P Flashcards
Porous
Adj:
Permeable by water, air; not secure:
He ran through a porous defense to score easily.
Synonym: penetrable
Petulant
Adj
Childishly sulky or bad-tempered:
He was moody and petulant.
Synonym: irritable; disgruntled
Pliant
Adj
Flexible; easily bent:
Pliant teenager mind
Synonym: yielding; susceptible
Placid
Adj
Not easily upset or excited:
This horse has a placid nature.
Synonym: tranquil; mild
Precarious
Adj
Dependent on chance; uncertain; dangerously likely to fall or collapse:
She made a precarious living by living.
Synonym: risky; dangerous
Punctilious
Adj
Showing great attention to detail or correct behavior:
How was punctilious in providing every amenity for his guests.
Synonym: meticulous; scrupulous; methodical
Panegyric
Noun
A public speech or published text in praise of someone or something:
Panegyrics and satires were his chief instruments.
Synonym: eulogy; tribute
Phlegmatic
Adj
Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition:
He was phlegmatic when his dog died.
Synonym: composed; placid; imperturbable
Precursor
Noun
A person or thing that comes before another of the same kind; a forerunner:
So far he may be fairly called the precursor of later utilitarianism.
Synonym: ancestor
Pejorative
Adj
having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force:
Isn’t there a suggestion that “poetess” is slightly pejorative?
Synonym: derogatory; slighting
Penchant
Noun
a strong or habitual liking for something or tendency to do something:
He has a penchant for adopting stray dogs.
Synonym: relish; preference
Precocious
Adj
(of a child) having developed certain abilities or proclivities at an earlier age than usual:
He was a precocious for winning national chess champion at 9th grade.
Synonym: talented; gifted
Palatial
Adj
Relating to a palace; magnificent:
After living in a cramped studio apartment for years, Lisa thought the modest one-bedroom looked downright palatial.
Synonym: grand; sublime
Palliate
Verb
To make less serious; ease:
The alleged crime was so vicious that the defense lawyer could not palliate it for the jury.
Synonym: alleviate; assuage; extenuate; mitigate; mollify; placate; propitiate
Pallid
Adj
Lacking color or liveliness:
The old drugstore’s pallid window could not compete with Wal-Mart’s extravagant display next door.
Synonym: ashen; blanched; pale; livid
Panache
Noun
Flamboyance or dash in style and action; flair:
Leah has such a panache when planning parties, even when they’re last-minute affairs.
Synonym: flair
Panoply
Noun
Impressive array:
Her resume indicates a panoply of skills and accomplishments:
Synonym: array; display; range
Paradox
Noun
A contradiction or dilemma:
It is a paradox that those most in need of medical attention are often those least able to obtain it.
Synonym: ambiguity; incongruity
Paragon
Noun
Model of excellence or perfection:
He is the paragon of what a judge should be: honest, intelligent, hardworking, and just.
Synonym: apotheosis; ideal; quintessence; standard
Pare
Verb
To trim off excess, reduce:
The cook’s hands were sore after she pared hundreds of potatoes.
Synonym: clip; peel
Pariah
Noun
an outcast:
Once he betrayed those in his community, he was banished and lived the life of pariah.
Synonym: castaway; derelict;
Parley
Noun
Discussion, usually between enemies:
The parley between the rival cheerleading teams resulted in neither side admitting that they copied the other’s dance moves.
Synonym: debate; dialogue; negotiations
Parry
Verb
To ward off or deflect, especially by a quick-witted answer:
Katty parried every question the army officers fired at her, much to their frustration.
Synonym: avoid; evade;repel
Pastiche
Noun
Piece of literature or music imitating other works:
The singer’s clever pastiche of the well-known children’s story had the audience rolling in the aisles.
Synonym: medley; spoof
Pathogenic
Adj
Causing disease:
Nina’s research on the origins of pathogenic microorganisms should help stop the spread of disease.
Synonym: infecting; noxious
Peccadillo
Noun
Minor sin or offense:
Gabe tends to harp on his brother’s peccadillos and never lets him live them down.
Synonym: failing; fault; lapse; misstep
Pedant
Noun
Someone who shows off learning:
The graduate instructor’s tedious and excessive commentary on the subject soon gained her a reputation as a pedant.
Synonym: doctrinaire; nit-picker
Penury
Noun
An oppressive ack of resources ( as money ); severe poverty:
Once a famous actor, he eventually died in penury and anonymity.
Synonym: destitution; impoverishment
Peregrinate
Verb
To wander from place to place; to travel, especially on foot:
Lisa enjoyed peregrinating the expansive ground of Central Park.
Synonym: journey; traverse; trek
Perfidious
Adj
Willing to betray one’s trust:
The actress’s perfidious companion revealed all of her intimate secrets to the columnist.
Synonym: disloyal; faithless; traitorous
Perfunctory
Adj
Done in a routine way; indifferent:
The machine-like teller processed the transaction and gave the waiting customer a perfunctory smile.
Synonym: apathetic; automatic
Peripatetic
Adj
Wandering from place to place, especially on foot:
Lisa’s peripatetic meanderings took her all over the countryside in the summer months.
Synonym: itinerant; nomadic; wayfaring
Permeate
Verb
To penetrate
Synonym: imbue; pervade; suffuse
Perspicacious
Adj
Shrewd, astute, keen-witted:
Inspector Pete used his perspicacious mind to solve mysteries.
Synonym: insightful; sagacious; circumspect; judicious
Pervade
Verb
To be present throughout, to permeate:
Four spices pervade almost every indian dish, and give the cuisine its distinctive flavor.
Synonym: imbue; permeate
Phalanx
Noun
A compact or close-knit body of people, animal, or things:
A phalanx of guards stood outside the prime minister’s home day and night.
Synonym: legion; mass
Philanthropy
Noun
Charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness:
The MET owes much of its collection to the philanthropy of private collectors who willed their estates to the museum.
Synonym: altruism; humanitarianism.
Philistine
Noun
A person who is guided by materialism and is disdainful of intellectual or artistic values:
The philistine never even glanced at the rare violin in his collection but instead kept an eye on its value and sold it at a profit.
Synonym: Boor; bourgeois; capitalist; vulgarian
Pithy
Adj
Profound, substantial; concise, succinct, to the point:
Martha’s pithy comments during the interview must have been impressive because she got the job.
Synonym: brief; laconic; reticent; taciturn
Placate
Verb
To soothe or pacify:
The burglar tried to placate the snarling dog by referring to it as a “Nice Doggy” and offering it a treat.
Synonym: appease; mollify
Plastic
Adj
Able to be molded, altered, or bent
Synonym: adaptable; ductile; malleable; pliant
Plebeian
Adj
Crude or coarse; characteristic of commoners:
After five weeks of rigorous studying, the graduate settled in for a weekend of plebeian socializing and television watching.
Synonym: conventional; unrefined
Plethora
Noun
Excess
Synonym: glut; overabundance; surfeit; superfluity
Plucky
Adj
Courageous, spunky:
The plucky young nurse dove into the foxhole, determined to help the wounded soldier.
Synonym: bold; grave; gutsy
Polemic
Noun
Controversy, argument; verbal attack:
The candidate’s polemic against his opponent was vicious and small-minded rather than convincing and well-reasoned.
Synonym: denunciation; refutation
Politic
Adj
Shrewd and practical in managing or dealing with things; diplomatic:
Synonym: tactful
Polyglot
Noun
A speaker of many languages:
Ling’s extensive travels have helped her to become a true polyglot.
Posit
Verb
To assume as real or conceded; propose as an explanation:
Before proving the math formula, we needed to posit that x and y were real numbers.
Synonym: suggest
Potentate
Noun
A Monarch or ruler with great power:
Alex was much kinder before he assumed the role of potentate.
Synonym: dominator; leader; magnate
Pragmatic
Adj
Practical, as opposed to idealistic:
While idealistic gamblers think they can get rich by requesting casinos, pragmatic gamblers realize that the odds are heavily stacked against them.
Synonym: rational; realistic
Prattle
Noun
Meaningless, foolish talk:
Her husband’s mindless prattle drove Heidi insane; sometimes she wished he would just shut up.
Synonym: babble; blather; chatter; gibberish
Precipitate
Verb
To throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation:
Bob and Edna’s whirlwind courtship precipitated their hasty nuptials.
Synonym: hurl; rush; impetuous
Precis
Noun
Short summary of facts:
Fara wrote a precis of her thesis on the epic poem to share with the class.
Synonym: summation
Prescient
Adj
Having foresight:
Jonah’s decision to sell the apartment seemed to be a prescient one, as its value soon dropped by half.
Synonym: augural; divinatory; mantic; oracular; premonitory
Prevaricate
Verb
To lie or deviate from the truth, beat around the bush:
Rather than admit that he had overslept again, the employee prevaricated and claimed that heavy traffic had prevented him from arriving at work on time.
Synonym: equivocate; lie; perjure
Pristine
Adj
Fresh and clean, uncorrupted:
Since concerted measures had been taken to prevent looting, the archeological she was still pristine when researchers arrived.
Synonym: innocent; undamaged
Probity
Noun
Complete honesty and integrity:
George Washington’s reputation for probity is illustrated in the legend about his inability to lie after he chopped down the cherry tree.
Synonym: integrity; morality; rectitude; uprightness; virtue
Proclivity
Noun
A natural inclination or predisposition:
Her childhood love of acting, singing, and adoration indicted a proclivity for the theater in later life.
Synonym: bias; leaning; partiality; penchant
Prodigal
Adj
Lavish, wasteful:
The prodigal son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle devoted to pleasure.
Synonym: extravagant; lavish; profligate; spendthrift
Profligate
Adj
Corrupt, degenerate:
Some historians claim that it was the Romans decadent, profligate behavior that led to the decline of the Roman Empire.
Synonym: dissolute; extravagant; improvident; prodigal; wasteful
Proliferate
Verb
to increase in number quickly:
Although he only kept two guinea pigs initially, they proliferated to such an extent that he soon had dozens.
Synonym: breed; multiply; procreate; engender;
Prolix
Adjective
(of speech or writing) using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy.
“he found the narrative too prolix and discursive”
synonyms: long-winded, verbose, wordy
Provincial
Adj
of or concerning a province of a country or empire:
“provincial elections”
Synonyms: nonmetropolitan, small-town
perturb
Verb
make (someone) anxious or unsettled:
They were perturbed by her capricious behavior.
Synonyms: worry, upset,disturb
pastoral
Noun
a work of literature portraying an idealized version of country life.
The story, though a pastoral, has a actual connection with the life of agriculture labor.
Paroxysm
Noun
A sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity:
After each paroxysm, he paced, hands behind his back.
Synonym: spasm, burst
Promulgate
Verb
promote or make widely known (an idea or cause):
These objectives have to be promulgated within the organization.
Synonym: make public
Pernicious
Adj
having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way:
A portion of the population still disregards warnings about the pernicious effects of nicotine.
Synonym: deleterious
Plucky
Adj
Having or showing determined courage in the face of difficulties:
This story featured a plucky heroine.
Synonym: brave, courageous
Propitiate
Verb
To conciliate, to appease:
Because their gods were angry and vengeful, the Vikings propitiated them with many sacrifices.
Synonym: appease; conciliate; mollify; pacify; placate
Propriety
Noun
the quality of behaving in a proper manner, obeying rules and customs:
The aristocracy maintained a high level of propriety, adhering to even the most minor social rules.
Synonym: decency; decorum
Prudence
Noun
Wisdom, caution or restraint:
The college student exhibited prudence by obtaining practical experience along with her studies, which greatly strengthened her resume.
Synonym: astuteness; circumspection; sagaciousness; judiciousness
Puerile
Adj
Childish, immature, silly:
Olivia’s boyfriend’s puerile antics are really annoying; sometimes he acts like a five-year-old.
Synonym: infantile; jejune; juvenile
Pugilism
Noun
boxing:
Pugilism has been defended as a positive outlet for aggressive impulses.
Synonym: fighting; sparring
Pulchritude
Noun
Beauty:
The mortals gazed in admiration at Venus, stunned by her incredible pulchritude.
Synonym: comeliness; loveliness
Pungent
Adj
Sharp and irritating to the senses:
The smoke from the burning tires was extremely pungent.
Synonym: acrid; caustic; piquant; acidulous; poignant
Pusillanimous
Adj
Cowardly, without courage:
The pusillanimous man would not enter the yard where the miniature poodles was barking.
Synonym: timid, craven
