May 28th Part 2 Flashcards
pecuniary
If something has to do with money, it’s pecuniary. If your grandfather’s antique watch has pecuniary value, it’s worth money — you could sell it for cash if you weren’t sentimentally attached to keeping it.
financial
balk
If you balk at your mother’s suggestion that you take on more responsibility, you’re saying no to added chores. To balk means to refuse to go along with.
to refuse to move
reviled
If something is reviled, you alone don’t dislike it; a whole community of like-minded souls has to hate its guts. For instance, spam is widely reviled. (The junk e-mails, not the potted meat. Somebody out there really does like that potted meat.)
indict
An indictment, or a legal document charging you with a crime, is something you don’t want to be the recipient of, so try not to rob any banks or start any money laundering schemes, and you’ll probably be okay.
accuse
redolent
strongly reminiscent or suggestive of.
“names redolent of history and tradition”
synonyms: evocative, suggestive, reminiscent, remindful
“an old village church is redolent of everything that is England”
fragrant
repose
Repose is a formal or literary term used to mean the act of resting, or the state of being at rest. Repose is also a state of mind: freedom from worry.
state of rest
abstemious
Reserve abstemious for someone who exercises restraint, especially with regard to alcohol. A rock musician may sing about enjoying wine and women, but in his private life he may be abstemious.
moderate in eating or drinking
extant
Use the adjective extant to describe old things that are still around, like your extant diary from third grade or the only extant piece of pottery from certain craftspeople who lived hundreds of years ago.
still existing
vicissitudes
When you talk of the vicissitudes of life, you’re referring to the difficult times that we all go through: sickness, job loss, and other unwelcome episodes. No one can escape the vicissitudes of life.
difficulties
trenchant
If you’re trenchant, it means you think or say smart, sharply worded things that cut right to the heart of the matter. A trenchant observation is one that makes people scratch their chins thoughtfully, or wince with embarrassment for whomever you’re talking about, or both.
keen, incisive
puissant
Puissant means powerful and in possession of authority, and is often used to describe the political power of someone, like a prince or president.
powerful
lugubrious
Funerals are lugubrious. So are rainy days and Mondays. Anything that makes you sad, gloomy, or mournful can be called lugubrious.
very sad
scion
Use the word scion when talking about a young member of a family that is known to be wealthy, powerful or otherwise important, such as a prince, heiress or the children of, say, the President.
child, descendant
fulsome
Compliments usually make you feel pretty good, but fulsome compliments, which are exaggerated and usually insincere, may have the opposite effect.
excessive, insincere
supplication
Think of a supplication as sort of a prayer, a request for help from a deity. The word carries a sense of awe and adoration with it, suggesting something tentative, even servile, a respectful appeal to a higher power.
earnest prayer
ascetic
Want to live an ascetic lifestyle? Then you better ditch the flat panel TV and fuzzy slippers. To be ascetic, you learn to live without; it’s all about self-denial.
one who practices self-denial and devotion (n.)
desultory
If you lack a definite plan or purpose and flit from one thing to another, your actions are desultory. Some people call such desultory wanderings spontaneous. Others call it “being lost.”
occurring by chance, disconnected
connubial
Use the adjective connubial to describe something that relates to marriage or to the relationship between spouses, such as connubial bliss or a connubial argument about who will take out the trash.
related to marriage (not conjugal)
appellation
Appellation means the name or title by which someone is known. Mark Twain is the famous appellation by which everyone remembers author and humorist Samuel Clemens.
a name
recondite
It’s rather difficult to penetrate the meaning of recondite. Fitting, because it’s an adjective that basically means hard for the average mind to understand.
secret, hidden, obscure (not covert)
palliate
When you palliate something, you try to make something less bad: “City leaders tried to palliate effects of the trash haulers’ strike by distributing extra large garbage cans with tight-fitting lids.”
alleviate, relieve without curing
chimerical
Use the adjective chimerical to describe something that is wildly fanciful or imaginative — like the chimerical illustrations of magical creatures in a children’s book.
visionary, imaginary, fantastic
perspicacious
Perspicacious is an adjective that means “shrewd” and “wise.” A perspicacious child can’t be fooled when her parents try to keep a secret by talking in Pig Latin.
acutely perceptive, shrewd
analogous
Use the adjective analogous to describe something that is similar to something else and can be compared to another.
comparable, similar
pedagogue
Pedagogue is another name for “teacher,” but one who is strict, stiff or old-fashioned. The word comes from the Greek pedo for “child” and agogos for “leader.” A pedagogue leads people by teaching.
teacher
irascible
If you’re irascible, you get angry easily — perhaps blowing up in rage when someone brushes into you.
Irascible comes from the Latin root ira, which means “anger” or “rage,” the same root that gives us the word ire, “anger.” The -sc in the middle of irascible, means “becoming,” so irascible doesn’t just mean you’re angry — it’s got action built into it. If you’re looking for a fight most of the time, then you’re irascible — ready for the spark that’s going to set you on fire.
irritable
inviolable
Wedding vows and vault combinations that can’t be broken are considered inviolable. (Of course, divorce lawyers and bank robbers consider this a challenge.)
safe (from destruction, etc.)
conflagration
A conflagration isn’t just a few flames; it’s an especially large and destructive fire that causes devastation.
great fire
aegis
shield, protection, sponsorship
abeyance
An abeyance is a temporary halt to something, with the emphasis on “temporary.” It is usually used with the word “in” or “into”; “in abeyance” suggests a state of waiting or holding.
suspended action
approbation
Approbation is a formal word for approval or praise. Approbation is like getting the nod in a big way. Politicians rely on the public’s approbation to get elected.
approval
coda
A coda is a concluding segment of a piece of music, a dance, or a statement. It’s usually short and adds a final embellishment beyond a natural ending point. Like this.
concluding section of a musical or literary composition; something that summarizes
commensurate
The word commensurate has to do with things that are similar in size and therefore appropriate. Many people think the death penalty is a commensurate punishment for murder. In other words, the penalty fits the crime.
corresponding in extent, degree, amount, etc.; proportionate
complaisant
If only the world were populated entirely with complaisant people! Complaisant means willing to do something to please others, and complaisant people or animals are wonderful to be around.
trying to please; overly polite; obliging.His complaisant behaviour did not go down too well with the mayor.
craven
A craven man is no Superman or Spiderman, nor is he a firefighter or a soldier. A craven man is the opposite of those guys: he has not an ounce of courage.
cowardly
denigrate
To denigrate is to say bad things — true or false — about a person or thing. Your reputation as a math whiz might be hurt if your jealous classmate manages to denigrate you, even though the accusations are unfounded.
to ruin the reputation of
dirge
A dirge is a song of mourning, performed as a memorial to someone who’s died. As you might imagine, a dirge is usually quite sad. Another word with a similar meaning that you might know is “requiem.”
lament with music- The funeral dirge moved everyone to tears.
ebullient
More than chipper, more than happy, more than delighted is ebullient — meaning bubbling over with joy and delight.
showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm
endemic
prevailing among a specific group of people or an area
disinterested
If you can’t decide whether to purchase the shirt with orange polka dots or the purple paisley-patterned one, you might seek input from a disinterested, or unbiased, party (who will probably tell you not to buy either one).
Synoptic
If you’ve heard of a movie synopsis, which gives an overview of the plot, you can guess what synoptic means: summarizing. At the end of your 900-page treatise on morals, try to give a synoptic conclusion to drive your ideas home.
inimical
Censorship is inimical to freedom. So, most teenagers would argue, are curfews. To be inimical is to be harmful, antagonistic, or opposed to — like smoking two packs a day is to healthy lungs.
sartorial
If it’s the day before a big event and you have no idea what to wear and nothing in your closet is going to cut it, you are facing a sartorial dilemma — one that pertains to clothing, fashion, or dressing.
Sartorial comes from the Modern Latin word sartor which means “tailor,” literally “one who patches and mends.” In English the adjectives sartorial and sartorially are used to refer to any matter pertaining to the consideration of clothing or fashion. The root word sartor has also made its way into the field of biology. The sartorius — a muscle in the leg and the longest muscle in the human body — gets its name because it is used when crossing the legs, also known as the “tailor’s position.”
Virulence
Virulence is a harmful quality possessed by microorganisms that can cause disease. You can also use the noun virulence to describe someone’s malicious actions.
A virus spreads disease, and virulence is a quality possessed by viruses that are on the loose and spreading. This could be as common as the flu or as unusual as chemical warfare. You can also speak of the virulence of hostile, harmful words and actions. Publicly insulting and discrediting someone is an example of virulence. With either meaning, virulence indicates danger and harm. The Latin root is virulentus, “poisonous.”
venal
Someone with venal motives is corrupt and maybe a little evil. Nobody wants to be thought of as venal.
