Vocabulary - 10 words a day Flashcards
1/ Bullish - aggressively confident and self-assertive
2/ Crass - showing no intelligence or sensitivity; stupid (the crass assumptions that men make about women)
3/ Defeatism - excessive readiness to accept failure
4/ Dismal - gloomy (dismal mood or weather); pitifully or disgracefully bad (team’s dismal performance)
5/ Erstwhile - former, one-time
6/ Brio - vigour or vivacity of style or performance (she told her story with some brio)
7/ Amoral - lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something; unprincipled
8/ Soulless - lacking character and individuality; tedious and uninspiring, insipid, soul-destroying, mind-numbing
9/ Enclave - a distinct territorial, cultural, or social unit enclosed within or as if within foreign territory
10/ Anaemic - lacking in colour, spirit, or vitality; feeble, weak, bland, vapid
1/ Vapid - offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging; bland.
2/ Desist (from) - stop doing something; refrain
3/ Buyer’s remorse (or buyer’s regret) - the sense of regret after having made a purchase.
4/ Champagne socialist - a person who espouses socialist ideals while enjoying a wealthy and luxurious lifestyle.
5/ Rapacious - aggressively greedy (rapacious landlords)
6/ Palpable - (of a feeling or atmosphere) so intense as to seem almost tangible.
7/ Bipartisan - of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other’s policies.
8/ Feeble - weak, spineless, cowardly, spiritless
9/ Implosion - a sudden failure or collapse of an organisation or system.
10/ Austerity - difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure. (the country was subjected to acute economic austerity)
1/ Algorithm - a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.
2/ Evasion - the action of evading something; an indirect answer; a prevaricating excuse.
3/ Equivocation - the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth or to avoid committing oneself; prevarication.
4/ Deep-seated - firmly established at a deep or profound level.
5/ Vindication - the action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion.
6/ Rectitude - morally correct behaviour or thinking; righteousness.
7/ Dehumanise - deprive of positive human qualities
8/ Impoverish - make poor, reduce to penury, reduce to destitution
9/ Antipathy - hostility, aversion, antagonism, dislike, ill will
10/ Mythologise - convert into myth or mythology; create or promote an exaggerated or idealized image of.
1/ Invective - insulting, abusive, or highly critical language (he let out a stream of invective)
2/ Vendetta - a prolonged bitter quarrel with or campaign against someone; feud, altercation
3/ Defenestrate - remove or dismiss (someone) from a position of power or authority.
4/ Parable - a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson
5/ Namesake - a person or thing that has the same name as another.
6/ Acolyte - an assistant or follower
7/ Prose - written or spoken language in its ordinary form
8/ Syntax - the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. “the syntax of English”
9/ Eulogise - praise highly in speech or writing
10/ Asynchronous - not existing or occurring at the same time
1/ Extant - still in existence, surviving, existing
2/ Antithetical - directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible. “people whose religious beliefs are antithetical to mine”
3/ Polymath - a person of wide knowledge or learning.
4/ Metabolism - the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
5/ Insidiously - in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects.
6/ Ataraxia - state of serene calmness
7/ Infantilise - treat (someone) as a child or in a way which denies their maturity in age or experience.
8/ Concomitant - naturally accompanying or associated.
9/ Inflect - vary the intonation or pitch of (the voice), especially to express mood or feeling.
10/ Attendant - occurring with or as a result of.
1/ Doctrine of purgatory - intermediate state between Heaven and Hell
2/ Endow - provide with a quality, ability, or asset, furnish, equip “he was endowed with tremendous physical strength”
3/ Absolve - declare (someone) free from guilt, obligation, or punishment, exonerate, vindicate, acquit
4/ Abomination - a thing that causes disgust or loathing
5/ Penance - punishment inflicted on oneself as an outward expression of repentance for wrongdoing.
6/ Tract - a short treatise in pamphlet form, typically on a religious subject (Martin Luther)
7/ Atonement - the action of making amends for a wrong or injury.
8/ Counsel - advice, especially that given formally.
9/ Steadfast - resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering, loyal, faithful, committed “steadfast loyalty”
10/ Self-preservation - the protection of oneself from harm or death, especially regarded as a basic instinct in human beings and animals.
1/ Cringe-inducing - cringeworthy
2/ Rejuvenate - make (someone or something) look or feel better, younger, or more vital; revive, revitalise, regenerate
3/ Herald - be a sign that (something) is about to happen; signal, indicate “the speech heralded a change in policy”
4/ Fatuous - silly and pointless; witless, idiotic, inane
5/ Vacuous - having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless, deadpan, inscrutable, inexpressive “a vacuous smile”
6/ Partisan - prejudiced in favour of a particular cause, prejudiced, biased, partial
7/ Sycophancy - obsequious behaviour towards someone important in order to gain advantage; self-seeking or servile behaviour. “your fawning sycophancy is nauseating”
8/ Muted - not expressed strongly or openly.
“muted anger”
9/ Ebullient - cheerful and full of energy, exuberant, buoyant
10/ Witticism - a witty remark, joke, quip, riposte (a quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism.)
1/ Decry - publicly denounce, condemn, criticise “they decried human rights abuses”
2/ Rancorous - characterized by bitterness or resentment, spiteful, hateful, acrimonious
3/ Imperil - put at risk of being harmed, injured, or destroyed, endanger, jeopardise, risk
4/ Bogus - fake, spurious, false, fraudulent, sham, deceptive,
5/ Excoriate - criticise someone severely
6/ Chivalry - courteous behaviour, especially that of a man towards women, gallantry
7/ Discredit - harm the good reputation of, disgrace or dishonour
8/ Elixir - a magical or medicinal potion
9/ Mollify - appease the anger or anxiety of (someone); placate, pacify
10/ Unequivocal - leaving no doubt, unambiguous
1/ Shambolic - chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged.
2/ Dissipate - (with reference to a feeling or emotion) disappear or cause to disappear. “the concern she’d felt for him had wholly dissipated”
3/ Olive branch - an offer of reconciliation
4/ Extort - obtain (something) by force, threats, or other unfair means.
5/ Zealot - a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals; fanatic, enthusiast
6/ Pragmatism - a practical attitude or policy
7/ Conjecture - an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information; guess, speculation
8/ Polemic - a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something; diatribe, invective
9/ Treacherous - guilty of or involving betrayal or deception; traitorous, disloyal
10/ Undermine - lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously; subvert, sabotage, weaken
1/ Technocrat - technical expert
2/ Predation - the preying of one animal on others.
3/ Existentialism - a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. While the predominant value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity. Sartre defined it as ‘the attempt to draw all the consequences from a position of consistent atheism’.
4/ Contingency - a future event or circumstance which is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.
5/ Arbitrariness - the quality of being based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system; randomness
6/ Superfluity - the state of being unnecessary
7/ Alter ego - a person’s secondary or alternative personality.
8/ Nihilism - a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless
9/ Fatalism - the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable; a submissive attitude to events
10/ Forlorn - pitifully sad or abandoned and lonely
