Vocab 6-8 Flashcards
avarice
excessive desire to aquire/possess wealth; combo of greed and stinginess
adj: avaricious n: avariciousness
avid
extremely eager/anxious/enthusiastic
n: avidity adv: avidly
badger
to tease/annoy w/ a constant string of petty torments
baffle
to puzzle completely. to prevent from acheiving a goal
adj: baffling n: bafflement
banal
made stale by constant use/repetition
n: banality adv: banally
belligrent
adj: warring/engaged in war/warlike/hostile
n: a party engaged in a war
n: belligerence, belligerency adv: belligerently
benign
gentle/kindly/wholesome/favorable
n: benignity adj: benignant adv: benignly
bicker
to engage in petty quarelling
n: bickering
bizarre
weird/fantastic
n: bizarreness
bland
mild/gentle/lacking in interest or liveliness/flat
n: blandness adv: blandly
bleak
desolate/windswept/bare/cold and gloomy/unpromising
n: bleakness
blight
v: to check/destroy the growth of
n: something that impairs growth/causes ruin
blithe
merry/carefree/overly unconcerned/reckless
n: blitheness adv: blithely
boisterous
noisy, rowdy
n: boisterousness adv: boisterously
bombastic
pompous, inflated in language
n: bombast
boorish
rude, unrefined
n: boor, boorishness
boycott
v: to refuse to buy as a way of protest
n: instance of such treatment
brash
overly bold/hasty/thoughtless
n: brashness
bravado
boastful/swaggering show of false bravery; false courage in general
brusque
overly short/abrupt
n: brusqueness
bungle
to mismanage, make a mess of
n: bungler
bureaucracy
complicated system of admin agencies and officials; the officials themselves
n: bureaucrat adj: bureaucratic
buttresss
n: a support/reinforcement
v: to support/reinforce
cajole
to persuade/obtain by flattery/deceit
n: cajolery, cajoler