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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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allege
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to assert without prood or confirmation
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The newspaper tabloid alleged that the movie star and the director were having creative differences.
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arrant
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throughgoing, out-and-out;shameless, blatant
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In Shakespeare's tragedy the audience sees clearly that Iago is an arrante scoundrel, but Othello is blind to his treachery.
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badinage
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light and playful conversation
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I enjoy the delightful badinage between stars like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in 1940s movies.
Synonym: banter |
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conciliate
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to overcome the distrust of, win over; to appease, pacify; to reconcile, make consistent
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Because of the weakness of our army, we had to try to conciliate the enemy.
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countermand
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to cancel or reverse one order or command with another that is contrary to the first
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Today's directive clearly countermands all previous instructions on how to exit the building in case of fire.
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eschelon
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one of a series of grades in an organization or field of activity; an organized military unit; a steplike formation or attatchment
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Although the civil servant began in the lower eschelon of government service, he rose quickly through the ranks.
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exacerbate
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to make more violent, severe, bitter, or painful
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Shouting and name-calling are sure to exacerbate any quarrel.
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Fatuous
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stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way
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In order to discredit the candidate, the columnist quoted some of his more fatuous, self-serving remarks.
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irrefutable
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impossible to disprove; beyond arguement
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The jury felt the prosecution presented them with irrefutable evidence of the defendant's guilt.
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juggernaut
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a massive and inescapable force or object that crushes whatever is in its path; Mirshak
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Any population that has experienced the juggernaut of war firsthand will not easily forget its destructive power.
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lackadaisical
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lacking in spirit or interest, halfhearted
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The team's preformance in the late inning was lackadaisical because they were so far ahead.
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litany
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a prayer consisteing of short appeals to God recited by the leader alternating with responses from the cocngregation; any repetitive chant; a long list
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Whenever she talks about her childhood, she recites an interminable litany of grievances.
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macabre
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grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing; having death as a subject
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The continuing popularity of horror movies suggests that one way to score at the box office is to exploit the macabre.
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paucity
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an inadequate quantity, scarcity, dearth
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The senate campaign was marred by a paucity of original ideas.
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portend
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to indicate beforehand that something is about to happen; to give advance warning of
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In Shakespeare's plays, disturbances in the heavens usually portend disaster or trouble in human affairs.
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raze
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to tear down, destroy completely; to cut or scrape off or out
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The town razed the old schoolhouse to make room for a larger, more modern school complex.
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recant
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to withdraw a statement or belief to which one has previously been committed, renounce, retract
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On the stand, the defendant recanted the guilty admissions she had made in her confession to the police.
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saturate
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to soak thoroughtly, fill to capacity; to satisfy fully
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A sponge that is saturated with water swells up but does not drip.
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saturnine
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of a gloomy or surly disposistion; cold or sluggish in mood
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Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character in Dickens's "A Christmas Carol", has a decidedly saturnine temperament.
saturnalia is celebrated in late october, and this word reflects the nature of the time |
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slough
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to cast off, disregard; to get rid of something objectionable or unnecessary; to plod through as if through mud; (n) a mire; a state of depression
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At New Year's time, many people resolve to slough off bad habits and start living better, healthier lives.
The advancing line of tanks became bogged down in a slough. |
