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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Anomaly
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Deviation from what is normal, aberrance, aberration, abnormality, irregularity.
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The extra leg on this baboon was quite an ANOMALY.
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Assuage
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To make something unpleasant less severe, allay, confort, pacify, ease, mollify, placate, to satisfy.
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I helped ASSUAGE his hurt and pain by spending time with him.
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Enigma
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A puzzle, a mystery, conundrum, perplexity
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The exact method used by the ancient scientists remains an ENIGMA.
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Equivocal
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undecided; trying to deceive, ambiguous, evasive, waffling.
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Politicians are famed for providing EQUIVOCAL answers to straight questions.
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Erudite
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learned, scholarly, bookish, wise
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My English Literature professor is witty as well as ERUDITE.
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Fervid
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intensely emotional; feverish, passionate, zealous, burning.
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The fans of Leonardo Dicaprio were particularly FERVID, doing anything to catch a glimpse of the great actor.
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Lucid
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clear and easily understood, coherent, explicit, limpid.
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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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Opaque
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impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light, obscure.
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The heavy buildup of dirt and grime on the windows almost made them OPAQUE.
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Placate
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to soothe or pacify, appease, conciliate, mollify.
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The burglar tried to PLACATE the snarling dog by saying, "Nice doggy," and offering it a treat
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Precipitate
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to throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation, abrupt, hasty, headlong, hurried, impulsive, prompt, reckles, sudden.
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The police worried that the killing would PRECIPITATE further bloodshed between the rival gangs.
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Prodigal
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lavish, wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, profligate.
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The PRODIGAL son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle devoted to pleasure.
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Zeal
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passion, excitement, ardency, fervor, passion, fire.
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She brought her typical ZEAL to the project, sparking enthusiasm in the other team members.
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Abstain
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to choose not to do something, forbear, refrain,withhold.
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During Lent, practicing Catholics ABSTAIN from eating meat.
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Apathy
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lack of interest or emotion, disinterest, disregard, impassivity, coolness, indifference, insensibility, lethargy, listlessness,phlegm, unconcern, unresponsiveness.
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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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Audacious
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fearless and daring, bold, brave, adventuresome, aggressive, dauntless, gallant, intrepid, plucky, stout. ASSERTIVE COURAGEOUS DOUGHTY
GAME METTLESOME STOUTHEARTED UNAFRAID UNDAUNTED VALIANT VALOROUS VENTURESOME VENTUROUS |
The audiance cheered the AUDACIOUS feats of the trapeze artists.
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Capricious
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changing one's mind quickly and often, whimsical, arbitraty, chance, changeable, erratic, fickle, inconstant, mercurial, random, willful.
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The selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate seemed somewhat CAPRICIOUS to many.
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Corroborate
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to provide supporting evidence
AUTHENTICATE BACK BEAR OUT BUTTRESS CONFIRM SUBSTANTIATE VALIDATE |
Fingerprints CORROBORATED the witness's testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim's apartment.
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Desiccate
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to dry out thoroughly, parch, dehydrate.
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The plants would certainly DESICCATE in the absence of rain.
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Engender
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to produce, cause, or bring about, beget, generate, procreate, proliferate, reproduce, spawn.
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Revenge will only ENGENDER more animosity and negative behavior.
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Ephemeral
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lasting a short time, evanescent, fleeting, momentary,transient.
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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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Gullible
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easily deceivedk, naive, credulous, exploitable, ingenuous.
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The con man told a flagrant lie, but the GULLIBLE investors swallowed it.
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Homogenous
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of a similar kind, consistent, standardized, uniform, unvarying.
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The class was fairly HOMOGENOUS, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.
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Laconic
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using few words, concise, curt, pithy, terse, taciturn.
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She was a LACONIC poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.
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Laudable/Laud
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worth of praise / to give praise; to glorify, acclaim, applaud, compliment,exalt, hail, commend, extol
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The fireman's actions in saving the children was LAUDABLE.
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Loquacious
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talkative, effusive, garrulous, verbose, eloquence.
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She was naturally LOQUACIOUS, which was a problem in situations in which listening was more important than talking.
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Mitigate
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to soften; to lessen, allay, alleviate, assuage, moderate, ease, lighten, mollify, palliate.
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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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Pedant
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someone who shows off learning
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The graduate instructor's tedious and excessive commentary on the subject soon gained her a reputation as a PEDANT.
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Pragmatic
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practical as opposed to idealistic, realistic, rational.
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While daydreaming gamblers think they can get rich by frequenting casinos, PRAGMATIC gamblers realize that the odds are heavily stacked against them.
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Propriety
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correct behavior; obedience to rules and customs, decency, decorum, seemliness, modesty.
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The aristocracy maintained a high level of PROPRIETY, adhering to even the most minor social rules.
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Vacillate
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to sway physically; to be indecisive, dither, falter, oscillate, fluctuate, waver.
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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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Volatile
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changeable or easily aroused, lively or explosive, capricious, erratic,fickle, inconsisten, mercurial, inconstant, temperamental.
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His VOLATILE personality made it difficult to predict his reaction to anything.
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Advocate
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to speak in favor of, back, champion, support
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The vegetarian ADVOCATED a diet containing no meat.
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Antipathy
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extreme dislike, animosity, animus, antagonism, aversion, enmity, hostility, repellence.
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The ANTIPATHY between the French an the English regularly erupted into open warfare.
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Bolster
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to support, to prop up, brace, buttress, sustain, underpin, uphold.
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The presence of giant footprints BOLSTERED the argument that Sasquatch was in the area.
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Cacophony
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harsh noise, discord, chaos, disharmony, noise, clamor, din.
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The junior high orchestra created an almost unbearable CACOPHONY as they tried to tune their instruments.
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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 ofter DERIDED by his cooler peers.
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Dissonance
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a harsh and disagreeable combination, often of sounds, clash, contention, discord, dissension, dissent, dissidence, friction, strife, variance.
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The DISSONANCE of the music was doing my head right in.
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Enervate
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to reduce in strenght, debilitate, enfeeble, weaken, sap.
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The guerrillas hoped that a series of surprise attacks would ENERVATE the regular army.
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Eulogy
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speech in praise of someone, commend, extol, laud.
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His best friend gave the EULOGY, outlining his many achievements and talents.
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Garrulous
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tending to talk a lot, effusive, loquacious.
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The GARRULOUS parakeet distracted its owner with its continuous talking.
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Ingenuous
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showing innocence or childlike simplicity, artless, guileless, naive, simple, unaffected.
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She was so INGENUOUS that her friends feared that her innocence and trustfulness would be exploited when she visited the big city.
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Lethargic
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acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner, apathetic, languid, listless, torpid.
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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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Malleable
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capable of being shaped, adaptable, ductile, plastic, pliable, pliant.
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Gold is the most MALLEABLE of precious metals; it can easily be formed into almost any shape.
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Misanthrope
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a person who dislikes others.
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The character Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" is such a MISANTHROPE that even the sight of children singing makes him angry.
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Obdurate
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hardened in feeling, resistant to persuasion, inflexible, intransigent, recalcitrant, tenacious, unyielding.
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The president was completely OBDURATE on the issue, and no amount of persuasion would change his mind.
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Ostentation
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excessive showiness, flashiness, pretentiousness, conspicuousness.
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The OSTENTATION of the Sun King's court is evident in the lavish decoration an luxuriousness of his palace at Versailles.
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Paradox
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a contradiction or dilemma, incongruity, ambiguity.
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It is a PARADOX thar those most in need of medical attention are often those least able to obtain it.
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Prevaricate
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to lie or deviate from the truth, equivocate, perjure.
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Rather than admit that he had overslept again, the employee PREVARICATED and claimed that heavy traffic had prevented him from arriving at work on time.
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Venerate
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to respect deeply, adore, honor, revere, idolize
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In a traditional Confucian society, the young VENERATE their elders, deferring to the elders' wisdom and experience.
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Waver
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to fluctuate between choices, dither, falter, fluctuate, oscillate, vacillate.
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If you WAVER too long before making a decision about which testing site to register for, you may not get your first choice.
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