Sadlier-Oxford Building an Enriched Vocabulary Lessons 1-4
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Created by:
kkh3049 on February 11, 2010
Subjects:
english, english vocab, english vocabulary, block english, block
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abdicate | To give up formally, as an office, duty, power, or claim. |
| abet | To encourage or assist, especially in wrongdoing. |
| abhor | To regard with horror and loathing; to hate intensely. |
| abject | a. Wretched, miserable;degrading, humiliating. b. Mean-spirited, base; despicable, contemptible. c. Complete and unrelieved. |
| absolve | To clear of guilt. |
| abstain | To refrain completely and voluntarily. |
| academic | a. Pertaining to a college or other institution of learning; scholarly. b. Theoretical rather than practical; unrealistic. |
| accede | a. To yield to; to agree to. b. To enter upon an office or dignity. |
| acclimate | To get used to (usually an environment or situation). |
| addiction | A habit-forming practice or pursuit, usually one that is bad for a person's health or morally objectionable; habitual use of, or devotion to, something. |
| adjourn | a. To close formally. b. To put off to another time; to move to another place. |
| adverse | Hostile in purpose or effect; unfavorable. |
| advocate | a. (v) To speak or argue in favor of; to give active public support to. b. (n) A person who pleads in the interest of a cause or individual. |
| aesthetic | Pertaining to a sense of beauty; artistic. |
| affable | Courteous and agreeable in manner; easy to talk to or approach. |
| affectation | A pretentious display of manners of sentiments that are not genuine; a peculiar habit of dress or behavior that has been adopted to impress others. |
| affluent | Prosperous, wealthy. |
| agenda | A list or program of things to be done or acted upon. |
| aggregate | a. (n) The total amount or sum total of the individual parts. b. (v) To gather or merge into a single whole; to amount to. c. (adj) Total, collective. |
| agile | Swift and light in action, movement, or thought. |
| alienate | To cause hostility or indifference where, love, friendliness, or interest formerly existed. |
| allege | To claim that something is true but without offering any proof. |
| allude | To refer to indirectly. |
| ambience | The surrounding or pervading atmosphere; the tone and spirit of an environment. |
| ambivalent | Wavering or uncertain because of an inability to make a choice between two contradictory feelings or viewpoints in regard to a person, a thing, or a course of action. |
| amnesty | An official pardon granted to offenders against the government, especially for political offenses. |
| anachronism | The misplacing of an object or event in a period to which it cannot possibly belong; anything out of its proper time frame. |
| anarchy | Absence of governmental authority; general political and social disorder. |
| anathema | a. A curse or strong denunciation. b. The person or thing cursed; more generally, any object of intense dislike. |
| anecdote | A brief account of some interesting or amusing incident, especially one containing biographical or historical details. |
| anomaly | A deviation from what is normal or expected. |
| apathy | Lack of feeling, emotion, or interest. |
| appall | To fill with intense horror, fear, or dismay. |
| apprehend | a. To arrest or take custody. b. To perceive or understand the meaning of. c. To look forward to with fear or anxiety. |
| arbitrary | a. Subject to or determined by one's judgment; random. b. Arrived at by an exercise of the will, personal preference, or whim, as opposed to being based on reason or justice. c. Given to willful decisions or demands; tyrannical or dictatorial. |
| arbitrate | To act as an impartial judge in a dispute; to settle. |
| array | a. (v) To line up; to dress up. b. (n) An imposing grouping; rich and beautiful attire. |
| articulate | a. (v) To pronounce distinctly; to express well in words. b. (adj) Expressed clearly and forcefully; able to employ language easily and fluently. |
| askew | a. (adj & adv) Out of line or position; turned to one side. b. (adv) Disapprovingly; scornfully. |
| assimilate | a. To absorb fully or make one's own; to adopt as one's own. b. To adapt fully or to make like. |
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