Week 4 Flashcards

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1
Q

clandestine

A

done secretively, especially to deceive

I met the secret agent in an alleyway, where she handed me the plans for the clandestine operation.

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2
Q

ingenuous

A

lacking in cunning, guile, or worldiness

Janine was so ingenuous that it was too easy for her friends to dupe her.

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3
Q

subterfuge

A

a deceptive stratagem or device

The submarine pilots were trained in the art of subterfuge; the were excellent at faking out their enemies.

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4
Q

surreptitious

A

secretive; sneaky

Sara drank the cough syrup surreptitiously because she didn’t want anyone to know that she was sick

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5
Q

dearth

A

scarce supply; lack

There was a dearth of money in my piggy bank; it collected dust, not bills.

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6
Q

modicum

A

a small, moderate, or token amount

A modicum of effort may result in a small score improvement; in order to improve significantly, however, you must stuyd as often as possible

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7
Q

paucity

A

smallnes in number; scarcity

The struggling city had a paucity of resources and therefore a high level of poverty

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8
Q

squander

A

to spend wastefully

Carrie squandered her savings on shoes and wasn’t able to buy her apartment

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9
Q

temperate

A

moderate; restrained

Temperate climates rarely experience extremes in temperature

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10
Q

tenuous

A

having littlte substance or strength; shaky

Her grasp on reality is tenuousat best; she’s not even sure what year it is

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11
Q

diligent

A

marked by painstaking effort; hardworking

With diligent effort, they were able to finish the model airplane in record time

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12
Q

maverick

A

one who is independent and resists adherence to a group

In the movie Top Gun, Tom Cruise played a maverick who often broke rules and did things his own way

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13
Q

mercenary

A

motivated soley be a desire for money or material gain; a professional soldier

During the war, Mercer was a mercenary; he’d fight for whichever side paid him the most for his services

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14
Q

obstinate

A

stubbornly attached to an opinion or a course of action

Despite Jeremy’s broken leg, his parents were obstinate; they steadfastly refused to buy him an Xbox.

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15
Q

proliferate

A

to grow or increase rapidly

Because fax machines, pagers, and cell phones have proliferated in recent years, many new area codes have been created to handle the demand for phone numbers.

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16
Q

tenacity

A

persistence

With his overwhelming tenacity, Clark was finally able to interview Brad Pitt for the school newspaper.

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17
Q

vigilant

A

on the alert; watchful

The participants of the candlelight vigil were vigilant, as they had heard that the fraternity across the street was planning to egg them

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18
Q

extraneous

A

irrelevant; inessential

The book, though interesting, had so much extraneous information that it was hard to keep track of the important points

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19
Q

juxtapose

A

to place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

Separately the pictures look identical, but if you juxtapose them, you can see the differences.

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20
Q

novel

A

fresh; original; new

It was a novel idea, the sort of thing no one had tried before

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21
Q

superfluous

A

extra; unnecessary

If there is sugar in your tea, honey would be superfluous

22
Q

synergy

A

combined action or operation

The synergy of hydrogen and oxygen creates water

23
Q

tangential

A

merely touching or slightly connected; only superficially relevant

Though Abby’s paper was well written, its thesis was so tangential to its proof that her teacher couldn’t give her a good grade

24
Q

aesthetic

A

having to do with the appreciation of beauty

Aesthetic considerations determined the arrangement of paintings at the museum; as long as art looked good together, it didn’t matter who had painted it.

25
Q

aural

A

of or related to the ear or the sense of hearing

It should come as no surprise that musicians prefer aural to visual learning

26
Q

cacophony

A

discordant, unpleasant noise

Brian had to shield his ears from the awful cacophony produced by the punk band on stage

27
Q

dirge

A

a funeral hymn or lament

The dirge was so beautiful that everyone cried, even those who hadn’t known the deceased

28
Q

eclectic

A

made up of a variety of sources or styles

Lou’s taste in music is quite eclectic; he listens to everything from rap to polka

29
Q

incongruous

A

lacking in harmony; incompatible

My chicken and jello soup experiment failed; the tastes were just too incongruous

30
Q

sonorous

A

producing a deep or full sound

My father’s sonorous snoring keeps me up all night unless I close my door and wear earplugs

31
Q

strident

A

loud, harsh, grating, or shrill

The strident shouting kept the neighbors awake all night

32
Q

debacle

A

disastrous or ludicrous defeat or failure; fiasco

Jim’s interview was a complete debacle; he accidentally locked himself in the bathroom, sneezed on the interviewer multiple times, and knocked over the president of the company

33
Q

debilitate

A

impair the strength of; weaken

Deb ran the NYC marathon without proper training; the experience left her debilitated for weeks

34
Q

tumultuous

A

noisy and disorderly

The tumultuous applause was so deafening that the pianist couldn’t hear the singer

35
Q

anachronistic

A

the representation that something as existing or happening in the wrong time period

I noticed an anachronism in the museum’s ancient Rome display: a digital clock ticking behind a statue of Venus

36
Q

archaic

A

characteristic of an earlier time; antiquated; old

“How dost thou?” is an archaic way of saying “How are you”

37
Q

dilatory

A

habitually late

Always waiting until the last moment to leave home in the morning, Dylan was a dilatory student

38
Q

ephemeral

A

lasting for only a brief time

The importance of SAT scores is truly ephemeral; when you are applying, they are crucial, but once you get into college, no one cares how well you did.

39
Q

redolent

A

fragrant; aromatic; suggestive

The aroma of apple pie wafted into my room, redolent of weekends spent baking with my grandmother

40
Q

temporal

A

of, relating to, or limited by time

One’s enjoyment of a Starubcks mocha latte is bound by temporal limitations; all too soon, the latte is gone

41
Q

onerous

A

troublesome or oppresive; burdensome

The onerous task was so difficult that Ona thought she’d never get through it

42
Q

portent

A

indication of something important or calamitous about to occurr; omen

A red morning sky is a terrible portent for all sailors – it means that stormy seas are ahead

43
Q

prescience

A

knowledge of actions or events before they occur; foreknowledge; foresight

Preetha’s prescience was such that people wondered if she was psychic; how else could she know so much about the future?

44
Q

austere

A

without decoration; strict

The gray walls and bare floors of his monastery cell provided an even more austere setting than Brother Austen had hoped for

45
Q

banal

A

drearily commonplace; predictable; trite

The poet’s imagery is so banal that I think she cribbed her work from Poetry for Dummies

46
Q

hackneyed

A

worn out through overuse; trite

All Hal could offer in the way of advice were hackneyed old phrases that I’d already heard a hundred times before.

47
Q

insipid

A

uninteresting; unchallenging; lacking taste or savor

That insipid movie was so predictable that I walked out

48
Q

prosaic

A

unimaginative; dull

Rebecca made a prosaic mosaic consisting of identical, undecorated tiles.

49
Q

soporific

A

inducing or tending to induce sleep

The congressman’s speech was so soporific that even his cat was yawning

50
Q

vapid

A

lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull

Valerie’s date was so vapid that she thought he was sleeping with his eyes open.