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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Sardonic
Isabella was offended by the sardonic way in which her date made fun of her ideas and opinions. |
cynical, scornfully mocking
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acerbic, caustic, sarcastic, satirical, snide
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wan
The sick child had a wan face, in contrast to her rosy-cheeked sister. |
sickly pale
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ashen, sickly
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nadir
As Joey waited in line to audition for the diaper commercial, he realized he had reached the nadir of his acting career. |
lowest point
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bottom, depth, pit
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lethargic
THe clerc was so lethargic that, even when business was slow, he always had a long line in front of him. |
acting in a different or slow, sluggish manner
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apathetic, lackadaisical, languid, listless, torpid
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parry
Kari parried every question the army officers fired at her, much to their frustration. |
to ward off or deflect, especially by a quick witted answer
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avoid, evade, repel
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ersatz
Edda, a fashion maven, knew instantly that her friend's new Kate Spade bag was really an ersatz version purchased on the street. |
fake
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artificial, dummy, false, imitation, mock, sham, simulated, spurious, substitute
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dither
Ellen dithered around her apartment, uncertain how to tackle the family crisis. |
to act confusedly, or without clear purpose
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falter, hesitate, vacillate, waffle, waver
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demur
When scientific authorities claimed that all of the planets revolved around the Earth, Galileo with his superior understanding of the situation was force to demur. |
to express doubts or objections
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dissent, expostulate, kick, protest, remonstrate
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voluble
The voluble man and his reserved wife proved the old saying that opposites attract. |
talkative, speaking easily, glib
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loquacious, verbose
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attenuate
The Bill of Rights attenuated the traditional power of government to change laws at will. |
to reduce in force or degree, weaken
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debilitate, devitalize, dilute, enervate, enfeeble, rarefy, sap, thin, undermine, undo, unnerve, water, weaken
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sully
With the help of a public relations firm, he was able to restore his sullied reputation. |
to tarnish, taint
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besmirch, defile
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garrulous
The garrulous parakeet distracted its owner with its continuous talking. |
tending to talk alot
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effusive, loquacious
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dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is the inner conflict produced when long standing beliefs are contradicted by new evidence. |
a harsh and disagreeable combination, especially sounds
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clash, contention, discord, dissension, dissent, friction, strife, variance
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ardor
Bishop's ardor for landscape was evident when he passionately described the beauty of the scenic Hudson Valley. |
intense and passionate feeling
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devotion, enthusiasm, fervency, fervidity, fervor, fire, passion, zeal, zealous
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prodigal
The prodigal son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle devoted to pleasure. |
lavish, wasteful
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extravagant, lavish, profligate, spendthrift, wasteful
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levity
The joke added needed levity to the otherwise serious meeting. |
an inappropriate lack of seriousness, overly casual
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amusement, humor
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volatile
His volatile personality made it difficult to predict his reaction to anything. |
easily aroused or changeable, lively or explosive
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capricious, erratic, fickle, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, temperamental
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nominal
A nominal but far from devoted member of the high school yearbook committee, she rarely attends meetings. |
existing in name only, neglibible
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minimal, titular
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demagogue
He began his career as a demagogue, giving fiery speeches at political rallies. |
a leader or rabble-rouser, usually appealing to emotion or prejudice
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agitator, inciter, instigator
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intransigent
The professor was intransigent on the deadline, insisting that everyone turn the assignment in at the same time. |
uncompromising, refusing to be reconciled
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implacable, inexorable, irreconcilable, obdurate, obstinate, remoreseless, rigid, unbending, unrelenting, unyielding
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obsequious
The obsequious new associate made sure to compliment her supervisor's tie and agree with him on every issue. |
overly submissive and eager to please
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compliant, deferential, servile, subservient
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anodyne
The anodyne massage helped remove the knots from teh lawyer's tense shoulders. |
something that calms or soothes pain
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narcotic, nepenthe, opiate
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missive
Priscilla spent hours composing a romantic missive for Elvis. |
a written note or letter
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message
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numismatics
Tomas's passion for numismatics has resulted in an impressive collection of coins from all over the world. |
coin collecting
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myopic
Not wanting to spend alot of money up front, the myopic business owner would likely suffer the consequences later. |
lacking foresight, having a narrow view or long-range perspective
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short-sighted, unthinking
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knell
When the townspeople heard the knell from the church belfry, they knew that their mayor had died. |
sound of a funeral bell, omen of death or failure
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chime, peal, toll
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impecunious
After the stock market crashed, many former millionares found themselves impecunious. |
poor, having no money
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destitute, impoverished, indigent, needy, penniless
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pare
The cook's hands were sore after she pared hundreds of potatoes for the banquet. |
to trim off excess, reduce
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clip, peel
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decorous
The countess trained her daughters in teh finer points of decorous behavior, hoping they would make a good impression when she presented them at court. |
proper, tasteful, socially correct
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appropriate, comme il faut, courteous, polite
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bifurcate
The large corporation just released a press statement announcing its plans to bifurcate. |
to divide into two parts
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bisect
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antagonize
The child discovered that he could antagonize the cat by pulling its tail. |
to annoy or provoke to anger
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clash, conflict, incite, irritate, oppose, pester, provoke, vex
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enumerate
Before making his decision, Jacob asked the waiter to enumerate the different varieties of ice cream that the restaurant carried. |
to count, list, or itemize
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catalog, index, tabulate
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lavish
She was so lavish with her puppy that it soon became overweight and spoiled. |
extremely generous or extravagant, giving unsparingly
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bestow confer, extravagant, exuberant, luxubriant, opulent, prodigal, profuse, superabundant
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bevy
As predicted, a bevy of teenagers surrounded the rock star's limousine. |
group
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band, bunch, gang, pack, troop
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eschew
THe filmmaker eschewed artificial light for her actors, resulting in a stark movie style. |
to shun, to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful)
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avoid, bilk, elude, escape, evade, shun, shy
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meretricious
The casino's meretricious decor horrified the cultivated interior designer. |
gaudy, falsely attractive
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flashy, insincere, loud, specious, tawdry
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investiture
At Napolean's investiture, he grabbed the crown from teh Pope's hands and placed it on his head himself. |
ceremony conferring authority
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inaugural, inauguration, induction, initiation, installation
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capricious
Queen Elizabeth I was quite capricious, her courtiers could never be sure which one would catch her fancy. |
changing one's mind quickly and often
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arbitrary, chance, changeable, erratic, fickle, inconstant, mercurial, random, whimsical, willful
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whimsical
The ballet was whimsical, delighting the children with its imaginative characters and unpredictable sets. |
lightly acting in a fanciful or capricious manner, unpredictable
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capricious, erratic, flippant, frivolous
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luminous
The park was bathed in luminous sunshine that warmed the bodies and the souls of the visitors. |
bright, brilliant, glowing
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incandescent, lucent, lustrous, radiant, resplendent
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torpor
After surgery, the patient's torpor lasted several hours until teh anesthesia wore off. |
extreme mental and physical sluggishness
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apathy, languor
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deface
After the wall was torn down, the students began to deface the statues of Communist leaders of the former Eastern Bloc. |
to mar the appearance of , vandalize
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disfigure, impair, spoil
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desultory
Athena had a desultory academic record, she had changed majors 12 times in 3 years. |
jumping from one thing to another, disconnected
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aimless, disconnected, erratic, haphazard, indiscriminate, objectless, purposeless, random, stray, unconsidered, unplanned
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meticulous
To find all the clues at the crime scene, the meticulous investigators examined every inch of the area. |
extremely careful, fastidious, painstaking
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finicky, fussy, picky, precise, punctilious, scrupulous
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waver
If you waver too long before making a decision about which testing site to register for, you may not get your first choice. |
to fluctuate between choices
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dither, falter, fluctuate, oscillate, vacillate
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monotony
The monotony of the sound of the dripping faucet almost drove the research assistant crazy. |
no variation, tediously the same
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drone, tedium
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verdant
He wandered deep into the verdant woods in search of mushrooms and other edible flora. |
green with vegetation, inexperienced
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grassy, leafy, wooded
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tome
The teacher was forced to refer to various tomes to find the answer to the advanced student's question. |
book, usually large and academic
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codex, volume
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liberal
Cali's liberal parents trusted her and allowed her to manage her own affairs to a large extent. |
tolerant or broad-minded, generous or lavish
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bounteous, latitudinarian, munificent, permissive, progressive
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vernal
Bea basked in teh balmy vernal breezes, happy that winter was coming to an end. |
related to spring, fresh
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springlike, youthful
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