English Vocabulary Words Page 3

Front 1

Ante-bellum

Back 1

"before-the-war," in U.S., usually in ref. to Amer. Civil War (1861-65)
When most people think of the ante-bellum South, they envision extensive slave plantations and ornate mansions.

Front 2

Synchronicity

Back 2

the state or fact of being synchronous or simultaneous; coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related
The movie “Magnolia” plays on the synchronicity evident in every day life as nine lives are intertwined and underlying connections emerge.

Front 3

Abrogate

Back 3

to abolish by formal or official means, repeal; to put aside, put an end to
The Eighteenth Amendment that created the American period of Prohibition was abrogated in 1933 with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment.

Front 4

Ethos

Back 4

the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion
In the Greek ethos, the individual was highly valued.

Front 5

Thaumaturgist

Back 5

a worker of wonders or miracles; magician
The thaumaturgist cured the little boy of leukemia and claimed that the deed was only a trivial miracle in comparison to his other wonders.

Front 6

Peripatetic

Back 6

a person who walks or travels about; walking or traveling about, itinerant; (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to Aristotle, who taught philosophy while walking in the Lyceum of ancient Athens; of or pertaining to the Aristotelian school of philosophy.
A peripatetic who travels the world is likely to be much more knowledgeable in international cultures and affairs than an apathetic person who isn’t in contact with the outside world.

Front 7

Amenable

Back 7

capable of submission (as to judgment or test); readily brought to yield, submit, or cooperate, willing
The college graduate, being away from her family for four years, was amenable to spending more time at home.

Front 8

Gigolo

Back 8

a man supported by a woman usually in return for his attentions; a professional dancing partner or male escort
When the gigolo finished his jig on the dance floor with the well-to-to woman, she complemented him and told him he would be getting extra pay for the night.

Front 9

Expectorate

Back 9

to eject from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting; spit
The woman coughed and expectorated behind a shield of gray hair, and the man in the waiting room inferred that she was at the hospital as a result of smoking.

Front 10

Laconic

Back 10

using or involving the use of a minimum of words; concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious
To the Spanish teacher’s questions, the student always gave a laconic reply in his attempt to evade the issue of trying to say something he did not possess the vocabulary for.

Front 11

Corybantic

Back 11

being in the spirit or manner of a Corybant; wild, frenzied
My father’s corybantic dancing embarrasses me extensively, and after his periods of frenzy, he ends up being the only person on the dance floor.

Front 12

Cadre

Back 12

a nucleus or core group especially of trained personnel able to assume control and to train others; a group of people having some unifying relationship
The cadre of lawyers inspected the case, working together to get substantial evidence.

Front 13

Gauche

Back 13

lacking social experience or grace; not tactful, crude; crudely made or done; not planar
When working as a cashier, it is gauche to mention the subject of politics or the economy.

Front 14

Étude

Back 14

a piece of music for the practice of a point of technique; a composition built on a technical motive but played for its artistic value
The Chopin études are the basis of an avant-garde system of challenging, technical piano playing.

Front 15

Coup de grace

Back 15

“stroke of mercy”; a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded; a decisive finishing blow, act, or event
For substantial change to occur in the behavior of the masses, some people believe there must be a coup de grace to the environment.

Front 16

Dénouement

Back 16

the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work; the outcome of a complex sequence of events
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Front 17

En masse

Back 17

in a mass; all together; as a group; in general
Anxiously waiting for the PSATs to start and the building to open, when someone walked by inside, the students rushed to the doors en masse.

Front 18

Canaille

Back 18

riffraff; rabble; common people
I prefer to ride the subway with the canaille than to sit in the back of a limo alone.

Front 19

Factotum

Back 19

a person, as a handyman or servant, employed to do all kinds of work around the house; any employee or official having many different responsibilities.
The factotum lived by the Latin derivative of his position – he did everything and had many responsibilities.

Front 20

De facto

Back 20

in fact; in reality; actually existing, esp. when without lawful authority
Abercrombie and Fitch was accused of having de facto segregation during the employment process, favoring toned blondes.

Front 21

Idée fixe

Back 21

a fixed idea; an obsession
The fear that she was going to fail became such an idée fixe for Tabitha that she could think of nothing else, and ended up fulfilling vision.

Front 22

Paean

Back 22

any song of praise, joy, or triumph; a hymn of invocation or thanksgiving to Apollo or some other ancient Greek deity
The art, being laden with praising images of various deities, was a paean to paganism.

Front 23

Picayune

Back 23

trivial, nimio, insignificante; petty, carping, or prejudice
The amount of friction between the road and the body was such a picayune amount that we disregarded it when figuring out the physics problem.

Front 24

Abattoir

Back 24

a slaughterhouse
My boyfriend was in the first line at the abattoir, where she took a sledgehammer and stunned the cows.

Front 25

Hortative

Back 25

urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting, encouraging
Before the pupil left, his teacher spoke to him hortatively, urging him to better himself and his life by improving his work ethic.

Front 26

Obsequious

Back 26

marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness; obedient, dutiful
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Front 27

Temerity

Back 27

reckless boldness; rashness
From the moment she locked eyes with him, she noticed his aura of temerity and wasn’t surprised when he came up to her and asked for her number.

Front 28

Cohort

Back 28

a group of warriors or soldier; band, group; a group of individuals having a statistical factor (as age or class membership) in common in a demographic study; companion, colleague
A cohort of premedical students got together before every test and studied, ate, and gossiped with each other.

Front 29

Imprecations

Back 29

the act of cursing; a curse; malediction
Marie Antoinette had to endure the imprecations of the canaille because of her notorious excesses and lavish indulgences.