Unit10 Flashcards
reputed
Believed to be a certain way by popular opinion.
eg. The 15th-century prince Vlad the Impaler is reputed to have inspired the character Dracula, though in fact, evil though Vlad was, Dracula’s creator only borrowed his nickname.
disrepute
Loss or lack of good reputation; disgrace.
eg. The family had fallen into disrepute after the conviction and imprisonment of his father and uncle.
impute
To attribute.
egj. The British imputed motives of piracy to American ships trying to prevent them from interfering with American trade during the War of 1812.
putative
Generally supposed; assumed to exist.
eg. To strengthen the case for the defense, a putative expert took the stand.
physiology
(1) A branch of biology dealing with the processes and activities by which living things, tissues, and cells function. (2) The life processes and activities of a living thing or any of its parts.
eg. For students planning to go to medical school, the university’s most popular major is Human Physiology.
methodology
A set of methods or rules followed in a science or field.
eg. Some researchers claimed that Dr. Keller’s methodology was sloppy and had led to unreliable conclusions.
ideology
The set of ideas and beliefs of a group or political party.
eg. By the time she turned 19, she realized she no longer believed in her family’s political ideology.
cardiology
The study of the heart and its action and diseases.
eg. After his heart attack, he actually bought himself a cardiology textbook and set about learning everything he could about his unreliable organ.
parterre
(1) A decorative garden with paths between the beds of plants. (2) The back area of the ground floor of a theater, often under the balcony.
eg. The city’s park boasts a beautiful parterre with many varieties of roses.
subterranean
Underground.
eg. In Carlsbad Caverns National Park there is an astonishing subterranean chamber over half a mile long.
terrarium
An enclosure, usually transparent, with a layer of dirt in the bottom in which plants and sometimes small animals are kept indoors.
eg. When no one was watching, they dropped their snake in the fifth-grade terrarium, and then waited in the hall to hear the screams.
terrestrial
(1) Having to do with Earth or its inhabitants. (2) Living or growing on land instead of in water or air.
eg. The roadrunner, although a largely terrestrial bird, can take flight for short periods when necessary.
marina
A dock or harbor where pleasure boats can be moored securely, often with facilities offering supplies or repairs.
eg. The coast of Florida has marinas all along it for the use of anything from flimsy sailboats to enormous yachts.
aquamarine
(1) A transparent blue or blue-green gem. (2) A pale blue or greenish blue that is the color of clear seawater in sunlight.
eg. Many of the houses on the Italian Riviera are painted aquamarine to match the Mediterranean.
mariner
A seaman or sailor.
eg. When he signed on as a mariner, the young Ishmael never suspected that the ship would be pursuing a great white whale.
maritime
(1) Bordering on or having to do with the sea. (2) Having to do with navigation or commerce on the sea.
eg. As a result of the ocean, Canada’s Maritime Provinces—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island—have a late spring but a mild winter.
pathos
(1) An element in life or drama that produces sympathetic pity. (2) An emotion of sympathetic pity.
eg. The pathos of the blind child beggars she had seen in India could still keep her awake at night.
apathetic
(1) Showing or feeling little or no emotion. (2) Having no interest.
eg. His apathetic response to the victory bewildered his friends.
empathy
The feeling of, or the ability to feel, the emotions and sensations of another.
eg. Her maternal empathy was so strong that she often seemed to be living her son’s life emotionally.
telepathic
Involving apparent communication from one mind to another without speech or signs.
eg. After ten years of marriage, their communication is virtually telepathic, and each always seems to know what the other is thinking.
penal
Having to do with punishment or penalties, or institutions where punishment is given.
eg. The classic novels Les Misérables and The Count of Monte Cristo portray the terrible conditions in French penal institutions in the 19th century.
impunity
Freedom from punishment, harm, or loss.
eg. Under the flag of truce, the soldiers crossed the field with impunity.
penance
An act of self-punishment or religious devotion to show sorrow or regret for sin or wrongdoing.
eg. In the Middle Ages bands of pilgrims would trudge to distant holy sites as penance for their sins.
punitive
Giving, involving, or aiming at punishment.
eg. The least popular teachers are usually the ones with punitive attitudes, those who seem to enjoy punishing more than teaching.
maternity
The state of being a mother; motherhood.
eg. It’s quite possible that the Mona Lisa is a portrait of maternity, and that the painting marks the recent birth of her child Andrea.
matriarch
A woman who controls a family, group, or government.
eg. Every August all the grown children and their families are summoned to the estate by the matriarch.
matrilineal
Based on or tracing the family through the mother.
eg. Many of the peoples of Ghana in Africa trace their family through matrilineal connections.
matrix
(1) Something (such as a situation or a set of conditions) in which something else develops or forms. (2) Something shaped like a pattern of lines and spaces.
eg. The country’s political matrix is so complex that no one who hasn’t lived there could possibly understand it.
aquaculture
The farming of plants and animals (such as kelp, fish, and shellfish) that live in the water.
eg. The farming of oysters by the Romans was an early form of aquaculture that has continued to the present day.
aquanaut
A scuba diver who lives and works both inside and outside an underwater shelter for an extended time.
eg. Each scientist at the laboratory spent two weeks a year as an aquanaut living in the deep-sea station.
aqueduct
(1) A pipe or channel for water. (2) A bridgelike structure for carrying water over a valley.
eg. Roman aqueducts were built throughout the empire, and their spectacular arches can still be seen in Greece, France, Spain, and North Africa.
aquifer
A layer of rock, sand, or gravel that can absorb and hold water.
eg. Cities without access to a nearby lake or river must rely on underground aquifers to meet their water needs.
cereal
(1) A plant that produces grain that can be eaten as food, or the grain it produces. (2) The food made from grain.
eg. Rice is the main food cereal of Asia, whereas wheat and corn are the main food cereals of the West.
Junoesque
Having mature, poised, and dignified beauty.
eg. In 1876, as a centennial gift, the French sent to America a massive statue of a robed Junoesque figure representing Liberty, to be erected in New York Harbor.
martial
Having to do with war and military life.
eg. The stirring, martial strains of “The British Grenadiers” echoed down the snowy street just as dawn was breaking.
Promethean
New or creative in a daring way.
eg. Beginning in the 1950s, the little Asian countries of South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore began to display a Promethean energy that would become one of the marvels of the modern world.
Sisyphean
Endless and difficult, involving many disappointments.
eg. After twenty years, many researchers had begun to think that defeating the virus was a Sisyphean task that would never succeed.
titanic
Having great size, strength, or power; colossal.
eg. The titanic floods of 1993 destroyed whole towns on the Mississippi River.
Triton
(1) A being with a human upper body and the lower body of a fish; a merman. (2) Any of various large mollusks with a heavy, conical shell.
eg. In one corner of the painting, a robust Triton emerges from the sea with his conch to announce the coming of the radiant queen.
vulcanize
To treat crude or synthetic rubber or plastic so that it becomes elastic and strong and resists decay.
eg. The native islanders had even discovered how to vulcanize the rubber from the local trees in a primitive way.
