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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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adherent
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supporter; follower ;
In the wake of the scandal, the senator's one-time adherent quietly deserted him. |
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coeval
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living at the same time as; contemporary;
coeval with the dinosaur, the pterodactyl flourished during the Mesozoic era. |
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knit
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contract into wrinkles
Whenever David worries, his brow knits in a frown. |
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solecism
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construction that is flagrantly incorrect grammatically
I must give this paper a failing mark because it contains many solecisms. |
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connivance
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pretense of ignorance of something wrong; assistance; permission to offend
With the connivance of his friends, he plotted to embarrass the teacher. |
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insomnia
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wakefulness; inability to sleep ;
He refused to join us in a midnight cup of coffee because he claimed it gave him insomnia. |
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paltry
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insignificant; petty;
This is a paltry sum to pay for such a masterpiece. |
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satirical
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mocking
The humor of cartoonists Gary Trudeau often is satirical; though the comments of the Doonesbury characters, Trudeau ridicules political corruption and folly. |
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apathetic
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indifferent
He felt apathetic about the conditions he had observed and did not care to fight against them. |
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fecundity
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fertility; fruitfulness;
The fecundity of his mind is illustrated by the many vivid images in his poems. |
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peremptory
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demanding and leaving no choice
From Jack's peremptory knock on the door, Jill could tell he would not give up until she let him in. |
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cant
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pious phraseology; jargon of criminals ;
Angry that the president had slashed the education budget, we dismissed his speech on the importance of education as mere cant. |
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distant
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reserved or aloof; cold in manner;
His distant greeting made me feel unwelcome from the start. |
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headstrong
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stubborn; willful; unyielding
Because she refused to marry the man her parents had chosen for her, everyone scolded Minna and called her a foolish, headstrong girl. |
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kismet
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fate
kismet is the Arabic word for %22fate. |
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sobriety
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moderation (especially regarding indulgence in alcohol); seriousness;
Neither drunkards nor comics are noted for sobriety. |
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congruence
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correspondence of parts; harmonious relationship;
The student demonstrated the congruence of the two triangles by using the hypotenuse-arm theorem. |
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renege
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deny; go back on;
He reneged on paying off his debt. |
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troth
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pledge of good faith especially in betrothal
He gave her his troth and vowed to cherish her always. |
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approbation
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approval
Wanting her parents' regard, she looked for some sign of their approbation. |
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antipathy
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aversion; dislike ;
His extreme antipathy to dispute caused him to avoid argumentative discussions with his friends. |
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fawning
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courting favor by cringing and flattering
She was constantly surrounded by a group of fawning admirers who had hoped to win some favor. |
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peon
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landless agricultural worker; bond servant ;
The land reformers sought to liberate the peons and establish them as independent farmers. |
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gadfly
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animal-biting fly; an irritating person;
Like a gadfly, he irritated all the guests at the hotel; within forty eight hours, everyone regarded him as an annoying busybody. |
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libertine
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debauched person; roue ;
Although she was aware of his reputation as a libertine, she felt she could reform him and help him break his dissolute way of life. |
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potpourri
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heterogeneous mixture; medley;
He offered a potpourri of folk songs from many lands. |
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ken
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range of knowledge
I cannot answer your question since this matter is beyond my ken. |
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smattering
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slight knowledge
I don't know whether it is better to be ignorant of a subject or to have a mere smattering of information about it. |
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confound
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confuse; puzzle;
No mystery could confound Sherlock Holmes for long. |
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exhume
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dig out of the ground; remove from a grave;
Because of the rumor that he had been poisoned, his body was exhumed in order that an autopsy might be performed. |
