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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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accolade |
1 an award or privilege granted as a special honour or as an acknowledgement of merit. = honour, laurel
2 a touch on a person's shoulders with a sword at the bestowing of a knighthood. = tribute |
the hotel has won numerous accolades. |
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acuity |
sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing: |
intellectual acuity. visual acuity. |
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conversant |
familiar with or knowledgeable about something. = adept, proficient ≠ inept |
you need someone who is conversant with the new technology. |
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amortize |
to pay back a debt by making small regular payments over a period of time = liquidate, pay off |
the entire load could be amortized in three years. |
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augury |
a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen. = foretoken |
they heard the sound as an augury of death. black cat is considered as bad augury. |
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retaliate |
strike back. = avenge |
they could torment him without his being able to retaliate |
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blight |
verb 1 [ with obj. ] infect (plants) with blight.
2 spoil, harm, or destroy. |
a peach tree blighted by leaf curl.
the scandal blighted the careers of several leading politicians. |
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clout |
1. power and influence
2. (informal) a blow with the hand or a hard object. = buffet |
I knew his opinion carried a lot of clout with them.
You're not too big for a clout round the ear! |
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colossal |
1 extremely large or great. = prodigious, stupendous ≠ minuscule
2 Architecture (of an order) having more than one storey of columns. |
a colossal amount of mail | a colossal mistake. |
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confluence |
the junction of two rivers, especially rivers of approximately equal width. • an act or process of merging. = convergance, conflux |
a major confluence of the world's financial markets. |
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egress |
1 formal the action of going out of or leaving a place = exit
2 (Astronomy) the reappearance of a celestial body after its eclipse or occultation. = emersion ≠ ingress |
direct means of access and egress for passengers.
egress of sun after solar eclipse is considered as an occasion for thanksgiving among hindus. |
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expurgate |
remove matter thought to be objectionable or unsuitable from (a text or account). = censor, purge, sanitize |
a book which had been expurgated for use in schools: |
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cavort |
jump or dance around excitedly = skip, dance, gambol, frisk, frolic, romp, rollick ≠ mope, sulk |
the players cavorted about the pitch. two of his companions linked arms and cavorted around him |
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idyll |
an extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque period or situation, typically an idealized or unsustainable one. = ideal time, paradise
2 a short poem or other piece of writing that describes a peaceful and happy scene |
the rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized societies. he looked back on this time as an idyll. they lived in an idyll unspoilt by machines.
the poem began as a two-part idyll. |
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pastoral |
1 (of land) used for the keeping or grazing of sheep or cattle. • associated with country life. = rural
2 (in the Christian Church) concerning or appropriate to the giving of spiritual guidance. = priestly |
scattered pastoral farms. the view was pastoral, with rolling fields and grazing sheep.
pastoral and doctrinal issues. clergy doing pastoral work. |
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incumbent |
1 (incumbent on/upon) necessary for (someone) as a duty or responsibility.
(adj.) currently holding office.(v.) the holder of an office or post.
(of a company) having a sizeable share of a market. |
the government realized that it was incumbent on them to act.
the incumbent President was defeated. the present incumbent will soon be retiring.
powerful incumbent airlines. |
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inveterate |
having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change. |
an inveterate gambler. his inveterate hostility to what he considered to be the ‘reactionary’ powers.
an inverterate sportsman can play cricket with clear eye well into sixes. |
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jibe |
jibe (at somebody/something) an unkind or insulting remark about somebody. = taunt
(informal) to be the same as something or to match it. = agree
change course by swinging the sail across a following wind. = gybe |
He made several cheap jibes at his opponent during the interview.
Your statement doesn't jibe with the facts. |
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peripatetic |
travelling especially on foot. = wayfaring, nomadic, nomad |
the peripatetic nature of military life. peripatetics have been cut under local management of schools. |
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philistine |
a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts |
In artistic matters he's a complete philistine. She dismissed critics of her work as philistines. philistine attitudes. |
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cleric |
a priest or religious leader, especially a Christian or Muslim one. = ecclesiastic, clergyman, pastor |
the consecration could only be performed by a high ecclesiastic. |
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trite |
(of a remark or idea) lacking originality or freshness; dull on account of overuse = hackneyed, banal |
this point may now seem obvious and trite. |
