Beyond The Hit Parade Group 2

Front 1

abjure

Back 1

verb
to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid

Front 2

adumbrate

Back 2

verb
to foreshadow vaguely or intimatel to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow

Front 3

anathema

Back 3

noun
a solemn or exxlesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing

Front 4

anodyne

Back 4

adj/noun
soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts

Front 5

apogee

Back 5

noun
farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith

Front 6

apostate

Back 6

noun
one who abandons long-held religious or political convicitons

Front 7

apotheosis

Back 7

noun
deification, glorification to godliness, an exalted example, a model of excellence or perfection

Front 8

asperity

Back 8

noun
severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability

Front 9

asseverate

Back 9

verb
to aver, allege, assert

Front 10

assiduous

Back 10

adj.
diligent, hard-working, sedulous

Front 11

augury

Back 11

noun
omen, portent

Front 12

bellicose

Back 12

adj.
belligerent, pugnacious, warlike

Front 13

calumniate

Back 13

verb
to slander, make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion

Front 14

captious

Back 14

adj.
disposed to point out trivial faults, calculated to confuse or entrap in argument

Front 15

cavil

Back 15

verb
to find fault without good reason

Front 16

celerity

Back 16

noun
speed, alacrity; think accelerate

Front 17

chimera

Back 17

noun
an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster

Front 18

contumacious

Back 18

adj.
insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion

Front 19

debacle

Back 19

noun
rout, fiasco, complete failure: My first attempt at a soufflé was a total debacle

Front 20

denouement

Back 20

noun
an outcome or solution; the unravelingof a plot

Front 21

descry

Back 21

verb
to discriminate or discern

Front 22

desuetude

Back 22

noun
disuse: After years of desuetude, my French skills were finally put to use

Front 23

desultory

Back 23

adj.
random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose: Her desultory performance impressed no one

Front 24

diaphanous

Back 24

adj.
transparent, gauzy

Front 25

diffident

Back 25

adj.
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence: Surprisingly, the CEO of the corporation had been a diffident youth

Front 26

dirge

Back 26

noun
a song of grief or lamentation: We listened to the slow, funeral dirge

Front 27

encomium

Back 27

noun
glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy

Front 28

eschew

Back 28

verb
to shun or avoid: She chose to eschew the movie theater, preferring to watch DVDs at home

Front 29

excoriate

Back 29

verb
to censure scathingly, to upbraid

Front 30

execrate

Back 30

verb
denounce, feel loathing for, curse, declare to be evil

Front 31

exegesis

Back 31

noun
critical examination, explication

Front 32

expiate

Back 32

verb
to atone or make amends for: Pia Zadora has expiated her movie career by good works and charity

Front 33

extirpate

Back 33

verb
to destroy, exterminate, cut out, exscind

Front 34

fatuous

Back 34

adj.
silly, inanely foolish: I would ignore such a fatuous comment

Front 35

fractious

Back 35

adj.
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable

Front 36

gainsay

Back 36

verb
to deny, dispute, contradict, oppose

Front 37

heterodox

Back 37

adj.
unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic

Front 38

imbroglio

Back 38

noun
difficult or embarrasing situation

Front 39

indefatigable

Back 39

adj.
not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged

Front 40

ineluctable

Back 40

adj.
certain, inevitable

Front 41

inimitable

Back 41

adj.
one of a kind, peerless

Front 42

insouciant

Back 42

adj.
unconcerned, carefree, heedless

Front 43

inveterate

Back 43

adj.
deep rooted, ingrained, habitual

Front 44

jejune

Back 44

adj.
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile

Front 45

lubricious

Back 45

adj.
lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery

Front 46

mendicant

Back 46

noun
a beggar, supplicant

Front 47

meretricious

Back 47

adj.
cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show

Front 48

minatory

Back 48

adj.
menacing, threatening (remind you of the Minotaurm a threatening creature indeed)

Front 49

nadir

Back 49

noun
low point, perigee

Front 50

nonplussed

Back 50

adj.
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think

Front 51

obstreperous

Back 51

adj.
noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous

Front 52

ossified

Back 52

adj.
tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone

Front 53

palliate

Back 53

verb
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense

Front 54

panegyric

Back 54

noun
formal praise, eulogy, encomium; panegyrical means expressing elaborate praise

Front 55

parsimonious

Back 55

adj.
cheap, misserly: A parsimonious person parses out his money with great difficulty

Front 56

pellucid

Back 56

adj.
transparent, easy to understand, limpid

Front 57

peroration

Back 57

noun
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech

Front 58

plangent

Back 58

adj.
pounding, thundering, resounding

Front 59

prolix

Back 59

adj.
long-winded, verbose; prolixity means verbosity: Mikhail Gorbachev is famous for his prolixity

Front 60

propitiate

Back 60

verb
to appease; to conciliate; propitious means auspicious, favorable

Front 61

puerile

Back 61

adj.
childish, immature, jejune, nugatory

Front 62

puissance

Back 62

noun
power, strenght; puissant means powerful, strong: The senator delivered a puissant speech to the convention

Front 63

pusillanimous

Back 63

adj.
cowardly, craven

Front 64

remonstrate

Back 64

verb
to protest, object

Front 65

sagacious

Back 65

adj.
having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage

Front 66

salacious

Back 66

adj.
lustful, lascivious, bawdy

Front 67

salutary

Back 67

adj.
remedial, wholesome, causing improvement

Front 68

sanguine

Back 68

adj.
cheerful, confident, optiminstic

Front 69

saturnine

Back 69

adj.
gloomy, dark, sullen, morose

Front 70

sententious

Back 70

adj.
aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively

Front 71

stentorian

Back 71

adj.
extremely loud and powerful

Front 72

stygian

Back 72

adj.
gloomy, dark

Front 73

sycophant

Back 73

noun
toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite

Front 74

tendentious

Back 74

adj.
biased, showing marked tendencies

Front 75

timorous

Back 75

adj.
timid, fearful, diffident

Front 76

tyro

Back 76

noun
novice, greenhorn, rank amateur

Front 77

vitiate

Back 77

verb
to corrupt, debase, spoil, make ineffective

Front 78

voluble

Back 78

adj.
fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language