Barron Essential Words 6/25 (First 50)

Front 1

abeyance

Back 1

a state of temporary disuse or suspension

Matters were held in abeyance for the time being.

Front 2

apprise

Back 2

to inform or tell someone

I thought it right to apprise Chris of what had happened.

Front 3

approbation

Back 3

approval or praise

The opera met with high approbation.

Front 4

artless

Back 4

without guile or deception

An artless, naive girl.

Front 5

boorish

Back 5

rough and ill-mannered

He had awful, boorish behavior.

Front 6

coda

Back 6

the concluding passage

His new novel is the coda to his previous books.

Front 7

compendium

Back 7

a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject

The program is a compendium of outtakes from our archive.

Front 8

contentious

Back 8

causing issues; argumentative

A contentious problem that would not seem to subside.

Front 9

craven

Back 9

cowardly

Front 10

abdication

Back 10

failure to fulfill a responsibility

Front 11

delineate

Back 11

to describe or portray something precisely

The law should delineate and prohibit actions that are socially abhorrent.

Front 12

abhorrent

Back 12

inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant

Racial discrimination was repugnant to us all.

Front 13

denigrate

Back 13

characterize unfairly

There is a tendency to denigrate the poor.

Front 14

dichotomy

Back 14

a division or contrast between two things that are represented as being opposed or entirely different

A rigid dichotomy between science and religion.

Front 15

digression

Back 15

a temporary departure from the main subject

Let's return to the main point after that brief digression.

Front 16

discern

Back 16

to perceive or recognize

I can discern no difference between the two policies.

Front 17

disparage

Back 17

regard as being of little worth

Front 18

disparate

Back 18

essentially different in kind

They inhabit disparate worlds of thought.

Front 19

dissolution

Back 19

the closing down of

The dissolution of their marriage.

Front 20

distend

Back 20

swell or cause to swell from pressure

The abdomen distended rapidly, causing much pain.

Front 21

doctrinaire

Back 21

a person who seeks to impose a theory in such a way

Front 22

equanimity

Back 22

mental calmness

Yoga allows for me to establish equanimity.

Front 23

facetious

Back 23

treating a serious issue with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant

Front 24

flippant

Back 24

not showing a respectful attitude

Front 25

fatuous

Back 25

silly and pointless

A fatuous comment.

Front 26

fledgling

Back 26

a person or organization that is immature, inexperienced, or underdeveloped

The fledgling democracies of eastern Europe.

Front 27

flout

Back 27

to openly disregard

These same companies still flout basic ethical practices such as not animal testing. :(

Front 28

gainsay

Back 28

to deny or contradict

The impact of the railroads cannot be gainsaid.

Front 29

goad

Back 29

to provoke or annoy

He goaded her to take the risk of doing a balance beam attempt.

Front 30

idolatry

Back 30

worship of idols

Front 31

implode

Back 31

collapse violently inward

The windows on both sides of the room had imploded which turned out to be extremely dangerous.

Front 32

inadvertently

Back 32

not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning

Many of the French cannot accept that American dominance is inadvertent.

Front 33

indigence

Back 33

state of extreme poverty

Front 34

indolent

Back 34

lazy; medicine-a disease causing no pain

in - without
dolor - distress (spanish)

Front 35

insularity

Back 35

ignorance or lack of interest in cultures or ideas

An example of British insularity.

Front 36

intractable

Back 36

hard to control or deal with

Intractable economic problems (what we have faced!!!)

Front 37

intransigent

Back 37

unable to change ones views or to agree

Even after thorough evidence, he stayed intransigent and refused to agree with me.

Front 38

inundate

Back 38

overwhelm with things or people to deal with

During the Hawks vs. Bruins game, the stadium was inundated with people scrambling to get to their seats.

Front 39

invective

Back 39

insulting, abusive, or highly critical language

He let out an invective rant on the teacher, and dropped out of school.

Front 40

levee

Back 40

(n) an embarkment built to prevent the overflow of a river

(n) a reception or assembly

(leve - rising - French)

Front 41

levity

Back 41

humor or frivolity (lack of seriousness)

Attempting to introduce levity to the situation, the president actually ended up making his speech awful.

Front 42

malingerer

Back 42

to exaggerate illness to escape a duty

We'll never get anything done with these malingerers procrastinating and wasting time.

Front 43

mendacious

Back 43

not telling the truth; lying

Mendacious propaganda had everyone fooled.

Front 44

obdurate

Back 44

stubbornly refusing to change ones opinions or course of actions

Brian was being obdurate and wouldn't go on a hike with me.

Front 45

obviate

Back 45

to remove a need or difficulty

The Venitian blinds obdurated the need for curtains.

Front 46

officious

Back 46

assertive of authority (annoying)

A policeman came to remove the homeless people, they were very officious people.

Front 47

opprobrium

Back 47

harsh criticism or censure

His films seemed to cause much unnecessary opprobrium around the office.

Front 48

ostentatious

Back 48

characterized by vulgar or pretentious display

Those are the types of books that people buy and ostentatiously display but never actually end up finishing.

Front 49

paragon

Back 49

a person or thing regarded as perfect

Your cook is a paragon, so amazing!

Front 50

perennial

Back 50

lasting or existing for a long time; enduring

His perennial distrust of the media.