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72 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Abate
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To lessen in intensity or degree
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Accolade
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An expression of praise
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Adulation
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Excessive praise; intense adoration
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Aesthetic
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Dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful
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Ameliorate
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To make better or more tolerable
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Ascetic
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One who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an acto fo religious devotion
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Avarice
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Greed, esp. for wealth
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Axiom
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A universally recognized principle
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Bucolic
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Rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants
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Burgeon
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To grow rapidly or flourish
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Cacophony
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Harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance
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Canon
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An established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature
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Castigation
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Severe criticism or punishment
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Catalyst
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A substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change
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Caustic
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Burning or stinging; cuasing corroision
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Chary
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Wary; cautious; sparing
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Cogent
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appealing forcibly to the mind or reason
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Complaisance
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the willingness to comply with the wishes of others
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Contentious
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Argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement
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Contrite
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Regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness
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Culpable
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Deserving blame
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Dearth
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Smallness of quanitity or number
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Demur
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To question or oppose
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Didactic
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Intended to teach or instruct
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Discretion
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Cautious reserve in speech; ability to make rsponsible decisions
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Disinterested
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Free of bias or self-interest; impartial
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Dogmatic
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Expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or unprovable principles
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Ebullience
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The quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings
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Eclectic
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Composed of elements drawn from various sources
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Elegy
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A mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead
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Emollient
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Soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin
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Empirical
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Based on observation or experiment
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Enigmatic
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Mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand
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Ephemeral
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Brief; fleeting
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Esoteric
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Intended for or understood by a small, specific group
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Eulogy
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A speech honoring the dead
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Exonerate
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To remove blame
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Facetious
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Playful; humorous
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Fallacy
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An invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief
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Furtive
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Marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious
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Gregarious
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Sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people
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Harangue
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To deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech
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Heretical
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Violating accpted dogma or convention
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Hyperbole
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An exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech
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Impecunious
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Lacking funds; without money
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Incipient
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Beginning to come into being or to become apparent
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Inert
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Unmoving; lethargic; sluggish
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Innocuous
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Harmless; causing no damage
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Intransigent
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Refusing to compromise
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Inveigle
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To obtain by deception or flattery
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Morose
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Sad; sullen; melancholy
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Odious
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Evoking intense aversion or dislike
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Opaque
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Impenetrable by light; not reflecting light
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Oscillation
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The act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm
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Penurious
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Penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous
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Pernicious
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Exdtremely harmful; potentially causing death
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Peruse
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To examine with great care
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Pious
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Extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion
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Precursor
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One that precedes and indicates or announces another
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Preen
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To dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care
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Prodigious
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Abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary
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Prolific
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Producing large volumes or amounts; productive
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Putrefy
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To rot; to decay and give off a foul odor
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Quaff
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To drink deeply
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Quiescence
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Stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest
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Redoubtable
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Awe-inspiring; worthy of honor
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Sanction
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Authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority to
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Satire
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A literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision
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Squalid
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Sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect
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Stoic
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Indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast
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Supplant
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To take the place of; supersede
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Torpid
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Lethargic; sluggish; dormant
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