Joy Of Vocab

Front 1

abstract

Back 1

thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances: an abstract idea.

Front 2

abyss

Back 2

a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm

Front 3

accessory

Back 3

a subordinate or supplementary part, object, or the like, used mainly for convenience, attractiveness, safety, etc., as a spotlight on an automobile or a lens cover on a camera

Front 4

acronym

Back 4

a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words

Front 5

aerobic

Back 5

requiring the presence of air or free oxygen for life.

Front 6

agnostic

Back 6

a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God

Front 7

alchemy

Back 7

a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold

Front 8

altruistic

Back 8

unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others

Front 9

amble

Back 9

to go at a slow, easy pace

Front 10

amnesia

Back 10

loss of a large block of interrelated memories

Front 11

amnesty

Back 11

a general pardon for offenses, esp. political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction

Front 12

amorphous

Back 12

no definite shape

Front 13

anaerobic

Back 13

not requiring air

Front 14

anemia

Back 14

a quantitative deficiency of the hemoglobin

Front 15

anomaly

Back 15

a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form

Front 16

antecedent

Back 16

a preceding circumstance, event, object, style, phenomenon, etc

Front 17

antediluvian

Back 17

ancient, literally "before the flood"

Front 18

anterior

Back 18

in the front of

Front 19

antemeridian

Back 19

before noon

Front 20

antepenultimate

Back 20

third to last

Front 21

aphasia

Back 21

the loss of a previously held ability to speak or understand spoken or written language, due to disease or injury of the brain

Front 22

apolitical

Back 22

not involved or interested in politics

Front 23

argot

Back 23

characteristic language of a group

Front 24

articulate

Back 24

clearly spoken

Front 25

asylum

Back 25

an institution for the mentally ill

Front 26

atlas

Back 26

a book of maps

Front 27

atrophy

Back 27

deterioration of the body

Front 28

bellicose

Back 28

inclined to fight

Front 29

baised

Back 29

prejudiced

Front 30

biodegradable

Back 30

capable of decaying

Front 31

blend

Back 31

to mix things together

Front 32

bowdlerize

Back 32

to remove material considered offensive from a work

Front 33

boycott

Back 33

to abstain from something for a cause

Front 34

capital

Back 34

money, profit

Front 35

cariogenic

Back 35

promoting the development of tooth decay

Front 36

carp

Back 36

to find fault or complain

Front 37

cerebral

Back 37

intellectual rather than intuitive

Front 38

charlatan

Back 38

a person who pretends to more knowledge or skill than he or she possesses; quack

Front 39

chauvinist

Back 39

biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause

Front 40

cliche

Back 40

a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality

Front 41

collation

Back 41

a light meal

Front 42

concomitant

Back 42

accompanying something, often in a lesser way

Front 43

congregate

Back 43

to gather

Front 44

contraband

Back 44

prohibited or illegally smuggled goods

Front 45

contrite

Back 45

showing sincere remorse

Front 46

coevals

Back 46

people of the same time period

Front 47

comestibles

Back 47

food

Front 48

corporal

Back 48

of the human body

Front 49

cull

Back 49

to collect and select

Front 50

culpability

Back 50

deserving blame

Front 51

demur

Back 51

to object

Front 52

desuetude

Back 52

the state of being obsolete

Front 53

diatribe

Back 53

a verbal denunciation or attack

Front 54

diffident

Back 54

reserved in manner, timid, shy

Front 55

divert

Back 55

to deflect from the original path

Front 56

dun

Back 56

to make demands for the payment of a debt

Front 57

ecology

Back 57

the biology dealing with the interactions between organisms and their environment

Front 58

eleemosynary

Back 58

charitable or dependent on charity

Front 59

embezzlement

Back 59

to take personally take money given to someone for another, usually professional, reason

Front 60

empirical

Back 60

derived from experience and experiment

Front 61

epithet

Back 61

a characterizing word or phrase firmly associated with a person or thing

Front 62

equivocate

Back 62

to be ambiguous in order to not choose sides

Front 63

euphemism

Back 63

the substitution a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive

Front 64

eviscerate

Back 64

to disembowel

Front 65

exculpate

Back 65

to clear from a guilty charge

Front 66

exodus

Back 66

the mass migration of a group of people

Front 67

expatriate

Back 67

someone who has taken up residence in a country that is not their homeland

Front 68

extant

Back 68

in existence

Front 69

extradition

Back 69

the surrender of a criminal from one country to another in order to stand trial

Front 70

extrapolate

Back 70

to hypothesize outside of the facts given

Front 71

exurbanite

Back 71

someone who has moved from the city to live in either a suburb or rural area

Front 72

felony

Back 72

an offense, such as murder, that is greater than a misdemeanor

Front 73

flounder

Back 73

to violently struggle, like a fish out of water

Front 74

gargantuan

Back 74

massive

Front 75

gregarious

Back 75

sociable

Front 76

gullible

Back 76

easily convinced

Front 77

hype

Back 77

excitement

Front 78

hypothetical

Back 78

theoretical

Front 79

impassive

Back 79

without emotion

Front 80

impetuous

Back 80

impulsive

Front 81

incarceration

Back 81

to imprison

Front 82

incindiary

Back 82

adapted for setting something on fire, related to the criminal act of arson

Front 83

inculpate

Back 83

to charge with fault

Front 84

incursion

Back 84

a hostile invasion

Front 85

indolent

Back 85

inactive, avoiding exhaustion

Front 86

ingenuous

Back 86

characterized by an inability to mask your feelings, naive

Front 87

interpolated

Back 87

to hypothesize about something within the given facts

Front 88

intrepid

Back 88

fearless

Front 89

irony

Back 89

an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually stated

Front 90

irrational

Back 90

without reason

Front 91

iteration

Back 91

a repetition of something

Front 92

itinerary

Back 92

a plan for a journey

Front 93

labyrinth

Back 93

a giant maze

Front 94

lachrymose

Back 94

inclined to weep, causing tears

Front 95

logorrhea

Back 95

excessive speech

Front 96

macrobiotic

Back 96

relating to a diet of whole grains and vegetables thought to promote well-being and a longer life

Front 97

maxim

Back 97

an expression of a general truth

Front 98

meander

Back 98

to take a winding, indirect course

Front 99

mendacious

Back 99

inclined to tell lies

Front 100

mentor

Back 100

a wise counselor or teacher

Front 101

mesmerize

Back 101

to hypnotize

Front 102

obsequious

Back 102

compliant and submissive as to gain favor

Front 103

metaphor

Back 103

comparing two things without using like or as

Front 104

metaphysics

Back 104

the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality

Front 105

metonymy

Back 105

a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated

Front 106

misdemeanor

Back 106

a small criminal offense, less severe than a felony

Front 107

misogamist

Back 107

someone who hates marriage

Front 108

mortify

Back 108

to humiliate or shame one's pride

Front 109

obsolescent

Back 109

becoming obsolete

Front 110

obstreperous

Back 110

noisy, boisterous

Front 111

odyssey

Back 111

a long journey or adventure

Front 112

olfactory

Back 112

pertaining to the sense of smell

Front 113

opinionated

Back 113

being prejudiced toward one's own opinion

Front 114

oxymoron

Back 114

a figure of speech with a contradictory, but comprehensive, effect

Front 115

palindrome

Back 115

a word or string of words that read the same forwards and backwards

Front 116

parsimonious

Back 116

frugal or stingy

Front 117

pejorative

Back 117

having a belittling effect

Front 118

peregrination

Back 118

a voyage from place to place

Front 119

peripatetic

Back 119

related to walking or traveling about

Front 120

philippic

Back 120

a bitter denunciative speech

Front 121

plantar

Back 121

related to the sole of the foot

Front 122

poacher

Back 122

a hunter that kills animals that are illegal to kill

Front 123

polemic

Back 123

a controversial argument
controversal

Front 124

posterior

Back 124

behind, towards the rear

Front 125

posterity

Back 125

future generations
all the people descending from a common person

Front 126

posthumous

Back 126

continuing after one's death

Front 127

postprandial

Back 127

after a meal

Front 128

preen

Back 128

to dress carefully and smartly

Front 129

prescient

Back 129

possessing knowledge of things before they happen

Front 130

presentiment

Back 130

a feeling of something that is going to happen

Front 131

prognosis

Back 131

the probable course and outcome of an injury or disease

Front 132

prone

Back 132

lying on the stomach
having an inclination toward

Front 133

prophesy

Back 133

a prediction of the future

Front 134

quagmire

Back 134

a boggy area

Front 135

quixotic

Back 135

idealistic but impractical

Front 136

recidivist

Back 136

a tendency toward a repetition or relapse of things such as crime

Front 137

reclusive

Back 137

preferring seclusion

Front 138

redundant

Back 138

repetitive or having unnecessary and excessive information

Front 139

retrogress

Back 139

to go back to an earlier condition

Front 140

rue

Back 140

to feel sorrow
deep sorrow or regret

Front 141

resuscitate

Back 141

to revive someone from apparent death or an unconscious state

Front 142

sadistic

Back 142

finding an enjoyment in causing pain

Front 143

sanguinary

Back 143

bloody

Front 144

sanguine

Back 144

cheerfully optomistic

Front 145

satire

Back 145

the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice

Front 146

scorched

Back 146

dried out
completely destroyed by an enemy

Front 147

shibboleth

Back 147

a word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another, dialect

Front 148

skeptical

Back 148

showing doubt

Front 149

stentorian

Back 149

excessively loud

Front 150

subcutaneous

Back 150

situated beneath the skin

Front 151

subsided

Back 151

to sink down to a lower level

Front 152

supercilious

Back 152

disdainful, condescending or contemptuous

Front 153

supine

Back 153

lying on the back

Front 154

taciturn

Back 154

inclined to silence

Front 155

tactile

Back 155

pertaining to the sense of touch

Front 156

telegenic

Back 156

having physical qualities or a personality that comes off well on TV

Front 157

troglodytes

Back 157

an ancient human
someone reclusive and brutish

Front 158

understatement

Back 158

to state less strikingly that the facts would bear out

Front 159

ubiquitous

Back 159

being everywhere at the same time

Front 160

vandal

Back 160

one who ignorantly destroys something

Front 161

viable

Back 161

capable of living, practical

Front 162

vindictive

Back 162

vengeful

Front 163

visceral

Back 163

using instinct rather than intelligence

Front 164

viviparous

Back 164

giving birth to live young