The Next 20 Flashcards
Abstain
to choose not to do something
During Lent, practicing Catholics abstain from eating meat.
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forbear, refrain, withhold
Adulterate
to make impure
The restaurateur made his ketchup last longer by adulterating it with water.
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unadulterated: pure
adultery: an illicit relationship; an affair
doctor
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.
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coolness, disinterest, disregard, impassivity, indifference, insensibility, lassitude, lethargy, listlessness, phlegm, stolidity, unconcern, unresponsiveness
Audacious
fearless and daring
“And you, your majesty, may kiss my bum!” replied the audacious peasant.
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audacity: the quality of being audacious
adventuresome, aggressive, assertive, bold, brave, courageous, daring, dauntless, doughty, fearless, gallant, game, heroic, intrepid, mettlesome, plucky, stout, stouthearted, unafraid, undaunted, valiant, valorous, venturesome, venturous
Capricious
changing one’s mind quickly and often
Queen Elizabeth I was quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy.
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caprice: whim, sudden fancy
arbitrary, chance, changeable, erratic, fickle, inconstant, mercurial, random, whimsical, willful
Corroborate
to provide supporting evidence
Fingerprints corroborated the witness’s testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim’s apartment.
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authenticate, back, bear out, buttress, confirm, substantiate, validate, verify
Desiccate
to dry out thoroughly
After a few weeks of lying on the desert’s baking sands, the cow’s carcass became completely desiccated.
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desiccant: soemthing that removes water from another substance
dehydrate, dry, parch
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.
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beget, generate, procreate, proliferate, reproduce, spawn
Ephemeral
Lasting a short time
The lives of mayflies seem ephemeral to us, since the flies’ average life span is a matter of hours.
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evanescent, fleeting, momentary, transient
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.
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gull: a person who is easily tricked
credulous, exploitable, naive
Homogenous
of a similar kind
The class was fairly homogenous, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.
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homogenized: thoroughly mixed together
consistent, standardized, uniform, unvarying
Laconic
using few words
She was a laconic poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.
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concise, curt, pithy, taciturn, terse
Laud
to give praise; to glorify
Parades and fireworks were staged to laud the success of the rebels.
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laudable: worthy of praise
laudatory: expressing praise
acclaim, applaud, commend, compliment, exalt, extol, hail, praise
Loquacious
talkative
She was naturally laquacious, which was a problem in situations in which listening was more important than talking.
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eloquence: powerful, convincing speaking
loquacity: the quality of being loquacious
effusive, garrulous, verbose
Mitigate
to soften; to lessen
A judge may mitigate a sentence if she decides that a person committed a crime out of need.
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allay, alleviate, assuage, ease, lighten, moderate, mollify, palliate, temper
