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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Venerable
Adjective |
worthy of respect because of old age
At family reunions our venerable grandmother now past eighty is accorded great respect. |
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Puerile
Adjective |
foolish for a grown person to say or do; childish
Some silly adults think it's fun to throw water balloons on their guests, but i consider it puerile. |
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Levity
Noun |
lack of proper seriousness
During the assembly, George kept giggling; levity for which his teacher scolded him. |
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Frugal
Adjective |
thrifty; not wasteful
Her frugal attitude allowed her to save a good deal of money at the supermarket. |
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Antipathy
Noun |
feeling of intense; dislike, or hate
Because of his bigoted remarks, the speaker provoked the antipathy of the audience. |
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Avocation
Noun |
a hobby; occupation
Bird watching was an avocation that gave him many hours of pleasure. |
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Charlatan
Noun |
imposter
The Great Imposter is a movie about a charlatan who posed successfully as a surgeon. |
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Doughty
Adjective |
Brave;strong and able
The doughty naval commander fought against very heavy odds |
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Elucidate
Verb |
to make clear; explain
You may elucidate what happened after you relax for a while |
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Indolent
Adjective |
lazy
He was indolent by nature but still blamed the heat wave for his inablility to do work. |
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Ludicrous
Adjective |
ridiculous; laughabaly absurd.
His answer to the question was so ludicrous that everyone burst out laughing. |
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Callow
Adjective |
young and inexperienced
He was surprised when his company hired a callow youth just out of college for the important new position. |
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Blithe
Adjective |
Merry or cheerful
Our neighbor is a blithe fellow who tells amusing stories. |
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Nepotism
Noun |
Favoritism shown to relatives or family
Whenever a president appoints a relative to a government position, the cry of nepotism is raised by the opposing party. |
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Malign
Verb |
to speak evil of
I cannot bear to hear you malign such a good man. |
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Posthumous
Adjective |
after death
Only two of Emily Dickenson's poems were published before she died;the rest were posthumous. |
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Heinous
Adjective |
evil or wicked
the convict was severely punished for his heinous crime. |
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Clandestine
Adjective |
secretive or hidden
The clandestine activities of the terrorist group were never discovered by the police. |
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Refute
Verb |
to disaprove
The district attorney summoned many witnesses to refute the testimony of the defendent. |
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Cursory
Adjective |
hasty
His cursory studying of the material could not give him a full understanding of the subject. |
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Reticent
Adjective |
quiet, or uncommunitive
Because she was so reticent, very few people got to know her well. |
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Travail
Noun |
hard work; exhausting abor; agony
His family found that travailof serving ten years in a prison camp had changed him greatly. |
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Opulence
Noun |
wealth, luxury or abundance
She was amazed at the opulence of her neighbors. |
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Arduous
Adjective |
difficult; hard to achieve
Climbing the tree proved to be an arduous tasl but not a particularly dangerous one. |
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Paltry
Adjective |
practically worthless; petty; trifling
I complained not because of the paltrythree cents that I was overcharged but because of the principle of the thing. |
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Abduct
Verb |
to carry of by force
The kidnappers abducted the child from her home. |
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Tractable
Adjective |
easily managed; taught or controlled
The horse was tractable as long as he was going in the direction of the barn. |
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Obliterate
Verb |
to do away with or destroy; to blot out completely
He tried to obliterate from his memory any trace of that horrible day. |
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Prodigious
Adjective |
extraordinary in size or amount; enormous
Anyone who has orbited the Earth has performed a prodigious task. |
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Haughty
Adjective |
having or showing great pride in oneself and disdain
He seemed at first to be rather cold and haughty but we came to realize that this was due mainly to shyness. |
