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159 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Abash
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To make ashamed, to embarass
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Abate
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To subside, to reduce
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Abdicate
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To step down from a position of power or responsibility
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Aberration
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something not typical, a deviation from the standard
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Abhor
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To hate very much, very much to detest
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Abnegate
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To deny oneself things, to reject, to renounce
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Abridge
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to shorten, to condense
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Absolute
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total; unlimited; perfect
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Abstinent
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Voluntarily not doing something because it is bad for you
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Abstract
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existing in thought or idea without physical or concrete existence
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Abstruse
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Hard to Understand
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Abysmal
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extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless
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Arcolade
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an award, an honor
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Accost
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to approach and speak to someone aggressively
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Acerbic
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Bitter; sour; severe
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Acquiese
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To comply passively, to accept, to agree
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Acrid
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Harsh, like acid
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Acrimonious
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adj. full of spite; bitter; nasty
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Acumen
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Keenness of judgement; mental sharpness
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Acute
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Sharp, shrewed
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Adamant
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stubborn, unyielding, completely inflexible
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Address
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to speak to, to direct ones attention to
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Adherent
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Follower; supporter; believer
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Admonish
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to scold gently; to warn
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Adroit
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skillful, dexterous, clever;shrewed, socially at ease
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Adulation
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wild or excessive admiration; flattery
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Adulterate
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to conaminate; to make impure
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Adverse
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unfavorable, antagonistic
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Aesthetic
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Having to do with artistic beuty, artistic
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Affable
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Easy to talk to; friendly
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Affectation
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Unnatural or artificial behavior
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Affinity
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sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity
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Affluent
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rich; prosperous
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Agenda
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Program; the things to be done
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Agrarian
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Relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land
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Agnostic
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someone who is not sure if there is a god or not
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Aggregate
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a collection of parts mixed together
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Alacrity
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cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond
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Allege
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assert without proof
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Alleviate
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to relieve, usually termporarily or in completely; to make bearable; to lessen
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Allocate
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To distribute; to assign
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Allusion
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an indirect reference; a hint
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Aloof
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uninvolved
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Altruism
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selflessness; generousity; devotion to the interests of others
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Amibiguous
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unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways
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Ambivalent
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Undecided; having opposed feeling simultaneously
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Amenable
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obedient, willing to give into the wishes of others; agreeable
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Amenity
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pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature
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Amiable
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friendly, agreeable means politely friendly or not hostile
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Amnesty
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an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy
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Anachronism
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something out of place in time or history, an incongruity
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Anarchy
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absence of government or control, lowlessness; disorder
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Anecdote
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a short account of a humorous or revealing incident
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Animosity
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resentment, hostility, ill will
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Anomaly
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an abberration; an irregularity, a deviation
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Antithesis
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the oppossite
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Apathy
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lack of feeling
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Appease
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to soothe; to pacify by giving into
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Arbitrary
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random; capricious
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Archaic
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Ancient; outdated
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Archetype
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An original model of pattern
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Ardent
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passionate; enthusiastic
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Arduous
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hard; difficult
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Aristocratic
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of noble birth; snobbish
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Assiduous
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hardworking; busy; diligent
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Assuage
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To soothe; to pacify; to ease the pain of; to relieve
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Astute
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shrewed; keen in judgement
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Attrition
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Gradual wearing away, loss; a natural or expected decrease in numbers or size
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Audacity
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Boldness; recklessness
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Augment
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To make bigger; to add to ; to increase
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Austere
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severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding
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Autocratic
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pertaining to or of the nature of autocracy or of an autocrat; absolute: autocratic government.
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Banal
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commonplace; tired or petty
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Bane
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a person or thing that ruins or spoils: Gambling was the bane of his existence.
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Belie
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a person or thing that ruins or spoils: Gambling was the bane of his existence.
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Belligerent
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warlike; given to waging war.
of warlike character; aggressively hostile; bellicose: a belligerent tone. |
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Benefactor
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a person who confers a benefit; kindly helper.
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Benevolent
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characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings: a benevolent attitude; her benevolent smile.
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Benign
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having a kindly disposition; gracious: a benign king.
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Blasphemy
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impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.
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Bourgeois
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a member of the middle class.
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Brevity
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shortness of time or duration; briefness: the brevity of human life.
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Cacophony
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harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.
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Cadence
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rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words: the cadence of language.
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Cajole
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To urge with gentle and repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery; wheedle.
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Candor
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the state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness: The candor of the speech impressed the audience.
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Caricature
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a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things: His caricature of the mayor in this morning's paper is the best he's ever drawn.
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Catalyst
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Chemistry. a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.
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Categorical
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without exceptions or conditions; absolute; unqualified and unconditional: a categorical denial.
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Catharsis
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the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, esp. through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.
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Censure
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strong or vehement expression of disapproval: The newspapers were unanimous in their censure of the tax proposal.
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Cerebral
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betraying or characterized by the use of the intellect rather than intuition or instinct: His is a cerebral music that leaves many people cold.
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Charisma
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a spiritual power or personal quality that gives an individual influence or authority over large numbers of people.
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Chastise
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to discipline, esp. by corporal punishment.
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Chronic
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constant; habitual; inveterate: a chronic liar.
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Clemency
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the quality of being clement; disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing; leniency; mercy.
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Cliché
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a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse, as sadder but wiser, or strong as an ox.
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Commensurate
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having the same measure; of equal extent or duration.
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Complement
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something that completes or makes perfect: A good wine is a complement to a good meal.
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Concise
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expressing or covering much in few words; brief in form but comprehensive in scope; succinct; terse: a concise explanation of the company's retirement plan.
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Concurrent
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occurring or existing simultaneously or side by side: concurrent attacks by land, sea, and air.
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Contiguous
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touching; in contact.
2. in close proximity without actually touching; near. 3. adjacent in time: contiguous events. |
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Contingent
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dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional (often fol. by on or upon): Our plans are contingent on the weather.
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Corroborate
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to make more certain; confirm: He corroborated my account of the accident.
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Covert
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concealed; secret; disguised.
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Cryptic
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mysterious in meaning; puzzling; ambiguous: a cryptic message.
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Dearth
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an inadequate supply; scarcity; lack: There is a dearth of good engineers.
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Decimate
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to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.
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Deluge
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a great flood of water; inundation; flood.
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Denizen
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an inhabitant; resident.
2. a person who regularly frequents a place; habitué: the denizens of a local bar. |
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Despondent
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feeling or showing profound hopelessness, dejection, discouragement, or gloom: despondent about failing health.
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Digress
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to deviate or wander away from the main topic or purpose in speaking or writing; depart from the principal line of argument, plot, study, etc.
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Docile
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easily managed or handled; tractable: a docile horse.
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Dormant
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lying asleep or as if asleep; inactive, as in sleep; torpid: The lecturer's sudden shout woke the dormant audience.
2. in a state of rest or inactivity; inoperative; in abeyance: The project is dormant for the time being. |
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Eclectic
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selecting or choosing from various sources.
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Egregious
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extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant: an egregious mistake; an egregious liar.
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Emulate
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to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass: to emulate one's father as a concert violinist.
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Enigma
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a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation: His disappearance is an enigma that has given rise to much speculation.
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Exacerbate
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to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate.
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Facetious
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not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark.
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Frugal
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economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager.
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Furtive
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taken, done, used, etc., surreptitiously or by stealth; secret: a furtive glance.
2. sly; shifty: a furtive manner. |
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Gratuitous
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given, done, bestowed, or obtained without charge or payment; free; voluntary.
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Gregarious
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fond of the company of others; sociable.
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Hedonism
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the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.
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Histrionic
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of or pertaining to actors or acting.
2. deliberately affected or self-consciously emotional; overly dramatic, in behavior or speech. |
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Ideology
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the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
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Immutable
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not mutable; unchangeable; changeless.
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Impervious
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not permitting penetration or passage; impenetrable: The coat is impervious to rain.
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Impetuous
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of, pertaining to, or characterized by sudden or rash action, emotion, etc.; impulsive: an impetuous decision; an impetuous person.
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Inane
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lacking sense, significance, or ideas; silly: inane questions.
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Innate
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existing in one from birth; inborn; native: innate musical talent.
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Insidious
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intended to entrap or beguile: an insidious plan.
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Juxtapose
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to place close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.
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Lampoon
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to mock or ridicule in a lampoon: to lampoon important leaders in the government.
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Laud
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to praise; extol.
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Lucid
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easily understood; completely intelligible or comprehensible: a lucid explanation.
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Lucid
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easily understood; completely intelligible or comprehensible: a lucid explanation.
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Magnanimous
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generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: to be magnanimous toward one's enemies.
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Martyr
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a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion.
2. a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause: a martyr to the cause of social justice. |
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Misanthropic
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of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a misanthrope.
2. characterized by misanthropy. |
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Mollify
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to soften in feeling or temper, as a person; pacify; appease.
2. to mitigate or reduce; soften: to mollify one's demands. |
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Myriad
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a very great or indefinitely great number of persons or things.
2. ten thousand. –adjective 3. of an indefinitely great number; innumerable: the myriad stars of a summer night. |
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Nebulous
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hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused: a nebulous recollection of the meeting; a nebulous distinction between pride and conceit.
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Nefarious
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extremely wicked or villainous; iniquitous: a nefarious plot.
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Nuance
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a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
2. a very slight difference or variation in color or tone. |
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Obsequious
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haracterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning: an obsequious bow.
2. servilely compliant or deferential: obsequious servants. 3. obedient; dutiful. |
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Obtuse
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not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
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Ostensible
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outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended: an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.
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Palpable
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readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived, etc.; obvious; evident: a palpable lie; palpable absurdity.
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Panacea
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a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.
2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties: His economic philosophy is a good one, but he tries to use it as a panacea. |
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Pedantic
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ostentatious in one's learning.
2. overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching. |
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Pejorative
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having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force: the pejorative affix -ling in princeling.
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Quixotic
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sometimes initial capital letter) resembling or befitting Don Quixote.
2. extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable. 3. impulsive and often rashly unpredictable. |
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Ramification
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the act or process of ramifying.
2. a branch: ramifications of a nerve. 3. a related or derived subject, problem, etc.; outgrowth; consequence; implication: The new tax law proved to have many ramifications unforeseen by the lawmakers. |
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Replete
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abundantly supplied or provided; filled (usually fol. by with): a speech replete with sentimentality.
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Respite
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a delay or postponement
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Serendipity
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an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for. |
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Stoic
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one who is indifferent and free from passion
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