Running Vocab Flashcards
Piquancy
a pleasantly sharp and appetizing flavor, or the quality of being pleasantly stimulating or exciting.
Wastrel
a wasteful person, spendthrift; a goodfornothing
Sybarite
a person devoted to luxury or pleasure; an effeminate voluptuary or sensualist
Dilly
an excellent example of a particular type of person or thing.
Gadabout
a habitual pleasureseeker
Solicitude
care or concern for someone or something
Curlicue
a decorative curl or twist in calligraphy or in the design of an object
Plangent
(of a sound) loud, reverberating, and often melancholy.
Derisory
ridiculously small or inadequate, or expressing contempt or ridicule
Plenipotentiary
(noun) a person, especially a diplomat, invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their government, typically in a foreign country, or (adj) having full power to take independent action.
Proviso
a condition attached to an agreement.
Remunerative
financially rewarding; lucrative.
Pallid
(of a person’s face) pale, typically because of poor health, or, feeble or insipid
Skylark
pass time by playing tricks or practical jokes; indulge in horseplay.
Lark
something done for fun, especially something mischievous or daring; an amusing adventure or escapade.
Fecund
producing or capable of producing an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertile
Boudoir
a woman’s bedroom or private room.
Consternation
feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected
Misprision
the deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony
Emboss
carve, mold, or stamp a design on (a surface) so that it stands out in relief.
Zugzwang
a situation in which the obligation to make a move in one’s turn is a serious, often decisive, disadvantage.
Frisson
a sudden strong feeling of excitement or fear; a thrill.
Verisimilitude
the appearance of being true or real.
Acalculia
loss of the ability to perform simple arithmetic calculations, typically resulting from disease or injury of the parietal lobe of the brain.
Improvident
not having or showing foresight; spendthrift or thoughtless.
Autodidact
a selftaught person.
Amanuensis
a literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.
Sussuration
whispering, murmuring, or rustling.
Abnegation
the act of renouncing or rejecting something, or self denial.
Paroxysm
a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity.
Paradisiac
of or like Paradise; heavenly, delightful.
Seraphic
characteristic of or resembling a seraph or seraphim (an angel)
Atavism
a tendency to revert to something ancient or ancestral.
Sisyphean
denoting or relating to a task that can never be completed, laborious, futile.
Bailiwick
one’s sphere of operations or particular area of interest.
Peristyle
a row of columns surrounding a space within a building such as a court or internal garden or edging a veranda or porch.
Praxis
the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized, or accepted practice or custom.
Garrulous
excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.
Graphomania
the obsessive impulse to write.
Panegyric
a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something.
Circuitous
(of a route or journey) longer than the most direct way.
Troubadour
a French medieval lyric poet composing and singing in Provençal in the 11th to 13th centuries, especially on the theme of courtly love, or a poet who writes verse to music.
Semiotic
relating to signs and symbols.
Academe
the academic environment or community; academia.
Picaresque
relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero.
Jaunty
having or expressing a lively, cheerful, and selfconfident manner.
Abstruse
difficult to understand; obscure.
Tractable
(of a person) easy to control or influence, or (of a situation or problem) easy to deal with.
Capacious
having a lot of space inside; roomy.
Salvo
a sudden, vigorous, or aggressive act or series of acts, or a simultaneous discharge of artillery or other guns in a battle.
Anathema
something or someone that one vehemently dislikes.
Sobriquet
a person’s nickname.
Ecumenical
representing a number of different Christian Churches.
Iniquitous
grossly unfair and morally wrong.
Effrontery
insolent or impertinent behavior.
Physiognomy
a person’s facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin, or the general form or appearance of something.
Arrogate
take or claim (something) without justification.
Assiduous
showing great care and perseverance.
Evince
reveal the presence of a quality or feeling.
Androgynous
partly male and partly female in appearance; of indeterminate sex.
Lothario
a man who behaves selfishly and irresponsibly in his sexual relationships with women.
Declaim
utter or deliver words or a speech in a rhetorical or impassioned way, as if to an audience.
Supercilious
behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others.
Askance
with an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval.
Casuist
a person who uses clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; a sophist, or a person who resolves moral problems by the application of theoretical rules to particular instances.
Apotheosis
the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax.
Canaille
the common people; the masses (derogatory).
Inimical
tending to obstruct or harm, or unfriendly, hostile.
Sententious
given to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner.
Incorrigible
(of a person or their tendencies) not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.
Fanfaronade
arrogant or boastful talk.
Indenture
a legal agreement, contract, or document.
Enrapture
give intense pleasure or joy to.
Stricture
a restriction on a person or activity, or a sternly critical or censorious remark or instruction.
Louche
disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way.
Sordid
involving ignoble actions and motives; arousing moral distaste and contempt.
Rakish
having or displaying a dashing, jaunty, or slightly disreputable quality or appearance.
Wanton
(of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked.
Efface
erase (a mark) from a surface, or to make oneself appear insignificant or inconspicuous.
Recalcitrant
having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline
Precipice
a very steep rock face or cliff, especially a tall one.
Purview
the scope of the influence or concerns of something, or range of experience or thought.
Inexorable
impossible to stop or prevent.
Quorum
the minimum number of members of an assembly or society that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.
Insouciant
showing a casual lack of concern; indifferent.
Segue
an uninterrupted transition from one piece of music or film scene to another.
Cipher
a secret or disguised way of writing; a code, or a person or thing of no importance, especially a person who does the bidding of others and seems to have no will of their own.
Aria
a long accompanied song for a solo voice, typically one in an opera or oratorio.
Approbation
approval or praise.
Effrontery
insolent or impertinent behavior.
Philistine
a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them.
Winnow
blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff, or remove (people or things) from a group until only the best ones are left, or (of the wind) blow.
Apologia
a formal written defense of one’s opinions or conduct.
Rapt
completely fascinated by what one is seeing or hearing, or indicating or characterized by a state of fascination, or filled with an intense and pleasurable emotion; enraptured.
Euphonious
(of sound, especially speech) pleasing to the ear.
Pillory
attack or ridicule publicly.
Pantomime
a dramatic entertainment, originating in Roman mime, in which performers express meaning through gestures accompanied by music.
Clarion
loud and clear
Epigone
a less distinguished follower or imitator of someone, especially an artist or philosopher.
Temerity
excessive confidence or boldness; audacity.
Ensconce
establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe, or secret place.
Supine
(of a person) lying face upward, or failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence.
Lattice
a structure consisting of strips of wood or metal crossed and fastened together with square or diamondshaped spaces left between, used as a screen or fence or as a support for climbing plants.
Oocyte
a cell in an ovary which may undergo meiotic division to form an ovum.
Lacuna
an unfilled space or interval; a gap.
Zany
amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic.
Verboten
forbidden, especially by an authority.
Verdure
lush green vegetation.
Portentous
done in a pompously or overly solemn manner so as to impress.
Foment
instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action).
Truculent
eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.
Phatasm
a phantom; an apparition; something unreal, as in a dream or a vision
Phantasmagoria
a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream
Ensconce
establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe, or secret place.
Supine
lying on the back
Inchoate
just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary.
Declension
(in the grammar of Latin, Greek, and other languages) the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, by which its grammatical case, number, and gender are identified.
Enema
a procedure in which liquid or gas is injected into the rectum, typically to expel its contents, but also to introduce drugs or permit Xray imaging.
Bonhamie
cheerful friendliness; geniality.
Languorous
characterized by tiredness or inactivity, especially of a pleasurable kind, or characterized by an oppressive stillness.
Declivity
a downward slope.
Firmament
the heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing, or a sphere or world viewed as a collection of people.
Atavistic
relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral.
Deracinate
uproot (someone) from their natural geographical, social, or cultural environment.
Parsimonious
stingy, miserly; meager, poor, small
Menagerie
collection of animals, or a strange or diverse collection of people or things.
Retinue
a group of advisers, assistants, or others accompanying an important person
Enfilade
a volley of gunfire directed along a line from end to end.
Bivouac
temporary encampment
Seance
a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead, especially through the agency of a medium.
Aphorism
a pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”.
Colonnade
a row of columns supporting a roof, an entablature, or arcade.
Procurator
an agent representing others in a court of law in countries retaining Roman civil law.
Cavalcade
a formal procession of people walking, on horseback, or riding in vehicles.
Anodyne
not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.
Inveigh
speak or write about (something) with great hostility.
Ineffable
too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
Plenary
(of a meeting) to be attended by all participants at a conference or assembly, who otherwise meet in smaller groups, or unqualified; absolute.
Dilettante
a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.
Besotted
strongly infatuated, or intoxicated; drunk (archaic)
Belletrist
a person who writes essays, particularly on literary and artistic criticism, that are composed and read primarily for their aesthetic effect.
Omnium gatherum
a collection of miscellaneous people or things.
Usury
the illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest.
Cordon
prevent access to or from an area or building by surrounding it with police or other guards.
Emendation
the process of making a revision or correction to a text.
