Vocab 2 Flashcards
Accolade
An expression of praise
Abate
To lessen in intensity or degree
Adulation
Excessive praise, intense adoration
Aesthetic
Dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful
Ameliorate
To make better or more tolerable
Ascetic
One who practices rigid self denial, especially as an act of religious devotion
Avarice
Greed, especially for wealth
Burgeon
To grow rapidly or flourish
Bucolic
Rustic and pastoral, characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants
Cacophony
Harsh, jarring, discordant sound, dissonance
Castigation
Severe criticism or punishment
Catalyst
A substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing, a person or thing that causes change
Caustic
Burning or stinging, causing corrosion
Chary
Wary, cautious, sparing
“Most people are chary of allowing themselves to be photographed”
Cogent
Appealing forcibly to the mind or reason, convincing
“They put forward cogent arguments for British citizenship”
Complaisance
The willingness to comply with the wishes of others
Contentious
Argumentative, quarrelsome, causing controversy or disagreement
Contrite
Regretful, penitent, seeking forgiveness
Culpable
Deserving blame
Dearth
Smallness of quantity or number, scarcity, a lack
“There is a dearth of evidence”
Demur
To question or oppose, to show reluctance
“Normally she would have accepted the challenge, but she demurred”
Didactic
Intended to teach or instruct
Discretion
Cautious reserve in speech, ability to make responsible decisions
Disinterested
Free of bias or self interest, impartial, having or feeling no interest in something
Dogmatic
Expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles, inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true
Ebullience
The quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings
“the ebullience of happy children”
Eclectic
Composed of elements drawn from various sources, a diverse range of sources
Elegy
A mournful poem, especially one lamenting the dead
Emollient
Soothing- especially to the skin, making less harsh, mollifying, an agent that softens or smooths the skin
Empirical
Based on observation or experiment
Enigmatic
Mysterious, obscure, difficult to understand
Ephemeral
Brief, fleeting
Esoteric
Intended for or understood by a small, specific group
Eulogy
A speech honoring the dead
Exonerate
To remove blame
Facetious
Playful, humorous, flippant, using inappropriate humor
Fallacy
An invalid or incorrect notion, a mistaken belief
Furtive
Marked by stealth, covert, surreptitious
Gregarious
Sociable, outgoing, enjoying the company of other people
Harangue
To deliver a forceful or angry speech, ranting speech or writing
Heretical
Violating accepted dogma or convention, believing in or practicing religious heresy
Hyperbole
An exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech
Impecunious
Lacking funds, without money
“A titled but impecunious family”
Incipient
Beginning to come into being or to become apparent
“He could feel incipient anger building up”
Inert
Unmoving, lethargic, sluggish
Innocuous
Harmless, causing no damage
Intransigent
Refusing to compromise
“Her father tried persuasion, but she was intransigent”
Inveigle
To obtain by deception or flattery
Morose
Sad, sullen, melancholy
Odious
Evoking intense aversion or dislike
Opaque
Impenetrable by light, not reflecting light
Oscillation
The act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm
Penurious
Penny pinching, excessively thrifty, ungenerous, mean
Pernicious
Extremely harmful in a way that is not easily seen or noticed
Peruse
To examine with great care
Pious
Extremely reverent or devout, showing strong religious devotion
Precursor
One that precedes and indicates or announces another
Preen
To dress up, to primp, to groom oneself with elaborate care
Prodigious
Abundant in size, force, or extent, extraordinary, remarkably impressive
Prolific
Producing large volumes or amounts, productive
Putrefy
To rot, to decay and give off a foul odor
Quaff
To drink deeply
Quiescence
Stillness, motionlessness, quality of being at rest
Redoubtable
Awe inspiring, worthy of honor
Sanction
Authoritative permission or approval, a penalty intended to enforce compliance, to give permission or authority
Satire
A literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision
Squalid
Sordid, wretched and dirty as from neglect
Stoic
Indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, steadfast
Supplant
To take the place of, to supersede
Torpid
Lethargic, sluggish, dormant
Ubiquitous
Existing everywhere at the same time, constantly encountered, widespread
Urbane
Sophisticated, refined, elegant
Vilify
To defame, to characterize harshly
Viscous
Thick, sticky
