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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Acidulous
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Somewhat acid or sour.
a. Joan's father took an acidulous view of her plans to get married. b. He is teh kind of acidulous critic who hates every new book that is published. |
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Avaricious
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Excessively greedy
a. The aravicious broker was prosecuted by the attorney general. b. In the first part of A Chirstmas Carol, Scrooge is portrayed as an avaricious employer. |
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Baleful
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Deadly; Sinister
a. I saw teh baleful look on the gang leader's face. b. Overhead, the faleful clouds were announcing a strom's approach. |
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Bellicose
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Warlike; of a quarrelsome nature.
a. Although our landlord sometimes sounds bellicose, he is actually very soft-hearted. |
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Bilious
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Bad-tempered; bitter. It comes from teh French word Bills ("bile"), the fluid secreated by the liver.
a. I overlooked Cynthia's bilious remarks because I know that she is bad-tempered unti lshe has had her morning coffee. |
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Bumptious
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Arrogant; disagreeably conceited.
a. my uncle's bumptious persomality has caused him to be fired from several good jobs. |
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Captious
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Critical; quick to find fault; quibbling.
a. I don't mind criticism from Professor Torres, but his captious comments about my term paper did not endear him to me. |
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Churlish
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Rude; surly. This adjective comes from "churl," the old word for a peasant.
a. Harry's allowance was cut off by his parents as a punishment for churlish table manners. |
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Complaisant
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Willing to please; tending to consent to others' wishes
a. Every employee at the state agency acts in an admirable, complaisant way. |
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Contrite
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Crushed in spirit by a feeling of guilta. Because Judge Dooly believed that the prisoner was contrite, he gave him a light sentence.
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Convivial
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Festive; socialble
a. All of the shoppers contributed to the convivial atmosphere at the mall. |
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Craven
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Cowardly
a. Even the most craven animal will turn corageous when its young are threatened. |
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Debonaire
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Courteous, gracious adn having sophistocated charm; suave; urbane.
a. Uncle Edward, with his top hat at a jaunty angle, was the modle of a debonaire gentleman. |
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Dyspeptic
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Grouchy, gloomy, a person who suffers from dyspepsia or indegestion.
a. our local newspaper features two coloumnists--one with a dyspeptic viewpoint and the other with incurable optomism. |
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lachrymose
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sad; mournful; inclined to shed many tears.
a. Most television soap operals have lachrymose themes. |
