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Vocab in general
71
Language - English
Professional
07/17/2011

Additional Language - English Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
accomplice
Definition
–noun
a person who knowingly helps another in a crime or wrongdoing, often as a subordinate.
 
Term
affront
Definition
–noun
1. a personally offensive act or word; deliberate act or display of disrespect; intentional slight; insult: an ________ to human dignity.
2. an offense to one's dignity or self-respect.
 
–verb (used with object)
3. to offend by an open manifestation of disrespect or insolence: His speech _______ed all of us.
4. to make ashamed or confused; embarrass.
 
Term
anarchy
Definition

–noun
1. a state of society without government or law.
2. political and social disorder due to the absence of governmental control: The death of the king was followed by a year of _______.

 
Term
antipathy
Definition
–noun
1. a natural, basic, or habitual repugnance; aversion.
2. an instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling.
3. an object of natural aversion or habitual dislike.
 
Term
antiquated
Definition
–adjective
1. continued from, resembling, or adhering to the past; old-fashioned: _______ attitudes.
2. no longer used; obsolete or obsolescent: The spinning wheel is an _______ machine.
3. aged; old.
 
Term
arraign
Definition
- verb (used with object)
1. to call or bring before a court to answer to an indictment.
2. to accuse or charge in general; criticize adversely; censure.
 
Term
atrocity
Definition
–noun
1. the quality or state of being extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, or brutal
2. a shockingly bad or tasteless; dreadful act, thing, or circumstance.
 
Term
austerity
Definition

–noun
1. quality; severity of manner, life, etc.; sternness.
2. strict economy.

Term
bigotry
Definition

–noun 
stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own.

Term
concession
Definition

–noun
1. the act of granting or yielding, as a right, a privilege, or a point or fact in an argument: He made no _______ to caution.
2. the thing or point yielded: Management offered a shorter workweek as a ________.
3. something granted by a government or a controlling authority, as a grant of land, a privilege, or a franchise. 
4. a space or privilege within certain premises for a subsidiary business or service: the refreshment ________ at a movie theater.

 
Term
consecrate
Definition

–verb (used with object)
1. to make or declare sacred; set apart or dedicate to the service of a deity: to _______ a new church building.
2. to make (something) an object of honor or veneration; hallow: a custom ________d by time.
3. to devote or dedicate to some purpose: a life consecrated to science.

Term
contentious
Definition
adjective
1. tending to argument or strife; quarrelsome
2. causing, involving, or characterized by argument or controversy
 
Term
contrive
Definition

–verb (used with object)
1. to plan with ingenuity; devise; invent: The author ________ a clever plot.
2. to bring about or effect by a plan, scheme, or the like; manage
3. to plot (evil, treachery, etc.). 

Term
convoy
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to accompany or escort, usually for protection: A destroyer ______ed the merchant ship.
 
–noun
3. the protection provided by an escort.
4. a ship, fleet, group of vehicles, etc., accompanied by a protecting escort.
5. an armed force, warship, etc., that escorts, especially for protection.
 
Term
dabble
Definition

–verb (used without object)
1. to play and splash in or as if in water, especially with the hands.
2. to work at anything in an irregular or superficial manner: to ______ in literature.

 
Term
decile
Definition
–noun Statistics.
one of the values of a variable that divides the distribution of the variable into ten groups having equal frequencies: 1/10
 
Term
demise
Definition

- noun
1. death or decease.
2. termination of existence or operation: the ______ of the empire.
3
. Law.
   
a. a death or decease occasioning the transfer of an estate. 
   
b. a conveyance or transfer of an estate.

 
Term
disparage
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to speak of or treat slightingly; depreciate; belittle: Do not _______ good manners.
2. to bring reproach or discredit upon; lower the estimation of:
Your behavior will _______ the whole family.
 
Term
edify
Definition
–verb (used with object)
to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift: religious paintings that _____ the viewer.
 
Term
endorsement
Definition

noun
1. approval or sanction: The program for supporting the arts won the government's _______.
2. the placing of one's signature, instructions, etc., on a document.
3. the signature, instructions, etc., placed on the reverse of a commercial document, for the purpose of assigning the interest therein to another. 

Legal terms:
1 :  the act or process of endorsing
2 :  an inscription (as a signature or notation) on a document or instrument; especially :  an inscription usually on the back of a negotiable instrument that transfers or guarantees the instrument

Term
ensconce
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to settle securely or snugly: I found her in the library, _______d in an armchair.
2. to cover or shelter; hide securely: He _______d himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.
 
Term
enshroud
Definition
–verb (used with object)
to conceal; to cover or obscure something. Towers _______ed in mist.
 
Term
envisage
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to contemplate; visualize: He _______ an era of great scientific discoveries.
2. Archaic . to look in the face of; face.
 

1.  picture, imagine, conceive, envision.

Term
exacerbate
Definition
–verb (used with object).
1. to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate.
2. to embitter the feelings of (a person); irritate; exasperate.
 
Term
falter
Definition

–verb (used without object)
1. to hesitate or waver in action, purpose, intent, etc.; give way: Her courage did not ______ at the prospect of hardship.
2. to speak hesitatingly or brokenly.
3. to move unsteadily; stumble.

 
Term
fiscal
Definition

adjective
1. of or pertaining to the public treasury or revenues: _____  policies.
2. of or pertaining to financial matters in general.

Term
grandiose
Definition

–adjective
1. affectedly grand or important; pompous: ________ words.
2. more complicated or elaborate than necessary; overblown: a ________ scheme.
3. Psychiatry . having an exaggerated belief in one's importance, sometimes reaching delusional proportions, and occurring as a common symptom of mental illnesses, as manic disorder.

 

Term
heathen
Definition
–noun
1. an unconverted individual of a people that do not acknowledge the god of the Bible; a person who is neither a Jew, Christian, nor Muslim; pagan.
2. an irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized person.
 
–adjective
3. irreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized.
 
Term
impartial
Definition
–adjective
not biased; fair; just: an ______ judge.
 
Term
impound
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to shut up in a pound or other enclosure, as a stray animal.
2. to confine within an enclosure or within limits: water _______ed in a reservoir.
3. to seize and retain in custody of the law, as a document for evidence.
 
Term
inference
Definition

–noun
Logic.
a. the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
b. the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises.
c. a proposition reached by a process of inference.

Term
insurgent
Definition
–noun
1. a person who rises in forcible opposition to lawful authority, especially a person who engages in armed resistance to a government or to the execution of its laws; rebel.
2. a member of a section of a political party that revolts against the methods or policies of the party.
 
–adjective
3. of or characteristic of an insurgent or insurgents.
4. surging or rushing in: The ________ waves battered the shore.
 
Term
introversion
Definition

–noun
1. Psychology.
a. the act of directing one's interest inward or to things within the self.
b. the state of being concerned primarily with one's own thoughts and feelings rather than with the external environment.

Term
lax
Definition

–adjective
1. not strict or severe; careless or negligent: _____ morals; a _____ attitude toward discipline.
2. loose or slack; not tense, rigid, or firm: a _____ rope; a _____ handshake.
3. not rigidly exact or precise; vague: _____ ideas.

Term
liquidity
Definition
–noun
1. a liquid state or quality.
2. the ability or ease with which assets can be converted into cash.
 
Term
malaise
Definition
–noun
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.
 
Term
manifesto
Definition

–noun
a public declaration of intent, policy, aims, etc, as issued by a political party, government, or movement

Term
manoeuvre
Definition

n

1. a contrived, complicated, and possibly deceptive plan or action: political __________s

2. a movement or action requiring dexterity and skill

 

vb

3. ( tr ) to contrive or accomplish with skill or cunning

4. ( intr ) to manipulate situations, etc, in order to gain some end: to ________ for the leadership

 

Term
martyr
Definition

–noun
1. a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion.

Term
outmanoeuvre
Definition

–verb (used with object)
to secure a strategic advantage over by skilful manoeuvre

Term
outpace
Definition

–verb (used with object)
to surpass or exceed, as in speed, development, or performance: a company that has consistently _____d the competition in sales.

 
Term
pang
Definition
–noun
1. a sudden feeling of mental or emotional distress or longing: a _____ of remorse; a ____ of desire.
2. a sudden, brief, sharp pain or physical sensation; spasm: hunger _____ .
 
Term
peripheral
Definition

–adjective 
1. concerned with relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question.
2. Anatomy . near the surface or outside of; external.

Term
polygamy
Definition

–noun
1. the practice or condition of having more than one spouse, especially wife, at one time.
2. Zoology . the habit or system of mating with more than one individual, either simultaneously or successively.

 
Term
polytheism
Definition

–noun
The doctrin of, or belief in more than one god or in many gods.

Term
predate
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to date before the actual time: He ______d the check by three days.
2. to precede in date: a house that ______s the civil war.
 
Term
reinstate
Definition

–verb (used with object)
to put back or establish again, as in a former position or state.

Term
rekindle
Definition

–verb (used with object)

1. to excite, stir up, or rouse anew: efforts to rekindle their romance; comments that ______ed her anger.
2. to cause to begin burning again; ignite again: Never use gasoline to rekindle a fire.


–verb (used without object)
3. to begin to burn again; ignite again: She is worried about a fire _______ing.

Term
remand
Definition
–verb (used with object)
Law.
a. to send back (a case) to a lower court from which it was appealed, with instructions as to what further proceedings should be had.
b. (of a court or magistrate) to send back (a prisoner or accused person) into custody, as to await further proceedings.
 
Term
reverberation
Definition

–noun
1. a re-echoed sound.
2. the fact of being reflected.

Term
rhetoric
Definition

–noun
1. (in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.
2. the art or science of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse, including the figures of speech.
3. the study of the effective use of language.
4. the ability to use language effectively.

 

Term
shroud
Definition

–noun
1. a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial.
2. something that covers or conceals like a garment: a _____ of rain.

–verb (used with object)
7. to wrap or clothe for burial.
8. to cover; hide from view.
9. to veil, as in obscurity or mystery: They _____ed their past lives in an effort to forget.

Term
smatter
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to speak (a language, words, etc.) with superficial knowledge or understanding.
2. to dabble in.
 
–noun
3. slight or superficial knowledge; ______ing
 
Term
smother
Definition

verb (used with object)
1. to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.
2. to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.
3. to cover closely or thickly; envelop: to ______ a steak with mushrooms.
4. to suppress or repress
5. Cookery . to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid: ______ed chicken and onions.

 
Term
solidarity
Definition
–noun
1. union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.: to promote _______ among union members.
2. community of feelings, purposes, etc.
3. community of responsibilities and interests.
 
Term
sovereign
Definition

–noun
1. a monarch; a king, queen, or other supreme ruler.
2. a person who has complete power or authority.
3. a group or body of persons or a state having complete authority. 

–adjective
6. having supreme rank, power, or authority.
7. supreme; preeminent; indisputable: a ______ right.

 
Term
spate
Definition

–noun
a sudden, almost overwhelming, outpouring: a _____ of angry words.

Term
subjugate
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to bring under complete control or subjection; conquer; master.
2. to make submissive or subservient; enslave.
 
Term
substantive
Definition

–adjective
4. having independent existence; independent.
5. belonging to the real nature or essential part of a thing; ssential.
6.
real or actual.
7. of considerable amount or quantity.
8. possessing substance; having practical importance, value, or effect: _______ issues under discussion.

 
Term
subsume
Definition
–verb (used with object)
1. to consider or include (an idea, term, proposition, etc.) as part of a more comprehensive one.
2. to bring (a case, instance, etc.) under a rule.
3. to take up into a more inclusive classification.
 
Term
thwart
Definition

–verb (used with object)
1. to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose.
2. to frustrate or baffle (a plan, purpose, etc.).

Term
tightwad
Definition

–noun Informal.
slang chiefly  ( US ), ( Canadian ) a stingy person; miser

Term
trawl
Definition

–noun
1. A strong fishing net for dragging along the sea bottom.

–verb
3. to fish with a net that drags along the sea bottom to catch the fish living there.

Term
underwrite
Definition

–verb (used with object)
1. to sign one's name, as to a document.
2. to show agreemen with or to support by or as if by signing one's name to, as a statement or decision.
3. to bind oneself to contribute a sum of money to (an undertaking): Wealthy music lovers _________ the experimental concerts.

Term
unrequited
Definition
- adjective 
1. not returned or reciprocated: _______ love.
2. not avenged or retaliated
3. not repaid or satisfied.
 
Term
vigil
Definition

–noun
1. wakefulness maintained for any reason during the normal hours for sleeping.
2. a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times: The nurse kept her _____ at the bedside of the dying man.
3. a period of wakefulness from inability to sleep. 
4. Ecclesiastical

    a. A devotional watching, or keeping awake, during the customary hours of sleep.

    b. A nocturnal devotional exercise or service, especially on the eve before a church festival.

    c. The eve, or day and night, before a church festival, especially an eve that is a fast.

Term
volatile
Definition

–adjective
1. evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor: Acetone is a ______ solvent.
2. tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive: a ______ political situation.
3. changeable; mercurial; flighty: a ______ disposition.
4. (of prices, values, etc.) tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly: ______ market conditions.

 
Term
psalms
Definition

–noun ( used with a singular verb [image])

a book of the Bible, composed of 150 songs, hymns, and prayers.
Term
proliferation
Definition
noun
1.the growth or production of cells by multiplication of parts.
2. a rapid and often excessive spread or increase: nuclear ______.
 
Term
peckish
Definition
adjective Chiefly British Informal .
1. somewhat hungry: By noon we were feeling a bit ______.
2. rather irritable: He's always a bit ______ after his nap.
 
Term
draconian
Definition
adjective
( often lowercase [image]) rigorous; unusually severe or cruel: _________ forms of punishment.
 
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