Vocabularies From Practices (August/September) Flashcards
(39 cards)
Serendipity
NOUN
1: the unexpected occurrence of or faculty for finding valuable or agreeable things that are not sought
Chafe
VERB
1: IRRITATE, VEX
2: to warm by rubbing especially with the hands
3: to rub so as to wear away : ABRADE.
4: to make sore by or as if by rubbing
5: to feel irritation, discontent, or impatience : FRET
NOUN
1: a state of vexation : RAGE
2: injury or wear caused by friction, also : FRICTION, RUBBING
Jarring
ADJ
1: having a harshly concussive, disagreeable, or discordant effect
Prodigious
ADJ
1: causing amazement or wonder
2: extraordinary in bulk, quantity, or degree : ENORMOUS
3: resembling or befitting a prodigy : STRANGE, UNUSUAL
4: obsolete : being an omen : PORTENTOUS
Gloat
VERB
1: to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction, gratification, or delight
Example: gloat over an enemy’s misfortune
2: obsolete : to look or glance admiringly or amorously
Tepid
ADJ
1: moderately warm : LUKEWARM
2: lacking in passion, force, or zest
3: marked by an absence of enthusiasm or conviction
Consign
VERB
1: to give over to another’s care
2: to give, transfer, or deliver into the hands or control of another, also to commit especially to a final destination or fate
Example: a writer consigned to oblivion ; consign a body to the grave
3: to send or address to an agent to be cared for or sold
4: obsolete : AGREE, SUBMIT
Modicum
NOUN
1: a small portion ; a limited quantity
Short Shrift
PHRASE
1: barely adequate time for confession before execution
2: little or no attention or consideration
Example: gave the problem short shrift
3: quick work — usually used in the phrase make short shrift of
Transmute
VERB
1: to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature and especially to a higher form
2: to subject (something, such as an element) to transmutation
Undue
ADJ
1: not due ; not yet payable
2: exceeding or violating propriety or fitness : EXCESSIVE
Fouling
NOUN
1: DEPOSIT, INCRUSTATION
*Fouling up:
1: to make dirty : CONTAMINATE
2: to spoil by making mistakes or using poor judgment : CONFUSE
3: ENTANGLE, BLOCK
Example: fouled up communications
Fatuous
ADJ
1: complacently or inanely foolish : SILLY
Depravity
NOUN
1: a corrupt act or practice
2: the quality or state of being corrupt, evil, or perverted : the quality or state of being depraved
Demolish
VERB
1: TEAR DOWN, RAZE
2: to break to pieces : SMASH
3: to do away with : DESTROY
Example: demolish any chance of restoring her declining career
4: to strip of any pretense of merit or credence
Marshal
NOUN
1: a high official in the household of a medieval king, prince, or noble originally having charge of the cavalry but later usually in command of the military forces
2: the administrative head of a city police department or fire department
VERB
1: to place in proper rank or position
2: to bring together and order in an appropriate or effective way
Example: marshal arguments/thoughts
3: to lead ceremoniously or solicitously : USHER
Example: marshaling her little group of children down the street
4: to take form or order
Example: ideas marshaling neatly
Litany
NOUN 1: a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation 2: a resonant or repetitive chant Example: a litany of cheering phrases 3: a usually lengthy recitation or enumeration Example: a familiar litany of complaints 4: a sizable series or set Example: a litany of problems
Insouciance
NOUN
1: lighthearted unconcern : NONCHALANCE
Assemblage
NOUN
1: a collection of persons or things : GATHERING
2: the act of assembling : the state of being assembled
3: an artistic composition made from scraps, junk, and odds and ends (as of paper, cloth, wood, stone, or metal)
4: the art of making assemblages
Extirpate
VERB
1: to destroy completely : WIPE OUT
2: to pull up by the root
3: to cut out by surgery
Gridlock
NOUN
1: a traffic jam in which a grid of intersecting streets is so completely congested that no vehicular movement is possible
2: a situation resembling gridlock (as in congestion or lack of movement)
Example: political gridlock
VERB
1: to cause to be in a state or situation in which movement or progress is stopped completely : to produce gridlock in or of
Example: streets gridlocked by heavy traffic; a government gridlocked by partisan rancor
2: to experience gridlock
Hone
VERB
1: to sharpen or smooth with a whetstone
2: to make more acute, intense, or effective : WHET
3: dialect : YEARN —often used with for or after
4: dialect : GRUMBLE, MOAN
NOUN
1: WHETSTONE
Freelance
NOUN
1: a mercenary soldier especially of the Middle Ages : CONDOTTIERE
2: a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization
ADJ
1: of, relating to, or being a freelance : INDEPENDENT
2: done by a freelance
Example: freelance reviewing
2: not sponsored by an organization
VERB
1: to act or work as a freelance
Prescience
NOUN
1: foreknowledge of events: divine omniscience
2: human anticipation of the course of events : FORESIGHT
