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25 Cards in this Set
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Ascertain Verb "It was often almost impossible to ascertain the motives of her captors." (Eric Pape, A French Hero's Tale of Survival) |
to find out definitely; learn with certainty or assurance
discover/ overlook |
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Aberration Noun "It seemed like an aberration, not a pattern to be worried about." (Dave Cullen, The Last Columbine Mystery) |
the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course
oddity/ normality |
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Hedonist Noun "She knew him to be a hedonist, a materialist, a man who had very few scruples." (Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, From Out the Vasty Deep) |
a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification glutton/ puritan |
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Presage Noun "For a moment there was a pause, as if at a presage of disaster." (Various, Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848) |
a presentiment or foreboding forecast/ hindsight |
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Surfeited Noun "She was ready to meet love with a surfeit of the rich gifts which she had at her command." (Baroness Emmuska Orczy, "Unto Caesar") |
excess; an excessive amount
overflow/ lack |
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Benefaction Noun "Only one of these acts of sympathy and benefaction we will mention." (R.M. Ballantyne, Blue Lights) |
an act of conferring a benefit; the doing of good; a good deed
contribution/ loss |
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Ablution Noun "This ablution made him clean, but did not bring back his ruddy color." (Charles Reade, Put Yourself in His Place) |
a cleansing with water or other liquid, especially as a religious ritual
purification/ corruption |
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Baneful Adjective "That man Clarke has some kind of baneful influence over her." (Hamlin Garland, The Tyranny of the Dark) |
destructive; pernicious
harmful/ beneficial |
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Respite Noun "Nearby businesses offered a respite from the chaos on the streets with Wi-Fi, cellphone charging, and good company." (Nina Strochlic, Boston Marathon Explosions: The Heroes Who Responded to the Blasts) |
a delay or cessation for a time, especially of anything distressing or trying
halt/ continuation |
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Tarries Verb "He avoids the populous cities, and tarries not in the smiling villages." (C. A. Bloss, Heroines of the Crusades) |
to remain or stay, as in a place
stall/ advance |
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Castigation Verb "To what length the castigation should proceed is of course matter for individual taste and judgment." (George Saintsbury, A Letter Book) |
to criticize or reprimand severely
discipline/ reward |
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Venerable Adjective "In fact, she may have gone from a venerable fashion icon to a new irrelevancy almost overnight." (Megan Hustad, Stepping in GOOP) |
commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity
respected/ common |
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Blight Noun "Others announced layoffs and cutbacks and every manner of cancer and blight." (Patrick DeWitt, Books Aren't Dying) |
any cause of impairment, destruction, ruin, or frustration
clean/ blessing |
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Soothsayer Noun "A soothsayer warned Julius Caesar about the Ides of March—a catastrophe looming in the middle of the month." (Alex Horton, Memorial Days After Mourning Has Passed) |
a person who professes to foretell events
forecaster/ unknowing |
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Vehement Adjective "Many of the most vehement public demonstrations in Europe over the past two decades have followed attempts at pension reform." (Megan McArdle, Our Demographic Decline) |
strongly emotional; intense or passionate
heated/ gentle |
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Disheveled Adjective "When I arrived at school, my uniform was disheveled ;my hair was a mess." (Genyfer Spark, Handcuffs, Ropes, and an Open Window: How I Escaped an Unthinkable Childhood) |
hanging loosely or in disorder
disordered/ neat |
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Covetousness Adjective "For some who seem wise are most fools, for all their wisdom they spill in covetousness and care about the world." (Richard Rolle of Hampole, The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises) |
inordinately or wrongly desirous of wealth or possessions; greedy greedy/ generousity |
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Goads Noun The cattle driver used a goad to lead the oxen in the right direction |
a stick with a pointed or electrically charged end, for driving cattle, oxen, etc.
motivation/ restraint |
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Insolence Noun
"But it seemed to him she had behaved with a pride that bordered on insolence." (Leo Tolstoy, The Forged Coupon and Other Stories) |
contemptuously rude or impertinent behavior or speech sass/ modesty |
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Austere Adjective
“'It looks spare and austere, but we spent 1,000 hours creating these,' Snoeren said." (Liza Foreman, Viktor & Rolf’s Return to Couture for Fall 2013: Going Zen) |
severe in manner or appearance; uncompromising; strict; forbidding
grim/ calm |
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Jocular Adjective "When he ran into Sperling at a congressional dinner at the White House a couple of weeks later, the encounter was jocular." (Lloyd Grove, Democrats' Negotiator in Chief) |
given to, characterized by, intended for, or suited to joking or jesting; waggish; facetious cheerful/ gloomy |
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Indolence Noun "This kind of cancer can be so indolent that patients often die with it than from it." (Sharon Begley, Jobs’s Unorthodox Treatment) |
the quality or state of being indolent
slothful/ active |
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Haughtily Adjective "'Call me Mr. Davis, if you please,' said Halbert, haughtily." (Horatio Alger, Brave and Bold) |
disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious
proudly/ humbly |
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Supplicate Verb "They go down on their knees to their husbands and beg and beseech and supplicate them to have nothing to do with it." (William McFee, Captain Macedoine's Daughter) |
to pray humbly; make humble and earnest entreaty or petition
pray/ give |
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Palliative Noun/ Adjective "I found a solution in palliative care—which is dedicated to minimizing pain and keeping the chronically ill out of the hospital." (Gail Sheehy, Meet America's Overworked Caregivers) |
adj. serving to palliate n. something that palliates therapeutic/ harmful |
