 | Term | Definition |
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abjure |
verb; to recant solemnly; repudiate |
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abrogate |
verb; to abolish, to do away with, or annul esp. with authority |
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abstemious |
adj.; eating and drinking in moderation |
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acumen |
noun; quickness and keenness of judgement or insight |
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antebellum |
adj; belonging to the period before a war; esp. the American Civil War |
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auspicious |
adj.; attended by favorable circumstances; marked by success, prosperous |
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belie |
t. verb; to give a false representation to; misrepresent |
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bellicose |
adj; warlike or hostile in manner or temperament |
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bowdlerize |
transitive verb; to remove material that is considered objectionable or offensive from (a book, for example); expurgate |
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chicanery |
noun; deception by trickery or sophistry |
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chromosome |
a threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells |
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churlish |
adj; boorish or vulgar, having a bad disposition |
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circumlocution |
noun; the use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language |
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circumnavigate |
t. verb; to proceed completely around |
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deciduous |
adj; shedding or losing foliage at the end of the growing season |
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deleterious |
adj; having a harmful effect/ injurious |
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diffident |
adj; lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence, shy, timid |
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enervate |
t. verb; to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of |
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enfranchise |
t. verb; to endow with the rights of citizenship, esp. to vote/ to free from slavery or bondage |
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epiphany |
noun; a Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi / a revelatory manifestation of a divine being |
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equinox |
noun; either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approx. equal |
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euro |
noun; the basic unit of currency among members of the European Mone |
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evanescent |
adj; vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor |
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expurgate |
t. verb; to remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material before publication |
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facetious |
adj; playfully jocular / humorous |
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fatuous |
adj; foolish or silly, esp. in a smug or self-satisfied way |
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feckless |
adjl; lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective; careless and irresponsible |
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fiduciary |
adj; of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another; of or being a trustee or trusteeship; held in trust |
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filibuster |
noun / verb ; the use of obstructionist tactics, esp. prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action |
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gerrymander |
t. verb / noun; to divide a geographic area into voting districts so as to give unfair advantage to one party in elections |
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hegemony |
noun; the predominant influence of a state, region, or group, over others |
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hemoglobin |
noun; the iron-containing pigment in red blood cells of vertebrates, consisting of about 6% heme and 94% globin; carries oxygen from lungs to body tissues and carries carbon dioxide from tissues to lungs |
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homogeneous |
adj; uniform in structure or composition; of the same or simlar nature or kind |
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hubris |
noun; overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance |
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hypotenuse |
noun; the side of a right triangle opposite the right angle |
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impeach |
t. verb; to make an accusation against; to charge a public official with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal; to challenge the validity of; try to discredit |
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incognito |
adj&adv; with one's identity disguised or concealed | noun; the identity assumed by a person whose actual identity is disguised or concealed |
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incontrovertible |
adj; impossible to dispute; unquestionable |
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inculcate |
t. verb; to impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill; indoctrinate |
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infrastructure |
noun; the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society (e.g. transportation and communication systems, water and power lines, schools, etc.) |
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interpolate (transitive) |
t. verb; to insert or introduce between other elements or parts; to insert material into a text; to insert into a conversation; to change or falsify |
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interpolate (intransitive) |
i. verb; to make insertions or additions |
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irony |
noun; the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning |
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jejune |
adj; not interesting; dull / lacking maturity; childish / lacking in nutrition |
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kinetic |
adj; of, relating to, or produced by motion; relating to or exhibiting kinesis |
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kowtow |
i. verb; to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in expression of deep respect, worship, or submission, as formerly done in China / to show servile deference |
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kowtow (noun) |
noun; the act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground; an obsequious act |
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laissez faire |
noun; an economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws |
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lexicon |
noun; a dictionary; a stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary |
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loquacious |
adj; very talkative; garrulous |
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lugubrious |
adj; mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree |
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metamorphosis |
noun; a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function; a transformation |
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mitosis |
noun; the process in cell division by which the nucleus divides, typically consisting of four stages (prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase) |
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moiety |
noun; a half / a part, portion, or share |
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nanotechnology |
noun; the science and technology of building devices, such as electronic circuits, from individual atoms and molecules |
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nihilism |
noun; an extreme form of skepticism that denies that existence is real |
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nomenclature |
noun; a system of names used in an art or science / the procedure of assigning names to organisms listed in a taxonomic classification |
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nonsectarian |
adj; not limited to or associated witha particular religious denomination |
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notarize |
t. verb; to certify or attest to (the validity of a signature on a document, for example) as a notary public |
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obsequious |
adj; full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning |
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oligarchy |
noun; government by a few, esp. by a small faction of persons or families / those making up such a government / a state governed by a few persons |
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omnipotent |
adj; having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force / all-powerful |
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orthography |
noun; the art or study of correct spelling according to established usage / the aspect of language study concerned with letters and their sequences with words / spelling |
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oxidize |
verb; to combine with oxygen; make into an oxide; to increase the positive charge or valence of (an element) by removing electrons; to coat with oxide |
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parabola |
noun; a plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone or by the locus of points equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed point not on the line |
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paradigm |
noun; one that serves as pattern or model / a set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories / a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes the way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, esp. in an intellectual discipline |
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parameter |
noun; (general) any factor that determines a range of variations and esp. to a factore that restricts what can result from a process or policy |
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pecuniary |
adj; of or relating to money / requiring payment of money |
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photosynthesis |
noun; the process by which green plants and certain other organisms synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water using light as an energy source |
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plagiarize |
verb; to use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own / to appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from (another) |
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plasma |
noun; the clear yellowish fluid portion of blood or lymph in which cells are suspended / the protoplasm or cytoplasm of a cell |
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polymer |
noun; any of numerous natural or synthetic compounds of usually high molecular weight consisting of repeated linked units, each a relatively light and simple molecule |
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precipitous |
adj; resembling a precipice; extremely steep // having several precipices |
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quasar |
noun; an extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose piower output is several thousand times that of the entire Milky Way galaxy |
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quotidian |
adj; commonplace or ordinary; as from everyday experience |
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recapitulate |
t. verb; to repeat in concise form // i.verb; to make a summary |
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reciprocal |
adj; existing, done, or experienced on both sides |
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reparation |
noun; the act or process of making amends for a wrong |
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respiration |
noun; the act or process of inhaling and exhaling; breathing |
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sanguine |
adj; cheerfully confident; optimistic |
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soliloquy |
noun; a dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts when alone or unaware of the presence of other characters |
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subjugate |
t. verb; to bring under control; conquer // to make subservient or submissive; subdue |
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suffragist |
noun; an advocate of the extension of political voting rights, esp. to women |
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supercilious |
adj; feeling or showing haughty disdain |
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tautology |
noun; needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy |
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taxonomy |
noun; the classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates natural relationships // the science, laws, or principles of classification; systematics |
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tectonic |
adj; of or relating to the forces involved in forming the geological features, such as mountains, continents, and oceans, of the earth's lithosphere |
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tempestuous` |
adj; of, relating to, or resembling a tempest; characterized by violent emotions or actions; tumultuous; stormy |
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thermodynamics |
noun; the branch of physics that deals with the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy |
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totalitarian |
adj; of, relating to, or imposing a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing poilitical and cultural expression is suppressed |
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unctuous |
adj; characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness // having the quality or characteristics of oil or ointment; slippery |
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usurp |
t. verb; to seize and hold by force and without legal authority; to take over or occupy without right // i. verb; to seize another's place, authority, or possession wrongfully |
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vacuous |
adj; lacking intelligence; stupid // devoid of substance or meaning; inane |
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vehement |
adj; forceful or intense in expression, emotion, or conviction; fervid |
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vortex |
noun; a spiral motion of fluid, esp. a whirling mass of water or air that sucks everything near it towards its center // a place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it |
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winnow |
t. verb; to separate chaff from grain by means of a current of air; sift; eliminate |
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wrought |
verb; a past tense and a past participle of work // adj.; put together; created |
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xenophobe |
noun; a person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, esp. of strangers or foreign peoples |
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yeoman |
noun; an attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household |
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ziggurat |
noun; a temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid with successively receding stories |
