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29 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Balk
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STOP
-to refuse, shrink; prevent The horse balked at jumping over the high fence and instead threw his rider off |
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Banality
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ORDINARY
-The quality of being trite, commonplace, or predictable All the critics complained about the banality of the movie last night--it had a completely predictable and inane plot |
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Bane
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HARMFUL
-cause or harm or ruin; source of annoyance Speeches were the bane of Jenny's existence; she hated having to stand up in front of a crowd |
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Banish
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ALONE
-Drive away, expel After his defeat at Waterloo, the European leaders chose to banish Napoleon to the remote island of Elba |
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Bard
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PEOPLE
-lyrical poet Bards in medieval times were usually illiterate and so memorized incredibly long tales and songs |
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Barricade
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STOP
-obstacle, barrier During the French Revolution, students set up barricades in Paris to keep the army from moving through the streets |
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Basic
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TYPICAL
-essential, fundamental A basic tenet of the Declaration of Independence is the claim that "all men are created equal" |
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Belated
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TIME
-having been delayed, done too late Although sara initially forgot her brother's birthday, she sent a belated card to him the following week |
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Billigerent
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AGGRESSIVE
-hostile, inclined to fight Although he had a reputation for being peaceful, Gerald could actually become quite belligerent when he felt he was being mocked |
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Benefactor
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LUCK
-someone who helps others, especially finiancially Throughout most of Great Expectations, Pip speculates about the identity of the mysterious benefactor who paid for his schooling |
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Benign
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HELPUL
-gentle, harmless ALthough many children in the neighborhood feared the old dog, he was actually quite benign |
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Bequeath
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SAVING
-pass on, hand down Fred thought that his grandmother was penniless, so he was shocked when she bequeathed to him a beautiful gold watch |
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Berate
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CRITICIZE
-to scold harshly After the class's dismal performance on the exam, Professor Wilson berated everyone for their laziness and lack of preparation |
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Bereft
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DEPRIVED
-deprived of or lacking something The televison show was bereft of anything resembling wit or intelligence |
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Betray
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HARMFUL
-to be false or disloyal to Unable ot withstand the power of the dark side of the force, Darth Vader betrayed his teacher's confidence |
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Bewilder
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UNCLEAR
-to confuse or puzzle The class found themselves bewildered by Professor Yasmeet's lecture on advanced photonics |
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Biased
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INAPPROPRIATE
-prejudiced The defendant's lawyer filed a motiton to move the trial to new town, because the people in this one are all biased against her client |
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Bilk
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DECREASE
-to defraud, swindle Several lawyers were caught bilking clients out of millions of dollars in an illegal real estate scheme |
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Blaze
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BOLD
-shine brightly, flare up suddenly The fire blazed through the night, providing heat and light to the campers as they slept |
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Blemish
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UNATTRACTIVE
-imperfection, flaw The designer used a computer program to remove all blemishes from the model's face |
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Boast
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PROUD
-speak with excessive pride "I can beat all of you at that video game any day of the week," boasted Derrick last night |
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Boon
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LUCK
-blessing, something to be thankful for The oasis in the desert was a boon to us after a week of wandering |
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Bourgeois
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ORDINARY
-middle class The bourgeois family was horrified at their new neighbor's crudeness |
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Braggart
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PROUD
-someone who boasts continuously AFter a week of listening ot his self-aggrandizing stories, we tired of the braggart and his tales |
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Brandish
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AGGRESSIVE
-wave meanacingly Wyatt Earp's reputation had grown so spectacularly that, by the end of his career, he could make outlaws surrender by simply brandishing his weapon |
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Brutality
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AGGRESSIVE
-rughless, cruel, and unrelenting acts The brutality of the locust plague overwhelmed the farmers as it destroyed a whole year's crop |
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Buffer
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HELPFUL
-something that separates two entities Miss Phillips placed Lenny between Rachel and Sari as a buffer, so they couldn't talk during class |
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Buffoonery
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FOOLISH
-acting like a clown or a fool Jimmy's buffoonery had gotten him thrown out of class more often that any other student |
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Buttress
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ADD
-to reinforce or support The construction workers attempted to buttress the ceiling with support pillars |
