Vocabulary Flashcards
Burrowing
Denoting an animal that make holes to live in
Benthos
Flora and fauna of the sea floor
Locus / loci
A particular position or place where something is located.
Dredging
To clear a sea bed or river bed by scooping out mud.
Debilitating
Making someone or something very weak or unfirm
To wax and wane
The movement of the moon between new and full is waxing, waning is the full moon getting progressively smaller.
Dearth
A scarcity or lack of something
Putative
Generally considered or reputed to be
Annals
A record of events year by year
Short shrift
Rapid and unsympathetic dismissal
Vestigial
Forming a very small remnant of something that was once greater or more noticeable
Tantalising
Torment or tease someone with the sight or promise of something that is unobtainable
Subvert
Undermine the authority of
Plethora
An abundance of something, an excessive amount
Luddite
A person opposed to new technologies or ways of working.
Originally band of English workers who destroyed machinery in cotton and wollen mills.
Insatiable
An appetite impossible to satisfy
Quandary
A set of perplexity or uncertainty what to do in a difficult situation
Primordial
Existing since the beginning of time
Feline
Relating to or affecting members of the cat family
Murine
Related to or affecting mice
Kibble
Ground meal shaped into pellets for food (particulalry for animals)
Concoction
A mixture of various ingredients or elements
Devour
Read quickly and eagerly
Fleeting
Lasting for a very short time
Lest
With the intention of preventing something undesirable
Dust-up
Fight or quarrel
Brandish
Wave an object as a threat
Indolence
Avoidance of activity or laziness
To grouse
To complain about something trivial
Irate
Feeling characterised by great anger
Proclamation
Public or official announcement dealing with a matter of great importance
Despair
To lose hope or to be without hope
Inadvertent
Not a result of direct planning
Histrionic
Excessively dramatic or thatrical in style
Discern
Find out or recognize
Falter
Lost strength or momentum
Fend
Look after and provide for onself, without help from others
Furore
Outbreak of public anger
Nascent
Just coming into existence and showing and showing signs of future potential
Bungling
The action of carrying out a task clumsily
Botched
Carried out badly or carelessly
Dwell
Live in or at a specified place
Bode
Be a sign of a particular outcome
Anthropogenic
Originating in human activity
Edifice
A large imposing building
Galleo
A ship in use in the 15th and 18th centuries
Loaded to the gunwales
So as to be almost overflowing
Gunwale is the wooden upper plank of the edge of a ship
Wherewithal
The money or other means needed for a particular purpose
Viscous
Having a thick sticky consistency
Contrived
Deliberately created
Confounding
To cause surprise or confusion in someone
Rousing
Exciting, stirring
Cavernous
Cave-like
Gnat
A small two-winged fly resembling a mosquito
Gregarious
Sociable, fond of company
Flint
A piece of hard rock that with metal can ignite a spark.
High handed
Using power of authority without consideration for others.
Hobble
To restrict activity or development of something
OR
Walk in an awkward way because of injury
Rear its head
An unpleasant matter to present itself
Encroach
Intrude into private territory
Contempt
Disregard for something that should be considered
Scant
Barely sufficient or adequate
Prodigious
Remarkably or impressively great in extent
To wallow
To indulge in an unrestrained way
Falter
Lose strength or momentum
Rekindle
Relight a fire
Dearth
Scarcity or a lack of something
Abound
Exist in large numbers or amounts
Fraught with
Filled with (something undesirable)
To don
To put on
Ailment
An illness, typically a minor one
Unpremeditated
Not thought out before
Unbidden
Without having been commanded
Sliver
A small thin piece of something
Hubbib
A chaotic noise caused by a crowd of people
Inopportune
Inconvenient or inappropriate time
Ply
To travel regularly over a route
Profusion
An abundance or large quantity of something
To abandon onself to
To indulge in something
Adept
Skilled or proficient
Blinkered
Having or showing a narrow outlook (original word is the leather thing on horses eyes)
Epoch
A particular time in history
Hearth
Front part of a fireplace
Insulat
Ignorant or uninterested in other cultures
Anguish
Mental pain
Jingoistic
Extreme patriotism
Lacerating
Severely critical
Polemic
Strong written attck
Wrangle
Long and complicated argument
Myopic
Short sighted
Plinth
A heavy base supporting a statue
Baffling
Impossible to understand
Gangrene
Localised death of body tissue
Antipodean
Relating to Australians or New Zealanders
Peddling
Act of selling an illegal or stolen item
Smart alec
A person who is irritating because they behave like they know everything
Innocuous
Not harmful or offensive
Raucous
Making a disturbingly loud noise (usually kids)
Mawkish
Sentimental in an exaggareted way
Bromide
A chemical
Or
A tired statement that is intended to soothe
Eviscerate
Remove guts and prepare animal
Or
Deprive something of its essential content
Snout
An animals nose, usually a mammal’s
Albedo
Light transmitted by other planets
Burnish
Polish a piece of metal
Sheathe
Put a weapon (like a sword) into a leather case
Sinuous
Having many curves and turns
Bipedal
Using only two legs to walk
Saurian
A large reptile, especially from dinosaurs
Swashbuckling
Engaging in daring an d romantic adventures
Embellishment
A decorative detail added to something to make it attractive
