Vocabulary Unit 1 Flashcards
Adjunct
noun: something added to something else as helpful or useful but not essential; an assistant or helper; a valuable quality or characteristic
adjective: added or connected in a subordinate capacity; attached to a faculty or staff in an auxiliary capacity
Bellwether
noun: the male sheep that leads the flock to the slaughterhouse; a leader, as in a desperate or violent undertaking; an indicator of trends
Caterwaul
verb: to howl or screech like a cat; to quarrel
noun: a harsh or noisy cry; a racket
Chimerical
adjective: absurd; wildly fantastic; impossible
Effete
adjective: lacking in wholesome vigor or energy; worn-out or exhausted; sterile or unable to produce; out-of-date
Fait Accompli
noun: an accomplished and presumably irreversible deed, fact, or action
Hidebound
adjective: narrow-minded and rigid, especially in opinions or prejudices; stubbornly and unthinkingly conservative
Hierarchy
noun: any system of things or people arranged or graded one above another in order of rank, wealth, class, etc.
Liturgy
noun:a religious service or rite; the form of a ritual or other act of public worship
Mirage
noun: something illusory, without substance or without a basis in reality; an illusion
Morass
noun: a patch of low, soft, wet ground; a swamp; a confusing situation in which one is entrapped, as in quicksand
Noisome
adjective: offensive or disgusting; foul-smelling; harmful or injurious
Oblivious
adjective: forgetful; unaware
Poltroon
noun: a base coward
Proselyte
noun: a convert; a disciple
Quasi
adjective: resembling but not actually being; seemingly but not actually or completely
Raillery
noun: good-humored ridicule; teasing
Ribald
adjective: irreverently mocking; coarse, vulgar, or indecent in language
Supine
adjective: lyng flat on one’s back; listless or lethargic; apathetic or passive
Vignette
noun: a short description or sketch; a picture or illustration with edges that gradually shade off; a decorative design on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter