Vocab. Builder – Academic Flashcards by Sandy Milne

In ac. citation, the idea that a concept can be found throughout a text, rather than in one single location

Ad passim

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Excessively lavish; praising; obeisant; panegyric

Adulatory

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

A cat-lover.

Ailurophile

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Assistant to an artist

Amanuensis

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Lacking colour or vitality

Anaemic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Feeble

Anemic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Having rings or ringed

Annulate

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Something that is inoffensive or unchallenging, such as a bland or generic piece of art or music (lit: an analgesic)

Anodyne

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Pithy observation which contains a general truth.

Aphorism

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Confidence

Aplomb

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Highest part, peak, apogee

Apotheosis

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Member of a Communist Party apparat; an official in a large political organization. “Tory apparatchiks”

Apparatchik

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Formal title or name

Appellation

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Ambitious upstart or nouveau-riche

Arriviste

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Attack on the integrity or character of someone

Aspersion

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Devoid of cadence

Atonic

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Respected or well-to-do

August

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Relating to an elaborately ornamented style of art and music

Baroque

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

To exhaust with attacks

Beleaguer

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

The leading sheep of a flock, with a bell on its neck; something that leads or indicates a trend.

Bellwether

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Conventional or orthodox

Bien pensant

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

A novel dealing with one person’s formative years or spiritual education.

Bildungsroman

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Obtain or withhold money from (someone) unfairly or by deceit; cheat or defraud.

Bilk

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

A person who has a good social life

Bon vivant

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Work of little or no value done merely to look busy

Boondoggle

To cut out or edit an offensive section of a work, esp. so as to render it less moving

Bowdlerise

A trite, unoriginal, or clichéd statement that is intended to soothe or placate.

Bromide

In a lovely rural setting.

Bucolic

Irritatingly self-assertive.

Bumptious

A secret political clique or faction.

Cabal

Convertible whip

Cabriolet

A modulation or inflection of the voice

Cadence

A lie

Canard

Determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity

Capricious

Cavil; complain or find fault continually about trivial matters

Carp

Carp; complain / make petty or unnecessary objections

Cavil

Assuming all else remains unchanged

Ceteris paribus

Brilliantly loud and clear

Clarion

Intermediary between buyer and seller

Clearing house

Conversation

Colloquy

Phenomenon which occurs together with another

Concomitant

To blend together.

Conflate

Friendly, amicable, or easy to get along with

Congeniality

Lively and atmospheric

Convivial

Related to person’s body, vis-a-vis their spirit

Corporeal

(Of wit or humour) light and sparkling

Coruscating

(Of someone’s character) niggardly, (of speech or movement) slow

Costive

A small group or cabal of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people "a coterie of friends and advisers"

Coterie

Grumpy old guy

Curmudgeon

Something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.; something serving for guidance or direction:

Cynosure

A brief love affair.

Dalliance

To take leave

Decamp

To cover an expense or outgoing

Defray

Dominion, territory.

Demesne

Quotidian language used by laymen

Demotic

Shy and reserved; diffident

Demure

The final part of a play, where all the strings are drawn together; The resolution of a mystery.

Denouement

Disuse

Desuetude

Slow, sluggish

Desultory

An event that comes out of nowhere to change trajectory of story

Deus ex machine

Scale back

Dial back

Process of inquiry

Dialectic

Filmy

Diaphanous

Intended primarily to teach

Didacticism

Modest or shy

Diffident

Relating to sexual or hedonistic gratification

Dionysian

Enjoying oneself sans inhibitions

Disporting

A long speech

Disquisition

Seeking to impose a doctrine in all circumstances without regard to practical considerations

Doctrinaire

Poorly written verse or stanza

Doggerel

Resembling a college don, particularly because of having a pedantic, scholarly manner.

Donnish

Vaguely macho way of saying research something

Drill down

Something regarded as worthless; rubbish.

Dross

Able to be guided; malleable

Ductile

Sweet, sugary

Dulcet

Bubbling enthusiasm.

Ebullience

Representing a number of diff. Christian churches

Ecumenical

Bubbly

Effervescent

Feminine and overly affected (particularly of a man); camp

Effete

Flowering, blooming

Efflorescence

Use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device.

Ekphrasis

(Of a work or art) like a lament

Elegiac

Join different things together as if they are the same; to become joined in this way:

Elide

A good potion.

Elixir

Beauty and persuasion in speech

Eloquence

Rubbing on a lotion

Embrocation

A softener

Emollient

Salary, fee, or profit from office

Emoluments

Action borne of frustration with bureaucracy (e.g. ‘can we do an end run on this’?)

End run

Lasting a very short time; lasting one day only

Ephemeral

A witty, often paradoxical remark, concisely expressed. 2. a short, pungent, and often satirical poem, esp one having a witty and ingenious ending

Epigram

A sudden revelation

Epiphany

Repetition of clauses throughout a phrase

Epistrophe

Used as a poor substitute for someone else

Ersatz

Former

Erstwhile

Gaseous, invisible but detectable.

Ethereal

Looking sick, unwell, or emaciated

Etiolated

Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time

Evanescent

Suggestive

Evocative

Demanding

Exigent

Elaborate

Expatiate

To make up for (a sin)

Expiate

Destroy

Extirpate

Triumphantly happy

Exultant

Pleasantness

Felicity

Group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or nation.

Fifth column

Capable of or prone to being split or divided 2 : something deviating from the proper, normal, or accepted order

Fissile

One who lounges around

Flâneur

Hollow compliments

Flummery

Minor flaw or a weakness

Foible

The soft spot on a baby’s head

Fontanelle

Withholding response to provocation

Forbearance

Rule out or prohibit

Foreclose

Fleeting; tending to disappear; ephemeral

Fugacious

Express violent outcry against

Fulminate

Exceedingly

Fulsome

Having the qualities of the deceased; morbid; moribund

Funereal

Shifty, sneaky

Furtive

Person who annoys or criticizes others in order to provoke them into action.

Gadfly

To skip or leap about joyfully

Gambol

To embellish (lit: to decorate w/ flowers)

Garland

An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

Gestalt

Made in broad sweeps

Gestural

Artfully persuasive in speech

Glib

An extremely difficult or involved problem.

Gordian knot

The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk

Gossamer

Slender

Gracile

Denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.

Halcyon

Fatal flaw; Achilles

Hamartia

Clumsy; doing things in an awkward or unskilled way when using the hands or dealing with people

Ham-fisted

Relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception.

Haptic

Messenger with news of the future

Harbinger

Feeling strained as a result of having demands persistently made on one; harassed.

Harried

Pride, self-belief

Hauteur

(Of a seal or closure) complete and airtight.

Hermetic

Not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs

Heterodox

A person who explains; a person who defends; a priest in Ancient Greece

Hierophant

An area beyond that which is known or established (about someone) (e.g. Obama’s hinterland)

Hinterland

A tedious moralising lecture

Homily

One who attacks institutions or beliefs

Iconoclast

Overlapping and forming a regular pattern

Imbrication

An altercation or complicated situation

Imbroglio

To infuse, instill

Imbue

Arrogant or demanding

Imperious

Having just begun and so not fully formed; rudimentary

Inchoate

Beginning, in an early stage

Incipient

Having little to no self-restraint

Incontinent

(Of a person or their behaviour) not able to be changed or reformed.

Incorrigible

Poor or impoverished

Indigent

Harden

Indurate

Unutterable, inexpressible

Ineffable

Incapable of being avoided

Ineluctable

A naïve young woman

Ingénue

A cozy nook by the hearth

Inglenook

Blithe nonchalance

Insouciance

Destructive to both sides in a conflict

Internecine

To appear soon (lit: on the horizon)

In the offing

Verbally rally against

Inveigh against

Angry

Irascible

Too simple and/or dull

Jejune

A long, mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes.

Jeremiad

Inspect or test the quality of something before purchasing it

Kick the tires

Tacky, appeals to popular rather than highbrow style

Kitsch

Offshoring of jobs

Labour arbitrage

Twisting and turning

Labyrinthine

A blank space or missing part

Lacuna

Something given as a bonus or gratuity; A special kind of gift

Lagniappe

A small gulf or inlet

Lagoon

(Of a light) flickering; (of a person’s sense of humour) brilliant but with a light touch

Lambert

Tiredness or inactivity, especially when pleasurable; an oppressive stillness of the air

Languor

Weariness; fatigue; a state of dreamy idleness

Lassitude

Slight of hand

Legerdemain

Recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation

Leitmotif

Treatment of a serious matter with humour or lack of due respect.

Levity

To move musically or lively

Lilt

Of, or related to, a border

Liminal

Thin, supple, svelte; slender and graceful

Lissom

Slender and flexible

Lithe

In place of a parent or guardian

Loco parentis

Person or thing which serves as a guiding force

Lodestar

Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).

Logocentric

Talkative

Loquacious

Disreputable or rakish

Louche

Impractical contemplative person having no definite income or business

Luftmensch

Like a wolf

Lupine

Forgiving, especially towards a lesser opponent

Magnanimous

Idea that pop. growth is exponential, food is linear

Malthusianism

Sweet sounding

Mellifluous

Given to begging

Mendicant

Alluring but vulgar (lit: like a prozzie)

Meretricious

Unpleasant cloud, atmosphere, or stench

Miasma

Rule of logic which states that if a conditional statement (‘if p then q ’) is accepted, and the antecedent ( p ) holds, then the consequent ( q ) may be inferred.

Modus ponens

One of two equal parts

Moiety

A slip of the ear

Mondegreen

Large and resistant to change

Monolithic

Biting

Mordant

At point of death

Moribund

Generous

Munificent

Person of great wealth or prominence

Nabob

Activity of spending too much time considering your own thoughts, feelings, or problems

Navel-gazing

Logical fallacy occurring when a conclusion is drawn that does not follow from the premises or evidence presented

Non sequitur

False accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions

Obloquy

Extremely unpleasant

Odious

The sea between the horizon and the offshore

Offing

Oleaginous, unctuous, obsequious

Oily/sycophantic

A word that sounds like its meaning

Onomatopoeia

Lush, luxuriant

Opulent

Something horrid

Ordure

Bad-tempered or difficult to deal with

Ornery

Mechanical model of solar system

Orrery

Right angles

Orthogonal

A manuscript written over earlier ones

Palimpsest

Hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases

Panacea

Conviction in one’s own sense of style

Panache

Poem delivered in high praise of someone/something

Panegyric

Optimistic no matter what

Panglossian

A complete set

Panoply

Circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed.

Panopticon

Group of distinguished people

Pantheon

Always in danger; full of uncertainty; precarious

Parlous

Narrow scope

Parochial

Sudden burst of either emotion or disease

Paroxysm

Art work combining materials from various sources.

Pastiche

Surface that has altered due to age

Patina

Repentant

Penitential

A half-shadow

Penumbra

A journey, esp. a long or meandering one

Peregrination

(Of an action) carried out w/o enthusiasm or interest; done carelessly as a matter of routine

Perfunctory

Use of more words than necessary to convey meaning

Perissology

Made uneasy or anxious

Perturb

Smell of earth after rain

Petrichor

Strategy of controlling petroleum sales as a way of achieving international political goals.

Petropolitics

(Of a person) childish or sulky

Petulant

Study of stamps

Philatelist

Person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values

Philistine

Having a disposition which cannot be perturbed

Phlegmatic

Very softly

Pianissimo

Terse and vigorously expressive

Pithy

Sad or sorrowful

Plaintive

(Of a sound) like a lament

Plangent

(Of a remark or statement) used too often to be interesting or thoughtful; hackneyed.

Platitudinous

A large quantity

Plethora

A strong written attack

Polemic

Formal politeness

Politesse

Of, or related to, the growing of fruit

Pomological

Sign or warning that a momentous or calamitous event is likely to happen.

Portent

All potential knowledge can be revealed through scientific methods

Positivism

Rejection or skepticism if the “grand narratives” of modernism, in the affable march of progress. How truth emerges in contextual and subjective circumstances.

Post-modernism

One who rules with reckless abandon; a dictator

Potentate

Magic tricks involving sleight of hand

Prestidigitation

Outrageously good

Preternatural

Quality or right of being firstborn

Primogeniture

Of speech or writing: using too many words; perissology

Prolix (adj.)

An inclination

Propinquity

Fair chance of success

Propitious

Able to change with ease

Protean

Overly sexual or horny

Prurient

Eager to fight; pugnacious

Pugilistic

Period of non-partisanship pre-election; period of social segregation for women

Purdah

Extent of the influence (of someone or something)

Purview

Pusillanimous, shy, timid, demure, reticent

Pusillanimous

Successful with heavy losses

Pyrrhic

The unique, unidentifiable essence of someone or something

Quiddity

Extremely idealistic; unrealistic and impractical

Quixotic

Once was; former; erstwhile

Quondam

Teasing of a light-hearted nature

Raillery

A defensive wall of a castle or walled city, having a broad top with a walkway and typically a stone parapet.

Rampart

Expressed in or of the nature of short, pithy maxims or aphorisms.

Gnomic

Excessively greedy

Rapacious

A spicy French stew

Ratatouille

To knit or unknit

Ravel

Unattractive; repellent; offensive; disgusting

Rebarbative

Reminiscent; evocative; suggestive. Also fragrant, odorous, etc.

Redolent

Contribute to; result in; lead to; bring about.

Redound to

Brought back; restored

Redux

Make something abstract more real

Reify

Cancel or postpone (lit: capital punishment)

Reprieve

Pusillanimous, shy, timid, or demure

Reticent

Referring to sexual matters in an amusing coarse or irreverent manner

Ribald

By the bank of a stream

Riparian

One who terrorises on supposedly benevolent grounds

Robespierre

Quarrel; dispute; argument

Ruction

Excessively sweet or sugarcoated; cloying; mawkish

Saccharine

Good for mind and/or body

Salubrious

Optimistic, Panglossian

Sanguine

A spark or very small thing

Scintilla

A young shoot or twig of a plant, especially one cut for grafting or rooting; a descendant of a notable family.

Scion

Lesser of two evils

Scylla and Charybdis

To a certain extent, or to some degree. Used in logic and philosophy to to describe a logical fallacy in which a general statement is applied to a specific case without taking into account relevant qualifications or exceptions.

Secundum quid

With diligence

Sedulous

Finding something nice while looking for something else

Serendipity

Sullied through frontline use

Shopworn

A (usually poor) recreation of someone or something

Simulacrum

Essential ingredient

Sine qua non

Remarkable, noticeable, uniquely

Singularly

A descriptive name or epithet

Sobriquet

An ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence; also : a minor blunder in speech

Solecism

A sense of extreme self-centeredness, egoism, or a tendency to disregard the feelings and experiences of others

Solipsistic

The realization that each passerby has a life as complex as one's own, or the feeling of being a small part of a larger universe

Sonder

A specious type of argumentation or reasoning that is deceptive, misleading, or superficially plausible, but ultimately flawed or fallacious. It often involves the use of clever rhetoric or language to obscure the truth, manipulate people's beliefs or emotions, or defend a flawed or unsound argument.

Sophistry

Seemingly plausible, but actually incorrect

Specious

An artifice or a trick for misleading the enemy

Stratagem

Presenting a view in an excessively forceful manner

Strident

People’s behaviours must be parsed in the context of the social environs they exist within

Structuralism

Subjugated, overlorded

Suborned

Erupting w/ anger; irascible

Sulphurous

Light, delicate or warm and sunny

Summery

Lush, luxurious; amenable to a sybarite

Sumptuous

Secretive, sneaky, furtive

Surreptitious

A person who controls another

Svengali

The swan song (ancient Greek: κύκνειον ᾆσμα; Latin: carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement.

Swan song

One overly fond of luxury

Sybarite

Suck-up

Sycophant

Meeting centred on one particular topic

Symposium

Fig. of speech in which whole is used to refer to a part or vice-versa (e.g. “Fingers” for thief)

Synecdoche

Blank slate. Particularly relevant to philosophy, where it entails the concept that each individual is born without preconceptions

Tabula rasa

Reserved in terms of speech or detail; to a lesser extent, reticent and/or demure

Taciturn

A harsh-tempered or overbearing woman who frequently quarrels or scolds

Termagant

Survey camera

Theodolite

Thrifty or lacking

Threadbare

To expose to shame or blame by means of falsehood and misrepresentation

Traduce

(Roman) group of three men holding power

Triumvirate

Easy or quick to fight – see also pugilistic and/or pugnacious

Truculent

Attractive items of ostentation, or little use

Trumpery

Unable to be quenched

Unslakable

Not restricted or restrained

Untrammelled

Scold (a person)

Upbraid

(Of a man) devoted to his wife to an intense degree

Uxorious

Units at the front of a squadron.

Vanguard

Addition of colour or distinction

Variegate

(Of a fault) trivial

Venial

Forming a very small remnant of something that was once greater or more noticeable

Vestigial

Contentious

Vexed

Harm the quality of

Vitiate

Bitter and abusive language

Vituperation

Give or acquiesce to, in a condescending manner

Vouchsafe

The means

Wherewithal

Sorrowful, downcast

Woebegone

A gentle breeze

Zephyr

A phrase in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g. John and his driving licence expired last week).

Zeugma

The investigation or attribution of the cause or reason for something, often expressed in terms of historical or mythical explanation

Etiology

Beginning to take place and/or develop

Incipient

Word form that remains unchanged singular vs. plural

Invariant or uninflected

Peak

Acme, zenith, apogee

Lack of respect, rudeness

Impertinence; impudence; contempuity

Restrictions or impediments to freedom of action

Trammel

Presented in vividly shocking or sensational terms. "the more lurid details of the massacre were too frightening for the children"

Lurid

Person or thing that attracts attention, criticism, or controversy. In this context, a lightning rod is seen as a way of deflecting negative attention or criticism away from other people or issues

Lightning rod

Confident style of manner; flair

Panache

The state of feeling remorseful and penitent

Contrition

A retaliatory act

Reprisal

denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; colloquial

Demotic

Showing great skill and/or flair

Consummate

Relating to or consisting of money. "he admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception"

Pecuniary

conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch

Sedition

A feeling of unease or embarrassment; awkwardness

Discomfiture

Knowledge independent from current experience (e.g., as part of a new study).

A priori

Given to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner

Sententious

Harmful, hostile, or unfriendly

Inimical

Authentic and typical

Echt

Humanity to others

Ubuntu

Pretentious or juvenile

Sophomoric

threatening harm; menacing.

Baleful

Witty remark or saying

Epigram

Vocab. Builder – Academic Flashcards

(364 cards)