Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

English Vocalbulary > General Vocabulary 20 > Flashcards

General Vocabulary 20 Flashcards

(100 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q

Belaboured (v)

A

To attack physically or verbally
OR
To argue or discuss a point at great length.

There is no need to belabour the point.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Syllogism (n)

A

A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is formed from 2 assumed propositions.
E.g. A dog is an animal and all animals have four legs. Hence a dog has four legs.

Logical reasoning and syllogism are two facets of epistemology.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Sovereignties (n)

A

Supreme power and authority.

Castes form a graded system of sovereignties, high and low amongst the Hindus.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Latitudinarianism (n)

A

Allowing latitude especially in matters of religion.

Toleration and catholicity may be really nothing more credible than indifference or flaccid latitudinarianism.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Copacetic (adj)

A

Satisfactory, fine.

Despite the roughy start in the end everything was copacetic.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Précis (n)

A

A short summary of the facts.

And this was a mere précis of the acts of political violence.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Simpered (v)

A

Smile is a coy or ingratiating manner.

The usually fierce interviewers simpered in his presence.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Mongrel (n)

A

A mix breed dog.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Carapace (n)

A

The hard upper shell of a turtle.

A sense that without the carapace of imperial authority, things being to fall apart.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Imperium (n)

A

Supreme executive power.

Before the British rule no single imperium had ever ruled the entire subcontinent.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Miniaturist (n)

A

An illuminater of manuscripts or a painter of miniatures.

The hopes of Gandhian miniaturist were dashed by independence.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Paramountcy (n)

A

Supreme power or authority.

The political authority of many territorial kingdoms was no ore a matter of paramount yet than sovereignty

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Yeoman (n)

A

A person who owns and cultivated a piece of land.

A feudal society with a natural ordering of lords, chiefs and yeoman.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Saracen (adj)

A

An Arab or Muslim at the time of the Crusades.

Indo Saracenic architecture was prevalent architectural style during the British rule in India.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Gnomic (adj)

A

Expressed in the nature of short pithy aphorisms.

Gandhi in characteristic gnomic fashion called for the dissolution of the Congress.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Praetorian (adj)

A

The rank or power of a praetor in Ancient Rome.

The authority of the new state to command its territory and govern its people could no longer rest on the praetorian habits of the Raj.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Emblematic (adj)

A

Serving as a symbol of a particular quality or concept.

They waged an emblematic struggle between the rival conceptions of free India.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Derisorily (adv)

A

Mocking or expressing contempt.

The constitution embodied what looked like a derisorily ambitious political design.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Quintet (n)

A

A group of 5 people playing or singing together.

The ageing quintet met for the last time for a memorial concert.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Acronymese (n)

A

An collection of acronyms.

The PMO as it got known in Indian political acronymese.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Solipsistic (adj)

A

Very self centered or selfish.

The PMO had become a solipsistic lair of flattery and rumour.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Unremitting (adj)

A

Never relaxing or slackening.

It drifted unremittingly towards a threshold.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Hectoring (v)

A

Bullying.

The commision became an obstacle under its hectoring chief.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Metonym (n)

A

A figure of speech

Reference to the “crown” to represent a monarch or the “White House” to refer to the executive branch of the United States government.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Grandees (n)
A Spanish or Portuguese nobleman. It assigned ownership to local grandees in return for rents paid to the ‘Company’.
26
Collectivism (n)
The practice or principle of giving a group priority over and one individual. There was no ideological conviction to be derived from the practice of collectivism.
27
Pinioned (v)
Hold down or be restrained. All were pinioned by Lutyens’s axial layout and turned into follies on the imperial estate.
28
Confutation (v)
Prove to be wrong. His decision to live in ashrams continued the confutation of colonial priorities.
29
Svelte (adj)
Slender and elegant. At the upper end of the social scale, a pan-Indian urban élite is able to glide sveltly through any hotel lobby in the land.
30
Bowdlerised (v)
To remove parts of a text considered offensive thereby weakening its intent. Every edition of his letters and writings had been bowdlerised.
31
Rawly (adv)
Raw, crude or unfinished. This is the India of ZEE TV and cable television, more rawly and frankly consumerist than the nationalized Doordarshan.
32
Parvenus (n) [Pa Venu]
An upstart, a newcomer to a high socio-economic class. To the bureaucrats and businessmen, the new professional class were galling parvenus.
33
Culling (v)
Selective slaughter or reduction of wild animals. Factory farms have long been accused of culling.
34
Contingency (n)
A future event or circumstance that is possible cannot be predicted with complete certainty.
35
Exculpatory (adj)
Evidence favourable to the defendant that show the defendant to be not guilty. Exculpatory evidence led to his aquital.
36
Interstice (n)
An intervening space especially a very small one.
37
Averment (n)
An affirmation or allegation. The averment made by the plaintiff has been denied by the defendant.
38
Eschatology (n)
The part of philosophy concerned with death, judgement and the final destiny of the soul.
39
Obiter Dicta (n)
Obiter dicta (often simply dicta, or obiter) are remarks or observations made by a judge that, although included in the body of the court's opinion, do not form a necessary part of the court's decision.
40
Hortatory (adj)
Tending or aiming to exhort. A series of hortatory epistles.
41
Sclerotic (adj)
Becoming rigid and inflexible. Loosing the ability to adapt. The case of a sclerotic management.
42
Jamboree (n)
A large boisterous party or celebration. They hosted a jamboree on the streets of the city.
43
Conflux (Confluence) (n)
2 or more flowing water bodies meeting at a point to form a single channel.
44
Supernal (adj)
Relating to the sky or heavens. Celestial. Almost supernal in its beauty unsurpassed by anything mundane.
45
Sanguinary (adj)
Involving or causing much bloodshed. The sanguinary impasse persisted as no force intervened to put a stop to the escalating cycles of violence
46
Crepuscular (adj)
Related to dim light or twilight. Crepuscular animals and insects are distinct from diurnal ones.
47
Flummery (n)
Meaningless or empty compliments. She hated the flummery of public relations.
48
Scribe (n)
A person who copies manuscripts. The scribes of the Assyrian periods failed to record the history of the Medes.
49
Arriviste (n)
An ambitious social climber with newly acquired wealth and status. Cyrus the arriviste was all to aware of his newly found status.
50
Requisition (n)
An official order laying claim to the use of a property or materials. Cambyses managed to get requisitions from the temples but it took a long time.
51
Gibbering (v)
Speaking rapidly and unintelligibly. He was given to the gibbering mockery of the Gods.
52
Aureate (adj)
Highly ornamental and elaborate. The grandiosity of the Egyptian traditions were aureate like no other.
53
Fratricide (n)
The act of killing your own brother.
54
Regicide (n)
The action of killing a monarch.
55
Haver (v)
Vacillating in an indecisive manner. To haver would be to loose the advantage.
56
Anathematised (v)
Curse or condemn. He anathematised them as “Bloody Scoundrels”.
57
Putsch (n)
A violent attempt at overthrowing a government. Far from staging a squalid putsch, they had been engaged in nothing less than the redemption of the cosmos.
58
Scarlet (n)
A brilliant red colour.
59
Crenellations (n)
The battlements of a castle or building.
60
Lapis lazuli (n)
A deep blue metamorphic rock.
61
Allayed (v)
Diminish or put at rest. Darius enemies were not so easily allayed.
62
Quietus (n)
Death or something that causes death. Darius, the man responsible for their quietus, still indulged their spectres.
63
Babel (n)
A confused noise made by a number of voices. Shopkeepers and hawkers brought their own babel to the streets.
64
Febrile (adj)
Having or showing a great deal of nervous energy.
65
Frieze (n)
A horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration on a wall or ceiling.
66
Covenant (n)
An agreement drawn up by a deed. The covenant embodied by Persian rule could not have been made any clearer:
67
Promontory (n)
A point of high land that juts out into the sea or a large lake; a headland. A rocky promontory
68
Aureate (adj)
Made of or having the color of gold. OR Highly ornamented or elaborate. Helen had been more aureate than her husband.
69
Well-Spring (n)
An abundant source of something. A wellspring of ideas.
70
Cuirasses (n)
A piece of armour consisting of breast and back plates fastened together.
71
Straggling (adj)
Moving around slowly so as to remain some distance behind the main crowd. The refugees were straggling along.
72
Tenebrous (adj)
Dark or shadowy The tenebrous spiral stairway lead into the dungeon.
73
Tracery (n)
Ornamental stone work on the upper part of a gothic window.
74
Sententious (adj)
Given to moralising in a pompous or affected manner. He tried to encourage his men with sententious rhetoric.
75
Disport (v)
Enjoying without restraint. The portrait depicted ladies disporting by the sea side.
76
Helot (n)
A member of the serf class (peasants) in between slaves and citizens in Ancient Greece.
77
Ingot (n)
A piece of gold or silver metal oblong in shape.
78
Inquisitor (n)
A person making out an enquiry Uber an inquisition - normally a harsh and penetrating one.
79
Swanking (v)
A pompous display of wealth or knowledge with a desire to impress.
80
Acropolis (n)
A citadel or fortified part of an Ancient Greek city typically built on a hill.
81
Roistering (v)
Enjoy in a noisy boisterous way. Mansions in which the nobility once roistered.
82
Frowsting
83
Gorgons (n)
3 sisters from Greek mythology who had horrifying visages and live snakes as hair.
84
Amphora
85
Scraper
86
Gawping
87
Deme
88
Fiendish
89
Myrtle
90
Ululation
91
Chinking (adj)
A high pitched ringing sound as when coins striking together.
92
Necropolis (n)
A large cemetery belonging to an ancient city.
93
Soused (v)
To preserve in a pickling solution OR Soaked or drenched. The chips were well soused with vinegar.
94
Immanence (n)
Existing within or inherent. The protection of liberties is immanent in the constitution.
95
Kindle (v)
To set afire or alight. He kindled the fry leaves into a fire.
96
Priggish (n)
Morally self righteous and superior. She was priggish about sex - but then all prigs are.
97
Blasé (adj) [Blah Ze]
Unimpressed or indifferent about. She was becoming blasé about the dangers.
98
Yokel (n)
An uneducated and unsophisticated person from the countryside.
99
Lapidary (adj)
Related to the engraving cutting or polishing of gems and precious stones.
100
Deism (n)
A philosophical belief in God solely based out of rational logic rather than through relevations or revealed religions. He wrote to vindicate deism against what he thought to be foul accretions in the holy books.

English Vocalbulary (31 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions