Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
98 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Abate: A bait
|
To decrease; diminish; put an end to
Worms are used as bait in fishing.After the bait is cast into the river, the bait usually decreases in size because some fish have nibbled on it. Frequently, the bait disappears in a short time. You need skill, patience, and luck. |
|
|
Abridge: A bridge
|
Shorten in duration
A bridge is built so that transportation from one side to another is shortened in duration. |
|
|
Abscond: Ab’s_cone
|
To depart secretly
Ab’s kitchen has many boxes of ice cream cones. Mysteriously, the cones disappear all the time. Ab says, “I just don’t know where my cones have gone; maybe they have legs? They just depart secretly. |
|
|
Absolve
|
To free from blame or penalty; to pardon
|
|
|
Abstruse: Abs truth
|
Difficult to understand; recondite
Abs → Sounds and looks like in Absent. Abs_truth → Absent of truth Things that are absent of truth are usually difficult to understand. |
|
|
Accent
|
To emphasize; distinctive manner of pronunciation
|
|
|
Accolade: Echo_lad
|
An honor; a praise; or an award
A proud lad yells his name aloud, and his name echoes back as if others were praising him |
|
|
Acerbic
|
Sour or bitter tasting; acid
|
|
|
Acquiescent
|
Agree; accept an agreement silently
|
|
|
Acrimony: Acre money
|
Bitterness of speech or manner; ill feeling
Two developers are arguing over the money for an acre of land. The arguments are full of anger and bitterness. |
|
|
Adamant: A damn ant
|
Resistant to change; firm in purpose
A stubborn ant is blocking traffic. Other ants shout, “Move, you damn ant! |
|
|
Adroit: A droid
|
Clever; skillful
The famous robots, 3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars.These sophisticated robots are very skillful with their hands. |
|
|
Adversary
|
An opponent; a foe; an enemy
|
|
|
Affable
|
Easy to talk to; kind and polite
|
|
|
Aggregate
|
Formed into a mass; a college or group
|
|
|
Allusion
|
indirect reference
|
|
|
Aloof
|
Distant physically or emotionally
|
|
|
Altruistic
|
concern the well being and happiness of others
|
|
|
Amass
|
Accumulate; pile up
|
|
|
Ambivalence
|
Presence of two opposing feelings at the same time; contradicting values
|
|
|
Ameliorate
|
To make or become better
|
|
|
Amicable
|
Characterized by or exhibiting friendliness or goodwill; friendly
|
|
|
Amity: Ami tea
|
Peaceful or friendly relations
Ami is very friendly and always serves tea to everyone who visits her. |
|
|
Amorphous
|
Formless and shapeless
|
|
|
Anarchy
|
Absence of government, disorder
|
|
|
Animosity
|
Hatred
|
|
|
Antagonistic
|
Hostile; acting against each othe
|
|
|
Antiquated
|
Out-of-date; old-fashsioned
Antique → old and outdated items |
|
|
Apathy
|
Absence of sympathy or interest
|
|
|
Apex: Ape
|
Highest point; a high point of achievement; a climax
King Kong (the ape) climbs up to the top of the Empire State building, which is the highest point in New York. |
|
|
Appease: a peace
|
Calm, pacify
When World War II ended, peace brought calmness to all the cities and towns in Europe |
|
|
Apprise: A_prize
|
To inform, to tell
If you win the first prize in California’s Lotto, won’t you tell everyone? |
|
|
Arcane: Arcade (video games and other games)
|
Mysterious; understood by few
Most video games in the arcade have secret levels for the player to find as a challenge. |
|
|
Ardor: adore
|
Warmth of feeling
If you adore someone, won’t you have a warm feeling for that person? |
|
|
Articulate
|
Speak clearly and effective
|
|
|
Ascendancy
|
Having power; moving upward
|
|
|
Ascetic
|
A person who practices self-denial
|
|
|
Asperity: Asparagus
|
Roughness or unevenness of surface; sharpness of temper
He tips of the asparagus appear to be very rough, but they are actually very crunchy and tasty. |
|
|
Assail: A sale
|
Attack violently with force or words
A shopper argued with force and words with the manager over a sales item that was not properly marked down. |
|
|
Assuage: A_sausage
|
To lessen suffering or pain
A starving kid temporarily relieved his hunger when he stared at the sausages hanging inside the poultry shop. |
|
|
Astute: A_status
|
Shrewd; cunning; crafty; clever
People with high status are usually wise and shrewd. |
|
|
Atrophy
|
Cause to waste
|
|
|
Audacious: Audition
|
Daring;foolishly bold; impuden
Those who attend the audition for the key roles in the play “Romeo and Juliet�? must be very brave and bold, because he or she has to perform in front of hundreds of critics. |
|
|
Augment
|
Make larger; increase
Think plastic surgery; breast augmentation. |
|
|
Auspicious: Suspicious
|
Showing signs or promise of future success
The homicide detectives who are suspicious in nature are likely to succeed in solving the murder cases. |
|
|
Austere: A steer (cow)
|
Rigidly strict in manner of living or thinking; severely simple; stern
Cows are typically simple and stern. Home Depot sells steer manure for garden fertilizer. |
|
|
Avarice: Eva rice
|
The passion for hoarding wealth or possession.
Eva is very greedy because she likes to take all the rice from the buffet and stuff it into a hidden bowl in her coat to take home.We should always be considerate and show concern for others. |
|
|
Averse: A_verse (in the Bible)
|
Unwilling; reluctant; resistant
The boy is reluctant to attend Sunday School because he is unwilling to recite verses in the Bible. |
|
|
Aversion: A_version
|
Strong dislike
Bill is going to buy Microsoft’s word-processing software, but he has a strong dislike for choosing an earlier version because it has a significant number of bugs. |
|
|
Baleful: Bale_full → Large bundle_full;Bale_fall
|
Destructive; harmful
A bale full of gunpowder is harmful and dangerous when kept under the hot sun. If a bale of hay falls on you from the top of a building, it will certainly be harmful to you, won’t it?Ouch…!Even though it is just a bale of hay. |
|
|
Balm
|
Ointment for soothing pain, something that comforts or soothes
|
|
|
Banal
|
Boring; common; ordinary; dull
|
|
|
Baneful: Painful
|
Poisonous, harmful, destructive
When you inhale poisonous fumes (gas), it will be painful. Looks Like:Baleful Imagine This:It must be harmful and destructive if a heavy bale of hay falls on you. |
|
|
Beguile: Be_guide
|
To deceive by charm; to make time pass by pleasantly
There was a charming but deceiving tourist guide who persuaded the tourists to pay the tips up-front, and she disappeared with the money shortly after. |
|
|
Cacophony
|
Unpleasant mixture of sounds; harsh noise; discord
|
|
|
Cajole: Cage_Joe
|
To deceive by flattery; to coax
Joe, a famous magician, visually deceives his audience by making the lion disappear from his cage, but in reality it is just hidden under the cage. |
|
|
Candor: Can_do
|
Openness; straight forwardness
If you are very eager to get a summer job, you should have a ‘can do’ attitude during the job interview.Instead of saying “I can do this and I can do that…�? you should be open and straightforward about your actual skills and technical capabilities. |
|
|
Cantankerous
|
Hard or irritating to deal with
|
|
|
Capacious
|
Able to hold much
|
|
|
Belie: Be_lie
|
To give a false idea; fail to fulfil a promise
|
|
|
Belligerent
|
Persons or nations are at war; constant fighting; quarrelsome
|
|
|
Benediction
|
Good wishes, a blessing
|
|
|
Benevolent
|
Friendly; generous; helpful
|
|
|
Bequeath
|
To hand down something by will; pass on
|
|
|
Bilk: Milk
|
Cheat; to defraud; swindle
A cheating sales person introduces a carton of what he claims to be milk, “Try a carton of this milk.�?“No way!�? a customer exclaimed, “Don’t try to cheat me!It is labeled bilk, not milk!Who are you trying to fool? |
|
|
Blight
|
Anything that causes decay, death, or disease
|
|
|
Bolster
|
To support; to encourage
|
|
|
Bombast
|
Speech intended to capture the attention of the audience; high- sounding language
|
|
|
Boorish
|
Crudely insensitive; rude person
|
|
|
Brevity
|
Shortness; conciseness
|
|
|
Bumptious
|
Offensively self-important
|
|
|
Capitulate: Capital_ate
|
Surrender : yield to an enemy on conditions agreed upon
When the U.S. army finally captured Berlin, the German capital.Germany was surrendered.The entire population in the capital was starving badly and they ate rats to survive. |
|
|
Capricious
|
Unpredicatable; controlled by whims
|
|
|
Castigate
|
Punish severely; criticize severely
|
|
|
Celerity
|
Swiftness; fast
|
|
|
Censure: Censor ( An official authorized to examine movies, news and printed matter)
|
Disapprove; criticize; fault-finding
Movie ratings are determined by a panel of judges who watch and critique every inch of the film clip before final approval for general audience viewing.Certain scenes, which are disapproved of, will be cut. |
|
|
Charlatan
|
Imposter (one who assumes an identity or title to deceive others)
|
|
|
Chary: Cherry
|
Very cautious
When eating cherries, you must be cautious not to eat the pits. |
|
|
Chasten
|
To discipline or punish for the purpose of making better
|
|
|
Chastise
|
Punish by scolding or beating
|
|
|
Chicanery
|
Trickery (scheme to deceive; prank; deceptive)
|
|
|
Choler
|
Anger
|
|
|
Circumscribe
|
Draw a line around;to confine
|
|
|
Circumspect
|
Cautious
|
|
|
Clemency
|
Mercy; pity; kindness
|
|
|
Cloister
|
A convent or monastery; isolated from the outside world
|
|
|
Coalesce - Coal_less
|
To grow together; unite into one body
During the winter months in World War II, the Russian soldiers needed to huddle together to stay warm before their coal supply ran out. |
|
|
Coalition
|
Union; combination; temporary alliance
|
|
|
Coerce - Course
|
Force someone to do something against his/her wil
When the new cadets refused to go through the obstacle course during the rainy day, the army’s drill sergeant forced and threatened them with his 45 |
|
|
Collate
|
To compare carefully to learn the difference between the copies; arrange pages in proper sequence
Some high end copying machines have a collate feature which helps to sort out the separate copies of multiple pages. |
|
|
Color
|
To influence, affect or alter
|
|
|
Complacent
|
Self-satisfied; self-important
|
|
|
Concede
|
Accept; admit; allow; surrender
|
|
|
Conciliatory - Reconciliation (to restore peace and friendship after disagreement)
|
Making peace, attempting to solve a dispute through goodwill
|
|
|
Condone
|
To excuse; to forgive an offense
|
|
|
Confound - Con (against)_found →not_found
|
To confuse; to mix up
If a drug addict does not find a way to quit his bad habit, his mind will be all mixed up and confused.Worst of all, he could end up dead. |
|
|
Consonance
|
Harmony; agreement
|
|
|
Conspicuous
|
Standing out very noticeably; obvious
|
