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51 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Candid
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Completely honest, straightforward
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Candace's candidness overwhelmed her business colleagues, who were not used to such honesty.
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Conjecture
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Inference; guesswork
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At this point, Kimaya's hypothesis about single-cell biorhythms is still conjecture; she doesn't have conclusive evidence.
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Didactic
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Instructive
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The tapes were entertaining and didactic; they both amused and instructed children.
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Euphemism
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A mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term
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"To pass away" is a common euphemism for dying.
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Extrapolate
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To infer or estimate because of known information.
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Seeing the wrecked bike and his daughter's skinned knees, Heath extrapolated that she had had a biking accident.
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Incoherent
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Lacking cohesion or connection.
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Maury's sentences were so incoherent that nobody understood a word.
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Insinuate
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To introduce or communicate stealthily; to imply
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Sean insinuated that Grace stole the arsenic, but he never came out and said it.
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Lucid
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Easily understood, clear
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Our teacher provides lucid explanations of even the most difficult concepts so that we can all understand them. (also: remember Lucid Dreams)
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Rhetoric
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The art of using language effectively and persuasively
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Since they are expected to make speeches, most politicians and lawyers are well versed in the art of rhetoric.
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Acumen
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Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight
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Judge Ackerman's legal acumen was so well regarded that he was nicknamed the "Solomon of the South."
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Adroit
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Clever, adept, skillful
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An adroit balloon-animal-maker, Adrianna became popular at children's parties.
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Ascertain
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To find out, as through investigation or experimentation.
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The private investigator had long suspected my dog; before long, he ascertained that Toto was indeed the murderer.
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Astute
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Shrewd, clever
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Stewart is financially astute; he invests wisely and never falls for scams.
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Circumspect
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Careful; prudent; discreet
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Ned's circumspect manner makes him a wise appointment to the diplomatic corps.
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Disseminate
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To scatter widely, as in sowing seed
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The news about Dave's embarrassing moment at the party disseminated quickly through the school; by the end of the day, everyone knew what happened.
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Erudition
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Deep, extensive learning
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Professor Rudy's erudition was such that she could answer any question her students put to her.
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Husbandry
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The application of scientific principles to agriculture, especially to animal breeding
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After years of practicing animal husbandry, Martha's husband was able to create a breed of dog that actually walked itself.
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Pedantic
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Excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules.
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Pedro's pedantic tendencies prompted him to remind us constantly of all the grammatical rules we were breaking.
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Perspicacious
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Shrewd; Clear-sighted
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Persephone's perspicacious mind had solved so many cases hat the popular private investigator was able to retire.
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Pragmatic
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Practical
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Never one for wild and unrealistic schemes, Matt took a pragmatic approach to research.
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Precocious
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Exhibiting unusually early intellectual aptitude or maturity; prodigious
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Bobby Fischer's precocious intellect made him one of the world's best chess players before he could even drive.
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Prospectus
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Formal proposal
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Before writing my thesis, I had to submit a detailed prospectus to the department for approval.
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Rudimentary
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Basic; elementary; in the earliest stages of development
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Josh's rudimentary golf skills were easily overpowered by Tiger Wood's amazing performance of the green.
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Abstruce
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Difficult to understand
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Abby found her professor's lecture on non-Euclidian geometry abstruse; she doubted anyone else in class understood it either.
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Callous
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Emotionally hardened; unfeeling
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Callie's callous remark about her Fred's accident hurt his feelings.
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Convoluted
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Intricate; complex
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The directions were so convoluted that we became hopelessly lost.
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Enigma
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A puzzle, mystery, or riddle
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The emu was an enigma; you could never tell what it was thinking.
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Inscrutable
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Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable
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The ancient poet's handwriting was so inscrutable that even the most prominent Latin scholars could not read the manuscript.
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Reticent
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Inclined to keep silent; reserved
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Rosanna's reticent behavior caused the interviewer to think her incapable of conversing with other students.
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Staid
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Unemotional; serious
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Mr. Estado was well known for his staid demeanor; he stayed calm even when everyone else celebrated the team's glorious victory.
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Arcane
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Known or understood by only a few
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The dusty archive includes an arcane treasure trove of nautical charts from the Age of Discovery.
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Assimilate
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To absorb or become absorbed; To make or become similar
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Keisha assimilated so quickly at her new school that she was named head of the social committee a month after enrolling. (PREPARE TO BE ASSIMILATED)
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Autonomy
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Independence; Self-Determination
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Candice gained autonomy upon moving out of her parents' house into her own apartment.
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Cosmopolitan
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Worldly; widely sophisticated
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Inga was surprisingly cosmopolitan considering that she had never left her tiny hometown in Norway.
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Derivative
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Something that comes from another source
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Special Victims Unit and Criminal Intent are derivatives of the original Law & Order drama series.
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Entourage
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A group of attendants or associates; a retinue
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Top celebrities travel with extensive entourages, which often include security guards, assistants, stylists, managers, publicists, and more.
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Esoteric
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Intended for or understood by only a small group
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Esme's play is extremely esoteric; someone not raised in Estonia would find it difficult to follow.
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Gaffe
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A clumsy social error; a faux pas
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Geoff committed the gaffe of telling his date that he'd gone out with her sister the night before.
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Idiosyncrasy
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Characteristic peculiar to an individual or group
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She had many idiosyncrasies, one of which was washing her socks in the dishwasher.
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Insular
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isolated; narrow or provincial
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The family was so insular that no one else could get near them.
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Orthodox
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Adhering to the traditional and established, especially in religion.
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My father held an orthodox view of baseball; he believed that the field should be outside and made of real grass.
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Potentate
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One who has the power and position to rule over others; monarch
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An omnipotent potentate is a person to be reckoned with; great power in the hands of a great leader is a powerful combination.
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Castigate
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To scold, rebuke, or harshly criticize
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Mr. Castile preferred not to castigate student misbehavior publicly; instead, he would quietly send the troublemaker to the principal's office.
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Censure
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To issue official blame
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In recent years the FCC has censured networks for the provocatiive antics of Super Bowl halftime acts; what goes on during the game, however, usually escapes the organization's notice
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Denounce
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To condemn openly
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In many powerful speeches throughout his lifetime, Martin Luther King, Jr. denounced racism as immoral.
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Reclusive
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Seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation
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Our neighbors were quite reclusive, hardly ever emerging from behind the closed doors of their home.
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Relinquish
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To retire from; give up or abandon
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Ricky relinquished his career in order to search for the source of the world's best relish.
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Renounce
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To give up (a title, for example), especially by formal announcement
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Nancy renounced her given name and began selling records under the moniker "Boedicia."
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Vituperative
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marked by harshly abusive condemnation
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The vituperative speech was so cruel that the members left feeling completely abused.
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Circumscribe
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To draw a circle around, to restrict
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The archeologist circumscribed the excavation area on the map.
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Contiguous
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Sharing an edge or boundary; touching
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The continental United States consists of 48 contiguous states.
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