Vocabulary Words 1

Front 1

Promontory

Back 1

n. pl. prom·on·to·ries
1. A high ridge of land or rock jutting out into a body of water; a headland.
2. Anatomy A projecting part.

Front 2

miasma

Back 2

n. pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t)
1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: "The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma" (Louis Auchincloss).
2.
a. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
b. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.

Front 3

macabre

Back 3

adj.
1. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome: macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle Ages. See Synonyms at ghastly.
2. Constituting or including a representation of death.

Front 4

welter

Back 4

n.
1. A confused mass; a jumble: a welter of papers and magazines.
2. Confusion; turmoil.
intr.v. wel·tered, wel·ter·ing, wel·ters
1. To wallow, roll, or toss about, as in mud or high seas.
2. To lie soaked in a liquid.
3. To roll and surge, as the sea.

Front 5

gantry

Back 5

n. pl. gan·tries
1. A mount for a traveling crane consisting of a large archlike or bridgelike frame designed to move along a set of tracks.
2. A similar spanning frame supporting a group of railway signals over several tracks.
3. Aerospace A massive vertical frame structure used in assembling or servicing a rocket, especially at a launch site.
4. A support for a barrel lying on its side.

Front 6

vilify

Back 6

tr.v. vil·i·fied, vil·i·fy·ing, vil·i·fies
To make vicious and defamatory statements about.

Front 7

vitiate

Back 7

tr.v. vi·ti·at·ed, vi·ti·at·ing, vi·ti·ates
1. To reduce the value or impair the quality of.
2. To corrupt morally; debase.
3. To make ineffective; invalidate.

Front 8

Centrifugal

Back 8

adj.
1. Moving or directed away from a center or axis.
2. Operated by means of centrifugal force.
3. Physiology Transmitting nerve impulses away from the central nervous system; efferent.
4. Botany Developing or progressing outward from a center or axis, as in a flower cluster in which the oldest flowers are in the center and the youngest flowers are near the edge.
5. Tending or directed away from centralization, as of authority: "The division of Europe into two warring blocs, each ultimately dependent on a superpower patron, is subject to ever-increasing centrifugal stress" (Scott Sullivan).

Front 9

centripetal

Back 9

adj.
1. Moving or directed toward a center or axis.
2. Operated by means of centripetal force.
3. Physiology Transmitting nerve impulses toward the central nervous system; afferent.
4. Botany Developing or progressing inward toward the center or axis, as in the head of a sunflower, in which the oldest flowers are near the edge and the youngest flowers are in the center.
5. Tending or directed toward centralization: the centripetal effects of a homogeneous population.

Front 10

Prosing

Back 10

n.
1. Ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure.
2. Commonplace expression or quality.
3. Roman Catholic Church A hymn of irregular meter sung before the Gospel.
intr.v. prosed, pros·ing, pros·es
1. To write prose.
2. To speak or write in a dull, tiresome style.

Front 11

alacrity

Back 11

n.
1. Cheerful willingness; eagerness.
2. Speed or quickness; celerity.

Front 12

scruples

Back 12

n.
1. An uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle that tends to hinder action. See Synonyms at qualm.
2. Abbr. sc. or scr. A unit of apothecary weight equal to about 1.3 grams, or 20 grains.
3. A minute part or amount.
intr.v. scru·pled, scru·pling, scru·ples
To hesitate as a result of conscience or principle: "A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket" (John Dennis).

Front 13

fulminate

Back 13

v.intr.
1. To issue a thunderous verbal attack or denunciation: fulminated against political chicanery.
2. To explode or detonate.
v.tr.
1. To issue (a denunciation, for example) thunderously.
2. To cause to explode.
n.
An explosive salt of fulminic acid, especially fulminate of mercury.

Front 14

pother

Back 14

n.
1. A commotion; a disturbance.
2. A state of nervous activity; a fuss.
3. A cloud of smoke or dust that chokes or smothers.
v. poth·ered, poth·er·ing, poth·ers
v.tr.
To make confused; trouble; worry.
v.intr.
To be overly concerned with trifles; fuss.

Front 15

banal

Back 15

adj.
Drearily commonplace and often predictable; trite: "Blunt language cannot hide a banal conception" (James Wolcott).

Front 16

crux

Back 16

n. pl. crux·es or cru·ces (krsz)
1. The basic, central, or critical point or feature: the crux of the matter; the crux of an argument.
2. A puzzling or apparently insoluble problem.

Front 17

amorous

Back 17

adj.
1. Strongly attracted or disposed to love, especially sexual love.
2. Indicative of love or sexual desire: an amorous glance.
3. Of or associated with love: an amorous poem.
4. Being in love; enamored: He had been amorous of her since the day they met.

Front 18

pusillanimous

Back 18

adj.
Lacking courage; cowardly.

Front 19

axiomatic

Back 19

adj.
Of, relating to, or resembling an axiom; self-evident: "It's axiomatic in politics that voters won't throw out a presidential incumbent unless they think his challenger will clean house" (Peter Grier).

Front 20

axiom

Back 20

n.
1. A self-evident or universally recognized truth; a maxim: "It is an economic axiom as old as the hills that goods and services can be paid for only with goods and services" (Albert Jay Nock).
2. An established rule, principle, or law.
3. A self-evident principle or one that is accepted as true without proof as the basis for argument; a postulate.

Front 21

factitious

Back 21

adj.
1. Produced artificially rather than by a natural process.
2. Lacking authenticity or genuineness; sham: speculators responsible for the factitious value of some stocks.

Front 22

jocular

Back 22

adj.
1. Characterized by joking.
2. Given to joking.

Front 23

peevish

Back 23

adj.
1.
a. Querulous or discontented.
b. Ill-tempered.
2. Contrary; fractious.

Front 24

Querulous

Back 24

adj.
1. Given to complaining; peevish.
2. Expressing a complaint or grievance; grumbling: a querulous voice; querulous comments.

Front 25

askesis

Back 25

n.
1. The principles and practices of an ascetic; extreme self-denial and austerity.
2. The doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine.