Test Makers Favorite Words II Flashcards
Abstain
To choose not to do something
She abstained from choosing a mouthwatering dessert from the tray.
Adulterate
To make impure
The chef made his ketchup last longer by adulterating it with water.
Apathy
Lack of interest or emotion
The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.
Audacious
Fearless and daring
Her audacious nature allowed her to fulfill her dream of skydiving.
Capricious
Changing one’s mind quickly and often
Queen Elizabeth I as quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy.
Corroborate
To provide supporting evidence
Fingerprints corroborated the witness’s testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim’s apartment.
Desiccate
To dry out thoroughly
After a few weeks of lying on the desert’s baking sands, the cow’s carcass became completely desiccated.
Engender
To produce, cause, or bring about
His fear and hatred of clowns was engendered when he witnessed the death of his father at the hands of a clown.
Ephemeral
Lasting a short time
The lives of mayflies seem ephemeral to us, since the flies’ average life span is a matter of hours.
Gullible
Easily deceived
The con man pretended to be a bank officer so as to fool gullible bank customers into giving him their account information.
Homogenous
Of a similar kind
The class was fairly homogenous, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.
Laconic
Using few words
She was a laconic poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.
Laudable
To give praise, to glorify
Parades and fireworks were staged to laud the success of the rebels.
Loquacious
Talkative
She was naturally loquacious, which was a problem in situations in which listening was more important than talking.
Mitigate
To soften, to lessen
A judge may mitigate sentence if she decides that a person committed a crime out of need.
