Words I Didn't Know 2

Front 1

Protean

Back 1

frequently/easily changing
versatile

Front 2

Sartorial

Back 2

To do with clothing or fashion

ex. sartorial elegance

Front 3

saturnine

Back 3

gloomy, moody, glum

ex. a saturnine face

Front 4

jaundice/jaundiced

Back 4

envious

ex. she was jaundiced towards her much more successful friend.

Front 5

jejune

Back 5

dull

childish, immature

ex. a jejune speech. a jejune tantrum

Front 6

sanguinary

Back 6

bloodbath, carnage

Front 7

virago

Back 7

an ill-tempered sometimes violent woman

ex. until she gets her morning coffee, Sarah is a complete virago.

Front 8

latitude

Back 8

scope for freedom of action or thought

Front 9

syncretic

Back 9

mixing schools of thought

ex. a syncretic approach to psychology or to religion

Front 10

apostasy
apostate

Back 10

the act of turning against your faith/political party
someone who turns against his faith/political party

ex. he is an apostate of the Republic party because its views became too extreme for his tastes.

Front 11

sybarite

Back 11

someone who indulges in luxury

ex. marcus can afford to be a sybarite because his family is loaded.

Front 12

defray

Back 12

to help pay the cost of

ex. my family helped defray my college tuition

Front 13

pittance

Back 13

a negligible amount of money

Front 14

mulct

Back 14

to dupe or swindle
to fine

Front 15

apotheosis

Back 15

the highest point
the apogee

Front 16

untoward

Back 16

inconvenient or not favorable

Front 17

underwrite

Back 17

support financially

Front 18

overweening

Back 18

showing excessive confidence/pride

ex. overweening ambition

Front 19

jingoist

Back 19

hawkish
patriotic and encouraging war

Front 20

cow

Back 20

to intimidate

ex. I was so cowed by the number of stares, that I temporarily lost the ability to speak.

Front 21

palimpsest

Back 21

something that has changed many times but on which you can still see the past versions

ex. the set up of the city was a palimpsest of the different architectural trends throughout history.

Front 22

serendipity

Back 22

happy chance

Front 23

screed

Back 23

a hackneyed rant

ex. she was given to breaking out over and over again into tired screed about the same old subjects.

Front 24

hodgepodge

Back 24

a confusing jumble

Front 25

aboveboard

Back 25

honest and open

ex. the current president follows aboveboard tactics when faced with controversial accusations--he tells the truth, no matter the consequences.

Front 26

Thoroughgoing

Back 26

absolute

ex. She is a thoroughgoing connoisseur of music.

Front 27

phantasmagorical

Back 27

a series of images that seem like they're in your head (could be real or in your dream)

Front 28

mettlesome

mettle

Back 28

brave, resilient

courage

Front 29

amiable

affable

Back 29

friendly (person)

Front 30

amicable

Back 30

friendly (relationship)

Front 31

amenable

Back 31

easily persuaded

ex. when I've made a plan, I am not amenable.

Front 32

abase

Back 32

put down

Front 33

piecemeal

Back 33

done in partial measures, taken over time

Front 34

amorphous

Back 34

shapeless
lacking organization or structure

Front 35

descry

Back 35

discern or discover

Front 36

assimilate

Back 36

take in, absorb
fully understand
adapt

Front 37

salient

Back 37

clear, obvious

Front 38

occcult

Back 38

hidden

Front 39

sententious

Back 39

self-righteous
given to excessive moralizing rhetoric

ex. a sententious speech

Front 40

fleetly

Back 40

swiftly