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Word Smart Flashcards

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1
Q

abash

A

(Verb)

To make ashamed; to embarrass

Carl handed in a term paper that he had unabashedly copied from Wikipedia

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2
Q

Abate

A

(Verb)

To subside; to reduce

A tax abatement is a reduction in taxes.

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3
Q

Abdicate

A

(Verb)

To step down from a position of power or responsibility

When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallace Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated.

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4
Q

Aberration

A

(Noun)

Something not typical; a deviation from the standard

A snowstorm in June is an aberration

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5
Q

Abhor

A

(Verb)

To hate very very much; to detest

To abhor something is to view it with horror. Hating a person is almost friendly in comparison with abhorring him or her

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6
Q

Abject

A

(Adjective)

Hopeless; extremely sad; defeated

While most people would quickly recover from a stumble on stage, Mia felt abject humiliation

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7
Q

Abnegate

A

(Verb)

To deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce

Ascetics practice self-abnegation because of they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity

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8
Q

Abortive

A

(Adjective)

Unsuccessful

Fred’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive; he injured himself halfway up

• to abort something is to end it before it is completed. An aborted pregnancy, called an abortion, is one that ends before the baby is born. An abortion in this sense doesn’t have to be the result of a controversial medical procedure

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9
Q

Abridge

A

(Verb)

To shorten; to condense

The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts

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10
Q

Absolute

A

(Adjective)

Total; unlimited

An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow

• Absolute is also a noun. It means something that is total, unlimited, or perfect. Death, for living things, is an absolute.

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11
Q

Absolve

A

(Verb)

To forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation

The priest dissolve the center come to church to confess

• The act of absolving is called absolution

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12
Q

Abstinent

A

(Adjective)

Abstaining; voluntarily not doing something, especially something pleasant that is bad for you or has a bad reputation

Sandi used to be a chain-smoker; now she is abstinent

• A person who abstains from something is an abstainer and engages in abstinence

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13
Q

Abstract

A

(Adjective)

Theoretical; impersonal

He like oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated

• To like something in the abstract used to like the idea of it.

Bruno does not like abstract art; he thinks that a painting should resemble something real

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14
Q

Abstruse

A

(Adjective)

Hard to understand

The professors article, on the meaning of something, was abstruse. Michael couldn’t even pronounce the words in it

Nuclear physics is a subject that is to abstruse for most people

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15
Q

Abysmal

A

(Adjective)

Extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless

• An abyss is a bottomless pit, or something so deep that it seems bottomless. Abysmal despair is despair so deep that no hope seems possible

The nation’s debt crisis was abysmal; there seemed to be no possible solution

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16
Q

Accolade

A

(Noun)

An award; an honor

The first break-dancing through to perform in the Carnegie Hall received accolades from the critics as well as from the fans

• This word is generally used in the plural

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17
Q

Accost

A

(Verb)

To approach and speak to someone aggressively

Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old blind man

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18
Q

Acerbic

A

(Adjective)

Sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood, or tone

Barry sat silently as his friends read the teacher’s acerbic comments on his paper

• Acerb and acerbic are synonyms. Acerbity is the state of being a acerbic

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19
Q

Acquiesce

A

(Verb)

To comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree

The Pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and then acquiesced

• To acquiesce is to do something without objection, to do it quietly. The word acquiesce and quiet are closely related. They are both based on Latin words meaning rest or be quiet. Acquiesce is sometimes used sloppily as a simple synonym for agree in situations in which it isn’t appropriate. For example, it is impossible to acquiesce noisily, enthusiastically, or eagerly.

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20
Q

Acrid

A

(Adjective)

Harshly pungent; bitter

The cheese we had at the party had an acrid taste; it was harsh and unpleasant. Long after the fire had been put out, we could feel the acrid sting of smoke in our nostrils.

• Acrid is used most often with tastes and smells, but it can be used more broadly to describe anything that is offensive in a similar way.

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21
Q

Acrimonious

A

(Adjective)

Full of spite; bitter; nasty

George and Elizabeth’s discussion turned acrimonious when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George’s perennial, incorrigible stupidity

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22
Q

Acumen

A

(Noun)

Keenness of judgment; mental sharpness

A woman who knows how to turn one dollar into 1 million overnight might be said to have a lot of business acumen

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23
Q

Acute

A

(Adjective)

Sharp; shrewd

If your eyesight is acute, you can see things that other people can’t

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24
Q

Adamant

A

(Adjective)

Stubborn; unyielding; Completely inflexible

Candace was adamant: she would never go out with Paul again

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25
Q

Address

A

(Verb)

To speak to; to direct one’s attention to

Ernie addressed the problem of addressing the convention by sitting down and writing his speech

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26
Q

Adherent

A

(Noun)

Follower; supporter; believer

The Kings adherents threw a big party for him, just to show how much they liked him

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27
Q

Admonish

A

(Verb)

To scold gently; to warn

The boys’ father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them

• in the first sentence admonish means warn; in the second it means scold gently

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28
Q

Adroit

A

(Adjective)

Skillful; dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease

Bob was an adroit salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale

• Adroit comes from the French word for right and refers to an old superstition that right-handedness is superior. It is a synonym of dexterous (which comes from the Latin for right) and an antonym of gauche and maladroit

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29
Q

Adulation

A

(Noun)

Wild or excessive admiration; flattery

The boss thrived on the adulation of his scheming secretary

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30
Q

Adulterate

A

(Verb)

To contaminate; to make impure

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31
Q

Adverse

A

(Adjective)

Unfavorable; antagonistic

  • Airplanes often don’t fly in adverse weather. An airplane that took off in bad weather and reached its destination safely would be said to have overcome adversity. Adversity means misfortune or unfavorable circumstances. To do something “in the face of adversity” is to undertake a task despite obstacles. Some people are at their best and adversity because they rise to the occasion.
  • A word often confused with adverse is averse. The two are related but they don’t mean quite the same thing. A person who is averse to something is to be opposed to doing it - to have an aversion to doing it
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32
Q

Aesthetic

A

(Adjective)

Having to do with artistic beauty; artistic

• Someone who admires beautiful things greatly can be called an aesthete. Aesthetics is the study of beauty or principles of beauty.

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33
Q

Affable

A

(Adjective)

Easy to talk to; friendly

Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone

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34
Q

Affectation

A

(Noun)

Unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress

Becky’s English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago.

• A person with an affectation is said to be affected. To affect a characteristic or habit is to adopt it consciously, usually in the hope of impressing other people

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35
Q

Affinity

A

(Noun)

Sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity

Ducks have an affinity for water

• affinity also means similarity or resemblance. There is an affinity between snow and sleet

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36
Q

Affluent

A

(Adjective)

Rich; prosperous

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37
Q

Agenda

A

(Noun)

Program; the things to be done

A politician is often said to have an agenda. The politician’s agenda consists of the things he wishes to accomplish

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38
Q

Aggregate

A

(Noun)

Sum total; a collection of separate things mixed together

Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans

• Similar and related words include congregate, segregate, and integrate. To aggregate is to bring together; to congregate is to get together; to segregate is to keep apart; to integrate is to unite

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39
Q

Agnostic

A

(Noun)

One who believes that the existence of a God can be neither proven nor disproven

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40
Q

Agrarian

A

(Adjective)

Relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land

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41
Q

Alacrity

A

(Noun)

Cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond

David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity

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42
Q

Allege

A

(Verb)

To assert without proof

• To allege something is to assert it without proving it. Such an assertion is called an allegation.

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43
Q

Allocate

A

(Verb)

To distribute; to assign; to allot

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44
Q

Alloy

A

(Noun)

A combination of two or more things, usually metals

• Alloy is often used as a verb. To alloy two things is to mix them together. There’s usually an implication that the mixture is less than the sum of the parts. There is often something undesirable about an alloy (as opposed to a pure substance).

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45
Q

Allusion

A

(Noun)

And indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint

• to allude to something is to refer to it indirectly

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46
Q

Aloof

A

(Adjective)

Uninvolved; standing off; keeping one’s distance

• cats are often said to be aloof because they usually mind their own business

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47
Q

Altruism

A

(Noun)

Selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interest of others

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48
Q

Ambience

A

(Noun)

Atmosphere; mood; feeling

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49
Q

Ambiguous

A

(Adjective)

Unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways

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50
Q

Ambivalent

A

(Adjective)

Undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously

Susan felt ambivalent about Alex as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this ambivalence.

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51
Q

Ameliorate

A

(Verb)

To make better or more tolerable

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52
Q

Amenable

A

(Adjective)

Obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable

The plumber was amenable to my paying my bill with jellybeans, which was lucky, because I had more jellybeans than money

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53
Q

Amenity

A

(Noun)

Pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature

Those little bars of soap and bottles of shampoo found in hotel rooms are known in the hotel business as amenities.

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54
Q

Amiable

A

(Adjective)

Friendly; agreeable

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55
Q

Amnesty

A

(Noun)

An official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy

• Amnesty comes from the same root as amnesia. An amnesty is an official forgetting. When a state government declares a tax amnesty, it is saying that if people pay the taxes they owe, the government will officially “forget” that they broke the law by not paying them in the first place

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56
Q

Amoral

A

(Adjective)

Lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral; without moral feelings

• A moral person does right; an immoral person does wrong; an amoral person simply does.

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57
Q

Amorous

A

(Adjective)

Feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love

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58
Q

Amorphus

A

(Adjective)

Shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike

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59
Q

Anachronism

A

(Noun)

Something out of place in time or history; an incongruity

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60
Q

Analogy

A

(Noun)

A comparison of one thing to another; similarity

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61
Q

Anarchy

A

(Noun)

absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder

• The words anarchy and monarchy are closely related. Anarchy means no leader; monarchy, a government headed by a king, means 1 leader

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62
Q

Anecdote

A

(Noun)

A short account of a humorous or revealing incident

• to say that the evidence of life on other planets is anecdotal is to say that we haven’t captured any aliens, but simply heard a lot of stories from people who claimed to have been kidnapped by flying saucers

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63
Q

Anguish

A

(Noun)

Agonizing physical or mental pain

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64
Q

Animosity

A

(Noun)

Resentment; hostility; ill will

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65
Q

Anomaly

A

(Noun)

An aberration; an irregularity; a deviation

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66
Q

Antecedent

A

(Noun)

Someone or something that went before; something that provides a model for something that came after it

The horse-drawn wagon is an antecedent of the modern automobile

• antecedent can also be used as an adjective.

The oil lamp was antecedent to the light bulb

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67
Q

Antipathy

A

(Noun)

Firm dislike; a dislike

• antipathies are the things that one doesn’t like

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68
Q

Antithesis

A

(Noun)

The direct opposite

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69
Q

Apartheid

A

(Noun)

The former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa

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70
Q

Apathy

A

(Noun)

Lack of interest; lack of feeling

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71
Q

Aphorism

A

(Noun)

A brief, often witty saying; a proverb

• Benjamin Franklin was fond of aphorisms

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72
Q

Apocalypse

A

(Noun)

A prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world

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73
Q

Apocryphal

A

(Adjective)

Of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious

• The Apocrypha are a number of “extra” books of the Old Testament that Protestants and Jews don’t include in their Bibles because they don’t think they are authentic

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74
Q

Apotheosis

A

(Noun)

Elevation to divine status; the perfect example of something

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75
Q

Appease

A

(Verb)

To sooth; to pacify by giving in to

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76
Q

Appreciate

A

(Verb)

To increase in value

• The opposite of appreciate is depreciate

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77
Q

Apprehensive

A

(Adjective)

Worried; anxious

• A misapprehension is a misunderstanding

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78
Q

Approbation

A

(Noun)

Approval; praise

• approbation is a fancy word for approval, to which it is closely related. Disapprobation is disapproval.

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79
Q

Appropriate

A

(Verb)

To take without permission; to set aside for a particular use

  • when an elected official takes money that was supposed to be spent on submarines and spends it on a few mink coats, he is said to have misappropriated the money
  • when the government decides to build a highway through your backyard, it expropriated your property for this purpose. That is, it uses its official authority to take possession of your property.
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80
Q

Aptitude

A

(For now)

Capacity for learning; natural ability

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81
Q

Arbiter

A

(Noun)

One who decides; a judge

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82
Q

Arbitrary

A

(Adjective)

Random; capricious

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83
Q

Arcane

A

(Adjective)

Mysterious; known only to a select few

The rites of the secret cult were arcane; no one outside the cult knew what they were

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84
Q

Archaic

A

(Adjective)

Extremely old; ancient; outdated

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85
Q

Archetype

A

(Noun)

An original model or pattern

• An archetype is similar to a prototype. A prototype is a first, tentative model that is made but that will be improved in later versions. An archetype is usually something that precedes something else.

Plato is the archetype of all philosophers

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86
Q

Ardent

A

(Adjective)

Passionate; enthusiastic

• to be ardent is to have ardor

The young lovers were oblivious to everything except their ardor for each other

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87
Q

Arduous

A

(Adjective)

Hard; difficult

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88
Q

Aristocratic

A

(Adjective)

Of noble birth; snobbish

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89
Q

Artful

A

(Adjective)

Crafty; wiley; sly

• someone who is artless, on the other hand, is simple and honest. Young children are charmingly artless.

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90
Q

Artifice

A

(Noun)

A clever trick; cunning

The Trojan horse was an artifice designed to get the soldiers inside the walls

• artifice and artificial are related words

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91
Q

Ascendancy

A

(Noun)

Supremacy; domination

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92
Q

Ascetic

A

(Adjective)

Hermit-like; practicing self-denial

• ascetic can also be a noun. A personal who leads an ascetic existence is in ascetic. An ascetic is someone who practices asceticism

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93
Q

Assiduous

A

(Adjective)

Hard-working; busy; quite diligent

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94
Q

Assimilate

A

(Verb)

To take in; to absorb; to learn thoroughly

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95
Q

Assuage

A

(Verb)

To soothe; to pacify; to ease the pain of; to relieve

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96
Q

Astute

A

(Adjective)

Shrewd; keen in judgment

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97
Q

Atheist

A

(Noun) one who does not believe in the existence of any God or divine being

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98
Q

Attrition

A

(Noun)

Gradual wearing away, weakening, or loss; a natural or expected decrease in numbers or size

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99
Q

Audacity

A

(Noun)

Boldness; reckless daring; impertinence

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100
Q

Augment

A

(Verb)

To make bigger; to add to; to increase

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101
Q

Auspicious

A

(Adjective)

Favorable; promising; pointing to a good result

A clear sky in the morning is an auspicious sign on the day of a picnic

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102
Q

Austere

A

(Adjective)

Unadorned; stern; forbidding; without excess

The Smith’s house was austere; there was no furniture in it, and there was nothing hanging on the walls

• The noun austerity is generally used to mean roughly the same thing as poverty. To live in austerity is to live without comforts

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103
Q

Autocratic

A

(Adjective)

Ruling with absolute authority; extremely bossy

• an autocrat is an absolute ruler. Autocracy, a system of government headed by an autocrat, is not democratic-the people don’t get a say

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104
Q

Autonomous

A

(Adjective)

Acting independently

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105
Q

Avarice

A

(Noun)

Greed; excessive love of riches

• avarice is the opposite of generosity or philanthropy

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106
Q

Avow

A

(Verb)

To claim; to declare boldly; to admit

  • to avow something is to declare or admit something that most people are reluctant to declare or admit
  • to disavow is to deny or repudiate someone else’s claim
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107
Q

Avuncular

A

(Adjective)

Like an uncle, especially a nice uncle

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108
Q

Awry

A

(Adjective)

Off course; twisted to one side

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109
Q

Axiom

A

(Noun)

A self-evident rule or truth; a widely accepted saying

• An axiom in geometry is a rule that doesn’t have to be proved because its truth is accepted as obvious

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110
Q

Banal

A

(Adjective)

Unoriginal; ordinary

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111
Q

Bane

A

(Noun)

Poisonous; torment; cause of harm

  • bane means poison (Wolfbane is a kind of poisonous plant), but the word is usually used figuratively. To say that someone is the bane of your existence is to say that the person poisons your enjoyment of life
  • Baneful means harmful
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112
Q

Bastion

A

(Noun)

Stronghold; fortress; fortified place

mrs. Garnett’s classroom is a bastion of banality; that is, it is a place where originality seldom, if ever, makes its way inside

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113
Q

Beget

A

(Verb)

To give birth to; to create; to lead to; to cause

Those who lie should be creative and have good memories, since one lie often begets another lie, which begets another.

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114
Q

Belabor

A

(Verb)

To go over repeatedly or to an absurd extent

Mr. Irving spent the entire period belaboring the obvious; he made the saying dumb observation over and over again.

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115
Q

Beleaguer

A

(Verb)

To surround; to besiege; to harass

No one could leave the beleaguered city; the attacking army had closed off all the exits.

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116
Q

Belie

A

(Verb)

To give a false impression of; to contradict

Melvin’s smile belied the grief he was feeling; despite his happy expression he was terribly sad inside.

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117
Q

Belittle

A

(Verb)

To make to seem a little; to put someone down

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118
Q

Belligerent

A

(Adjective)

Combative; quarrelsome; waging war

Al was so belligerent that the party had the feel of a boxing match

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119
Q

Bemused

A

(Adjective)

Confused; bewildered

The two stood bemused in the middle of the parking lot at Disneyland, trying to remember where they had parked their car

• to muse is to think about or ponder things. To be bemused, then, is to have been thinking about things to the point of confusion.

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120
Q

Benefactor

A

(Noun)

One who provides help, especially in the form of a gift or donation

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121
Q

Benevolent

A

(Adjective)

Generous; kind; doing good deeds

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122
Q

Benign

A

(Adjective)

Gentle; not harmful; kind; mild

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123
Q

Bequest

A

(Noun)

Something left to someone in a will

• to leave something to someone in a will is to bequeath it. A bequest is something that has been bequeathed.

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124
Q

Bereaved

A

(Adjective)

Deprived or left desolate, especially through death

The new widow was still bereaved when we saw her. Every time anyone mentioned her husband’s name, she burst into tears

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125
Q

Beset

A

(Verb)

To harass; to surround

The bereaved widow was beset by grief

Problems with beset the expedition almost from the beginning, and the mountain climbers soon returned to their base camp.

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126
Q

Blasphemy

A

(Noun)

Irreverence; an insult to something held sacred; profanity

• in the strictest sense, to commit blasphemy is to say nasty, insulting things about God. The word is used more broadly, though, to cover a wide range of nasty, insulting comments.

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127
Q

Blatant

A

(Adjective)

Unpleasantly or offensively noisy; glaring

• blatant is often confused with flagrant, since both words mean glaring. Blatant indicates that something was not concealed very well, whereas flagrant indicates that something was intentional. A blatant act is usually also a flagrant one, but a flagrant act is not necessarily blatant.

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128
Q

Blight

A

(Noun)

A disease in plants; anything that injures or destroys

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129
Q

Blithe

A

(Adjective)

Carefree; cheerful

The children playing next to the hazardous-waste dump were blithely unaware that they were doing something dangerous.

• to be blithely ignorant is to be happily unaware.

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130
Q

Bourgeois

A

(Adjective)

Middle-class, usually in a pejorative sense; boringly conventional

• The original bourgeoisie were simply people who lived in cities, an innovation at the time. They weren’t farmers and they weren’t nobles. They were members of a new class-the middle class. Now, the word is used mostly in making fun of or sneering at people who seem to think about nothing but their possessions and other comforts and about conforming with other people who share those concerns.

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131
Q

Bovine

A

(Adjective)

Cow related; cowlike

• there are a number of similar words based on other animals:

Canine = dogs
Equine = horses
Feline = cats
Piscine = Fish
Porcine = pigs
Ursine = bears
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132
Q

Brevity

A

(Noun)

Briefness

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133
Q

Broach

A

(Verb)

To open up a subject for discussion, often a delicate subject

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134
Q

Bucolic (byoo KAHL ik)

A

(Adjective)

Charmingly rural; rustic; countrylike

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135
Q

Bureaucracy

A

(Noun)

A system of government administration consisting of numerous bureaus or offices, especially one run according to inflexible and inefficient rules; any large administrative system characterized by inefficiency, lots of rules, and red tape

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136
Q

Burgeon

A

(Verb)

To expand; to flourish

The burgeoning weeds in our yard soon overwhelmed the grass.

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137
Q

Burlesque

A

(Noun)

A ludicrous, mocking, lewd imitation

Vaudeville actors frequently performed burlesque works on the stage

• burlesque, parody, lampoon, and caricature share similar meanings.

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138
Q

Cacophony

A

(Noun)

Harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds

The parade’s 2 marching bands played simultaneously; the resulting cacophony drove many spectators to tears.

  • A cacophony is not just a lot of noise. It is a lot of noise that doesn’t sound good together.
  • euphony is the opposite of cacophony. Euphony is pleasing sound.
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139
Q

Cadence

A

(Noun)

Rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds

We wished the tone of Bob’s words would have a more pleasing cadence, but he spoke in a dull monotone.

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140
Q

Cajole

A

(Verb)

To persuade someone to do something he or she does not want to do

I did not want to give the speech, but Peter cajoled me into doing it by telling me what a good speaker I am.

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141
Q

Callow

A

(Adjective)

Immature

The patient was alarmed by the callowness of the medical staff. The doctors looked too young to have graduated from high school, much less from medical school.

• to be callow is to be youthfully naïve, inexperienced, and unsophisticated.

142
Q

Candor

A

(Noun)

Truthfulness; sincere honesty

• to show candor is to be candid. To be candid is to speak frankly.

143
Q

Capitalism

A

(Noun)

An economic system in which businesses are owned by private citizens (not by the government) and in which the resulting products and services are sold with relatively little government control

144
Q

Capitulate

A

(Verb)

To surrender; to give up or give in

On the 20th day of the strike, the workers capitulated and went back to work without a new contract.

• to recapitulate is not to capitulate again. To recapitulate is to summarize.

145
Q

Capricious

A

(Adjective)

Unpredictable; likely to change at any moment

• A caprice is a whim.

146
Q

Caricature

A

(Noun)

A portrait or description that is purposely distorted or exaggerated, often to prove some point about its subject

• caricature can also be used as a verb

147
Q

Castigate

A

(Verb)

To criticize severely; to chastise

Joe’s mother-in-law castigated him for forgetting to pick her up at the airport

148
Q

Catalyst

A

(Noun)

In chemistry, something that changes the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being changed; anyone or anything that makes something happen without being directly involved in it

149
Q

Categorical

A

(Adjective)

Unconditional; absolute

• A categorical denial is one without exceptions - it covers every category.

Crooked politicians often make categorical denials of various charges against them. Then they go to jail.

150
Q

Catharsis

A

(Noun)

Purification that brings emotional relief or renewal

• to someone with psychological problems, talking to a psychiatrist can lead to a catharsis.

151
Q

catholic

A

(Adjective)

Universal; embracing everything

Leonardo da Vinci was a catholic genius who excelled at everything he did.

  • parochial means narrow-minded, so parochial and catholic are almost opposites.
  • catholic with a small c means universal. Catholic with a large C means Roman Catholic or pertaining to an ancient, undivided Christian church.
152
Q

Caustic

A

(Adjective)

Like acid; corrosive

• caustic can be used figuratively. A caustic comment is one that is so nasty or insulting that it seems to sting or burn the person to whom it is directed.

153
Q

Celibacy

A

(Noun)

Abstinence from sex

154
Q

Censure

A

(Verb)

to condemn severely for doing something bad

  • censure can also be a noun
  • A Senate that made a habit of censuring senators might be said to be censorious. To be censorious is to be highly critical - to do a lot of censuring.
155
Q

Cerebral

A

(Adjective)

Brainy; intellectually refined

  • your cerebrum is the biggest part of your brain. To be cerebral is to do and care about things that really smart people do and care about.
  • A cerebral discussion is one that is filled with big words and concerns abstruse matters that ordinary people can’t understand.
156
Q

Chagrin

A

(Noun)

Humiliation; embarrassed disappointment

Much to my chagrin, I began to giggle during the eulogy at the funeral.

• The word chagrin is sometimes used incorrectly to mean surprise.

157
Q

Charisma

A

(Noun)

A magical-seeming ability to attract followers or inspire loyalty

158
Q

Charlatan

A

(Noun)

Fraud; quack; con man

159
Q

Chasm

A

(Noun)

A deep, gaping hole; a gorge

160
Q

Chastise

A

(Verb)

To inflict punishment on; to discipline

161
Q

Chicanery (shi KAY nuh ree)

A

(Noun)

Trickery; deceitfulness; artifice, especially legal or political

Political news would be dull were it not for the chicanery of our elected officials

162
Q

Chimera

A

(Noun)

An illusion; a foolish fancy

Joe’s dream of becoming a movie star was just a chimera

163
Q

Choleric

A

(Adjective)

Hot-tempered; quick to anger

The choleric watchdog would sink his teeth into anyone who came within walking distance of his doghouse.

164
Q

Chronic

A

(Adjective)

Constant; lasting a long time; inveterate

• chronic is usually associated with something negative or undesirable: chronic illness, chronic failure, chronic depression. A chronic disease is one that lingers for a long time, doesn’t go away, or keeps coming back. The opposite of a chronic disease is an acute disease. An acute disease is one that comes and goes very quickly. It may be severe, but it doesn’t last forever.

165
Q

Chronicle

A

(Noun)

A record of events in order of time; a history

• chronology and chronicle are nearly synonymous: both provide a chronological list of events. Chronological means in order of time.

166
Q

Circuitous (sur KYOO uh tus)

A

(Adjective)

Roundabout; not following a direct path

The circuitous bus route between the two cities went here, there, and everywhere, and it took an extremely long time to get anywhere.

• A circuitous argument is one that rambles around for quite a while before making its point. A circuitous argument is very similar to a circular argument, which is one that ends up where it begins or attempt to prove something without offering any new information. To say, “straight means not curved, and curved means not straight,” is to give a circular, or tautological, definition of the word straight.

167
Q

Circumlocution

A

(Noun)

An indirect expression; use of wordy or evasive language

The lawyer’s circumlocution left everyone in the court room wondering what had been said.

• to use a lot of big, vague words and to speak in a dis-organized way is to be circumlocutory.

168
Q

Circumscribe

A

(Verb)

to draw a line around; to set the limits; to define; to restrict

The Constitution clearly circumscribes the restrictions that can be placed on our personal freedoms.

169
Q

Circumspect

A

(Adjective)

Cautious

As a public speaker, Nick was extremely circumspect; he always took great care not to say the wrong thing or give offense.

• The word circumspect comes from Greek roots meaning around and look (as do the words circle and inspect). To be circumspect is to look around carefully before doing something.

170
Q

Civil

A

(Adjective)

Polite; civilized; courteous

• The word civil also has other meanings. Civil rights are rights established by law. Civil service is government service.

171
Q

Clemency

A

(Noun)

Mercy; forgiveness; mildness

The governor committed an act of clemency when he released all the convicts from the State penitentiary.

• mild weather is called clement weather; bad weather is called inclement.

172
Q

Cliché

A

(Noun)

An overused saying or idea

• clichés are usually true. That’s why they’ve been repeated often enough to become overused. But they are boring.

173
Q

Clique (Kleek)

A

(Noun)

An exclusive group bound together by some shared quality or interest

The high school newspaper staff was a real clique; they all hung out together and wouldn’t talk to anyone else. It was hard to have fun at that school if you were not a member of the right clique. The cheerleaders were cliquish as well.

174
Q

Coalesce (koh uh LES)

A

(Verb)

To come together as one; to fuse; to unite

The people in our neighborhood coalesced into a powerful force for change in the community.

The southern coalition in Congress is the group of representatives from Southern states who often vote the same way.

• A coalition is a group of people that has come together for some purpose, often a political one.

175
Q

Coerce

A

(Verb)

To force someone to do or not to do something

• The noun is coercion

176
Q

Cogent

A

(Adjective)

Powerfully convincing

The lawyer’s argument on his clients behalf was not cogent, so the jury convicted his client. The jury was persuaded by the cogency of the prosecuting attorney’s argument.

177
Q

Cognitive

A

(Adjective)

Dealing with how we know the world around us through our senses; mental

• Cognition is knowing.

178
Q

Cognizant

A

(Adjective)

Aware; conscious

To be cognizant of your responsibilities is to know what your responsibilities are.

179
Q

Coherent

A

(Adjective)

Holding together; making sense

• A coherent wad of cotton balls is one that holds together. A coherent explanation is an explanation that makes sense; the explanation holds together. To hold together is to cohere.

180
Q

Colloquial (kul OH kwee ul)

A

(Adjective)

Conversational; informal in language

A writer with a colloquial style is a writer who uses ordinary words and whose writing seems as informal as common speech.

• A colloquy (KAHL uh kwee) is a conversation or conference.

181
Q

Collusion (kuh LOO zhun)

A

(Noun)

Conspiracy; secret cooperation

There was collusion among the owners of the baseball teams; they agreed secretly not to sign any expensive free agents.

• To collude is to conspire.

182
Q

Commensurate (kuh MEN sur it)

A

(Adjective)

Equal; proportionate

Ryan’s salary is commensurate with his ability; like his ability, his salary is small.

183
Q

Compelling

A

(Adjective)

Forceful; causing to yield

  • To compel someone to do something is to force him to do it.
  • The noun is compulsion, which also means an irresistible impulse to do something irrational
184
Q

Compendium

A

(Noun)

A summary; an abridgment

A yearbook often contains a compendium of the offenses, achievements, and future plans of the senior class.

185
Q

Complacent

A

(Adjective)

Self-satisfied; overly pleased with oneself; contented to a fault

To fall into complacency is to become comfortably uncaring about the world around you.

186
Q

Complement

A

(Verb)

To complete or fill up; to be the perfect counterpart

The flower arrangement complemented the table decorations.

Complement can also be a noun.

187
Q

Complicity

A

(Noun)

Participation in wrongdoing; the act of being an accomplice

Complicity among the students made it impossible to find out which of them had pulled the fire alarm.

188
Q

Comprehensive

A

(Adjective)

Covering or including everything

The insurance policy was comprehensive; it covered all possible losses

A comprehensive examination is one that covers everything in the course or in a particular field of knowledge.

189
Q

Comprise

A

(Verb)

to consist of

A football team comprises 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense.

A company comprises employees.

This word is often misused. Be careful. Players do not “comprise” a football team, and employees do not “comprise” a company. Nor can a football team be said to be “comprised of” players, or a company to be “comprised of” employees. These are common mistakes. Instead, you can say that players constitute or compose a team, and that employees constitute or compose a company.

190
Q

Conciliatory

A

(Adjective)

Making peace; attempting to resolve a dispute through goodwill

To be conciliatory is to kiss and make up.

When peace has been made, we say that the warring parties have comes to a reconciliation. To reconcile is to bring two things into agreement.

The accountant managed to reconcile the company books with the cash on hand only with great creativity

191
Q

Concise

A

(Adjective)

Brief and to the point; succinct

To be concise is to say much with a few words. A concise speaker is one who speaks concisely or with concision.

192
Q

Concorde

A

(Noun)

Harmony; agreement

Nations that live in concord are nations that live together in peace.

Discord is the opposite of concord. A faculty meeting where everyone yelled at one another would be a faculty meeting marked by discord. It would be a discordant meeting. An accord is a formal agreement, usually reached after a dispute.

193
Q

Concurrent

A

(Adjective)

Happening at the same time; parallel

The criminal was sentenced to do concurrent 15-year sentences; the sentences will run at the same time, and he will be out of jail in 15 years.

To concur means to agree

The assistant wanted to keep his job, so she always concurred with her boss.

194
Q

Condescend

A

(Verb)

To stoop to someone else’s level, usually in an offensive way; to patronize

I was surprised that the president of the company had condescended to talk with me, a mere temporary employee.

195
Q

Condone

A

(Verb)

To overlook; to permit to happen

The principal condoned smoking in the bathroom; he simply ignored it

196
Q

Conducive

A

(Adjective)

Promoting

The foul weather was not conducive to our having a picnic.

197
Q

Confluence

A

(Noun)

A flowing together, especially of rivers; the place where they begin to flow together

The confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers is at St. Louis; that is the place where they join together.

A confluence of many factors (no ice, bad food, terrible music) made it inevitable that the party would be terrible.

198
Q

Congenial

A

(Adjective)

Agreeably suitable; pleasant

When people get along together at a restaurant, they are being congenial.

Genial and congenial share similar meanings. Genial means pleasing, kind, sympathetic, or helpful. You can be pleased by a genial manner or by a genial climate.

199
Q

Congenital

A

(Adjective)

Describing a trait or condition acquired between conception and birth; innate

A congenital birth defect is one that is present at birth but was not caused by one’s genes.

200
Q

Congregate

A

(Verb)

To come together

Protesters were granted permission to congregate peacefully on the plaza.

The noun firm is congregation and can refer to the membership of a house of worship.

Aggregate also has to do with coming together.

201
Q

Conjecture

A

(Verb)

To guess; to deduce or infer on slight evidence

If forced to conjecture, I would say the volcano will erupt in 24 hours.

Conjecture can also be a noun

202
Q

Conjure

A

(Verb)

To summon or bring into being as if by magic

The wizard conjured an evil spirit by mumbling some magic words and throwing a little powdered eye of newt into the fire

203
Q

Connoisseur (kahn uh SUR)

A

(Noun)

An expert, particularly in matters of art or taste

The meal was exquisite enough to impress a connoisseur

204
Q

Consecrate

A

(Verb)

To make or declare sacred

The priest consecrated the building by sprinkling holy water on it.

The opposite of consecrate is desecrate, which means to treat irreverently.

The Vandals desecrated the cemetery by knocking down all the tombstones.

205
Q

Consensus

A

(Noun)

Unanimity or general agreement

When there is a consensus, everybody feels the same way.

Contrary to how the word is often used, consensus implies more than just a rough agreement or a majority opinion. Election results don’t reflect a consensus unless everyone or nearly everyone votes for the same candidate.

206
Q

Consonant

A

(Adjective)

Harmonious; in agreement

Our desires were consonant with theirs; we all wanted the same thing.

The opposite of consonant is dissonant, which means inharmonious. Dissonant voices are voices that don’t sound good together

207
Q

Construe

A

(verb)

To interpret

Bob construed his contract as giving him the right to do anything he wanted.

The meaning of the poem, as I construed it, had to do with the love of a man for his dog.

To misconstrue is to misinterpret.

208
Q

Consummate (kun SUM it)

A

(Adjective)

Perfect; complete; supremely skillful

A consummate pianist is an extremely good one. Nothing is lacking in the way he plays.

Consummate (KAHN suh mayt) is also a verb. Notice the different pronunciation. To consummate something is to finish it or make it complete. Signing a contract would consummate an agreement.

209
Q

Contentious

A

(adjective)

Argumentative; quarrelsome

Beth figured that her contentious style would make her a perfect litigator; after law school, however, they would-be trial attorney discovered that passing the bar requires more than a will to argue.

210
Q

Contiguous

A

(Adjective)

Side-by-side; adjoining

Two countries that share a border are contiguous; so are two events that happened one right after the other.

211
Q

Contingent

A

(Adjective)

Dependent; possible

Our agreement to buy their house is contingent upon the seller finding another house to move into. That is, they will not sell their house to us unless they can find another house to buy.

A contingency is a possibility or something that may happen but is at least as likely not to happen.

212
Q

Contrite

A

(Adjective)

Admitting guilt; especially feeling remorseful

To be contrite is to admit whatever terrible thing you did.

Becky was contrite about her mistake, so we forgave her.

A criminal who won’t confess his crime is not contrite.

Saying that you are sorry is an act of contrition.

213
Q

Contrived

A

(Adjective)

Artificial; labored

Sam’s acting was contrived: no one in the audience believed his character or enjoyed his performance.

The artist was widely admired for her originality, but her paintings seemed contrived to me.

A contrivance is a mechanical device, usually something rigged up.

214
Q

Conventional

A

(Adjective)

Common; customary; unexceptional

Tipping the waiter in a restaurant is a conventional courtesy.

Conventional wisdom is what everyone thinks.

215
Q

Convivial

A

(Adjective)

Fond of partying; festive

A convivial gathering is one in which the people present enjoy eating, drinking, and being together.

To be convivial is to be an eager but generally well-behaved party animal

216
Q

Copious

A

(Adjective) abundant; plentiful

Matt had a copious supply of nails in his workshop. Everywhere you stepped, it seemed, there was a pile of nails.

217
Q

Corollary

A

(Noun)

Something that follows; a natural consequence

In mathematics, a corollary is a law that can be deduced without further proof from a law that has already been proven.

Bloodshed and death are corollaries of any declaration of war.

218
Q

Corroborate

A

(Verb)

To confirm; to back up with evidence

The police could find no evidence of theft and thus could not corroborate Greg’s claim that he had been robbed.

219
Q

Cosmopolitan

A

(Adjective)

At home in many places or situations; internationally sophisticated

A truly cosmopolitan traveler never feels like a foreigner anywhere on earth.

New York is a cosmopolitan city; you can hear nearly every language spoken there

220
Q

Countenance

A

(Noun)

Face; facial expression, especially an encouraging one

Ed’s harsh words belief his countenance, which was kind and encouraging.

Countenance can also be a verb. To countenance something is to condone it or tolerate it

221
Q

Coup

A

(Noun)

A brilliant victory or accomplishment; the violent overthrow of a government by a small internal group

Winning a gold-medal at the Olympics was a real coup for the 50-year-old man.

In the attempted coup in the Philippines, some army officers tried to take over the government.

The full name for this type of coup is coup d’état. A coup de grace is a final blow or a concluding event.

222
Q

Covenant

A

(Noun)

A solemn agreement; a contract; a pledge

We signed a covenant never to drive our father’s car without permission again.

223
Q

Covert

A

(Adjective)

Secret; hidden

To be covert is to be covered

Covert activities are secret activities.

The opposite of covert is overt. Overt means open or unconcealed

224
Q

Covet

A

(Verb)

To wish for enviously

To covet thy neighbors wife is to want thy neighbor’s wife for thyself

To be covetous is to be envious

225
Q

Credulous

A

(Adjective)

Eager to believe; gullible

The credulous housewife believed that she had win a million dollars through an email scam.

Credulous should not be confused with credible. To be credible is to be believable. Almost anything, however incredible, is credible to a credulous person.

A story that cannot be believed is incredible. If you don’t believe that story someone just told you, you are incredulous. If something is credible, it may gain credence, which means belief or intellectual acceptance.

Another similar word is creditable, which means worthy of credit or praise

226
Q

Criterion

A

(Noun)

Standard; basis for judgment

In choosing among the linemen, the most important criterion was quickness.

227
Q

Cryptic

A

(Adjective)

Mysterious; mystifying

Julie’s remarks were cryptic; Jerry was baffled by what she said.

228
Q

Culinary

A

(Adjective)

Relating to cooking or the kitchen

229
Q

Culminate

A

(Verb)

To climax; to reach full effect

Jills years of practice culminated in a great victory at the international juggling championship.

The masquerade ball was the culmination of our fund-raising efforts.

230
Q

Culpable

A

(Adjective)

Deserving blame; guilty

231
Q

Cursory

A

(Adjective)

Hasty; superficial

To give a book a cursory reading is to skim it quickly without comprehending much.

232
Q

Curtail (kur TAYL)

A

(Verb)

To shorten; to cut short

233
Q

Cynic

A

(Noun)

One who deeply distressed human nature; one who believes humans are motivated only by selfishness

When the popstar give $1 million to the museum, cynics said he was merely trying to buy himself a reputation as a cultured person.

234
Q

Daunt

A

(Verb)

To make fearful; to intimidate

The steepness of the mountain daunted the team of amateur climbers, because they had not realized what they were in for.

To be dauntless or undaunted is to be fearless or unintimidated.

235
Q

Dearth

A

(Noun)

Lack; scarcity

When there is a dearth of food, many people may starve.

236
Q

Debacle (di BAHK ul)

A

(Noun)

Violent breakdown; sudden overthrow; overwhelming defeat

A political debate would become a debacle if the candidates began screaming and throwing dinner rolls at each other

237
Q

Debauchery (di BAW chuh ree)

A

(Noun)

Wild living; excessive intemperance

To debauch is to seduce or corrupt. Someone who is debauched has been seduced or corrupted.

238
Q

Debilitate

A

(Verb)

To weaken; to cripple

The football player’s career was ended by a debilitating injury to his knee.

To become debilitated is to suffer a debility, which is the opposite of an ability

239
Q

Decadent

A

(Adjective)

Decaying or decayed, especially in terms of morals

A person who engages in decadent behavior is a person whose morals have decayed or fallen into ruin.

240
Q

Decimate

A

(Verb)

To kill or destroy a large part of

241
Q

Decorous (DEK ur us)

A

(Adjective)

Proper; in good taste; orderly

Decorous behavior is good, polite, orderly behavior.

To behave decorously is to behave with decorum.

242
Q

Deduce

A

(Verb)

To conclude from the evidence; to infer

To deduce something is to conclude it without being told it directly.

From the footprints on the ground, Clarice deduced that the criminal had feet.

243
Q

Defame

A

(Verb)

To libel or slander; to ruin the good name of

To defame someone is to make accusations that harm the person’s reputation.

To defame is to take away fame, to take away a good name.

To suffer such a loss of reputation is to suffer defamation.

244
Q

Deference

A

(Noun)

Submission to another’s will; respect; courtesy

To show deference to another is to place that person’s wishes ahead of your own.

To show deference is also to be deferential

245
Q

Definitive

A

(Adjective)

Conclusive; providing the last word

246
Q

Degenerate

A

(Verb)

To breakdown; to deteriorate

A person whose behavior has degenerated can be referred to as a degenerate

Degenerate could also be an adjective, meaning degenerated.

247
Q

Deleterious

A

(Adjective)

Harmful

248
Q

Delineate

A

(Verb)

To describe accurately; to draw an outline

After Jack had delineated his plan, we had no doubt about what he intended to do.

The portrait artist delineated Sarah’s features then filled in the shading.

249
Q

Delude

A

(Verb)

To deceive

The ConMan deluded us into thinking that he would make us rich.

To be deluded is to suffer from a delusion.

250
Q

Deluge (DEL yooj)

A

(Noun)

A flood; an inundation

A deluge is a flood, but the word is often used figuratively.

251
Q

Demagogue

A

(Noun)

A leader who uses prejudice to get more power

A demagogue is a leader, but not in a good sense of the word. She manipulates the public to support her aims, but she is little different from a dictator. A demagogue is often a despot. The methods a demagogue uses are demagoguery or demagogy.

252
Q

Denizen

A

(Noun)

Inhabitant

To be a denizen of a country is to live there. A citizen of a country is usually also a denizen.

To be a denizen of a restaurant is to go there often, so often that people begin to wonder whether you live there.

253
Q

Depravity

A

(Noun)

Extreme wickedness or corruption

The teacher wondered whether the depravity of her class of eight-year-olds was the result of their watching Saturday morning television.

To exhibit depravity is to be depraved.

254
Q

Deprecate

A

(Verb)

To express disapproval of

To deprecate a colleague’s work is to risk making yourself unwelcome in your colleague’s office.

The critic’s deprecating comments about my new novel put me in a bad mood.

To be self-deprecating is to belittle one’s own efforts.

255
Q

Deride

A

(Verb)

To ridicule; to laugh at contemptuously

The boss derided her secretary mercilessly, so she quit her job.

256
Q

Derogatory

A

(Adjective)

Disapproving; degrading

Derogatory remarks are negative remarks expressing disapproval. They are nastier than merely critical remarks.

257
Q

Desiccate

A

(Verb)

To dry out

Plums become prunes through a process of desiccation.

258
Q

Despondent

A

(Adjective)

Extremely depressed; full of despair

The team fell into despondency after losing the state championship game by a single point.

259
Q

Despot

A

(Noun)

An absolute ruler; an autocrat

The island kingdom was ruled by a ruthless despot who executed suspected rebels at noon each day in the village Square

260
Q

Destitute

A

(Adjective)

Extremely poor; utterly lacking

Destitute people are people without money or possessions, or with very little money and very few possessions.

To be left destitute is to be left without money or property. The word can also be used figuratively. A teacher might accuse her students of being intellectually destitute.

261
Q

Desultory (DES ul tor ee)

A

(Adjective)

Without a plan or purpose; disconnected; random

Bob made a few desultory attempts to start a garden, but nothing came of them.

The discussion at our meeting was desultory; no one’s comments seemed to bear any relation to anyone else’s.

262
Q

Dexterous

A

(Adjective)

Skillful; adroit

Dexterous often, but not always, connotes physical ability. Like adroit, it comes from the Latin word for right because right-handed people were once considered physically and mentally superior.

The word can also be spelled dexterous.

Dexterity is the noun form. For an antonym, see gauche.

263
Q

Dialectical

A

(Adjective)

Relating to discussions; relating to the rules and methods of reasoning; approaching truth in the middle of opposing extremes

The game of 20 questions is dialectical, in that the participants attempt to narrow down a chosen object by asking a series of ever more specific questions

The noun is dialectic.

264
Q

Dictum

A

(Noun)

An authoritative saying; an adage; a maxim; a proverb

“No pain, no gain” is a hackneyed dictum of sadistic coaches everywhere.

265
Q

Didactic

A

(Adjective)

Intended to teach; morally instructive; pedantic

The priest was always didactic. He never said anything that was not intended to teach a lesson.

266
Q

Diffident

A

(Adjective)

Timid; lacking in self-confidence

Diffident and confident are opposites.

The diffident student never made a single comment in class.

267
Q

Digress

A

(Verb)

To stray from the main subject

Speaking metaphorically, to digress is to leave the main highway in order to travel aimlessly on back roads.. When a speaker digresses, she departs from the main topic and tells a story only distantly related to it. Such a story is called a digression.

268
Q

Dilettante (DIL uh tahnt)

A

(Noun)

Someone with superficial knowledge of the arts; an amateur; a dabbler

To be a dilettante is to dabble in something rather than doing it in a serious way.

Becky said she was an artist, but she was merely a dilettante; she did not know a pencil from a paintbrush.

269
Q

Discern

A

(Verb)

To have insight; to see things clearly; to discriminate; to differentiate

To discern something is to perceive it clearly. A writer whose work demonstrates discernment is a writer who is a keen observer.

270
Q

Discreet

A

(Adjective)

Prudent; judiciously reserved

To make discreet inquiries is to ask around without letting the whole world know you are doing it.

He had discretion.

To be indiscreet is to be imprudent and especially to say or do things you should not.

271
Q

Discrete

A

(Adjective)

Unconnected; separate; distinct

Do not confuse discrete with discreet.

The drop in the stock market was not the result of any single force but of many discrete trends.

When things are all jumbled up together, they are said to be indiscrete, which means not separated or sorted.

272
Q

Discriminate

A

(Verb)

To notice or point out the difference between two or more things; to discern; to differentiate

A person with a refined aesthetic sense is able to discriminate subtle differences where a less observant person would see nothing. Such a person is discriminating. This kind of discrimination is a good thing. To discriminate unfairly, though, is to dwell on differences that should not make a difference. It is unfair, and illegal, to discriminate between black people and white people in selling a house. Such a practice is not discriminating, but discriminatory.

Indiscriminate means not discriminating; in other words random or haphazard.

273
Q

Disdain

A

(Noun)

Arrogant scorn; contempt

The snobbish millionaire looked upon the poor workers with evident disdain.

Distain can also be a verb.

274
Q

Disinterested

A

(Adjective)

Not taking sides; unbiased

Disinterested should not be used to mean uninterested. If you do not care about something, you are uninterested, not disinterested.

A referee should be disinterested. He should not be rooting for one of the competing teams.

275
Q

Disparage

A

(Verb)

To belittle; to say uncomplementary things about, usually in a somewhat indirect way

My guidance counselor disparaged my high school record by telling me that not everybody belongs in college.

276
Q

Disparate

A

(Adjective)

Different; incompatible; unequal

Our interests were disparate: Cathy liked to play with dolls, and I liked to throw her dolls out the window.

The noun form of disparate is disparity. Disparity means inequality. The opposite of disparity is parity.

277
Q

Disseminate

A

(Verb)

To spread the seeds of something; to scatter; to make widely known

News is disseminated through many media: Internet, radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and gossips.

278
Q

Dissipate

A

(Verb)

To thin out, drift away, or dissolve; to cause to thin out, drift away, or dissolve; to waste or squander

The smoke dissipated as soon as we open the windows.

The police dissipated the riotous crowd by spraying the demonstrators with fire hoses and firing rubber bullets.

Cathy won the weekly lottery but dissipated the entire winnings in one abandoned, fun-filled weekend.

We can also say that a person is dissipated, by which we mean that she indulges in wild living. Cathy is dissipated.

279
Q

Distend

A

(Verb)

To swell; to extend a great deal

A distended belly is one symptom of malnutrition.

A swelling is a distention.

280
Q

Distinguish

A

(Verb)

To tell apart; to cause to stand out

The rodent expert’s eyesight was so acute that he was able to distinguish between a shrew and a vole at more than 1000 paces.

281
Q

Docile

A

(Adjective)

Easily taught; obedient; easy to handle

The baby raccoons appeared docile at first, but they proved almost impossible to control.

282
Q

Doctrinaire

A

(Adjective)

Inflexibly committed to a doctrine or theory without regard to its practicality; dogmatic

A doctrinaire opponent of fluoridation of water would be someone whose opposition could not be shaken by proof that fluoride is good for teeth and not bad for anything else.

283
Q

Dogmatic

A

(Adjective)

Arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas; stubbornly claiming that something (often a system of beliefs) is beyond dispute

A dogma is a belief. A dogmatic person, however, is stubbornly convinced of her beliefs.

Ted is dogmatic on the subject of creationism. He dismisses any views inconsistent with his belief.

284
Q

Domestic

A

(Adjective)

Having to do with the household or family; not foreign

A home that enjoys domestic tranquility is a happy home.

The domestic steel industry is the steel industry in this country.

285
Q

Dormant

A

(Adjective)

Inactive; as though asleep; asleep

Dormant, like dormitory, comes from a root meaning sleep.

Many plants remain dormant through the winter; that is, they stop growing until spring.

286
Q

Dubious

A

(Adjective)

Full of doubt; uncertain

We were dubious about the team’s chance of success and, as it turned out, our dubiety was justified: the team lost.

Dubious and doubtful do not mean exactly the same thing. A dubious person is a person who has doubts. A doubtful outcome is an outcome that is not certain to occur.

Becky’s chance of getting the job were doubtful because the employer was dubious of her claim that she had been president of United States while in high school.

Something beyond doubt is indubitable. A dogmatic person believes her opinions are indubitable.

287
Q

Duplicity

A

(Noun)

The act of being two-faced; double-dealing; deception

The duplicitous salesman sold the red sports car to someone else even though she had promised to sell it to us.

288
Q

Ebullient (ih BUL yunt)

A

(Adjective)

Boiling; bubbling with excitement; exuberant

A boiling liquid can be called ebullient. More often, though, this word describes excited or enthusiastic people.

The roaring crowd in a full stadium before the World Series might be said to be ebullient.

289
Q

Eccentric

A

(Adjective)

Not conventional; a little kooky; irregular

Betsy’s political views are eccentric: she believes that we should have kings instead of presidents and that the government should raise money by holding bake sales.

An eccentric person is a person who has eccentricities.

290
Q

Eclectic

A

(Adjective)

Choosing the best from many sources; drawn from many sources

Peter’s taste in art was eclectic. He liked the Old Masters, the Impressionist panel and Walt Disney.

291
Q

Edify

A

(Verb)

To enlighten; to instruct, especially in moral or religious matters

The teacher’s goal was to edify her students, not to force a handful of facts down their throats.

292
Q

Efface

A

(Verb)

To erase; to rub away the features of

The inscription on the tombstone had been effaced by centuries of weather.

To be self-effacing is to be modest.

293
Q

Effusion

A

(Noun)

A pouring forth

When the child was rescued from the well, there was an intense effusion of emotion from the crowd that had gathered around the hole.

294
Q

Egalitarian

A

(Adjective)

Believing in the social and economic equality of all people

People often lose interest in egalitarian measures when such measures interfere with their own interest.

295
Q

Egocentric

A

(Adjective)

Selfish; believing that one is the center of everything

It never occurred to the egocentric musician that her audiences might like to hear someone else’s songs every once in a while.

And egotist is another type of egocentric. An egotist is an egoist who tells everyone how wonderful she is.

296
Q

Egregious

A

(Adjective)

Extremely bad; flagrant

Save this word for things that are worse than bad.

The mother’s egregious neglect was responsible for her child’s accidental cross-country ride on the freight train.

297
Q

Elicit

A

(Verb)

To bring out; to call forth

The defendant try to elicit the sympathy of the jury by appearing at the trial in a wheelchair, but the jury convicted her anyway.

Don’t confuse this word with illicit.

298
Q

Elliptical

A

(Adjective)

Oval; missing a word or words; obscure

This word has several meanings.

The orbit of the earth is not perfectly round; it is elliptical.

An elliptical statement is one that is hard or impossible to understand, either because something is missing from it or because the speaker or writer is trying to be hard to understand.

The announcement from the State Department was purposely elliptical-the government did not really want reporters to know what was going on

299
Q

Elusive

A

(Adjective)

Hard to pin down; evasive

To be elusive is to elude, which means to avoid, evade, or escape.

The answer to the problem was elusive; every time the mathematician thought he was close, he discovered another error.

300
Q

Emigrate

A

(Verb)

To leave a country permanently; to expatriate

The Soviet dissidents were persecuted by the secret police, so they sought permission to emigrate.

At the heart of this word is the word migrate, which means to move from one place or country to another. Emigrate add to migrate the sense of moving out of someplace in particular. On the other end of every emigration is an immigration.

301
Q

Eminent

A

(Adjective)

Well-known and respected; standing out from all others in quality or accomplishment; outstanding

302
Q

Empirical

A

(Adjective)

Relying on experience or observation; not merely theoretical

The Apple-dropping experiment gave the scientists empirical evidence that gravity exist.

303
Q

Emulate

A

(Verb)

To strive to equal or excel, usually through imitation

The American company emulated its successful Japanese competitor but it never quite managed to do as well.

304
Q

Encroach

A

(Verb)

To make gradual or stealthy inroads into; to trespass

My neighbor encroached on my yard by building his new stockade fence a few feet on my side of the property line.

305
Q

Endemic

A

(Adjective)

Native; restricted to a particular region or area

You will not find that kind of tree in California; it is endemic to our part of the country.

306
Q

Enervate

A

(Verb)

To reduce the strength or energy of, especially to do so gradually

307
Q

Enfranchise

A

(Verb)

To grant the privileges of citizenship, especially the right to vote

To disfranchise (or disenfranchise) someone is to take away the privileges of citizenship or to take away the right to vote.

308
Q

Engender

A

(Verb)

To bring into existence; to create; to cause

My winning lottery ticket engendered a great deal of envy among my co-workers; they all wished that they had won.

309
Q

Enigma

A

(Noun)

A mystery

Ben is an enigma; he never does any homework but he always gets good grades

The wizard spoke in riddles and enigmas, and no one could understand what he was saying.

310
Q

Enormity

A

(Noun)

Extreme evil; a hideous offense; immensity

Hitler’s soldiers stormed through the village, committing one enormity after another.

“Hugeness” or “great size” is not the main meaning of enormity. When you want to talk about the gigantic size of something, use immensity instead.

311
Q

Ephemeral

A

(Adjective)

Lasting a very short time

312
Q

Epigram

A

(Noun)

A brief and usually witty or satirical saying

People often find it difficult to remember the difference between an epigram and an:

Epigraph: an apt quotation placed at the beginning of a book for essay

Epitaph: a commemorative inscription on a grave

Epithet: a term used to characterize the nature of something; sometimes a disparaging term used to describe a person

313
Q

Epitome

A

(Noun)

A brief summary that captures the meaning of the whole; the perfect example of something; a paradigm

Bob’s freshman year was the epitome of a college experience; he made friends, joined a fraternity, and ate too much pizza.

314
Q

Equanimity

A

(Noun)

Composure; calm

The entire apartment building was crumbling, but Rachael faced the disaster with equanimity. She ducked out of the way of a falling beam and continued searching for an exit.

315
Q

Equitable

A

(Adjective)

Fair

316
Q

Equivocal

A

(Adjective)

Ambiguous; intentionally confusing; capable of being interpreted in more than one way

Joe’s response was equivocal; we could not tell whether he meant yes or no, which is precisely what Joe wanted.

To be equivocal is to equivocate. To equivocate is to mislead by saying confusing or ambiguous things.

317
Q

Erudite (ER yoo dyte)

A

(Adjective)

Scholarly; deeply learned

The professor said such erudite things that none of us had the slightest idea of what he was saying.

To be erudite is to possess erudition, or extensive knowledge

318
Q

Esoteric

A

(Adjective)

Hard to understand; understood by only a select few; peculiar

The author’s books were so esoteric that even his mother did not buy any of them.

319
Q

Espouse

A

(Verb)

To support; to advocate

320
Q

Ethereal

A

(Adjective)

Heavenly; as light and insubstantial as a gas or ether

The ethereal music we heard turned out to be not angels plucking on their harps but the wind blowing through the slats of the metal awning.

321
Q

Euphemism

A

(Noun)

A pleasant or inoffensive expression used in place of an unpleasant or offensive one

322
Q

Evanescent

A

(Adjective)

Fleeting; vanishing; happening for only the briefest period

323
Q

Exacerbate

A

(Verb)

To make worse

324
Q

Exacting

A

(Adjective)

Extremely demanding; difficult; requiring great skill or care

The exacting math teacher subtracted points if you did not show every step of your work.

The surgeon’s exacting task was to reconnect the patient’s severed eyelid.

325
Q

Exalt

A

(Verb)

To raise high; to glorify

The adjective exalted is used frequently. Being queen of England is an exalted occupation.

326
Q

Exasperate

A

(Verb)

To annoy thoroughly; to make very angry; to try the patience of

The child’s insistence on hopping backwards on 1 foot exasperated her mother, who was in a hurry.

327
Q

Exemplify

A

(Verb)

To illustrate by example; to serve as a good example

An exemplar is an ideal model or a paradigm. Exemplary means outstanding or worthy of imitation.

328
Q

Exhaustive

A

(Adjective)

Thorough; rigorous; complete; painstaking

329
Q

Exhort

A

(Verb)

To urge strongly; to give a serious warning to

The coach used his bullhorn to exhort us to try harder.

The adjective is hortatory (HOR tuh tor ee)

330
Q

Exigency

A

(Noun)

An emergency; an urgency

Exigent means urgent.

331
Q

Existential

A

(Adjective)

Having to do with existence; having to do with the body of thought called existentialism, which basically holds that human beings are responsible for their own actions but is otherwise too complicated to summarize in a single sentence

This word is overused but under-understood by virtually all of the people who use it. Unless you have a very good reason for throwing it around, you should probably avoid it.

332
Q

Exonerate

A

(Verb)

To free completely from blame; to exculpate

333
Q

Expatriate

A

(Verb)

To throw (someone) out of his or her native land; to move away from one’s native land; to emigrate

To repatriate is to return to one’s native citizenship

334
Q

Expedient

A

(Adjective)

Providing an immediate advantage; serving one’s immediate self-interest; practical

335
Q

Expedite

A

(Verb)

To speed up or ease the progress of

336
Q

Explicit

A

(Adjective)

Clearly and directly expressed

Implicit means indirectly expressed or implied.

337
Q

Extol

A

(Verb)

To praise highly; to laud

338
Q

Extraneous

A

(Adjective)

Unnecessary; irrelevant; extra

To be extraneous is to be extra and always with the sense of being unnecessary.

339
Q

Extrapolate

A

(Verb)

To project or deduce from something known; to infer

340
Q

Extricate

A

(Verb) to free from difficulty

It took two days to extricate the little girl from the abandoned well into which she had fallen.

Something that is permanently stuck is inextricable

341
Q

Extrovert

A

(Noun)

An open, outgoing person; a person whose attention is focused on others rather than on himself

An introvert is a person whose attention is directed inward and who is concerned with little outside himself.

342
Q

Exult

A

(Verb)

To rejoice; to celebrate

The team exulted in its victory at the finals. They were exultant.

343
Q

Fabrication

A

(Noun)

Something made up

344
Q

Facetious

A

(Adjective)

Humorous; not serious; clumsily humorous

345
Q

Facile (FAS il)

A

(Adjective)

Fluent; skillful in a superficial way; easy

To say that a writer’s style is facile is to say both that it is skillful and that it would be better if the writer exerted herself more. The word facile almost always contains this sense of superficiality.

Becky’s poems are facile rather than truly accomplished; if you read them closely, you soon realize they are filled with clichés.

346
Q

Faction

A

(Noun)

A group, usually a small part of a larger group, united around some cause; disagreement within an organization

347
Q

Farcical

A

(Adjective)

Absurd; ludicrous

Farcical means like a farce, which is a mockery or a ridiculous satire.

348
Q

Fastidious (fa STID ee us)

A

(Adjective)

Meticulous; demanding; finicky

349
Q

Fatalist

A

(Noun)

Someone who believes that future events are already determined and that humans are powerless to change them

Fatalist is closely related to the word fate. A fatalist is someone who believes that fate determines everything.

350
Q

Fatuous

A

(Adjective)

Foolish; silly; idiotic

Pauline is so pretty that her suitors are often driven to fatuous acts of devotion. They are infatuated with her.

351
Q

Fauna

A

(Noun)

Animals

352
Q

Fecund (FEE kund)

A

(Adjective)

Fertile; productive

The state of being fecund is fecundity

Vocabulary (2 decks)

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