English Vocab

Front 1

Aberration

Back 1

*the act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.

*the act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type.

*deviation from truth or moral rectitude

*mental irregularity or disorder, especially of a minor or temporary nature; lapse from a sound mental state.

Front 2

Adroit

Back 2

*expert or nimble in the use of the hands or body.

*cleverly skillful, resourceful, or ingenious

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Antediluvian

Back 3

*of or belonging to the period before the Flood. Gen. 7, 8.

*very old, old-fashioned, or out of date; antiquated; primitive

*a person who lived before the Flood

*a very old or old-fashioned person or thing

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Atrophy

Back 4

* a wasting away of the body or of an organ or part, as from defective nutrition or nerve damage.

*degeneration, decline, or decrease, as from disuse:

*to affect with or undergo atrophy.

Front 5

Broach

Back 5

*a spit for roasting meat.

*Machinery. an elongated, tapered, serrated cutting tool for shaping and enlarging holes.

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Buttress

Back 6

*any prop or support

*any external prop or support built to steady a structure by opposing its outward thrusts, especially a projecting support built into or against the outside of a masonry wall.

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Confluence

Back 7

*their place of junction

*a flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like

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Corpulence

Back 8

*bulkiness or largeness of body; fatness; portliness

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Dearth

Back 9

*an inadequate supply; scarcity; lack

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Dilatory

Back 10

*intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision

*tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy.

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Dispassionate

Back 11

*free from or unaffected by passion; devoid of personal feeling or bias; impartial; calm

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Duplicity

Back 12

*double-dealing.

Front 13

Emulate

Back 13

*to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass

*to rival with some degree of success

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Equivocate

Back 14

*to use ambiguous or unclear expressions, usually to avoid commitment or in order to mislead; prevaricate or hedge

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Extol

Back 15

to praise highly; laud; eulogize

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Flippant

Back 16

*Chiefly Dialect. nimble, limber, or pliant.

*frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by levity

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Garner

Back 17

*to gather or deposit in or as if in a granary or other storage place

Front 18

Histrionic

Back 18

*of or relating to actors or acting

*deliberately affected or self-consciously emotional; overly dramatic, in behavior or speech.

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Impregnable

Back 19

*strong enough to resist or withstand attack; not to be taken by force, unconquerable

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Incorrigible

Back 20

*firmly fixed; not easily changed

*impervious to constraints or punishment; willful; unruly; uncontrollable

*not corrigible; bad beyond correction or reform

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inveterate

Back 21

*firmly established by long continuance, as a disease, habit, practice, feeling, etc.; chronic.

*settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like

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Laconic

Back 22

*using few words; expressing much in few words; concise

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lithe

Back 23

*bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible

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meticulous

Back 24

*taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough:

*finicky; fussy:

Front 25

Paragon

Back 25

*a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence

*someone of exceptional merit

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pejorative

Back 26

*having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force:

Front 27

polemic

Back 27

*a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.

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Prosaic

Back 28

*commonplace or dull; matter-of-fact or unimaginative:

*of or having the character or form of prose, the ordinary form of spoken or written language, rather than of poetry

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obsequious

Back 29

*characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning:

*servilely compliant or deferential

*obedient; dutiful.

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Quixotic

Back 30

*extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable

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Recant

Back 31

*to withdraw or disavow (a statement, opinion, etc.), especially formally; retract.

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Savant

Back 32

*a person of profound or extensive learning; learned scholar.

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Taciturn

Back 33

*inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation.

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Turpitude

Back 34

*vile, shameful, or base character; depravity

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Viable

Back 35

*capable of living

*vivid; real; stimulating, as to the intellect, imagination, or senses

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Abeyance

Back 36

*Law. a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholde

*temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension

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Aesthete

Back 37

*a person who has or professes to have refined sensitivity toward the beauties of art or nature.

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Apocryphal

Back 38

*of doubtful authorship or authenticity.

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Avarice

Back 39

*insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.

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Celerity

Back 40

*swiftness; speed

Front 41

Circuitous

Back 41

*roundabout; not direct

Front 42

Conjugal

Back 42

*of, relating to, or characteristic of marriage

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Coterie

Back 43

*an exclusive group; clique.

Front 44

Demagogue

Back 44

*a person, especially an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people

Front 45

Disaffected

Back 45

*discontented and disloyal, as toward the government or toward authority

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Dissonant

Back 46

*disagreeing or harsh in sound; discordant

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Egregious

Back 47

*extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant

Front 48

Enigmatic

Back 48

*resembling an enigma, or a puzzling occurrence, situation, statement, person, etc.; perplexing; mysterious

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Erudition

Back 49

*knowledge acquired by study, research, etc.; learning; scholarship

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Fatuous

Back 50

*foolish or inane, especially in an unconscious, complacent manner; silly.

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Florid

Back 51

*flowery; excessively ornate; showy

*flowery; excessively ornate; showy:

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Guile

Back 52

*insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.

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Hoary

Back 53

*ancient or venerable

*gray or white with age

Front 54

Impugn

Back 54

*to challenge as false (another's statements, motives, etc.); cast doubt upon.

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Indecorous

Back 55

*not decorous; violating generally accepted standards of good taste or propriety; unseemly.

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Intonate

Back 56

*to utter with a particular tone or modulation of voiceto intone; chant

*to intone; chant

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Irascible

Back 57

*easily provoked to anger; very irritable

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Lampoon

Back 58

*a sharp, often virulent satire directed against an individual or institution; a work of literature, art, or the like, ridiculing severely the character or behavior of a person, society, etc

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Lurid

Back 59

*gruesome; horrible; revolting

*glaringly vivid or sensational; shocking

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Mire

Back 60

*a tract or area of wet, swampy ground; bog; marsh.

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Odious

Back 61

*deserving or causing hatred; hateful; detestable.

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Pariah

Back 62

*an outcast.

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Philistine

Back 63

*a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.

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Precocious

Back 64

*prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.

*unusually advanced or mature in development, especially mental development

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Protean

Back 65

*readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable.

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Rancorous

Back 66

*full of or showing rancor(bitter)

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Reprobate

Back 67

*a depraved, unprincipled, or wicked person

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Stultify

Back 68

*to render absurdly or wholly futile or ineffectual, especially by degrading or frustrating means:

*to make, or cause to appear, foolish or ridiculous.

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Tantamount

Back 69

*equivalent, as in value, force, effect, or signification:

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Undulate

Back 70

to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion; display a smooth rising-and-falling or side-to-side alternation of movement:

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Virulent

Back 71

actively poisonous; intensely noxious

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Acerbic

Back 72

*sour or astringent in taste

*harsh or severe, as of temper or expression

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Altruistic

Back 73

*unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others (opposed to egoistic )

*animal behavior

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Arable

Back 74

capable of producing crops; suitable for farming; suited to the plow and for tillage

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Aviary

Back 75

a large cage or a house or enclosure in which birds are kept

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Charlatan

Back 76

a person who pretends or claims to have more knowledge or skill than he or she possesses; quack

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Clandestine

Back 77

characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy or concealment, especially for purposes of subversion or deception; private or surreptitious

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Contentious

Back 78

tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome

Front 79

Credulous

Back 79

willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible

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Desecrate

Back 80

to divert from a sacred to a profane use or purpose

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Discursive

Back 81

passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling.

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dissuade

Back 82

to deter by advice or persuasion; persuade not to do something

Front 83

Elegiac

Back 83

*used in, suitable for, or resembling an elegy.

*sorrow

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Ennui

Back 84

a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom

Front 85

Esoteric

Back 85

understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite:

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Fecund

Back 86

producing or capable of producing offspring, fruit, vegetation, etc., in abundance; prolific; fruitful:

Front 87

Foible

Back 87

a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect:

Front 88

Hendonism

Back 88

the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.

Front 89

Iconoclast

Back 89

a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition

Front 90

Inauspicious

Back 90

*not auspicious; boding ill; ill-omened; unfavorable.

Front 91

Indefatigable

Back 91

*incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.

Front 92

Intractable

Back 92

*hard to shape or work with

*not easily controlled or directed; not docile or manageable; stubborn; obstinate

Front 93

Jettison

Back 93

*to throw off (something) as an obstacle or burden; discard

Front 94

Largess

Back 94

*the gift or gifts, as of money, so bestowed

Front 95

Malevolent

Back 95

*wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious:

Front 96

Multifarious

Back 96

*having many different parts, elements, forms, etc.

*numerous and varied; greatly diverse or manifold:

Front 97

Opaque

Back 97

*hard to understand; not clear or lucid; obscure:

*not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light; not allowing light to pass through.

Front 98

Parochial

Back 98

*of, relating to, or financially supported by one or more church parishes:

Front 99

Pique

Back 99

*to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.)

*to wound (the pride, vanity, etc.).

Front 100

Proclivity

Back 100

*natural or habitual inclination or tendency; propensity; predisposition:

Front 101

Protract

Back 101

*to draw out or lengthen, especially in time; extend the duration of; prolong.

Front 102

Rarefy

Back 102

*to make more refined, spiritual, or exalted.

*to make rare or rarer; make less dense:

Front 103

Ribald

Back 103

*vulgar or indecent in speech, language, etc.; coarsely mocking, abusive, or irreverent; scurrilous.

Front 104

Supercilious

Back 104

*haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.

Front 105

Tenuous

Back 105

*thin or slender in form, as a thread

*lacking a sound basis, as reasoning; unsubstantiated; weak:

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Unwieldy

Back 106

*not wieldy; wielded with difficulty; not readily handled or managed in use or action, as from size, shape, or weight; awkward; ungainly.

Front 107

Vociferous

Back 107

*crying out noisily; clamorous.

Front 108

Acuity

Back 108

*sharpness; acuteness; keenness

Front 109

Ameliorate

Back 109

*to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve:

Front 110

Ascetic

Back 110

*a person who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices extreme self-denial or self-mortification for religious reasons.

Front 111

Avow

Back 111

*to declare frankly or openly; own; acknowledge; confess; admit

Front 112

Cherubic

Back 112

*of or having the nature of a cherub, or an angel represented as a rosy-cheeked child with wings; angelic

*having a plump, pretty innocence:

Front 113

Commensurate

Back 113

*having the same measure; of equal extent or duration

*corresponding in amount, magnitude, or degree:

Front 114

Conundrum

Back 114

a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words

Front 115

Cryptic

Back 115

*mysterious in meaning; puzzling; ambiguous:

Front 116

Diatribe

Back 116

*a bitter, sharply abusive denunciation, attack, or criticism:

Front 117

Dissemble

Back 117

*to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of

Front 118

Divination

Back 118

*the practice of attempting to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means.

Front 119

Elucidate

Back 119

*to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain:

Front 120

Ephemeral

Back 120

*lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory

Front 121

Espouse

Back 121

*to make one's own; adopt or embrace, as a cause.

*to marry

Front 122

Felicity

Back 122

*the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss:

Front 123

Furtive

Back 123

*taken, done, used, etc., surreptitiously or by stealth; secret:

Front 124

Heretic

Back 124

*a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.

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Immutable

Back 125

*not mutable; unchangeable; changeless.

Front 126

Incipient

Back 126

*beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage:

Front 127

Innocuous

Back 127

*not harmful or injurious; harmless

Front 128

Intrinsic

Back 128

*belonging to a thing by its very nature:

Front 129

Juncture

Back 129

*a point of time, especially one made critical or important by a concurrence of circumstances:

Front 130

Lassitude

Back 130

*weariness of body or mind from strain, oppressive climate, etc.; lack of energy; listlessness; languor.

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Maudlin

Back 131

*tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental:

Front 132

Mundane

Back 132

*common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative

*of or relating to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly:

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Ostentatious

Back 133

*characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others:

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Paucity

Back 134

*smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness

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Pithy

Back 135

*brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance, or meaning; terse; forcible:

Front 136

Progeny

Back 136

*a descendant or offspring, as a child, plant, or animal.

Front 137

Pugnacity

Back 137

*inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.

Front 138

Raze

Back 138

*to tear down; demolish; level to the ground:

Front 139

Ruminate

Back 139

*to chew the cud, as a ruminant.

*to meditate or muse; ponder.

Front 140

insipid

Back 140

*without sufficient taste to be pleasing, as food or drink; bland

*without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid

Front 141

Surfeit

Back 141

*excess; an excessive amount:

Front 142

Trepidation

Back 142

*tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation; perturbation

Front 143

Veracity

Back 143

*habitual observance of truth in speech or statement; truthfulness

Front 144

Vouchsafe

Back 144

*to grant or give, as by favor, graciousness, or condescension:

Front 145

Admonished

Back 145

*to caution, advise, or counsel against something.

*to reprove or scold, especially in a mild and good-willed manner:

Front 146

Amorphous

Back 146

*lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless:

Front 147

Assuage

Back 147

*to make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate:

Front 148

Bilk

Back 148

*to defraud; cheat:

Front 149

Churlish

Back 149

*like a churl; boorish; rude:

Front 150

Concomitant

Back 150

*existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way; accompanying; concurrent:

Front 151

Copious

Back 151

*large in quantity or number; abundant; plentiful

Front 152

Curmudgeon

Back 152

*a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.

Front 153

Diffidence

Back 153

the quality or state of being diffident.

Front 154

Disparage

Back 154

*to speak of or treat slightingly; depreciate; belittle

Front 155

Dotard

Back 155

*a person, especially an old person, exhibiting a decline in mental faculties; a weak-minded or foolish old person.

Front 156

Emanate

Back 156

*to flow out, issue, or proceed, as from a source or origin; come forth; originate.

Front 157

Epicure

Back 157

*a person who cultivates a refined taste, especially in food and wine; connoisseur.

Front 158

Ethereal

Back 158

*light, airy, or tenuous:

*extremely delicate or refined:

Front 159

Fetid

Back 159

*having an offensive odor; stinking.

Front 160

Garish

Back 160

*crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate, as clothes or decoration.

Front 161

Hiatus

Back 161

*a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

Front 162

Impervious

Back 162

*not permitting penetration or passage; impenetrable:

Front 163

Incisive

Back 163

*remarkably clear and direct; sharp; keen; acute:

Front 164

Inscrutable

Back 164

*incapable of being investigated, analyzed, or scrutinized; impenetrable.

*not easily understood; mysterious; unfathomable:

Front 165

Inveigh

Back 165

*to protest strongly or attack vehemently with words; rail (usually followed by against):

Front 166

Juxtapose

Back 166

*to place close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.

Front 167

Lethargy

Back 167

*the quality or state of being drowsy and dull, listless and unenergetic, or indifferent and lazy; apathetic or sluggish inactivity.

Front 168

Meander

Back 168

*to proceed by or take a winding or indirect course:

*to wander aimlessly; ramble:

Front 169

Nefarious

Back 169

*extremely wicked or villainous; iniquitous:

Front 170

Palpable

Back 170

*readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived, etc.; obvious; evident:

*capable of being touched or felt; tangible.

Front 171

Pedantic

Back 171

*ostentatious in one's learning.

*overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching.

Front 172

Poignant

Back 172

*keenly distressing to the feelings

Front 173

Prolific

Back 173

*producing offspring, young, fruit, etc., abundantly; highly fruitful:

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Pulchritude

Back 174

*physical beauty; comeliness.

Front 175

Recalcitrant

Back 175

*resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory.

Front 176

Saccharine

Back 176

*of the nature of or resembling that of sugar

Front 177

Surly

Back 177

*unfriendly or hostile; menacingly irritable

*churlishly rude or bad-tempered:

Front 178

Turgid

Back 178

*swollen; distended; tumid.

Front 179

Verbose

Back 179

*characterized by the use of many or too many words; wordy:a verbose report.

Front 180

Zenith

Back 180

*the point on the celestial sphere vertically above a given position or observer.