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