Vocab Unit 2

Question 0

a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Answer 0

animadversion

syn: rebuke, reproof
ant: praise, compliment

Question 1

to approach and speak to first; to confront in challenging or aggressive way

Answer 1

accost

syn: approach, buttonhole
ant: avoid, shun

Question 2

desirous of something to the point of greed, intensely eager

Answer 2

avid

syn: keen, enthusiastic,
ant: unenthusiastic, indifferent

Question 3

having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

Answer 3

brackish

syn: saline
ant: clear, sweet

Question 4

swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

Answer 4

celerity

syn: promptness, speed
ant: slowness, sluggishness

Question 5

straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

Answer 5

devious

syn: roundabout, indirect
ant: direct, straightforward

Question 6

in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

Answer 6

gambit

syn: ploy, ruse

Question 7

a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; of or relating to the halcyon, calm, peaceful, happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

Answer 7

halcyon

syn: tranquil, placid
ant: turbulent, tumultuous

Question 8

pertaining to actors and their techniques, theatrical, artificial, melodramatic

Answer 8

histrionic

syn: stagy, affected
ant: muted, untheatrical

Question 9

deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonists, one who causes strife

Answer 9

incendiary

syn: firebrand, inflammatory
ant: soothing, quieting

Question 10

a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

Answer 10

maelstrom

syn: turbulence, tumult

Question 11

nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment

Answer 11

myopic

syn: shortsighted
ant: farsighted

Question 12

open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

Answer 12

overt

syn: clear, obvious
ant: covert, concealed

Question 13

tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

Answer 13

pejorative

ant: complimentary, ameliorative

Question 14

the state of being proper, appropriateness; standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

Answer 14

propriety

syn: fitness, correctness
ant: unseemliness, inappropriateness

Question 15

improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

Answer 15

sacrilege

syn: defilement, desecration

Question 16

without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

Answer 16

summarily

syn: promptly, peremptorily

Question 17

asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

Answer 17

suppliant

Question 18

an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Answer 18

talisman

Question 19

to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

Answer 19

undulate

syn: fluctuate, rise and fall