Straits Times Flashcards
(34 cards)
Frenetic
(adj) fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way.
Eviscerate
(v) disembowel (a person or animal).
deprive (something) of its essential content.
(Surgery) remove the contents of (the eyeball).
Altercation
(n) a noisy argument or disagreement, especially in public.
Emaciate
to make someone extremely thin or very weak.
Mercurial
Trump’s policies are mercurial - the US Postal Service suspended all inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong, then reversed the decision soon afterwards.
adjective
subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
“He who saves his country does not violate any law.”
Trump
Priapism of Bill Clinton
an abnormal often painful persistent erection of the penis
Libellous
Adj
constituting or including a libel : defamatory
Bifurcate
Tighter rules on advanced chips to China could further bifurcate semiconductor supply chains along geopolitical blocs.
(v) to cause to divide into two branches or parts
Ennui
(n) a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom
Exemplar
(n) the ideal model
Perfect is the enemy of the good
Voltaire
Foible
Trump is evaluated mostly on his positions, not so much for his foibles.
2: a minor flaw or shortcoming in character or behavior : weakness
1: the part of a sword or foil blade between the middle and point
Laconic
Texas - its ruggedness fabled and modernity laconic, but unaffected. (Bhagyashree Garekar, US Bureau Chief, ST)
using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious
E pluribus unum
Out of many, one.
The motto of the United States.
13 letters makes its use symbolic of the original Thirteen Colonies which rebelled against the rule of the Kingdom of Great Britain and became the first thirteen states, represented today as the thirteen stripes on the American flag.
Inimical
Such comments and views are also inimical for a person in a position of leadership to espouse.
Adj
1: being adverse often by reason of hostility or malevolence
//forces inimical to democracy
2a: having the disposition of an enemy : hostile
//inimical factions
b: reflecting or indicating hostility : unfriendly
//his father’s inimical glare
Egregious
Adj
1: conspicuous
especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant
//egregious errors
//egregious padding of the evidence
— Christopher Hitchens
2archaic : distinguished
Scion
Noun
1. a: descendant, child
especially : a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family
b: heir sense 1
//scion of a railroad empire
2: a detached living portion of a plant (such as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft
Gazump
Verb
1.
informal•British
make a higher offer for a house than (someone whose offer has already been accepted by the seller) and thus succeed in acquiring the property.
“the trio are fuming after they were gazumped by a property speculator”
2.
dated•informal
swindle (someone).
“I gazumped a friend of mine with complete success last night”
Only the immutable force of biology can remove Mr Putin from his gilded Kremlin palace in Moscow.
Jonathan Eyal (ST Global Affairs Correspondent)
Promulgate
Verb
1. to make (an idea, belief, etc.) known to many people by open declaration
2. to make known or public the terms of (a proposed law)
//The law was promulgated in February 1993.
b: to put (a law or rule) into action or force
Corral
Verb
1. to enclose in a corral (see corral entry 1 sense 1)
//corralled the horses
2: to arrange (wagons) so as to form a corral (see corral entry 1 sense 2)
3: collect, gather
//corralling votes for the upcoming election
Cabal
They were part of the so-called “Deep State”, the imaginary ~ of faceless bureaucrats working behind the scenes to thwart the Trump project.
Noun
1: the contrived schemes of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government)
also : a group engaged in such schemes
2: club, group
//a cabal of artists
