Zing Words 3 and 4 Flashcards
Bailiwick
I never drew artwork for our presentations because that was Kelly’s bailiwick
Malfeasance
His malfeasance during his last term prevented any chances of re-election.
Brouhaha
There’s been a lot of brouhaha about her statements.
Conundrum
The conundrum of how an ancient people were able to build such massive structures without the benefit of today’s knowledge and technology puzzles anthropologists.
Bravado
His stories are always told with bravado.
Scion
He’s a scion of a powerful family with a lot of economic power.
Debacle
After the debacle of his first novel, he had trouble getting a publisher for his next book.
Denizen
The polar bear is an iconic denizen of the snowy Arctic
Diatribe
She gave a bitter diatribe about how unfair the tax system is.
Kerfuffle
Predictably, the royal scandal caused quite a kerfuffle on Fleet Street.
Emote
He stood on the stage, emoting and gesturing wildly
Regale
A hotel that nightly regales its guests with five-course meals prepared by a master chef.
Brook
He would brook no interference with his plan
Proselytize
The efforts of early missionaries to proselytize the Native Americans of Minnesota were largely unproductive
Kowtow
You can try kowtowing to the boss, but he’ll see right through you.
Ferret
The investigator tried to ferret out the answers.
Preclude
She suffered an injury that precluded the possibility of an athletic career.
Mollify
He tried to mollify his critics with an apology.
Decimate
The black plague decimated the population
Pander
A book that panders to the one’s emotions.
Fastidious
She was too fastidious to do anything that might get her dirty.
Quizzical
He gave me a quizzical look.
Idiosyncratic
Her use of “like” in every sentence made her rather idiosyncratic.
Ebullient
The ebullient performers made up for the lack of plot in the play
Eclectic
The collection includes an eclectic mix of historical artifacts.
Onerous
This assignment is rather onerous
Inexorable
The inexorable (unstoppable) rise of a political movement once the masses got on board
Macabre
A macabre story of murder and madness
Pejorative
She could only think of pejorative words to describe this assignment
Histrionic
A penchant for dish throwing, door slamming, and other histrionic displays of temper
Ignominious
Some of his friends considered the job of janitor to be an ignominious fate for the laid-off executive.
Obfuscate
The second explanation only obfuscated the initial instructions.
Burgeon
The market for collectibles has burgeoned in recent years.
Bowdlerize
A bowdlerized version of “Gulliver’s Travels” that purportedly makes it readable for children
Winnow
The least qualified applicants were winnowed out of the initial pool.
Ostracize
The girl was ostracized from those of her age group.
Deprecate
Movie critics tried to outdo one another in deprecating the comedy as the stupidest movie of the year.
Stigmatize
A legal system that stigmatizes juveniles as criminals
Palliate
Don’t try to palliate your constant lying by claiming that everybody lies
Inveigle
She nveigled her way into a promotion
Remand
The judge remanded the case for further consideration.
Exacerbate
The argument exacerbated the situation
Garner
He could not garner enough evidence
Evince
She evinced an interest in art at an early age.
Rankle
The joke about her family rankled her.
Appropriate
He appropriated the tasks
Zeitgeist
His songs perfectly captured the zeitgeist of 1960s America.
Adamant
We’ve tried to talk him into coming with us, but he’s adamant about staying here.
Recant
Church officials asked the minister to recant.
Vet
They vetted her thoroughly before offering her the job.
Roil
Financial markets have been roiled by the banking crisis.
Enervate
A lifetime of working in dreary jobs had enervated his very soul
Bellwether
She is a bellwether of fashion.
Nemesis
He was her nemesis.
Coup de foudre
She felt coup de foudre when they first met each other’s eyes.
Anathema
a politician who is anathema (intensely disliked) to conservatives
Cacophony
The cacophony of a pet store full of animals
Sycophant
When her career was riding high, the self-deluded actress often mistook sycophants for true friends
Dilettante
She writes about art not from the point of view of a true artist but from that of a committed dilettante
Catharsis
Singing is a catharsis for me.
Xenophobia
Xenophobia sometimes contributes to genocides
Voyeur
That voyeur was a prying observer who is sought the sordid or the scandalous
Fleece
Learning how to shear the fleece off a sheep
Maladroit
The governor has been criticized for his maladroit (not skillful) handling of the budget crisis.
Bupkes
They received bubkes (zero) for their efforts.
Nebbish
The son of the powerful politician had a nebbish demeanor.
Mensch
She was a mensch who fit in well at TJ.
Nosh
Noshing on pizza
Schlock
A tourist trap selling schlock souvenirs
Redact
The book was completely different after it was redacted for publication.
Schmooze
People will have time to schmooze during the cocktail hour.
Schmaltzy
The love song was a typical example of overproduced schmaltz
Kibbitz
My uncle likes to kibitz (make comments) when I play cards with my cousins.
Glitch
Glitchy vidya suck.
Aficionado
An aficionado of the sci-fi series who has seen all the movies several times
Mores
The mores of academic life as opposed to those of the business world
Sacrosanct
It was a sacrosanct temple for the 3 abrahamic religions
Effusive
He received effusive praise
Ribald
A ribald tale rife with double entendres and racy innuendo
Maudlin
He became maudlin and started crying like a child.
Feckless
The CEO couldn’t rely on his feckless son.
Sophomoric
Freshmen are so sophomoric.
Eschew
A psychologist who eschews the traditional methods of psychotherapy
Abeyance
Our weekend plans were held in abeyance until we could get a weather forecast
Largesse
He relied on the largesse of friends after he lost his job.
Aggrandize
A movie that aggrandizes the bad guys and makes the cops look like dopes
Aggregate
The team with the highest aggregate score wins.
Aspersion
He cast aspersions on her integrity
Assiduous
The project required some assiduous planning.
Assuage
He couldn’t assuage his guilt over the divorce.
Behemoth
The newest SUV is a gas-guzzling behemoth that doesn’t even fit in a standard parking space
Capitulate
The teacher refused to capitulate: no calculators were to be used during the exam.
Carouse
The Old West custom of heading to the saloon at night for an all-out carouse and some poker playing
Carp
He’s always carping about his boss.
Circuitous
We took a circuitous route to the airport so as to avoid the massive traffic jam on the highway
Cognizant
He is cognizant of his duties as a father.
Probity
The defense attorney questioned the probity of the witness
Expunge
Her foreign language credit was expunged from her high school transcript
Extraneous
Extraneous roots in math
Florid
She had a florid (tinged in red) complexion, and if you wanted to be rude, you could say she looked like a tomato.
Garrulous
A garrulous boy who was in constant trouble for talking out of turn
Harangue
He delivered a long harangue about the evils of popular culture.
Hegemony
European intellectuals have long debated the consequences of the hegemony of American popular culture around the world.
Harrowing
A harrowing film about racism and violence
Iconoclast
People who break the mold are iconoclasts.
Incendiary
Firefighters caught the incendiary, who was watching the effects of his handiwork
Incorrigible
She’s an incorrigible flirt
Enmity
The neverending enmity between Protestants and Catholics
Inure
These children have been inured to violence because of anime xd
Diaphanous
A diaphanous dress of pale gold
Discursive
Students often write dull, secondhand, discursive prose
Disparate
They inhabit disparate worlds of though
Dissonance
The dissonance between what we are told and what we see with our own eyes
Effrontery
The little squirt had the effrontery to deny eating any cookies, even with the crumbs still on his lips
Ennui
The kind of ennui that comes from having too much time on one’s hands and too little will to find something productive to do.
Erudite
The most erudite people in medical research attended the conference
Debauch
The long stay on a tropical isle had debauched the ship’s crew to the point where they no longer acted liked naval professionals
Debunk
The article debunks the notion that life exists on Mars.
Denigrate
No one is trying to denigrate the importance of a good education. We all know that it is crucial for success.
Desiccated
Add a cup of desiccated coconut to the mix
Compunction
He feels no compunction about his crimes.
Coup de grâce
The legislature’s decision to cut funding has administered the coup de grâce to the governor’s proposal.
Cupidity
The evidence revealed the cupidity of the company’s directors.
Coup d’état
The coup d’ état prevented the bloodshed associated with most political regime changes
