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56 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Parsimonious
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Miserly
"Katie is so parsimonious that she only buys a pair of socks once she has holes in the ones she wears" |
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Eschew
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Avoid
"Politicians are the masters of eschewing morals" |
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Censure
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Express disapproval
"The city council censured mayor after he was found in bed with a mistress" |
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Gall
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Rudeness
"The arrogant boy had the gall to barge in the bakery and cut in front of the old lady" |
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Extant
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Still in existence
"Jenny used to wear the extant pair of jeans from 1980s" |
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Screed
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Abusive rant
"She launched into a long screed against Patriarchy when the topic of Feminism was touched" |
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Turpitude
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Moral wickedness
"The mayor was accused of committing unspeakable acts of moral turpitude, and hence was sent for courtroom trial" |
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Subsumed
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Contain, include
"The rising river subsumed the entire village and the inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes" |
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Impertinent
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Disrespectful
"The comparison between The Beatles and One Direction is wholly impertinent" |
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Veracious
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Truthful
"We hope our leaders to be veracious, but history has shown to have such hope is naive" |
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Gossamer
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Delicate
"The gossamer wings of a butterfly, which allow it to fly, are also its curse, so delicate that they often are damaged" |
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Exiguity
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Meagerness
"After 2 months at sea, the exiguity of ship's supplies forced them to search for fresh water and food" |
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Disaffected
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Discontent
"The lack of raises forced the disaffected worker to rebel against the authority" |
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Bucolic
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Rural
"The noble families of England once owned the vast expanses of bucolic land" |
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Refractory
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Stubbornly resistant
"Cancer is a refractory disease" |
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Demur
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Object
"Mark disliked the cold, so when his friends asked him to come for skiing, he demurred" |
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Inveterate
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Habitual
"Being an inveterate snooker player, he feels uneasy when he goes a couple of days without playing" |
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Acrimony
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Bitterness
"An acrimonious dispute" |
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Torpor
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Sluggishness
"After a huge thanksgiving meal, my family falls into a torpor, no one can even pick up the TV remote" |
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Inexorable
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Impossible to stop
"The rise of the computer was an inexorable shift in technology and culture" |
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Execrate
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Curse, hiss at
"The people rose to execrate the alleged rapist when he entered the courtroom" |
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Mawkish
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Overly sentimental
"The film was incredibly mawkish, introducing likeable characters only to have them succumb to a devastating illness by the end of the movie" |
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Gainsay
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Speak out against
"I can't gainsay a single piece of evidence presented by James, but I still don't trust his conclusion" |
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Denigrate
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Attack a reputation
"Peter denigrated the new theory of heat, demonstrating that it was wholly inadeuquate to explain the observations" |
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Galvanized
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Urge into action
"The team was galvanized into clinching victory, all thanks to coach's quick motivational speech" |
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Calumny
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Slander
"With the presidential primaries under way, the air is thick with calumny, and the mud already waist-high" |
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Querulous
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Complaining
"Querulous old woman" |
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Recondite
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Difficult to penetrate, incomprehensible
"Theory of relativity often comes across as a recondite subject to deal with" |
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Travesty
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Mockery
"What I expected to be an intelligent, nuanced historical documentary, turned out to be a poorly-produced travesty of the form" |
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Parochial
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Narrow minded
"Parochial mentality" |
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Incisive
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Highly analytical
"Incisive write up on current affairs of economics" |
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Predilection
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Predisposition in favor of something, strong liking
"He had a predilection for expensive cars" |
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Quotidian
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Mundane
"Mark is always happy, he would even find enthusiasm in some of the most quotidian events of everyday life" |
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Egregious
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Shockingly bad
"The PM is disliked by many for his offensive tone, but it would take something quite egregious to bring the whole cabinet to eject him" |
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Reprobate
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Unprincipled person
"Those reprobates drinking all day down the river. They're not going to amount too much" |
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Askance
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Suspicious
"The offer was too good to be true, hence he looked askance" |
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Sententious
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Pompously moralizing
"The old man, casting his nose up in the air, intoned sententiously at the teenagers, "Youth is wasted on the young". " |
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Ingratiate
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Seek favor from another
"John would often ingratiate himself to her new boss, to make a good first impression" |
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Enervate
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Sap energy from
"The boring lecture enervated the life out of me" |
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Venality
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Corrupt
"Even the most sacred sporting events are not immune to venality since many past officers have confessed to accepting bribes" |
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Pejorative
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Disapproving
"One must refrain from pejorative labeling" |
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Mordant
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Biting, caustic
"Mordant remarks about company policy" |
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Palaver
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Babble, empty talk
"Let's do away with the political palaver and get to the point" |
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Rankle
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Get under one's skin
"The injustice rankled her and she launched into a tirade in the middle of the courtroom" |
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Deferential
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Respectful
"The young woman didn't fit the meek, deferential stereotype of a middle aged japanese woman" |
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Venerate
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Respected
"The professor, despite his soporific lectures, was highly venerated among colleagues" |
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Solecism
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Social blunder
"He'd often commit embarrasing solecisms like burping at the dinner table in front of everyone" |
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Profligate
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Recklessly wasteful
"The state has been profligate, spending millions on military while their citizens starve" |
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Germane
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Relevant
"He asks questions that are germane and relevant to the issue" |
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Mulct
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Penalty, deprive of by deceit
"The fake diet plan ended up mulcting Amy out of hundreds of dollars, but did nothing for her weight" |
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Restive
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Restless
"The crowd grew restive" |
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Upbraid
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Scold harshly
"he upbraided his barber after the latter gave him a bad haircut" |
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Ignominious
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Disgraceful
"An ignominious defeat " |
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Staid
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Serious, dignified
"A staid dinner party which is heavy on important guests but light on the laughs" |
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Raffish
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Slightly disreputable
"The men found him raffish, but the women adored his smart clothes and casual attitude" |
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Platitudes
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Obvious truth, trite remark
"He speaks only in platitudes, about greatness, success and winning" |