S Flashcards
Scathing
Adj
Witheringly scornful; severely critical:
She launched a scathing attack on the governor.
Synonym: scorching
Salubrious
Adj
Health-giving; healthy; medicinal:
Vegetables are salubrious foods which provide essential nutrients.
Synonym: beneficial; therapeutic
Salacious
Adj
(of writings, pictures, etc.) obscene; grossly indecent:
The newspapers once again filled their columns with salacious details.
Synonym: erotic
Sagacious
Adj
having or showing acute mental discernment and keen practical sense; shrewd:
He is a sagacious businessman.
Synonym: astute; circumspect; perspicacious; prudent
Sanguine
Adj
optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation.
“he is sanguine about prospects for the global economy”
synonyms: optimistic, bullish, hopeful, buoyant, positive, confident, cheerful, cheery
Spurious
Adjective
not being what it purports to be; false or fake.
“separating authentic and spurious claims”
synonyms: bogus, fake, false, counterfeit, forged
Sullen
Adj
bad-tempered and sulky; gloomy.
“a sullen pout”
synonyms: surly, sulky
Stanch
Verb
Stop the flow of blood from a wound.
Colleagues may have saved her life by stanching the flow.
Sycophant
Noun
a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage:
I thought you wanted a competent assistant, not a nodding sycophant.
Synonym: bootlicker
Sequestration
Noun
The action of taking legal possession of assets until a debts has been paid or other claims have been met:
If such court injunctions are ignore, sequestration of trade union assets will follow.
Seditious
Adj
Inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch:
He fell under suspicion for distributing seditious pamphlets.
Synonym: provocative
Sacrosanct
Adj
Extremely sacred; beyond criticism:
Many people considered Mother Teresa to be sacrosanct and would not tolerate any criticism of her.
Synonym: holy; inviolable; off-limits.
Salient
Adj
Prominent, of notable significance:
His most salient characteristic if his tendency to dominate every conversation.
Synonym: marked; noticeable; outstanding
Sardonic
Adj
Cynical; scornfully mocking:
Isabella was offended by the sardonic way in which her date made fun of her ideas and opinions.
Synonym: acerbic; caustic; sarcastic; satirical
Satiate
Verb
To satisfy fully or overindulge:
His desire for power was so great that nothing less than complete control of the country could satiate it.
Synonym: cloy; glut; gorge; surfeit
Scintilla
Noun
Trace amount:
This poison is so powerful that no more than scintilla of it is needed to kill a horse.
Synonym: atom; iota; speck
Sentient
Adj
Aware; conscious; able to perceive:
The anesthetic didn’t work, and I was still sentient when the dentist started drilling!
Synonym: feeling; thinking
Seraphic
Adj
Angelic, sweet:
Selena’s seraphic appearance belied her nasty, better personality.
Synonym: cherubic; heavenly.
Sinecure
Noun
A well-paying job or office that requires little or no work:
The corrupt mayor made sure to set up all his relatives in sinecures within the administration.
Slake
Verb
To calm down or moderate:
In order to slake his curiosity, Bryan finally took a tour backstage at the theater.
Synonym: moderate; quench; satisfy
Sobriquet
Noun
Nickname:
One of Ronald Reagan’s sobriquets was “The Gipper.”
Synonym: alias; pseudonym
Solecism
Noun
Grammatical mistake; blunder in speech:
“I ain’t going with you,” she said, obviously unaware of her solecism.
Synonym: blooper; faux pas; vulgarism
Soporific
Adj
Causing sleep or lethargy:
The movie proved to be so soporific that soon loud snores were heard throughout the cinema.
Synonym: hypnotic; narcotic; slumberous; somnolent
Spartan
Adj
Highly self-disciplined; frugal, austere:
When he was in training, the athlete preferred to live in a spartan room so he could shut out all distractions.
Synonym: restrained; simple
Specious
Adj
Deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious:
The student’s specious excuse sounded legitimate until his teacher called his home.
Synonym: ostensible; spurious; meretricious
Sportive
Adj
Frolicsome, playful:
The lakeside vacation meant more sportive opportunities for the kids than the wine tour through France.
Synonym: frisky; merry
Stasis
Noun
A state of static balance or equilibrium; stagnation:
The rusty, ivy-covered World War II tank had obviously been in stasis for years.
Synonym: inertia; standstill
Stentorian
Adj
extremely loud:
Cullen couldn’t hear her speaking over the stentorian din of the game on TV.
Synonym: clamorous; noisy
Stigma
Noun
a mark of shame or discredit:
In “The Scarlet Letter” Hester was required to wear the letter ‘A’ on her clothes as a public stigma for her adultery.
Synonym: blemish; blot; opprobrium
Stolid
Adj
unemotional, lacking sensitivity:
The prisoner appeared stolid and unaffected by the judge’s harsh sentence.
Synonym: apathetic; impassive; phlegmatic
Stratagem
Noun
Trick designed to deceive an enemy:
The Trojan horse must be one of the most successful military stratagems used throughout history.
Synonym: artifice; feint; maneuver; ruse
Sublime
Adj
Lofty or grand:
The music was so sublime that it transformed the rude surroundings into a special place.
Synonym: august; grand; resplendent
Sully
Verb
To tarnish, taint:
With the help of a public relations firm, he was able to restore his sullied reputation.
Synonym: besmirch, defile
Supplant
Verb
to replace (another) by force; to take places of:
The overthrow of the government meant a new leader to supplant the tyrannical former one.
Synonym: displace; supersede
Surfeit
Noun
excessive amount:
Because of the surfeit of pigs, pork prices have never been lower.
Synonym: plethora; repletion; surplus
Surly
Adj
Rude and bad-tempered:
When asked to clean the windshield, the surly gas station attendant tossed a dirty rag at the customer and walked away.
Synonym: gruff; irascible; grumpy
Sybarite
Noun
a person devoted to pleasure and luxury:
A confirmed sybarite, the nobleman fainted at the thought of having to leave his palace and live in a small cottage.
Synonym: hedonist; sensualist
Symbiosis
Noun
cooperation, mutual helpfulness:
There is no other team with the privilege to have such a deep symbiosis with a football genius.
Synonym: association; interdependence
Syncopation
Noun
temporary irregularity in musical rhythm:
A jazz enthusiast will appreciate the use of syncopation in this musical genre.
