Simon 2

Front 1

quiescent

(qui-ES-cent)

Back 1

(adj) still, inactive


I enjoy the quiescent twilight mornings of snowy winter days in upstate New York.

Front 2

revelry

(REv-el-ry)

Back 2

boisterous festivity


The revelry following the Red Sox win in the 2004 World Series was not as out-of-control as the police had expected.

Front 3

novel

Back 3

(adj) new or original



Your approach to solving the problem was novel but productive.

Front 4

squander

Back 4

(v) to waste

If you choose to squander too much of your income on trivia when you are young, you might not be able to afford your best possible investment --- a house purchased early in life.

Front 5

ritual

Back 5

(n) detailed procedure regularly followed


Church liturgies, such as the Catholic Mass, are the formal rituals which are followed during specific services.

Front 6

perambulate

Back 6

(v) to stroll

Victorian men might have "perambulated" through Central Park but modern men just take a leisurely "walk" --- unless, of course, someone starts coming up too fast behind them.

Front 7

redundant

Back 7

(adj) unnecessarily repetitive; exceeding what is necessary

Your long essays are so redundant that you could say the same things in half the space.

Front 8

prescient


(PRESH-int)

Back 8

(adj) having knowledge of things before they occur


Who knows what bits of unusual past experiences actually underly her seemingly prescient behaviors.

Front 9

foresight

Back 9

(n) a concern/perception with respect to future occurrences (also: the ability to foresee)

If he had not had the foresight to build two backup pumps into his boat before he started across the ocean, he woud not be here now.

Front 10

sustain

Back 10

(v) to maintain (also: support, uphold, undergo)


The secret to studing effectively is to sustain your daily efforts over the whole school year --- not just a week here and a week there.

Front 11

garrulous

(GARREL-us)

Back 11

(v) very talkative


Is there anything more garrulous then a group of six girls at a sleep-over.

Front 12

peregrinate

(PERA-gra-NATE)

Back 12

(v) to wander from place to place

While perambulating is just walking around, peregrinating is more like taking a real journey on foot.

Front 13

expound

Back 13

(v) to explain by presenting in detail


Young Hiltler never missed an opportunity to expound on his message of hatred to the dispossessed and unemployed of post-WWI Germany.

Front 14

peripatetic

(peri-PA-TETic)

Back 14

(adj) moving from place to place


A peripatetic person is one who perambulates a lot from one place to another.

Front 15

digress

(DIE-gress)

Back 15

(v) to stray from the main topic


One way to confuse your students in a difficult course is to digress frequently to similarly abstruse but unrelated topics.

Front 16

bibliophile

Back 16

(n) a book lover


You can easily tell a bibliophile by the size of her personal library.

Front 17

tome

(toe-m)

Back 17

(n) book (usually large and scholarly)


He's now eighty-five years old and is still writing scholarly tomes --- though now his emaciated arms can hardly lift them when he is finished.

Front 18

pundit

Back 18

(n) an authority or critic


The problem with both ultraliberals and ultraconservatives is that they tend to believe everything their rabid pundits tell them, no matter how silly or dumb.

Front 19

obsolescent

Back 19

(adj) becoming obsolete (no longer used)


Even worse than today, in both WWI and WWII the United States entered with mostly obsolescent equipment and had to spend valuble time catching up while soldiers and sailors died needlessly.

Front 20

tenuous

Back 20

(adj) weak; insubstantial


Although she now has the lead in the tournment, it's a rather tenuous one at best.

Front 21

missive

Back 21

(n) letter


Immediately prior to the USA's entry into WWII, Roosevelt and Churchill communicated frequently through secret missives that historians are only now uncovering and appreciating.

Front 22

caricature

Back 22

(n) exaggerated portrait

Every president has to suffer through the frequently inaccurate caricatures of himself put forth by political cartoonists and mouthed by comedians who get a kick putting others down.

Front 23

travesty

Back 23

(n) highly inferior imitation of reality


The travesty of justice associated with the death penality is that sometimes the condemned is actually innocent despite the seemingly strong evidence so firmly believed by the jury.

Front 24

erudition

Back 24

(n) deep learning


If you go to a good college you will be impressed quickly by the erudition shown by most of your professors compared to that not shown by so many of your high school teachers.

Front 25

predilection

Back 25

(n) preference; disposition


I have a predilection to study up too late into the night studying and then spend the next day dangerously groggy in the lab.

Front 26

puerile

(pew-a-rul)

Back 26

(adj) childish; immature


Jack, just keep up your puerile behavior and next week someone else will be our quarterback.

Front 27

lofty

Back 27

(adj) elevated in nature; noble


THe lofty promises mouthed by many politicians while pandering for votes frequently come down to earth, and even disappear, once elected.

Front 28

peruse

(pa-RUZ)

Back 28

(v) to examine, typically with great care


If you don't spend sufficient time perusing these rather complicated instructions, you could easily hurt someone.

Front 29

articulate

[(adj) = are-TIC-you-lit]

[(v) = are-tic-YOU-LATE]

Back 29

(adj) speaking in a clear and expressive language; (v) to speak purposefully and clearly

Articulate your words clearly and speak in an articulate manner and most uninformed people will think you know what you are taking about.

Front 30

sophisticated

Back 30

(adj) having wordly knowledge or refinement (also: complex)


Rich, and sophisticated in my manner, is the way I want to be when I grow up.