Unit2 Flashcards
kleptomania
A mental illness in which a person has a strong desire to steal things.
eg. Kleptomania leads its sufferers to steal items of little value that they don’t need anyway.
dipsomaniac
A person with an extreme and uncontrollable desire for alcohol
eg. She didn’t like the word alcoholic being applied to her, and liked dipsomaniac even less.
megalomaniac
A mental disorder marked by feelings of great personal power and importance.
eg. When the governor started calling for arming his National Guard with nuclear weapons, the voters finally realized they had elected a megalomaniac.
egomaniac
Someone who is extremely self-centered and ignores the problems and concerns of others.
eg. He’s a completely unimpressive person, but that doesn’t keep him from being an egomaniac.
psyche
Soul, personality, mind.
eg. Analysts are constantly trying to understand the nation’s psyche and why the U.S. often behaves so differently from other countries.
psychedelic
(1) Of or relating to a drug (such as LSD) that produces abnormal and often extreme mental effects such as hallucinations. (2) Imitating the effects of psychedelic drugs.
eg. In her only psychedelic experience, back in 1970, she had watched with horror as the walls began crawling with bizarrely colored creatures.
psychosomatic
Caused by mental or emotional problems rather than by physical illness.
eg. Her doctor assumed her stomach problems were psychosomatic but gave her some harmless medication anyway.
psychotherapist
One who treats mental or emotional disorder or related bodily ills by psychological means.
eg. He’s getting medication from a psychiatrist, but it’s his sessions with the psychotherapist that he really values.
reception
(1) The act of receiving. (2) A social gathering where guests are formally welcomed.
eg. Although the reception of her plan by the board of directors was enthusiastic, it was months before anything was done about it.
intercept
To stop, seize, or interrupt (something or someone) before arrival.
eg. The explosives had been intercepted by police just before being loaded onto the jet.
perceptible
Noticeable or able to be felt by the senses.
eg. Her change in attitude toward him was barely perceptible, and he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t just imagining it.
susceptible
(1) Open to some influence; responsive. (2) Able to be submitted to an action or process.
eg. She impressed everyone immediately with her intelligence, so they’re now highly susceptible to her influence and usually go along with anything she proposes.
confine
(1) To keep (someone or something) within limits. (2) To hold (someone) in a location.
eg. He had heard the bad news from the CEO, but when he spoke to his employees he confined his remarks to a few hints that sales had slipped.
definitive
(1) Authoritative and final. (2) Specifying perfectly or precisely.
eg. The team’s brilliant research provided a definitive description of the virus and its strange mutation patterns.
finite
Having definite limits.
eg. Her ambitions were infinite, but her wealth was finite.
infinitesimal
Extremely or immeasurably small.
eg. Looking more closely at the research data, he now saw an odd pattern of changes so infinitesimal that they hadn’t been noticed before.
interject
To interrupt a conversation with a comment or remark.
eg. His anger was growing as he listened to the conversation, and every so often he would interject a crude comment.
conjecture
To guess
eg. He was last heard of in Bogotá, and they conjectured that he had met his end in the Andes at the hands of the guerrillas.
projection
An estimate of what might happen in the future based on what is happening now.
eg. The president has been hearing different deficit projections all week from the members of his economic team.
trajectory
The curved path that an object makes in space, or that a thrown object follows as it rises and falls to earth.
eg. Considering the likely range, trajectory, and accuracy of a bullet fired from a cheap handgun at 100 yards, the murder seemed incredible.
traction
The friction that allows a moving thing to move over a surface without slipping.
eg. The spinning wheels were getting no traction on the ice, and we began to slip backward down the hill.
retract
(1) To pull back (something) into something larger. (2) To take back (something said or written).
eg. She was forced to retract her comment about her opponent after it was condemned in the press.
protracted
Drawn out, continued, or extended.
eg. No one was looking forward to a protracted struggle for custody of the baby.
intractable
Not easily handled, led, taught, or controlled.
eg. Corruption in the army was the country’s intractable problem, and for many years all foreign aid had ended up in the colonels’ pockets
conducive
Tending to promote, encourage, or assist; helpful.
eg. She found the atmosphere in the quiet café conducive to study and even to creative thinking.
deduction
(1) Subtraction. (2) The reaching of a conclusion by reasoning.
eg. Foretelling the future by deduction based on a political or economic theory has proved to be extremely difficult.
induce
(1) Persuade, influence. (2) Bring about.
eg. To induce him to make the call we had to promise we wouldn’t do it again.
seduction
(1) Temptation to sin, especially temptation to sexual intercourse. (2) Attraction or charm.
eg. The company began its campaign of seduction of the smaller firm by inviting its top management to a series of weekends at expensive resorts.
sequential
(1) Arranged in order or in a series. (2) Following in a series.
eg. In writing the history of the revolution, his challenge was to put all the events of those fateful days in proper sequential order.
subsequent
Following in time, order, or place; later.
eg. Through all her subsequent love affairs, she never stopped thinking about the man who got away.
consequential
(1) Resulting. (2) Important.
eg. None of our discussions thus far has been very consequential; next week’s meeting will be the important one.
non sequitur
A statement that does not follow logically from anything previously said.
eg. Rattled by the question, his mind went blank, and he blurted out a non sequitur that fetched a few laughs from members of the audience.
Apollonian
Harmonious, ordered, rational, calm.
eg. After a century of Romantic emotion, some composers adopted a more Apollonian style, producing clearly patterned pieces that avoided extremes of all kinds.
bacchanalian
Frenzied, orgiastic.
eg. The bacchanalian partying on graduation night resulted in three wrecked cars, two lawsuits by unamused parents, and more new experiences than most of the participants could remember the next day.
delphic
Unclear, ambiguous, or confusing
eg. All she could get from the strange old woman were a few delphic comments that left her more confused than ever about the missing documents.
Dionysian
Frenzied, delirious.
eg. Only in the tropics did such festivals become truly Dionysian, he said, which was why he was booking his flight to Rio.
jovial
Jolly, good-natured
eg. Their grandfather was as jovial and sociable as their grandmother was quiet and withdrawn.
mercurial
Having rapid and unpredictable changes of mood.
eg. His mother’s always mercurial temper became even more unpredictable, to the point where the slightest thing would trigger a violent fit.
Olympian
Lofty, superior, and detached.
eg. Now 77, he moved slowly and spoke to the younger lawyers in Olympian tones, but his college friends could remember when he was a brash, crazy risk-taker.
venereal
Having to do with sexual intercourse or diseases transmitted by it.
eg. In the 19th century syphilis especially was often fatal, and venereal diseases killed some of the greatest figures of the time.
