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76 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Abate
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lessen
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Accolade
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expression of praise
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Adulation
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excessive praise; intense adoration
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Asthetic
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dealing with the beautiful
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Ameliorate
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to make better;
to make more tolerable She attempted to ______________ his suffering by administering first aid to his wounds. |
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Ascetic
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one who practices rigid self denial
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Avarice
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Greed
The corporate world is plagued by _____________ and a thirst for power. |
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Axiom
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a universally recognized principle
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Burgeon
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to grow rapidly or flourish
The market for that item will _______________ once the demand is high due to scarcity. |
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Bucolic
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Rustic and Pastoral;
Characteristic of rural areas |
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Cacophony
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Discordant sound, jarring, harsh;
dissonance |
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Canon
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established set of rules or principles
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Castigation
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severe criticism and punishment
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Catalyst
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Substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or a thing that causes change
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Caustic
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burning or stinging
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Chary
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Wary; Cautious; Sparing
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Cogent
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convincing;
appealing forcibly to the mind |
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Complaisance
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Willingness to comply with the wishes of others
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Contentious
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argumentative;
quarrelsome; causing 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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a lack;
smallness of quantity or number; scarcity There is a ________ of water in the desert. |
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Demur
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to question or oppose
don't hesitate to ________ to the idea if you have any qualms |
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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 responsible decisions
He used much ________________ before responding to her question. |
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disinterested
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impartial;
free of bias; no self interest ______________intellectual curiosity is the lifeblood of real civilization — G. M. Trevelyan |
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Dogmatic
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rigid opinions being expressed
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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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mournful poem;
lamenting the dead |
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Emollient
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Soothing to the skin;
making less harsh; mollifying soothe us in our agonies with____________ words — H. L. Mencken |
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Empirical
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based on observation or experiment
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Enigmatic
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Difficult to understand;
Mysterious; Obscure |
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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
A kahuna is a master of Hawaiian __________practices. Recently, Mariko Gordon and Hugh Cosman engaged a kahuna to bless their house. |
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Eulogy
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speech honoring the dead
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exonerate
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remove from blame
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Facetious
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playful; humerous
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Fallacy
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invalid or incorrect notion
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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 others
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Harrange
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to deliver a pompous speech or tirade
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Heretical
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violating accepted 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
They were so ___________ that they couldn't afford to give one another even token Christmas gifts. |
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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
She tried to ____________ him to write the letter, by using her feminine wiles. |
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Morose
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Sad, sullen
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Odious
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evoking intense aversion or dislike
an _____________and unforgivable insult |
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Opaque
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impenetrable by light
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Oscillation
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the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady rhythm
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Penurious
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penny pinching, excessively thrifty, ungenerous
The __________ school system had to lay off several teachers. |
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Pernicious
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extremely harmful, potentially causing death
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Peruse
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Examine with great care
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Pious
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Very 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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dress up, primp, 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
After digging our car out of the snowdrift, we were ready to ___________ some hot chocolate. |
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Quiescence
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stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest
Was struck by the elk's ___________ as it just stood there in the clearing. |
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Redoubtable
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awe-inspiring, worthy of honor
His next opponent, the reigning champion, would be by far the most ___________ adversary the young boxer had ever faced. |
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Sanction
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authoritative permission or approval, a penalty intended to enforce compliance, to give permission or authority
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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; to supersede
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Torpid
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lethargic, sluggish, dormant
a ____________sloth that refused to budge off its tree branch |
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Ubiquitous
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existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread
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Urbane
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sophisticated; refined; elegant
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Vilify
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to defame; to characterize harshly
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Viscous
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thick; sticky
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