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279 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Abash
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v. to make ashamed; to embarrass
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Abate
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v. to subside; to reduce
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Abdicate
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v. to step down from a position of power or responsibility
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Aberration
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n. something not typical; a deviation from the standard
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Abhor
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v. to hate very, very much; to detest
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Abject
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adj. hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated
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Abnegate
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v. to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce
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Abortive
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adj. unsuccessful
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Abridge
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v. to shorten; to condense
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Absolute
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adj. total; unlimited; perfect
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Absolve
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v. to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation
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Abstinent
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adj. voluntary not doing something, especially something pleasant that is bad for you or has a bad reputation
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Abstract
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adj. theoretical; impersonal
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Abstruse
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adj. hard to understand
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Abysmal
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adj. extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless
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Accolade
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n. an award; an honor
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Accost
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v. to approach and speak to someone aggressively
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Acerbic
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adj. bitter; sour; severe
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Acquiesce
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v. to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree
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Acrid
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adj. harsh; like acid
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Acrimonious
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adj. full of spite; bitter; nasty
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Acumen
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n. keenness of judgement; mental sharpness
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Acute
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adj. sharp; shrewd
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Adulation
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n. wild or excessive admiration; flattery
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Adamant
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adj. stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible
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Address
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v. to speak to; to direct one's attention to
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Adherent
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n. follower; supporter; believer
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Admonish
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v. to scold gently; to warn
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Adroit
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adj. skillful; dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease
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Adulterate
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v. to contaminate; to make impure
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Adverse
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adj. unfavorable; antagonistic
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Averse
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adj. to be opposed to
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Aesthetic
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adj. having to do with artistic beauty
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Affable
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adj. easy to talk to; friendly
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Affectation
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n. unnatural or artifical behavior, usually intended to impress
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Affinity
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n. sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity
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Affluent
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adj. rich; prosperous
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Agenda
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n. program
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Aggregate
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n. sum total; a collection of seperate things mixed together
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Agnostic
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n. one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven
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Agrarian
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adj. relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land
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Alacrity
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n. cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond
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Allege
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v. to assert without proof
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Alleviate
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v. to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen
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Allocate
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v. to distribute; to assign; to allot
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Alloy
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n. a combination of two or more things, usually metals
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Allusion
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n. an indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint
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Aloof
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adj. uninvolved; standing off; keeping one's distance
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Altruism
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n. selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others
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Ambience
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n. atmosphere; mood; feeling
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Ambiguous
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adj. unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways
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Ambivalent
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adj. undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously
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Ameliorate
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v. to make better or more tolerable
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Amenable
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adj. obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable
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Amenity
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adj. pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature
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Amiable
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adj. friendly; agreeable
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Amnesty
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n. an official pardon for a group of people have violated a law or policy
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Amicable
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adj. politely friendly, not hostile
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Amoral
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adj. lacking a sense of right or wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral or immoral; without moral feelings
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Amorous
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adj. feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love
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Amorphous
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adj. shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike
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Anachronism
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n. something out of place in time or history; an incongruity
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Analogy
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n. a comparison of one thing to another; similarity
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Anarchy
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n. absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder
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Anecdote
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n. a short account of a humorous or revealing incident
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Anguish
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n. agonizing physical or mental pain
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Animosity
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n. resentment; hostility; ill will
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Anomaly
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n. an abberation; an irregularity; a deviation
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Antecedent
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n. someone or something that went before
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Antipathy
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n. firm dislike
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Antithesis
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n. the direct opposite
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Apartheid
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n. the abhorrent policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa
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Apathy
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n. lack of interest; lack of feeling
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Aphorism
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n. a brief, often witty saying; a proverb
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Apocalypse
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n. a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world
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Apocryphal
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n. of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious
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Apotheosis
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n. elevation to divine status; the perfect example of something
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Appease
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v. to soothe; to pacify by giving in to
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Appreciate
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v. to increase in value
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Apprehensive
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adj. worried; anxious
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Approbation
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n. approval; praise
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Appropriate
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v. to take without permission; to set aside for a particular use
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Aptitude
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n. capacity for learning; natural ability
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Arbiter
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n. one who decides; a judge
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Arbitrary
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adj. random; capricious
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Arcane
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adj. mysterious; known only to a select few
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Archaic
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adj. extremely old; ancient; outdated
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Archetype
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n. an original model or pattern
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Ardent
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adj. passionate; enthusiastic
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Arduous
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adj. hard; difficult
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Aristocratic
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adj. of noble birth; snobbish
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Artful
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adj. crafty; wily; sly
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Artifice
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n. a clever trick; cunning
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Ascendancy
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n. supremacy; domination
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Ascetic
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adj. hermitlike; practicing self-denial
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Assiduous
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adj. hardworking; busy; quite diligent
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Assimilate
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v. to take in; to absorb; to learn thoroughly
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Assauge
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v. to soothe, to pacify; to ease the pain of; to relieve
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Astute
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adj. shrewd; keen in judgement
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Attrition
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n. gradual wearing away, weakening or loss; a natural or expected decrease in numbers or size
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Audacity
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n. boldness; reckless daring; impertinence
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Augment
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v. to make bigger; to add to; to increase
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Auspicious
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adj. favorable; promising; pointing to a good result
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Austere
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adj. unadorned; stern; forbidding; without excess
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Autocratic
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adj. ruling with absolute authority; extremely bossy
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Autonomous
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adj. acting independently
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Avarice
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n. greed; excessive love of riches
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Avow
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v. to claim; to declare boldly; to admit
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Avuncular
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adj. like an uncle, especially a nice uncle
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Awry
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adj. off course; twisted to one side
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Axiom
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n. a self-evident rule of truth; a widely accepted saying
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Banal
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adj. unoriginal; ordinary
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Bane
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n. poison; torment; cause of harm
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Bastion
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n. stronghold; fortress; fortified place
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Beget
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v. to give birth to; to create; to lead to; to cause
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Belabor
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v. to go over repeatedly or to an absurd extent
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Beleaguer
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v. to surround; to besiege; to harass
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Belie
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v. to give a false impression of; to contradict
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Belittle
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v. to make to seem little; to put someone down
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Belligerent
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adj. combative; quarrelsome; waging war
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Bemused
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adj. confused; bewildered
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Benefactor
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n. one who provides help, especially in the form of a gift or donation
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Beneficiary
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n. one who receives benefits
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Benevolent
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adj. generous; kind; doing good deeds
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Benign
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adj. gentle; not harmful; kind; mild
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Bequest
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n. something left to someone in a will
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Bequeath
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v. to leave something to someone in a will
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Bereaved
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adj. deprived or left desolate, especially through death
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Beset
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v. to harass; to surround
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Blasphemy
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n. irreverence; an insult to something held sacred; profanity
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Blatant
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adj. unpleasantly or offensively noisy; glaring
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Blight
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n. a disease in plants; anything that injures or destroys
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Blithe
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adj. carefree; cheerful
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Bourgeois
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adj. middle class, usually in a pejorative sense; boringly conventional
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Bovine
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adj. cow related; cowlike
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Canine
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dogs
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Brevity
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n. briefness
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Broach
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v. to open up a subject for discussion, often a delicate subject
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Bucolic
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adj. charmingly rural; rustic; countrylike
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Bureaucracy
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n. a system of government administration consisting of numerous bureaus or offices, especially one run according to inflexible and inefficient rules
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Burgeon
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v. to expand; to flourish
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Burlesque
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n. a ludicrous, mocking, or exaggerated imitation
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Cacophony
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n. harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds
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Cadence
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n. rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds
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Cajole
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v. to persuade someone to do something he or she doesn't want to do
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Callow
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adj. immature
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Candor
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n. truthfulness; sincere honesty
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Capitalism
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n. free enterprise; an economic system in which businesses are owned by private citizens (not by the government)
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Capitulate
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v. to surrender; to give up or give in
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Capricious
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adj. unpredictable; likely to change at any moment
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Caricature
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n. a portrait or description that is purposely distorted or exaggerated
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Castigate
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v. to criticize severely; to chastise
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Catalyst
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n. in chemistry, something that changes the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being changed; anyone or anything that makes something happen without being directly involved in it
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Categorical
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adj. unconditional; absolute
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Catharsis
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n. purification that brings emotional relief or renewal
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Catholic
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adj. universal; embracing everything
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Caustic
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adj. like acid; corrosive
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Celibacy
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n. abstinence from sex
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Censure
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v. to condemn severely for doing something bad
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Cerebral
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adj. brainy; intelectually refined
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Chagrin
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n. humiliation; embarrassed dissappointment
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Charisma
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n. a magical-seeming ability to attract folloers or inspire loyalty
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Charlatan
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n. fraud; quack; con man
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Chasm
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n. a deep, gaping hole; a gorge
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Chastise
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v. to inflict punishment on; to dicipline
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Chicanery
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n. trickery; deceitfulness; artifice, especially legal or political
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Chimera
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n. an illusion; a foolish fancy
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Choleric
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adj. hot-tempered; quick to anger
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Chronic
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adj. constant; lasting a long time; inveterate
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Chronological
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Chronology
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Chronicle
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n. a record of events in order of time; a history
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Circuitous
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adj. roundabout; not following a direct path
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Circumlocution
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n. an indirect expression; use of wordy or evasive language
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Circumscribe
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v. to draw a line around; to set the limits; to define; to restrict
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Circumspect
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adj. cautious
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Circumvent
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v. to frustrate as through by surrounding
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Civil
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adj. polite; civilized; courteous
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Clemency
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n. mercy; forgiveness; mildness
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Cliche
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n. an overused saying or idea
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Clique
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n. an exclusive group bound together by some shared interest or quality
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Coalesce
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v. to come otgehter as one; to fuse
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Coalition
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n. group with a purpose
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Coerce
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v. to force someone to do or not to do something
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Cogent
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adj. powerfully convincing
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Cognitive
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adj. dealing with how we know the world around us through our senses; mental
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Cognizant
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adj. aware; conscious
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Coherent
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adj. holding together; making sense
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Colloquial
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adj. conversational; informal in language
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Collusion
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n. conspiracy; secret cooperation
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Commensurate
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adj. equal; proportionate
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Compelling
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adj. forceful; causing to yield
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Compendium
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n. a summary; an abridgement
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Complacent
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adj. self-satisfied; overly pleased with oneself; contented to a fault
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Complement
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v. to complete or fill up; to be the perfect counterpart
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Complicity
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n. participation in wrongdoing; the act of being an accomplice
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Comprehensive
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adj. covering or including everything
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Comprise
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Compose
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v. make up
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Conciliatory
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adj. making peace; attempting to resolve a dispute through goodwill
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Concise
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adj. brief and to the point; succinct
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Concord
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n. harmony; agreement
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Concurrent
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adj. happening at the same time; parallel
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Condescend
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v. to stoop to someone else's level, usually in an offensive way; to patronize
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Condone
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v. to overlook; to permit to happen
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Conducive
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adj. promoting
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Confluence
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n. a flowing together, especially of rivers; the place where they begin to flower together
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Congenial
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adj. agreeably suitable; pleasant
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Congenital
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adj. describing a trait or condition acquired between conception and birth; innate
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Congregate
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v. get together
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Conjecture
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v. to guess; to deduce or infer on slight evidence
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Conjure
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v. to summon or bring into being as if by magic
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Connoisseur
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n. an expert, particularly in matters of art or taste
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Consecrate
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v. to make or declare sacred
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Consensus
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n. unanimity or general agreement
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Consonant
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adj. harmonious; in agreement
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Construe
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v. to interpret
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Consumate
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adj. perfect; complete; supremely skillful
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Contentious
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adj. argumentative; quarrelsome
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Contiguous
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adj. side by side; adjoining
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Contingent
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adj. dependent; possible
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Contrite
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adj. admitting guilt; especially feeling remorseful
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Contrived
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adj. artificial; labored
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Conventional
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adj. common; customary; unexceptional
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Convivial
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adj. fond of partying; festive
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Copious
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adj. abundant; plentiful
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Corollary
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n. something that follows; a natural consequence
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Corroborate
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v. to confirm; to back up with evidence
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Cosmopolitan
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adj. at home in many places or situations; internationally sophisticated
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Countenance
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n. face; facial expression, especially an encouraging one
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Coup
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n. a brilliant victory or accomplishment; the violent overthrow of a government by a small internal group
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Covenant
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n. a solemn agreement; a contract; a pledge
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Covert
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adj. secret; hidden
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Covet
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v. to wish for enviously
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Credulous
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adj. eager to believe; gullible
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credible
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adj. believable
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Criterion
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n. standard; basis for judgement
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Cryptic
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adj. mysterious; mystifying
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Culinary
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adj. relating to cooking or the kitchen
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Culminate
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v. to climax; to reach full effect
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Culpable
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adj. deserving blame; guilty
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Cursory
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adj. hasty; superficial
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Curtail
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v. to shorten; to cut short
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Cynic
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n. one who deeply distrusts human nature; one who believes humans are motivated only by selfishness
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Daunt
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v. to make fearful; to intimidate
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Dearth
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n. lack; scarcity
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Debacle
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n. violent breakdown; sudden overthrow; overwhelming defeat
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Debauchery
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n. wild living; excessive intemperance
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Debauch
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v. to seduce or corrupt
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Debilitate
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v. to weaken; to cripple
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Decadent
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adj. decaying or decayed. especially in terms of morals
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Decimate
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v. to kill or destroy a large part of
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Decorous
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adj. proper; in good taste; orderly
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Deduce
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v. to conclude from the evidence; to infer
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Defame
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v. to libel or slander; to ruin the good name of
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Deference
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n. submission to another's will; respect; courtesy
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Definitive
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adj. conclusive; providing the last word
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Degenerate
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v. to break down; to deteriorate
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Deleterious
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adj. harmful
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Delineate
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v. to describe accurately; to draw in outline
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Delude
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v. to deceive
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Deluge
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n. a flood; an inundation
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Demagogue
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n. a leader of the people, but more a rabble rouser
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Denizen
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n. inhabitant
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Depravity
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n. extreme wickedness or corruption
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Deprecate
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v. to express disapproval of
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Deride
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v. to ridicule; to laugh at contemptuously
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Derogatory
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adj. disapproving; degrading
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Desiccate
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v. to dry out
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Despondent
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adj. extremely depressed; full of despair
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Despot
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n. an absolute ruler; an autocrat
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Destitute
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adj. extremely poor; utterly lacking
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Desultory
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adj. without a plan or purpose; disconnected; random
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Dialectical
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adj. relating to discussions; relating to the rules and methods of reasoning; approaching truth in the middle of opposing extremes
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Dictum
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n. an authoritative saying; an adage; a maxim; a proverb
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Didactic
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adj. intended to teach; morally instructive; pedantic
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Diffident
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adj. timid; lacking in self-confidence
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Digress
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v. to stray from the main subject
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Dilettante
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n. someone with superficial knowledge of the arts; an amateur; a dabbler
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