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228 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Abate
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v. to lessen in intensity or degree
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We realized with great relief that the storm had abated before breaking through the seal wall.
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Aberrant
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adj. deviating from the norm
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jim's aberrant behavior at the dance raised some eyebrows; he was the only one dancing on his hands.
Someone or something aberrant is an aberration. |
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Abjure
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v. to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid
Synonym: recant |
Steve had to abjure all indulgence when he entered the training camp.
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Abrogate
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v. to abolish or annul by authority; to put down.
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The court ruling abrogated the defendant's rights to any profit from the sale of the house.
Darren abrogated his responsibility to the paper when he went on vacation without submitting his article before the deadline. |
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Abscission
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n. act of cutting off or removing.
can also mean the actual cut itself |
Dr. Carter recommended an immediate abscission of the abscess in order to minimize any further infection.
Abscise means to cut off or remove |
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Abscond
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v. to depart clandestinely, to steal off and hide.
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Doug was left penniless when the two con men absconded with his life savings.
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Abstain
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v. to refrain from an activity
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Sheryl chose to abstain from eating chocolate, her favorite treat, for the season of Lent.
The act of abstaining is called abstinence |
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Accolade
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n. an expression of praise; an award
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The diva received her accolades graciously, blowing kisses to her adoring fans.
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Accretion
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n. growth, increase by successive addition, building up
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The accretion of dirt has changed the color of the kitchen floor from white to brown.
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Acerbic
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adj. having a sour or bitter taste or character
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Dorothy Parker was famous for her wit, which could be quite acerbic; Parker could be devastating when she wanted to be.
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Acumen
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n. quick, keen or accurate knowledge or insight
acumen...sounds like acute which means sharp pain and sharp angles! Sharp! |
Her acumen in anticipating her opponent's strategy is legendary; it's what makes her so hard to beat.
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Admonish
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v. to reprove, to express warning or disapproval
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How many times has your roomie admonished you to put the toilet seat down?
An admonition is a warning or a scolding and andimonitory means expressing warning or disapproval. |
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Adroit
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adj. adept, dexterous
like weezer album maladroit...awkward. opposite |
Karl had always been an adroit manipulator; even when he was a kid he could get people to do what he wanted.
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Adulation
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n. expressive praise; intense admiration
sounds like adoration... |
Leif Garret was the object of much adolescent adulation.
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Adulterate
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v. to reduce purity by combining with inferior ingredients.
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There was a huge scandal when ppl found the store was adulterating the wheat grass juice with clippings from the front lawn.
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Adumbrate
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v. to foreshadow vaguely, intimate, suggest or outline sketchily
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The first volume of the trilogy only adumbrates the basics of the story that will be developed in the next two books.
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Advocate
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v. to argue for or support a cause
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Though the senator did not advocate the bill openly, he voted for it to save face.
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Aggrandize
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v. to increase in intensity, power or prestige; to make appear greater
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Michael's attempts to aggrandize his achievements produced the exact opposite effect; everyone ended up thinking that he had accomplished less than he really had. in other words he would have bene better off without the self-aggrandizing.
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Alacrity
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n. eager and enthusiastic willingness
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The alacrity with which Calvin offered to do the dishes made his mother suspicious; he didn't usually like to do chores!
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Alloy
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v. to commingle; to debase by mixing with something inferior
unalloyed means pure |
Alloying the punch with prune juice turned out not to be such a good idea after all.
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Amalgamate
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v. to combine several elements into a whole
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A griffin, theoretically at least, is an amalgamation of an eagle and a lion into one meaning looking mythical creature.
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Ambivalence
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n. the quality of having opposing ideas or feelings
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Nikki's ambivalence about the job offer was apparent; on one hand it was lot of money but on the other she didn't want to be a hooker.
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Ameliorate
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v. to make better or more tolerable
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All attempts to ameliorate the relationship between the longstanding adversaries seemed futile.
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Amenable
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adj. agreeable, responsive to suggestion
like amen which means to approve! Amen! |
If you're amenable, let's go for a walk before lunch
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Anathema
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n. a solemn or ecclesiastical curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing
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He was an anathema to his entire town once it was revealed that he had been a secret police informant.
Hearing the anathema pronounced against her filled with her foreboding. |
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Anodyne
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adj. soothing
synonyms: emollient and mollify |
Don't you agree that nothing is quite so anodyne as a long soak in a bubble bath?
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Antipathy
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n. aversion, dislike
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Sam very clearly expressed his antipathy towards Green Eggs and Ham.
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Antithetical
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adj. diametrically opposed, as in antithesis
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Nothing could be more antithetical to the spirit of sportsmanship than point shaving.
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Apogee
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n. farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith
Perigee is the lowest or closet point, or the nadir. |
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Apostate
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n. one who abandons long-help religious or political convictions, a betrayer of a cause
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His fellow party members were shocked when Fred became an apostate, running for office on his former opponent's ticket.
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Apotehosis
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n. deification, glorificaton to godliness, the perfect example
Apotheosis of Homer painting... |
The apotheosis of technology in modern society seems to be reaching new highs; computers and gadgets are practically worshipped by consumers.
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Apposite
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adj. appropriate, pertinent, relevant, apropos
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The fact that she hasn't called me for two weeks is hardly apposite to whether she's going to call me today, since she hadn't ready my amazing love poem before.
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Approvation
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n. an expression of approval or praise
sounds like approval |
The judges expressed their approbation of Stephen's performance by awarding him the gold medal.
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Arabesque
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complex, ornate design
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Arcane
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adj. mysterious, abstruse, esoteric, knowable only to intitiates
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Knowledge of the arcane secrets of any bureaucracy is always restricted to those who work within it.
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Arrant
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adj. impudent; in every way, being completely such, bare-faced, utter
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Don Juan's arrant philandering made him a legend.
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Artless
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adj. completely w/o guile; natural, w/o artificiality
opposite is artful |
Her artless portrayal of the young ingenue charmed the critics, who all commented on her fresh, unaffected performance.
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Ascetic
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n. one who practices rigid self-denial, especially as an act of religious devotion
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A true ascetic would be able to resist eating these choclate eclairs.
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Asperity
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n. severity, rigor; roughness, harshness, acrimony, irritability
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The asperity of a northern winter can lead to serious depression.
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Aspersion
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n. an act of defamation or maligning
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She had to resort to aspersion when she realized her argument wouldn't hold up against close scrutiny.
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Assiduous
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adj. diligent, hard-working
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Carla was an assiduous note-taker. She wrote down almost every word of her lectures.
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Astringent
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adj. having a tightening effect on living tissue; harsh; severe
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Although she hadn't intended to be harsh, Kayla's astringent remarks apparently made the board drop the proposal altogether.
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Attenuate
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v. to rarefy, weaken or make thinner, lessen
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The endless discussion attenuated the point until everyone lost interest in it.
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Auspice
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n. protection or support, patronage
also mean sign or portent |
As long as were working under the auspices of the local authorities, the villagers were extremely cooperative.
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Auspicious
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adj. favorable, propitious, succesful, prosperous
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The standing ovation from the audience provided an auspicious beginning for the play's run on Broadway.
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Austerity
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also mean rigid economy
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The Prime Minister imposed austerity measure in an attempt to stop another great depression.
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axiom
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n. a univerally recognized princple; a gernally accepted or common saying
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It is an axiom of the American legal system that one is innocent until proven guilty
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Baleful
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adj. sinister, pernicious, ominous
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The basilisk is a mythical creature whose baleful glare is fatal.
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Bane
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adj. cause of injury, source of harm, source of persistent frustration
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Bane of my existence!
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Beatitude
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n. a state of bliss
beatific means having a blissful apperance |
His beatific smile could only mean he had just eaten some exceptionally good sushi.
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Bedizen
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v. to adorn, festoon, caparison
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The speakeasy was bedizened with every manner of tawdry decoration.
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Bellicose
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adj. belligerent, pugnacious, warlike
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The bully's bellicose demeanor hid a tender side of him.
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Bent
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n. leaning, inclination, proclivity, tendency
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Mike's bent for self-destructive behavior worried his friens.
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Blandish
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v. to coax with flattery, toady or fawn
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The minister was famous for his ability to blandish his way from obscurity to vicarious power; it seemed as if every ruler was receptive to bootlicking.
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Bombastic
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adj. pompous; grandiloquent
bombast is self-important or pompous writing or speech |
His speech was so bombastic even his friends were rolling their eyes.
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Boor
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n. a rude or insensitive person; lout; yokel
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Although she was usually very sweet and considerate, she became downright boorish when she was drunk
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Brook
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v. to tolerate, endure, countenance
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The conductor refused to brook any more delay and ordered those w/o tickets off the train immediately.
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Byzantine
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adj. labyrinthine, complex
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Tom's byzantine explanation of why he missed curfew was confusing even to his parents.
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Cadge
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v. to sponge, beg or mooch
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He was always cadging change from me, which added up to a lot of money over time.
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Calumniate
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v. to slander, make a false accusation
The Calumny of Appeles painting... |
Tom calumniated his rival by accusing him of having been unfaithful but nobody believed it.
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Causality
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n. the relationship between cause and effect
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Because the experiment tested so many factors at the same time, it was difficult to prove the causality of one agent over the other.
The fact that Cat saw a stork the week before she became pregnant is merely a coincidence; it should not imply any causality whatsover. |
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Censure
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v. to criticize severely; to officially rebuke
n. a judgment involving condemnation, the act of blaming or condemning. |
The chairman's misdeeds were only made public and held up to censure once it became certain that the board members could not be implicated.
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Chary
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adj. wary; cautious; sparing
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Claude was chary with his praise lest it go to Fred's head
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Chauvinist
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n. one blindly devoted to a group of which one is a member
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His chauvinism for Dutch soccer led him to paint everything he owned, including his car, orange.
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Chimera
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n. an allusion
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Walter's life was a series of chimeras; the fantastic daydreams in which he starred were completely real to him
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Chimerical
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adj. illusory, improbable
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The fantastic successes of some internet start ups turned out to be chimerical once the tech boom ended.
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Choleric
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adj. tending toward anger
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Choleric by nature, the boxer had no trouble mentally preparing to face his opponent.
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Cogent
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adj. appealing forcibly to the mind or reason, convincing
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I'll let you borrow my car only if you give me a cogent reason why you ned it when you have your own!
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Color
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v. to change as if by dyeing, influence, distort or gloss over
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Knowing that he had lied about his previous experience colored our evaluation of his application
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Complaisance
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n. the willingnes to comply with the wishes of others
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A "yes man" is characterized by his complaisance.
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Consequential
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n. pompous, self-important
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Although he though himself a respected and well-liked man, his consequential air was intensely annoying to those around him.
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Contemn
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v. to scorn or despise
Like contempt Not condemn...pronounce judgement against |
I contemn their attempts to curry favor, nothing is more contemptible than a sycophant.
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Contrite
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adj. regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness
Contrition is regret or remorse |
The contrite child picked his mother flowers after he saw how angry she was w/ him for breaking the windows.
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Corrigible
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adj. capable of being set right, correctable, reparable
antonym: incorrigible |
Stuttering is often a highly corrigible speech impediment, which can be corrected through speech therapy.
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Countenance
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v. to approve of or tolerate
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Her refusal to countenance any of what she called "backtalk" made her an unpopular babysitter.
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Cozen
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v. to deceive, beguile, hoodwink
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The corrupt televangelist cozened millions of dollars out of his viewer by convining them that he would perform miracles for them.
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Credulous
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adj. tending to believe too readily; gullible
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Only the most credulous person will believe that credulous is written on the ceiling.
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Deleterious
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adj. injurious, harmful
like don't delete me nooo! |
Though it originally seemed like a god idea to cut the quality of the product, the overall effect on customer relationships has been deleterious.
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Demur
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v. to question or oppose
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Bob demurred at the suggestion that he clean the house while we swim.
I hesitated to demur from the professor, until he sad something totally wrong and I had to speak up! |
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Denigrate
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v. blacken, belittle, sully, defame, disparage
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Edna was notorious for denigrating everyone else's work but never hearing criticism for her own.
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Depredate
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v. to plunder, pillage, ravage or destroy; to exploit in a predatory manner
Sounds like predator... |
The pirates depredated every ship ship that came thru the straights for 2 years
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Desuetude
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n. disuse
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After sitting abandoned for years, the house's desuetude came to an end when the county bought it and turned it into a teen center
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Desultory
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adj. random; thoughtless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose
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His desultory efforts in studying for the test were immediately obvious to his teach as soon she began to score his exam.
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Detraction
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n. slandering, verbal attack, asperson
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Tam's detraction of Raul's performance only served to reveal how jealous she was of his success.
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Diaphanous
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adj. transparent, gauzy
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Her diaphanous gown left little to the imagination.
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Diatribe
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n. a harsh denunciation
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His anti-abortion diatribe was not well received in his class filled with leftist pro-choice women.
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Die
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n. a tool used for shaping
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When coins are made by hand, a die is usually used to press the design on each coin
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Diffident
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adj. reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence
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I was very diffident until I was 13 - my new big boobs gave me a boost of confidence
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Dilate
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v. to speak or write about something at length
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Dilatory
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adj. causing delay, procrastinating
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His dilatory habits were a source of exasperation for his boss, who never knew whether something would be finished on time or not.
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Dilettante
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n. one w/ an amateurish or superficial interest in the arts or a branch of knowledge
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The negative connotation of a dilettante as one whose interest in a subject is trivial is relatively recent; it hasn't been a bad thing.
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Discomfit
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v. to defeat, put down
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The enemy's superior planning and resources discomfited us. They defeated us easily, despite our hopes of discomfiting their attack.
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Disparage
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v. to slight or belittle
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I hate his disparaging remarks about my cooking - it's not like he could do any better!
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Dissemble
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v. to disguise or conceal; to mislead
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Her coy attempts to dissemble her plagiarism were believed by nobody.
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Dissolution
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n. disintegration, looseness in morals
Dissolute - licentious, libertine |
The Picture of Dorian Gray shows all the consequences of the protagonist's dissolution of a result of his excessive vanity.
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Distrait
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v. distracted; absent-minded, especially due to anxiety
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It appeared he was distrait - no doubt preoccupied w/ the meeting planned for the next day.
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Doggerel
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n. trivial, poorly constructed verse
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Her journal was filled with bits of doggerel on love and misery, terrible to my eyes as a literature major.
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Dross
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n. slag, waste or foreign matter, impurity, surface scum
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We discarded the dross that had formed at the top of the cider during the fermentation process.
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Edifying
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adj. enlightening, informative
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The lecture we attended on dung beetles was highly edifying but what I learned only made me want to know more.
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Efficacy
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n. the ability to produce an intended result
basically effectiveness |
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Effusive
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adj. gushing; excessively demonstrative
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Her effusive good wishes seemed a bit forced; it was hard to believe she was no longer bitter about having her own grant proposal turned down.
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Egress
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n. exit
can be used as a verb - to exit |
The dancer's final egress from the stage brought the audience to its feet in a standing ovation.
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Empirical
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adj. based on observation or experiment
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Encomium
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n. glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy
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The recently released tribute album was created as an encomium to the singer everyone worshipped.
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Endemic
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adj. characteristic of or often found in a particular locality, region or people; restricted to or particular to that region, indigenous.
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Some pundits argue that the corruption endemic to politics today is responsible for the public apathy evident in record low voter turnouts.
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Engender
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v. to cause, produce, give rise to
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Enervate
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v. to weaken; to reduce in vitality
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Enormity
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n. excessive wickedness, evilness
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The enormity of the terrorist act stunned and outraged the world.
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Epicure
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n. one devoted to sensual pleasure, particularly to food and drink; gourmand, sybarite
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Episodic
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adj. loosely connected, not flowing logically, occurring at intervals
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The episodic structure of the novel mirrored the main character's fragmented experience of events during the war.
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Epithet
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n. disparaging word or phrase
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The racial epithets he wrote on his desk got him in a heap of trouble!
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Equanimity
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n. composure, self-possession
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Liam strove unsuccessful for equanimity in the face of the massive and unprovoked tickle attack.
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Equable
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adj. level; not able to be easily disturbed
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Emiko's equable temper allows her to deal w/ everyone calmly and graciously.
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Errant
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adj. traveling, itinerant, peripatetic
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Travels w/ Charley is his account of his errant journey across America w/ his French poodle, Charley.
A knight-errant was a guy in armor who wandered around looking for adventures to prove his general studliness. |
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Eschew
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v. to shun or avoid
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Daniel was unwilling to eschew her company even tho I reminded him of how many times she had stood him up in the past.
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Essay
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v. to test or try; attempt, experiment
like the French verb - essayer |
It was incredible to watch Val essay her first steps after her long convalesnce.
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Evanescent
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adj. tending to disappear like vapor; vanishing
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All trace of th evanescent first snow vanished as soon as the midday sun appeared.
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Evince
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v. to show clearly, to indicate
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Although Vic's work evinced great potential, he had a lot more to do before it was ready for publication.
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Excoriate
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v. to censure scathingly, to upbraid
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The editorial excoriated those artists who attended the event instead of observing the boycott called for by the human rights groups.
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Exhort
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v. to incite, to make urgent appeals
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At the last second I realized he was waving his arms frantically to exhort me to look down before I fell off the cliff.
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Expatiate
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v. to discuss or write about at length, to range freely
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My aunts expatiated on the subject of their FL vacation for three hours, accompanied by slides!
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Expiate
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v. to atone or make amends for
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He feared that nothing could expiate the insensitivity of his comments.
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Expurgate
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v. to remove obscenity, purify, censor
sounds like purge! |
The expurgated version of the novel was incredibly boring; it turned out that the seedy and questionable parts were the only interesting ones!
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Extirpate
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v. to destroy, exterminate, cut out, pull ou by the roots
sounds like exterminate |
The dodo bird was extirpated by a combination of hunting by humans and predation by non-native animals.
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Fallow
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adj. untilled, inactive, dormant
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Joe's experiment in applying agricultural principles to self-help was unsuccessful; it turns out that a mind left fallow for two months is not rejuvenated the way soil is.
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Fatuous
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adj. silly, inanely foolish
often w/ connotation of smugness as well |
Despite the sitcom's fatuous dialogue, it continued to be number one in the ratings.
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Feckless
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adj. ineffectual, irresponsible
sounds like reckless |
My feckless bro managed to get himself grounded again, proving one more that I am the more responsible sibling.
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Felicitous
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adj. apt; suitably expressed, well chosen, apropos, delightful
Felicity is the state of or something that causes happiness |
She can always be counted on for the most felicitous remark; she has something appropriate for every occasion.
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Fell (noun)
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n. a barren or stony hill; an animal's hide
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The cabin stood isolated on the wind-swept hill.
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Fell (adj.)
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adj. cruel, savage, lethal
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Fetter
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v. to shackle, put in chains, restrain
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Fran was fettered in her attempts to find the hotel by her inability to speak French.
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Filigree
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v. to adorn
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The brooch was filigreed w/ a delicate pattern of vines and grapes.
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Flag
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v. to sag or droop, to become spiritless, to decline
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Flip
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adj. sarcastic, impertinent
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His flip remarks were intended to keep anyone from realizing how much he actually cared.
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Florid
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adj. flushed w/ color, ruddy, ornate
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Glen always become a little florid when he drank; his face became bright red.
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Flout
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v. to demonstrate contempot for
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Alice flouted convention by showing up for the wedding in a bathing suit.
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Foment
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v. to stir up, incite, rouse
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Although they accused Kayla of fomenting the protest, she had actually been the one trying to calm everyone down.
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Forbearance
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n. patience, willingness to wait
Forbear (v) - to refrain from Forbear (n) - variation of forebear or ancestor |
Lacy hoped that her teacher's reputation for forbearance was well founded and that she would get an extension for her paper.
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Fracas
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n. noisy fight or quarrel, brawl
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Fractious
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adj. quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, cranky
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Vince's fractious response to my suggestion was completely uncharacteristic, given his usually easygoing and agreeable attitude.
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Froward
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adj. intractable, not willing to yield or comply, stubbornly disobedient
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Two year olds have a reputation for being froward - they love saying no!
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Fulminate
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v. to attack loudly or denounce
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Grandpa Joe's favorite activity was fulminating against the decline of modern civilization, as evidenced by heavy metal bands and game show hosts.
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Gainsay
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v. to deny, dispute, contradict, oppose
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It is difficult to gainsay the critics when every new movie the director makes is a flop.
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Gambol
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v. to skip about playfully, frolic
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Garner
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v. to gather and save, store up, acquire
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The ants garnered food for the winter
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Garrulous
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adj. pointlessly talkative, talking too much
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It was easy to see how nervous gary was by how much he was talking, he always gets garrulous when he's anxious.
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Gauche
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adj. crude, awkward, tasteless
antonym: urbane |
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Germane
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adj. relevant to the subject at hand; appropriate in subject matter
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Although his stories were seldom germane to the topic at hand, it was impossible not to enjoy his entertaingin tangents.
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Glib
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adj. marked by ease or informality; nonchalant, lacking in depth, superficial
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Gossamer
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adj. delicate, insubstantial or tenous, insincere
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His gossamer promises of justice turned out just to be a way to fool everyone.
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Grandiloquence
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adj. pompous speech or expression
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His grandiloquence made him an easy target for ridicule once we all figured out he didn't even known most of the big words he used.
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Grouse
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v. to complain or grumble
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Fred's constant grousing about my violin playing has finally convinced me that I might need leesons
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Guile
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n. trickery, duplicity, cunning
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The wily con man used guile to part us from our money.
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Guy
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n. a rope or cord attached to something as a brace or guide
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We were all nervous that the guy for the pulley would give way - but the platform stayed intact.
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Halcyon
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adj. calm and peaceful, prosperous
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I always hated it when the halcyon days of summer were interrupted by the start of the school in the fall.
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hallow
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to set apart as holy
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Abraham Lincoln remains one of the nation's most hallowed heroes.
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Harangue
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v. to deliver a loud, pompous speech or tirade
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Hedonism
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n. devotion to pleasurable pursuits, especially involving the senses.
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Hegemony
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n. the consistent dominance or influence of one group, state or ideology over others
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It has been argued that the U.S. has achieved global hegemony in the post-Cold War era.
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Heretical
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adj. violating accepted dogma or convention, unorthodox.
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Hermetic
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adj. airtight, impervious to outside influences
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Hermeneutic
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adj. explanatory or interpretive
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Heterodox
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adj. unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic
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Hirsute
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adj. hairy, shaggy
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Homily
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n. a sermon or morally instructive lecture, a platitude
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The subject of the mission's homilies ranged from Jesus' lifestyle to forgiving one's neighbors.
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Homiletic
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adj. art of preaching
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She was famous for her homiletic skills
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Homogenous
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adj. same throughout
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The town had so little influx of new people and ideas that its population seemed homogenous to outsiders.
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Iconoclast
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n. one who attacks or undermines traditional conventions or institutions
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Frank always insisted on being the iconoclast; whenever everyone else agreed to "up" he wished to argue for "down"
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Idyll
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n. a carefree, light-hearted pastoral or romantic episode or experience; a literary or musical piece describing such
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The smell of the ocean always made me nostalgic for our summer idyll on the coast two years ago.
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Ignominious
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adj. shameful, dishonorable, ignoble, undignified, disgraceful
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It was ignominious, though deserved, end to all his boasting when the wheels fell of his car halfway through the race.
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Ignominy
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n. dishonor, humiliation
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Imbroglio
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n. difficult or embarrassing situation
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Clare tried to extricate herself from the imbroglio she started by sneaking out the back door.
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Immutable
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adj. not capable of change
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Gravity is an immutable force - what goes up must come down
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Impassive
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adj. revealing no emotion or sensibility
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The guards at Buckingham Palace are required to be completely impassive; they can't show any emotion whatsoever.
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Impecunious
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adj. lacking funds, without money
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Imperious
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adj. commanding, masterful, arrogant, domineering, haughty
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The diva dismissed us from her presence with an imperious wave of her hand
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Imperturable
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adj. marked by extreme calm, impassivity and steadiness
like perturbed except opposite |
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Impetuous
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adj. hastily or rashly energetic; impulsive and vehement
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John's impetuous nature kept him from planning anything in advance.
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Implacable
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adj. not capable of being appeased or significantly changed
like placate except opposite |
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Importune
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v. to ask incessantly, beg, nag
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Jerry's constant importuning for time off worked in a way; he had plenty of time off once he was fired for nagging his boss about vacation.
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Impugn
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v. to attack or assail verbally, censure, execrate, deny
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The candidate's attempts to impugn his opponent's voting record backfired when it merely brought to light his own poor attendance record.
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Impunity
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n. immunity from punishment, penalty or harm
sounds like immunity/punishment |
Barry the bully was able to terrorize the schoolyard with impunity b/c he was always able to look completely innocent when authority figures were arround.
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Impute
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v. to attribute to a cause or source, ascribe, assign a characteristic
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The mechanic imputed my car's failure to start to the absence of any gasoline in the tank.
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Inalienable
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adj. cannot be transferred
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Inchoate
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adj. in an initial stage, not fully formed
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Drat, our plan for world domination is still inchoate; how will we finalize it before the deadline tomorrow?
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Incipient
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adj. beginning to come into being or to be come apparent
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Marta rushed to stop the incipient unrest that began when the food and drink ran out at the party.
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Indefatigable
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adj. not easily exhaustible, tireless, dogged
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Indifferent
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adj. having no interest or concern, apathetic; showing no bias or prejudice
can always mean not good or bad, not too much or too little, and neither right nor wrong. |
He may have been an indifferent musician but he was a brilliant composer.
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Indolent
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adj. lazy, listless, torpid
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Alex was so indolent that he hired other people to wash his hands for him.
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Ineluctable
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adj. certain, inevitable
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George refused to accept the ineluctable reality of death, so he planned to have himself frozen.
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Ingenuous
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adj. artless, frank and candid, lacking in sophistication
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Disingenuous
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adj. calculating, duplicitous, lacking in candor
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Inhere
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to be inherent or innate to something
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The age-old conflict that inheres in the parent-child relationship as the child reaches adolescence was not going to be resolved today.
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Inimical
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adj. damaging, harmful, injurious, hostile, unfriendly
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He seemed inimical to my overtures of friendship, refusing even to talk to me.
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Inimitable
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adj. one of a kind, peerless
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She lived up to very expectation when she arrived decked out in ostrich feathers and sequins in her usual inimitable style.
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Iniquity
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n. wickedness, gross injustice
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The iniquity of the judgement was so blatant that there was immediate worldwide protests of its unfairness.
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Innervate
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v. to supply with nerves, energize
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Innocuous
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adj. harmless, causing no damage
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Inscrutable
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adj. incapable of being discovered or understood; mysterious
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Her expression was inscrutable; I couldn't tell whether she liked the present or not
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Insensible
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adj. unconscious, unresponsive, unaware, unaffected, numb
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He lay insensible on the field after being hit in the head by the baseball.
I am not insensible to your sufferings; I just don't care. |
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Insouciant
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adj. unconcerned, carefree, nonchalant
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Her insouciant attitude toward her schoolwork meant that she rarely turned in her papers or bothered to study for a test.
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Insular
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adj. parochial, narrow-minded, like an island
sounds like insulated |
The insularity of his upbringing was reflected in the narrow-mindedness of his views.
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interdict
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v. prohibit, forbid, ban, halt
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Although Prohibition attempted to interdict the sale of alcohol, it totally failed.
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Intimate
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v. to imply, suggest or insinuate
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The governor intimated that he might run for Congress.
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Intransigent
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adj. refusing to compromise
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Intrepid
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adj. steadfast, courageous
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The intrepid explorers continued on despite the harsh conditions.
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Inundate
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v. to cover or overwhelm, to flood
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Inveigh
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v. to attack verbally, denounce, deprecate
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Inveighing against government's policies will do you no good if you don't bother to vote as well.
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Inveigle
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v. to obtain by deception or flattery
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Inveterate
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adj. deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
Sounds like inherent |
Her inveterate preference for chocolate over vanilla ice cream had staed the same for fifty years.
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Invidious
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adj. tending to arouse envy or ill will in others
when used to describe a distinction or comparison, it means discriminatory |
The promotion was important to Sven's career; however, it meant that for awhile, he was in the invidious position of supervising his former coworkers.
it was invidious to give preferential treatment to one group of graduate students over the other. |
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Irascible
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adj. easily angered, prone to temperamental outbursts
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Irascible to the end, the grouchy old man started a fight on his deathbed.
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Itinerate
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v. to travel from place to place
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After years of itinerating, he finally settled down and bought a house.
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Itinerant
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adj. marked by traveling from place to place
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The itinerant laborers followed the harvest from county to county.
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Jejune
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adj. vapid, uninteresting, childish, immature, lacking nutrition
sounds like the french word jeune |
The jejeune lecture on various ways to wash clothes had us half asleep after ten minutes.
His jejune response to our questions revealed how young he was despite his apparent age. |
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Jibe
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v. to agree, to be in accord
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I was relieved to find that my account balance jibed with my calculations so that I didn't bounce a check.
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Jocose
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adj. given to joking, humorous
sounds like joke |
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Jocund
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adj. high-spirited
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Kinetic
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adj. having to do with motion; lively; active
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Our new public relations has a kinetic personality
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Labile
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adj. readily open to change; unstable
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He was so emotionally labile that he could be crying one minute and laughing the next.
Radioactive isotopes are labile because they undergo change. |
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Laconic
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adj. using few words; terse
sounds like Luke |
We took her "good" as high praise indeed, since that was more than our laconic band teacher usually said in a whole week.
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Lassitude
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n. listlessness, languor, weariness
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The two push ups i attempted filled me with lassitude for the rest of the day.
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Libertine
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n. someone unrestrained by morality or convention or leading a dissolute life
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We discovered that she was quite the libertine when it was revealed that she was having affairs on three different continents at the same time.
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Limn
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v. to draw, outline in detail
sounds like delineate |
The painter limned the old man's face in a realistic manner.
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Limpid
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adj. transparent, serene, clear and simple in style, untroubled
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The once-limpid pond had become a nasty soup of algae, beer cans and a random shoe or two.
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List
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v. to tilt or lean to one side
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The ship listed to one side after running aground on a rock.
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Lucid
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adj. intelligible, sound, clear
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The lucid water in the tidepool allowed us to see the bottom clearly.
She gave us a very lucid argument about why she should take the car; so we let her. |
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Loquacious
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adj. extremely talkative
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