November Flashcards
1
Q
Taciturn
A
- Reserved or uncommunicative in speech
- After such gatherings she would be taciturn and morose
- In certain group settings with big personalities I’m the first to become taciturn
2
Q
A phrase that means ‘of similar character’
A
Akin to
3
Q
Truncated
A
- Shortened, by cutting it off at the end or top
- A truncated version of the story
4
Q
What is the name of the sharp-pointed duelling sword with the end blunted, used in fencing?
A
épée
5
Q
What is an adjective to describe “unfortunate” (of a person)?
A
Hapless
6
Q
What is a word to desribe a pale complexion giving the appearance of illness or exhaustion?
A
wan
7
Q
Wan
A
- a pale complexion giving the appearance of illness or exhaustion
- He looked wan and bleary-eyed
OR
- lacking enthusiasm or energy
- He gave a wan smile
8
Q
What is a synonym to drive, force or urge (someone) to do something?
A
To impel
9
Q
Abysmal
A
- Extremely bad, appalling
- The options out there are abysmal
- Abyss = a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm Greek a - without, bussos - depth. Abussos = bottomless
10
Q
Pretence
(NB American English = Pretense)
A
- an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true / a claim to have a particular skill or quality.
- “his anger is masked by a pretence that all is well” / “he was quick to disclaim any pretence to superiority”
- I don’t think I live under the pretence I’m better than anyone else
11
Q
limerence
A
- 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
12
Q
What is a noun for infatuated love?
A
Limerence
13
Q
Adjectives to describe someone who is quiet
A
Taciturn
Phlegmatic
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A psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member as been replaced by an identical impostor
15
Q
Who is a person trying to sell you a bogus product?
A
Mountebank
16
Q
Contrived
A
- Deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously
- The ending of the novel is too contived
- The whole dinner party just seemed contrived
17
Q
Dalliance
A
- A casual romantic or sexual relationship / a casual or brief involvement in something
- BES was enjoyable, my dalliance in the world of surgery
18
Q
Hapless
A
- (Of a person) unfortunate
- The hapless victims of exploitation
- The hapless men on Manus
- 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
- Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition
- He doesn’t have the typical phlegmatic British character
- She’s not actually unhappy, she’s just phlegmatic
- 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
- adjective: providing moral or intellectual instruction. Often used to express one’s disapproval of something
- I find books like these most edifying
- 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
Pithy
Terse or vigrously expressive
Her characteristic pithy comments
I enjoy listening to their pithy discussion (Chat 10 Looks 3)
26
What is an adjective to describe 'sparing the use of wordsl abrupt'
terse
think: looks like 'sparse' and 'tense'
A terse statement
Her speech was rather terse
27
Aphorism
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
Aficiondo
a person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime.
"A crossword aficiondo"
I'm not the basketball aficiondo
29
tenure
the holding of an office
When my tenure at BIM was finally officially over
30
laudable
(of an action, idea, or aim) deserving praise and commendation
*Her laudable efforts in...*
31
How would you describe an action deserving praise of commendation?
Laudable
32
Erudite
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
What is an adjective to describe 'understood or implied without being stated'
tacit
* Your silence may be taken to mean tacit agreement*
* Your silence is tacit agreement*
34
By and large
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
egregious
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
egregious vs gregarious
egregious
*shockingly bad*
gregarious
*sociable, likeable*
greg - flock
37
wanton
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
prosaic
commonplace, unromantic
