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76 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Abate (v) |
to lessen in intensity or degree |
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Accolade (n) |
an expression of praise |
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Adulation (n) |
excessive praise; intense adoration |
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Aesthetic (adj) |
dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful |
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Ameliorate (v) |
to make better or more tolerable |
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Ascetic (n) |
one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion |
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Avarice (n) |
greed, esp. for wealth (adj: avaricious) |
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Axiom (n) |
a universally recognized principle (adj. form: axiomatic) |
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Burgeon (v) |
to grow rapidly or flourish |
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Bucolic (adj) |
rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants |
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Cacophony (n) |
harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance (adj: cacophonous) |
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Canon (n) |
an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature (adj: canonical) |
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Castigation (n) |
severe criticism or punishment (verb: castigate) |
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Catalyst (n) |
a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change |
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Caustic (adj) |
burning or stinging; causing corrosion |
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Chary (adj) |
wary; cautious; sparing |
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Cogent (adj) |
appealing forcibly the the mind or reason; convincing |
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Complaisance (n) |
the willingness to comply with the wishes of others (adj: complaisant) |
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Contentious (adj) |
argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement |
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Contrite (adj) |
regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness (noun: contrition) |
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Culpable (adj) |
deserving blame (noun: culpability) |
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Dearth (n) |
smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack |
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Demur (v) |
to question or oppose |
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Didactic (adj) |
intended to teach or instruct |
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Discretion (n) |
cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions (adj: discreet) |
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Disinterested (adj) |
free of bias or self-interest; impartial |
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Dogmatic (adj) |
expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles (noun: dogma) |
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Ebullience (n) |
the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings (adj: ebullient) |
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Eclectic (adj) |
composed of elements drawn from various sources |
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Elegy (n) |
a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead (adj: elegiac) |
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Emollient (adj/n) |
soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin |
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Empirical (adj) |
based on observation or experiment |
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Enigmatic (adj) |
mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand (noun: enigma) |
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Ephemeral (adj) |
brief; fleeting |
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Esoteric (adj) |
intended for or understood by a small, specific group |
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Eulogy (n) |
a speech honoring the dead (verb: eulogize) |
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Exonerate (v) |
to remove blame |
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Facetious (adj) |
playful; humorous |
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Fallacy (n) |
an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief (adj: fallacious) |
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Furtive (adj) |
marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious |
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Gregarious (adj) |
sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people |
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Harangue (v/n) |
to deliver a forceful or angry speech; ranting speech or writing. |
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Heretical (adj) |
violating accepted dogma or convention (noun: heresy) |
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Hyperbole (n) |
an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech (adj: hyperbolic) |
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Impecunious (adj) |
lacking funds; without money |
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Incipient (adj) |
beginning to come into being or to become apparent |
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Inert (adj) |
unmoving; lethargic; sluggish |
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Innocuous (adj) |
harmless; causing no damage |
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Intransigent (adj) |
refusing to compromise (noun: intransigence) |
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Inveigle (v) |
to obtain by deception or flattery |
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Morose (adj) |
sad; sullen; melancholy |
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Odious (adj) |
evoking intense aversion or dislike |
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Opaque (adj) |
impenetrable by light; not reflecting light |
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Oscillation (n) |
the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm (verb: oscillate) |
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Penurious (adj) |
penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous |
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Pernicious (adj) |
extremely harmful in a way that is not easily seen or noticed |
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Peruse (v) |
to examine with great care (noun: perusal) |
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Pious (adj) |
extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion (noun: piety) |
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Precursor (n) |
one that precedes and indicates or announces another |
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Preen (v) |
to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care |
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Prodigious (adj) |
abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary |
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Prolific (adj) |
producing large volumes or amounts; productive |
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Putrefy (v) |
to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor (adj: putrid) |
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Quaff (v) |
to drink deeply |
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Quiescence (n) |
stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest (adj: quiescent) |
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Redoubtable (adj) |
awe-inspiring; worthy of honor |
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Sanction (n/v) |
authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority |
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Satire (n) |
a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision (adj: satirical) |
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Squalid (adj) |
sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect (noun: squalor) |
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Stoic (adj) |
indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast (noun: stoicism) |
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Supplant (v) |
to take the place of; to supercede |
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Torpid (adj) |
lethargic; sluggish; dormant (noun: torpor) |
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Ubiquitous (adj) |
existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread |
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Urbane (adj) |
sophisticated; refined; elegant (noun: urbanity) |
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Vilify (v) |
to defame; to characterize hashly |
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Viscous (adj) |
thick; sticky (noun: viscosity) |
