VOCAB 01 FEB 7, 2016 Flashcards
ADORN
To decorate or add beauty to a person or thing.
Be beautiful to look at.
— flowers adorned the walkway
adorn |əˈdôrn|verb [with obj.]make more beautiful or attractive: pictures and prints adorned his walls. 1. to decorate or add beauty to, as by ornaments: garlands of flowers adorning their hair. 2. to make more pleasing, attractive, impressive, etc.; enhance: Piety adorned Abigail’s character. ~ ad + orn(ornamentals) used to decorate
To adorn is to dress something up by decorating it. You might adorn your poncho with fringe or your poodle’s dog collar with rhinestones.
Adorn shares some Latin roots with words like ornament and ornate. So it makes sense that some people adorn their Christmas trees with tinsel and lights. Others adorn their eyelids with glitter. In any case, if you want to adorn yourself with all kinds of fabulous baubles, it might be wise to follow Coco Chanel’s advice: take at least one accessory off before you walk out the door.
— Antique accent pieces adorn end tables and china sets highlight what cabinets might look like when arriving at a new home.
— Ramdev is not the only guru whose face now adorns products on supermarket shelves.
— Framed pictures of former patients also adorn the wall, providing hope right as people enter the front door.
— The church, effectively a one-room storefront, is adorned with paintings of Coltrane as well as images in which Jesus and Mary are black.
— The Space A contemporary 56-seat space with sleek, light wood, porcelain tiles and soothing dark gray walls adorned with a large wood carving from Thailand.
— You’ll notice the murals and art adorning the wall, as the art is just as important to Palette 22’s mission as the food.
— And even that is usually not a real past but an imagined and adorned past.
— Oversized photos of men in cowboy hats, and ads for fertilizer adorn the walls.
— The mosaics climb the wall, and each table is adorned with a different design, chiseled by Mr. Sayed.
— An image of an Indian with a mohawk and feathers in his hair adorns the floor of the school’s gym.
— I wanted to adorn myself with the 12 types of crunchy grains that Oprah loves, rubbing them like glitter on my cleavage.
— Those items adorn Hard Rock Cafe venues around the world..
NAG
to annoy (someone) by often complaining about his or her behavior, appearance, etc
— An example of nag is for a parent to constantly ask their son to clean his room.
— An example of nag is a constant pain.
nag 1 |nag| verb ( nags, nagging , nagged ) [with obj.]
annoy or irritate (a person) with persistent fault-finding or continuous urging: she constantly nags her daughter about getting married | [with infinitive] :
— she nagged him to do the housework | [no obj.] :
— he’s always nagging at her for staying out late.
• be persistently painful, troublesome, or worrying to: [no obj.] : something nagged at the back of his mind. noun a person who nags someone. • a persistent feeling of anxiety: he felt once again that little nag of doubt.
When you ask for something over and over AND over again, you are nagging. If you nag your parents long enough, they’ll either give in and get you a puppy, or simply refuse any pets at all — not even a goldfish.
When you nag someone, you complain and pester them. Your teacher might nag you about a late assignment, or you might nag your friend to give you back the sweater he borrowed. A thought or worry can also nag you, simply by staying in your thoughts. The word nag meant “gnaw” before the 1820s, from a Scandinavian root
BAFFLE
ˈbafəl |
to confuse or frustrate someone
verb [with obj.]
1 totally bewilder or perplex: an unexplained occurrence that baffled everyone.
2 restrain or regulate (a fluid, sound, etc.): to baffle the noise further, I pad the gunwales.
— A patient whose condition baffled the physicians.
CALORIFIC
calorific |ˌkaləˈrifik|
adjectivechiefly Brit.
relating to the amount of energy contained in food or fuel: she knew the calorific contents of every morsel.
• (of food or drink) containing many calories and so likely to be fattening: there is fruit salad for those who can resist the more calorific concoctions.
CANTANKEROUS
kanˈtaNGkərəs |
Cranky, unpleasant or hard to get along.
Stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate.
Bad tempered, grumpy or looking for an argument.
adjective
bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative: a crusty, cantankerous old man.
Teh cantenkerous old man sat on his porch and yelled at the neighborhood kids.
cantankerous
If someone is cantankerous he has a difficult disposition. Take care not to throw your ball into the yard of the cantankerous old man down the street — he’ll cuss you out and keep your ball.
The origin of cantankerous is unclear (it may be at least partly from Middle English contek ‘dissension’), but ever since it first appeared in plays from the 1770s, it’s been a popular way to describe someone who is quarrelsome and disagreeable. It is usually applied to people, but stubborn animals like mules are also described as cantankerous. Events can be cantankerous too, like a cantankerous debate. Some synonyms are cranky, bad-tempered, irritable, irascible.
— An example of cantankerous is a grumpy old man who lives on your street who is always watching the neighborhood kids to find something to yell at them about.
— Cantankerous is generally used to describe an unpleasant elderly person in a slightly pejorative manner. However, the term can be used to people in general, livestock, and machinery as well.
— The cantankerous old piece of junk.
— Feeding and harnessing the cantankerous mules wasn’t exactly the highlight of her day.
CHURLISH
Rude and vulgar.
Mean and rude or grumpy.
churlish |ˈCHərliSH|
adjective
rude in a mean-spirited and surly way: it seems churlish to complain.
churlish
A churlish person is one whose middle name might as well be Rude. He’s the one who was never taught to mind his manners and avoid telling vulgar jokes at the dinner table.
Churlish has its origins in late Old English, but its modern-day meaning of “deliberately rude” developed in the 14th century. It’s a fitting adjective to describe boorish or surly behavior. It can also describe a material that is difficult to work with, such as hard wood that’s resistant to quick whittling. Our prolific pal Shakespeare coined the phrase, “as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear.”
— It’s terribly churlish, mocking people for acts of great financial generosity.
— It would be churlish to argue that smart policing isn’t a good thing.
— It may seem churlish to speak ill of strangers.
— It may seem churlish to complain about excessive loveliness in music, especially when the playing is as excellent as it was here.
— But when he’s cornered or on the attack, they turn childish, churlish and charmless.
— While some lauded Mr. Bissell’s stance, the majority found it churlish and unprofessional.
— You promised your mother-in-law a trip to Disney, and it would be churlish to deprive her.
— Residents at her apartment complex said the woman, who was between 45 and 65 years old, developed a churlish reputation over the years.
— But still… It would be churlish not to acknowledge its achievement.
— You have a boyfriend who loves the extravagant gesture, so stop being churlish about this.
CLICHE
cliché |klēˈSHā kli-, kli-, ˈklēˌSHā|(also cliche )
noun
1 a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought: the old cliché “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.”
• a very predictable or unoriginal thing or person: each building is a mishmash of tired clichés.
COAGULATE
coagulate |kōˈagyəˌlāt|
verb [no obj.]
(of a fluid, esp. blood) change to a solid or semisolid state: blood had coagulated around the edges of the wound.
• [with obj.] cause (a fluid) to change to a solid or semisolid state: epinephrine coagulates the blood.
COMMODIOUS
commodious |kəˈmōdēəs|
adjective
1 formal (esp. of furniture or a building) roomy and comfortable.
COMPLIANT
compliant |kəmˈplīənt|
adjective
1 inclined to agree with others or obey rules, esp. to an excessive degree; acquiescent: good-humored, eagerly compliant girls.
• meeting or in accordance with rules or standards: the systems are Y2K compliant.
CONCISE
concise |kənˈsīs|
adjective
giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words; brief but comprehensive: a concise account of the country’s history.
CONSIGN
To give over to the care or custody of another.
To commit forever; commit irrevocably.
To send to an address.
To give something to another.
To give over to another for care or safekeeping.
To hand over; give up or deliver (consigned to jail).
To deliver (merchandise, for example) for custody or sale.
consign |kənˈsīn|
verb [with obj.]
deliver (something) to a person’s custody, typically in order for it to be sold: he consigned three paintings to Sotheby’s.
• send (goods) by a public carrier.
• (consign someone/something to) assign; commit decisively or permanently: she consigned the letter to the wastebasket.
consign
The verb consign means to transfer permanently to another. You can consign ownership of your old car to your son, an act that will probably make you the “best parent ever” in his eyes.
Consign means to commit or relegate. Those platform shoes you still have from high school in the 1970s? You should probably consign them to the trash — of course, they probably should have been consigned in the 1970s! Consign can also be used if you turn over an object for sale where the business making the sale gets a percentage of the profits and so do you. If you don’t like the art work you inherited, you might consign it with an auction house and use the profits to buy something you like better.
— The photos were consigned to the museum library.
— The industry is fast becoming consigned to the history books.
— Schizophrenia often consigns people to homelessness, incarceration and unemployment.
— Many have called it a do-or-die moment for the planet, our last chance to cut emissions or consign ourselves to an overheated doom.
— It will decide whether the “war on drugs” should be consigned to history and a new people-centred approach adopted.
— Many thousands are consigned to local jails while awaiting trial or sentencing, or while serving short sentences.
— Seemingly out of position to win, Hamlin, like Edwards, consigned himself to a defensive role.
— With the celebrations now just a memory, those achievements have been consigned to the record books.
— An athlete who cheats to lose, meanwhile, is consigned to a deep circle of sporting hell.
— When most video games are canceled during development, they disappear, consigned to back rooms and never spoken of again.
— In deciding where to consign their works, rich collectors play off one auction house against the other to force up the guarantee.
— But Ms. Rosales presented them, instead, as having come from a mysterious collection and consigned them to Knoedler for sale.
— The inquiry heard evidence that Mr Litvinenko may have been consigned to a slow death from radiation to “send a message”.
— If his court coverage is now even marginally compromised then he is consigned to a lower ranking.
— I had consigned those three objects to an antiques dealer, a certain Dell’Aversano, for him to sell.
— This thoughtful report must not be consigned to the shelves and instead should provide the basis for needed action.
— So it remains to be seen if that is where he will soon consign his critics - including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.
— Houston’s Diamond Offshore and London’s Noble Corp have also consigned about a dozen ships to scrap since last year.
— Most fishing boats consign their catches to agents, who hustle deals with buyers.
— A spokesman for Sotheby’s said that Simon’s trust was consigning the items to auction.
CORNUCOPIA
cornucopia |ˌkôrn(y)əˈkōpēə|
noun
a symbol of plenty consisting of a goat’s horn overflowing with flowers, fruit, and corn.
• an ornamental container shaped like such a horn.
• an abundant supply of good things of a specified kind: the festival offers a cornucopia of pleasures.
A grocery store with a large selection of fruits and vegetables could be said to have a cornucopia of produce. A cornucopia is a lot of good stuff.
Around Thanksgiving in the United States, you’ll often see cornucopias or horn-shaped baskets filled with fruit and other goodies as centerpieces. Originally, a cornucopia was a goat’s horn filled with corn and fruit to symbolize plenty. Nowadays, a cornucopia is probably made of some kind of plaster or wicker, but it still symbolizes the same thing — a good harvest season.
— The landscapes appear as framed glimpses of gardens and palaces, surrounded by a cornucopia of paintings, musical instruments, flowers, food and armaments.
— Wandering in and away from these sites, one encounters a cornucopia of puzzles.
— Thursday night’s Republican debate on Fox News was a cornucopia of politicians saying vile and untrue things.
DERIVATIVE
derivative |diˈrivətiv|
noun
something that is based on another source: a derivative of the system was chosen for the Marine Corps’ V-22 tilt rotor aircraft.
• (often derivatives) an arrangement or instrument (such as a future, option, or warrant) whose value derives from and is dependent on the value of an underlying asset: [as modifier] : the derivatives market.
• a word derived from another or from a root in the same or another language.
• a substance that is derived chemically from a specified compound: crack is a highly addictive cocaine derivative.
DIFFUSE
diffuse
verb |diˈfyo͞oz|
spread or cause to spread over a wide area or among a large number of people: [no obj.] : technologies diffuse rapidly | [with obj.] : the problem is how to diffuse power without creating anarchy.
• become or cause (a fluid, gas, individual atom, etc.) to become intermingled with a substance by movement, typically in a specified direction or at specified speed: [no obj.] : oxygen molecules diffuse across the membrane | [with obj.] : gas is diffused into the bladder.
• [with obj.] cause (light) to glow faintly by dispersing it in many directions.
EFFICACIOUS
ˌefiˈkāSHəs |
Producing a desired effect or having the intended result.
Producing or capable of producing an intended result.
Someone or something that successfully produced a result that was desired.
— An example of efficacious is a program that was designed to help stop crime and that reduced the crime rate by 80 percent.
adjective formal (typically of something inanimate or abstract) successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective: the vaccine has proved both efficacious and safe.
efficacious
When you really want to do something right, really nail it, really get at what you were going for — you’re trying to be efficacious, or produce the effect you intended.
The word efficacious is made up of the Latin efficere meaning “accomplish” and the suffix -ious meaning “full of.” Something that’s efficacious is full of accomplishment. An efficacious medicine is one that cures you of the ailment you had. An efficacious recipe is one that comes out the way you intended it to taste. Remember that efficacious has two fs and two cs in it and you’ll be efficacious in your spelling of the word.
— Young girls of color, more alienated from the vicarious access to power that white girls enjoy, are more confident, politically efficacious, and trusted as leaders.
— It could prove particularly efficacious with high-value crops, he added.
— It is an objective tool to guide safe and efficacious prescribing.
— Conventional treatments, no matter how efficacious initially, stop working once the cancer cells adapt to outwit them.
— They were not in general efficacious in their questioning.
— If it continues to prove efficacious, approval for general use will no doubt follow, and the vaccine will spread to the other two affected countries.
— It guides the doctor or nurse practitioner in choosing the most safe and efficacious medication.
ELABORATE
elaborate
adjective |iˈlab(ə)rit|
involving many carefully arranged parts or details; detailed and complicated in design and planning: elaborate security precautions | elaborate wrought-iron gates.
• (of an action) lengthy and exaggerated: he made an elaborate pretense of yawning.
verb |iˈlabəˌrāt|
1 [with obj.] develop or present (a theory, policy, or system) in detail: the key idea of the book is expressed in the title and elaborated in the text.
• [no obj.] add more detail concerning what has already been said: he would not elaborate on his news.
2 [with obj.] Biology (of a natural agency) produce (a substance) from its elements or simpler constituents.
EMBELLISH
embellish |emˈbeliSH|
verb [with obj.]
make (something) more attractive by the addition of decorative details or features: blue silk embellished with golden embroidery.
• make (a statement or story) more interesting or entertaining by adding extra details, esp. ones that are not true: she had real difficulty telling the truth because she liked to embellish things.
ESOTERIC
esoteric |ˌesəˈterik|
adjective
intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest: esoteric philosophical debates.
FACILITATE
fəˈsiliˌtāt |
To to make something easier
verb [with obj.]
make (an action or process) easy or easier: schools were located on the same campus to facilitate the sharing of resources.
— It will help facilitate the sharing of information within their organizations over the Internet.
— We will actively facilitate business opportunities and develop them whenever they benefit the people of Northern Ireland.
— Can you help facilitate the exchanges of faculty?
— It can be facilitated by any expert.
FLOURISH
flourish |ˈfləriSH|
verb
1 [no obj.] (of a person, animal, or other living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, esp. as the result of a particularly favorable environment: wild plants flourish on the banks of the lake.
• develop rapidly and successfully: the organization has continued to flourish.
• [with adverbial] (of a person) be working or at the height of one’s career during a specified period: the caricaturist and wit who flourished in the early years of this century.
2 [with obj.] (of a person) wave (something) around to attract the attention of others: “Happy New Year!” he yelled, flourishing a bottle of whiskey.
GARRULOUS
garrulous |ˈgar(y)ələs|
adjective
excessively talkative, esp. on trivial matters: Polonius is portrayed as a foolish, garrulous old man.
GRILL
grill
verb
1 [with obj.] cook (something) using a grill: grill the trout for about five minutes.
2 [with obj.] informal subject (someone) to intense questioning or interrogation: my father grilled us about what we had been doing | (as noun grilling) : they faced a grilling over the latest results.
HARANGUE
harangue |həˈraNG|
noun
a lengthy and aggressive speech.
verb [with obj.]
lecture (someone) at length in an aggressive and critical manner: the kind of guy who harangued total strangers about PCB levels in whitefish.
HERESY
heresy |ˈherəsē|
noun ( pl. heresies )
belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious (esp. Christian) doctrine: Huss was burned for heresy | the doctrine was denounced as a heresy by the pope.
• opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted: cutting capital gains taxes is heresy | the politician’s heresies became the conventional wisdom of the day.
HYPOTHESIS
hīˈpäTHəsis |
An unproven theory or statement.
An educated guess.
A proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations.
A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
noun ( pl. hypotheses |-ˌsēz| )
a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation: professional astronomers attacked him for popularizing an unconfirmed hypothesis.
• Philosophy a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.
hypothesis
In science, a hypothesis is an idea or explanation that you then test through study and experimentation. Outside science, a theory or guess can also be called a hypothesis.
A hypothesis is something more than a wild guess but less than a well-established theory. In science, a hypothesis needs to go through a lot of testing before it gets labeled a theory. In the non-scientific world, the word is used a lot more loosely. A detective might have a hypothesis about a crime, and a mother might have a hypothesis about who spilled juice on the rug. Anyone who uses the word hypothesis is making a guess.
HYPOTHETICAL
hypothetical |ˌhīpəˈTHetikəl|
adjective
of, based on, or serving as a hypothesis: that option is merely hypothetical at this juncture.
• supposed but not necessarily real or true: the hypothetical tenth planet.
• Logic denoting or containing a proposition of the logical form if p then q .
noun (usu. hypotheticals)
a hypothetical proposition or statement: Finn talked in hypotheticals, tossing what-if scenarios to Rosen.
IMPLY
imply |imˈplī|
verb ( implies, implying, implied ) [with obj.]
strongly suggest the truth or existence of (something not expressly stated): the salesmen who uses jargon to imply his superior knowledge | [with clause] : the report implies that two million jobs might be lost.
• (of a fact or occurrence) suggest (something) as a logical consequence: the forecasted traffic increase implied more roads and more air pollution.
INNATE
innate |iˈnāt|
adjective
Inborn; natural: her innate capacity for organization.
Existing naturally or by heredity rather than being learned through experience:
— He had an innate modesty and simplicity of character.
— He was in fairly good shape, thanks mostly to weekend biking more than any innate athletic ability.
— He had an innate musicality.
JUBILANT
ˈjo͞obələnt |
Triumphant or joyful.
Triumphant or thrilled.
Showing great joy or happiness.
Joyful and triumphant.
Joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success
adjective
feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph.
If you were the quarterback that threw the touchdown pass that won the Super Bowl, you would be jubilant: filled with joy.
When you feel jubilant, you’re full of extreme happiness. Usually people are jubilant after great victories, whether in sports, politics, or life. When you’re jubilant, it’s a moment of extreme happiness, like giving birth or watching a child graduate. There can also be jubilant songs, jubilant performances, even jubilant periods in history, times when people are especially proud and filled with triumph. The end of World War II was just such a jubilant moment.
— Trump’s campaign manager was understandably jubilant about the news.
— A slightly hoarse Clinton came out to cheers of “Hillary! Hillary!” in a room full of jubilant supporters in Columbia.
— There were jubilant scenes in court with people cheering and applauding the victims when the judge finished reading out the sentence.
— His supporters in Nevada were jubilant on Tuesday night.
— At the end he looked jubilant, as people rose for another tremendous ovation.
JUXTAPOSE
ˈjəkstəˌpōz, ˌjəkstəˈpōz |
To put things side by side to compare.
Place side by side.
To put two things close to each other in order to highlight or compare the differences between them.
verb [with obj.]
place or deal with close together for contrasting effect: black-and-white photos of slums were starkly juxtaposed with color images.
juxtapose
See the word “pose” in juxtapose? When you juxtapose, you are “posing” or positioning things side by side.
The verb juxtapose requires contrasting things placed next to one other: “The collage juxtaposed pictures of Jane while she was growing up and as an adult.” Juxtapose is used often when referring to contrasting elements in the arts. “The music juxtaposed the instrumentation of jazz with the harmonies of soul.”
— And these comments juxtaposing the DREAMers and African Americans did not happen in a vacuum.
— It’s devoted mostly to “The Secret Life of Toys,” a series that juxtaposes classical motifs and plastic figurines.
— The ad juxtaposes a clip of Santorum’s gaffe with a highlight reel of Bush’s accomplishments during his time as Governor of Florida.
— “The Birth of a Nation” is a beautiful, painful and powerful film that juxtaposes pastoral settings with inhumane violence.
— One poster in the exhibition juxtaposes a shackled, bloodied black man beneath the Statue of Liberty with an image of a cheery rainbow nation.
— And long before it became fashionable, he demonstrated how to juxtapose new and old music, sometimes very old: He conducted a raft of Baroque pieces.
— She is creating a series of short films that includes these photographs juxtaposed with text by writers.
— Movement is easier to depict than thought, of course, but Smallwood’s handsome renderings neatly juxtapose micro and macro.
— Vivid butterflies projected over the Vatican’s dome and facade juxtapose natural and manmade beauty.
— In an electrifying narrative, Rabin’s attempt to negotiate peace is juxtaposed with his assassin’s plan to thwart it by killing him.
KERNEL
kernel |ˈkərnl|
noun
a softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its hard shell.
• the seed and hard husk of a cereal, esp. wheat.
• [in sing.] the central or most important part of something: this is the kernel of the argument.
• the most basic level or core of an operating system of a computer, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security.
KILLJOY
killjoy |ˈkilˌjoi|
noun
a person who deliberately spoils the enjoyment of others through resentful or overly sober behavior.
KINDLE
kindle 1 |ˈkindl|
verb [with obj.]
light or set on fire.
• arouse or inspire (an emotion or feeling): a love of art was kindled in me.
• [no obj.] (of an emotion) be aroused: she hesitated, suspicion kindling within her.
• [no obj.] become impassioned or excited: the young man kindled at once.
kindle 2 |ˈkindl|
verb [no obj.]
(of a hare or rabbit) give birth.
LAMPOON
lampoon |lamˈpo͞on|
verb [with obj.]
publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule, irony, or sarcasm: the senator made himself famous as a pinch-penny watchdog of public spending, lampooning dubious federal projects.
noun
a speech or text criticizing someone or something in this way: does this sound like a lampoon of student life?
GNAW
gnaw |nô|
verb [no obj.]
1 bite at or nibble something persistently: watching a dog gnaw at a big bone.
• [with obj.] bite at or nibble (something): she sat gnawing her underlip.
2 cause persistent and wearing distress or anxiety: the doubts continued to gnaw at me.
MARQUEE
marquee |märˈkē|
noun
1 a rooflike projection over the entrance to a theater, hotel, or other building.
• [as modifier] leading; preeminent: a marquee player.
[with allusion to the practice of billing the name of an entertainer on the marquee (i.e., awning) over the entrance to a theater.]
MANDATE
1 an official order or commission to do something: a mandate to seek the release of political prisoners.
• Law a commission by which a party is entrusted to perform a service, esp. without payment and with indemnity against loss by that party.
• Law an order from an appellate court to a lower court to take a specific action.
• a written authority enabling someone to carry out transactions on another’s bank account.
verb |manˈdeɪt| [with obj.] 1 give (someone) authority to act in a certain way: other colleges have mandated coed fraternities. • require (something) to be done; make mandatory: the government began mandating better car safety.
MANIFEST
manifest 1 |ˈmanəˌfest|
adjective
clear or obvious to the eye or mind: the system’s manifest failings.
verb [with obj.]
display or show (a quality or feeling) by one’s acts or appearance; demonstrate: Ray manifested signs of severe depression.
• (often be manifested in) be evidence of; prove: bad industrial relations are often manifested in disputes and strikes.
manifest 2 |ˈmanəˌfest|
noun
a document giving comprehensive details of a ship and its cargo and other contents, passengers, and crew for the use of customs officers.
• a list of passengers or cargo in an aircraft.
• a list of the cars forming a freight train.
DIGRESS
digress |dīˈgres|
verb [no obj.]
leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing: I have digressed a little from my original plan.
