Words Flashcards

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1
Q

aberrant

A

deviating from normal or correct

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2
Q

abscond

A

to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law

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3
Q

aggrandize

A

tomake greater, to increase, to exaggerate

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4
Q

amalgamate

A

to unite or mix (n. amalgamation)

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5
Q

ambrosial

A

extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious (n. ambrosia)

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6
Q

anachronism

A

a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological order (adj. anachronistic)

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7
Q

anomalous

A

peculiar, unique, contrary to the norma (n. anomaly)

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8
Q

antediluvian

A

ancient, outmoded, (literally before the flood)

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9
Q

antipathy

A

hostility toward, objection, or aversion to

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10
Q

arbitrate

A

to settle a dispute (n. arbitration)

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11
Q

assuage

A

to make less severe, to appease or satisfy

ex. the letter assuaged their fears
(ex. studying assuaged her desire for vocab words)

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12
Q

audacious

A

extremely bold, fearless (n. audacity)

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13
Q

aver

A

to declare

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14
Q

banal

A

commonplace or trite, lacking originality (n. banality)

ex. songs with banal lyrics

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15
Q

barefaced

A

unconcealed, shameless, or brazen

ex. you didn’t need to see look very hard to know the truth – it was a barefaced lie

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16
Q

blandishment

A

speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something (ex: the son’s speech was full of blandishments as he tried to coax her into letting him go to the party)

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17
Q

bombast

A

pompous speech, high sounding language with little meaning (adj. bombastic)

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18
Q

burgeon

A

to grow or flourish, a bud of new growth (adj. burgeoning)

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19
Q

buttress

A

to support, a support

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20
Q

cadge

A

to get something by taking advantage of someone (especially one’s friendships), to beg
(ex. she cadged money from her sister)

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21
Q

caprice

A

impulse, sudden change in mood (adj. capricious)

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22
Q

castigate

A

reprimand, chastise severely

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23
Q

caustic

A

capable of dissolving by chemical action, highly critical

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24
Q

chicanery

A

deception by trickery

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25
Q

conflageration

A

a great fire

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26
Q

corporeal

A

of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual, tangible

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27
Q

corporal

A

of the body (corporal punishment), a commissioned officer

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28
Q

corroborate

A

to strengthen or support (ex: the witness corroborated his story) (n. corroboration)

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29
Q

craven

A

cowardly, a coward

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30
Q

culpable

A

deserving of blame (n. culpability)

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31
Q

dearth

A

lack, scarcity

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32
Q

deference

A

submission or courteous yielding (ex. he held his tongue in deference to his father)

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33
Q

deprecation

A

belittlement (v. deprecate)

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34
Q

depredation

A

act of preying upon or plundering

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35
Q

descry

A

to make clear, to say

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36
Q

desiccate

A

to dry out thoroughly (adj. desiccated)

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37
Q

diatribe

A

forceful and bitter abusive denunciation

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38
Q

diffident

A

lacking self-confidence, modest

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39
Q

disabuse

A

to free a person from falsehood or error (ex: we had to disabuse her of the notion that she was invited)

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40
Q

disparaging

A

belittling (v. disparage, n. disparagement)

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41
Q

dispassionate

A

calm, unbiased, objective

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42
Q

dissemble

A

to conceal one’s real motive, to feign

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43
Q

dogged

A

stubborn or determined

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44
Q

efficacy

A

effectiveness, capability to produce a desired effect

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45
Q

effluent

A

quality of flowing out, something that flows out (n. effluence) (ex. the stream is an effluence from the river)

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46
Q

emollient

A

softening, something that softens (ex. the cream is full of emollients)

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47
Q

encomium

A

a formal eulogy or speech of praise

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48
Q

enervate

A

to weaken or destroy the strength of (ex. the heat enervated everyone)

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49
Q

engender

A

to give rise to, to propagate (ex. his slip engendered much laughter)

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50
Q

enigma

A

puzzle, mystery

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51
Q

ephemeral

A

lasting only a brief time, fleeting

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52
Q

equivocal

A

ambiguous, unclear, open to more than one interpretation

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53
Q

erudite

A

scholarly, displaying deep intensive learning

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54
Q

exculpate

A

to demonstrate or prove to be blameless (ex. the evidence exculpated the defendant)

55
Q

exorbitant

A

exceeding customary or normal limits particularly in quantity or price (ex. the cab fare was exorbitant)

56
Q

extant

A

in existence, still existing

57
Q

fathom

A

a measure of length (6 feet) used in nautical settings

58
Q

fawn

A

to seek favor or attention, to act subserviently (adj. fawning)

59
Q

feign

A

to give false appearance or impression, to fake

60
Q

fervid, fervent

A

highly emotional, burning hot or glowing

61
Q

fledgling

A

a baby bird, an inexperienced person (novice), inexperienced

62
Q

florid

A

flushed with rosy color in complexion, ornate and flowery

63
Q

floundering

A

struggling (ex. the floundering business)

64
Q

garrulous

A

verbose, talkative, rambling (ex. we tried to avoid our garrulous neighbor)

65
Q

guile

A

skillful deceit

66
Q

guileless

A

honest, straightforward

67
Q

hapless

A

unfortunate

68
Q

headlong

A

headfirst, impulsive, hasty, hastily (ex. they rushed headlong into marriage)

69
Q

iconoclast

A

one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions

70
Q

impecunious

A

penniless, poor

71
Q

imperious

A

commanding

72
Q

improvidence

A

an absence of foresight, failure to provide for future needs or events

73
Q

inchoate

A

just begun, in initial or early stages, incomplete, disorganized

74
Q

incorrigible

A

not capable of being corrected

75
Q

indelible

A

permanent, not erasable, strong (ex. he made an indelible impression when he saved the girl’s dog)

76
Q

ineffable

A

inexpressible in words, unspeakable

77
Q

ingenious

A

clever

78
Q

ingenuous

A

naive, unsophisticated, artless

79
Q

innocuous

A

harmless, having no adverse affect

80
Q

insensible

A

numb, unconscious

81
Q

insipid

A

lacking zest or excitement

82
Q

insular

A

of or pertaining to an island, lacking contact with others, uninterested in culture/people/things outside your life

83
Q

intransigent

A

stubborn and immovable, unwilling to change (n. intransigence)

84
Q

irascible

A

prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered

85
Q

laconic

A

using few words, terse

86
Q

latent

A

present or potential but not evident of active (ex. he discovered he had a latent talent for music)

87
Q

laudable

A

praiseworthy, commendable (v. laud)

88
Q

leviathan

A

giant whale, something very large

89
Q

loquacious

A

talkative

90
Q

lugubrious

A

weighty, mournful, especially gloomy

91
Q

magnanimity

A

generosity and nobility (adj. magnanimous)

92
Q

malevolent

A

malicious, evil, having ill will

93
Q

misanthrope

A

one who hates people

94
Q

misnomer

A

incorrect name or word for something

95
Q

nefarious

A

wicked, evil

96
Q

noisome

A

harmful, offensive, destructive

97
Q

obdurate

A

hardened against influence or feeling, intractable

98
Q

occlude

A

to close or shut off, to obstruct (n. occlusion)

99
Q

ossified

A

turned to bone, hardened like bones, inflexible (ex. the ossified culture failed to adapt to new economic conditions)

100
Q

panegyric

A

a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing

101
Q

peccadillo

A

a small sin or fault

102
Q

pedantic

A

showing narrow concern for rules or formal book learning

103
Q

perfidious

A

deliberately treacherous, dishonest

104
Q

petulant

A

easily or frequently annoyed especially over trivial matters, childishly irritable

105
Q

phlegmatic

A

not easily excited, calm, sluggish

106
Q

placate

A

to calm or reduce anger by making concessions (ex. he tried to placate his mom by saying he would do the dishes)

107
Q

plastic

A

related to being shaped or molded

108
Q

plethora

A

overabundance, excessively large quantity

109
Q

ponderous

A

heavy, massive, awkward, dull

110
Q

precipice

A

cliff with vertical face, metaphorically a very risky circumstance

111
Q

precipitate

A

to fall, to fall downward suddenly and dramatically, to bring something about or hasten the occurrence of something

112
Q

prevaricate

A

to stray away from or evade the truth

113
Q

prodigal

A

rashly wasteful

114
Q

propitiate

A

to conciliate, to appease

115
Q

pulchritudinous

A

beautiful

116
Q

pusillanimous

A

cowardly or timid, petter

117
Q

quiescence

A

inactivity, stillness, dormancy

118
Q

rarefy

A

to make or become thin, to purify or refine

119
Q

reproof

A

the act of censuring or reprimanding

120
Q

sagacious

A

having sharp or powerful intellect or discernment

121
Q

sanguine

A

cheerful, confident

122
Q

sate

A

to satisfy fully or to excess

123
Q

saturnine

A

having a gloomy or morose temperment

124
Q

savant

A

very knowledgeable person, genius

125
Q

sedulous

A

diligent, persevering, persistent

126
Q

specious

A

seemingly true but really false, deceptively attractive

127
Q

tacit

A

unspoken

128
Q

taciturn

A

habitually not talkative silent

129
Q

tirade

A

an angry speech

130
Q

turpitude

A

depravity, baseness

131
Q

tyro

A

beginner, person lacking experience in a specific endeavor

132
Q

venerate

A

great respect or reverence

133
Q

vex

A

to annoy, to perplex, to puzzle

134
Q

zeal

A

enthusiastic devotion