words Flashcards
Aggrandize
To increase in power, influence, or reputation
Abscond
To leave secretly
Amalgamate
To combine; to mix together
Anomaly
Deviation from what is normal
Antipathy
Extreme dislike
Abate
To reduce in amount, degree, or severity
Anachornism
Something out of place in time
Analogous
Similar or alike in some way; equivalent to
Ameliorate
To make better; to improve
Ardor
Intense and passionate feeling
Attenuate
To reduce in force or degree; to weaken
Assauge
to make something unpleasant less severe
Audacious
Fearless and daring
Austere
Severe or stern in appearance; undecorated
Apathy
Lack of interest or emotion
Bolster
To support; to prop up
Bombastic
Pompous in speech and manner
Cacophony
Harsh, jarring noise
Capricious
Changing one’s mind quickly and often
Castigate
To punish or criticize harshly
Chicanery
Deception by means of craft or guile
Caustic
Biting in wit
Banal
Boring, predictable, clichéd
Corroborate
To provide suporting evidence
Credulous
Too trusting; gullible
Deference
Respect, courtesy
Crescendo
Steadily increasing volume or force
Convoluted
Intricate and complicated
Desiccate
To dry out thoroughly
Desultory
Jumping from one thing to another: disconnected
Diatribe
An abusive, condemnatory speech
Diffident
Lacking self-confidence
Dilatory
Intended to delay
Dillettante
Someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic
Dirge
A funeral hymn or mournful speech
Disabuse
To set right; to free from error
Discern
To perceive; to recognize
Disparate
Fundamentally different; entirely unlike
Dissemble
To present a false appearance; to disguise one’s real intentions or charracter
Dissonance
A harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds
Dogma
A firmly held opinion
Dogmatic
Dictatorial in one’s opinions
Efficacy
Effectiveness
Elegy
A sorrowful poem or speech
Eloquent
Persuasive and moving, especially in speech
Enervate
To reduce in strength
Engender
To produce, cause, or bring about
Enigma
A puzzle; a mystery
Enumerate
To count, list, or itemize
Ephermeral
Lasting a short time
Equivocate
To use double meaning; to mislead
Erratic
Wandering and unpredictable
Erudite
Learned, scholarly, bookish
Esoteric
Known or understood by only a few
Eulogy
Speech in praise of someone
Euphemism
Use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one
Exculpate
To clear from blame; prove innocent
i.e. - Exonerate
Exigent
Urgent; requiring immediate action
Exonerate
To clear of blame
i.e. - Exculpate
Fanatical
Acting excessively enthusiastic; filled with extreme, unquestionable devotion
Fawn
To grovel
Fervid
Intensely emotional; feverish
Florid
Excessively decorated or embellished
Foment
To arouse or incite
Garrulous
Tending to talk a lot
Gregarious
Outgoing, sociable
Guile
Deceit or trickery
Iconolast
One who opposes established beliefs, customs, and institutions
Imperturbable
Not capable of being disturbed
Impervious
Impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected
Impetuous
Quick to act without thinking
Implacable
Unable to be calmed down or made peaceful
Inchoate
Not fully formed; disorganized
Ingenuous
Showing innocence or childlike simplicity
Inimical
Hostile, unfriendly
Innocuous
Harmless
Insipid
Lacking interest or flavor
Intransigent
Uncompromising; refusing to be reconciled
Irascible
Easily made angry
Laconic
Using few words
Lament
To express sorrow; to grieve
Laud
To give praise; to glorify
Loquacious
Talkative
Lucid
Clear and easily understood
Malinger
To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill
Meticulous
Extremely careful about details
Misanthrope
A person who dislikes others
Mitigate
To soften; to lessen
Mollify
To calm or make less severe
Oburate
Hardened in feeling; resistant to persuation
Obsequious
Overly submissive and eager to please
Obstinate
Stubborn, unyielding
Obviate
To prevent; to make unnecessary
Occlude
To stop up; to prevent the passage of
Onerous
Troublesome and oppressive; burdensome
Opprobrium
Public disgrace
Ostentation
Excessive showiness
Paradox
Contradiction or dilemma
Paragon
Model of excellence or perfection
Pedant
Someone who shows off learning
Perfidious
Willing to betray one’s trust
Perfunctory
Done in a routine way; indifference
Placate
To sooth or pacify
Pragmatic
Practical as opposed to idealistic
Precipitate
To throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation
Prevaricate
To lie or deviate from the truth
Prodigal
Lavish, wasteful
Proliferate
To increase in number quickly
Propitate
to appease
Propriety
Correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs
Prudence
Wisdom, caution, or restraint
Pungent
Sharp and irritating to the senses
Quiscent
Motionless
Rarefy
To make thinner or sparser
Repudiate
To reject the validity of
Reticent
Silent, reserved
Rhetoric
Effective writing or speaking
Satiate
To satisfy fully or overindulge
Soporific
Causing sleep or lethargy
Specious
Deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious
Stolid
Unemotional; lacking sensitivity
Sublime
Lofty or grand
Tacit
Done without using words
Taciturn
Silent, not talkative
Torpor
Extreme mental and physical sluggishness
Transitory
Temporary, lasting a brief time
Vacillate
To sway physically; to be idecisive
Venerate
To respect deeply
Veracity
Filled with truth and accuracy
Verbose
Wordy
Vex
To annoy
Volatile
Easily aroused or changeable; lively or explosive
Waver
To fluctuate between choices
Whimsical
Acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable
Zeal
Passion, excitement
Attestation
Evidence
Acerbic
Sharp or forthwright
Brusque
Abrupt or offhand
Orotund
Full, round or imposing
Depilation
Removal of
Sanguine
Optimistic
Megalithic
Prehistoric
august
Magnificent, respected, impressive
Harbinger
A foreshadower
Effigy
Sculpture of a person
Reticent
Not revealing thoughts/feelings readily
Deluge
A sever flood
Quile
Sly or cunning intelligence
Quaff
Guzzle
Picayune
Minute
Egregious
Negative moral value
Ebbing
To reduce
Capitulated
To give up; to stop
Averred
Plea; allege as fact
Exigencies
Urgent need or demands
Conflagaration
Fire or war
Repudiation
To deny or reject
Pithy
A brief paper
Blithe
Joyous, lighthearted
Parsimonious
An unwillingness to party with one’s goods
Avaricous
Greedy for wealth or material gain
Covetous
Having an extreme desire to possess something
Penurious
Poor
Rapacious
Greedy; grasping
Assauging
To make something unpleasant less severe
Inimical
Hostile/unfriendly
Abtruse
Obscure
Scurrilous
Damaging/attacing
Abjurred
Renounce
Fatuous
Silly, pointless
Ribald
Sexual - amusingly rude
Ignomious
Deserving or causing public disgrace
Acument
Mentally sound, good judgement
Acridity
Unpleasantly strong taste or smell
Trechancy
Rigorous or incisive
Mellifluous
Pleasant
Strident
Loung, harsh, or grating
Extirpate
End completely
Recondite
Little known, obscure
Detritus
Waste/debris
Punctilious
Attention to detail or behavior (punctual)
Vociferous
Vehement or clamorous
Convalescing
Recuperate (recover health)
Enfeebled
Weakened
Salubrious
Healthy or pleasant
Paragyrical
Publicly spoken
Ebullient
Cheerful, full of energy
Apogee
Climax
Scope (of paragraph)
Narrow, specific aspect
Topic (of paragraph)
Broad, general
ABBREVIATED COMMUNICATION
Abridge, compendium, cursory, curtail, syllabus, synopsis, terse
ACT QUICKLY
Abrupt, apace, headlong, impetuous, precipitate
ASSIST
Abet, advocate, ancillary, bolster, corroborate, countenance, espouse, mainstay, munificent, proponent, stalwart, sustenance
BAD MOOD
Bilious, dudgeon, irascible, pettish, petulant, pique, querulous, umbrage, waspish
BEGINNER/AMATEUR
Dilettante, fledgling, neophyte, novitiate, proselyte, tyro
BEGINNING/YOUNG
Burgeoning, callow, engender, inchoate, incipient, nascent
BITING (AS IN WIT OR TEMPERAMENT)
Acerbic, acidulous, acrimonious, asperity, caustic, mordacious, mordant, renchant
BOLD
Audacious, courageous, dauntless
BORING
Banal, fatuous, hackneyed, insipid, mundane, pedestrian, platitude, prosaic, quotidian, trite
CAROUSAL (PARTY)
Bacchanalian, debauchery, depraved, dissipated, iniquity, libertine, libidinous, licentious, reprobate, ribald, salacious, sordid, turpitude
CHANGING QUICKLY
Capricious, mercurial, volatile
COPY
Counterpart, emulate, facsimile, factitious, paradigm, precursor, quintessence, simulated, vicarious
CRITICIZE/CRITICISM
Aspersion, belittle, berate, calumny, castigate, decry, defamation, denounce, deride, derisive, diatribe, disparage, excoriate, gainsay, harangue, impugn, inveigh, lambaste, objurgate, obloquy, opprobrium, pillory, rebuke, remonstrate, reprehend, reprove, revile, tirage, vituperate
DEATH/MOURNING
Bereave, cadaver, defunct, demise, dolorous, elegy, knell, lament, macabre, moribund, obsequies, sepulchral, wraith
DENYING OF SELF
Abnegate, abstain, ascetic, spartan, stoic, temperate
DICTATORIAL
Authoritarian, despotic, dogmatic, hegemonic, hegemony, imperious, peremptory, tyrannical
DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND
Abstruse, ambiguous, arcane, bemusing, cryptic, enigmatic, esoteric, inscrutable, obscure, opaque, paradoxical, perplexing, recondite, turbid
DISGUSTING/OFFENSIVE
Defile, fetid, invidious, noisome, odious, putrid, rebarbative
EASY TO UNDERSTAND
Articulate, cogent, eloquent, evident, limpid, lucid, pellucid
ECCENTRIC/DISSIMILAR
Aberrant, anachronism, anomalous, discrete, eclectic, esoteric, iconoclast
EMBARRASS
Abash, chagrin, compunction, contrition, diffidence, expiate, foible, gaucherie, rue
EQUAL
Equitable, equity, tantamount
FALSEHOOD
apocryphal
canard
chicanery
dissemble
duplicity
equivocate
erroneous
ersatz
fallacious
feigned
guile
mendacious/mendacity
perfidy
prevaricate
specious
spurious
conjugal
consanguine
distaff
endogamous
filial
fratricide
progenitor
scion
FAMILY
ardor/ardent
doctrinaire
fervid
partisan
tendentious
zealot
FAVORING, NOT IMPARTIAL
absolve
acquit
exculpate
exonerate
expiate
palliate
redress
vindicate
FORGIVE
chortle
droll
facetious
flippant
gibe
jocular
levity
ludicrous
raillery
riposte
simper
FUNNY
abatement
aperture
fissure
hiatus
interregnum
interstice
lull
orifice
rent
respite
rift
GAPS/OPENINGS
altruistic
beneficent
clement
largess
magnanimous
munificent
philanthropic
unstinting
GENEROUS/KIND
avaricious
covetous
mercenary
miserly
penurious
rapacious
venal
GREEDY
asperity
baleful
dour
fell
malevolent
mordant
sardonic
scathing
truculent
vitriolic
vituperation
HARD-HEARTED
baleful
baneful
deleterious
inimical
injurious
insidious
minatory
perfidious
pernicious
HARMFUL
cacophony
din
dissonant
raucous
strident
HARSH SOUNDING
abhorrence
anathema
antagonism
antipathy
detestation
enmity
loathing
malice
odium
rancor
HATRED
beneficial
salubrious
salutary
HEALTHY
dither
oscillate
teeter
vacillate
waver
HESITATE
antithetic
churlish
curmudgeon
irascible
malevolent
misanthropic
truculent
vindictive
HOSTILE
credulous
gullible
ingenuous
naive
novitiate
tyro
INNOCENT
disingenuous
dissemble
fulsome
ostensible
unctuous
INSINCERE
appraise
ascertain
assay
descry
peruse
INVESTIGATE
indolent
inert
lackadaisical
languid
lassitude
lethargic
phlegmatic
quiescent
slothful
torpid
LAZY/SLUGGISH
adventitious
amulet
auspicious
fortuitous
kismet
optimum
portentous
propitiate
propitious
providential
talisman
LUCK
admonish
belabor
cavil
enjoin
exhort
harangue
hector
martinet
remonstrate
reproof
NAG
fetid
noisome
noxious
NASTY
askance
awry
careen
carom
circuitous
circumvent
gyrate
labyrinth
meander
oblique
serrated
sidle
sinuous
undulating
vortex
NOT STRAIGHT
bombastic
circumlocution
garrulous
grandiloquent
loquacious
periphrastic
prolix
rhetoric
turgid
verbose
OVERBLOWN/WORDY
ameliorate
appease
assuage
defer
mitigate
mollify
placate
propitiate
satiate
slake
soothe
PACIFY/SATISFY
euphonious
harmonious
melodious
sonorous
PLEASANT SOUNDING
destitute
esurient
impecunious
indigent
POOR
acclaim
accolade
aggrandize
encomium
eulogize
extol
fawn
laud/laudatory
venerate/veneration
PRAISE
augur
auspice
fey
harbinger
portentous
presage
prescient
prognosticate
PREDICT
discomfort
encumber
fetter
forfend
hinder
impede
inhibit
occlude
PREVENT/OBSTRUCT
astute
canny
erudite
perspicacious
SMART/LEARNED
disconsolate
doleful
dolor
elegiac
forlorn
lament
lugubrious
melancholy
morose
plaintive
threnody
SORROW
implacable
inexorable
intractable
intransigent
obdurate
obstinate
recalcitrant
refractory
renitent
untoward
vexing
STUBBORN
compendious
curt
laconic
pithy
succinct
taciturn
TERSE
anachronism
antecede
antedate
anterior
archaic
diurnal
eon
ephemeral
epoch
fortnight
millennium
penultimate
synchronous
temporal
TIME/ORDER/DURATION
craven
diffident
pusillanimous
recreant
timorous
trepidation
TIMID
candor/candid
fealty
frankness
indisputable
indubitable
legitimate
probity
sincere
veracious
verity
TRUTH
aberration
anomaly
iconoclast
idiosyncrasy
UNUSUAL
ambulatory
itinerant
peripatetic
WALKING ABOUT
discursive
expatiate
forage
itinerant
peregrination
peripatetic
sojourn
WANDERING
adulterate
enervate
exacerbate
inhibit
obviate
stultify
undermine
vitiate
WEAKEN
adage
aphorism
apothegm
axiom
bromide
dictum
epigram
platitude
sententious
truism
WISDOM
abeyance
abjure
abnegation
abortive
abrogate
decamp
demur
recant
recidivism
remission
renege
rescind
retrograde
WITHDRAWAL/RETREAT
