Flashcards: 11 English Vocabulary 2009-10
About these flashcards
Created by:
theroberts 
on February 26, 2010
All 161 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 abash | embarrass |
| carnage | destruction of life |
| bastion | fortress; defense |
| abysmal | bottomless |
| biennial | every two years |
| abate | subside; decrease or lessen |
| bigotry | stubborn intolerance |
| catharsis | purging or cleansing |
| bourgeois | middle class |
| abase | lower; humiliate |
| denizen | inhabitant of |
| eschew | avoid |
| fatuous | foolish; inane |
| exodus | departure |
| gamut | entire range |
| consecrate | dedicate; sanctify |
| hallowed | blessed; consecrated |
| hoary | white with age; ancient; venerable |
| denouement | outcome; final development of the plot of a literary work |
| decorous | proper |
| gambol | skip; leap playfully |
| doff | take off |
| filial | pertaining to a son or daughter |
| demise | death |
| horde | crowd |
| impassive | devoid of emotion; revealing no emotion; unaffected by pain; motionless |
| irascible | easily angered; irritable |
| jovial | good-natured; merry |
| jaundiced | yellowed; prejudiced; envious |
| knead | mix; work dough |
| lineaments | features of the face |
| lurid | wild; sensational |
| malapropism | comic misuse of a word |
| multifarious | varied; greatly diversified |
| nascent | coming into being; incipient |
| obdurate | stubborn |
| peregrination | journey |
| propinquity | nearness; kinship; similarity in nature |
| quixotic | idealistic but impractical |
| repository | storehouse; museum; tomb |
| recreant | coward; betrayer of faith |
| solace | comfort in trouble |
| sinuous | winding; bending in and out |
| sylvan | pertaining to the woods; rustic |
| tome | a large book |
| timorous | fearful; timid (hesitant; shy) |
| unctuous | oily; bland; insincerely suave |
| vernacular | living language; natural style |
| vouchsafe | grant condescendingly; guarantee |
| winnow | sift; separate good parts from bad |
| whet | sharpen; stimulate |
| dolorous | sorrowful |
| opportunist | individual who sacrifices principles for expediency by taking advantage of circumstances |
| perspicuous | plainly expressed |
| advent | arrival |
| asperity | sharpness (of temper); roughness or harshness (of surface, weather, or sound) |
| benison | blessing |
| burgeon | grow forth; send out buds; flourish |
| cadence | rhythmic rise and fall (of words or sounds); beat |
| caliber | ability; capacity |
| menial | suitable for servants; low |
| inchoate | recently begun; rudimentary; elementary |
| enamored | in love |
| forte | strong point or special talent |
| docile | obedient; easily managed; teachable |
| inexorable | relentless; unyielding; implacable |
| encomium | high praise; eulogy |
| ignominious | disgraceful |
| germane | pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand |
| hone | sharpen |
| jocose | given to joking |
| latent | dormant; hidden |
| Machiavellian | crafty; double-dealing |
| nebulous | vague; hazy; cloudy |
| onus | burden; responsibility |
| palpable | tangible; easily perceptible |
| pied | variegated; multicolored |
| quell | put down; quiet |
| replete | filled to capacity; abundantly supplied |
| strident | loud and harsh; shrill |
| titanic | gigantic |
| uncouth | outlandish; clumsy; boorish (crude, rude, and offensive) |
| venerable | deserving high respect |
| waft | to be moved gently by winds or waves |
| amity | friendship |
| bereft | deprived of; lacking |
| captious | faultfinding |
| doggerel | poor verse |
| ebullient | showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm |
| nefarious | very wicked |
| glutton | someone who eats too much |
| histrionic | theatrical |
| imperious | domineering |
| juxtapose | place side by side |
| livid | lead-colored; black and blue;enraged |
| miscegenation | intermarriage between races |
| nepotism | favoritism (to a relative) |
| obsequious | slavishly attentive; servile; sycophantic |
| fallible | likely to err |
| raconteur | story-teller |
| sangfroid | coolness in a trying situation |
| talisman | a charm |
| unconscionable | unscrupulous; excessive |
| vituperative | abusive; scolding |
| waif | homeless child or animal |
| anachronism | an error involving time in a story |
| bedizen | dress with vulgar finery |
| coup | highly successful action or sudden attack |
| deign | condescend |
| eclat | brilliance; glory |
| florid | flowery (ornate); ruddy (rosy color) |
| grandiloquent | pompous; bombastic; using high-sounding language |
| homage | honor; tribute |
| impecunious | without money |
| jettison | throw overboard; discard as unwanted or burdensome |
| kinetic | producing motion |
| laity | laymen; persons not connected with the clergy |
| madrigal | pastoral song |
| neophyte | recent convert; beginner |
| oaf | stupid, awkward person |
| panacea | cure-all; remedy for all diseases |
| quay | dock; landing place |
| rancor | bitterness; hatred |
| sate | satisfy fully |
| tacit | understood; not put into words |
| unanimity | complete agreement |
| valedictory | pertaining to farewell |
| wan | having a pale or sicklycolor; pallid |
| yoke | join together; unite |
| adulation | excessive flattery or admiration |
| argot | slang |
| beget | father; produce; give rise to |
| celibate | unmarried (esp. by reason of religious vows); abstaining from sexual intercourse |
| requiem | mass for the dead; dirge (funeral hymn or lament) |
| descant | discuss fully |
| edify | instruct; correct morally |
| flaccid | flabby |
| gratis | free |
| harangue | noisy speech |
| idyllic | charmingly carefree; simple |
| longevity | long life |
| mien | demeanor; bearing |
| nether | lower |
| odyssey | long, eventful journey |
| pulchritude | beauty; comeliness |
| qualms | misgivings |
| ratiocination | reasoning; act of drawing conclusions from premises |
| spoonerism | accidental transposition of sounds in successive words |
| tithe | tax of one-tenth |
| upbraid | scold; reproach |
| verdant | green; fresh |
| aboriginal | being the first of its kind in a region; primitive; native |
| beatitude | blessedness; state of bliss |
| citadel | fortress |
| decadence | decay |
| expunge | cancel; remove |
| flout | reject; mock |
| garrulity | talkativeness |
| heyday | time of greatest success; prime |
| incendiary | arsonist |
| lucre | money |