Set 1 Flashcards
ABASH (uh BASH)
v. to make ashamed; to embarrass
Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”
ABATE (uh BAYT)
v. to subside; to reduce
George spilled a cup of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated.
ABDICATE (AB duh kayt)
v. to step down from a position of power or responsibility
When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcée, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated.
ABERRATION (ab uh RAY shun)
n. something not typical; a deviation from the standard
Søren’s bad behavior was an aberration. So was Harry’s good behavior. That is, Søren’s was usually good, and Harry’s was usually
bad.
ABHOR (ab HOR)
v. to hate very, very much; to detest
Emanuel abhorred having to wake up before dawn.
To abhor raw chicken livers is to have an abhorrence of them or to find them abhorrent.
ABJECT (AB jekt)
adj. hopeless; extremely sad, and servile;
defeated
While most people would quickly recover from a stumble on stage, Mia felt abject humiliation.
An abject person is one who is crushed and without hope. A slave would
be abject, in all likelihood.
ABNEGATE (AB nuh gayt)
v. to deny oneself things; to reject; to
renounce
Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity.
ABORTIVE (uh BOR tiv)
adj. unsuccessful
Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake.
ABRIDGE (uh BRIJ)
v. to shorten; to condense
The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts.
ABSOLUTE (AB suh loot)
adj. total; unlimited
An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow, no two ways about it.
ABSOLVE (ab ZOLV)
v. to forgive or free from blame; to free from
sin; to free from an obligation
The priest absolved the sinner who had come to church to confess.
It is also possible to absolve someone of a responsibility.
Jake absolved Ciara of her obligation to go to the prom with him; he told her it was all right if she went with the captain of the football team instead.
