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68 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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tirade
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long, harsh speech or verbal attack
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Observers were shocked at the manager's tirade over such a minor mistake.
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waver
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to fluctuate between choices
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If you waver too long before making a decision about which site to register for, you may not get your first choice.
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zeal
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passion, excitement
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She brought her typical zeal to the project sparking enthusiasm in the other team members.
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rhetoric
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effective writing or speaking
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Lincoln's talent for rhetoric was evident in his beautifully expressed Gettysburg address.
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propriety
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acting in a proper manner, obeying rules and customs
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The aristocracy maintained a high level of propriety adhering to even the most minor social rules.
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aesthetic
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concerning the appreciation of beauty
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The aesthetic movement regarded the pursuit of beauty to be the only true purpose of art.
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anomaly
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deviation from what is normal
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Albino animals may display too great an anomaly in their coloring to attract normally colored mates
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antipathy
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extreme dislike
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The antipathy between the French and the English regularly erupted open warfare.
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antagonize
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to annoy or provoke or anger
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The child discovered that he could antagonize the cat by pulling its tail
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capricious
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changing one's mind quickly and often
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Queen Elizabeth was quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which one would catch her fancy.
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cacophony
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harsh, jarring noise
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The junior high orchestra created an almost unbearable cacophony as they tried to tune their instruments.
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archaic
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ancient, old fashioned
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Her archaic commodore computer could not run the latest software.
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arbitrate
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to judge a dispute between two opposing parties
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Since the couple could not come to agreement, a judge was forced to arbitrate their divorce proceedings.
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banal
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predictable, cliched, boring
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His conversation consisted of banal phrases like "have a nice day".
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laconic
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using few words
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He was the classic laconic native of Maine, who talked as if he were being charged for each word.
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advocate
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to speak in favor of
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The vegetarian advocated a diet containing no meat.
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abstain
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to choose not to do something
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During Lent, practicing catholics abstain from eating meat.
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dilatory
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intended to delay
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The congressman used dilatory measures to delay the passage of the bill.
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dissonance
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a harsh and disagreeable combination, especially of sounds
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Cognitive dissonance is the inner conflict produced when long standing beliefs are contradicted by new evidence.
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apocryphal
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or questionable authority of authenticity
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There is no hard or authoritative evidence to support the apocryphal tales that link roswell to a downed U.F.O.
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bombastic
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pompous in speech and manner
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Mussolini's speeches were mostly bombastic; his boasting and outrageous claims had no basis in fact.
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paragon
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model of excellence or perfection
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He is the paragon of what a judge should be; honest, intelligent, hardworking and just.
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monotony
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no variation, tediously the same
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The monotony of the sound of the dripping faucet almost drove the research assistant crazy.
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mitigate
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to soften, to lessen
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A judge may mitigate a sentence if she decides that a person committed a crime out of need.
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naive
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lacking sophistication or experience
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Having never traveled before, the hillbillies were totally naive to the customs of beverly hills.
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verbose
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wordy
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The professor's answer was so verbose that his student forgot what the original question had been.
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enumerate
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to count, list, itemize
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Moses returned from the mountain with tablets on which the commandments were enumerated.
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eclectic
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selecting from or made up from a variety of sources
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Budapest's architecture is an eclectic mix of eastern and western styles.
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emulate
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to copy, to try to equal or excel
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The graduate student sought to emulate his professor in every way, copying not only how she taught, but also how she conducted herself outside of class.
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precipitate
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to throw violently or bring about abruptly, lacking deliberation
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Theirs was a precipitate marriage-they had only known each other for two weeks before they wed.
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plastic
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able to be molded, altered or bent
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The new material was very plastic and could be formed into products of vastly different shape.
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ephemeral
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lasting a short time
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The lives of mayflies seem ephemeral to us, since the flies' average life span is a matter of hours.
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diffident
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lacking self-confidence
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Steve's diffidence during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature and lack of experience in the field.
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apathy
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lack of interest or emotion
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The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.
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anachronism
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something out of place in time
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The aged hippie used anachronistic phrases like 'groovy' and 'far out' that had not been popular for years.
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aggrandize
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to increase in power, influence and reputation
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The supervisor sought to aggrandize himself by claiming that the achievements of his staff were actually his own.
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deference
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respect, courtesy
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The respectful young law clerk treated the supreme court justice with the utmost deference.
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tacit
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done without using words
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Although not a word was said, everyone in the room knew that a tacit agreement was made about what course of action to take.
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arbitrary
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determined by chance or impulse
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When you lack the information to judge what to do next, you will be forced to make an arbitrary decision.
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pervasive
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to be present throughout, to permeate
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Four spices pervade almost every indian dish, and give the cuisine its distinctive flavor.
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philanthropy
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charity, a desire or effort to promote goodness
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The metro museum of art owes much of its collection to the philanthropy of private collectors who willed their estates to the museum.
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pragmatic
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practical as opposed to idealistic
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While idealistic gamblers think they can get rich by frequenting casinos, pragmatic gamblers realize that the odds are heavily stacked against them.
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vacillate
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to physically sway or to be indecisive
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The customer held up the line as he vacillated between ordering chocolate chip or rocky road ice cream.
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torpor
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extreme mental and physical sluggishness
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After surgery, the patient experienced torpor until the anesthesia wore off.
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conoisseur
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a person with expert knowledge of discriminating tastes
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Dr. Cane was a conoisseur of fine food and wine, drinking and eating only the best.
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chaos
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great disorder or confused situation
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In most religious traditions, God created an ordered universe from a chaotic void.
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circumspect
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cautious, aware of potential consequences
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She was very circumspect in her language and behavior when first introduced to her fiancee's parents.
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crescendo
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steadily increasing in volume or force
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The crescendo of tension became unbearable as Evel Knievel prepared to jump his motorcycle over the school buses.
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desiccate
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to dry out thoroughly
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After a few weeks lying on the desert's baking sands, the cow's carcass became completely desiccated.
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analogous
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similar or alike in some way, equivalent to
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His mother argued that not going to college was analogous to throwing his life away.
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metaphor
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a figure of speech comparing two different things, a symbol
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The metaphor 'a sea of troubles' suggests a lot of troubles by comparing their number to the vastness of the sea.
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lucid
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clear and easily understood
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The explanations were written in a simple and lucid manner so that students were immediately able to apply what they learned.
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lethargic
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acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner
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The clerk was so lethargic that, even when the store was slow, he always had a long line in front of him.
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luminous
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bright, brilliant, glowing
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The park was bathed in luminous sunshine which warmed the bodies and the souls of the visitors.
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abyss
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an extremely deep hole
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The submarine dove into the abyss to chart the previously unseen depths.
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aberrant
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deviant from what is normal or expected
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Since he had been a steady, cheerful worker for many years, his fellow postal workers did not expect his aberrant burst of rage.
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disabuse
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set right, free from error
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Galileo's observations disabused scholars of the notion that the sun revolved around the earth.
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dirge
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a funeral hymn or mournful speech
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Melville wrote the poem A Dirge for James Mcpherson for the funeral of the union general who was killed in 1864.
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deride
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to speak of or treat with contempt, to mock
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The awkward child was often derided by his 'cooler' peers.
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fortuitous
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happening by chance, fortunate
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It was fortuitous that he won the lotto just before he had to pay back his loans.
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exacerbate
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to make worse
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It is unwise to take aspirin to try to relieve heartburn, since instead of providing relief, it will only exacerbate the problem.
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explicit
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clearly stated or shown
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In reading comprehension, questions that ask directly about a detail in the passage are called explicit test questions.
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estimable
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admirable
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Most people consider it estimable that mother teresa spent her life helping the poor in india.
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fanatical
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acting excessively enthusiastic, filled with extreme, unquestioned devotion
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The stormtroopers were fanatical in their devotion to the emporer, readily sacrificing their lives for him.
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euphemism
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use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a distasteful one
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The funeral director preferred to use the euphemism 'sleeping' instead of the word 'dead'.
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opprobrium
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public disgrace
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After the scheme to embezzle the elderly was made public, the treasurer resigned in utter opprobrium.
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paradox
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a contradiction or dilemma
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It is a paradox that those most in need of medical attention are often those least able to obtain it.
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obstinate
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stubborn, unyielding
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The obstinate child could not be made to eat any food which he perceived to be 'yucky'.
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