7/7/13 - 1St 25 Words

Front 1

extant

Back 1

in existence

Few documents antedating the advent of papyrus are extant today.

Front 2

auspicious

Back 2

favorable

The team’s run for the pennant started auspiciously with 24 wins. Two starting pitchers snapped their elbows mid-season, clearly an inauspicious sign.

Front 3

sanguine

Back 3

cheerful; optimistic

A Yale graduate with a 4.0, she was sanguine about finding a job right out of college.

Front 4

fastidious

Back 4

nitpicky

A fastidious eater, Herman would only eat the center of anything he touched. As a result, his plate was strewn with the remnants of his dinner, an eyesore for the hapless dinner guest.

Front 5

belligerent

Back 5

inclined to fighting

After a few drinks Stevie was convivial; after two six-packs he became belligerent, challenging anyone around him to a head-butting contest.

Front 6

reticent

Back 6

tightlipped, not prone to saying much

Paul was reticent and preferred observing others mannerisms.

Front 7

inculpate

Back 7

to charge with wrong-doing; accuse

To inculpate Eddy with the murder was absurd; he’d been bowling with Lucy.

Front 8

maintain

Back 8

to assert

A scientist can maintain that a recent finding supports her theory.

Front 9

pugnacious

Back 9

aggressively argue

Like a pug, a person who is pugnacious likes to aggressively argue about everything.

Front 10

egregious

Back 10

standing out in a bad way

Front 11

bleak

Back 11

one that has a very depressing outlook on life

Front 12

profuse

Back 12

something that pours out in abundance

During mile 20 of the Hawaii Marathon, Dwayne was sweating so profusely that he stopped to take off
his shirt, and ran the remaining six miles clad in nothing more than skimpy shorts.

Front 13

sedulous

Back 13

to be anything but idle

An avid numismatist, Harold sedulously amassed a collection of coins from over 100 countries—an endeavor that took over fifteen years, and to five continents.

Front 14

stem

Back 14

hold back or limit the flow or growth of something

To stem bleeding to prevent death.

Front 15

blinkered

Back 15

to have a limited outlook or understanding

think - if you blink you are likely to miss something

In gambling, the addict is easily blinkered by past successes and/or past failures, forgetting that the outcome of any one game is independent of the games that preceded it.

Front 16

check

Back 16

to stop its growth

Deserted for six months, the property began to look more like a jungle and less like a residence—weeds grew unchecked in the front yard.

Front 17

checkered

Back 17

a checkered past

One by one, the presidential candidates dropped out of the race, their respective checkered pasts—from embezzlement to infidelity—sabotaging their campaigns.

Front 18

raft

Back 18

a large number of something

think - imagine a large number of rafts and you have a raft of rafts!

Despite a raft of city ordinances passed by an overzealous council, noise pollution continued unabated
in the megalopolis

Front 19

veracity

Back 19

truthful

After years of political scandals, the congressman was hardly known for his veracity; yet despite this distrust, he was voted into yet another term.

Front 20

voracious

Back 20

wanting or devouring large quantities of food

A voracious appetite.

Front 21

involved

Back 21

complicated

The physics lecture became so involved that the student didn't retain any of the information.

Front 22

retiring

Back 22

to be shy

Nelson was always the first to leave soirees—rather than mill about with “fashionable” folk, he was retiring, and preferred the solitude of his garret.

Front 23

expansive

Back 23

communicative; prone to talking in a sociable manner

After a few sips of cognac, the octogenarian shed his irascible demeanor and became expansive, speaking fondly of the “good old days”.

Front 24

moment

Back 24

something that is significant

Despite the initial hullabaloo, the play was of no great moment in Hampton’s writing career, and,within a few years, the public quickly forgot his foray into theater arts.

Front 25

imbibe

Back 25

refers to an intake of knowledge or information

Plato imbibed Socrates’ teachings to such an extent that he was able to write volumes of work that he directly attributed, sometimes word for word, to Socrates.