Week #9 Flashcards
Define
Impresario
(im prə säˊri ō)
One who presents cultural series, organizer
The eminent impresario brought many cultural
spectacles to our shores.
Define
Extortion
(eks tôrˊshən)
Getting money by threats
When the business manager was accused of extortion, his colleagues sought to oust him from the firm.
Define
Adverse
(ad vė rsˊ)
Unfavorable, harmful
It was excruciatingly painful for the actors to read the adverse reviews wich their perfomances had received.
Define
Asset
(asˊet)
A valuable thing to have
The childless man’s will stipulated that all the assets of his company should revert to the orignal owners.
Define
Bigot
(bigˊət)
A narrow-minded, prejudiced person
Attacked by the irate crowd, the bigot asked the police for sanctuary.
Define
To Spill the Beans
To give away a secret
Although he was naturally reticent, when the felon was intimidated by the members of the rival gang, he spilled the beans.
Define
Blatant
(blāˊtənt)
Disagreeably loud, very showy
With blatant discourtesy, the reporters continued to harass the pilot’s widow.
Define
Entourage
(änˊtü räzh)
Group of attendants
The visiting dictator’s ubiquitous entourage of
bodyguards disturbed our tranquil city.
Define
Virulent
(virˊū lənt)
Harmful, full of hate
Europe’s population was afflicted by a virulent plague
known as the Black Death.
Define
Venom
(venˊəm)
Poison, spite, malice
Cym Yeobright’s mother succumbed to the venom of a
snake bite.
Define
Spew
(spū)
Throw up, vomit, eject
From each candidate’s headquarters acrimonious
charges would spew.
Define
To Keep A Stiff Upper Lip
To be courageous in the face of trouble
It was admirable to see how the British managed to keep a stiff upper lip of the German bombing.
Define
Loath
(lōth)
Reluctant, unwilling
Since we felt that the ruling was arbitrary we were loath to obey it.
Define
Solicit
(sə lisˊit)
To beg, seek earnestly
Daily the volunteers went out to solicit funds for the
indigent families.
Define
Astute
(əs tütˊ or as tūtˊ)
Keen, shrewd
My neighbor was astute enough to discern the adverse
features of the mortgage.
Define
Advocate
(adˊvə kāt)
To be in favor of, to support
The general was sure to advocate that we give the enemy no respite from the bombings.
Define
Ineffectual
(inˊə fekˊchü əl)
Not effective
The play was so blatantly bad that the impresario fired its ineffectual director.
Define
To Have Cold Feet
To hesitate because of fear or uncertainty
My cousin was all set to join the paratroops, but at the last moment he got cold feet.
Define
Scrutinize
(skrüˊtə nīz)
Examine closely
No sooner did the lawyer scrutinize the extortion note
than he called the police.
Define
Nefarious
(ni fārˊi əs)
Villainous, vicious
We were distraught upon hearing the venom spewed forth by the nefarious bigot.
Define
Amicable
(amˊə kə bəl)
Friendly, peaceful
Our amicable relations with Latin America are an asset to hemispheric trade.
Define
Vexatious
(veks āˊshəs)
Annoying
The vexatious buzzing of the mosquitoes as they surged about our heads nearly drove us insane.
Define
Malady
(malˊə di)
Disease
Once the virulent malady had run its course, my
temperature dropped.
To Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth
To be critical of a present given to you
