Quick Quizzes 42 - 50 Flashcards
fabrication
fabrication (FAB ruh kay shun) n a lie; something made up
My story about being the prince of Wales was a fabrication. I’m really the king of Denmark.
facetious
facetious ( fuh SEE shus) adj humorous; not serious; clumsily humorous
David was sent to the principal’s office for making a facetious remark about the intelligence of the French teacher.
facile
facile (FAS il) adj fluent; skillful in a superficial way; easy
To say that a writer’s style is facile is to say both that it is skillful and that it would be better if the writer exerted himself or herself more. The word facile almost always contains this sense of superficiality.
Paolo’s poems were facile rather than truly accomplished; if you read them closely, you soon realized they were filled with cliches.
faction
faction (FAK shun) n a group, usually a small part of a larger group, united around some cause; disagreement within an organization.
The faculty was relatively happy, but there was a faction that called for higher pay.
farcical
farcical (FARS i kul) adj absurd; ludicrous
The serious play quickly turned farcical when the leading man’s belt broke and his pants fell to his ankles.
fastidious
fastidious (fa STID ee us) adj meticulous; demanding; finicky
Mrs. O’Hara was a fastidious housekeeper; she cleaned up our crumbs almost before they hit the floor.
fatalist
fatalist (FAYT uh list) n someone who believes that future events are already determined and that humans are powerless to change them
The old man was a fatalist about his illness, believing there was no sense in worrying about something over which he had no control.
figurative
figurative (FIG yur uh tiv) adj based on figure of speech; expressing something in terms usually used for something else; metaphorical
When the mayor said that the housing market had sprouted wings, he was speaking figuratively. The housing market hadn’t really sprouted wings; it had merely risen so rapidly that it had almost seemed to fly.
literal
literal - a literal statement is one in which every word means exactly what it says.
finesse
finesse (fi NES) n skillful maneuvering; subtlety; craftiness
The doctor sewed up the wound with finesse, making stitches so small one could scarcely see them.
flagrant
flagrant (FLAY grunt) adj glaringly bad; notorious; scandalous
An example of a flagrant theft would be stealing a car from the parking lot of a police station. A flagrant spelling error is a very noticeable one. This word is often confused with blatant.
flaunt
flaunt (flawnt) v to show off; to display ostentatiously
Colleen flaunted her engagement ring, shoving it in the face of almost anyone who came near her.
This word is often confused with flout.
flout
flout (flowt) v to disregard something out o disrespect
A driver flouts the traffic laws by driving through red lights and knocking down pedestrians.
To flaunt success is to make certain that everyone knows you are successful. To flout success is to be contemptuous of success or to act as though it means nothing at all.
foible
foible (FOY bul) n a minor character flaw
Patti’s foibles included a tendency to prefer dogs to people.
foment
foment (foh MENT) v to stir up; to instigate
The radicals spread several rumors in an effort to foment rebellion among the peasants
forbear
forbear (for BAYR) v to refrain from; to abstain
Stephen told me I could become a millionaire if I joined him in his business, but his company makes me nervous so I decided to forbear.
The noun is forbearance. A forebear (FOR bayr) –sometimes also spelled forbear– is an ancestor.
forego
forego (for GOH) v to do without; to forbear
We had some of the chocolate cake, some of the chocolate mousse, and some of the chocolate cream pie, but we were worried about our weight so we decided to forego the chocolate covered potato chips. That is, we forewent them. (Can also be spelled forgo).
forsake
forsake (for SAYK) v to abandon; to renounce; to relinquish
We urged Buddy to forsake his life with the alien beings and return to his job at the drugstore.
fortuitous
fortuitous (for TOO uh tus) adj accidental; occurring by chance
The performer’s outcome was not the result of any plan but was entirely fortuitous.
founder
founder (FOWN dur) v to fail; to collapse; to sink
The ship foundered shortly after it’s hull fell off.
Be careful not to confuse this word with flounder, which means to move clumsily or in confusion.
flounder
flounder - to move clumsily or in confusion
The witness began to flounder as the attorney fired question after question.
To remember the difference between founder and flounder…remember to flounder is to be flopping around like a flounder.
fraternal
fraternal (fruh TUR nul) adj like brothers
a fraternity is an organization of men who have bound themselves together in a relationship analogous to that of real brothers.
frenetic
frenetic (fruh NET ik) adj frantic; frenzied
There was a lot of frenetic activity in the office, but nothing ever seemed to get accomplished.
frugal
frugal (FROO gul) adj economical; penny-pinching
Laura was so frugal that she even tried to bargain with the checkout girl at the supermarket.
Mike’s frugality annoyed his daughter Audrey, who loved nothing more than spending money.
furtive
furtive (FUR tiv) adj secretive; sly
Cal wiggled his ears while the countess was talking to him in a furtive attempt to catch our attention.
futile
futile (FYOOT ul) adj useless; hopeless
A D+ average and no extracurricular interests to speak of meant that applying to Harvard was futile, but Lucinda hoped against hope.
forebear
forebear - ancestor
garrulous
garrulous (GAR uh lus) adj talkative; chatty
Gabriella is gregarious and garrulous; she loves to hang out with the gang and gab.
gauche
gauche (gohsh) adj unskillful; awkward; maladroit
Remember the word dexterous? Well, gauche is pretty much the exact opposite. It is the French word for left–the connection is that left-handed people were once thought to be clumsy (this was clearly before the invention of left-handed scissors) and perverse, even evil. These days, gauche tends to describe social, rather than physical, ineptness.
Smadar had a poor sense of comic timing, and her gauche attempts to mock her left-handed friends soon left her with none.
genre
genre (ZHAHN ruh) n a type of category, especially of art or writing
The novel is one literary genre. Poetry is another.
Daoyen displayed a great talent for a particular genre: the bawdy limerick.
genteel
genteel (jen TEEL) adj refined; polite; aristocratic; affecting refinement
The ladies at the ball were too genteel to accept our invitation to the wrestling match.
A person who is genteel has gentility.
gesticulate
gesticulate (jes TIK yuh layt) v to make gestures, especially when speaking or in place of speaking
The speaker gesticulated in such a strange way that the audience paid more attention to his hands than to his words.
A person who gesticulates makes gesticulations.
glut
glut (glut) n surplus; an overabundance
We had a glut of contributions but a dearth, or scarcity, of volunteers; it seemed that people would rather give their money than their time.
grandiloquent
grandiloquent (gran DIL uh kwunt) adj pompous; using a lot of big fancy words in an attempt to sound impressive
The president’s speech was grandiloquent rather than eloquent; there were some six-dollar words and some impressive phrases, but he really had nothing to say.
grandiose
grandiose (GRAN dee ohs) adj absurdly exaggerated
The scientist’s grandiose plan was to build a huge shopping center on the surface of the moon.
gratuitous
gratuitous (gruh TOO uh tus) adj given freely (said of something bad); unjustified; unprovoked; uncalled for
The scathing movie review contained several gratuitous remarks about the sex life of the director.
Their attack against us was gratuitous; we had never done anything to offend them.
Gratuitous is often misunderstood because it is confused with gratuity. A gratuity is a tip, like the one you leave in a restaurant. A gratuity is a nice thing. Gratuitous, however, is not nice. Don’t confuse these words.
gravity
gravity (GRAV uh tee) n seriousness
The anchorman’s nervous giggling was entirely inappropriate, given the gravity of the situation.
Gravity is the force that makes apples fall down instead of up, and also a different sort of weightiness. At the heart of the word gravity is grave, which means serious.
gregarious
gregarious (gruh GAR ee us) adj sociable; enjoying the company of others
Dirk was too gregarious to enjoy the fifty years he spent in solitary confinement.
In biology, gregarious is used to describe animals that live in groups. Bees, which live together in large colonies, are said to be gregarious insects.
guile
guile (gyle) n cunning; duplicity; artfulness
Stuart was shocked by the guile of the car mechanic, who had poked a hole in his radiator and then told him that it had spring a leak.
To be guileless is to be innocent or naive. Guileless and artless are synonyms. The word beguile also means to deceive, but in a charming and not always bad way. Clarence found Mary’s beauty so beguiling that he did anything she asked of him.
hackneyed
hackneyed (HAK need) adj overused; trite; stale
Michael’s book was full of cliches and hackneyed phrases.
“As cold as ice” is a hackneyed expression.
hapless
hapless (HAP lis) adj unlucky
Joe’s hapless search for fun led him from one disappointment to another.
harbinger
harbinger (HAR bin jur) n a forerunner; a signal of
Warm weather is a harbinger of spring.
A cloud of bad breath and body odor, which preceded him by several yards everywhere he went, was Harold’s harbinger.