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69 Cards in this Set
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- Back
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resign |
(v) accept that something undesirable cannot be avoided
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Without capital, those of us who do not own property resign ourselves to running in an exploitative rat race.
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imperative |
(n) an essential or urgent thing. |
The imperative to get a return on that capital investment is passed on to the renter.
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palpable
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(adj) (of a feeling or atmosphere) so intense as to seem almost tangible.
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Stratford is a 30-minute bike ride from where I live now, and the wealth that the Olympics brought with it is palpable.
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tenancies
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(n) possession of land or property as a tenant.
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The Focus E15 mothers fought back, and were eventually rehoused in private tenancies in the borough.
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cheek by jowl
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(fig) side by side; close together
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London is unashamedly stratified. It was always a city where extreme poverty lived cheek by jowl with extreme wealth, but the contrasts are starker than ever.
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rigmarole
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(n) a lengthy and complicated procedure
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Private tenants are subjected to the constant rigmarole of moving because of short-term contracts and annual rent increases, or they find that their overseas landlord is selling the place they call home because its value has increased sharply.
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consensus
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(n) general or widespread agreement
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It has long been the consensus that young people today will never enjoy the easy circumstances that the generation before us could take for granted.
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grandstanding
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(verb derogatory) seek to attract applause or favourable attention from spectators or the media.
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Lost in this grandstanding was one essential point
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congregating
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(verb) gather into a crowd or mass.
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A doctor at high risk of Ebola because he was exposed to a patient’s bodily fluids would be strongly advised — and, if necessary, even ordered by health authorities — to avoid traveling or congregating in public.
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arduous
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(adj) involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring.
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Doctors Without Borders, the nongovernmental organization that has led the battle there, typically sends its workers on arduous four- to six-week assignments.
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partyism
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(n) devotion to party
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quandary
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(n) a state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation
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A college student came to me recently with a quandary.
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atrophied
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(v) gradually decline in effectiveness or vigour due to underuse or neglect.
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There are several reasons politics has become hyper-moralized in this way. First, straight moral discussion has atrophied.
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foreboding
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(n) a feeling that something bad will happen; fearful apprehension. (adj) implying that something bad is going to happen
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With a sense of foreboding she read the note. When the Doctor spoke, his voice was dark and foreboding
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unsettle
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(v) cause to feel anxious or uneasy; disturb.
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The crisis has unsettled financial markets
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disquiet
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(n) a feeling of worry or unease (v) make (someone) worried or uneasy
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"public disquiet about animal testing", "she felt disquieted at the lack of interest the girl had shown"
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inadvertent
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(adj) not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning
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This suggests the existence of another source of long-term inadvertent and unintentional hormonal exposure common among men and women to support a common etiology between prostate and breast cancer.
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reclusive
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(adj) seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation
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For years, Woody Johnson was known as the reclusive billionaire owner of the Jets.
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vaunted
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(v) boast about or praise (something), especially excessively.
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The much vaunted Hunting Act 2004 (vaunted, that is, by Fascistic Bigots) has resulted in a piddling number of largely piddling prosecutions since coming into force.
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decried
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(v) publicly denounce
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The calls decry high gasoline prices, linking them to Democratic opposition to expanded oil exploration and gasoline-tax cuts.
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loath
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(adj) Unwilling or reluctant; disinclined
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I am loath to go on such short notice.
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discursive
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(adj) digressing from subject to subject, rambling, fluent and expansive rather than formulaic or abbreviated
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a rambling discursive book;So it seems the adjective the NYT should have used was not "discursive" but "prevaricative".
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florid
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(adj) having a red or flushed complexion (sanguine) ; elaborately or excessively intricate or complicated; (of language) using unusual words or complicated rhetorical constructions.
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Santa's florid cheeks; the senator's florid speech
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pithy
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(adj) (of language or style) concise and forcefully expressive.
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welcomed her pithy comments
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revered
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(adj) profoundly honored
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revered holy men
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ephemeral
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(adj) lasting a very short time
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That moment where you know something profound and ephemeral is happening and you are not just the witness, put part of the action, the experience, absorbing every moment into every cell.
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felicitous
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(adj) well chosen or suited to the circumstances; exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style
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In these passages not only is the thought singularly pure and noble, and the expression felicitous, but the actual metre represents almost the high-water mark of the post-Vergilian hexameter.
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perplexing
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(adj) completely baffling; very puzzling; lacking clarity of meaning; bewildering
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Also perplexing is the fact that the tweets came from around the world, and the researchers don't know how many of them were conceived in the U.S., where the DJIA is based.
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bicker
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(v) argue over petty things
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Let's not bicker over pennies
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digress
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(v) leave the main subject in speech or writing
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Not to digress from the thread about Darth Cheney, but there’s a copy of the suspect’s manifesto online
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squabble
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(v) quarrel noisily over a trivial matter
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Let's not squabble over pennies
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truculent
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(adj) eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant
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a truculent speech against the new government
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herald
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(n) a person or thing viewed as a sign that something is about to happen; a person who announces important news
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the chief has a herald who announced his arrival with a trumpet
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assiduous
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(adj) marked by care and persistent effort
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assiduous research
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contemptuous
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(adj) showing contempt; scornful; disrespectful
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he couldn't suppress his contemptuous accent
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scornful
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(adj) feeling or expressing contempt or derision; showing scorn or disrespect
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I'm scornful of people who can't take no for an answer
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scrupulous
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(adj) (of a person or process) diligent, thorough, and extremely attentive to details
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scrupulous attention to details
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sullen
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(adj) bad-tempered and sulky; gloomy; darkened by clouds
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a sullen crown; a sullen sky
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predatory
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(adj) living by preying on other animals
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a predatory bird
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rapacious
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(adj) living by preying on other animals
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the rapacious wolf
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pertinacious
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(adj) stubbornly unyielding
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the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics
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credulous
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disposed to believe on little evidence
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the gimmick would convince none but the most credulous
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pedestrian
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(adj) lacking inspiration or excitement; dull
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pedestrian prose
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renege
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(v) go back on a promise, undertaking, or contract
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The government fears that Pfizer will renege on this undertaking, he said.
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wariness
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the trait of being cautious and watchful
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There may be wariness about schooling among many blacks, but not among the hundreds of thousands of black parents who are making heroic sacrifices to get their children out of failing public schools and into private schools.
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bewilderment
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(n) confusion resulting from failure to understand
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My guess is the rednecks are scratching their heads in bewilderment right now?
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vociferous
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(adj) (especially of a person or speech) vehement or clamorous; given to vehement outcry
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a vociferous mob
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tranquil
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(adj) not agitated; without losing self-possession; (of a body of water) free from disturbance by heavy waves
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she became more tranquil; tranquil life in the country
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placid
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(adj) not easily irritated; (of a body of water) free from disturbance by heavy waves
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not everyone shared his placid temperament
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aloof
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(adj) remote in manner |
stood apart with aloof dignity
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didactic
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(adj) intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive
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Teens are such an open audience, and the world of YA literature has evolved in the past years, so the age of thinking about teen novels as needing to be limited or didactic is definitely over.
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elegiac
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(adj) (especially of a work of art) having a mournful quality
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Unlike other examples of elegiac verse, Milton's Lycidas does more than merely mourn the death of Edward King; it also denounces corruption in the church in which King was ordained.
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cowardice
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(n) lack of bravery
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cowardice is the mark of craven
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vanity
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(n) excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements
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His vanity made him order the surgeons to cut out a bone which protruded below the knee and spoilt the symmetry of his leg.
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craven
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(adj) lacking in courage; cowardly
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cowardice is the mark of craven
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laggard
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(n) a person who makes slow progress and falls behind others
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Another laggard was the Department of Defense, which was among a group of five agencies that only met or surpassed one of its five targets
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credulity
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(n) a tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true
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The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality
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petulance
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(n) the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered
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That candidate wasn't establishment by any means, but the petulance is the same
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disdain
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(n) the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect; contempt.
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We're on that narrow road and must expect disdain from the world, they dont know any better
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irascible
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(adj) prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered
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Therefore hope resides in the higher appetite called the will, and not in the lower appetite, of which the irascible is a part.
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frivolity
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(n) lack of seriousness; lightheartedness
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CherriesCherries bring with them a certain frivolity, a carefree joy like hearing the far-off laughter of a child at play.
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fervor
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(n) great warmth and intensity of emotion; passion
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The so-called “second wave” has breathed new life into a protest that was dwindling in fervor by the day.
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gloom
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(n) a partially or totally dark place, area, or location; a state of melancholy or depression; despondency
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I don't want to hear more doom and gloom from the Republicans, I want their alternative plan with a cost estimate.
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indifferent
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(adj) having no particular interest or concern; apathetic
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indifferent to the sufferings of others
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disparaged
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(v) regard or represent as being of little worth
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Poppa's expression disparaged the idea, and he began to feel round for his beard
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eclectic
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(adj) deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources
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Top of the list and most eclectic is this content-rich website from the La Laguna region of Durango and Coahuila
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heathen
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(n) a person who does not belong to a widely held religion; doesn't believe in God
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They were unable to bear the thought of indulging in heathen practices
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solicit
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(v) ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone
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He was also to solicit a subsidy in consideration of the guarantee, and a loan of five million dollars |
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soporific
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(adj) tending to induce drowsiness or sleep |
The orator was so soporific that the audience soon became drowsy |
