Vocab List 1 Flashcards
inordinate
beyond normal limits
EX: In later years I was to confront the stereotyped picture of gay song-singing cotton pickers with such inordinate rage that I was told even by fellow Blacks that my paranoia was embarrassing.
Abomination
an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence
EX: The ugliness and rottenness of old abominations.
Appellation
identifying words by which someone or something is called
EX: All adults had to be addressed as Mister, Missus, Miss, Auntie, Cousin, Unk, Uncle, Buhbah, Sister, Brother and a thousand other appellations indicating familial relationship and the lowliness of the addressor
Aversion
feeling of intense dislike
EX: So my interest in the service’s potential and my aversion to Reverend Thomas caused me to turn him off.
Renege
To fail to fulfill a promise or obligation
EX: Years later I discovered that the United States had been crossed thousands of times by frightened Black children traveling alone to their newly affluent parents in Northern cities, or back to grandmothers in Southern towns when the urban North reneged on its economic promises.
Smidgen
a tiny or scarcely detectable amount
EX: Nobody with a smidgen of training, not even the worst roustabout, would look right in a grown person’s face.
Nonchalance
the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
EX: His nonchalance was meant to convey his authority and power over even dumb animals.
