Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
102 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
calumny
|
a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: The speech was considered a calumny of the administration.
|
|
canard
|
a false or baseless, usually derogatory story, report, or rumor.
|
|
canon
|
the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art: the neoclassical canon.
|
|
cant
|
insincere, especially conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness, or piety.
2. the private language of the underworld. |
|
capitulate
|
to surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms.
|
|
capricious
|
subject to, led by, or indicative of a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic: He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react.
2. Obsolete . fanciful or witty. |
|
captious
|
apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please.
|
|
carnal
|
pertaining to or characterized by the flesh or the body, its passions and appetites; sensual: carnal pleasures.
|
|
carp
|
to find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably; be niggling in criticizing; cavil: to carp at minor errors.
|
|
castigate
|
to criticize or reprimand severely.
2. to punish in order to correct. |
|
casuistry
|
specious, deceptive, or oversubtle reasoning, especially in questions of morality; fallacious or dishonest application of general principles; sophistry.
|
|
cataclysm
|
any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature.
2. Physical Geography . a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface. |
|
catharsis
|
the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music
|
|
catholic
|
broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.
|
|
cavil
|
verb (used without object)
1. to raise irritating and trivial objections; find fault with unnecessarily (usually followed by at or about ): He finds something to cavil at in everything I say. verb (used with object) 2. to oppose by inconsequential, frivolous, or sham objections: to cavil each item of a proposed agenda. |
|
charlatan
|
a person who pretends or claims to have more knowledge or skill than he or she possesses; quack.
|
|
chicanery
|
trickery or deception by quibbling or sophistry: He resorted to the worst flattery and chicanery to win the job.
|
|
churlish
|
like a churl; boorish; rude: churlish behavior.
2. of a churl; peasantlike. |
|
cipher
|
zero.
2. any of the Arabic numerals or figures. 3. Arabic numerical notation collectively. 4. something of no value or importance. |
|
circumlocution
|
a roundabout or indirect way of speaking; the use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
|
|
circumspect
|
watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent: circumspect behavior.
2. well-considered: circumspect ambition. |
|
clamorous
|
full of, marked by, or of the nature of clamor.
2. vigorous in demands or complaints. |
|
claptrap
|
pretentious but insincere or empty language: His speeches seem erudite but analysis reveals them to be mere claptrap.
2. any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public. |
|
cleave (2)
|
to adhere closely; stick; cling (usually followed by to ).
to split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, especially along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood. |
|
clemency
|
the quality of being clement; disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing; leniency; mercy.
|
|
cloying
|
causing or tending to cause disgust or aversion through excess: a perfume of cloying sweetness.
2. overly ingratiating or sentimental. |
|
cognizant
|
having cognizance; aware (usually followed by of ): He was cognizant of the difficulty.
2. having legal cognizance. |
|
colloquy
|
a conversational exchange; dialogue.
2. a conference. |
|
compendium
|
a brief treatment or account of a subject, especially an extensive subject; concise treatise: a compendium of medicine.
2. a summary, epitome, or abridgment. 3. a full list or inventory: a compendium of their complaints. |
|
complaisant
|
inclined or disposed to please; obliging; agreeable or gracious; compliant: the most complaisant child I've ever met.
|
|
complement
|
something that completes or makes perfect: A good wine is a complement to a good meal.
2. the quantity or amount that completes anything: We now have a full complement of packers. |
|
complaint
|
an expression of discontent, regret, pain, censure, resentment, or grief; lament; faultfinding: his complaint about poor schools.
2. a cause of discontent, pain, grief, lamentation, etc. |
|
concomitant
|
existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent: an event and its concomitant circumstances.
|
|
conduit
|
a pipe, tube, or the like, for conveying water or other fluid.
2. a similar natural passage. |
|
congenital (2)
|
of or pertaining to a condition present at birth, whether inherited or caused by the environment, especially the uterine environment.
|
|
cogent
|
compelling belief or assent; forcefully convincing
|
|
consortium
|
a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital.
|
|
consummate
|
to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill.
2. to complete (an arrangement, agreement, or the like) by a pledge or the signing of a contract: The company consummated its deal to buy a smaller firm. |
|
contentious
|
tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome: a contentious crew.
2. causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy: contentious issues. |
|
contiguous
|
touching; in contact.
2. in close proximity without actually touching; near. |
|
contretemps
|
an inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance: He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink.
|
|
contrite
|
caused by or showing sincere remorse.
2. filled with a sense of guilt and the desire for atonement; penitent: a contrite sinner. |
|
contumacious
|
stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient.
|
|
conundrum
|
a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words, as What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper.
2. anything that puzzles. |
|
co-opt
|
to elect into a body by the votes of the existing members.
2. to assimilate, take, or win over into a larger or established group: The fledgling Labor party was coopted by the Socialist party. |
|
corollary
|
Mathematics . a proposition that is incidentally proved in proving another proposition.
2. an immediate consequence or easily drawn conclusion. |
|
corporeal
|
of the nature of the physical body; bodily.
2. material; tangible: corporeal property. |
|
coruscate
|
to emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.
|
|
cosset
|
to treat as a pet; pamper; coddle.
|
|
coterie
|
a group of people who associate closely.
2. an exclusive group; clique. |
|
craven
|
cowardly; contemptibly timid; pusillanimous.
|
|
craw
|
the crop of a bird or insect.
2. the stomach of an animal. |
|
credulous
|
willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.
2. marked by or arising from credulity: a credulous rumor. |
|
crestfallen
|
dejected; dispirited; discouraged.
2. having a drooping crest or head. |
|
culpable
|
deserving blame or censure; blameworthy.
|
|
cursory
|
going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty; superficial: a cursory glance at a newspaper article.
|
|
curt
|
rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner.
2. brief; concise; terse; laconic. 3. short; shortened. |
|
cynosure
|
something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.: the cynosure of all eyes.
2. something serving for guidance or direction. |
|
dalliance
|
a trifling away of time; dawdling.
2. amorous toying; flirtation. |
|
daub
|
to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud: to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.
2. to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something: to daub plaster on a brick wall. |
|
dearth
|
an inadequate supply; scarcity; lack: There is a dearth of good engineers.
|
|
debacle
|
a general breakup or dispersion; sudden downfall or rout: The revolution ended in a debacle.
2. a complete collapse or failure. |
|
debunk
|
to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk advertising slogans.
|
|
decimate
|
to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.
2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. |
|
declasse
|
reduced to or having low or lower status: a once-chic restaurant that had become completely déclassé.
|
|
decorous
|
characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.
|
|
deem
|
to form or have an opinion; judge; think: He did not deem lightly of the issue.
|
|
deferential
|
showing deference; deferent; respectful.
|
|
delectation
|
delight; enjoyment.
|
|
deleterious
|
harmful; injurious: deleterious influences.
|
|
denigrate
|
to speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner; sully; defame: to denigrate someone's character.
|
|
deprecate
|
to express earnest disapproval of.
2. to urge reasons against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.). |
|
deracinate
|
to pull up by the roots; uproot; extirpate; eradicate.
2. to isolate or alienate (a person) from a native or customary culture or environment. Origin: |
|
deride
|
to laugh at in scorn or contempt; scoff or jeer at; mock.
|
|
descry
|
to discern or make out; catch sight of
2. to discover by looking carefully; detect |
|
desiccate
|
to dry thoroughly; dry up.
|
|
desultory
|
lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
|
|
detritus
|
any disintegrated material; debris.
|
|
diaphanous
|
very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent.
|
|
diatribe
|
a bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism: repeated diatribes against the senator.
|
|
dichotomy
|
division into two parts, kinds, etc.; subdivision into halves or pairs.
|
|
didactic
|
intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker. |
|
diffident
|
lacking confidence in one's own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy.
|
|
dilettante
|
a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.
2. a lover of an art or science, especially of a fine art. |
|
diminution
|
the act, fact, or process of diminishing; lessening; reduction.
2. Music. the repetition or imitation of a subject or theme in notes of shorter duration than those first used. |
|
disaffection
|
the absence or alienation of affection or goodwill; estrangement; disloyalty: Disaffection often leads to outright treason.
|
|
disconsolate
|
without consolation or solace; hopelessly unhappy; inconsolable: Loss of her pet dog made her disconsolate.
|
|
discursive
|
passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling.
|
|
disdain
|
to look upon or treat with contempt; despise; scorn.
2. to think unworthy of notice, response, etc.; consider beneath oneself: to disdain replying to an insult. |
|
disingenuous
|
lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere: Her excuse was rather disingenuous.
|
|
disparate
|
distinct in kind; essentially different; dissimilar: disparate ideas.
|
|
dissimulate
|
to disguise or conceal under a false appearance; dissemble: to dissimulate one's true feelings about a rival.
|
|
dissolute
|
indifferent to moral restraints; given to immoral or improper conduct; licentious; dissipated.
|
|
distraught
|
distracted; deeply agitated.
|
|
doff
|
to remove or take off, as clothing.
2. to remove or tip (the hat), as in greeting. |
|
doggerel
|
comic or burlesque, and usually loose or irregular in measure.
b. rude; crude; poor. |
|
dogmatic
|
of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a dogma or dogmas; doctrinal.
|
|
doleful
|
sorrowful; mournful; melancholy: a doleful look on her face.
|
|
dolt
|
a dull, stupid person; blockhead.
|
|
don
|
initial capital letter ) Mr.; Sir: a Spanish title prefixed to a man's given name.to put on or dress in: to don one's clothes.
|
|
dormant
|
lying asleep or as if asleep; inactive, as in sleep; torpid: The lecturer's sudden shout woke the dormant audience.
|
|
dossier
|
a collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic.
|