Pcat Vocab

Front 1

Culprit

Back 1

1. One charged with an offense or crime.
2. One guilty of a fault or crime

Front 2

Belligerent

Back 2

Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive.
a belligerent tone

Synonyms:
belligerent, bellicose, pugnacious, contentious, quarrelsome

Front 3

Aggrieve

Back 3

1. To distress; afflict.
2. To inflict an injury or injuries on.
adj. to grieve; distress; afflict
it aggrieved her much that she could not go

Front 4

Licentious

Back 4

1. Lacking moral discipline or ignoring legal restraint, especially in sexual conduct.
2. Having no regard for accepted rules or standards.
3. Sexually unrestrained or promiscuous.
<a moralist who decried what she regarded as the licentious and corrupt culture of the entertainment industry>

Front 5

Decry

Back 5

to express strong disapproval of
to publicly denounce
implies open condemnation with intent to discredit <decried their defeatist attitude>.

Front 6

Sullen

Back 6

Showing a brooding ill humor or silent resentment; morose or sulky.
Gloomy or somber in tone, color, or portent: sullen, gray skies.
<sullen skies that matched our mood on the day of the funeral>

Front 7

Morose

Back 7

1. gloomily or sullenly ill-humored, as a person or mood.
2. characterized by or expressing gloom: a morose silence.
He became morose and withdrawn and would not talk to anyone.

Front 8

Tepid

Back 8

1: moderately warm : lukewarm <a tepid bath>
2. a : lacking in passion, force, or zest <tepid poetry>
b : marked by an absence of enthusiasm or conviction
<a tepid interest> <a tepid response>

Front 9

Ephemral

Back 9

2. lasting a very short time <ephemeral pleasures>
1. lasting one day only as some plants or insects do
<an ephemeral fever>
"There remain some truths too ephemeral to be captured in the cold pages of a court transcript"
<the autumnal blaze of colors is always to be treasured, all the more so because it is so ephemeral>
Synonyms:
brief, momentary, evanescent, fleeting, fugacious, fugitive, short-lived, temporary, transient, transitory

Front 10

Nonchalant

Back 10

having an air of easy unconcern or indifference.
He was surprisingly nonchalant about winning the award.
She faced the crowd with the nonchalant ease of an experienced speaker.
Synonyms
;
apathetic, casual, disinterested, insensible, insouciant, indifferent, perfunctory, pococurante, uncurious,

Front 11

Churl

Back 11

1. A rude, boorish person.
2. A surly ill-bred person.
<as far as he was concerned, anyone from outside the city was a backwater churl>
<don't bother asking for donations at that house—the churl who lives there believes that charity begins and ends at home>
Synonyms:
bumpkin, chawbacon, hick, clodhopper, cornball, countryman, hayseed, hillbilly, provincial, rube, rustic, yokel

Front 12

Excoriate

Back 12

2. To censure strongly; denounce: <an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction>.
1. to denounce or berate severely:
<He was excoriated for his mistakes>.
2. to strip off or remove the skin from; abrade.
Synonyms
bash, belabor, castigate, attack, lambaste (or lambast), potshot, savage, scathe, slam, trash, vituperate

Front 13

Dismay

Back 13

1. To destroy the courage or resolution of by exciting dread or apprehension.
2. To cause to lose enthusiasm; disillusion: was dismayed to learn that her favorite dancer used drugs.
Her choice of career dismays her parents.
<the imposing climb up the mountain dismayed us even before we got started>
Synonyms
chill, daunt, demoralize, dishearten, discourage, dispirit, frustrate, unman, unnerve

Front 14

Chagrin

Back 14

A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event: To her chagrin, the party ended just as she arrived.
He was chagrined at the poor sales of his book.
to vex or unsettle by disappointing or humiliating <he was chagrined to learn that his help was not needed>

Front 15

Candor

Back 15

1. Frankness or sincerity of expression; openness.
2. Freedom from prejudice; impartiality.
<the candor with which he acknowledged a weakness in his own case>.
But a more subtle, and perhaps the most powerful, quality in the Senator's arsenal of attractions is an unrelenting candor that verges on self-reproach …
Synonyms:
Candidness, directness, forthrightness, frankness, honesty, openheartedness, openness, plumpness, straightforwardness.

Front 16

Miser

Back 16

1. a mean grasping person; especially : one who is extremely stingy with money; One who lives very meagerly in order to hoard money.
2. A greedy or avaricious person.
Synonyms
cheapskate, churl, hunks, niggard, penny-pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint, tightwad

Front 17

Exuberant

Back 17

1. Extreme or excessive in degree, size, or extent <exuberant prosperity>
2. a) joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic <exuberant praise> <an exuberant personality>
b) unrestrained or elaborate especially in style : flamboyant <exuberant architecture>
3. produced in extreme abundance : plentiful <exuberant foliage and vegetation>
Synonyms:
Lavish, extravagant, extreme, plentiful.

Front 18

Listless

Back 18

Lacking interest, vigor, enthusiasm, or energy, or spirit <a listless melancholy attitude>
Disinclined to exert effort; lethargic; languid; spiritless.

The heat made everyone tired and listless.
Synonyms:
Enervated, lackadaisical, languid, languishing, languorous, limp, spiritless.

Front 19

Boastful

Back 19

To glorify oneself in speech; talk in a self-admiring way.
To speak of with excessive pride; to brag
To possess or own (a desirable feature); a cause for pride "[the] capital of a region in the southeast that boasts bountiful coal fields"
When he says he's the richest man in town, he's not just making an idle boast.
We were offended by his boast that he would easily beat us.
The museum's proudest boast is its collection of rare gems.
Synonyms: boast, brag, crow, vaunt

Front 20

Slovenly

Back 20

Untidy, as in dress or appearance.
Marked by negligence; slipshod; sloppy.
He dressed in a slovenly manner.
<for the sake of their image, the band members transformed themselves from clean-cut lads to slovenly rockers>
Synonyms: untidy, shabby, seedy. unkempt