergiversate (repeatedly change one’s opinion, equivocate)
posthumously
happening or continuing after death. Ernest hemingway died in 1961. HIs novel was published posthumously in 1966.
castigate
criticize severely; punish in order to correct. “At the grocery store, the mother attracted stares when she castigated rather than merely admonished her child for throwing a box of instant oatmeal.” Related words include excoriate (berate, severely wear the skin off). Castigate share a root meaning pure, with boht castrate and caste.
polarized
divided into sharply opposed groups. The school board was used to rationally discussing issues, but when it came to the teaching of evolution in schools, the board was polarized. Related words include faction(group or clique within a larger organization), partisan (partial to a particular party, group), cabal ( a conspiratorial group).
presumptive
based on inference or assumption, providing reasonable grounds for belief. “The dictator’s favorite nephew is the presumptive heir to power. He’s the presumptive winner of the election.
prosaic
dull, ordinary “finding his friend’s bar mitzvahs at the local synagogue a bit prosaic, justin instead asked his dad to rent out the local laser tag center” Related words include pedestrian, quotidian, middling (mediocre), lackluster (unexciting), humdrum (boring or dull). Prose is boring verbosity.
inadvertent
unintentional, characterized by a lack of attention, careless. “ in attempting to perfect his science project, he inadvertently blew a fuse and plunged his family’s home into darkness” Related words include fortuitous (happening by chance), fluke (stroke of luck, something accidently successful). To advert is to turn attention to, inadvertent means lack of attention paid.
germane
relevant and appropriate, on- topic. “This is a business meeting, not a social club - let’s keep our comments germane to the issue of the new campaign.” Related words include pertinent (relevant), akin (related by blood, analogous or similar)
convoluted
twisted, very complicated. “ your complicated is so convoluted that I’m not even able to understand it enough to start critiquing it”. Related words include tortuous (twisting, not direct, deceitful) labyrinthine (tortuous resembling a labyrinth. Byzantine (complex or intricate, relating to byzantine empire and how intricate it was).
foment
incite, instigate, stir up, promote the growth of, apply medicated liquid to a body part. “ the revolutionary group was quietly fomenting a rebellion, galvanizing student radicals, leading unions in revolutionary songs, and pasting incendiary poster on the walls”. Related words include rouse (wake up, incite, stir up). You could foment or ferment a rebellion.
synchronous
happening at the same time, occurring at the same rate and thus happening together repeatedly. “The sound of that bell is a signal for the dancer to make perfectly synchronous entrance from opposite sides of the stage.” Related words include simultaneous and contemporaneous also mean occurring at the same time. Contemporaneous is appropriate for describing people in the same time period (chaplin and pickford had contemporaneous careers. Sym means together.
abdicate
formally give up the throne (or some other power or responsibility). “King edward of england famously abdicated the throne in order to marry an american divorcee. Parents can be charged with neglect for abdicating their responsibilities towards their children” abdication is voluntary. Dethrone and depose means to force a leader from power.
pariah
social outcast, untouchable. “After the schoolteacher was fired for participating in what some called a hate rally, he became a pariah in his own town, glared at in the grocery store, eve his longtime barber refused to cut his hair.” Related to indian culture where the lowest caste include the pariahs.
idiosyncracy
characteristic or habit peculiar to an individual, quirk. “Sometimes the richer people get, the more idiosyncratic they become.” Related words include eccentric. The root idio means referring to one person, peculair (an idiolect is a speech pattern spoken by only one person)
antagonize
make hostile or unfriendly “stop antagonizing your little brother. Give him back his toy and stop pulling his hair”. Related words include provoke (anger, enrage, stir up, incite to action). Could also be a character in opposition to the main character (antagonist)
stingy
not generous with money, reluctant to spend or give. Related words include miser, cheapskate, skinflint (stingy person), frugal, stint (to be frugal). A scrooge is a wealthy miserly person.
obviate
prevent, eliminate, or make unnecessary. “ adding protective heel taps to your dress shoes can obviate the need to take them to the shoe repair store later, once hte heels have word down” Related words include circumvent (go around bypass, such as circumventing the rules).
crafty
cunning, skillful in deception or underhanded schemes. “A crafty play in basketball is a head fake, moving the head in one direction slightly prior to running in the other direction.” Synonyms include cunning, guileful and wily.
hodgepodge
mixture of different kinds of things, jumble. “The comedian’s book wasn’t a proper memoir, but more of a hodgepodge of old bits, personal stories that went nowhere, random political opinions and childhood photos.” Related words include heterogeneous (make up of diverse elements. medley , farrago, potpourri, pastiche and olio are all words for mixtures of diverse things.
glib
fluent and easy in a way that suggests superficiality and insincerity. “The used car salesman’s description of the car was as glib as luis expected” Related words include flippant (disrespectfully casual or light in manner), impertinent (inappropriately bold), saucy (disrespectful or irrepressible, esp in a entertaining way). Glib comes from the germanic root for being slippery.
diatribe
bitter, abusive attack or criticism rant. “I’d stay out of the living room for awhile - grandpa’s on another one of his diatribes about how it’s unamerican to call a large coffee a venti” related words include tirade, harangue and fulmination.
appreciable
enough to be perceived, considerable. A near antonym is negligible
caustic
capable of corroding metal or burning the skin, very critical or sarcastic. “Wait those chemicals are caustic!” Related words include acerbic (sour, harsh, severe) acrid (sharp or biting, pungent) astringent (caustic, biting severe, a skin cleaning fluid that cleans pores), excoriate
antipathy
deep dislike, aversion, or repugnance, sometimes without reason. “ as an environmentalist, Mr. Brown had nothing but antipathy for the mining company drilling in and polluting his hometown” . Related words include loathing (strong aversion, dislike or disgust). Opposite of sympathy which means feeling.
divest
deprive or strip of a rank, title, etc, or of clothing or gear, to see off holdings (opposite of invest) “when she found out that the most profitable stock in her portfolio was that of a company that tested on animals, she immediately divested by telling her broker to sell the stock”. Related words include arrogate a(claim or take presumptuously or without right), appropriate
presumptuous
too bold or forward, going beyond that which is proper. “ I would never date the presumptuous jerk, I thought he was attractive until he walked up to me and said, “we should go out, I looked up your address and I’ll pick you up at 8”
disquieting
disturbing, causing anxiety. Opposite of quiescent (peaceful and calming) “Mr ramirez’s lack of emotion at his wife’s death was disquieting - so much so, in fact that even his own family began to suspect he’d had something to do with it. Related words include discomfiting (disconcerting, confusing frustrating)
veracity
truthfulness, accuracy, habitual adherence to the truth. “I question the veracity of your story. I just don’t think you’ve been to outer space. She was known for her veracity only because she had no choice and was a terrible liar. “ Related words probity (honesty, integrity) verisimilitude (having the appearance of truth), verity (the quality of being true)
disjointed
disconnected, not coherent, jerky “the novel seemed disjointed as though whole chunks of it were missing.
languid
drooping form exhaustion, sluggish, slow, lacking in spirit “ we signed up for a fitness camp but after an hour we all felt so overcome with languor that we refused to go on. Turns out the reason we need a fitness camp in the first place is that we’re pretty languid people.” Related words include torpid and slothful (slow and lazy), indolent (habitually lazy, such as a person who chooses never to work), lassitude is weariness or lack of caring. Languorous is a more pleasant version of languid suggesting dreamy relaxation.
satiate or sate
to fully satisfy, to go beyond satisfying to the point of excess (possibly inducing disgust, tiredness,etc) “ I went to the indian buffet and stayed for the whole hour, i’ve never been mores satiated (sated) in my life. Related words include blase (bored from overindulgence) and ennui (feeling of weariness, boredom, etc often caused by satiety)
prodigal
wasteful, extravagant, giving abundantly, lavish, Related words include profligate, wastrel and spendthrift (wasteful person)
contextualize
place in context, such as by giving the background or circumstances. “Virginia woolf’s feminism is hard to truly understand unless contextualized within the mores of the highly restrained upper class society of her time. Text means weave.
prohibitive
tending to forbid something or serving to prevent something. “I was admitted to NYU, but it was prohibitively expensive, so i ended up at state school instead”
reticent
not talking much, private (of a person) restrained reserved “she figured that, to rise to the top, it was best to be reticent about her personal life, thus, even her closest colleagues were left speculating at the water cooler, about whether her growing belly indicated a pregnancy” Related words include laconic (using few words, concise), taciturn also means not talking much. The root tacere means to be silent
transitory
temporary, short- live, not lasting. “While a few people marry their high school sweethearts, generally our teenage years are full of transitory relationships” synonyms include ephemeral, evanescent and fugacious
capricious
acting on impulse, erratic “the headmaster’s punishments were capricious - break the rules one day, you get a warning, break them another day, you get expelled.” “who needs a plan? A date is more fun with a little caprice - let’s just start driving and see what we find.” Related word include whimsical (fanciful, eccentric), lark (merry adventure), mercurial (changing moods), arbitrary. Usually use with a negative connotation, but can be positive when talking about one’s imagination.
abberant
abnormal, deviant “the teen’s aberrant behavior made his family suspect he was using drugs”. Related words include anomaly, outlier,
dispassionate
unbiased, not having selfish or personal motivation, calm, lacking emotion. “The defendant tearfully described how much her young child neededher at home, but the judge who dispassionately sentenced her 10 years was unmoved.” Related words include disinterested, nonpartisan, and impartial
wily
crafty, cunning, characterized by tricks or artifice. “The wily criminal stole 8 laptops by walking into a branch of a large company, and introducing himself as the repairman.” Related words include artifice, finesse, duplicity. Feminine wiles refers to arful or beguiling behavior that typically attractive women use to get what they want.
cartography
mapmaking “the intention of better navigation tools had major effects on cartography- the more ships knew precisely where they were sailing, the better world could be mapped. Carte means map.
