Peter May Flashcards
Protuberant
Adjective) protruding; bulging; curving outwards
Despondency
Noun) in low spirits from loss of hope or courage.
Undulate
Verb) means to move in a wave-like pattern
Sardonic
Adjective) disdainfully humorous; scornful and mocking
If someone is being scornful and mocking in a humorous way, call her sardonic.
Synonyms) Sarcastic; Satirical; Mocking…
Noun) Assiduity
Adjective) Assiduous
Adverb) Assiduously
Constant or close attention to what one is doing.
Adjective) Curt
Adverb) Curtly
rudely brief.
Synonyms) Terse; Brief
Noun & Adjective) Dissident
in opposition to official policy.
Verb) Coruscate
Coruscate is a verb that means to sparkle or give off reflected flashes of light.
Adjective) arcane
understood by few; mysterious or secret.
Synonym) esoteric; recondite
Adjective) Furtive
attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive.
Synonym) Covert
Malevolence
Noun) wishing evil to others
Phalanx
Noun) a body of troops or police officers standing or moving in close formation.
Verb) Exorcise
drive out or attempt to drive out something from a person or place.
Adjective) mesmeric
causing a person to become completely transfixed and unaware of their surroundings.
attracting and holding interest as if by a spell
Noun) fledgling
a person or organization that is immature, inexperienced, or underdeveloped.
S) nascent
Adjective) Stout(ly)
euphemisms for `fat’
and…
courageous and dependable
Adjective) Vernacular
being or characteristic of or appropriate to everyday language
Adjective) Scornful
expressing extreme contempt
Adjective) Mawkish
Mawkish means excessively sentimental or so sappy it’s sickening
S - saccharine
Noun) Litany
a tedious recital or repetitive series.
Adjective) Frumpy
drab, old-fashioned, and unattractive
Noun) Sabbath
a day of religious observance and abstinence from work, kept by Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and by most Christians on Sunday.
Noun) Frission
an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
Noun) Wrath
intense anger
Noun) syndicate
a group of individuals or organizations combined to promote a common interest.
Adjective) celestial
- positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy.
- Heavenly; Supremely Good
Verb) Mollify
appease the anger or anxiety of (someone).
S) Placate; Soothe; Calm
Verb) Blight
have a severely detrimental effect on.
crenellate
provide (a wall of a building) with battlements.
Noun) acquiescence
the reluctant acceptance of something without protest.
Noun) animus
hostility or ill feeling.
Noun) Vista
a pleasing view.
Adjective) lugubrious
excessively mournful
Noun) corpulence
Excessive Fatness; Obesity
Noun) kaleidoscope
a constantly changing pattern or sequence of elements.
Adjective) Fusty
stale and unclean smelling
Adjective) ephemeral
lasting for a very short time.
Adjective) Capricious
changing according to no discernible rules; unpredictable.
Adjective) Mercurial
subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
S) - Capricious
Adjective) punctilious
showing great attention to detail or correct behaviour.
Adjective) Sordid
involving immoral or dishonourable actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt.
Adj) Sultry
oppressively hot and humid.
Also can be used figuratively: exciting in a sensual way; attractive and suggesting hidden passion
Adj) ersatz
(to describe a product) not real or genuine.
Adj) caustic
Use the adjective caustic to describe any chemical that is able to burn living tissue or other substances, or, figuratively, a statement that has a similarly burning effect. Caustic in this sense means harshly critical.
Adj) blasé
unimpressed with or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before.
Noun) acolyte
a person assisting a priest in a religious service or procession.
more generally: a devoted follower or assistant
Adj) Cretinous
Retarded
Adj) obdurate
Obdurate is a formal word meaning stubborn.
Noun) Indignation
Call your anger at an unjust situation indignation.
… a feeling of righteous anger
Adj) frivolous
Frivolous things are silly or unnecessary. If something is frivolous, then you don’t need it.
Adj) austere
severe or strict in manner or attitude.
Adj) lewd
crude and offensive in a sexual way.
Adj) Sullen
bad-tempered and sulky.
Adj) insolent
showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect.
Verb) elucidate
make (something) clear; explain.
Adj) scrupulous
characterized by extreme care and great effort
Adj) crass
showing no intelligence or sensitivity.
….A crass comment is very stupid and shows that the speaker doesn’t care about other people’s feelings.
Noun) paroxysm
a sudden attack or outburst of a particular emotion or activity.
…. a paroxysm of weeping; laughter etc.
Adj - diaphanous
so thin as to transmit light
If a dress is so see-through that light shines through it, it’s diaphanous.
Adj - languid
Adv - languidly
lacking spirit or liveliness
Used in both positive and negative contexts
N - countenance
a person’s face or facial expression.
N - Impunity
exemption from punishment or loss
Adj - soporific
tending to induce drowsiness or sleep.
V - stultify
When something stultifies you, it drains you of your energy, enthusiasm, or pleasure.
Adj - inveterate
Habitual; Chronic
Adj - amorphous
without a clearly defined shape or form.
Adj - truculent
If you are quick to argue, always looking for a fight, and hard to please, you are truculent.
S - Pugnacious
Adj - truncate
Cut short
Adj - insipid
Something insipid is lacking in flavor or interest.
Adj - unabashed
To be unabashed is to be unembarrassed.
V - Fibrillate
rapid twitching movements
V - Contuse
injure without breaking the skin and forming a bruise.
Adj - desiccated
- Dried out
2. Lacking vitality or spirit; lifeless
N - prescience
Adj - prescient
the power to foresee the future
Adj - sonorous
full and loud and deep
Adj - meek
quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive
Adj - evanescent
“fleeting” or “temporary.”
V - burgeon
Use the verb burgeon to describe something that is growing, expanding, and flourishing.
Adj - desultory
If you lack a definite plan or purpose and flit from one thing to another, your actions are desultory.
Adj - disconsolate
inconsolable
Adj - exalted
Use the adjective exalted to describe something or someone that is raised in rank, value, or power.
V - chasten
correct by punishment or discipline
Adj - incensed
To be incensed is to be beyond mad.
Adj - ecumenical
The adjective ecumenical refers to something universal, or something that has a wide, general application.
N - serendipity
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Adj - garrulous
excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.
N - rheumatism
Rheumatism is a medical condition of painful inflammation in muscles, joints, or connective tissue.
Adj - visceral
When something’s visceral, you feel it in your guts. A visceral feeling is intuitive — there might not be a rational explanation, but you feel that you know what’s best
Adj - celibate
A person who refrains from being sexually active is celibate.
N - scullery
a small room (in large old British houses) next to the kitchen; where kitchen utensils are cleaned and kept and other rough household jobs are done
Adj - florid
Something that’s elaborate and full of extra flourishes is florid
Adj - impervious
An impervious surface is one that can’t be penetrated.
Adj - acerbic
sour or bitter in taste
If you say something acerbic, or harshly bitter, to someone, it can leave a bitter taste in your own mouth that lingers, and the acerbic, or acidic, words can eat away at the person on the receiving end too.
N - effigy
a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture)
Adj - Imperious
having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
V - assuage
provide physical relief, as from pain
S- Soothe; relieve
Adj - umpteen
indefinitely many; a lot of.
Adj - azure
bright blue in colour like a cloudless sky.
N - progeny
the immediate descendants of a person
N - Pillion
a seat behind the rider of a horse or motorbike etc.
V - suffuse
The verb suffuse means to spread and fill a space, like the way the smell of wildflowers might suffuse a meadow.
Adj garish
obtrusively bright and showy;
S- lurid
Meticulous Synonyms
Fastidious // punctilious// scrupulously // sedulous \ assiduous
Adj) Fetid
smelling extremely unpleasant.
S - Fusty; Acrid
Adj) apoplectic
Furious
Noun) crusade
a vigorous campaign for political, social, or religious change.
Adj) Laconic
Terse
Noun) enmity
Hostility; animosity
Adj) effulgence
the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
Adj) vindictive
Looking for revenge
Noun) consternation
a feeling of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.
Noun) lassitude
Mental or physical lethargy
Adj) Apposite
being of striking appropriateness and pertinence
Fitting; appropriate; suitable
Noun) Dalliance
1) a casual romantic or sexual relationship.
2) a period of brief or casual involvement with something
Noun) accretion
Accumulation
Adj) circumspect
Cautious
