November Flashcards

1
Q

Taciturn

A
  1. Reserved or uncommunicative in speech
  2. After such gatherings she would be taciturn and morose
  3. In certain group settings with big personalities I’m the first to become taciturn
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2
Q

A phrase that means ‘of similar character’

A

Akin to

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3
Q

Truncated

A
  1. Shortened, by cutting it off at the end or top
  2. A truncated version of the story
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4
Q

What is the name of the sharp-pointed duelling sword with the end blunted, used in fencing?

A

épée

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5
Q

What is an adjective to describe “unfortunate” (of a person)?

A

Hapless

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6
Q

What is a word to desribe a pale complexion giving the appearance of illness or exhaustion?

A

wan

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7
Q

Wan

A
  1. a pale complexion giving the appearance of illness or exhaustion
  2. He looked wan and bleary-eyed

OR

  1. lacking enthusiasm or energy
  2. He gave a wan smile
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8
Q

What is a synonym to drive, force or urge (someone) to do something?

A

To impel

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9
Q

Abysmal

A
  1. Extremely bad, appalling
  2. The options out there are abysmal
  3. Abyss = a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm Greek a - without, bussos - depth. Abussos = bottomless
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10
Q

Pretence

(NB American English = Pretense)

A
  1. an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true / a claim to have a particular skill or quality.
  2. “his anger is masked by a pretence that all is well” / “he was quick to disclaim any pretence to superiority”
  3. I don’t think I live under the pretence I’m better than anyone else
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11
Q

limerence

A
  1. A state of mind which results from romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relatiionship with the object of love and have one’s feelings reciprocated
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12
Q

What is a noun for infatuated love?

A

Limerence

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13
Q

Adjectives to describe someone who is quiet

A

Taciturn

Phlegmatic

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14
Q

What is a capgras delusion?

A

A psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member as been replaced by an identical impostor

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15
Q

Who is a person trying to sell you a bogus product?

A

Mountebank

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16
Q

Contrived

A
  1. Deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously
  2. The ending of the novel is too contived
  3. The whole dinner party just seemed contrived
17
Q

Dalliance

A
  1. A casual romantic or sexual relationship / a casual or brief involvement in something
  2. BES was enjoyable, my dalliance in the world of surgery
18
Q

Hapless

A
  1. (Of a person) unfortunate
  2. The hapless victims of exploitation
  3. The hapless men on Manus
  4. Hap = good fortune
19
Q

WHat is an adjective to describe when something is deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously?

A

Contrived

20
Q
A
21
Q

Phlegmatic

A
  1. Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition
  2. He doesn’t have the typical phlegmatic British character
  3. She’s not actually unhappy, she’s just phlegmatic
  4. Phlegmatic means “inflammation” - it is one of the four humours
22
Q

Name for a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill?

A

Charlatan

23
Q

Edifying

A
  1. adjective: providing moral or intellectual instruction. Often used to express one’s disapproval of something
  2. I find books like these most edifying
  3. Social interactions like these are not the most edifying
24
Q

What is a word for ‘terse and vigorously expressive’?

A

Pithy

  • His characteristically pithy comments*
  • I enjoy listening to their pithy conversation*
25
Q

Pithy

A

Terse or vigrously expressive

Her characteristic pithy comments

I enjoy listening to their pithy discussion (Chat 10 Looks 3)

26
Q

What is an adjective to describe ‘sparing the use of wordsl abrupt’

A

terse

think: looks like ‘sparse’ and ‘tense’

A terse statement

Her speech was rather terse

27
Q

Aphorism

A

A pithy observation which contains a general truth /

A concise statement of a scientific principle

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”

28
Q

Aficiondo

A

a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.

“A crossword aficiondo”

I’m not the basketball aficiondo

29
Q

tenure

A

the holding of an office

When my tenure at BIM was finally officially over

30
Q

laudable

A

(of an action, idea, or aim) deserving praise and commendation

Her laudable efforts in…

31
Q

How would you describe an action deserving praise of commendation?

A

Laudable

32
Q

Erudite

A

Having or showing great knowledge

  • Ken could turn any conversation into an erudite discussion*
  • The ‘Nicholas Flammel Club’ is my most erudite WhatsAp thread*
33
Q

What is an adjective to describe ‘understood or implied without being stated’

A

tacit

  • Your silence may be taken to mean tacit agreement*
  • Your silence is tacit agreement*
34
Q

By and large

A

A nautical expression, from sailing ship days.

‘By and large’ to the modern landlubber means “in general; on the whole; everything considered; for the most part”

In short, in sailing terms:

  • if a ship is sailing to the west and a wind is blowing north/south, the ship is sailing large
  • if a ship is sailing west into the wind, it is sailing ‘full and by’

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bya1.htm

35
Q

egregious

A

outstandingly bad, shocking

egregious abuses of copyright

Her egregious abuse of our friendship

  • greg = flock*
  • egreg = standing out from the flock, probably arose as an ironic use*
36
Q

egregious vs gregarious

A

egregious

shockingly bad

gregarious

sociable, likeable

greg - flock

37
Q

wanton

A
  1. deliberate and unprovoked
    * sheer wanton vandalism*
    * sheer wanton cruelty*
  2. (of a woman) sexually immodest or promiscuous
    * her cheeks burned as she recalled how forward she had been, how wanton*
    * back in my wanton days*

wantowen = rebellious, lacking discipline

wan - badly, togen - trained

38
Q

prosaic

A

commonplace, unromantic