Vocab

Front 1

to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve; meliorate.

Back 1

ameliorate

Front 2

degeneration, decline, or decrease, as from disuse

Back 2

atrophy

Front 3

1. shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious; glaring
2. notorious; scandalous

Back 3

flagrant

Front 4

1. to grow together or into one body
2. to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: 3. to blend or come together
–verb (used with object) 4. to cause to unite in one body or mass.

Back 4

coalesce

Front 5

a self-seeking, servile flatterer

Back 5

sycophant

Front 6

1. understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite
2. belonging to the select few.
3. private; secret; confidential.
4. (of a philosophical doctrine or the like) intended to be revealed only to the initiates of a group:

Back 6

esoteric

Front 7

1. of or pertaining to the school of philosophy founded by Zeno, who taught that people should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity.

Back 7

stoic

Front 8

1. evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor
2. tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive
3. changeable; mercurial; flighty
4. (of prices, values, etc.) tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly
5. fleeting; transient: volatile beauty.
6. Computers. of or pertaining to storage that does not retain data when electrical power is turned off or fails.
7. able to fly or flying

Back 8

volatile

Front 9

1. a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification

Back 9

hedonistic

Front 10

1. an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one's head, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, as the table round for the round table, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.
2. a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people.
3. a construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language.
4. the peculiar character or genius of a language.
5. a distinct style or character, in music, art, etc.

Back 10

idiom

Front 11

1. of doubtful authorship or authenticity.
2. Ecclesiastical. a. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Apocrypha.
b. of doubtful sanction; uncanonical.

3. false; spurious

Back 11

apocryphal

Front 12

1. friendship; peaceful harmony.
2. mutual understanding and a peaceful relationship, esp. between nations; peace; accord.

Back 12

amity

Front 13

made commonplace or trite; stale; banal:

Back 13

hackneyed

Front 14

1. Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.
2. a fortified place.
3. anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.:

Back 14

bastion

Front 15

1. to divest of sacred or hallowed character or office.
2. to divert from a sacred to a profane use or purpose.
3. to treat with sacrilege; profane.

Back 15

desecrate

Front 16

1. sluggish inactivity or inertia.
2. lethargic indifference; apathy.
3. a state of suspended physical powers and activities.
4. dormancy, as of a hibernating animal.

Back 16

torpor

Front 17

haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.

Back 17

supercilious

Front 18

2. going or performed on foot; walking.
3. of or pertaining to walking.
4. lacking in vitality, imagination, distinction, etc.; commonplace; prosaic or dull:

Back 18

pedestrian

Front 19

1. smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness

Back 19

paucity

Front 20

not mutable; unchangeable; changeless.

Back 20

immutable