Vocab 1 (A-D) Flashcards
Aboriginal
Describes a person or living thing that has existed in a country or continent since the earliest time known to people
Abnegate
Deny oneself something or renounce a right or privilege.
Abstruse
Difficult to understand
Accrue
To increase in number or amount over a period of time
Acquiesce
Acceptance or agreement to something, often unwillingly.
Actuary
Person who calculates the probability of accidents, such as fire, flood or loss of property and informs insurance companies how much they should charge their customers.
Acumen
Skill on making correct decisions and judgements in a particular subject.
Admonition
A piece of advice that is also a warning to someone about their behavior.
Adroitness
Ability to be physically or mentally resourceful.
Affinity
- An attraction or sympathy for someone or something.
2. A close similarity between two things.
Afflatus
The communication of supernatural knowledge.
Alacrity
Speed or eagerness.
Ambulatory.
Relating to or describing people being treated for an injury or illness who are able to walk, and who, when treated in a hospital, are usually not staying for the night in a bed.
Ameliorate
To make a bad or unpleasant situation better.
Anomie
A lack of moral or social principles in a person or in society.
Apocryphal
Describes a story that is probably not true although often told and believed by some people to have happened.
Aquaplane
To slide out of control on a wet road.
Aquifer
A water bearing stratum of permeable rock.
Arbiter
Someone who makes a judgement or solves an argument or decides what will be done.
Arboreal
Of or living in trees.
Argosy
A merchant vessel of the largest size and burden.
Aria
A song sing by one person in an opera.
Ascetic
Avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, often for religious reasons.
Asgard
The heavenly residence of the Norse Gods and slain heroes of war.
Askance
“look askance”
To look at or think about someone or something with doubt, disapproval or a lack of trust.
Aspersions
- The action of sprinkling or scattering liquid/an ingredient.
- A slander/false insinuation.
Atrophy
To be reduced in size and therefore strength, or more generally, to become weaker.
August
Having great importance and especially of the highest social class.
Avoirdupois
Goods of weight.
Bacchanal
Wild mystic festivals of the Greek and Roman God Bacchus. Now describes any form of drunken revelry.
Baedeker
- Any of a series of guidebooks published by Karl Baedeker.
- “Baedeker raids” A series of German reprisal air raids on places in Britain.
Bantam
- A small breed of chicken.
2. A small but spirited person.
Basilica
A public building in Ancient Rome which was around at one end and had two rows of columns supporting the roof.
Batik
A method of printing patterns on cloth, in which wax is out on the cloth before it is put in the dye.
Bayou
An area of slowly moving water away from the main river.
Benediction
A prayer asking God for help and protection.
Beneficence
Doing good, active kindness.
Berm
- A narrow space of ledge, esp. in fortification, the space between a ditch and the base of a parapet.
- A flat strip of land, raised bank or terrace bordering a river.
Beset
Troubled by/ full of.
Bifurcated
To divide into two parts.
Blandish
Flatter gently, coax; cajole.
Bowdlerize
To remove words or parts from a book, play or film that are considered to be unsuitable or offensive.
Bravura
Unnecessary actions to make what is being done look more exciting or clever than it is.
Brio
Vivacity, liveliness, verve.
Broadside
A strong written or spoken attack on someone.
Cachet
A quality which marks someone or something as special and worth respect or admiration.
Remember: like a catch.
Calisthenics
Simple physical exercises that are done to make a body firm, able to stretch easily and more attractive.
Camber
A gradual slope down from the middle of a road to each edge, which helps water flow off it.
Caricature
A drawing or written or spoken description of someone which makes their appearance or character more noticeable than it really is, and which usually makes them look ridiculous.
Cartographer
Someone who makes or draws maps.
Catacomb
A series of special underground passages ad rooms where bodies where buried in the past.
Caulk
- A small drink of liquor, a dram.
- A short sleep, a nap.
- To plug up something.
Cause célèbre
A notorious legal case; a lawsuit that attracts much attention.
Cay
An insular bank or reed of coral, sand.
Cerberus
The three headed watchdog which guarded the entrance of Hades. A watchdog.
Chassis
A window frame, a sash.
Chiaroscuro
Style of painting in which only light and dark shades are represented.
Chicane
An instance of chicanery; a subterfuge, a quibble.
Chimerical
A hope or dream that is extremely unlikely to ever come true.
Chutzpah
Imaginative and shocking behavior, involving taking risks but not feeling guilt.
Claret
Red wine made in the region near Bordeaux in France.
Clement
Describes weather which is pleasant or not severe.
Coif
A close fitting cap covering the top, back and sides of the head .
Commiserate
To express sympathy to someone about bad luck.
Commute
- Make the same journey regularly between home and work.
2. To change one thing into another.
Condone
To accept and allow behavior that is wrong.
Contiguous
Next to or touching another, usually similar thing.
Contradow
Honest advisor/ brave advisor.
Contumely
Contemptuously insulting language r treatment, scornful and humiliating rudeness.
Copacetic
Excellent, in good order.
Corollary
Something that results from something else.
Corroborating
To add proof or certainty to an account, statement, idea etc. with new information.
Cosset
To give a lot of attention to making someone comfortable and to protecting then from anything unpleasant.
Coterie
A small group of people with shared interests who often do not want other people to join them.
Crenelated
Provide with battlements or embrasures.
Cuvée
The contents of a vat of wine; a particular blend or batch of wine.
Cygnet
A young swan.
Dacha
In Russia, a small country house or villa.
Dale
A valley.
Dappled
Marked with spots of colour that are lighter or darker than the main colour.
Dead ender
- Loser.
2. Military fanatical diehard.
Deadhead
- A person who is boring or stupid.
2. To remove old flowers from a plant.
Debility
Physical weakness.
Decorum
Behavior that is controlled, calm or polite.
Decry
To criticize something as bad, worthless or unnecessary; to condemn.
Defenestration
The act of throwing a thing or especially a person out of a window.
Deferential
Respectful and polite
Deferment
The act of putting off or the condition or being put off
Delta
An area of low, flat land, sometimes shaped exactly like a triangle, where a tiger divides into several smaller rivers before flowing into the sea.
Demographics
The study of changes in the number of births, marriages, deaths etc. in a particular area during a period of time.
Denomination
- A religious group which has slightly different beliefs from other groups which share the same religion.
- A unit of value, especially of money.
Deracinate
Tear up by the roots; eradicate.
Desiccate
Dried
Dexter
An animal of a small hardy breed of Irish cattle.
Diaspora
The dispersion of Jews among the Gentile nations; all those Jews who live outside the biblical land of Israel.
Diffidence
Shy and not confident of your abilities.
Diocese
An area controlled by a bishop.
Diorama
A model which shows a situation, such as a historical event or animals in their natural surroundings, in a way that looks real.
Diptych
Something folded so as to have two leaves.
Discombobulate
Disturb, upset.
Discourse
Communication in speech or writing.
Disingenuous
Slight dishonest; not speaking the truth.
Dissension
Arguments and disagreements, especially in a group.
Dissent
Strong difference of opinion on a particular subject.
Dissonance
- A combination of sounds or musical notes that are not pleasant when heard together.
- Disagreement.
Divagate
Wander about, stray.
Docent
- A member of the teaching staff below professional rank
2. Guide in a museum, art gallery etc.
Droll
- Amusing, especially in an unusual way.
Dryad
A nymph supposed to inhabit trees.
Dulcet
Describes sounds that are soft and pleasant to listen to.
Dunce
A person who is slow to learn, of stupid, especially at school.
Duplicitous
Lack of honesty, especially by saying two different things to two people.
Contravention
To do something that a law or rule does not permit, or to break a law or rule.
