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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Apathy
(AP uh thee) |
Lack of interest; lack of feeling (N.)
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Jill didn't care one bit about current events; she was entirely apathetic.
The members of the student council accused the senior class of apathy because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big annual bake sale. |
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Aphorism
(AF uh riz um) |
A brief, often witty saying; a proverb (N.)
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Benjamin Franklin was fond of aphorisms. He was frequently aphoristic.
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Apocalypse
(uh PAHK uh lips) |
A prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world
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- In strict usage, apocalypse refers to specific Judeo-Christian writings from ancient times.
- Casual usage connects with predictions of things like nuclear war, the destruction of the ozone layer, and the spread of fast food restaurants to every corner of the universe. |
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Apocryphal
(uh POK ruh ful) |
Of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious (N.)
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An apocryphal story is one whose truth is not proven or whose falsehood is strongly suspected.
Apocrypha refers to the "extra books of the Old Testament that Protestants and Jews don't include in their Bibles because they don't think they're authentic. |
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Apotheosis
(uh pahth ee OH sis) |
Elevation to divine status; the perfect example of something (N.)
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Some people think that the Corvette is the apotheosis of American car making. They think it's the ideal.
Geoffrey is unbearable to be with. He thinks he's the apotheosis of masculinity. |
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Appease
(uh PEEZ) |
To soothe; to pacify by giving in to (V.)
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Larry appeased his angry mother by promising to make his bed every morning without fail until the end of time.
The trembling farmer handed over all his grain, but still the emperor was not appeased. |
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Appreciate
(uh PREE shee ayt) |
To increase in value (V.)
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The Browns bought their house twenty years ago for a hundred dollars, but it has appreciated considerably since then; today it's worth almost a million dollars.
Harry bought Joe's collection of old chewing-tobacco tins as an investment. His hope was that the tins would appreciate over the next few years, enabling him to turn a profit by selling them to someone else. - Opposite of appreciate is depreciate= to decrease in value |
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Apprehensive
(ap ruh HEN siv) |
Worried; anxious (ADJ.)
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The apprehensive child clung to his father's leg as the two of them walked into the main circus tent to watch teh lion tamer
Bill was apprehensive about the exam, because he had forgotten to go to class for several months. As it turned out, his apprehensions were justified. He couldn't answer a single question on the test. |
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Approbation
(ap ruh BAY shun) |
Approval; praise (N.)
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The crowd expressed its approbation of what the team had done by gleefully covering the field with carcasses.
The ambassador's actions met with the approbation of his commander in chief. |
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Appropriate
(uh PROH pree ayt) |
To take without permission; to set aside for a particular use (V.)
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Nick appropriated my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it. So I appropriated Ed's.
The deer and raccoons appropriated the vegetablesin our garden last summer. This year we'll build a better fence. |
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Aptitude
(AP tuh tood) |
Capacity for learning; natural ability (N.)
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Princeton Review students have a marked aptitude for taking the SAT. They earn high scores.
- Oppose of aptitude is ineptitude. |
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Arbiter
(AHR buh tur) |
One who decides; a judge (N.)
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A judge is an arbiter.
An arbiter of fashion is someone who determines what other people will wear by wearing it herself. An arbiter arbitrates, or weighs opposing viewpoints and makes decisions. Arbiter and Arbitrator means the same thing. |
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Arbitrary
(AHR buh trer ee) |
Random; capricious (ADJ.)
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The grades Mr. Simone gave his English students appeared to be arbitrary; they didn't seem to be related to anything the students had done in class.
The old judge was arbitrary in sentencing criminals; there was no sensible pattern to the sentences he handed out. |
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Arcane
(ahr KAYN) |
Mysterious; known only to a select few (ADJ.)
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The rites of the secret cult were arcane; no one outside the cult knew what they were.
The arcane formula for the cocktail was scrawled on a faded scrap of paper. We could make out only a little of the arcane inscription on the old trunk. |
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Archaic
(ahr KAY ik) |
Extremely old; ancient; outdated (ADJ.)
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The tribe's traditions are archaic. They have been in force for thousands of years.
Archaic civilizations are ones that disappeared a long time ago. An archaic meaning of a word is one that isn't used anymore. |
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Anarchy
(AN ur kee) |
Absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder (N.)
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The country fell into a state of anarchy after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol.
- Doesn't have to be used in a political sense. |
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Anecdote
(AN ik doht) |
A short account of a humorous or revealing incident (N.)
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The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with anecdote after anecdote about her cute little dog.
Fred told an anecdote about the time Sally got her big toe stuck in a bowling ball. The vice president set the crowd at ease with an anecdote about his childhood desire to become a vice president. |
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Anguish
(ANG gwish) |
Agonizing physical or mental pain (N.)
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Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for twenty years, but she had never gotten used to the anguish of accident victims.
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Animosity
(an uh MAHS uh tee) |
resentment; hostility; ill will (N.)
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The rivals of the state championship felt great animosity toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled.
A person whose look could kill is a person whose animosity is evident. |
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Anomaly
(uh NAHM uh lee) |
An aberration; an irregularity; a deviation (N.)
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A snowy winter day is not an anomaly, but a snowy July day is.
A house without a roof is an anomaly- a cold, wet anomaly. |
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Antecedent
(an tuh SEED unt) |
Someone or something that went before; something that provides a model for something that came after it (N. and ADJ.)
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Your parents and grandparents could be said to be your antecedents; they came before you. (N. Usage)
The horse-drawn wagon is an antecedent of the modern automobile. (N. Usage) The oil lamp was antecedent to the light bulb. (ADJ usage) In grammar, the antecedent of a pronoun is the person, place, or thing to which it refers to. |
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Antipathy
(an TIP uh thee) |
Firm dislike; a dislike (N.)
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I feel antipathy toward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I also feel a certain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite antipathetic.
I could also say that ham-wrapped bananas and the cooks who serve them are among my antipathies- the things I don't like. |
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Antithesis
(an TITH uh sis) |
The direct opposite (N.)
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Erin is the antithesis of Erika: Erin is bright and beautiful; Erika is dull and plain.
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Apartheid
(uh PAHRT hayt) |
The abhorrent policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa (N.)
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The apartheid is related to the word apart. Under apartheid in South Africa, blacks were kept apart from whites and denied all rights.
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