Unit 2 vocabulary

Question 1

accost

Answer 1

(v.) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way

SYNONYMS: buttonhole, approach
ANTONYMS: avoid, shun

Question 2

animadversion

Answer 2

(n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

SYNONYMS: rebuke, reproof
ANTONYMS: praise, compliment

Question 3

avid

Answer 3

(adj.) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

SYNONYMS: keen, enthusiastic, grasping
ANTONYMS: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

Question 4

brackish

Answer 4

(adj.) having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

SYNONYM: saline
ANTONYMS: clear, sweet

Question 5

celerity

Answer 5

(n.) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

SYNONYMS: promptness, speed
ANTONYMS: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

Question 6

devious

Answer 6

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

SYNONYMS: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful
ANTONYMS: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

Question 7

gambit

Answer 7

(n.) in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

SYNONYMS: ploy, ruse, maneuver

Question 8

halcyon

Answer 8

(n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj.) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

SYNONYMS: (adj.) tranquil, placid, palmy
ANTONYMS: (adj.) turbulent, tumultuous

Question 9

histrionic

Answer 9

(adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artifical; melodramatic

SYNONYMS: affected, stagy
ANTONYMS: muted, untheatrical, subdued

Question 10

incendiary

Answer 10

(adj.) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n.) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

SYNONYMS: (adj.) inflammatory, provocative; (n.) firebrand
ANTONYMS: (adj.) soothing, quieting; (n.) peacemaker

Question 11

maelstrom

Answer 11

(n.) a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

SYNONYMS: chaos, turbulence, tumult

Question 12

myopic

Answer 12

(adj.) nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment

SYNONYM: shortsighted
ANTONYM: farsighted

Question 13

overt

Answer 13

(adj.) open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

SYNONYMS: clear, obvious, manifest, patent
ANTONYMS: clandestine, covert, concealed

Question 14

pejorative

Answer 14

(adj.) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

ANTONYMS: complimentary, ameliorative

Question 15

propriety

Answer 15

(n.) the state of being proper, appropriateness; (pl.) standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

SYNONYMS: fitness, correctness
ANTONYMS: unseemliness, inappropriateness

Question 16

sacrilege

Answer 16

(n.) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

SYNONYMS: desecration, profanation, defilement

Question 17

summarily

Answer 17

(adv.) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

SYNONYMS: promptly, peremptorily

Question 18

suppliant

Answer 18

(adj.) asking humbly and earnestly; (n.) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

Question 19

talisman

Answer 19

(n.) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Question 20

undulate

Answer 20

(v.) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

SYNONYMS: fluctuate, rise and fall