38782302
Description
Flashcards by Kenneth Andrew, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Kenneth Andrew
about 1 year ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Erstwhile | adj. - former "His erstwhile enemies..." |
| Enervate | v. - Cause (someone) to feel drained of energy or vitality; weaken "The heat enervated us." adj. - lacking in energy or vitality "His presence was generally enervate." |
| Prevaricate | v. - speak or act in an evasive way "He seemed to prevaricate when he heard the journalists' questions." |
| Precipitate | v. - to cause (an event or situation, typically unpleasant) to happen suddenly, unexpectedly, or prematurely "The incident precipitated a political crisis." adj. - done, made, or acting suddenly without careful consideration "My staff's actions were precipitate." (in chemistry) v. - to cause a substance to be deposited in solid form from a solution. "Cell proteins were then precipitated." (in chemistry) n. - a substance precipitated from a solution. "The chemist pondered this strange precipitate." |
| Posit | v. - to assume as a fact; to put forward as a basis of an argument "Confucius posits a perfectible human nature." v. - to put in position; to place "He posits Hemingway at the top of his list of favorites." (in philosophy) n. - a statement that is put forward on the assumption that it is true "I hold a posit that humans are inherently good." |
| Quiddity | n. - the inherent nature or essence of someone or something. "His quiddity is ultimately evil." n. - a distinctive feature; a peculiarity "His quirks and quiddities astound me." |
| Ubiquitous | adj. - present, appearing, or found everywhere "The ubiquitous noise gave me a migraine." |
| Capricious | adj. - given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior "Our capricious boss makes our workplace a nightmare." |
| Insidious | adj. - proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. "STDs can be insidious and sometimes without symptoms." adj. - treacherous; crafty "I found proof of their insidious alliance." |
| Fastidious | adj. - very attentive and concerned with accuracy and detail "The work of a copyeditor is fastidious." adj. - Very concerned about matters of cleanliness "His mother's fastidiousness made her visits stressful." |
| Perfidious | adj. - deceitful and untrustworthy "My ex-girlfriend was a perfidious lover." |
| Insouciant | adj. - showing a general lack of concern; indifferent "When questioned about her infidelity, she gave an insouciant shrug." |
| Phosphorescence | n. - light emitted by a substance without combustion or perceptible heat. "The stones in the cave gleamed with phosphorescence." (in physics) n. - the emission of radiation in a similar manner to fluorescence but on a longer timescale, so that emission continues after excitation (the process in which an atom or other particle adopts a higher energy state when energy is supplied) ceases "Scientists carefully monitored the material's phosphorescence." |
| Amanuensis | n. - a literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation and copies manuscripts "The monastery trained him to be an able amanuensis." |
| Contumelious | adj. - (of behavior) scornful and insulting; insolent. "I was shocked at how contumelious I found the principal to be." |
| Sibyl | n. - a woman in ancient times supposed to utter the oracles and prophecies of a god "She acted as the town's sibyl, and eased the communities concerns." |
| Tocsin | n. - an alarm bell or signal "His resignation was a tocsin to the danger of overwhelming power." |
| Consentient | adj. - of the same opinion in a matter; in agreement "For once, we found ourselves consentient." |
| Hardpan | (in geology) n. - a hardened impervious layer, typically of clay, occurring in or below the soil and impairing drainage and plant growth "The farmer found the hardpan to be the culprit for his struggles." |
| Ruthful | adj. - full of sorrow; woeful; rueful "The accused murderer seemed surprisingly ruthful during his sentencing." |
| Nidification | (in zoology) n. - (the act of) nest building "Owls are masters in the art of nidification." |
| Flappable | adj. - excitable and quick to lose one's composure "Her father warned her to avoid seeming flappable during the interview." |
| Vespertine | adj. - relating to, occurring, or active in the evening "Writers are stereotypically vespertine beings." |
| Alluvium | n. - a deposit of clay, silt, sand, and gravel left by flowing streams in a river valley or delta, typically producing fertile soil "The alluvium that the prospectors found filled them with hope for the land." |
| Factitious | adj. - artificially created or developed "He had created a factitious identity for himself." |
| Renascent | adj. - becoming active or popular again "Socialism has made itself known as a renascent movement." |
| Furbelow | n. - a gathered strip or pleated border of a skirt or petticoat "She was drawn to the furbelow of the skirt in the window." v. - to adorn with trimmings "The girls were furbelowed by the town dressmaker." |
| River Delta | n. - a landform shaped like a triangle, created by the deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water "He felt compelled to explore the river delta." |
| Topiary | n. - the art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes "He was a specialist in topiary art." n. - shrubs or trees clipped into ornamental shapes "The cottage was surrounded by topiaries." |
| Pugnacious | adj. - eager or quick to argue, quarrel, or fight. "The politicians grew more and more pugnacious as the debate intensified." |
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