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A.Word.A.Day
Daily vocabulary words. Source: wordsmith.org
30
General Vocab
Undergraduate 2
05/30/2014

Additional General Vocab Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
reprehend
Definition
(rep-ri-HEND)

verb tr.:
To disapprove or to reprimand.

"The false quotation was therefore one of those flashy worthless attempts at wit that I so much reprehend in others."
Term
gravitas
Definition
(GRAV-i-tas)

noun:
Seriousness, dignity, or weightiness.

"To some early critics, Mr. Büsser's playful choice lacked gravitas."
Term
languid
Definition
(LANG-gwid)

adjective:
1. Lacking vigor or vitality.
2. Lacking interest.
3. Pleasantly lazy and calm.

"Tahiti today is not the calm South Seas paradise depicted in Paul Gauguin's paintings of languid Polynesian women."
Term
perfuse
Definition
(puhr-FYOOZ)

verb tr.:
1. To spread over as a liquid, color, light, aroma, etc.
2. To force a liquid, such as blood, through an organ or tissue.

"The heady aroma of strong coffee perfused the cozy kitchen."
Term
noesis
Definition
(no-EE-sis)

noun:
1. Cognition; perception.
2. The exercise of reason.

"The noesis of the fact that tigers roamed these areas since there were no boundaries, nor fences in this forest, didn't jab much at me."
Term
ophelian
Definition
(o-FEE-lee-uhn)

adjective:
Displaying madness, suicidal tendencies, and similar characteristics.

"She had an Ophelian streak of potential craziness that he had, since day one, deemed wiser to steer clear of."
Term
benedict
Definition
(BEN-i-dikt)

noun:
A newly married man, especially one who was previously thought to be a confirmed bachelor.

"Columbus Moise, the old bachelor lawyer, who is soon to be a benedict, answered the toast."
Term
hamlet
Definition
(HAM-lit)

noun:
1. An apprehensive, indecisive person.
2. A small village.

"With some he is a Hamlet, a divided man who is always questioning himself."
Term
bardolphian
Definition
(bar-DOL-fee-uhn)

adjective:
Having a red complexion, especially a red nose.

"The man, who had flushed a Bardolphian hue from the excitement, unlocked a drawer."
Term
polonian
Definition
(po-LO-nee-uhn)

adjective:
1. Abounding in aphoristic expressions.
2. A native or inhabitant of Poland.

"A few Polonian precepts can do something to indicate whether or not a scientist is cut out for collaboration."
Term
lazaretto
Definition
(laz-uh-RET-o)

noun:
1. A medical facility for people with infectious diseases.
2. A building or ship used for quarantine.
3. On a ship, a space between decks used as storage.

"During times of epidemic, the government established a lazaretto on the neutral ground."
Term
bumptious
Definition
(BUHMP-shuhs)

adjective:
Self-assertive in an obnoxious way.

"A more prosperous, bumptious Turkey is jangling many nerves."
Term
slimsy
Definition
(SLIM-zee)

adjective:
Flimsy; frail.

"When he asked if she needed a rest, stubbornness caused her to refuse -- She didn't want him thinking she was soft and slimsy."
Term
stiction
Definition
(STIK-shuhn)

noun:
The frictional force that must be overcome to set one object in motion when it is in contact with another.

"Thom watched the nurse's backside as she left the room, low gravity and the stiction in her shoes made her suggestive."
Term
muzzy
Definition
(MUHZ-ee)

adjective:
1. Mentally confused.
2. Blurred; indistinct.

"She threatens me with weight gain on my upper legs, a muzzy head, and unclear thoughts."
Term
Ananias
Definition
(an-uh-NY-uhs)

noun: A liar.

"Their 'exaggerations' and 'inventions' were roundly condemned. The worst offender was the Ananias whose dispatches to the New York World from Fort Keogh told of dead cattle, sixty-below temperatures, snow eight to fifty feet deep and the like."
Term
solomon
Definition
(SOL-uh-muhn)

noun:
A very wise person.

"This involved legal and moral precepts which would require a Solomon to sort out."
Term
Samson
Definition
(SAM-suhn)

noun:
A man of extraordinary physical strength.

"For many Pakistanis Agha Hasan Abedi remains a Samson who took on the West at their own game."
Term
jeremiad
Definition
(jer-uh-MY-uhd)

noun:
A long lamentation, mournful complaint, or a prophecy of doom.

"Once upon a time, the passing of population milestones might have been cause for celebration. Now it gives rise to jeremiads."
Term
Methuselah
Definition
(meh-THOO-zuh-luh)

noun:
1. An extremely old person.
2. An oversized wine bottle holding approximately six liters.

"The risk that an individual turns out to be a Methuselah now lies with the insurer."
Term
sulfurous
Definition
(SUHL-fuhr-uhs, suhl-FYOOR-uhs)

adjective:
1. Relating to or resembling sulfur.
2. Pale yellow.
3. Fiery; hellish.
4. Hot-tempered.
5. Profane, blasphemous.

"And like a screeching harpy screaming up from the sulfurous depths of Hell, Kim Kardashian has sensed our happiness and seeks to destroy it, destroy it, DESTROY IT..."
Term
catalyst
Definition
(KAT-uh-list)

noun
1. A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without changing itself.
2. Someone or something that causes an event or change to happen.

"Doctoroff had seen how the Games served as a growth catalyst for host cities -- Tokyo expanded its subway system, Atlanta transformed its downtown."
Term
fulminate
Definition
(FUHL-muh-nayt, FOOL-, -mih-)

noun:
An explosive salt of fulminic acid.
verb tr., intr.: 1. To explode or to cause to explode. 2. To issue denunciations.

"She would fulminate honestly against anything she didn't like."
Term
acidic
Definition
(uh-SID-ik)

adjective:
1. Relating to or containing acid.
2. Having a sour or sharp taste.
3. Bitter or cutting (e.g. a remark).

"Following Pete Townshend's acidic comment, a stunned silence descended on the amphitheater."
Term
brimstone
Definition
(BRIM-stohn)

noun:
1. Sulfur.
2. Fiery rhetoric, especially one filled with references to hell.
3. An ill-tempered, overbearing woman.

"One of the things that makes Alan Clark so compelling a writer is the whiff of brimstone that comes off him, what Mr Cornwell describes as his 'potential for evil'."
Term
quiff
Definition
(kwif)

noun:
1. A tuft of hair brushed up above the forehead.
2. A woman considered as promiscuous.

"Posters of the intrepid boy reporter with the quiff and funny pants plastered the city."
Term
gird
Definition
(guhrd)

verb tr.:
1. To encircle or bind with a belt or band.
2. To surround.
3. To prepare for action (especially as "to gird one's loins").

verb tr., intr.: 4. To jeer.
noun: 5. A sarcastic remark.

"Metallic rings girded the weapon's shaft."
Term
mew
Definition
(myoo)

noun:
1. A cage for hawks, especially while molting.
2. A place for retiring or hiding.
3. In the UK, as mews, stables with living quarters. Also, a row of apartments converted from stables.

verb tr.: 4 To confine.
verb intr.: 5. To molt.

noun:
6. The high-pitched sound of a cat.
7. The characteristic sound of a gull.
8. A seagull (Larus canus).

"They set him free the last day of October, after he had been mewed up for a month."

"Up above two falcons were mewing against the brilliant blue of the sky."
Term
feral
Definition
(FEER-uhl, FAYR-)

adjective:
1. Wild or untamed.
2. Having reverted from domestication to the wild state.
3. Ferocious.
4. Deadly.
5. Relating to the dead; gloomy.

"The infamous beer-guzzling feral pig who died two months ago could get a plaque at a West Australian rest stop commemorating his unusual life."
Term
bole
Definition
(bohl)

noun:
1. The trunk of a tree.
2. Any of various kinds of soft fine clays typically of a reddish color.
3. A reddish brown color.

"In the midst of each room and hall, a living tree grows and holds up the roof, and its bole is hung with trophies and with antlers."
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