Week 1 Flashcards
abate
v. subside or moderate.
“Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.”
aberrant
adj. abnormal or deviant
“Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.”
abeyance
n. suspended in action
“The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.”
abscond
v. depart secretly and hide
“The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured until someone recognized him from America’s Most Wanted.”
abstemious
adj. sparing in eating or drinking; temperate
“Concerned whether her vegetarian son’s abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.”
admonish
v. warn, reprove
“When her courtiers questioned her religious beliefs, Mary Stuart admonished them, declaring that she would worship as she pleased.”
adulterate
v. to make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances; n. adulteration
“It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer; when consumers learned that Beechnut had adulterated its apple juice by mixing the juice with water, they protested vigorously.”
aesthetic
adj. artistic, dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful; n. aesthete
“The beauty of Tiffany’s stained glass appealed to Alice’s aesthetic sense.
aggregate
v. gather, accumulate; n. aggregation
“Before the Wall Street scandals, dealers in so-called junk bonds managed to aggregate great wealth in short periods of time.”
alacrity
n. cheerful promptness, eagerness
“Phil and Dave were raring to get off to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with alacrity.”
alleviate
v. relieve
“This should alleviate the pain; if it does not we shall have to use stronger drugs.”
amalgamate
v. combine; unite in one body
“The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups into one national body.”
ambiguous
adj. unclear or doubtful in meaning; n. ambiguity
“His ambiguous instructions misled us; we did not know which road to take”
ambivalence
n. the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes; adj. ambivalence
“Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the ambivalence of her feelings.”
ameliorate
v. improve
“Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the living conditions of people living in the slums.”
anachronism
n. something or someone misplaced in time; adj. anachronistic
“Shakespeare’s reference to clocks in Julias Caesar is an anachronism; no clocks existed in Caesar’s time.”
analogous
adj. comparable
“She called our attention to the things that had been done in an analogous situation and recommended that we do the same.”
anarchy
n. absence of governing body; state of disorder
“The assassination of the leaders led to a period of anarchy.”
anomalous
adj. abnormal or irregular
“Researchers could not explain the anomalous test results”
antipathy
n. aversion; dislike
“Tom’s extreme antipathy for disputes keeps him from getting into arguments with his temperamental wife.”
apathy
n. lack of caring; adj. apathetic
“A firm believer in democratic goverment
appease
v. pacify or soothe, relieve; n. appeasement
“Tom and Jody tried to appease the crying baby by offering him one toy after another.”
apprise
v. to inform
“When NASA was apprised of the dangerous weather conditions, the head of the space agency decided to postpone the shuttle launch.”
approbation
n. approval
“Benjamin Franklin, that shrewd observer of mankind, once wrote, ‘We must not in the course of public life expect immediate approbation and immediate grateful acknowledgement of our services.’”
appropriate
v. acquire; take possession for one’s own use
“The ranch owners appropriated the lands that had originally been set aside for the Indian’s use.”
arduous
adj. hard, strenuous
“Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy.”
artless
adj. without guile, open and honest
“Red Riding Hood’s artless comment, ‘Grandma, what big eyes you have!’ indicates the child’s innocent surprise at her ‘grandmother’s’ changed appearance.”
ascetic
adj. practicing self-denial, austere; n. asceticism
“The wealthy, self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict, ascetic life led by some monastic orders.”
assiduous
adj. diligent
“It took Rembrandt weeks of assiduous labor before he was satisfied with his portrait of his son.”
assuage
v. ease or lessen (pain), satisfy (hunger), soothe (anger); n. assuagement
“Jilted by Jane, Dick tried to assuage his heartache by indulging in icecream.”
attenuate
v. make thinner, weaken or lessen (in density, force, degree)
“The long, dry spell attenuated the creek to the merest trickle.”
audacious
adj. daring, bold; n. audacity
“Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their audacious, death-defying leap to freedom and escaped Darth Vader’s troops.”
