VA Level 1 Flashcards
Word 1: PARAPHRASE (PAR-uh-frayz)
To restate, put what someone else has expressed into different words.
The noun a paraphrase is a restatement of a text or passage to give the sense of the original in fuller terms. The verb to paraphrase means to restate something, giving the meaning in another form.
To quote and to paraphrase are sharply distinguished. To quote is to use or repeat the words of someone else, giving acknowledgment to the source. To paraphrase is to restate in different words what someone else has said or written.
Word 2: OSTENSIBLE (ah-STEN-si-bul)
Apparent, appearing or seeming to be true, professed or declared as true without being demonstrated or proved.
More difficult synonyms of ostensible include plausible (PLAW-zi-bul) and specious (SPEE-shus). Specious, however, has the negative suggestion of using deception to make something false appear true. A specious argument is one that looks good on the surface but is flawed underneath.
Ostensible is often used in opposition to real or actual. An ostensible motive is not necessarily a real motive; an ostensible advantage is not necessarily an actual advantage. Ostensible means apparent, stated as true but not necessarily proved.
Word 3: DIGRESS (di-GRES or dy-GRES)
To wander, stray from the point, ramble, deviate, go off in another direction.
Digress comes from the Latin digressus, which comes in turn from the prefix dis-, apart, and gradi, to go, walk, step. Digress means literally to go apart, walk away. From the same Latin source come ingress (IN-gres), the place you walk in, the entrance; and egress (EE-gres), the place you walk out, the exit.
Digress once was used of a physical wandering or turning aside, but that sense is now archaic (ahr-KAY-ik), which means old-fashioned. Today we do not say, “She turned right and digressed down Main Street.” Instead, digress is used of speaking or writing that departs from the main point or subject at hand and wanders off in another direction: “In a business report or an oral presentation, it’s important to stick to the facts and not digress”; “If she hadn’t digressed so much, her lecture would have been more interesting.”
The corresponding noun is digression (di-GRESH-un or dy-GRESH-un): “The old man’s story was full of humorous digressions.”
Word 4: UNCANNY (uhn-KAN-ee)
Eerie, strange, weird, mysterious: “an uncanny experience.”
Uncanny may refer to something that is strange in an unnatural or unearthly way, something whose strangeness is unsettling or even frightening.
Uncanny may also be used to mean beyond what is normal or expected, strange in a remarkable or marvelous way, as “an uncanny resemblance,” or “uncanny ability.”
Word 5: CANDOR (KAN-dur)
Frankness, openness, sincere expression.
Synonyms include straightforwardness, outspokenness, forthrightness, and ingenuousness. Candor is the noun; the adjective is candid, frank, open, sincere.
The candid person expresses his or her thoughts frankly and openly, with no hesitation. The forthright person speaks directly to the point, plainly and sometimes bluntly, in a no-nonsense manner. The ingenuous (in-JEN-yoo-us, honest, innocent and willing to trust people. SYNONYM naive) person speaks honestly and sincerely, with no hint of evasiveness or deception.
Word 6: MOROSE (muh-ROHS)
Gloomy, moody, glum, grumpy, ill-tempered, depressed. “After weeks of futile job-hunting, he became morose.”
More difficult synonyms of morose include dolorous (DOH-luh-rus), which means mournful, full of sadness; lugubrious (luh-GOO-bree-us), which means extremely gloomy or dismal; and saturnine (SAT-ur-nyn), which means having a bitter disposition or sour outlook on life.
Antonyms—words opposite in meaning—include optimistic, jovial (JOH-vee-ul), and sanguine (SANG-gwin), which means having a cheerful, confident outlook on life.
Sullen (SUHL-in) and morose are close in meaning. When you refuse to speak or associate with people because you’re in a bad mood, you are being sullen. When you are depressed and silent because you are feeling bitter or resentful, you are morose. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, says that morose suggests “bitterness or misanthropy.” Misanthropy (mis-AN-thruh-pee) is hatred of humankind, a spiteful or pessimistic attitude about the human race. Moroseness is ill-tempered, bitter gloominess.
Word 7: ADEPT (uh-DEPT)
Skilled.
Synonyms include handy, clever, able, deft, expert, adroit, dexterous (DEK-strus, also DEK-stur-us), and proficient (pruh-FISH-int, not proh-).
Adept comes from the Latin adeptus, an alchemist who has learned how to do the impossible—change base metals into gold. The noun an adept (AD-ept) means a highly skilled person, an expert. The adjective adept means skilled, dexterous, proficient: “He was adept at managing his investments, and they always turned a handsome profit.”
Word 8: SATURATED (SACH-uh-RAY-tid)
Soaked, thoroughly wet, full of moisture.
Synonyms include drenched, steeped, permeated (PUR-mee-AY-tid), impregnated, imbued (im-BYOOD), and sodden (SAHD-’n).
Sodden may mean heavy with moisture, soggy, or dull, stupefied, expressionless, as from drinking too much liquor. To saturate means to soak or wet thoroughly, either literally, as in “My french fries are saturated with oil,” or figuratively: “The company saturated the media with ads for its new product.” Saturation is the corresponding noun.
Word 9: PRAGMATIC (prag-MAT-ik)
Practical, having to do with actual practice, concerned with everyday affairs as opposed to theory or speculation.
Pragmatic comes from the Latin pragmaticus, which means skilled in business or law. The lawyer is concerned with evidence and proof; the businessperson is concerned with facts and figures. Both have little time for idle speculation or harebrained schemes. Both must be pragmatic, concerned with practical, everyday affairs.
Word 10: CONGENIAL (kun-JEE-nee-ul)
Sympathetic, agreeable, compatible, kindred, harmonious, having the same taste, nature, or temperament.
Congenial persons have similar or sympathetic tastes, interests, or personalities. Congenial things agree, go well together.
Antonyms, or opposites, of congenial are alien, dissident (DIS-uh-dint), and incongruous (in-KAHNG-groo-us).
Word 11: CAPRICIOUS (kuh-PRISH-us)
Unpredictable, tending to change abruptly for no apparent or logical reason.
Synonyms of capricious include flighty, changeable, impulsive, and fickle. More difficult synonyms include erratic, whimsical (W(H)IM-zi-kul), volatile (VAHL-uh-tul), and mercurial (mur-KYUR-ee-ul).
A caprice (kuh-PREES) is a sudden change of mind or change in the emotions. A person or a thing that is capricious is subject to caprices—to abrupt, unpredictable changes: “He’s so capricious, his mood changes with the wind”; “New England has a capricious climate”; “The stock market is notoriously capricious.”
Did you notice that my recommended pronunciation for capricious is kuh-PRISH-us, the second syllable rhyming with wish? You will hear educated speakers say kuh-PREE-shus, a pronunciation based on the corresponding noun caprice (kuh-PREES). This variant has been recognized by American dictionaries since the 1960s. But authorities have preferred kuh-PRISH-us since the 18th century, when pronunciation was first recorded. Current American dictionaries list kuh-PRISH-us first, and it is the only pronunciation in the Oxford English Dictionary. Have you ever heard anyone put an E in the middle of suspicious, judicious, or avaricious? Rhyme capricious with delicious.
Word 12: BLATANT (BLAYT-’nt)
Noisy, disagreeably or offensively loud, boisterous, clamorous: “the blatant sound of horns honking in heavy traffic.”
Blatant is also used to mean sticking out in a glaring way, obtrusive, flagrant, as in “a blatant lie,” “a blatant error,” “a blatant attempt to impress the boss.”
In either sense, blatant suggests something conspicuous and disagreeable.
Word 13: OBLIGATORY (uh-BLIG-uh-tor-ee)
Required, necessary, binding, mandatory.
Obligatory duties are those you must perform to fulfill an obligation or responsibility. Doing miscellaneous paperwork is an obligatory function of the clerical worker.
Do not pronounce the initial o in obligatory like the o in open. Pronounce it like the a in above.
Word 14: NEGLIGIBLE (NEG-li-ji-bul)
Unimportant, trifling, of little consequence.
That which is negligible can be neglected. A negligible concern can be disregarded; it is so trivial and insignificant that it warrants little or no attention.
Word 15: ADAMANT (AD-uh-mint)
Unyielding, immovable, inflexible, refusing to give in, unshakable, unrelenting, implacable. “She was adamant in her opposition to the plan.”
The adjective adamant comes from the noun adamant, which refers to a hard substance or stone, such as a diamond, that in ancient times was believed to be unbreakable. There is an old word adamantine (AD-uh-MAN-tin), still listed in current dictionaries but not often used; it means like adamant, very hard, unbreakable. The adjective adamant, which has replaced adamantine in current usage, means hard in the sense of inflexible, immovable, unyielding.
Word 16: SPORADIC (spuh-RAD-ik or spor-AD-ik)
Occasional, infrequent, irregular, not constant, happening from time to time, occurring in a scattered or random way.
A business venture may have sporadic success. A gambler’s luck may be sporadic. Sporadic crimes are crimes scattered throughout a city or neighborhood. Sporadic outbreaks of a disease in the population are occasional, isolated outbreaks.
Antonyms of sporadic include constant, incessant (in-SES-int), and unremitting.
Word 17: VANGUARD (VAN-gahrd)
The forefront of an action or movement, leading position or persons in a movement: “They were in the vanguard of the war on poverty.”
In its strict military sense, vanguard means the troops moving at the head of an army, the part of the army that goes ahead of the main body, an advance guard.
Word 18: CONCUR (kun-KUR)
To agree, be in accord with, unite in opinion.
Concur comes from the Latin con-, together, and currere, to run, flow, and means literally to run or flow together, go along with. That derivation has led to three slightly different meanings of the word.
First, concur may be used to mean to act together, combine in having an effect, as “Time and chance concurred in our success.”
Second, concur may be used to mean happen together, occur at the same time, coincide, as “His pay raise concurred with his promotion.”
The third and most common meaning of concur is to agree, as “Your story concurs with theirs”; “We concurred on almost every point of negotiation.”
Word 19: PRECOCIOUSNESS (pruh-KOH-shus-nis)
Early development or maturity, especially in mental ability.
The noun precociousness and the adjective precocious come from the Latin praecox, which means premature, or literally, “ripening before its time.” Precocious is most often used of children whose intellectual or emotional development is unusually advanced. Precociousness, early development, is the opposite of retardation, slowness in development.
Word 20: ALOOF (uh-LOOF)
Apart, at a distance, removed, withdrawn, not wishing to speak or associate with others.
The aloof person is emotionally reserved and keeps a cool distance from others. Aloofness means reluctance to get involved or take an interest in something.
Synonyms of aloof include unsympathetic, unapproachable, standoffish, and indifferent.
