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48 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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ebullition
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A sudden, violent outpouring, as of emotion
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and he might have broken out into some dangerous ebullition, had not the kindly manufacturer touched him on the arm, and said, in a low tone,
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recondite
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Not easily understood; abstruse
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Her vagaries soon ceased to puzzle me: the psychology of Jane Braithwaite was not recondite.
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dissimulate
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To disguise (one's intentions, for example) under a feigned appearance.
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"Certainly, women alone know how to dissimulate," said Monte Cristo to himself, glancing at Madame Danglars, who was smiling on the procureur, and embracing his wife.
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sedulous
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Persevering and constant in effort or application; assiduous.
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She wondered what sort of herbs they were which the old man was so sedulous to gather.
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vitiate
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To reduce the value or impair the quality of.
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His endless muttering monologue vitiated every effort I made to think out a line of action
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curvet
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A light leap by a horse, in which both hind legs leave the ground just before the forelegs are set down.
To prance; frolic. |
Why had they not seen him as usual make his fine horse curvet in such beautiful style, to the delight and astonishment of the curious from the king's balcony?
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adventitious
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Not inherent but added extrinsically. See Synonyms at accidental.
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It was then that the ecstasy and the dream began, in which emotion was the matter of the universe, and matter but an adventitious intrusion likely to hinder you from spinning where you wanted to spin.
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animus
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An attitude that informs one's actions; disposition.
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Dorothea had observed the animus with which Will's part in the painful story had been recalled more than once
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descried
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To catch sight of (something difficult to discern).
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The whole calamity, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried from the ship.
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expiate
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To make amends or reparation for; atone
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Murat, humiliated and anxious to expiate his fault, had at once moved his forces to attack the center and outflank both the Russian wings
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inclement
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Showing no clemency; unmerciful.
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And angry Jove deforms th' inclement year.
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treatise
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A systematic, usually extensive written discourse on a subject.
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We know this because he wrote a book, called A Treatise on the Astrolabe, for this little son.
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lassitude
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A state or feeling of weariness, diminished energy, or listlessness.
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Always on horseback, he had never known what lassitude was.
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perfidious
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treacherous
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Many had shown themselves eager to see the perfidious blood of the guilty Cornelius flow
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shibboleth
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A word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.
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Thank God I have done with these people and their disgusting shibboleth of respectability.
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machiavellian
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Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning.
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It was all done with Machiavellian cunning; but Ballmeyer had reckoned without Joseph Rouletabille
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superciliously
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with disdain
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She proceeded to explain the pictures to him, superciliously but not without insight, and showed him what the painters had attempted and what he must look for.
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abstemiously
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Eating and drinking in moderation.
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As wage slaves, toiling early and late, and living abstemiously, we could not save in threescore years--nor in twenty times threescore years--a sum of money sufficient successfully to cope with the great aggregations of massed capital which now exist.
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vituperation
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Sustained, harshly abusive language; invective.
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hy should he not indulge in a little vituperation when he feels like it?
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debacle
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A sudden, disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout.
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It is difficult perhaps for the broad-minded and long-perspectived reader to understand how incredible the breaking down of the scientific civilisation seemed to those,who actually lived at this time, who in their own persons went down in that debacle.
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condign
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Deserved; adequate
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I never gave them condign punishment.
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desultory
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Moving or jumping from one thing to another; disconnected
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In the lulls, Robert and his mother exchanged bits of desultory conversation.
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epigram
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A short, witty poem expressing a single thought or observation.
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He tried to make epigrams all the time, and I got so nervous, expecting them, you know, that I spilt the tea--and he made an epigram about that
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perspicacity
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Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding.
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The surgeon spoke with the fluency due to long practice and with the admirable perspicacity which distinguished him.
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curtail
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To cut short or reduce.
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But the privileges of Literature in this respect have been sharply curtailed within the past eighty or ninety years.
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reprisal
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revenge
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To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
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neophyte
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A beginner or novice
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But with all the ardour of a neophyte and the pride of an apt learner I was at that time a great nautical casuist.
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insuperable
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Impossible to overcome; insurmountable
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The fact that he had made her an offer, and she had refused him, had placed an insuperable barrier between her and him.
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sapient
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Having great wisdom and discernment.
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Oh, sapient servant of the law, condescend to tell us, then, what you KNOW.
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predacious
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Living by seizing or taking prey; predatory.
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The recent rencontre showed them that they were now in a land of danger, subject to the wide roamings of a predacious tribe
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indubitable
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Too apparent to be doubted; unquestionable.
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He could recognize in no one but himself an indubitable right to love her.
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virile
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Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an adult male.
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He was finding speech, and all the beauty and wonder that had been pent for years behind his inarticulate lips was now pouring forth in a wild and virile flood.
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savant
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A learned person; a scholar.
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I say, Professor," Tom called back to the savant, "you'd better speak to him in his lingo, I can't manage it.
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connivance
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collusion
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"No," said Monk, in order to discover if there were not any connivance between the Comte de la Fere and the fisherman.
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vernacular
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The everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language
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Bettles was the spokesman, and his argument, tersely and offensively vernacular, was unanimously applauded.
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emolument
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Payment for an office or employment; compensation
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It is a lucrative source of emolument, and sometimes brings into the national treasury as much as thirty-five or forty dollars a year.
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expunge
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To erase or strike out
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At least I have had that great happiness in life; nor can Caspak, with all her horrors, expunge that which has been.
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gamut
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A complete range or extent:
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He ran the gamut of denunciation, rising to heights of wrath that were sublime and almost Godlike, and from sheer exhaustion sinking to the vilest and most indecent abuse.
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apposite
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Strikingly appropriate and relevant
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He rehearsed to himself a number of apposite speeches.
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blandishment
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To coax by flattery or wheedling; cajole.
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As thus he spake, each Bird and Beast behold Approaching two and two, These cowring low With blandishment, each Bird stoop'd on his wing.
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plenary
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Complete in all respects; unlimited or full
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His chamberlain and cardinals came forth, as I remember, to ask whether we would take seven thousand crowns with his blessing and a plenary absolution, or the ten thousand with his solemn ban by bell, book and candle.
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specious
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Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious
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The Cat replied, "Although you abound in specious apologies, I shall not remain supperless"; and he made a meal of him.
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extirpate
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To pull up by the roots.
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The reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected
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beatific
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Showing or producing exalted joy or blessedness
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He seemed, at times, so lost in the beatific vision, that he forgot my stumblings in the philological darkness, till I appealed to him for help.
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surcease
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To bring or come to an end; stop.
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Eagerly I wished the morrow; -- vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow -- sorrow for the lost Lenore
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rancor
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Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will.
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I hid my rancor as well as I could, and took what revenge lay in my power by insinuating that he might have a very different view if he read Heine in the original.
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truncheon
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A short stick carried by police; a billy club.
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Dubbley did as he was desired; and half a dozen men, each with a short truncheon and a brass crown, flocked into the room.
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sebaceous
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Of, relating to, or resembling fat or sebum; fatty.
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