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