Vocabularies Flashcards
Petrify
“she was petrified at the sight on the ghost”
To be frozen with fear
etymology = “rock” greek
Irrevocable, irrevocably
“the time is up, whatever is on the test is irrevocable”
Not able to be changed
etymology = revocabilis (able to be revoked)
Hearse
“the hearse transported the coffin to the funeral site”
car that carries a coffin
etymology = Anglo-Norman French “herce” meaning “harrow, frame”
Invective
“the madness cause him to let out a stream of invective”
insulting, abusive, or disrepectful language.
etymology = late Latin “invectivus” meaning “attacking”
To foreshadow, foreshadowing
“the author foreshadow the death of his character with the symbolical skull”
(in literature) a hint to something later in the work
fore = before in time, rank, position
Archaic
“prisons are run on archaic methods”
very old or old-fashioned
etymology = Greek “arkhaikos” meaning “old-fashioned”
Colic
“he needed to find the bathroom quick because of the colic”
(for adult) intestinal or urinary pain
etymology = Latin “colicus” meaning “pertaining to colic” and Greek “kolikos” “pertaining to kolon”, “kolon” meaning “lower intestine”
Improvise
“she improvised the costume from her old clothes”
creating something from what’s already available
etymology = Latin “improviso” meaning “unforeseen, unexpected, not studied or prepared beforehand”
Cremate
“she had refused to have her husband cremated”
burning of a corpse
etymology = Latin “cremare” meaning “to burn, consume by fire”
Oblivion
“as she’s new to the group, she was in oblivion as to what’s going on”
state of not knowing, unconscious of what’s happening
etymology: oblivisci (Latin) = forget
Glacial
“her glacial blue eyes pierces my heart (yeeeeeowch!)”
in relation to, resulting from ice (anything related to ice)
etymology: glacies (Latin) = ice
Inferno, infernal
“the inferno had swept through the city”
dangerous, large fire
etymology:
inferno (Italian) = hell
infernus (Latin) = lower region
Allude, allusion
“the use of thee, thy gave an allusion to Shakespeare”
an expression to recall something without actually saying it
etymology: ludere (Latin) = to play
Elide, elision
“I dunno”
exclusion of a sound or syllable when talking (i.e. I don’t know -> I dunno)
etymology: ex (Latin) = out
Brobdingnagian
“Charlie’s forehead is brobdingnagian”
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