Unit 1-3 Vocabulary

Front 1

acquisitive

Back 1

able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property.

Front 2

arrogate

Back 2

to claim or take without right

Front 3

banal

Back 3

hackneyed, trite, commonplace.

Front 4

belabor

Back 4

to work on excessively; to thrash soundly.

Front 5

carping

Back 5

tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; petty nagging criticism.

Front 6

coherent

Back 6

holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful

Front 7

congeal

Back 7

to change from a liquid to solid, thicken; thicken; to make inflexible or rigid.

Front 8

emulate

Back 8

to imitate with the intent of equaling of surpassing the model.

Front 9

τυφλός, -ή, -όν

Back 9

blind

Front 10

eschew

Back 10

to avoid, shun, keep away from

Front 11

germane

Back 11

relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

Front 12

insatiable

Back 12

so great or demanding as not to be satisfied

Front 13

intransigent

Back 13

refusing to compromise, irreconcilable

Front 14

invidious

Back 14

offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment

Front 15

largesse

Back 15

generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions

Front 16

reconnaissance

Back 16

a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination

Front 17

substantiate

Back 17

to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to

Front 18

taciturn

Back 18

habitually silent or quiet, inclined to talk very little

Front 19

temporize

Back 19

to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise

Front 20

tenable

Back 20

capable of being held or defended

Front 21

accost

Back 21

to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way

Front 22

animadversion

Back 22

a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Front 23

avid

Back 23

desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

Front 24

brackish

Back 24

having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

Front 25

celerity

Back 25

swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

Front 26

devious

Back 26

straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

Front 27

gambit

Back 27

in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

Front 28

halcyon

Back 28

a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

Front 29

histrionic

Back 29

pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

Front 30

incendiary

Back 30

deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires, tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

Front 31

maelstrom

Back 31

a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

Front 32

myopic

Back 32

nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment

Front 33

overt

Back 33

open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

Front 34

pejorative

Back 34

tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

Front 35

propriety

Back 35

the state of being proper, appropriateness; standard of what is proper or socially acceptable

Front 36

sacrilege

Back 36

improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

Front 37

summarily

Back 37

without delay of formality; briefly, concisely

Front 38

suppliant

Back 38

asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

Front 39

talisman

Back 39

an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Front 40

undulate

Back 40

to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

Front 41

articulate

Back 41

to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; to connect by a joint or joints; expressed clearly and forcefully; able to employ language clearly and forcefully; jointed

Front 42

cavort

Back 42

to romp or prance around exuberantly; to make merry

Front 43

credence

Back 43

belief, mental acceptance

Front 44

decry

Back 44

to condemn, express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate

Front 45

dissemble

Back 45

to disguise or conceal, deliberately give a false impression

Front 46

distraught

Back 46

very agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict

Front 47

eulogy

Back 47

a formal statement of commendation; high praise

Front 48

evince

Back 48

to display clearly, to make evident, to provoke

Front 49

exhume

Back 49

to remove from a grave; to bring to light

Front 50

feckless

Back 50

lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible, unreliable

Front 51

murky

Back 51

dark and gloomy, obscure; lacking in clarity and precision

Front 52

nefarious

Back 52

wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standards

Front 53

piquant

Back 53

stimulating to the taste or mind; spicy, pungent; appealingly provocative

Front 54

primordial

Back 54

developed or created at the very beginning; going back to the most ancient times or earliest stage; fundamental, basic

Front 55

propinquity

Back 55

nearness in place or time; kinship

Front 56

unwonted

Back 56

not usual or expected; not in character

Front 57

utopian

Back 57

founded upon or involving a visionary view of an ideal world; impractical

Front 58

verbiage

Back 58

language that is too wordy or inflated in proportion to the sense or content, wordiness; a manner of expression

Front 59

verdant

Back 59

green in tint or color; immature in experience of judgment

Front 60

viscous

Back 60

having a gelatinous or gluey quality, lacking in easy movement or fluidity