Vocabulary List 2 Flashcards
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Skipper
1 noun
n. captain of a ship, boat, aircraft, or sports team
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Nether
1 adjective
adj. lower in position
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Primordial
2 adjectives
adj. there since the beginning of time
adj. basic and fundamental
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Gaunt
2 adjectives
adj. lean and haggard, esp. due to torment
adj. (of a store or house) grim or desolate in appearance
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Deference
1 noun
n. humble submission and respect
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Dowdy
1 adjective
adj. (of a woman or their clothing) unfashionable and without style
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Malaise
1 noun
n. a feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness of which the exact identify of its cause is dubious
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Fleck
1 noun
n. a small amount of light or color; a speck of something
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Ambience
2 nouns
n. the character or atmosphere of a place
n. background noise
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Perpetual
1 adjective
adj. never ending or changing, impervious; occurring repeatedly
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Cathartic
1 adjective
adj. providing mental relief through open expressions of strong emotion
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Insensate
1 adjective
adj. lacking feeling, sense, physical sensation, or reason
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Firmament
1 noun
n. the sky, viewed as a solid surface
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Defenestration
2 noun
n. the action of throwing someone out the window
n. the act of removing or dismissing someone from their position of power
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Pelage
1 noun
n. the fur hair or wool of a mammal
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Aphonic
1 adjective
adj. voiceless or mute
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Geriatric
1 adjective, 1 noun
n. an old person
adj. relating to old people
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Posterity
1 noun
n. the descendants of a person
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Pontificate
1 verb
v. express one’s opinions pompously or dogmatically
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Congenial
1 adjective
adj. pleasant because of a personality, qualities, or interests similar to one’s own
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Proffer
1 verb
v. to offer; to hold out something for someone to accept
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Languid
1 adjective
adj. slow and relaxed
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Rote
1 noun
n. mechanical or habitual repetition of something inculcated; by heart (by rote)
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Lilt
1 noun
n. a characteristic rising and falling of one’s voice when speaking
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Dredge (dredge up)
1 verb
v. to bring up an unpleasant fact
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Cagey
1 adjective
adj. reluctant to give out information
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Scion
1 noun
n. a descendant of a notable family
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Tepid
2 adjectives
adj. lukewarm
adj. showing little enthusiasm
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Rictus
1 noun
n. a fixed grimace or grin
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Matriarch
1 noun
n. a woman who is powerful within a family or organization
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Sublime
2 adjectives
adj. inspiring great admiration and awe
adj. used to denote the extreme nature of one’s attitude or behavior (e.g. sublime audacity)
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Lithe
1 adjective
adj. thin, supple, and graceful
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Ungulate
1 noun
n. a hoofed animal
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Cull
1 verb
v. select from a large quantity (e.g. cull from a group)
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Tantamount
1 adjective
adj. equivalent in seriousness to
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Ostracize
1 verb
v. exclude from a group or society
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Belaguer
1 verb
v. lay siege to; beset with difficulties
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Tripe
1 noun
n. nonsense, rubbish
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Avant-garde
1 adjective
adj. heretical, iconoclastic
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Axiomatic
1 adjective
adj. obvious, self-evident
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Parochial
1 adjective
adj. insular, limited in outlook
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Burble
1 verb
v. to speak in an excited manner
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Bourgeois
1 adjective
adj. middle class
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Catch-22
1 noun
n. a lose-lose situation
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Cavalier
1 adjective
adj. without concern for others, offhand
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Cronyism
1 noun
n. the appointment of people close to you to preside in positions of authority
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Delineate
1 verb
v. limn, describe or portray precisely
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Dichotomy
1 noun
n. a division of contrast between two things (e.g. a dichotomy between love and lust)
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Disseminate
1 verb
v. to spread or disperse (such as information) widely
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Divulge
1 verb
v. to put out in the open, promulgate
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Egalitarian
1 adjective
adj. related to the belief that all people are equal (e.g. egalitarian principles)
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Expendable
1 adjective
adj. able to be lost without any substantial consequence
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Fastidious
1 adjective
adj. picky, finicky, minute
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Galvanize
1 verb
v. shock or excite someone to take action (e.g. galvanize into watching a movie)
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Gambit
1 noun
n. an action taken to gain an advantage
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Kibosh (put the kibosh on)
1 verb
v. to stop (e.g. put the kibosh on his burgeoning feelings)
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Misnomer
1 noun
n. an inaccurate epithet (e.g. calling a black dog ‘Snowie’)
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Neophyte
1 noun
n. a dilettante, tyro, beginner
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Ait
1 noun
n. a small island in a river
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Non sequitur
1 noun
n. a conclusion or statement that does not adhere to the previous statement
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Panacea
1 noun
n. a solution or cure-all for anything
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Quid pro quo
1 noun
n. a favor intended to remit a previous favor or to work someone into their debt
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Je ne sais quoi
1 noun
n. a trait or quality that cannot be described or named easily
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Quintessential
1 adjective
adj. an epitome, a perfect archetype, exhibiting the most perfect example of something
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Quixotic
1 adjective
adj. unrealistic and impractical, fanciful thinking
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Ramification
1 noun
n. result, consequence, implication
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Red herring
1 noun
n. a gambit, something intended to mislead
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Rejoinder
1 noun
n. an acerbic, witty reply, a canny rebuttal
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Rife
1 adjective
adj. full of (e.g. when you’re rife with devastation, there’s a simple explanation)
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Stalwart
2 adjectives
adj. loyal, reliable, and hardworking
adj. strongly built and sturdy (a stalwart frame)
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Svengali
1 noun
n. a puissant leader who exercises their powers, especially for baleful and malicious purposes
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Sycophant
1 noun
n. a toady, brownnoser, yes-man
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Tenuous
2 adjectives
adj. very weak to the point of being insubstantial
adj. very slender or fine (e.g. a thin, tenuous cloud)
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Tête-à-tête
1 noun
n. a private conversation between two people
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Verisimilitude
1 noun
n. the appearance of being veritable and authentic (the writer’s identity merely endows the article with but a fleck of verisimilitude)
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Vicarious
2 adjectives
adj. acted or done for another
adj. feeling or imagining through other people (Fluttershy experiences vicarious melancholy for her animal’s injuries)
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Wheelhouse
1 noun
n. a time or place at which one is advantageously at ease (in one’s wheelhouse)
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White elephant
1 noun
n. a possession that is useless or onerous to keep
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Wunderkind
1 noun
n. a precocious person who achieves success when relatively young
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Glean
1 verb
v. to collect, gather, obtain from sundry sources gradually
