Word Meanings Flashcards
Incredulous
skeptical; disbelieving
‘an incredulous gasp’
blasé
unimpressed; indifferent; nonchalant
‘The consumer has now become very blasé about the food he buys and expects to be able buy strawberries in December.’
Prescient
foreknowing; clairvoyant
‘Little could he know how prescient his comment would be’
Irascible
ill-tempered; showing irritability
‘An irascible action
pugnacious
naturally aggressive or hostile
‘But fierce competition and the pugnacious attitude of the bombs have squeezed providers’
bellicose
refers to aggressive action or behavior that are likely to start an argument or a fight.
‘He expressed alarm about the government’s increasingly bellicose statements.’
languid
lethargic or indifferent
‘We sat about languidly after dinner.’
phlegmatic
unemotional; indifferent; cold; refers to someone who stays clam when upsetting or exciting happen.
‘Of course it is easier to be phlegmatic for a less important match against a superior team.’
denunciation
- condemnation; criticism
- act to reporting someone who has broken rule or law to authorities
‘He has been scathing in his denunciation of corrupt and incompetent politician.’
hedonist
someone who believes that having pleasure is the most important thing in the life.
‘The life style is more suited young hedonist than families.’
get one’s just desserts
receive what one deserves
‘Those who cause great torment to others rarely got their just desserts.’
aberrant
unusual; not socially acceptable
‘the aberrant titans’
abhorrent
if something is abhorrent to you, you hate it very much or consider it unacceptable.
‘There are many people who still find the act of abortion abhorrent.’
alacrity
eager; enthusiastically
‘This was not done with sufficient alacrity, enabling him to flee to germany.’
approbation
praise; approval of something
‘Everybody seemed to be waiting for him to speak, looking at him to speak, looking at him for approbation.’
hubristic
prideful and arrogant
The hubristic lure of approbation is what got me in the end.’
assuage
- alleviate
‘The announcement appeared designed to assuage concerns at home and abroad.’ - satisfy; appease; to pacify
‘The meat they managed to procure assuaged their hunger.’
austere
without adornment; simple
‘It is a place of austere but majestic beauty.’
axiomatic
if something is axiomatic, it seems to be obviously true; self-evident
‘I abandoned reason : whatever bronwen did was right; that was axiomatic.’
canonical
if something has a canonical status, it is accepted as having all the qualities that a thing of its kind should have; traditional standards
‘The white lettering on brown background is standard for tourist signs, used worldwide to identify canonical sites of scenic and historic interest.’
capricious
inclined to change ones mind impulsively; erratic; unpredictable
‘Both sides were troubled throughout by a capricious wind.’
censure
strongly disapprove of something ; officially rebuke
‘I would not presume to censure Osborne for hating his mother.’
disabuse
enlighten; correct; if disabuse someone; you tell or persuade them that what they believe is in fact untrue.
‘Goodness only knew how she was going to disabuse his mind of the erroneous assumption now clearly fixed in it.’
‘They thought country people liked to please strangers. I did not disabuse them of this notion.
chicanery
using cleverness to trick people.
‘I will therefore engineer, via chicanery a meeting between Andy and Marks.
convoluted
complex; complicated
‘Despite its length and convoluted plot, this is a rich and rewarding read,’
discordant
- strange or unpleasant as it does not fit with other things
‘His agenda is discordant with ours.’ - dissonant or harsh in sound
‘There will be many more discordant notes played before this game of musical chairs comes to an end.’
disparate
fundamentally distinct or dissimilar
‘scientists are trying to pull together disparate ideas in astronomy.’
effrontery
Audacity
behavior that is bold, rude or disrespectable; presumptuous
‘One could only gasp at the sheer effrontery of the man.’
presumptuous
judgemental
execrable
downright detestable; disgusting
‘Accusing us of being disloyal to cover his own sorry behavior is truly detestable.’
prolific
present in large number of quantities; plentiful
‘a prolific writer produces a large number of works.’
harrowing
extremely disturbing; frightening
‘We ask that everyone respects our need for privacy at this harrowing time.’
allude
if you allude to something, you mention it in an indirect way
elude
if something eludes you, you fail to obtain it.
sidereal
relating to stars
‘It also fixed the number of days in the month which previously varied by year with the sidereal zodiac.’
etiolated
weakened; no longer at full strength
‘Her voice was thinner than I recall, etiolated, drained of energy.’
prodigious
something very large or impressive; extraordinary
‘She ate prodigiously.’
commensurate
proportionate; more quantitative than analogous
‘Managers saw commensurate fall in their revenue.’
enervate
to deprive in strength or vitality; debilitate
It’s crushed leaves and stem are used to enervate bees while gathering honey.’
ennui
feeling of being tired, bored or dissatisfied
‘A brief surge of pure joy was quickly supplanted by his more usual ennui.’
equivocate (n); equivocal (adj)
deliberately use vague in order to deceive people or avoid speaking the truth; to evade
‘Hoping he did not mean what I feared he meant, I attempted to equivocate’
exculpate
to exonerate; clear of blame
‘The court exculpated him after two years of unjust imprisonment.’
exigent
urgent or pressing
‘He rushed up here and searched the house without a warrant because he had established exigent circumstances.’
filibuster
a long slow speech made up to use time so that a vote cannot be taken and a law cannot be passed.
‘The senator has threatened a filibuster to block the bill.’
fulminate
criticize angrily; loudly attack or denounce
‘They all fulminated against the new curriculum.’
ingenuous
naive; frank; honest; straight forward
ingenuous vs innocent
- both describe lack of malice or deceit
- ingenuous emphasizes on honesty and sincerity (positive connotation)
- innocence emphasizes lack of guilt or harm (neutral or negative connotation.
ingenuous vs ingenious
- describe something that shows childlike innocence & candidness.
- describes people who are unusually inventive or clever.
artless
naive
lucid
clear and easy to understand.
‘He wasn’t very lucid, he didn’t quite know where he was.’
magnanimity
kindness and generosity towards someone especially after defeating them or being treated badly by them.
‘The father of one victim spoke with remarkable magnanimity.’
nebulous
vague, cloudy; not clearly defined
‘Can such as mysterious, nebulous concept as innovation be taught ?
intransigence
refusal to behave differently or to change their attitude to something
‘Our efforts at compromise have instead been met with a brick wall of intransigence.
comportment
demeanor; the way one carries themselves
‘They are reserved in their comportment as well as their appearance.
balk
resist
‘Even biology undergraduates balk at animal experiments.’
pragmatic
practical; sensible
‘Robbin took a pragmatic look at situation’
ineluctable
something that cannot be stopped, escaped or ignored; inevitable
‘Learning the English language becomes an ineluctable imperative in the 21st century.’
invidious
1) unpleasant; causing resentment
2) unfair
‘invidious task’
‘invidious comparison’
plangent
something resonant or resounding
‘A plangent victory.’
antediluvian
old or old fashioned
‘As far as he was concerned all animal products were organic - an attitude that Nadia found hopelessly antediluvian.’
Pedantic
Someone who is too concerned with unimportant details or traditional rules, especially in connection with academic subjects.
‘He was so pedantic and uninteresting.’
Pusillanimous
Showing a lack of courage or determination, timid
Jejune
Simple; silly; dull
“They were of great service in correcting my jejune generalisations.”
Acrimonious
Angry or bitter, typically of speech or discussion
“An acrimonious dispute about wages.”
Benignant
1- Kindly or gracious; sometimes in a patronizing way
2- benign
Astute
Intelligent; bright; sharp
“ She offers many snippets of keen and astute observation.”
Intractable
Very difficult to control or influence
“The economy still faces intractable problems.”
Predilection
Having a strong liking for something
“His predilection to fast cars and fast horses.”
Decorous
Behave in a respectable, calm and polite manner
“He sipped his drink decorously.”
Inveterate
Deep rooted; entrenched; ingrained
“an inveterate gambler”
Timorous
Timid; nervous; shy
“He is a reclusive, timorous creature.”
Cowed
Intimated and frightened
“His face was white and he looked about him with cowed, angry eyes.”
Turgid (3)
1- swollen and distended
“The first half was a turgid, disjointed affair.”
2- bombastic, pompous; grandiloquent
3- too serious and difficult to understand
“ He used to make terribly dull, turgid and frankly awful speeches.”
Interdict
Prohibit; ban
“ Troops could be ferried in, to interdict the drug shipments.”
Expurgate
Censor; cut; clean up
“He heavily expurgated the work in it’s second edition.”
Denizen
A person, animal or plant that lives or is found in a particular place.
“denizens of field and forest.”
Lachrymose
Inducing tears; sad
“ a lachrymose children’s classic”
Harangue
To speak to someone or a group of people, often for a long time in a forceful and sometimes angry way, especially to persuade them.
“A drunk in the station was haranguing passers-by.”
Esoteric
Intended for of likely to be understood only by a small number of people with a specific knowledge or interest
Polemical
A piece of writing or speech strongly attacking or defending a particular opinion, person, idea or set of beliefs.
Concomitant
Naturally accompanying or associated
“ She loved travel, with all its concomitant worries.”
“ He sought promotion without the necessary concomitant of hard work.”
Didactic
Same as pedantic
Instructional; intended to teach, especially in a way that is too determined or eager, and often fixed and unwilling to change.
“ a didactic approach to teaching”
Ambivalent
Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone
“ Some loved her, some hated her, few were ambivalent about her.”
Neologism
A new word or expression in a language; or new meaning for an existing word or expression
“ The newspaper used the neologism-DINKS- Dual Income No Kids.”
Noxious
Harmful; injurious; unpleasant
“Many household products give off noxious fumes.”
Obtuse (2)
1- lacking sharpness of intellect
“I have been waiting for you to ask me about it yourself, but you were being so obtuse and slow about it.”
2- not clear or precise in thought or expression
Obviate
To anticipate and make unnecessary
“The use of a lawyer trained as a mediator would obviate the need for legal advice.”
Onerous
Troubling; hard; taxing; demanding
“Parents who have the onerous task of bringing up a very difficult child.”
Paean
A song or hymn of praise and thanksgiving; an ode to; a tribute
“Here is an unashamed paean of praise for the world’s most successful nation.”
Perfidy / perfidious
Intentional breach of faith; treachery
“When people have wronged someone, they often hate them for reminding them, by their presence, of their own perfidy.”
Perfunctory
Offhand; routine; done without care or interest
“She gave the list inly a perfunctory glance.”
Perspicacious
Acutely perceptive; sharp judgement
“The perspicacious fireman quickly detected the cause of the fire.”
Prattle
Talking a lot without saying anything important
“ Lou prattled on about various trivialities, till I wanted to scream.”
Precipitate
(Verb) to cause or happen before anticipated or required
“The killings in Vinius have precipitated the worst crisis yet.”
(Adj) act with excessive haste or impulse
“ I don’t think we should make precipitate decision.”
Prevaricate
Beat around the bush
Same as equivocate
Evade; lie; shift
“She saw no reason to prevaricate.”
Recant
To retract a previously held belief
“A man who refused after torture to recant his heresy.”
Consummate
A perfect example of something
“a consummate liar”
Relegate
Demote; Degrade
“Military hero’s are relegated to the status of ordinary citizens.”
Reticent
Taciturn
Reserved; quite
“She is so reticent about her achievements.”
Solicitous
Concerned, caring, attentive
“He was so solicitous of his guests.”
Sordid
Dirty; sleazy; immoral
“He sat with his head on his hand while his sordid double life was unravelled.”
Sporadic
Occasional; Intermittent
“She claims she had a sporadic contact with her alleged father.”
Squander
Waste; spend irresponsibly
“Hobbs didn’t squander his money on flashy cars or other vices.”
Tortuous
Winding; twisting; excessively complicated
“A tortuous mountain route.”
“Long and tortuous negotiations are aimed at ending conflicts.”
Truculent
Eager or quick to argue or fight
Bad tempered; aggressive; hostile
“What do you want ? She asked with her usual truculence.”
Veracity
Truthfulness; credibility
“We have a total confidence in the veracity of our research.”
Virulent
Vicious; vindictive; hostile; deadly; lethal
“Now he faces virulent attack from the Italian media.”
Voracious
Having an insatiable appetite for something.
“A voracious reader.”
Stymie
Hands are tied
If you are stymied by something, you find it very difficult to take action or to continue what you are doing.
“Companies have been stymied by the length of time it takes to reach an agreement.”
Abate
To lessen in intensity or degree
“The storms abated by the time they rounded cape horn.”
Adulation
Admiration
Excessive praise; intense adoration
“The book was received with adulation by the public.”
Ameliorate
Alleviate
To make better or more tolerable.
“He expected me to do something to ameliorate the depression.”
Ascetic
One who practices rigid self denial especially as an act of religious devotion.
“He left the luxuries of the court for the life of an ascetic.”
Avarice
Greed; strong desire for money and possessions
“He paid a month’s rent in advance, just enough to satisfy the landlords avarice.”
Burgeon
Grow rapidly or flourish
“Plants burgeon from every available space.”
Bucolic
Relating to the countryside
“The anxiety and intensity jarred with the bucolic riverside setting.”
Cacophony
A loud unpleasant mixture of sounds.
“The cacophonous beat of pop music”
Canon
A established set of principles or code of law, often religious in nature.
“A canon of established literary texts.”
Castigation
Severe criticism or punishment.
“Max never missed an opportunity to castigate colonialism.”
Caustic
- Burning or stinging; causing corrosion
- Caustic remark - extremely cruel, critical or bitter
“His abrasive wit and caustic comments were an interviewer’s nightmare.”
Chary
Wary or cautious
“I am chary of making too many idiotic mistakes.”
Cogent
Something strong and convincing
“Every decision has to be backed up by rational and cogent arguments.”
Complaisance vs complacence
- Solicitous; Accommodating, obliging, willingly to please others
- State of being self satisfied and content to the point of being unaware of the need of change.
Contrite
Regretful; sorry
“She was instantly contrite, “oh! I am sorry, please forgive me.”
Culpable
Deserving blame
Their decision to do nothing, makes them culpable.
Dearth
Scarcity or lack of something
“The dearth of information only adds to the distress.”
Demur
To object or refuse
“The doctor demurred but the patient was persistent.”
Dogmatic
Expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles.
“Bennet wanted this list of book to be imposed dogmatically on the nation’s universities.”
Ebullience
Same as alacrity
High spirits; lively or enthusiastic
“His voice was low, missing its usual ebullience.”
Eclectic
Diverse; varied; board
“An eclectic mix”
Elegy vs euology
- A mournful poem, lamenting the death
- A tribute that praises the life and achievements or someone who died
Emollient
A cream or liquid one applies on the skin to make it softer and reduce the pain.
Empirical
Based on observations or experiments.
Enigma/ Enigmatic
Mysterious and difficult to understand
“She is starred in one of the wells most enigmatic films.”
Ephemeral
Short lived; fleeting
“He talked about the country’s ephemeral unity shattered by the defeat.
Facetious
If someone is being facetious, they are making humorous remarks in a situation where they ought to be serious.
Furtive
Sly; secretive; wanting to keep something hidden
With a furtive glance over her shoulder, she unlocked the door and entered into the house.
Gregarious
Outgoing; friendly
“From a relatively quiet upbringing, an extraordinarily gregarious and confident person emerged.”
Heretical
Violating accepted dogma or convention.
“I made the then heretical suggestions it might be cheaper to design new machines.”
Hyperbole
Exaggeration, hype
“- the hyperbole that portrays one of the greatest visionaries in the world.”
Impecunious
Poor, broke; lacking funds
“They provide access to justice for the impecunious claimant with a valid claim.”
Incipient
Initial; nascent
Beginning; starting; developing
“- an incipient economy recovery”
Innocuous
Harmless; causing no damage
“Both mushrooms looks innocuous but are in fact deadly.”
Inveigle
To obtain by deception or flattery
“She inveigles Paco into a plot to swindle Tania out of her savings.”
Odious
Evoking intense aversion or dislike
“The judge described the crime as odious.”
Penury/ Penurious
Lacking money or means
“The lands of Abbey had shrunken and chipped away over the years by penurious owners.”
Pernicious
Extremely harmful in a way that is not very apparent
“Parents are blaming not only peer pressure but also the pernicious influence of the internet.”
Peruse
Examine with great care.
“We perused the company’s financial statements over the last five years.”
Precursor
One that precedes and indicate another.
“He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to mergers.”
Preen
To dress-up; to groom oneself with elaborate care.
“Birds preen their feathers everyday.”
Putrefy
To rot/decay; giving off a fowl smell
“The meat in all of the open flasks putrefied.”
Quaff
Drink a lot in a short time.
“He quaffed many a glass of vintage champagne in his time.”
Redoubtable
Formidable; worthy of honour
“He is a redoubtable fighter.”
Satire
“A literary work that ridicules or criticises a human vice through humour.”
Squalid
Wretched and dirty from neglect.
“The early industrial were squalid and unhealthy places.”
Supplant
Supersede; replace; oust
“He may be supplanted by a younger man.”
Torpid / torpor
Inactive; lazy ; sluggish; languid
Here, even the air was torpid, heavy with sediment, thickened with sludge.
Ubiquitous
Ever present; all over; widespread
Sugar is ubiquitous in the diet.
Urbane
Sophisticated; cultured; polished; civil
In conversation, he was suave and urbane.
Vilify
Defame; criticise harshly
His lawyer was vilified for representing him.
Apportion
To distribute or allocate proportionally
“Both defeats could have been apportioned to immaturity
Hysteria
Unmanageable fear or outburst of emotion.
“A shock can spark off a wave of hysteria.”
Dementia
It is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities.
Depredate
to plunder or destroy; pillage
Many types of predators depredate bird nests.
Stigmatized
shamed, disgraced, humiliated, discredited
“It is stigmatised illness.”
Autodidact
a person who is self-taught
All architects must be autodidacts to keep up to date with new standards, new regulations, or new methods.
