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238 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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ancillary |
providing necessary support to the primary activities or operation of an organization, institution, industry, or system.
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salutary |
health-giving; beneficial |
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Neophyte |
beginner |
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Surly |
bad-tempered; unfriendly |
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to nettle |
to irritate |
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newfangled |
new, often needlessly so |
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noisome |
stinky |
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Nonplussed |
bewildered or confused |
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Nostrum |
a questionable medicine or remedy |
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Novitiate |
a beginner |
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Obdurate |
hardened; stubbornly persistent |
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Obeisance |
Gesture to show respect |
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Obfuscate |
to make unclear |
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Obstreperous |
stubbornly resistant to control; noisy |
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to occlude |
to stop; close up; obstruct |
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Officious |
bossy |
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Openhanded |
generous |
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to opine |
to hold or state as an opinion |
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Opprobrium |
public disgrace |
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Otiose |
useless; lazy |
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Overweening |
arrogant |
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to palliate |
to reduce the severity of |
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Paragon |
a model of excellence |
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Parochial |
narrow-minded |
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Paroxysm |
an attack, spasm, or outburst |
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Parsimonious |
stingy |
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Pathos |
a quality that evokes feelings of sadness or pity |
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Peevish |
irritable; whiny; bratty |
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Penurious |
stingy |
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Penury |
severe poverty |
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to peregrinate |
to journey or travel from place to place |
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Peremptory |
bossy, prone to cutting others off |
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Perfidy |
treachery; treason |
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Perfunctory |
showing little interest |
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Peripatetic |
wandering; traveling; constantly moving from place to place |
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Permutation |
a transformation or rearrangement |
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Perquisite |
privilege or bonus |
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Perspicacious |
sharp; clever |
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Pertinacious |
stubbornly persistent |
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to philander |
to have casual or unfaithful sex |
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Phlegmatic |
sluggish; unresponsive; (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition. |
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Picaresque |
about someone's adventures |
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Picayune |
unimportant; small-minded |
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Piebald |
many-colored; varied |
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Piquant |
pleasantly spicy |
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Pith |
essential or central part |
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Plaintive |
melancholy |
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Platitude |
an overused expression |
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Plaudits |
approval |
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Plenipotentiary |
fully empowered |
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Pluck |
courage; spirit |
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Ponderous |
heavy; dull |
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Predilection |
a preference |
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Prevaricate |
to lie |
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Profligacy |
reckless wastefulness |
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Progenitors |
direct ancestors |
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Prognosticate |
to predict |
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Prolix |
too wordy/long |
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Prosaic |
dull or boring |
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Puffery |
hype; exaggerated promotion |
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Pugnacious |
wanting to fight |
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Pulchritude |
beauty |
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Punctilious |
marked by following the rules strictly |
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Pusillanimous |
cowardly |
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to quail |
to pull back in fear |
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Querulous |
whiny; complaining |
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Quiescent |
at rest |
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Quizzical |
questioning; teasing |
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Raiment |
clothing |
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to rankle |
to irritate |
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rapacious |
greedy; predatory; ravenous |
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Rarefied |
lofty; reserved only for a select few |
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Recalcitrant |
difficult to manage or change |
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to recant |
to formally deny a former position |
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Recidivist |
someone who relapsed into crime |
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Recondite |
not easily understood |
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Recrudescent |
reactivating |
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Refractory |
stubborn; unmanageable |
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Refulgent |
brightly shining |
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Remedial |
intended to correct at a basic level |
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Remiss |
careful |
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Remunerate |
compensate or pay for |
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Reprobate |
evil |
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to Repudiate |
to refuse to accept; to reject |
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Resigned |
reluctantly accepting of a bad situation |
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Restitution |
the act of making up for something bad |
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Restive |
restless; fidgety |
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Reticent |
reserved; quiet |
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Retiring |
shy |
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Retrenchment |
a reduction |
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to revile |
to abuse verbally |
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to rhapsodize |
to enthusiastically praise |
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Riposte |
comeback |
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Risible |
funny; inclined to laugh |
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Roborant |
an invigorating drug |
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Saccharine |
sweet in a fake away |
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Salacious |
appealing to sexual desire |
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Sangfroid |
coolness and composure |
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Sapid |
flavorful |
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Sapient |
wise |
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Sardonic |
mocking (in a mean way) |
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Scintillating |
sparkling; brilliant |
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Scofflaw |
a contemptuous law-breaker |
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to scotch |
to put a sudden end to; to injure |
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Scurrilous |
obscenely abusive |
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to scuttle |
to destroy; to scrap |
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Sedulous |
careful; hardworking; diligent |
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Sententious |
using quotable or preachy sayings |
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Sere |
dried; withered |
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Sequacious |
something that imitates another's idea |
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to simper |
to smile in a silly way |
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Simulacrum |
an image or representation of something |
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to slake |
to quench or satisfy |
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Slapdash |
quick and careless |
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Slatternly |
untidy or promiscuous |
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Slovenly |
untidy; sloppy |
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Solecism |
a blunder |
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Solicitous |
concerned for |
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Solipsistic |
being extremely self-centered |
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Somnolent |
sleepy |
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Sophistry |
deceptive reasoning |
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Soporific |
causing sleep |
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Soupcon |
a little bit |
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Specious |
seeming true but actually false |
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Spendthrift |
someone who spends wastefully |
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Splenetic |
bad-tempered |
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Spurious |
false |
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Stilted |
overly formal; stiff |
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Stolid |
unemotional |
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Stopgap |
temporary solution |
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Stricture |
a restraint; a criticism |
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Strident |
harsh; loud |
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to stultify |
to make ineffective |
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Succor |
aid |
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Sumptuary |
made to prevent overindulgence |
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to surmise |
guess |
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Sybarite |
one devoted to pleasure |
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Sycophant |
one who flatters for self gain |
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Synoptic |
giving a summary |
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Tendentious |
biased |
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Timorous |
fearful |
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Tonic |
something helpful |
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Toothsome |
tasty; appealing |
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Torpid |
sluggish |
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Treacly |
overly sweet or sentimental |
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Tremulous |
fearful |
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Trepidation |
fear |
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Truculent |
ready to fight |
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Tumid |
swollen |
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Turbid |
stirred up and made unclear or muddy |
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Turgid |
swollen |
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Turpitude |
vile or immoral behavior |
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Tutelage |
instruction |
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Umbrage |
offense; annoyance |
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Unctuous |
smooth in a fake way |
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Undulate |
to move in a smooth, wavelike way |
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Untoward |
improper; troublesome |
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to upbraid |
criticize severely |
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Vacuous |
stupid |
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Vainglorious |
boastful |
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Vapid |
dull; air-headed |
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Variegated |
varied |
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Vaunted |
widely praised |
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Verisimilar |
seeming to be true |
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Venal |
corrupt or corruptible |
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Vitiate |
to impair or degrade |
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Vituperate |
to criticize harshly |
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Vociferous |
loud |
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Voracious |
having a huge appetite |
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Wan |
sick-looking |
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Waspish |
irritable |
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to welter |
to be in turmoil; to get tossed around |
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to whet |
to sharpen; to make more intense |
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to winnow |
to separate the useful from the not-useful |
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winsome |
charming and pleasing |
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Wistful |
sadly wishing for |
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Wizened |
shrunken and wrinkled, usually due to age |
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Workmanlike |
good but not great |
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Wry |
cleverly/ironically humorous |
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Zephyr |
a gentle breeze |
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malapropism |
an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by theconfusion of words that are similar in sound. |
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quisling |
a person who betrays his or her own country by aiding an invadingenemy, often serving later in a puppet government; fifth columnist. |
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panglossian |
characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the faceof unrelieved hardship or adversity. |
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kafkaesque |
marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity: |
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chauvinist |
a person who believes one gender is superior to the other, as a malechauvinist or a female chauvinist. |
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lagniappe |
Chiefly Southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas. a small gift given witha purchase to a customer, by way of compliment or for good measure;bonus. |
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arriviste |
a person who has recently acquired unaccustomed status, wealth, orsuccess, especially by dubious means and without earning concomitantesteem. |
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parvenu |
a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance,position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionallyappropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc. |
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sangfroid |
coolness of mind; calmness; composure: |
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picayune |
petty, carping, or prejudiced: |
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nabob |
any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person. |
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benighted |
intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened: |
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to imbibe |
to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink: |
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equivocate |
to use ambiguous or unclear expressions, usually to avoid commitmentor in order to mislead; prevaricate or hedge: |
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contrite |
caused by or showing sincere remorse. |
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mondegreen |
a misinterpretation of a word or phrase that hasbeen heard, especially a song lyric. |
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ballyhoo |
a clamorous and vigorous attempt to wincustomers or advance any cause; blatantadvertising or publicity. |
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chiliad |
a group of 1000 |
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polysemy |
diversity of meanings |
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argonaut |
(sometimes initial capital letter) a person inquest of something dangerous but rewarding;adventurer.
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saurian |
a saurian animal, as a dinosaur or lizard.
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accouterment |
the equipment, excluding weapons andclothing, of a soldier.
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fumarole |
a hole in or near a volcano, from which vaporrises.
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persiflage |
light, bantering talk or writing.
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criticaster |
an incompetent critic |
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sidereal |
Astronomy. determined by or from the stars:sidereal time.
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fogdog |
a bright spot sometimes seen in a fog bank
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foison |
abundance; plenty.
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mimesis |
imitation or reproduction of thesupposed words of another, as in order torepresent his or her character.
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cachinnate |
to laugh loudly or immoderately.
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sobriquet |
nickname |
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mien |
air, bearing, or demeanor, as showing character, feeling, etc.:
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temperance |
moderation/ self-restraint |
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providential |
occurring at a favorable time, opportune |
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injudicious |
showing very poor judgment; unwise
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voluble |
speaking or spoken incessantly and fluently
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indecorous
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not in keeping with good taste and propriety; improper.
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unseemly |
(of behavior or actions) not proper or appropriate.
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contrite |
feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.
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effrontery |
insolent or impertinent behavior.
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elegy |
a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
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craven
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faint-hearted; contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.
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apprise |
inform or tell (someone).
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obviate |
remove (a need or difficulty)
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desultory |
lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm.
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opprobrium |
harsh criticism or censure.
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indolent |
wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy.
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pate |
a person's head.
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dirge |
a lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral rite.
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proscribe |
forbid, especially by law
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perfidious |
deceitful and untrustworthy.
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to inure |
accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant.
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striate |
striped; marked with striae |
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pellucid |
allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent
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pallid |
pale; faint or deficient in color; wan:
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probity |
the quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency
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welter |
move in a turbulent fashion.; a large number of items in no order; a confused mass.
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torpor |
a state of physical or mental inactivity; lethargy.
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