Unit4 Flashcards
carnivorous
Meat-eating or flesh-eating.
eg. He’d gotten tired of his vegetarian guinea pigs and decided he preferred carnivorous pets such as ferrets.
herbivorous
Plant-eating.
eg. In spite of their frightening appearance, marine iguanas are peaceable herbivorous animals that feed mostly on seaweed.
insectivorous
Feeding on insects.
eg. Their rather odd 12-year-old son kept insectivorous plants in his bedroom and fed them live flies.
voracious
Having a huge appetite.
eg. One of the hardest parts of dieting is watching skinny people with voracious appetites consume large amounts of food without gaining weight.
carnage
Great destruction of life (as in a battle); slaughter.
eg. Countries around the world appealed to all sides of the conflict to stop the carnage of the war in Bosnia.
carnal
Having to do with bodily pleasures.
eg. The news stories about students on Spring Break tend to focus on the carnal pleasures associated with the annual ritual.
incarnate
Given bodily or actual form; especially, having human body.
eg. For the rest of his life, he would regard his childhood nanny as goodness incarnate.
reincarnation
(1) Rebirth in new bodies or forms of life. (2) Someone who has been born again with a new body after death.
eg. Even as a child he struck everyone as a reincarnation of his grandfather, not in his features but in his manner and personality.
credence
Mental acceptance of something as true or real; belief.
eg. He scoffed and said no one still gives any credence to the story of the Loch
Ness monster.
credible
(1) Able to be believed; reasonable to trust or believe. (2) Good enough to be effective.
eg. Because of her past criminal record, the defense lawyers knew she wouldn’t be a credible witness.
credulity
Readiness and willingness to believe on the basis of little evidence.
eg. Thrillers and action movies only succeed if they don’t strain our credulity too much.
credo
(1) A statement of the basic beliefs of a religious faith. (2) A set of guiding principles or beliefs.
eg. She claims she made her money on Wall Street just by following the old credo “Buy low, sell high.”
affidavit
A sworn statement made in writing.
eg. The whole family had signed affidavits stating that they believed the will to
be valid.
diffident
Lacking confidence; timid, cautious.
eg. He always found it a struggle to get his most diffident students to speak in front of the class.
fiduciary
(1) Having to do with a confidence or trust. (2) Held in trust for another.
eg. Pension-fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to invest the pension’s funds for the sole benefit of those who will receive the pensions.
perfidy
Faithlessness, disloyalty, or treachery.
eg. While working for the CIA he was lured into becoming a double agent, and it seems he paid a high price for his perfidy.
concurrent
Happening or operating at the same time.
eg. The killer was sentenced to serve three concurrent life terms in prison.
cursory
Hastily and often carelessly done.
eg. Having spent the weekend going to parties, she had only given the chapter a cursory reading before class on Monday.
discursive
Passing from one topic to another.
eg. Some days he allowed himself to write long discursive essays in his diary instead of his usual simple reporting of the day’s events.
precursor
One that goes before and indicates the coming of another.
eg. Scientists are trying to identify special geological activity that may be a precursor to an earthquake, which will help them predict the quake’s size, time, and location.
quadruped
An animal having four feet.
eg. She always tells her friends that their farm has five kinds of quadrupeds: sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pigs.
pedigree
The line of ancestors of a person or animal.
eg. She talks a lot about her pedigree, but never mentions that a couple of her uncles spent time in prison.
impediment
Something that interferes with movement or progress.
eg. Her poorly developed verbal ability was the most serious impediment to her advancement.
pedestrian
Commonplace, ordinary, or unimaginative.
eg. While politicians endlessly discussed the great issues facing Russia, the Russians worried about such pedestrian concerns as finding enough food, shelter, and clothing.
