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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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vulpine
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like a fox; crafty;
She disliked his sly ways, but granted him a certain vulpine intelligence. |
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viper
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poisonous snake
The habitat of the horned viper, a particularly venomous snake, is in sandy regions like the Sahara or the Sinai peninsula. |
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enamored
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in love
Narcissus became enamored of his own beauty. |
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noxious
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harmful
We must trace the source of these noxious gases before they asphyxiate us. |
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ductility
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malleability; flexibility; ability to be drawn out
Copper wire has many industrial uses because of its extreme ductility. |
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hubbub
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confused uproar
The marketplace was a scene of hubbub and excitement. |
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mobile
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movable; not fixed;
The mobile blood bank operated by the Red Cross visited our neighborhood today. |
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incorporate
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introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite
Breaking with precedent, President Truman ordered the military to incorporate blacks into every branch of the armed services. |
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rigid
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stiff and unyielding; strict; hard and unbending
By living with a man to whom she was not married, George Eliot broke Victorian society's most rigid rule of respectable behavior. |
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caustic
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burning; sarcastically biting;
The critic's caustic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm. |
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ungainly
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awkward
He is an ungainly young man; he trips over everything. |
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aspersion
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slanderous remark
Do not cast aspersions on her character. |
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curmudgeon
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churlish; miserly individual;
Although he was regarded by many as a curmudgeon, a few of us were aware of the many kindnesses and acts of charity that he secretly performed. |
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vigor
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active strength
Although he was over seventy years old, Jack had the vigor of a man in his prime. |
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emollient
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soothing or softening remedy
He applied an emollient to the inflamed area. |
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nostalgia
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homesickness; longing for the past;
The first settlers found so much work to do that they had little time for nostalgia. |
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lurid
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wild; sensational;
The lurid stories he told shocked his listeners. |
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pristine
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characteristic of earlier times; primitive; unspoiled
This area has been preserved in all its pristine wildness. |
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stoke
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stir up a fire; feed plentifully;
As a Scout, Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely. |
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incongruity
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lack of harmony; absurdity;
The incongruity of his wearing sneakers with formal attire amused the observers. |
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ribald
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wanton; profane;
He sang a ribald song that offended many of the more prudish listeners. |
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cathartic
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purgative
Some drugs act as laxatives when taken in small doses but act as cathartics when taken in much larger doses. |
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conclave
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private meeting
He was present at all their conclaves as an unofficial observer. |
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evince
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show clearly
When he tried to answer the questions, he evinced his ignorance of the subject matter. |
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indite
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write; compose;
Cyrano indited many letters for Christian. |
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vicissitude
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change of fortune
Humbled by life's vicissitudes, the last emperor of China worked as a lowly gardener in the palace over which he had once ruled. |
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emend
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correct; usually a text;
The critic emended the book by retranslating several passages. |
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nonchalance
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indifference; lack of interest;
Few people could understand how he could listen to the news of the tragedy with such nonchalance; the mahority regarded him as callous and unsympathetic. |
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severance
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division; partition; separation
The severance of church and state is a basic principle of our government. |
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diurnal
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daily
A farmer cannot neglect his diurnal tasks at any time; cows, for example, must be milked regularly. |
