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167 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Obsequious (adj)
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Overly submissive and eager to please (compliant; deferential; servile; subservient)
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Obstinate
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Stubborn; unyielding (intransigent; mulish; persistent; pertinacious; tenacious)
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Obviate
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To prevent; to make unnecessary (forestall; preclude; prohibit)
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Occlude
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To stop up; to prevent the passage of (barricade; block; close; obstruct)
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Officious
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Too helpful; meddlesome (eager; intrusive; unwanted)
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Onerous (adj)
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troublesome and oppressive; burdensome (rigorous; arduous; backbreaking; cumbersome)
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Opaque
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Impossible to see through; preventing the passage of light (blurred; cloudy; nontransparent)
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Opine
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To express an opinion (voice; point-out)
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Opprobrium
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Public disgrace (discredit; disgrace; dishonor; disrepute; obloquy; shame)
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Orotund (adj)
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Pompous (bombastic; euphuistic; flowery; grandiloquent; overblown)
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Ossify
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To change into bone; to become hardened or set in a rigidly conventional pattern (i.e - cranium ossified)
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Ostensible (adj)
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apparent (represented; supposed; surface)
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Ostentation
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Excessive showiness (conspicuousness; flashiness; pretentiousness; showiness)
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Overwrought (adj)
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agitated; overdone
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Palatial
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Relating to a palace; magnificent (grand; stately)
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Palliate
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To make less serious; to ease (alleviate; assuage; extenuate; mitigate)
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Pallid (adj)
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Lacking color or liveliness (blanched; ashen; pale; wan)
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Panache
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Flamboyance or dash in style and action; verve (flair)
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Panegyric
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Elaborate praise; formal hymn of praise (compliment; homage)
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Panoply
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impressive array (display; fanfare; parade; pomp; shine; show)
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Paradox
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a contradiction or dilemma (ambiguity; incongruity)
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Paragon
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Model of excellence or perfection (apotheosis; ideal; quintessence)
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Pare
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To trim off excess; to reduce (clip; peel)
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Pariah
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an outcast (social pariah)
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Parley
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Discussion; usually between enemies (debate; dialogue; negotiations; talks)
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Parry (verb)
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To ward off or deflect, especially by a quick-witted answer (avoid; evade; repel)
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Pastiche
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A piece of literature or music imitating other works (i.e parody; medley; spoof)
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Pathogenic (adj)
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Causing disease (infecting; noxious)
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Peccadillo (noun)
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A minor sin or offense (failing; fault; lapse; misstep)
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Pedant (noun)
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Someone who shows off learning (pedantic; sophist; schoolmaster; scholar)
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Pejorative (noun)
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Having bad connotations; disparaging (belittling; dismissive; insulting)
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Penury (noun)
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severe poverty (impoverishment; destitution)
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Peregrinate (verb)
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To wander from place to place; to travel, especially on foot (journey; traverse; trek)
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Perfidious (adj)
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Willing to betray someone's trust (disloyal; faithless; traitorous; treacherous)
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Perfunctory (adj)
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Done in a routine way; indifferent; superficial (mechanical; apathetic; automatic)
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Peripatetic (adj)
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Wandering from place to place, especially on foot (itinerant; nomadic; wayfaring)
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Permeate (verb)
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To penetrate (imbue; infuse; pervade; suffuse)
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Perspicacious (adj)
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Shrewd, astute, or keen-witted (insightful; intelligent; sagacious)
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Pervade (verb)
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To be present throughout; to permeate (imbue; infuse; penetrate; permeate; suffuse)
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Phalanx (noun)
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A compact or close-knit body of people, animals, or things (legion; mass)
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Philanthropy (noun)
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Charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness (altruism; humanitarianism)
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Philistine
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A person who is guided by materialism and is disdainful of intellectual or artistic values (bourgeois, materialist, vulgarian)
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Phlegmatic (adj)
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Calm and unemotional in temperament (apathetic; impassive; passionless)
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Pithy
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Profound or substantial yet concise, succinct, and to the point (laconic, terse)
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Placate
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to soothe or pacify
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Plastic
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able to be molded, altered, or bent (adaptable; ductile; malleable; pliant)
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Plebeian (adj)
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Crude or coarse; characteristic of commoners (conventional; unrefined)
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Plethora
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Excess (glut; overabundance; superfluity; surfeit)
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Plucky (adj)
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courageous; spunky (brave; bold; gutsy)
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Precipitate (adj)
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thrown violently or brought about abruptly; lacking deliberation (impulsive; reckless; rash)
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Naive
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Artless; credulous; guileless; ingenuous
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Nascent
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Starting to develop; coming into existence (embryonic; emerging; inchoate; incipient)
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Neologism
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New word or expression (slang; coinage)
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Neophyte
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Novice; beginner (tyro; apprentice; greenhorn)
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Nettle
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To irritate (annoy; vex)
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Noisome
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Stinking; putrid (disgusting; foul; malodorous)
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Nominal
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existing in name only; negligible (minimal; titular)
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Nuance
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A subtle expression of meaning or quality (gradation; subtlety; tone)
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Numismatics
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Coin collecting
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Obdurate
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Hardened in feeling; resistant to persuasion (inflexible; intransigent; recalcitrant; rebellious; obstinate; tenacious; unyielding)
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Oblique
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Indirect or evasive; misleading or devious (glancing; slanted; tangential)
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Transitory
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Temporary; lasting a brief time (ephemeral; evanescent; fleeting; impermanent; momentary)
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Trenchant
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Acute; sharp; or incisive; forceful; effective (biting; caustic; cutting; keen)
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Turgid
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Swollen as from a fluid; bloated (distended)
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Tyro
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Beginner; novice (fledgling; neophyte; tenderfoot; greenhorn)
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Umbrage
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Offense; resentment (asperity; dudgeon; ire; pique; rancor)
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Unconscionable
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Unscrupulous; shockingly unfair or unjust (dishonorable; indefensible)
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Unequivocal
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Absolute; certain (categorical; clear; explicit; express; unambiguous)
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Upbraid
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To scold sharply ( berate; chide; rebuke; reproach; tax)
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Usury
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the practice of lending money at exorbitant rates (loan-sharking)
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Vacillate
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to physically sway; to be indecisive (dither; falter; fluctuate; oscillate; waver)
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Variegated
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Varied; marked with different colors (diversified)
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Venerable
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Respected because of age (distinguished; elderly; respectable)
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Venerate
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To respect deeply (adore; honor; idolize; revere)
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Veracity
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Filled with truth and accuracy (candor; exactitude; fidelity; probity)
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Verbose
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Wordy (long-winded; loquacious; prolix; superfluous)
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Verdant
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green with vegetation; inexperienced (grassy, leafy, wooded)
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Vernal
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related to spring; fresh (springlike; youthful)
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Vestige
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A trace; a remnant (relic; remains; sign)
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Vex
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to annoy, irritate, puzzle, or confuse (annoy; bother; chafe; exasperate; irk; nettle; peeve; provoke)
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Vicissitude
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a change or variation (inconstancy; mutability)
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Vim
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Vitality and energy (force; power)
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Viscous
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thick and adhesive; like a slow-flowing fluid (gelatinous; glutinous; thick)
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Vituperate
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to abuse verbally; to berate (castigate; reproach; scold)
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Volatile
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easily aroused or changeable; lively or explosive (capricious; erratic; fickle; inconsistent; inconstant; mercurial; temperamental)
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Voluble
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talkative; speaking easily; glib (loquacious; verbose)
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Wan
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sickly pale (ashen; sickly)
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Wanton
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Undisciplined; unrestrained; reckless (capricious; lewd; licentious)
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Waver
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To fluctuate between choices (dither; falter; fluctuate; oscillate; vacillate)
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Whimsical
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Lightly acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable (capricious; erratic; flippant; frivolous)
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Wily
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Clever; deceptive (crafty; cunning; tricky)
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Winsome
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Charming; happily engaging (attractive; delightful)
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Wizened
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Shriveled; withered; wrinkled (atrophied; desiccated; gnarled; wasted)
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Wraith
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A ghost or specter; a ghost of a living person seen just before his or her death (apparition; bogeyman; phantasm; shade; spirit)
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Xenophobia
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a fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers (bigotry; chauvinism; prejudice)
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Yoke
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To join together ( bind; harness; pair)
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Zeal
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Passion; excitement (ardency; fervor; fire; passion)
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Zealot
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Someone passionately devoted to a cause (enthusiast; fanatic; militant; radical)
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Zenith
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the point of culmination; peak (acme; pinnacle)
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Zephyr
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A gentle breeze; something airy or unsubstantial (breath; draft)
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Pedant
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Someone who shows off learning (doctrinaire; nit-picker; pedagogue; scholar; schoolmaster; sophist)
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Polemic
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Controversy; argument; verbal attack (denunciation; refutation)
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Politic (adj)
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Shrewd and practical in managing or dealing with things; diplomatic (tactful)
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Polyglot
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A speaker of many languages
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Posit
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To assume as real or conceded; to propose as an explanation (suggest)
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Potentate
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A monarch or ruler with great power (dominator; leader)
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Pragmatic (adj)
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Practical, as opposed to idealistic (rational; realistic)
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Prattle
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Meaningless; foolish talk (babble; blather; chatter; drivel; gibberish)
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Precis
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Short summary of facts
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Prescient (adj)
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Having foresight (Augural; divinatory; mantic; oracular; premonitory)
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Prevaricate
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To lie or deviate from the truth (equivocate; lie; perjure)
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Pristine (adj)
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Fresh and clean; uncorrupted (innocent; undamaged)
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Probity
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Complete honesty and integrity (morality; rectitude; uprightness; virtue)
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Proclivity
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A natural inclination or predisposition (bias; leaning; partiality; penchant; predilection; prejudice; propensity)
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Prodigal (adj)
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Lavish; wasteful (Extravagant; profligate; spendthrift)
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Profligate (adj)
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Corrupt; degenerate (dissolute; extravagant; improvident; prodigal; wasteful)
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Proliferate
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To increase in number quickly (breed; multiply; procreate; propagate; reproduce; spawn)
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Propitiate
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To conciliate; to appease (conciliate; mollify; pacify; placate)
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Propriety
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The quality of behaving in a proper manner; obeying rules and customs (appropriateness; decency; decorum; modesty)
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Prudence
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Wisdom, caution, or restraint (astuteness; circumspection; discretion; frugality; judiciousness; providence; thrift)
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Puerile (adj)
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Childish, immature, or silly (infantile; jejune; juvenile)
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Pugilism
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Boxing (fighting; sparring)
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Pulchritude
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Beauty (comeliness; gorgeousness; handsomeness; loveliness; prettiness)
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Pungent (adj)
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Sharp and irritating to the senses (acrid; caustic; piquant; poignant; stinging)
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Pusillanimous (adj)
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Cowardly; without courage (timid)
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Querulous (adj)
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Inclined to complain; irritable (peevish; pulling; sniveling; whiny)
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Quiescent (adj)
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Motionless (dormant; latent)
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Quixotic (adj)
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Overly idealistic; impractical (capricious; impulsive; romantic; unrealistic)
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Quotidian
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Occurring daily; commonplace (everyday; normal; usual)
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Raconteur
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A witty, skillful storyteller (anecdotalist; monologist)
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Rarefy
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To become thinner or sparser (attenuate; thin)
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Redress
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Relief from wrong or injury (amends; indemnity; quittance; reparation; restitution)
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Rejoinder
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Response (retort; riposte)
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Repast
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Meal or mealtime (banquet; feast)
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Replete (adj)
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abundantly supplied; complete (full)
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Repose
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Relaxation; leisure
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Repudiate
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To reject the validity of (deny; disavow; disclaim; disown; renounce)
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Requite
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To return or repay (compensate; reciprocate)
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Restive (adj)
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impatient; uneasy; or restless (agitated; anxious; fretful)
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Reticent (adj)
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Silent; reserved (cool; introverted; laconic; taciturn; undemonstrative; standoffish)
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Rhetoric
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Effective writing or speaking (eloquence; oratory)
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Ribald (adj)
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Humorous in a vulgar way (coarse; gross; indelicate; lewd; obscene)
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Rococo (adj)
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Very highly ornamented; relating to an 18th century artistic style of elaborate ornamentation (intricate; ornate)
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Rustic (adj)
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Rural (bucolic; pastoral)
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Sacrosanct (adj)
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extremely sacred; beyond criticism (holy; inviolable; off-limits)
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Sagacious (adj)
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Shrewd; wise (astute; judicious; perspicacious; sage; wise)
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Salient (adj)
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Prominent; of notable significance (marked; noticeable; outstanding)
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Salubrious (adj)
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Healthful (bracing; curative; medicinal; therapeutic; tonic)
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Sanguine (adj)
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Ruddy; cheerfully optimistic (confident; hopeful; positive; rosy; rubicund)
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Sardonic
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Cynical; scornfully mocking (acerbic; caustic; sarcastic; satirical; snide)
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Satiate
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To satisfy fully or overindulge (cloy; glut; gorge; surfeit)
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Apocryphal
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Untrue; made up
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Condone
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Overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse
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Efface
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Rub out; erase
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Emaciated
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Thin and wasted
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Gregarious
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Sociable
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Incongruous
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Not fitting; absurd
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Jocular
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Said or done in jest (jokingly)
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Laud
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Praise
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Miserly
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Stingy mean (I.e old man)
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Preclude
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Make impossible; eliminate
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Scrupulous
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Conscientious; extremely thorough
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Somber
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Gloomy; depressing; dark; drab
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Spurious
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False; counterfeit; forged; illogical
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Stupefy
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Make numb; stun; amaze
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Superfluous
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Unnecessary; excessive;over-abundant; redundant
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Surreptitious
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Secret; furtive; sneaky; hidden
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