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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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spendthrift (N)
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someone who wastes money
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lascivious (ADJ)
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(of a person, manner, or gesture) Feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire
- he gave her a lascivious wink |
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turncoat (N)
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A person who deserts one party or cause in order to join an opposing one
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pique (N)
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A feeling of irritation or resentment resulting from a slight, esp. to one's pride
- he left in a fit of pique |
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distrait (ADJ)
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Distracted or absentminded
- he seemed oddly distrait |
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overt (ADJ)
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Done or shown openly; plainly or readily apparent, not secret or hidden
- an overt act of aggression |
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pathos (N)
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A quality that evokes pity or sadness
- the actor injects his customary humor and pathos into the role |
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probity (N)
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The quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency
- financial probity |
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embroil (V)
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Involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation
- she became embroiled in a dispute between two women she hardly knew Bring into a state of confusion or disorder |
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carping (N)
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Difficult to please; critical
- she has silenced the carping critics with a successful debut tour |
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boor (N)
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A rude, ill-mannered person
- at last the big obnoxious boor had been dealt a stunning blow for his uncouth and belligerent manner |
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gamut (N)
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The complete range or scope of something
- the whole gamut of human emotion |
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celerity (N)
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Swiftness of movement
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detraction (N)
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the act of discrediting or detracting from someone's reputation (especially by slander); "let it be no detraction from his merits to say he is plainspoken"
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prescience (N)
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The fact of knowing something before it takes place; foreknowledge
- with extraordinary prescience, Jung actually predicted the Nazi eruption |
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vicissitude (V)
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A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant
- her husband's sharp vicissitudes of fortune |
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debauch (V)
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Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt
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inert (ADJ)
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Lacking the ability or strength to move
- she lay inert in her bed |
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arduous (ADJ)
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Involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring
- an arduous journey |
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pertinacious (ADJ)
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Holding firmly to an opinion or a course of action
- he worked with a pertinacious resistance to interruptions |
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environ (ADV)
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Surround; enclose
- the stone circle was environed by an expanse of peat soil |
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balmy (ADJ)
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(of the weather) Pleasantly warm
- the balmy days of late summer |
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fiend (N)
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A wicked or cruel person
- a fiend thirsty for blood and revenge |
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tyro (N)
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A beginner or novice
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roil (V)
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Make (a liquid) turbid or muddy by disturbing the sediment
- winds roil these waters |
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idyll (ADJ)
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An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque episode or scene, typically an idealized or unsustainable one
- the rural idyll remains strongly evocative in most industrialized societies |
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repository (N)
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A place, building, or receptacle where things are or may be stored
- a deep repository for nuclear waste |
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churlish (ADJ)
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Rude in a mean-spirited and surly way
- it seems churlish to complain |
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sallow (ADJ)
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(of a person's face or complexion) Of an unhealthy yellow or pale brown color
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chary (ADJ)
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Cautious; wary
- most people are chary of allowing themselves to be photographed |
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lithe (ADJ)
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(esp. of a person's body) Thin, supple, and graceful
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willowy (ADJ)
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(of a person) Tall, slim, and lithe
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apologist (N)
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A person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial
- an enthusiastic apologist for fascism in the 1920s |
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cloying (ADJ)
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Disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment
- a romantic, rather cloying story |
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chasten (V)
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Discipline; punish
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demotic (ADJ)
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Denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; popular or colloquial
- a demotic idiom |
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cacophonous (ADJ)
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Involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds
- the cacophonous sound of slot machines |
