No. 5 Flashcards
efficacy
n. efficiency; effectiveness.
a cardinal rule of medicine is that the efficacy of a treatment should be measured against the seriousness of its side effects.
the adj. is efficacious.
effrontery
n. shameless boldness; audacity; presumptuousness.
in her essay the student had the effrontery to argue that school is largely a waste of time.
egoism
n. the tendency to see things in relation to oneself; self centerdness.
the beginning of philosophy has been described as a moving away from egoism to an understanding of the larger world.
egotistical
adj. excessively; self centered; conceited.
the critics accused the writer of being egotistical since she wrote only about herself.
elegy
n. poem or song expressing lamentation.
adonais is an elegy written by shelley after he learned of the death of his friend.
elicit
v. to provoke; draw out. obtain; bring out.
the socratic method is designed to elicit responses that guide the student toward understanding.
elixir
n. a substance believed to have the power to cure ills.
the doctor said that her perscription would help to alleviate my condition but that i could not expect it to be an elixir.
Elysian
adj. blissful; delightful. heavenly.
emaciated
adj. thin and wasted.
the prisoner was emaciated after being fed only bread and water for three months.
embellish
v. to adorn; decorate; enhance; make more attractive by adding details.
the story he had been told was so powerful that the writer felt no need to embellish it.
emollient
adj. soothing; mollifying.
the politicians speech is filled with emollient phrases to make his message more palatable.
emollient is also a noun that means an agent that soothes or makes more acceptable.
empirical
adj. derived from observation or experiment. experimental; seen; observed.
emulate
v. to imitate; copy.
encomium
n. formal expression of praise. a speech of praise.
endemic
adj. inherent; belonging to an area.
malaria, once endemic to the area, has now been largely eradicated.
