| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Ape | v. describes the action of attempting to overly exact imitation and ending up with negative or laughable results |
| Dun | v. to insist on the payment of a debt ---- can also mean to refer to a brownish gray color |
| Fop | n. always critical and always reserved for males. a man who is too concerned with his looks and his clothes |
| Gad | v. to move about, travel, usually in a kind of aimless way. Usually mildly critical but not related to the old-fashioned expression "Ye gads!" |
| Hex | n. an evil spell. ---- v. to put an evil spell on someone |
| Ken | n. refers to your understanding, the limits of your knowledge |
| Pox | n. means bad luck. (used as a part of words like smallpox) - used to be used as a polite term for STDs |
| Sow | v. to plant a seed, literally or figuratively --- n. female pig |
| Vex | v. to annoy or perplex |
| Vie | v. to compete, contend |
| Amalgamation | n. may have come from ARABIC - to mix or combine into a unified whole -- v. to amalgate |
| Admixture | n. means the same as "mixture" and comes from LATIN meaning "mix with" -- v. mix |
| Eclectic | adj. GREEK 'select' meanas "made up from a variety of sources" --- n. eclecticism |
| catholic | lower-case "c" - means comprehensive or of broad scope --- comes from FRENCH word for universal |
| Motley | like eclectic, -- composed of a variety of sources- synonym is heterogeneous -- from MIDDLE ENGLISH word for variegated cloth, which explains it's other meaning "having many colors" |
| Corroborate | v. to bring in new evidence to strengthen or support an idea or argument |
| Asunder | adv. literally means "apart" or "into separate pieces" -- it is only used to describe how something is done |
| diaspora | n. GREEK for "dispersion" - with a captical "D", it refers to the dispersion of Jews from babylon - may also be used to refer to any "dispersion of people from their original homeland" or any "dispersion of a language or culture" |
| cleave | v. "to split or to cut or penetrate" - noun for is "cleft" -- v. also means "to stick to or to be faithful to" |
| disseminate | v. LATIN "to sow" -- means "to scatter widely or disperse" or as in 'sowing seed' |
| aphrodisiac | from aprhodite- food or drugs that alledgedly make men and women feel more amorous. n. or adj. |
| chthonic | adj. describing something related to forces from the underworld- related word is autochthonous- "on native ground, orginating where found" |
| hector | v. to bully or to try to force someone to do something- comes from street gang named The Hectors |
| Hermetic | adj. descrbes something very literal, a jar so completely sealed that no air can get in. in past ages it was used to describe the kind of pseudo-science such as alchemy, that was "sealed off" to those who had not been given the supposed secrets. comes from GREEK GOD HERMES |
| junoesque | adj. reserved for women, who is unusally tall and stately and so beautiful s to seem divine |
| mercurial | ROMAN GOD MERCURY- used to describe someone who moods change rapidly -- synonym is volatile |
| mnemonic | adj. refers to memory or relating to memory. --n. mnemonics refers to memory in general -- Mnemosyne was a GREEK GODDESS of memory |
| muse, bemuse | n.- greek female figure of atrtisitic inspriation--- n. to muse means to lose yourself in your thoughts, perhaps waiting for inspiration. if you are bemused, you have passively gotten to a state of unfocused thinking, again possibly to allow yourself to receive inspiration |
| odyssey | n. a long trip comes straight from that great traveler odyseus-- today it can describe a literal journey or a journey of the intellect or spirit |
| saturnine | adj. means gloomy or even bitterly sarcastic and mocking - ROMAN GOD SATURN |
| magnanimous | LATIN meaning "great soul" ---- adj. "extremely generous and forgiving" or "courageously noble in mind and heart"--- n. "magnanamity" |
| parsimonious | adj.-- LATIN "to spare" -- opposite of magnanimous-- n. parsimony |
| prodigal | LATIN "to squander" --- adj. "extremely wasteful" or "extravagant" "lavishly abundant" ---- n. "prodigality" |
| penurious | LATIN "want" --- adj. "stingy, unwilling to spend money" or "poverty-stricken or destitute" ---- n. "penury" |
| eleemosynary | adj. "contributing to charity" or "dependent upon charity" -- LATIN "alms" |
| frugal | synonym is thrifty- adj. "extremely economical" |
| munificent | LATIN "gift" --- adj. "very generous in giving"---- n. "munificence" |
| avaricious | adj. "greedy" or "desirous of gain" -- syn is "cupidity"---- n. "avarice" |
| mean | "nasty or disagreeable" but also "misery and stingy, low in value" |
| indulgent | adj. "lenient, willing to gratify" |
| equine | adj. anything bearing the characteristics of horses, asses, or zebras -- equestrian (adj. anything to do with horseback riding) |
| bovine | adj. "of or relating to the characteristics of cows, oxen or buffaloes" also means "sluggish and dull" |
| lupine | adj. ravenous or rapacious (greedily taking by force) -- characteristics of a wolf |
| ursine | adj. bear-like, usually physical description |
| porcine | adj. resembling a swine or a pig, either physically or behaviorally |
| simian | anyone who resembles an ape of a monkey- adj |
| serpentine | adj. snake-like behavior or physically resembling a snake |
| pachyderm | n.-- (GREEK adj. meaning "thick-skinned") refers to a large, thick-skinned, hoofed animals that includes the elephant, rhino, and hippo |
| avian | adj. "having the characteristics of birds" |
| herpetology | GREEK FOR REPTILE--- n. denotes the study of reptiles and amphibians |
| laconic | adj. those who say little-- from GREEK word Lakon (Sparta.. they fight, not talk) |
| taciturn | synonym for laconic-- adj. LATIN meaning "silent" |
| lapidary | adj. precision of wording. more often applies to writing since writer has more time to think about jewel-like phrasing-- LATIN word for "stone" |
| pithy | style of word use that is brief and forceful --- from noun "pith" which means essence |
| succinct | adj. describes concise speaking or writing literally suggests that your flow of words is "belted" tightly |
| terse | brief, to the point. -- LATIN verb meaning cleansed --- "washed away" unnecessary words |
| garrulous | adj. talking a great deal, going on and on |
| prattling | adj. chatter meaninglessly |
| glib | if you speak in a glib manner, your words come easily-- speaking without thought, being insincere |
| prolix | describes a wordiness of manner, pouring forth of to many words, too many phrases |
| maundering | adj. keep going when you could have won praise for being more concise-- comes from word meander |
| indigenous | adj. describes people or things that are native to a region |
| interloper | they intrude when they aren't wanted-- DUTCH originally applied to a trading company attempting business in an area where another company had a monopoly |
| extraneous | adj. "coming from the outside" but also means to have the strong sense of irrelevant or unimportant |
| inherent | "stuck into" the nature of thing thing |
| germane | adj. "relevant or suitable or closely connected" |
| pariah | n. refers to a social outcast, somone not accepted in his or her society-- TAMIL (India) refers more specifically to an untouchable |
| endemic | GREEK for "in" and "people" -- adj. means native or common to or peculiar to a specific region or abstract area |
| intrinsic | LATIN "inward" -- adj. synonym for "inherent" or "innate" |
| ostracize | v. make him or her a pariah - expelling a person rom a community either literally or figuratively --- GREEK |
| tangential | adj. describes "slightly touching" or "barely connected" |
| ominous | LATIN omen--- adj. describes the threatening, the menacing |
| portentous | adj. describes something carrying a sign of the threats of the future -- also means the pretentiously weighty |
| inauspicious | forecasts negativity... but just "auspicious" predicts something favorable -- LATIN auspex |
| imminent | adj. describes something about to occur -- root word means jutting out or overhanging (therefore it can be either positive or negative) |
| impending | it can refer to something threatening or not. -- the near arrival of the event hangs over you |
| minatory | adj. threatening |
| presage | v. refers to forewarning, an ominous feeling, prediction |
| bode/ forebode | v. refers to an omen // repeats or intensifies the presentiment |
| propitiate | v. describes actions to appease or calm forces that might oppose a favorable outcome |
| harbinger | n. refers to a forerunner, an early warning or messenger of what's to come |
| squander | v. to waste |
| dissipation | n. (a) a literal scattering or dispersing (b) a specialized sense of scattering one's energy through immoderate pursuit of trivial pleasures, especially activities such as gambling, intemperate drinking, and sexual activity |
| disenfranchise | v. to lose the right to vote -- root is "frank" as in "free" |
| forfeiture | n. idea of a penalty, a giving up of something |
| denude | Primarily used of trees that lose their leaves or loss of other vegetation, means "to make bare" |
| privation | when you're deprived of basic necessities, you're experiencing privation |
| divest | "to undress" or "getting rid of" |
| renounce | v. to give up |
| elegiac | adj. form of an elegy (poem) --- describes a feeling of sadness at many types of losses |
| bereave | v. to leave desolate usually by death-- or surviving relatives or close friends of a person who has died |
Combine with other sets
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