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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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blandishment
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flattery
Despite the salesperson's blandishments, Donna did not buy the car. |
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burnish
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to polish
The poet Eliot burnished his reputation as one of the master poets of the twentieth century with Four Quartets. |
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convex
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curved outward
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craven
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cowardly
Refusing to fight would be a craven act. |
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defunct
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no longer existing
Skeptics believe that Moors law will soon become defunct. |
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disingeneous
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not candid; crafty
When a person starts a sentence, "I don't mean to appear disingenuous," one might be tempted to suspect that the person is being just that. |
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egoism
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The tendency to see things in relation to oneself; self-centeredness
The beginning of philosophy has been described as a moving away from egoism to an understanding of the larger world. |
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emulate
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To imitate; copy
Bionics uses technology to emulate nature. |
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equable
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steady; unvarying; serene; free from change or variation
Throughout the crisis the President remained equable. The temperature remains equable throughout the year. |
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exculpate
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to clear of blame; vindicate
The report exculpated the FBI of any wrongdoing in the handling of the investigation. |
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expository
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explanatory
There's no model of an expository prose that a student can emulate, since each piece of good writing is unique. |
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fiat
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arbitrary order; authorization
The dictator rules almost entirely by fiat. |
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flout
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to treat scornfully
In his book Poetic Meter and Poetic Form the literary critic Paul Fussel discussed the dangers poets face when they flout poetic conventions. |
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fresco
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painting done on a plaster
The Italian Renaissance was the greatest period of fresco painting. |
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hermetic
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tightly sealed; magical
Scholars have traced many of the hermetic traditions of ancient Greek to Egypt. |
