Vocab 5 (Q-T) Flashcards
Quagmire
A usually low-lying area of waterlogged ground.
A difficult and dangerous situation.
Quarter
A particular region or geographic sector.
One or more people who provide help, information or a particular reaction to something but who are not usually named.
A show of kindness and forgiveness towards a person that you have defeated, especially in allowing them to love.
To send soldiers to live in a place.
Querulous
Given to complaining
Quintessential
Constituting or describing an archetype.
Quintile
1/5th (72 degrees) of a circle.
Each of the four values of a variate which divide a frequency distribution into five equal groups; each of the five groups so produced.
Quorum
The number of individuals needed to perform a particular action.
Rakish
Marked by lighthearted nonchalance.
Rambunctious
Full of energy and difficult to control.
Rapacious
Overly or shamefully acquisitive.
Having or showing a strong desire to take things for yourself, usually using unfair methods or force.
Raze
To lay waste as by plundering or destroying
Reactionary
One who strongly favours the existing order.
Recapitulate
To put into words, to give a recap.
Reciprocal
A reciprocal action or arrangement involves two people or groups of people who behave in the same way or agree to help each other and give each other advantages.
Reclamation
The act of getting back or regaining.
Reconnoitre
To obtain information about an idea or the size and position of enemy forces.
Rectify
To bring into a state of agreement or accord
Red herring
A fact, idea or subject that takes people’s attention away from the central point being considered.
Redolent
Having a pleasant odour, smelling strongly of something or having qualities (especially smells) that make you think of something else.
Regatta
A sports event consisting of boat races.
Regime
A system by which a political unit is controlled.
Regnant
Of or relating to a monarch or monarchy.
Reigning, ruling.
Of a thing, quality - predominant, dominating prevalent, widespread.
Relegate
To lower in rank of status.
Remedial
Serving to cure from disease/ a problem
Renege
To fail to keep a promise or an agreement
Repute
When someone or something has a bad/good reputation.
Resound
To send back the sound of/ to be filled with sound.
Restitution
The return of times stolen or lost.
An amount returned/ given to someone for something stolen or lost.
Retrench
To be sparing in order to economise, save money.
Roil
A large powerful horse. Later, an inferior or spiritless horse.
A large, ungainly woman.
Rope-a-dope
Any strategy where an apparently losing position is assumed in the hope of eventual victory.
(literally in boxing)
Roster
Information written down item by item.
Ruddy
Flushed with a healthy, reddish colour.
Rue
A feeling of regret for one’s misdeeds.
Ruminant
In animals, to bring up food from the stomach and chew it again.
Sagacity
The intellectual power to decide wisely
Sampan
A small boat with a flat bottom used along the coasts and rivers of China and South East Asia.
Sanatorium
A special type of hospital, usually in the countryside, where people can have treatment and rest, especially when getting better after a long illness.
Sanctity
The quality or condition of being safe from violation.
When something is very important and deserves respect.
The quality of being holy.
Sandbagger
Generally, any golfer who misleads others about his ability level, claiming to be worse than he actually is at goflf.
Sanguine
Expecting a favourable outcome.
Sciatica
Pain in the lower part of the back and the back of the legs.
Score
A notch or incision.
A cut or depression by a blow or pressure.
Scruple
A feeling that prevents you from doing something that you think is morally wrong or makes you uncertain about doing it.
Scut work
As a term of contempt: a foolish work, an objectionable job.
Scuttle
To move with quick light steps.
To stop something happening, or to cause a plan to fail.
Seder
As a term of contempt: a fool, an objectionable person.
Seminary
A college for training people to become priests.
Senescent
Growing old, elderly, ageing.
Sensibility
The quality or condition of being discernible by touch
Septic
Being in a state of decay
Serendipity
the lucky tendency to find interesting or valuable things by chance.
Seriatim
One after another, one by one in succession.
Shaman
In certain religions, a person who has special powers to control or influence good and evil spirits.
Sidle
To walk towards or away from someone, trying not to be noticed.
Sierra
A range of steep mountains, especially in North and South America and Spain
Simony
The buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges. eg. pardons or benifices.
The money maid for such privileges.
Sinecure
A position which involves little work, but for which the person is paid.
Sisyphean
Or or pertaining to Sisyphus, in Green mythology, a king of Corinth whose punishment in Hades was to push uphill a stone which rolled down again as soon as he reached the top; resembling the fruitless toil of Sisyphus; endless and ineffective.
Smorgasbord
A miscellaneous assortment or collection or things.
Sojourn
A short period when a person stays in a particular place.
Solvent
Being financially sound enough to not be in debt to anyone.
Somatic
Of, pertaining to, or affecting the body, esp. as distinct from the mind.
Sophistry
The clever use of arguments which seem true but are really false in order to deceive people.
Spa
A town where water comes out of the ground and people come to drink it or lie in it because they think it will improve their health.
Specious
Seeming true or plausible, but actually wrong.
Specter
The idea of something unpleasant that might happen in the future
Spurious
False and not what it appears to be, or (of reasons and judgments), based on something that has not been correctly understood and therefore false
Stagflation
An economic condition in which rising prices, high unemployment and little or no economic growth is present
Stalwart
Loyal, especially for a long time.
Able to be trusted.
Strong.
Stanch/Staunch
To stop something happening, or to stop liquid, especially blood, from flowing out
Stentorian
Using a very loud voice or (of a voice) very loud.
Steppe
A large area of land with grass but no trees, especially in South Eastern Europe, Russia and northern Asia
Sticky wicket
A difficult situation
Stilted
Of or relating to pompous, affected speech and writing.
Stipulate
To state exactly how something must be done
Stoicism
The capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience without complaint or overt short of emotions.
Stratagem
A carefully planned way of achieving or dealing with something, often involving the trick
Sui generis
Of its own kind; peculiar, unique
Sunder
To break or wrench apart.
Superfluous
More than is needed or wanted.
Supposition
An uncertain belief.
Surplice
A white loose piece of clothing, which is worn over other clothing during religious ceremonies by some Christian priests and members of groups who sing in churches
Surrealism/Surrealistic
A type of 20th century art and literature in which unusual or impossible things are shown happening
Sward
The skin of the body, especially the rind of pork or bacon.
A piece of undeveloped land for cultivation or pasturage.
Sycophantic
Praising people in authority in a way that is not sincere, usually in order to get some advantage from them.
Syllogism
A process of logic in which two general statements lead to a more particular statement
Table d’hôte
Food that is served in a restaurant as a complete meal at a fixed price but with no choice of dishes
Tactile
Related to touch.
Has a surface which is pleasant or attractive to touch
Tai chi
A form of exercise involving slow movements of muscles, originally practiced in China
Tailgate
To drive too closely behind the vehicle in front
Talk turkey
To discuss something honestly and directly.
Tariff
A charge or list of charges either for services or on goods entering a country.
Tchotchkes
A small ornament.
Has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness.
Temperance
Control of your own behaviors, such as not drinking or eating too much
Tessellate
To fit together in a pattern with no spaces in between.
Tipping point
Critical point in an evolving situation and at least that leads to a new and irreversible development
Titan
A person who is very important, powerful,strong, big, clever
Torpid
Not active, moving or thinking slowly especially as a result of being lazy or feeling like you want to sleep
Totem
An object which is respected by a group of people, especially for religious reasons
Traction
The ability of a wheel or tyre to hold the ground without sliding.
A form of medical treatment which involves using special equipment to push gently an injured part of the body especially an arm or leg for a long period of time
Transcend
To go beyond, rise above or be more important or better than something, especially a limit.
Transient
Lasting for only a short time; temporary
Transmute
To change something completely, especially into something different and better
Treacly
Contrived or unrestrained sentimentality.
Cloying, overly sweet.
Trepidation.
Fear and anxiety about what is going to happen
Triage
The action of sorting samples of commodities according to quality.
Assign a degree of urgency of need to (a casualty); separate out by triage.
Trifle
A matter or item of little value or importance.
Slightly.
Trundle
To cause something to move slowly and unevenly on wheels.
To develop or operate smoothly; disapproving.
Tussle
A brief, hostile contact.
