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25 Cards in this Set
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AMBIVALENT (am BIV uh lunt) adj
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undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously
Susan felt ambivalent about George as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this ambivalence. |
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AMELIORATE (uh MEEL yuh rayt) v
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to make better or more tolerable
The mood of the prisoners was ameliorated when the warden gave them color television sets and keys to their cells. |
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AMENABLE (uh MEE nuh bul) adj
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obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of an other; agreeable
I suggested that Bert pay for my lunch as well as for his own; to my surprise, he was amenable. |
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AMENITY (uh MEN i tee) n
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pleasantness; attractive or com fort able feature
The amenities at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a fallout shelter. |
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AMIABLE (AY mee uh bul) adj
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friendly; agreeable
Our amiable guide made us feel right at home in what would other wise have been a cold and forbidding museum. |
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AMNESTY (AM nuh stee) n
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an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy
When a state government declares a tax amnesty, it is saying that if people pay the taxes they owe, the government will officially “forget” that they broke the law by not paying them in the first place. |
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AMORAL (ay MOR ul) adj
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lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral; without moral feelings
Very young children are amoral; when they cry, they aren’t being bad or good—they’re merely doing what they have to do. |
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AMOROUS (AM ur us) adj
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feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love
The amorous couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty amorous itself. It was about an amorous couple, one of whom died. |
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AMORPHOUS (uh MOR fus) adj
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shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike
The sleepy little town was engulfed by an amorphous blob of glowing protoplasm—a higher intelligence from outer space. |
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ANACHRONISM (uh NAK ruh niz um) n
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something out of place in time or history; an incongruity
In this day of impersonal hospitals, a family doctor who will visit you at home seems like an anachronism. |
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ANALOGY (uh NAL uh jee) n
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a comparison of one thing to another; similarity
To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw an analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite. |
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ANARCHY (AN ur kee) n
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absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder
The country fell into a state of anarchy after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol. |
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ANECDOTE (AN ik doht) n
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a short account of a humorous or revealing incident
The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with anecdote after anecdote about her cute little dog. |
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ANGUISH (ANG gwish) n
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agonizing physical or mental pain
Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for twenty years, but she had never gotten used to the anguish of accident victims. |
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ANIMOSITY (an uh MAHS uh tee) n
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resentment; hostility; ill will
The rivals for the state championship felt great animosity to ward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled. |
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ANOMALY (uh NAHM uh lee) n
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an aberration; an irregularity; a deviation
A snowy winter day is not an anomaly, but a snowy July day is. |
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ANTECEDENT (an tuh SEED unt) n
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someone or something that went before; something that provides a model for something that came after it
Your parents and grandparents could be said to be your antecedents; they came before you. |
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ANTIPATHY (an TIP uh thee) n
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firm dislike; a dislike
I feel antipathy toward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I also feel a certain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite antipathetic. |
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ANTITHESIS (an TITH uh sis) n
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the direct opposite
Erin is the antithesis of Aaron: Erin is bright and beautiful; Aaron is dull and plain. |
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APARTHEID (uh PAHRT hyte) n
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the former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa
Under apartheid in South Africa, blacks were kept apart from whites and denied all rights. |
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APATHY (AP uh thee) n
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lack of interest; lack of feeling
The members of the student council accused the senior class of apathy because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big annual bake sale. |
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APHORISM (AF uh riz um) n
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a brief, often witty saying; a proverb
Benjamin Franklin was fond of aphorisms. He was frequently aphoristic. |
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APOCALYPSE (uh PAHK uh lips) n
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a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world
In strict usage, apocalypse refers to specific Christian writings, but most people use it more generally in connection with predictions of things like nuclear war, the destruction of the ozone layer, and the spread of fast-food restaurants to every corner of the universe. |
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APOCRYPHAL (uh POK ruh ful) n
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of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious
Brandi’s blog discredited the apocryphal report of Martians in Congress. |
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APOTHEOSIS (uh pahth ee OH sis) n
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elevation to divine status; the perfect example of something
Some people think that the Corvette is the apotheosis of American car making. They think it’s the ideal. |
