English 10H Vocabulary 1-7
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174 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 acidulous (adj.) | slightly sour (in taste or manner); sharp; caustic |
| aggregate (n.) | the whole amount |
| beleaguer (v.) | besiege |
| calumny (n.) | malicious representation; slander |
| consummate (v.) | to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill |
| declivity (n.) | downward slope |
| fawning (adj.) | encourage favor by cringing and flattering |
| importune (v.) | pester, annoy, harass |
| manumit (v.) | emancipate; free from bondage |
| misogynist (n.) | hater of women |
| neophyte (n.) | recent convert; beginner |
| nonentity (n.) | person of no importance; nonexistence |
| obtrusive (adj.) | tending to push self-assertively forward; blatant or prominent |
| peccadillo (n) | a slight offense |
| pestilential (adj.) | causing plague; malicious effect that spreads quickly and far |
| pragmatic (adj.) | practical |
| placate (v.) | to pacify; appease |
| quintessence (n.) | the purest and highest embodiment |
| quandary (n.) | dilemma |
| relegate (v.) | banish |
| reprehensible (adj.) | deserving blame |
| rococo (adj.) | ornate; highly decorated |
| serendipity (n.) | good fortune; a lucky coincidence |
| thwart (v.) | to stop; baffle; frustrate |
| wastrel (n.) | a wasteful person; spendthrift |
| abstinence (n.) | restraint, or self-denial |
| accede (v.) | to agree |
| adhere (v.) | to stick fast |
| alacrity (n.) | cheerful promptness, quickness |
| bolster (v.) | to support, to prop up |
| bourgeois (n.) | middle class (;from the French Revolution;) |
| clangor (n.) | a loud, resounding noise |
| contortions (n.) | twisting; distortions |
| episodic (adj.) | loosely connected (like a T.V.show with episodes) |
| extradition (n.) | the surrender of a prisoner from one state to another |
| hirsute (adj.) | hairy |
| infidel (n.) | an unbeliever; person who doubts a particular theory, belief; a skeptic (used especially in regard to religion) |
| intelligenstia (n.) | the people regarded as, or regarding themselves as, the educated and enlightened class; intellectuals collectively |
| Lilliputian (adj.) | extremely small (from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels) |
| malingerer (n.) | one who feigns illness to escape duty |
| mogul (n.) | a powerful person |
| parity (n.) | equality; similarity |
| pharisaical (adj.) | self-righteous; hypocritical |
| platitude (n.) | a trite remark; a commonplace statement |
| primp (v.) | to dress up |
| quarry (n.) | a victim (remember "The Most Dangerous Game"?) |
| recidivism (n.) | a habitual return to crime |
| repine (v.) | fret; complain; fuss |
| surcease (v.) | cessation; halting |
| trappings (n.) | outward decorations |
| conglomeration (n.) | mass of material sticking together |
| criterion (n.) | standard used in judging |
| excise (v.) | cut away |
| finicky (adj.) | too particular |
| grandiloquent (adj.) | pompous |
| herpetologist (n.) | one who studies reptiles |
| integrate (v.) | make whole; combine |
| jaunty (adj.) | stylish; perky |
| malapropism (n.) | comic misuse of a word |
| noisome (adj.) | foul-smelling |
| opaque (adj.) | dark; not transparent |
| pandemic (n.) | widespread; affecting a large geographic area |
| polarize (v.) | split into opposites |
| privy (adj.) | being in on a secret |
| quip (n.) | tuant or witty remark |
| refutation (n.) | disproof of opponent's argument; contradiction or defense |
| reprobation (n.) | severe disapproval |
| sarcophagus (n.) | a stone coffin |
| spate (n.) | sudden flood or strong outburst |
| moratorium (n.) | legal delay of payment or activity |
| bludgeon | heavy sided weapon |
| carte blanche | unlimited authority or freedom |
| cursive | flowing; running |
| domineer | rule over tyrannically |
| edify | instruct; correct morality |
| aesthetic (n.) | a brand of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art and taste; appreciation of beauty |
| aloof (adj.) | removed or distant, either physically or emotionally |
| archaic (adj.) | of, relating to, or characteristic of an earlier more primitive time |
| belie (v.) | to give a false impression |
| contentious (adj.) | exhibiting an often perverse and wearisome tendency to quarrels and disputes |
| daunt (v.) | to lessen the courage of |
| debilitate (v.) | to impair the strength of |
| discord (n.) | lack of agreement or harmony |
| dissemination (n.) | to spread, as though sowing seed |
| dogmatic (adj.) | characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved principles |
| duplicity (n.) | contradictory doubleness of thought, speech or action |
| egocentric (adj.) | concerned with the individual rather than society |
| euphemism (n.) | the substitution of an offensive or unpleasant expression for one that is more agreeable or inoffensive (e.g. "passed on" vs. "dead") |
| gluttonous (adj.) | indulging in something in excess; voracious |
| intrepid (adj.) | brave, fearless, adventurous |
| mundane (adj.) | characterized by the practical, transitory and ordinary |
| ominous (adj.) | being or exhibiting an omen |
| perfidious (adj.) | disloyal, treacherous, deceitful |
| petulance (n.) | unreasonably irritable or ill tempered; peevish |
| pompous (adj.) | having or exhibiting self-importance |
| precocious (adj.) | exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age |
| trivia (n.) | unimportant; trivial facts or details |
| verbose (adj.) | containing more words than necessary |
| virulent (adj.) | marked by rapid, severe and malignant course |
| volatile (adj.) | easily aroused |
| aggrandize (v.) | to increase or intensify, exaggerate |
| anomaly (n.) | irregularity or difference |
| captious (adj.) | fault finding |
| catharsis (n.) | purging or cleansing of any passage of the body; an emotional outpouring |
| chary (n.) | cautiously watchful; suspicious |
| facsimile (n.) | an exact copy, duplicate |
| harry (v.) | to bother or pester |
| inscrutable (adj.) | enigmatic, mysterious |
| magnate (n.) | a person of prominence or influence |
| misconstrue (v.) | to interpret incorrectly; to misjudge or get the wrong idea |
| panache (n.) | flair, flamboyance, style |
| polemic (n.) | a controversy; an argument in support of a point of view |
| proxy (n.) | a substitute or replacement |
| ramification (n.) | a consequence or implication |
| salient (adj.) | prominent, most important |
| simian (adj.) | monkey like |
| sobriquet (n.) | a nickname |
| sully (v.) | to tarnish, soil, dirty or dishonor |
| tenuous (adj.) | fragile; questionable; shaky |
| ubiquitous (adj.) | ever present; everywhere, omnipresent |
| unequivocal (adj.) | plain; obvious; unmistakable |
| urbane (adj.) | sauve, refined, elegant, polished |
| veracious (adj.) | truthful |
| duress (n.) | forcible restraint, especially unlawfully |
| anachronism (n.) | an error involving time in a story |
| aquiline (adj.) | curved, hooked |
| augury (n.) | omen; prophecy |
| berate (v.) | scold strongly, criticize |
| capacious (adj.) | spacious, sizeable |
| chasten (v.) | discipline; punish in order to correct, discipline |
| decadence (n.) | decay, depravity, corruption; characterized by or appealing to self-indulgence |
| discrete (adj.) | separate and distinct; unconnected (not discreet) |
| effeminate (adj.) | having womanly traits |
| filial (adj.) | pertaining to a son or daughter, the relationship of child or offspring to parent |
| gambol (v.) | a playful skipping or frolicking about |
| glutinous (adj.) | resembling glue in texture; sticky (note: not gluttonous) |
| iconoclastic (adj.) | attacking cherished traditions or beliefs |
| import (n.) | importance; significance |
| inveigle (v.) | win over by coaxing, flattery, or artful talk |
| largess (n.) | generous gift |
| lurid (adj.) | causing shock or horror; gruesome, marked by sensationalism |
| misnomer (n.) | wrong name; incorrect designation |
| ordain (v.) | command; arrange; consecrate |
| paraphernalia (n.) | equipment; odds and ends |
| pedestrian (adj.) | ordinary, unimaginative |
| prate (v.) | speak foolishly; boast idly |
| querulous (adj.) | fretful; whining |
| redress (n.) | remedy; compensation |
| rife (adj.) | abundant; current; often used with "with" |
| aperture | (n.) opening; hole |
| baleful | (adj.) deadly; destructive |
| bode | (v.) foreshadow; portend, promise |
| cognizance | (n.) knowledge |
| compunction | (n.) remorse |
| coterie | (n.) group that meets socially; a select group |
| demur | (v.) to object; protest |
| dichotomy | (n.) branching into two parts; unconnected; be reluctant |
| exacerbate | (v.) to make worse |
| execrable | (adj.) very bad |
| foil | (n.) contrast |
| judicious | (adj.) sound in judgement; wise |
| libelous | (adj.) defamatory; injurious to the good name of a person, slanderous |
| mete | (v.) measure; distribute; disseminate |
| nicety | (n.) detail, minute distinction; small point |
| preempt | (v.) anticipate; prevent; block |
| propound | (v.) put forth for analysis; advocate |
| spry | (adj.) vigorously active; nimble |
| sundry | (adj.) various or miscellaneous items |
| tactile | (adj.) referring to touch, physical; concrete |
| throes | (n.) a violent spasm or pang; a sharp attack of emotion |
| tryst | (n.) a romantic meeting; rendez-vous |
| vicissitude | (n.) change of fortune |
| winsome | (adj.) agreeable; gracious; engaging |
| wont | (n.) custom; habitual procedure |
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