NEO 60 Flashcards
staple
basic, main, or standard:
example: as the main dietary staple
temperate
(of weather conditions) neither very hot nor very cold:
example: from temperate regions vary their diets by eating a wide range of insects.
lubricants
a liquid such as oil that is used to make the parts of an engine move easily together, or a substance put on any surface to help it move more easily against another one
example: lubricants to keep the engine running smoothly
ration
a food allowance for one day
example: especially when you realize
they are not an entire night’s ration and the bat probably caught them in less than fifteen minutes.
consumption
the amount used or eaten:
example: most impressive statistic of insect consumption comes from Texas
ballooning
spiders that are using their silk to float through the air
example: they often snatch spiders ballooning on pieces of web
inquiry
a question or request for information about someone or something:
example: It also facilitated a culture of shared inquiry, in which challenging texts were read aloud in groups as an incentive for debate
mnemonic
something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something
example: they rely on repetition, formulaic images, meter, and rhyme as
mnemonic (memory) aids to the performer
rhapsody
a piece of music that has no formal structure and expresses powerful feelings
example: The term used to describe performances of such works,
rhapsody, means “to stitch together” -suggesting the extent to which oral composition relies on weaving
familiar lines.
ambiguity
the state of being uncertain:
example: and trap philosophical thought in ambiguity, leaving interpretation in the hands of the reader.
legible
Legible writing or print can be read easily:
example: Texts, too, would need to become more legible, with standardized punctuation
contemplative
involving quiet and serious thought for a period of time:
example: And libraries designed for quiet, contemplative reading could then develop to serve this new readership.
solidifying
to become or make something become certain
example: scientific writing into Latin in tenth-century Europe likely played a vital role in solidifying word separation, since it was inherent in the language
render
to change words into a different language or form:
example: Translators kept Arabic word separation when rendering these texts in Latin
prose
written language in its ordinary form rather than in the form of poems
example: it made the complex technical prose significantly more comprehensible
