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35 Cards in this Set
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DERIDE (di RYDE) v
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to ridicule; to laugh at contemptuously
Geraldo derided Diana’s driving ability after their hair-raising trip down the twisting mountain road. |
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DEROGATORY (dih RAHG uh tor ee) adj
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disapproving; degrading
Stephen could never seem to think of anything nice to say about any one; virtually all of his comments were derogatory. |
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DESICCATE (DES uh kayt) v
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to dry out
The hot wind desiccated the few grapes remaining on the vine; after a day or two, they looked like raisins. |
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DESPONDENT (dih SPAHN dunt) adj
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extremely depressed; full of despair
The cook became despondent when the wedding cake exploded fifteen minutes before the reception. |
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DESPOT (DES puht) n
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an absolute ruler; an autocrat
Stephen was a despot; workers who disagreed with him were fired. |
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DESTITUTE (DES tuh toot) adj
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extremely poor; utterly lacking
To be left destitute is to be left without money or property. The word can also be used figuratively. A teacher might accuse her students of being destitute of brains, or intellectually destitute. |
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DESULTORY (DES ul tor ee) adj
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without a plan or purpose; disconnected; random
Aadi made a few desultory attempts to start a garden, but nothing came of them. |
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DEXTROUS (DEX trus) adj
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skillful; adroit
Though not imposing in stature, Rashid was the most dextrous basketball player on the court; he often beat taller competitors with his nimble management of the ball. |
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DIALECTICAL (dye uh LEK ti kul) adj
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relating to discussions; relating to the rules and methods of reasoning; approaching truth in the middle of opposing extremes
The game of Twenty Questions is dialectical, in that the participants attempt to narrow down a chosen object by asking a series of ever more specific questions. |
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DICTUM (DIK tum) n
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an authoritative saying; an adage; a maxim; a proverb
“No pain, no gain” is a hackneyed dictum of sadistic coaches every where. |
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DIDACTIC (dye DAK tik) adj
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intended to teach; morally in structive; pedantic
Luther’s seemingly amusing talk had a didactic purpose; he was trying to show his listeners the difference between right and wrong. |
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DIFFIDENT (DIF i dunt) adj
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timid; lacking in self-confidence
Diffident and confident are opposites. The diffident student never made a single comment in class. |
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DIGRESS (dye GRES) v
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to stray from the main subject
When a speaker digresses, he departs from the main topic and tells a story only distantly related to it. |
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DILETTANTE (DIL uh tahnt) n
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someone with superficial knowledge of the arts; an amateur; a dabbler
Reginald said he was an artist, but he was merely a dilettante; he didn’t know a pencil from a paintbrush. |
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DISCERN (dih SURN) v
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to have insight; to see things clearly; to discriminate; to differentiate
The ill-mannered people at Tisha’s party proved that she had little discernment when it came to choosing friends. |
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DISCREET (dih SKREET) adj
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prudent; judiciously reserved
The psychiatrist was very discreet; no matter how much we pestered him, he wouldn’t gossip about the problems of his famous patients. |
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DISCRETE (dih SKREET) adj
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unconnected; separate; distinct
Do not confuse discrete with discreet. The drop in the stock market was not the result of any single force but of many discrete trends. |
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DISCRIMINATE (dih SKRIM uh nayt) v
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to notice or point out the difference between two or more things; to discern; to differentiate
A person with a refined aesthetic sense is able to discriminate subtle differences where a less observant person would see nothing. |
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DISDAIN (dis DAYN) n
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arrogant scorn; contempt
Bertram viewed the hot dog with disdain, believing that to eat such a disgusting food was beneath him. |
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DISINTERESTED (dis IN truh stid) adj
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not taking sides; unbiased
Disinterested should not be used to mean uninterested. A referee should be disinterested. He or she should not be rooting for one of the competing teams. |
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DISPARAGE (dih SPAR ij) v
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to belittle; to say uncomplimentary things about, usually in a somewhat indirect way
The mayor disparaged our efforts to beautify the town square by saying that the flower bed we had planted looked somewhat worse than the bed of weeds it had replaced. |
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DISPARATE (DIS pur it) adj
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different; incompatible; unequal
Our interests were disparate: Cathy liked to play with dolls and I liked to throw her dolls out the window. |
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DISSEMINATE (dih SEM uh nayt) v
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to spread the seeds of something; to scatter; to make widely known
News is disseminated through many media: radio, television, news-papers, magazines, and gossips. |
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DISSIPATE (DIS uh payt) v
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to thin out, drift away, or dissolve; to cause to thin out, drift away, or dissolve; to waste or squander
The smoke dissipated as soon as we opened the windows. |
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DISSOLUTION (dis uh LOO shun) n
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the breaking up or dissolving of something into parts; disintegration
Nothing could prevent the dissolution of the Jesse Ventura Fan Club after he retired to seek a political career. |
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DISTEND (di STEND) v
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to swell; to extend a great deal
The tire distended alarmingly as the forgetful gas station attendant kept pumping more and more air into it. |
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DISTINGUISH (di STING gwish) v
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to tell apart; to cause to stand out
I studied and studied but I was never able to distinguish between discrete and discreet. |
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DOCILE (DAHS ul) adj
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easily taught; obedient; easy to handle
The docile students quietly memorized all the lessons their teacher told them. |
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DOCTRINAIRE (dahk truh NAYR) adj
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inflexibly committed to a doctrine or theory without regard to its practicality; dogmatic
A doctrinaire supporter of manned space flights to Pluto would be someone who supported such space flights even though it might be shown that such lengthy journeys could never be undertaken. |
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DOGMATIC (dawg MAT ik) adj
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arrogantly assertive of unproven ideas; stubbornly claiming that something (often a system of beliefs) is beyond dispute
Marty is dogmatic on the subject of the creation of the world; he sneers at anyone whose views are not identical to his. |
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DOMESTIC (duh MES tik) adj
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having to do with the household or family; not foreign
To be domestic is to enjoy being at home or to be skillful at doing things around the house. |
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DORMANT (DOR munt) adj
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inactive; as though asleep; asleep
Mt. Vesuvius erupted violently and then fell dormant for several hundred years. |
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DUBIOUS (DOO bee us) adj
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full of doubt; uncertain
I was fairly certain that I would be able to fly if I could merely flap my arms hard enough, but Mary was dubious; she said I’d better flap my legs as well. |
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DUPLICITY (doo PLIS uh tee) n
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the act of being two-faced; double-dealing; deception
Liars engage in duplicity all the time; they say one thing and do another. |
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EBULLIENT (ih BUL yunt) adj
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boiling; bubbling with excitement; exuberant
Cammie was ebullient when her fairy godmother said she could use one of her three wishes to wish for three more wishes. A boiling liquid can be called ebullient. More often, though, this word describes excited or enthusiastic people. |