Vocab #2

Front 1

EPITHET

Back 1

1. any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality: “Richard the Lion-Hearted” is an epithet of Richard I.
2. a characterizing word or phrase firmly associated with a person or thing and often used in place of an actual name, title, or the like, as “man's best friend” for “dog.”
3. a word, phrase, or expression used invectively as a term of abuse or contempt, to express hostility, etc.

Front 2

EVASIVE

Back 2

1. tending or seeking to evade; characterized by evasion: an evasive answer.
2. elusive or evanescent.

Front 3

EVOKE

Back 3

1. to call up or produce (memories, feelings, etc.): to evoke a memory.
2. to elicit or draw forth: His comment evoked protests from the shocked listeners.
3. to call up; cause to appear; summon: to evoke a spirit from the dead.
4. to produce or suggest through artistry and imagination a vivid impression of reality: a short passage that manages to evoke the smells, colors, sounds, and shapes of that metropolis.

Front 4

EXACTING

Back 4

1. rigid or severe in demands or requirements: an exacting teacher.
2. requiring close application or attention: an exacting task.
3. given to or characterized by exaction; extortionate.

Front 5

FORESHADOW

Back 5

to show or indicate beforehand; prefigure: Political upheavals foreshadowed war.

Front 6

INFER

Back 6

1. to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence: They inferred his displeasure from his cool tone of voice.
2. (of facts, circumstances, statements, etc.) to indicate or involve as a conclusion; lead to.
3. to guess; speculate; surmise.
4. to hint; imply; suggest.

Front 7

LAUDABLE

Back 7

1. deserving praise; praiseworthy; commendable: Reorganizing the files was a laudable idea.
2. Medicine/Medical Obsolete. healthy; wholesome; not noxious.

Front 8

LUCID

Back 8

1. easily understood; completely intelligible or comprehensible: a lucid explanation.
2. characterized by clear perception or understanding; rational or sane: a lucid moment in his madness.
3. shining or bright.
4. clear; pellucid; transparent.

Front 9

SCRUTINIZE

Back 9

1. to examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
–verb (used without object) 2. to conduct a scrutiny.

Front 10

SYMPOSIUM

Back 10

1. a meeting or conference for the discussion of some subject, esp. a meeting at which several speakers talk on or discuss a topic before an audience.
2. a collection of opinions expressed or articles contributed by several persons on a given subject or topic.
3. an account of a discussion meeting or of the conversation at it.
4. (in ancient Greece and Rome) a convivial meeting, usually following a dinner, for drinking and intellectual conversation.
5. (initial capital letter, italics) a philosophical dialogue (4th century b.c.) by Plato, dealing with ideal love and the vision of absolute beauty.

Front 11

AFFLUENT

Back 11

1. having an abundance of wealth, property, or other material goods; prosperous; rich: an affluent person.
2. abounding in anything; abundant.
3. flowing freely: an affluent fountain.
–noun 4. a tributary stream.
5. an affluent person: a luxurious resort appealing to young affluents.

Front 12

BREVITY

Back 12

1. shortness of time or duration; briefness: the brevity of human life.
2. the quality of expressing much in few words; terseness: Brevity is the soul of wit.

Front 13

CONNOTATION

Back 13

1. an act or instance of connoting.
2. the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of “home” is “a place of warmth, comfort, and affection.” Compare denotation (def. 1).
3. Logic. the set of attributes constituting the meaning of a term and thus determining the range of objects to which that term may be applied; comprehension; intension.

Front 14

EMBELLISH

Back 14

1. to beautify by or as if by ornamentation; ornament; adorn.
2. to enhance (a statement or narrative) with fictitious additions.

Front 15

IMBIBE

Back 15

1. to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink: He imbibed great quantities of iced tea.
2. to absorb or soak up, as water, light, or heat: Plants imbibe moisture from the soil.
3. to take or receive into the mind, as knowledge, ideas, or the like: to imbibe a sermon; to imbibe beautiful scenery.

Front 16

NOSTALIGIC

Back 16

1. a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days.
2. something that elicits or displays nostalgia.

Front 17

NOVICE

Back 17

1. a person who is new to the circumstances, work, etc., in which he or she is placed; beginner; tyro: a novice in politics.
2. a person who has been received into a religious order or congregation for a period of probation before taking vows.
3. a person newly become a church member.
4. a recent convert to Christianity.

Front 18

PHILISTINE

Back 18

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.
2. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.
–adjective 3. (sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.
4. smugly commonplace or conventional.
5. (initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.

Front 19

REITERATE

Back 19

to say or do again or repeatedly; repeat, often excessively.

Front 20

STIPEND

Back 20

1. a periodic payment, esp. a scholarship or fellowship allowance granted to a student.
2. fixed or regular pay; salary.