High-Frequency Gre Words F-W

Front 1

FACETIOUS

Back 1

adj.
joking in an awkward or improper manner, irreverent, frivolous, ludicrous, sarcastic
"I'd be facetious and say 'run the goalie', but I might need him later," said Wilson, with a laugh."

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FEIGN

Back 2

v. to pretend

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GAINSAY

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v.
to speak against; to contradict; to deny, negate, repudiate
"The impact of the railroads cannot be gainsaid."

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GARRULOUS

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adj.
extremely talkative or wordy

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ICONOCLAST

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n.
one who smashes revered images; as attacker of cherished beliefs
"Far from being the great iconoclast, punk rock has turned out to be the most successful movement in rock 'n' roll history," Gurewitz said. "It has spawned myriad genres. . . . Whether it's indie rock, emo, screamo, hard-core, post-hard-core..."

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IMPASSIVE

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adj.
showing no emotion

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IMPLACABLE

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adj.
unwilling to be pacified or appeased, relentless, inexorable
"If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations," Migliore said.

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IMPUGN

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v.
to attack with words; to dispute the truthfulness or integrity, vilify, contradict, assail, oppugn
"The father does not impugn her capacity as a good mother."

Front 9

INCHOATE

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adj.
not yet fully formed; rudimentary, preliminary
"There was an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject."

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INCISIVE

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adj.
getting to the heart of things; to the point, trenchant
"She had an incisive method of summarizing the issue."

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INCREDULOUS

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adj.
skeptical, infidel
"He was clearly incredulous that I wasn't going to be talking about the Olympics. He didn't believe me," Goodman said.

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INDIGENOUS

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native to a region; inborn or innate

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INEPT

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adj.
incompetent; clumsy
"I have been called a lot of things, but never a great satan," Stone said in the statement. "I wish the Iranian people well, and only hope their experience with an inept, rigid ideologue president goes better than ours."

Front 14

INERT

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adj.
not reacting chemically; inactive
"She lay inert in her bed."

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INGENUOUS

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adj.
noble, honorable, candid; also naive
"Rupert and I were quite nervous that it might look ingenuous as we were so desperate to get it over with. Rupert and I felt the pressure of this kiss, there's so much interest," she said.

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INHERENT

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adj.
part of the essential character; intrinsic

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INSIPID

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adj.
uninteresting, boring, flat, dull
"Many artists continued to churn out insipid, shallow works."

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INTRACTABLE

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adj. stubborn, obstinate; not easily taught or disciplined, uncompromising, cantankerous, pertinacious, indomitable, headstrong

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INTRANSIGENT

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adj. uncompromising, inflexible, obstinate, tenacious, resolute, stubborn, adamant
"I'm disappointed by the intransigent and closed attitude of the leader towards me, and by the realization that my opinions have less credibility and importance than those of his inner circle," Thibault said in a statement."

Front 20

INTREPID

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adj.
fearless, bold, valiant, audacious
"Columbus was an intrepid explorer."

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IRASCIBLE

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adj.
prone to anger
"Their rebukes got progressively more irascible."

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LACONIC

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adj.
sparing of words; terse, pithy, taciturn
"His laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic."

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LOQUACIOUS

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adj.
very talkative; garrulous

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LUMINOUS

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adj.
emitting light; shining; also enlightened or illigent

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MACERATE

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v. to soften by steeping in liquid (including stomach juices), permeate, saturate

Front 26

MACULATE (adj.)

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adj.
spotted, blotched; hence defiled, impure (opposite: immaculate)

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MACULATE (v.)

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v.
to stain, spot, defile

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MAGNANIMITY

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n.
a quality of nobleness or mind, disdaining meanness or revenge
"Both sides will have to show magnanimity."

Front 29

MALEVOLENT

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adj.
wishing evil (opposite: benevolent)
"Some malevolent force of nature caused the chops to turn up."

Front 30

MALIGN (v.)

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v. to speak evil of, deleterious, detrimental, pernicious

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MALIGN (adj.)

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adj.
having an evil disposition toward others (opposite: benign)

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MALLEABLE

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adj.
easy to shape or bend

Front 33

MISANTHROPE

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n.
a hater of mankind
"I don't think the character on my TV show is a misanthrope," said David, dressed in his usual casual outfit of tan pants, sneakers and a black T-shirt and sports jacket. "He's just honest, so he gets in a lot of confrontations.

Front 34

OBDURATE

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adj.
stubborn, obstinate, headstrong
"He was an obdurate sinner."

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OBSEQUIOUS

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adj.
servilely attentive; fawning, subordinate
"They were served by obsequious waiters."

Front 36

OBVIATE

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v.
to make unnecessary
"There was one problem: My father was missing," Mr. Obama wrote. "And nothing my mother or my grandparents could tell me could obviate that single, unassailable fact."

Front 37

OSSIFY

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v.
to turn to bone; to harden

Front 38

PALPABLE

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adj.
touchable, clear, pattern
"The palpable bump at the bridge of the nose."

Front 39

PANEGYRIC

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n.
high praise, eulogy, encomium
"Vera's panegyric on friendship was encouraging."

Front 40

PARADIGM

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n.
model, prototype; pattern
"There is a new paradigm for public art in this country."

Front 41

PARADOX

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n.
a tenet seemingly contradictory or false, but actually true
"Religious truths are often expressed in paradox."

Front 42

PARSIMONIOUS

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adj.
very frugal; unwilling to spend
"The politicians passed a law that upset the parsimonious New Hampshire voters, who have a phobia about taxes."

Front 43

PEDANTIC

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adj.
emphasizing minutiae or form in scholarship or teaching
"Many of the essays are long, dense, and too pedantic to hold great appeal."

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PENURIOUS

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adj.
stingy, miserly, parsimonious
"He was generous and hospitable in contrast to his stingy and penurious wife."

Front 45

PERFUNCTORY

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adj.
done in a routine, mechanical way, without interest
"He gave a perfunctory nod."

Front 46

PETULANT

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adj.
peevish, cranky, rude
"He was moody and petulant."

Front 47

PLACATE

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v.
to appease or pacify, to make less angry
"They attempted to placate the students with promises."

Front 48

PREVARICATE

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v.
to speak equivocally or evasively, i.e., to lie
"He seemed to prevaricate when journalists asked pointed questions."

Front 49

PRISTINE

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adj.
primitive, pure, uncorrupted

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PROPENSITY

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n.
an inclination; a natural tendency toward; a liking for, proclivity
"Their innate propensity to attack one another."

Front 51

PUTREFACTION

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n.
a smelly mass that is the decomposition of organic matter

Front 52

PUTREFY

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v.
to decompose; to rot

Front 53

QUIESCENCE

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n.
state of being at rest without motion, quiet
"the quiescent melancholy of the town."

Front 54

RANCOR

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n.
strong ill will; enmity, spite, malice
"That has to end, McCain said, because "the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom."

Front 55

RECALCITRANT

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adj.
stubbornly rebellious
"Therefore it is high time for the international community to recognise that such recalcitrant states must be brought to discipline by resorting to various international mechanisms," Mukherjee said.

Front 56

RECONDITE

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adj.
hard to understand; concealed; characterized by profound scholarship
"The book is full of recondite information."

Front 57

REDUNDANT

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adj.
superfluous; exceeding what is needed

Front 58

SAGACIOUS

Back 58

adj.
wise
"They were sagacious enough to avoid any outright confrontation."

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SALUBRIOUS

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adj.
promoting good health
"These aren't the sort of salubrious surroundings they are used to," said Baraclough. "One or two of them might think coming here is a stroll in the park.

Front 60

SINUOUS

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adj.
full of curves; twisted and turning
"The river follows a sinuous trail through the forest."

Front 61

SPECIOUS

Back 61

adj.
plausible, but deceptive; apparently, but not actually, true
But Mark Geragos - lawyer for Chris - says in a statement: "This is a specious and frivolous lawsuit by one of the paparazzi seeking publicity and a payday."

Front 62

SPURIOUS

Back 62

adj.
not genuine, false; bogus
"This spurious reasoning results in nonsense."

Front 63

SQUALID

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adj.
filthy; wretched (from squalor), abominable, despicable, disheveled
"The squalid, overcrowded prison looked disgusting."

Front 64

SUBJUGATE

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v.
to dominate or enslave
"The invaders had soon subjugated most of the native population."

Front 65

SYCOPHANT

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n.
a flatterer of important people
"Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi called Gray a "ball-less, drooling sycophant," which fit the general review from most people, even if they used less colorful language."

Front 66

TACITURN

Back 66

adj.
incline to silence; speaking little; dour, stern, reticent, laconic
"He was a quiet, taciturn, recessive hero who avoided parties and went back to his hotel room and wrote his newspaper column, every night, and a daily letter to his wife Jessie," Rann said Wednesday.

Front 67

TENUOUS

Back 67

adj.
thin, slim, delicate, weak
"The tenuous link between interest rates and investment."

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TORTUOUS

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adj.
full of twists and turns, not straight forward, lengthy, complex; possibly deceitful
Speaking at a business forum, Wen said the economy is "better than expected" but warned that global economic recovery will be a "long and tortuous process.

Front 69

TRACTABLE

Back 69

adj.
easily managed (opposite: intractable)

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TRUCULENT

Back 70

adj.
fierce, savage, cruel
"His days of truculent defiance were over."

Front 71

UBIQUITOUS

Back 71

adj.
omnipresent; present everywhere
"His ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family."
"Cowboy hats are ubiquitous among the male singers."

Front 72

VACUOUS

Back 72

adj.
dull, stupid; empty-headed, purposeless
Roker responded via Twitter with the following: "Heidi and Spencer are an interesting couple. famous for......being infamous. Bad and vacuous behavior. I think we're at minute 11 of their 15."

Front 73

VISCOUS

Back 73

adj.
thick and sticky (said of fluids)

Front 74

WELTER

Back 74

n.
a confused mass; turmoil
They found the shore through the mighty welter.