English Vocab November 2, 2007

Front 1

Acerbity

Back 1

n. sourness, with roughness or astringency of taste; harshness or severity

Front 2

Anthropomorphic

Back 2

adj. ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, esp. to a deity

Front 3

Arable

Back 3

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

-or-

n. land that can be or is cultivated

Front 4

Assuage

Back 4

v. to make milder or less severe; relieve; ease; mitigate; satisfy; allay

Front 5

Bemuse

Back 5

v. to bewilder or confuse someone

Front 6

Bevy

Back 6

n. a large group or collection; a group of birds, as larks or quail, or animals, as roebuck, in close association

Front 7

Bustle

Back 7

n. thriving or energetic activity; stir

-or-

v. to move or to act with a great show of energy; to abound or teem with something; display an abundance of something

Front 8

Chide

Back 8

v. to express disapproval of; scold; reproach; to harass, nag, impel, or the like

Front 9

Clandestine

Back 9

adj. characterized by, done in, or executed with secrecy or concealment, esp. for purposes of subversion or deception

Front 10

Cohesion

Back 10

n. the act or state of cohering, uniting, or sticking together

Front 11

Complicity

Back 11

n. state of being an accomplice; partnership or involvement in wrongdoing

Front 12

Conducive

Back 12

adj. tending to produce; conducing; contributive; helpful; favorable

Front 13

Contrive

Back 13

v. to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent; to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme or the like

Front 14

Cordial

Back 14

adj. courteous and gracious; friendly; warm; invigorating the heart; sincere

-or-

n. a stimulating medicine or liqueur; anything that invigorates or exhilarates

Front 15

Cryptic

Back 15

adj. mysterious in meaning; puzzled; ambiguous; abrupt; secret; occult;

Front 16

Denigrate

Back 16

v. to speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner

Front 17

Desiccate

Back 17

v. to dry thoroughly; dry up; to preserve by removing moisture

Front 18

Disabuse

Back 18

v. to free from deception or error

Front 19

Discretion

Back 19

n. the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice; quality of being discreet

Front 20

Docile

Back 20

adj. easily managed or handled; readily trained or taught

Front 21

Enmity

Back 21

n. a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity

Front 22

Eschew

Back 22

v. to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid

Front 23

Explicit

Back 23

adj. fully and clearly expressed or demonstrated; leaving nothing merely implied; unequivocal

Front 24

Flaunt

Back 24

n. to parade or display oneself conspicuously, defiantly or boldly

Front 25

Formidable

Back 25

adj. causing fear, apprehension or dread; of great strength

Front 26

Glib

Back 26

adj. performed with a natural, offhand ease; showing little thought, preparation, or concern

Front 27

Hermetic

Back 27

adj. not affected by outward influence or power; isolate; made airtight by fusion or sealing

Front 28

Hibernal

Back 28

adj. of or pertaining to winter; wintry

Front 29

Imperative

Back 29

adj. absolutely necessary or required; unavoidable; of the nature of or expressing a command

-or-

n. a command; something that demands attention or action

Front 30

Implement

Back 30

n. any article used in some activity, esp. an instrument, tool, or utensil

-or-

v. to fulfill; perform; carry out; to put into effect according to or by means of a definite plan or procedure

Front 31

Improvise

Back 31

v. to compose and perform or deliver without previous preparation; extemporize; compose, play, etc. on the spur of the moment

Front 32

Incontrovertible

Back 32

adj. not open to question or dispute; indisputable

Front 33

Loom

Back 33

v. to appear indistinctly

-or-

n. a looming appearance, as of something seen indistinctly through a fog

Front 34

Odious

Back 34

adj. deserving or causing hatred; hateful; detestable; highly offensive

Front 35

Parsimony

Back 35

n. extreme or excessive economy or frugality

Front 36

Punitive

Back 36

adj. serving for, concerned with, or inflicting punishment

Front 37

Quixotic

Back 37

adj. extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary; impractical or impracticable; impulsive and often rashly unpredictable

Front 38

Repository

Back 38

n. a receptacle or place where things are deposited, stored, or offered for sale; abundant source or supply; burial place

Front 39

Reticent

Back 39

adj. disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved; reluctant or restrained

Front 40

Sodden

Back 40

v. to surge or foam as if boiling; to be in a state of agitation or excitement

-or-

n. the act of seething; the state of being agitated

Front 41

Somber

Back 41

adj. gloomily dark; shadowy; dimly lighted; gloomy, depressing

Front 42

Stipulate

Back 42

v. to make an express demand or arrangement as a condition of agreement; to arrange expressly or specify in terms of agreement

Front 43

Travesty

Back 43

n. a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter

-or-

v. to make a travesty on; turn to ridicule by burlesquing

Front 44

Truncate

Back 44

v. to shorten by cutting off a part; cut short

-or-

adj. truncated

Front 45

Unruly

Back 45

adj. no submissive or conforming to rule; ungovernable; turbulent; intractable

Front 46

Vendetta

Back 46

n. a private feud in which the member of the family of a murdered person seek to avenge the murder by killing the slayer or one of the slayer’s relatives; any prolonged and bitter feud

Front 47

Wax

Back 47

v. to increase in extent, quantity, intensity, power, etc

Front 48

Whimsical

Back 48

adj. given to whimsy or fanciful notions; capricious; of the nature of or proceeding from whimsy, as thoughts or actions

Front 49

Yoke

Back 49

n. a device for joining together a pair of draft animals; used for plowing etc.

Front 50

Enunciate

Back 50

v. to utter or pronounce (words, sentences, etc.), esp. in an articulate or a particular manner