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200 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Venial |
pardonable, excusable ----OT venal
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Arrant
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of the worst kind; an utter *blank, extremely (bad) |
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Malfeasance
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misconduct
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Disgorge
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Yield or give up (funds, especially funds that have been dishonestly acquired) ----lt - throw up
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Pertinacious
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unyielding, persistent ----- per-, intensive + tenax, holding fast ; from tenere
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Refractory
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obstinate, difficult to manage ----- literal def: heat-resistant
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Renitent
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stubbornly opposing, recalcitrant, resistent ---OT reticent
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Recalcitrant
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rebellious, insubordinant, defiant
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Untoward
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unwanted (attention), inappropriate, unseemly, underhanded
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Obdurate
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hardhearted or, opposite, impenitent; generally, stubborn
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Iconoclastic
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noncomformist, counterculturalist; acting as a skeptic of convention
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Preternatural
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unnatural, extraordinary, inexplicable
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Heterodox
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unorthodox
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Officious
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meddlesome in a domineering way
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Perfervid
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fervid; passionate, fiery, deeply enthusiastic
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Animus
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hostile feeling or intention---- "animadvert"
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Amok
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in a state of rage ---- Malaysian "amok" "mental illness" reported by Portugese
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Jaundiced
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biased against ----lso n - bias
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Arrogate
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seize w/o authority
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Tendentious
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biased toward a particular view --- tendency
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Factious
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causing dissent, NOT fractious ----- factions
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Enmity
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hate
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Obstreperous
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noisily defiant, difficult to control
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Antithetic
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opposed ---NTITHESIS
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Irascible
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easily angered ---- irritated a**
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Implacable
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cannot be placated, pacified, or appeased
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Truculent
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easily irritated or, at worst, vitriolic, savage ----- trux savage
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Churlish
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boorish, rude, vulgar
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Curmudgeon
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grouch, grumpy old man
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Misanthrope
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distrustful indiv, crank, grouch ---- miso- hate + anthrpos, man
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(look) Askance
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with a look of suspicion, judgment
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Daunt
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to intimidate, frighten ----- daunting; daunt+less(fearless)
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Phlegmatic
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stoic, stolid, impassive, apathetic, lathargic ----OT gross w/ "phlegm", but means BALANCE of The Humors
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Intrepid
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fearless ---- (-) trepidation
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Mettlesome
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courageous ---- mettle
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Untrammeled
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unrestrained, unhampered
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Audacious
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boldly taking risks ---udacity
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Puissant
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powerful, influential
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Recriminations
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mutual attack
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Scotch
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cut, gash, wound, or end
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Junta
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group seizing power, coup
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Internecine
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marked by internal conflict
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Baleful
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harmful or destructive, forboding, ill-fated; can be figurative
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Baneful
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product of destruction or woe
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Inimical
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hostile, maleavolent ------ inimicus enemy ~ nemesis
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Minatory
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menacing, intimidating ---- MINATOR - y
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Parlous
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dangerous, precarious ---- PERIL
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Redoubtable
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formidable, illustrious, eminent
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Perfidious
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fickle, disloyal ---- think perfidy
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Pernicious
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damaging in a gradual, subtle way that is unnoticed --- €¦.vicious, but in a sneaky way; think insidiuous, NOT to be confused w/ pertinacious
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Rapacious
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plundering, greedy ---oracious
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Sanguinary
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bloodthirsty, murderous, or bloody ---OT SANGUINE - which refers to blood in the cheeks due to cheerfulness
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Antic , n
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grotesque; someone performing grotesque or bizarre act ---- OZZY OSBOURNE n - childish act done to draw attention, a -playful
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Bellicose
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war-like
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Inclement
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w/o mercy
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Febrile
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marked or caused by fever; feverish
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Bilious
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grumpy ---- comes from 4 Humors - "Bile"
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Fractious
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irritable
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Acidulous
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the quality of tasting especially acidic, can be figurative
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Choleric
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easily-angered
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Splenetic
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highly irritable ---- etym - diseased spleen
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Asperity
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asperity sharpness; roughness; severity (of temper or weather)
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Acrimonious
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caustic, acerbic --- (a) acrid, (n) acrimony
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Astringent
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more severe than stringent - bitter, harsh, sharp, acetic; severe in manner or style
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Mordant
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having or displaying a biting humor
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Mordacious
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sarcastic
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Trenchant
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incisive and direct
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Perfunctory
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done w/ practiced indifference/carelessness ~ arbitrary greetings as sales clerk
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Hector
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bully
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Peremptory
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bossy
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Magisterial
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domineering
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Martinet
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disciplinarian (espec. In military) ~ martial
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Cow
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Cause (someone) to submit to one€™s wishes by intimidation - usually seen as cowed (into silence) ~ cower
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Virago
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loud, overbearing woman; termagant
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Captious
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marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections
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Censorious
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severely critical
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Carping
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fault-finding, querelous criticism; captious ~ (h) arping
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Cavil , n
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quibble, make frivolous objections; complaint seen as petty or unnecessary
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Ennui
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boredom, listlessness
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Tortuous
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circuitous, involved, confusing ~ winding, devious, serpentine
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Rarefied
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esoteric, abstruse; exalted in nature, lofty ~rarefy (v)- complicate and make convoluted; (+) refine and to make spiritual
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Recondite
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obscure
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Periphrastic
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using more words than necessary ~ peripherals; e.g. 1st drafts of tech reports, using passive voice
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Circumlocution
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roundabout, indirect way of saying something, a paraphrasis ~ e.g. euphemisms
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Maunder
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wander, ramble
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Discursive
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rambling, meandering, related to verbose ~ diversion; (in philosophy) arguing through reasoning vs intuition
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Pleonastic
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redundant in speech; N - pleonasm
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Prolix
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long-winded, verbose ~ also n - prolixity
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Bombastic
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grandiloquent, pompus (speech/writing)
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Turgid
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literal: bloated; figurative: overblown, grandiloquent (speech/writ)
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Soporific
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so boring as to induce sleep, can be used technically to describe meds ~ torpor
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Hackneyed
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cliché
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Prosaic
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of or like prose rather than poetry; unimaginative, commonplace
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Platitude
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a trite statement or remark
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Bromide
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a phrase or platitude that, having been employed excessively, suggests insincerity or a lack of originality in the speaker
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Quotidian
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everyday, commonplace; can have neutral meaning (down-to-earth/ordinary)
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Insipid
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dull, flavorless ~ spit
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Humdrum
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boring, lacking excitement
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Fatuous
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inane, smug
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Loquacious
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garrulous ~ opp. of laconic; "loq" means speech, just as in "eloquent", "obloquy", and "colloquy"
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Volubiliy
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talkativeness
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Expansive
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joyful and talkative, perhaps excessively ~ (-) exaggerated euphoria and self-importance
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Chutzpah
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temerity, effrontery
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Effrontery
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shamless boldness
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Hagiographic
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idealizing a subject, excessively flattering; adulatory
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Supercilious
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arrogant
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Overweening
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overly proud, confident; presumptuous, arrogant
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Hauteur
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extreme pride ~ haughty
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Sententious
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moralizing, preachy, sermonic; sanctimonious, pontificating
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Cant ,a,v
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insincere speech or expression of piety
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Ostentatious
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showy, pretentious
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Bedizened ,v
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Dressed up or decorated gaudily (typically as v"with gold, jewels, etc.") ~ BEDAZZLED - because "bedizened" didn't sound glittery enough
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Laconic
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terse in speech and expression, quiet, (overly) succint; not necessarily quiet like taciturn or reticent ~ opp. of loquacious
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Craven /n
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pathetic coward, pathetically cowering ~ Underworld's Kraven
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Recreant
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cowardly traitor
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Quisling
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traitor who helps an enemy take over their country
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Wittol
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cuckold
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Pusillanimous
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cowardly, faint-hearted ~ pusill petty, small
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Diffident
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self-conscious, self-effacing, unassuming
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Querulous
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fretful, whining; complaining in annoyance
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Timorous
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timid
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Furtive
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sneaky, stealthy ~ furtive glance
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Abjure
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recant solemnly, renounce, repudiate, or forswear
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Adjure
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to earnestly implore someone to do something
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Abeyance
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hiatus, period of inactivity, or time of missing office-holder ~ abate
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Hegira
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exodus to a escape an unpleasant or dangerous situation ~ flight of Muhammad from Mecca in a.d. 622
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Decamp
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leave suddenly, abscond
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Skulk
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hide for a bad reason, such as avoiding work or waiting to attack someone
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Surreptitious
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stealthy, secrative, clandestine
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Circumspect
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cautious, prudent
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Chary
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cautious , hesitant, wary
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Nonplussed
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unsure how to act, bewildered ~ actually opp. of unperturbed!
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Canard
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a false report or story, especially a fabricated one; false rumor or belief; hoax
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Glib
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slick, insincere, marked by nonchalance, superficial
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Unctuous
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characterized by a smug pretense of spirituality or earnestness, as in seeking to persuade; too suave speech or manner
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Vouchsafe
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to gift or grant in a gracious or condescending manner; to allow or permit; to disclose
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Chimera
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illusion; a - chimerical = fantastically improbable ~ An imaginary monster made up of grotesquely disparate parts
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Facsimile , v
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An exact copy, especially of written or printed material; make a copy of ~ FAX
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Simulacrum
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(bad) imitation
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Ersatz
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an inferior substitute/copy for something; fake - can be figurative, like "ersatz laughter"
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Mendacity
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lie, falsehood, distortion ~ mendax lying, mendicant beggar; mendacious
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Dissemble
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to pretend something (e.g. an emotion), hide under a veneer of
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Prevaricate
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to dodge the truth through ambiguity
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Tergiversate
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repeatedly change one€™s opinions, equivocate
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Waffle
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waver, be indecisive
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Chicanery
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trickery, deception
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Atavism
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throwback
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Sophistic
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specious ~ from ancient Sophists, who used fallacious reasoning that looked good at first glance
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Verisimilitude
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appearance of truth (neutral - does not have to be false)
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Equivocal
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vague
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Gambit
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scheme
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Machinate
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scheme ~ machinations, machinator (schemer)
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Mulct
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swindle, bilk, bleed
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Byzantine
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unnecessarily complicated (espec. by design)
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Gravitas
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a serious, dignified manner
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Veracious
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truthful, honest; see veracity (of xyz's claims) ~ NOT "VORACIOUS"
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Verity
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a truth, or truthfulness
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Indubitable
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certain, undoubtedly true ~ opp. of dubious; indisputable
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Aver
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confidently state, declare; state as fact (law)
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Avowal
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an open declaration or acknowledgment; N form of "avow"
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Dovetail
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fit together nicely
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Adduce
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cite as evidence ~ " No specific evidence has been adduced in respect of this allegation."
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Unergird
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provide (figurative) support for
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Ballast
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Something that gives stability or substance ~ (literal) Heavy material, such as gravel or iron low in a vessel to improve its stability
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Strut
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structural support or brace
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Cogent
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convincing, persuasive ~ can refer to person or argument; ALSO pertinent, relevant
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Elucidate
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make clearer
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Expound
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resent and explain (a theory or idea) systematically and in detail; Explain the meaning of (a literary or doctrinal work)
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Incisive
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clear and direct, able to explain difficult ideas ~ also see "trenchant"
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Limpid
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simple and clear (especially style, prose)
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Pellucid
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very clear, easy to understand
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Hearken/Hark
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listen to ~ "Hark! The herald angels sing!"
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Peruse
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read closely --OT casually browse
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Educe
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to de-duce something subtle, to draw out something latent ~ "the gift of a puppy finally educed a response from the shy boy"
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Evince
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Be evidence of; Reveal the presence of (a quality or feeling)
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Vanguard
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cutting edge, van, avant€“garde, trailblazer; at the forefrunt of an industry or artform
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Augury
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omen; prophecy, sign of coming events; the work of an augur - the interpretation of omens ~ (Rome) religious official who observed natural signs for divine approval/disapproval; August similar root?
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Presage
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omen, prognostication
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Watershed
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major turning point in an event
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Betoken
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signify; indicate; be a sign of
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Prefigure
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to show, suggest, or announce by an antecedent type, image, or likeness; to herald or forerun ~ His style of painting prefigured the development of modern art.
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Prognostication
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prediction ~prognosis
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Portentous
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prophetic (espec. If negative); significant, exciting; also - pedantic/sanctimonious ~ 2nd def - pompous
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Presentiment
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sense of the future
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Aphorism
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adage, maxim
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Aphoristic
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concise, true
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Patent
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glaringly obvious
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Titular
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of an important title, but not actually efficacious
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Putative
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presumed, ostensible, supposed, reputed, purported
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Adulterate
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to pervert, debase, corrupt, cheapen
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Attenuate
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to lessen or weaken into something tenuous
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Vitiate
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to pervert, debase, corrupt, cheapen
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Enervate
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to enfeeble, debilitate ~ correct HP spell is rennervate
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Vacuous
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unintelligent, inane
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Facile
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lacking depth or nuance; easily accomplished ("facile victory") ~ infantile
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Stultify
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to degrade, dul, or make (someone) appear stupid, sap enthusiasm
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Risible
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laughable, ridiculous; humurous, teasing
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Ape
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Imitate the behavior or manner of (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way
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Burlesque
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Cause to appear absurd by parodying or copying in an exaggerated form
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Badinage
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Humorous or witty conversation
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