Set 16 Flashcards
(12 cards)
anecdotal
omething anecdotal has to do with anecdotes — little stories. Anecdotal evidence is based on hearsay rather than hard facts.People like to share stories about things that happened to them, or that they heard about, to make a point. That kind of talk is anecdotal: based on small, personal accounts. Anecdotal stories are helpful when you’re trying to give an example of something, but there’s a downside to anecdotal information: since it’s not based on facts, you never know if you can totally trust it. So it’s best to go beyond the anecdotal and get more solid information.
angst
Angst is a feeling of anxiety and frustration that isn’t specific. People often feel angst about the state of the world, or about the state of their homework.Angst is anxiety that is mixed with frustration and negativity. Angst often doesn’t have a specific target: people feel angst in general. Teenagers are known for their angst, which is shown when they act miserable about nothing in particular. Often, angst refers to philosophical displeasure with world events or personal freedom. An angst-filled person is dissatisfied and unhappy.
denouement
You know that part of every movie after the big action scene, where things get explained, and the characters tie up loose ends? That’s called the denouement, or the showing of how the plot eventually turns out.Denouement is a French word that literally means the action of untying, from a verb meaning to untie. The English word is pronounced like the French: day-noo-MON. The last syllable has a nasalized vowel instead of the n sound. You can use it outside the context of plays or novels, too: you might describe the denouement of an argument between two friends.
execration
hate coupled with disgust: Aaron Burr hastened to the South, to avoid arrest; but public execration followed him.
hiatus
A temporary gap, pause, break, or absence can be called a hiatus. When your favorite TV show is on hiatus, that means there are no new episodes — not forever, just for a little while.Even things that go on for a long time take a break once in a while: one kind of break is a hiatus. If someone has to leave her job for a time, she’s going on hiatus. A touring band will need to take a hiatus if the lead singer gets in an accident. The key thing about a hiatus is that it’s an interruption of something that was happening, but it’s not a permanent break.
invoke
To invoke is to call up something such as a law, a higher power, or even a ghost. In court, you might invoke the Fifth Amendment (the right not to say something that will make you look bad) if you don’t want to talk.You can invoke all kinds of people or ideas, alive or dead: “She invokes the spirit of good writing when she proofreads her work.” In a time of need, you might invoke a higher power. You could invoke Martin Luther King when talking about equal rights. You might even invoke the spirit of your dead cat at a séance. Just make sure you don’t evoke (to bring on a strong emotional reaction) your dead cat; that would just be weird.
lucid
When you call something lucid, you mean it’s “easy to understand” or “sensible”: “The singer’s lucid style was obscured by backup singers chanting ‘Shama-lama-ding-dong.’“Lucid is ultimately from Latin lux meaning “light,” and its current senses are all based on the original meaning “shining, luminous.” On the one hand it refers to things that can be understood without difficulty (“a lucid definition”), on the other to sound states of mind (a madman might have “lucid intervals”). In a lucid dream, you’re aware that you are dreaming and you may be able to control the dream.
mercurial
Mercurial describes someone whose mood or behavior is changeable and unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick. With a mercurial teacher, you never know where you stand.Mercury was the ancient Roman god of commerce and messenger of the gods, and the planet Mercury was named after the Roman god. In Middle English, this adjective meant “relating to the planet or god Mercury” and derives from Latin mercuriālis, from Mercurius “Mercury.” A mercurial personality has the unpredictability associated with the god Mercury or, in astrology, is supposedly influenced by the planet.
obtuse
The adjective obtuse is good for describing someone slow on the uptake: “Don’t be so obtuse: get with the program!”The adjective obtuse literally means “rounded” or “blunt,” but when it’s used for a person, it means “not quick or alert in perception” — in other words, not the sharpest tool in the shed. It’s not just for dull people, but also dull angles: in geometry, an obtuse angle is one that is not so sharp (between 90 and 180 degrees).
perfidious
If someone accuses you of being perfidious, you should probably be offended — it means underhanded, treacherous, deceitful — even evil.If you betray people often, you’re perfidious: traitors are extremely perfidious. Besides betrayal, this word implies lying and maybe other kinds of awful behavior, like stealing and taking bribes. Everyone tries to avoid perfidious people. Perfidious is kind of an old-fashioned word, but being perfidious will never go out of style, unfortunately.
satire
Satire is a way of making fun of people by using silly or exaggerated language. Politicians are easy targets for satire, especially when they’re acting self-righteous or hypocritical.Even though the ridiculous language of satire isn’t intended to be taken seriously, well-made satire can use mockery to get at more serious truths. Sometimes satire can even overtake reality: when the television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live presented a mock debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign season, the satire was so dead-on that it influenced the way people thought of the candidates.
singular
If something is extraordinary, remarkable, or one of a kind, you can say it is singular. A singular opportunity to sing onstage with a rock star is a remarkable opportunity.Seeing the single inside singular can help you understand its meaning in the sense of one. In grammar, singular means one, as opposed to plural, which means more than one. But singular’s not always––or singularly––about being unique. Walking through a foggy cemetery might give you a singular feeling––or a feeling that’s odd and peculiar––that ghosts could possibly be real.
