Vocab Workshop 7-9

Front 1

n. a state of perfect happiness or blessedness; a blessing

Back 1

beatitude

Front 2

n. someone or something that one especially dislikes, dreads, or avoids

Back 2

bete noire

Front 3

v. to be an omen of; to indicate by signs

Back 3

bode

Front 4

adj. unpleasantly damp or wet

Back 4

dank

Front 5

adj. worldwide or universal in influence or application

Back 5

ecumenical

Front 6

adj. burning with enthusiasm or zeal; extremely heated

Back 6

fervid

Front 7

adj. having an unpleasant or offensive odor

Back 7

fetid

Front 8

adj. of immense size, volume, or capacity; enormous, prodigious

Back 8

gargantuan

Front 9

n. the period of greatest power, vigor, success, or influence; the prime years

Back 9

heyday

Front 10

n. a demon or evil spirit supposed to haunt human beings in their bedrooms at night; anything that oppresses or weighs upon one, like a nightmare

Back 10

incubus

Front 11

n. a basic foundation or framework; a system of public works; the resources and facilities required for an activity; permanent military installations

Back 11

infrastructure

Front 12

v. to entice, lure, or snare by flattery or artful inducements; to obtain or acquire by artifice

Back 12

inveigle

Front 13

n. the acclaim, prestige, or renown that comes as a result of some action or achievement

Back 13

kudos

Front 14

n. an extra or unexpected gift or gratuity

Back 14

lagniappe

Front 15

adj. long-winded and wordy; tending to speak or write in such a way

Back 15

prolix

Front 16

n. someone whose welfare, training, or career is under the patronage of an influential person; someone under the jurisdiction of a foreign country or government

Back 16

protege

Front 17

n. an original pattern or model; a primitive or ancestral form

Back 17

prototype

Front 18

n. someone who attempts to win favors or advance him- or herself by flattery or servile behavior; a slanderer, defamer

Back 18

sycophant

Front 19

n. needless repetition of an idea by using different but equivalent words; a redundancy

Back 19

tautology

Front 20

v. to yiel or submit tamely or submissively

Back 20

truckle

Front 21

n. a departure from what is proper, right, expected, or normal; a laps from a sound mental state

Back 21

aberration

Front 22

adj. for this specific purpose; improvised;
adv. with respect to this

Back 22

ad hoc

Front 23

n. the source or cause of fatal injury, death, destruction, or ruin; death or ruin itself; poison

Back 23

bane

Front 24

n. the intrusion of commonplace or trite material into a context whose tone is lofty or elevated; grossly insincere or exaggerated sentimentality; the lowest phase, nadir; an anticlimax, comedown

Back 24

bathos

Front 25

adj. ill-tempered, quarrelsome; difficult to get along or deal with

Back 25

cantankerous

Front 26

n. the determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by the application of general ethical principles; specious argument

Back 26

casuistry

Front 27

adj. actually existing or in effect, although not legally required or sanctioned;
adv. in reality, actually

Back 27

de facto

Front 28

n. the act of preying upon or plundering

Back 28

depredation

Front 29

n. a sympathetic understanding of or identification with the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of someone or something else

Back 29

empathy

Front 30

n. a forerunner, herald;
v. to herald the approach of

Back 30

harbinger

Front 31

n. the belief that the attainment of pleasure is life's chief aim; devotion to or pursuit of pleasure

Back 31

hedonism

Front 32

adj. lacking brilliance or vitality; dull

Back 32

lackluster

Front 33

adj. discontented with or in open defiance of prevailing conditions;
n. such a person

Back 33

malcontent

Front 34

adj. flowing sweetly or smoothly; honeyed

Back 34

mellifluous

Front 35

n. undue favoritism to or excessive patronage of one's relatives

Back 35

nepotism

Front 36

v. to cater to or provide satisfaction for the low tastes or vices of others;
n. a person who does this

Back 36

pander

Front 37

n. a minor sin or offence; a trifling fault or shortcoming

Back 37

peccadillo

Front 38

n. the principal dish of a meal; the principal event, incident, or item; an outstanding accomplishment

Back 38

piece de resistance

Front 39

v. to send or order back; in law, to send back to jail or to a lower court

Back 39

remand

Front 40

n. a group of symptoms or signs that collectively characterize or indicate a disease, disorer, abnormality, etc.

Back 40

syndrome

Front 41

n. a state of being temporarily inactive, suspended, or set aside

Back 41

abeyance

Front 42

adj. having opposite and conflicting feelings about someone or something

Back 42

ambivalent

Front 43

v. to set upon from all sides; to surround with an arm; to trouble, harass

Back 43

beleaguer

Front 44

n. full freedom or authority to act at one's own discretion

Back 44

carte blanche

Front 45

n. a sudden, violent, or devastating upheaval; a surging flood, deluge

Back 45

cataclysm

Front 46

v. to corrupt morally, seduce; to indulge in dissipation;
n. an act or occasion of dissipation or vice

Back 46

debauch

Front 47

n. dazzling or conspicious success or acclaim; great brilliance (of performance or achievement)

Back 47

eclat

Front 48

adj. overly demanding or hard to please; excessively careful in regard to details; easily disgusted

Back 48

fastidious

Front 49

v. to jump or skip about playfully

Back 49

gambol

Front 50

v. to soak or stain thoroughly; to fill the mind

Back 50

imbue

Front 51

adj. just beginning; not fully shaped or formed

Back 51

inchoate

Front 52

n. a malicious satire
v. to satirize, ridicule

Back 52

lampoon

Front 53

adj. capable of being formed into different shapes; capable of being altered, adapted or influenced

Back 53

malleabl

Front 54

n. an agent or force inflicting vengeance or punishment; retribution itself; an unbeatable rival

Back 54

nemesis

Front 55

v. to make a choice or decision

Back 55

opt

Front 56

adj. lacking in, hostile to, or smugly indiffferent to cultural and artistic values or refinements;
n. such a person

Back 56

philistine

Front 57

adj. involving or characteristic of clever rogues or adventurers

Back 57

picaresque

Front 58

adj. nauseated or uneasy; causing nausea or uneasiness; troubled

Back 58

queasy

Front 59

adj. stubborn; hard or difficult to manage; not responsive to treatment or cure

Back 59

refractory

Front 60

n. the ability to say and do the right thing in any situation; social competence

Back 60

savoir-faire