Monday, September 24, 2012

Vocabulary: Fall List #6

Adroit: skillful, successful or ingenious. 
Amicable: characterized by or showing goodwill; friendly. 
Averse: having a strong feeling opposition, antipathy, repugnance, etc. 
Belligerent: warlike; given to waging war; of warlike character. 
Benevolent: desiring to help others; charitable. 
Cursory: going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty.; superficial. 
Duplicity: an act or instance of such deceitfulness. 
Extol: to praise highly; laud; eulogize. 
Feasible: capable of being done, effected, accomplished.
Grimace: a facial expression, often ugly or contorted, that indicates disapproval, pain, etc. 
Holocaust: a mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life. 
Impervious: not permitting penetration or passage; impenetrable. 
Impetus: a moving force; impulse; stimulus. 
Jeopardy: hazard or risk of or exposure to loss, harm, death, injury. 
Meticulous: taking or showing extreme care about minute details. 
Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life. 
Quintessence: the pure and concentrated essence of a substance. 
Retrogress: to back into an earlier and usually worse condition. 
Scrutinize: to examine in detail with careful or critical attention. 
Tepid: moderately warm; lukewarm. 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Vocabulary: Fall List # 5

Allude: to refer casually or indirectly. make an allusion.
Clairvoyant: having or claiming the power to read minds.
Conclusive: serving to settle or decide a question.
Disreputable: not reputable; discreditable or dishonorable.
Endemic: natural or characteristic of a specific people or place.
Exemplary: worthy of imitation; commendable.
Fathom: to not understand the depth of someone or something.
Guile: insidious cunning in attaining a goal.
Integrity: adherence to moral or ethical principles.
Itinerary: a detailed plan for a journey, especially places to visit.
Misconstrue: to misunderstand the meaning of; take in a wrong sense.
Obnoxious: annoying or objectionable due to being a showoff or attracting undue attention to oneself.
Placate: to appease or pacify, especially by concessions or conciliatory gestures.
Placid: pleasantly calm or peaceful; unruffled.
Plagiarism: an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work.
Potent: powerful; mighty; having or exercising great power of influence.
Pretext: something that is put forward to conceal a true purpose or object.
Protrude: to project.
Stark: sheer, utter, downright, or complete.
Superficial: being at, on, or near the surface; shallow.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Vocabulary: Fall List #4

Melancholy: a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged.
Exemplary: worthy of imitation; commendable.
Peculiar: strange; queer; odd.
Dread: to fear greatly; be in extreme apprehension.
Bough: a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches.
Pious: characterized by a hypocritical concern with virtue or religious devotion.
Communion: interchange or sharing of thoughts or emotions; intimate communication.
 Auditor: a person appointed and authorized to examine accounts and accounting records, compare the changes with the vouchers.
Multitude: a great number of people gathered together.
Eloquence: a practice of art or using language with fluency and aptness.
Despair: loss of hope; someone or something that causes hopelessness.
Hoary: gray or white with age; ancient or venerable.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Vocabulary: Fall List #3


Encomium: a formal expression of high praise; eulogy.
Coherent: logically connected, consistent; sticking together.
Belabor: to explain, worry about, or work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary.
Eschew: to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid.
Acquisitive: tending or seeking to acquire and own, often greedily.
Emulate: to try to equal or excel. imitate with effort to equal or surpass.
Arrogate: to claim unwarrantably or presumptuously assume or appropriate to oneself without right.
Banal: devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed.
Excoriation: the act of excoriating.
Congeal: to make or become fixed, as ideas, sentiments, or principles.
Carping: characterized by fussy or petulant faultfinding.
Substantiate: to establish by proof or competent evidence.
Temporize: to be indecisive or evasive to gain time or delay acting.
Largess: generous bestowal of gifts; generosity.
Tenable: capable of being held, maintained, or defended against an attack or dispute.
Insatiable: incapable of being satisfied or appeased.
Reconnaissance: the act of reconnoitering.
Germane: closely or significantly related; relevant; pertinent.
Ramify: to divide or spread out into branches or branchlike parts; extend into subdivisions.
Intransigent: refusing to agree or compromise.
Taciturn: inclined to silence; reserved to speech.
Invidious: calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense.