Vocab 3 Flashcards
Acumen
Keen, accurate judgment or insight
Adulterate
To reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients
Amalgamate
To combine several elements into a whole
“He amalgamated his company with another”
Archaic
Outdated, associated with an earlier, perhaps more primitive, time
Aver
To state as fact, to declare or assert
“He averred that he was innocent of the allegations”
Bolster
To provide support or reinforcement
Bombastic
Pompous, high sounding but with little meaning, inflated
Diatribe
A harsh denunciation
Dissemble
To disguise or conceal, to mislead
Eccentric
Departing from norms or conventions
Endemic
Characteristic of or often found in a particular locality, region, or people
Evanescent
Tending to disappear like vapor, vanishing
Exacerbate
To make worse or more severe
Fervent
Greatly emotional or zealous
Fortuitous
Happening by accident or chance
Germane
Relevant to the subject at hand, appropriate in subject matter
“That is not germane to our theme”
Grandiloquence
Pompous speech or expression
Hackneyed
Rendered trite or commonplace by frequent usage
“Hackneyed old sayings”
Halcyon
Calm and peaceful
Hedonism
Devotion to pleasurable pursuits, especially to the pleasures of the senses
Hegemony
The consistent dominance of one state or group over others
“Germany was united under Prussian hegemony after 1871”
Iconoclast
One who attacks or undermines traditional conventions or institutions
Idolatrous
Given to intense or excessive devotion to something
Impassive
Revealing no emotion
Imperturbable
Marked by extreme calm, impassivity, and steadiness
Implacable
Not capable of being appeased or significantly changed
Impunity
Immunity from punishment or penalty
Inchoate
In an initial stage, not fully formed
“a still inchoate democracy”
Infelicitous
Unfortunate, inappropriate
Insipid
Lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge
Loquacious
Extremely talkative
Luminous
Characterized by brightness and the emission of light
Malevolent
Having or showing often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred
Malleable
Capable of being shaped or formed, tractable, pliable
Mendacity
The condition of being untruthful, dishonesty
“People publicly castigated for past mendacity”
Meticulous
Characterized by extreme care and precision, attentive to detail
Misanthrope
One who hates all other humans and avoids human society
Mitigate
To make or become less severe or intense, to moderate
Obdurate
Unyielding, hardhearted, intractable
Obsequious
Exhibiting a fawning attentiveness, obedient to an excessive degree
“They were served by obsequious waiters”
Occlude
To obstruct or block
Opprobrium
Disgrace, contempt, scorn
“His films and the critical opprobrium they have generated”
Pedagogy
The profession or principles of teaching or instructing
Pedantic
Overly concerned with the trivial details of learning or education, show-offish about one’s knowledge
Penury
Poverty, destitution
Pervasive
Having the tendency to permeate or spread throughout
Pine
To yearn intensely, to languish, to lose vigor
Pirate
To illegally use or reproduce
Pith
The essential or central part
“The book that he believed contained the pith of all his work”
Pithy
Precise and brief
Placate
To appease, to calm by making concessions
Platitude
A superficial remark, especially one offered as meaningful
Plummet
To plunge or drop straight down
Polemical
Controversial, argumentative
“A polemical essay”
Prodigal
Recklessly wasteful, extravagant, profuse, lavish
“Prodigal habits die hard”
Profuse
Given or coming forth abundantly, extravagant
Proliferate
To grow or increase swiftly and abundantly
Queries
Questions, inquiries, doubts, reservations
Querulous
Prone to complaining or grumbling, peevish
Rancorous
Characterized by bitter, long lasting resentment
Recalcitrant
Obstinately defiant of authority, difficult to manage
Repudiate
To refuse to have anything to do with, to disown
Rescind
To invalidate, to repeal, to retract
Reverent
Marked by, feeling, or expressing a feeling of profound awe and respect
Rhetoric
The art or study of effective use of language for communication and persuasion
Salubrious
Promoting health or well being
Solvent
Able to meet financial obligations, able to dissolve another substance
Specious
Seeming true, but actually being fallacious, misleadingly attractive, plausible but false
Spurious
Lacking authenticity or validity, false, counterfeit
Subpoena
A court order requiring appearance and/or testimony
Succinct
Brief, concise
Superfluous
Exceeding what is sufficient or necessary
Surfeit
An overabundant supply, excess, to feed or supply to excess
Tenacity
The quality of adherence or persistence to something valued, persistent determination
Tenuous
Having little substance or strength, flimsy, weak
Tirade
A long and extremely critical speech, a harsh denunciation
Transient
Fleeting, passing quickly, brief
Zealous
Fervent, ardent, impassioned, devoted to a cause
Espouse
adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life)