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60 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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Belligerent
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(adj) hostile; aggressive
(n) one who fights fiercely; an invader |
The bartender realized that it would be fruitless to try to subdue the BELLIGERENT drunk by himself. |
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Charlatan
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an imposter, one who acts in a fraudulent manner; a deceiver
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“That CHARLATAN of a doctor prescribed the wrong medicine for me!” complained the patient. |
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Consternation
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dismay; alarm; dread; confused excitement or distress
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The CONSTERNATION on the doctor’s face as he read my test results made my heart jump. |
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Convivial
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festive; characterized by eating and drinking; sociable
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The restaurant’s CONVIVIAL atmosphere contrasted starkly with the gloom of Maureen’s empty apartment. |
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Deleterious
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harmful; damaging; injurious
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It we put these defective clocks on the market, it could be quite DELETERIOUS to our reputation. |
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Depose
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to remove from office or high position; to dethrone; to say under oath; to testify
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After being DEPOSED from his throne, the king spent the rest of his life in exile. |
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Fallow
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uncultivated; unable to bear fruit; having unused potential
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This field should lie FALLOW for a year so that the soil does not become completely depleted. |
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Hyperbole
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exaggeration; overstatement
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When the mayor claimed his town was one of the seven wonders of the world, outsiders classified his statement as HYPERBOLE. |
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Inonoclast
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one who opposes conventionality or attacks established beliefs and ideals
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His lack of regard for traditional beliefs soon established him as an ICONOCLAST. |
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Ignominious
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dishonorable; despicable; shameful; in disgrace
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He was humiliated by his IGNOMINIOUS dismissal. |
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Impecunious
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having little or no money; broke
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After the stock market crashed, many former millionaires found themselves IMPECUNIOUS. |
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Impute
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to blame or assign responsibility to; to give credit to
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The children IMPUTED magical powers to the elderly woman. |
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Insatiable
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unable to be satisfied; tireless
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Myrtle’s INSATIABLE appetite made it difficult for her to lose weight. |
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Jubilant
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shouting with joy; rejoicing
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In the stands, her family was JUBILANT when she came over the finish line first. |
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Malevolent
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hateful; evil; wicked; having intense ill will
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The MALEVOLENT gossiper spread false rumor about people just for the pleasure of upsetting them. |
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Mercurial
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inconstant; changeable; rapidly changing
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Her MERCURIAL personality made it difficult to guess how she would react to the bad news. |
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Parody
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(n) a silly or humorous imitation
(v) to mimic for comic effect |
Shana’s new play is a thinly veiled PARODY of the corruption in the White House. |
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Perverse
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improper; contrary to what is right or good
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Anyone who enjoys looking at child pornography is simply PERVERSE. |
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Profligate
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(adj) wasteful; reckless; corrupt
(n) one who is wildly extravagant |
Some historians claim that it was the Romans’ decadent, PROFLIGATE behavior that led to the decline of the Roman Empire. |
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Prolific
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highly productive; fertile; fruitful
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Stephen King, a PROLIFIC writer, seems to come out with a new book every six months. |
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Querulous
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habitually complaining; likely to find fault
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Curtis’s complaint letter received prompt attention after the company labeled him a QUERULOUS potential troublemaker. |
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Rant
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(n) wildly excessive speech
(v) to speak or scold uncontrollably |
The teenager barreled listened as her father RANTED on and on about her disrespectful behavior. |
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Retrograde
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(v) to fall or move backward; recede
(adj) contrary to; inverse |
The RETROGADE motion of the comet puzzled the astronomists, who had expected it to move forwards. |
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Spurn
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to reject with disdain or contempt; to speak or strike out against
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When Harvey proposed to Harriet, she SPURNED him; she’d always considered him an idiot. |
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Supercilious
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excessively proud; pompous; stuck-up
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She was a shallow and scornful society woman with a SUPERCILIOUS manner. |
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Timorous
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timid; bashful; fearful
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A TIMOROUS woman, Lois relied on her children to act for her whenever aggressive behavior was called for. |
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Torpid
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lacking energy; sluggish
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After surgery, the patient was TORPID until the anesthesia wore off. |
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Unwitting
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unaware; showing lack of knowledge or awareness
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Not looking where he was going, John charged into the subway car, UNWITTINGLY knocking down a blind man. |
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Volatile
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explosive; tending to quick and violent change; easily aroused
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The teacher’s VOLATILE moods left the children anxious when they entered his classroom. |
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Voluble
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talkative, vocal, able to speak fluently
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The VOLUBLE man and his silent wife proved the old saying that opposites attract. |
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Ambulatory
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related to walking; capable of walking
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We took an AMBULATORY exploration of the property to determine how well it would support the cattle. |
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Apocryphal
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of doubtful authenticity; fictitious untrustworthy; mythical
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Sharon suspected that the stores she was hearing about the alligators in the sewer were APOCRYPHAL. |
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Atrophy
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(n) deterioration; erosion
(v) to waste way; to erode from disuse |
When Mimi stopped exercising, her muscles began to ATROPHY. |
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Bemused
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dazed; bewildered; feeling confused and muddled
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The computer technician, continually BEMUSED by the complex problems he had to deal with each day, decided to quit and find an easier job. |
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Chimerical
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imaginary; fanciful; fantastical; visionary
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The inventor’s plans seemed CHIMERICAL to the conservative businessman from whom he was asking for financial support. |
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Coalesce
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to unite or grow together into one
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The different factions of the organization COALESCED to form one united front against their opponents. |
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Coterie
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a clique; a small ingroup with a common interest or skill
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Judith invited a COTERIE of fellow stamp enthusiasts to a stamp-trading party. |
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Confluence
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a junction of two streams; a coming or flowing together
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The town of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia was built at the CONFLUNCE of two rivers. |
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Desiccate
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to dry up; to drain of vigor, life, spirit, or excitement; to dehydrate
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The drought DESSICATED the crops which withered in the sun. |
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Diffident
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bashful, timid, lacking self-reliance
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Steve’s DIFFIDENT attitude during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature and lack of experience. |
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Distend
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to stretch or expand in all directions; to swell or enlarge
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Her stomach was DISTENDED after she gorged on the six-course meal. |
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Endemic
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native to a people or place; constantly present, like a disease
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The health department determined that the outbreak was ENDEMIC to the small village, so they quarantined the inhabitants before the virus could spread. |
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Exhort
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to advise or warn earnestly; to urge strongly
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Rob’s friends EXHORTED him to watch out for ice on the roads when he insisted on driving home in the middle of the snowstorm. |
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Forbearance
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patience; endurance; tolerance over a long period
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In light of the fact that he was new on the job, Collette decided to exercise FORBEARANCE with her assistant’s numerous errors. |
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Gibe
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(n) sarcastic and insulting words
(v) to ridicule or tease |
Tina GIBED at her brothers mercilessly as they clumsily attempted to pitch the tent. |
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Impious
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lacking respect for God, parents, or anything usually held in respect
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The nun cut herself off from her IMPIOUS family after she entered the convent. |
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Insidious
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secretly harmful; more hurtful or destructive than expected
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Iago’s INSIDIOUS comments about Desdemona fuelled Othello’s feelings of jealously regarding his wife. |
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Laconic
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concise; sparing of words; brief
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She was a LACONIC poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible. |
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Malady
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disease; ailment; sickness
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Elizabeth visited the doctor many times, but he could not identify her mysterious MALADY. |
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Misnomer
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wrong name
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Some feel that to call a nuclear missile a “peacemaker” is a MISNOMER. |
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Obliterate
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to erase; to destroy; to make unrecognizable
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The city center was completely OBLITERATED by the atom bomb. |
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Parsimonious
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stingy; unwilling to spend money; meager in quantity
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Ethel was accused of being PARSIMONIOUS when she refused to pay for her daughter’s college education. |
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Philanthropy
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love for humankind; good will to all people
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art owes much of its collection to the PHILANTHROPY of private collectors who willed their estates to it. |
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Recant
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to withdraw a statement or belief; to take back an expressed opinion
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The statement was so damning that the politician had no hopes of recovering his credibility, even though he tried to RECANT his words. |
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Reverence
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deep respect; honor, to the point of worship or veneration
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All of the nuns in the convent showed REVERENCE to their Mother Superior. |
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Surreptitious
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secret; sneaky, unauthorized; fradulent
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The queen knew nothing of the SURREPTITIOUS plots being hatched against her at court. |
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Tirade
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a long, harsh speech marked by protest or anger; a tantrum
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Observers were shocked at the manager’s TIRADE over such a minor mistake. |
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Trenchant
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sharp-witted; keen; extremely perceptive; clear-cut; distinct
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Dan’s TRENCHANT observations in class made him the professor’s favorite student. |
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Upshot
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result; consequence; outcome
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The UPSHOT of the disagreement was a new bylaw. |
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Whimsical
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fanciful; somewhat erratic and unpredictable; oddly imaginative
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The ballet was WHIMSICAL, delighting the children with the imaginative characters and unpredictable sets. |
