Honors English Vocab Units 1-6
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kelseylombard on January 14, 2012
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120 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 acquisitive | (adj) able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property |
| arrogate | (v) to claim or take without right |
| banal | (adj) hackneyed, trite, commonplace |
| belabor | (v) to work excessively; to trash; to thrash soundly |
| carping | (adj) tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; (n) petty, nagging criticism |
| coherent | (adj) holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful |
| congeal | (v) to change from liquid to solid, thicken; to make inflexible or rigid |
| emulate | (v) to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model |
| encomium | (n) a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute |
| eschew | (v) to avoid, shun, keep away from |
| germane | (adj) relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting |
| insatiable | (adj) so great or demanding as not to be satisfied |
| intransigent | (adj) refusing to compromise, irreconcilable |
| invidious | (adj) offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment |
| largesse | (n) generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions |
| reconnaissance | (n) a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination |
| substatiate | (v) to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to |
| taciturn | (adj) habitually silent or quiet; inclined to talk very little |
| temporize | (v) to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise |
| tenable | (adj) capable of being held or defended |
| accost | (v) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way |
| animadversion | (n) comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval |
| avid | (adj) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager |
| brackish | (adj) having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink |
| celerity | (n) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action |
| devious | (adj) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way |
| gambit | (n) in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type |
| halcyon | (n) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent |
| histrionic | (adj) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic |
| incendiary | (adj) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n) one who deliberately sets fire, arsonist; one who causes strife |
| maelstrom | (n) a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction |
| myopic | (adj) nearsighted; lacking a borad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment |
| overt | (adj) open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized |
| pejorative | (adj) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling |
| propriety | (n) the state of being proper, appropriateness; (pl) standards of what is proper or socially acceptable |
| sacrilege | (n) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred |
| summarily | (adv) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely |
| suppliant | (adj) asking humbly and earnestly; (n) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor |
| talisman | (n) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish |
| undulate | (v) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form |
| articulate | (v) to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; to connect by a joint of joints; (adj) expressed clearly and forcefully; able to employ language clearly and forcefully; jointed |
| cavort | (v) to romp or prance around exuberantly; to make merry |
| credence | (n) belief, mental acceptance |
| decry | (v) to condemn, express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate |
| dissemble | (v) to disguise or conceal. deliberately give a false impression |
| distraught | (adj) very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict |
| eulogy | (n) a formal statement of commendation; high praise |
| evince | (v) to display clearly, to make evident, to provoke |
| exhume | (v) to remove from a grave; to bring to new light |
| feckless | (adj) lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible, unreliable |
| murky | (adj) dark and gloomy, obscure; lacking in clarity and precision |
| nefarious | (adj) wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standards |
| piquant | (adj) stimulating to the taste or mind; spicy, pungent; appealingly provocative |
| primordial | (adj) developed or created at the very beginning; going back to the most ancient times or earliest stage; fundamental, basic |
| propinquity | (n) nearness in place or time; kinship |
| unwonted | (adj) not usual or expected; not in character |
| utopian | (adj) founded upon or involving a visionary view of an ideal world; impractical |
| verbiage | (n) language that is too wordy or inflated in proportion to the sense or content, wordiness; a manner of expression |
| verdant | (adj) green in tint or color; immature in experience or judgment |
| viscous | (adj) having a gelatinous or gluey quality, lacking in easy movement or fluidity |
| atrophy | (n) the wasting away of a body organ or tissue; any progressive decline or failure; (v) to waste away |
| bastion | (n) a fortified place, stronghold |
| concord | (n) a state of agreement, harmony, unanimity; a treaty, pact, covenant |
| consummate | (adj) complete or perfect in the highest degree; (v) to bring to a state of completion or perfection |
| disarray | (n) disorder, confusion; (v) to throw away into disorder |
| exigency | (n, often plural) urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency |
| flotsam | (n) floating debris; homeless, impoverished people |
| frenetic | (adj) frenzied, highly agitated |
| glean | (v) to gather bit by bit; to gather small quantities of grain left in a field by the reapers |
| grouse | (n) a type of game bird, a complaint; (v) to complain, grumble |
| incarcerate | (v) to imprison, confine, jail |
| incumbent | (adj) obligatory, required; (n) one who holds a specific office at the time spoken of |
| jocular | (adj) humorous, jesting, jolly, joking |
| ludicrous | (adj) ridiculous, laughable, absurd |
| mordant | (adj) biting or caustic in thought, manner, or style; sharply or bitterly harsh |
| nettle | (n) a prickly or stinging plant; (v) to arouse displeasure, impatience, or anger; to vex or irritate severely |
| pecuniary | (adj) consisting of or measured in money; of or related to money |
| pusillanimous | (adj) contemptibly cowardly or mean-spirited |
| recumbent | (adj) in a reclining position, lying down, in the posture of one sleeping or resting |
| stratagem | (n) a scheme to outwit or deceive an opponent or to gain an end |
| acuity | (n) sharpness (particularly of the mind or senses) |
| delineate | (v) to portray, sketch, or describe in accurate and vivid detail; to represent pictorially |
| depraved | (adj) marked by evil and corruption, devoid of moral principles |
| enervate | (v) to weaken or lessen the mental, moral, or physical vigor of; enfeeble, hamstring |
| esoteric | (adj) intended for or understood by only a select few, private, secret |
| fecund | (adj) fruitful in offspring or vegetation; intellectually productive |
| fiat | (n) an arbitrary order or decree; a command or act of will or consciousness |
| figment | (n) a fabrication of the mind; an arbitrary notion |
| garner | (v) to acquire as the result of effort; to gather and store away, as for future use |
| hallow | (v) to set apart as hold or sacred, sanctify, consecrate; to honor greatly, revere |
| idiosyncrasy | (n) a peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify |
| ignominy | (n) shame and disgrace |
| mundane | (adj) earthly, worldly, relating to practical and material affairs; concerned with what is ordinary |
| nuance | (n) a subtly or slight variation (as in color, meaning, quality) delicate gradation or shade of difference |
| overweening | (adj) conceited, presumptuous; excessive, immoderate |
| penchant | (n) a strong attraction or inclination |
| reputed | (adj) according to reputation or general belief; having widespread acceptance and a good reputation; (part.) alleged |
| sophistry | (n) reasoning that seems plausible but is actually unsound; a fallacy |
| sumptuous | (adj) costly, rich, magnificent |
| ubiquitous | (adj) present or existing everywhere |
| abject | (adj) degraded; base, contemptible; cringing, servile; complete and unrelieved |
| agnostic | (n) one who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic; (adj) without faith, skeptical |
| complicity | (n) involvement in wrongdoing; the state of being an accomplice |
| derelict | (n) someone or something that is abandoned or neglected; (adj) left abandoned; neglectful of duty |
| diatribe | (n) a bitter and prolonged verbal attack |
| effigy | (n) a crude image of a despised person |
| equity | (n) the state or quality of being just, fair, or impartial; fair and equal treatment; something that is fair; the money value of a property above and beyond any mortgage or other claim |
| inane | (adj) silly, empty of meaning or value |
| indictment | (n) the act of accusing; a formal accusation |
| indubitable | (adj) certain, not to be doubted or denied |
| intermittent | (adj) stopping and beginning again, sporadic |
| moot | (adj) open to discussion and debate, unresolved; (v) to bring up for discussion; (n) a hypothetical law case argued by students |
| motif | (n) a principal idea, feature, theme or element; a repeated dominant figure in a design |
| neophyte | (n) a new convert, beginner, novice |
| perspicacity | (n) keenness in observing and understanding |
| plenary | (adj) complete in all aspects or essentials; absolute; attended by all qualified manners |
| surveillance | (n) a watch over a person; careful, close, and disciplined observation |
| sylvan | (adj) pertaining to or characteristic of forests; living or located in a forest; wooded, woody |
| testy | (adj) easily irritated; characterized by impatience and exasperation |
| travesty | (n) a grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a disguise, especially the clothing of the opposite sex; (v) to ridicule by imitating in a broad or burlesque fashion |
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