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Flashcards in manhattan #5 essential Deck (50)
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1
Q

condone

A

overlook, tolerate, regard as harmless “while underage drinking is illegal, at many universities, it is tacitly condone by administrations that neglect to enforce anti drinking policies. Tacit means implied. Done is a root meaning to give, possible some tacit approval. Brook and countenance are related words.

2
Q

egalitarian

A

related to belief in the equality of all people, esp in political, economic or social spheres. “After moving to a more liberal part of the country, the couple was pleased to have neighbors who shared their views of egalitarian marriage- men and women could be found in equal proportions downshifting to part time work

3
Q

rudimentary

A

elementary, relating to the basics, undeveloped, primitive “my knowledge of Chinese is quite rudimentary - I get the idea of characters and I can order food, but I really can’t read this document you’ve just given me” Related words include inchoate, nascent and incipient

4
Q

finesse

A

extreme delicacy, subtlety or diplomacy in handling a sensitive situation or in a performance or skill, use tact or diplomacy, employ a deceptive strategy “after the prince deeply insulted his hosts, the diplomat was able to finesse the situation, playing it off as a translation error and getting the negotiations back on track. “

5
Q

anarchy

A

absence of law or government, chaos, disorder “once the dictator was assassinated, the country fell into total anarchy, as none of the opposition groups were strong enough to seize power. Anarchism can sometimes mean the political philosophy the absence of all direct government is ideal and that voluntary associations of individuals would be able to govern themselves.

6
Q

proliferate

A

increase or spread rapidly or excessively “the book alleged that terrorists cells are proliferating across the U. S. faster than the law enforcement can keep up. Prolific means producing a lot of something (offspring or a creative work)

7
Q

placid

A

peaceful, calm, tranquil (of a person or animal) not easily upset or excited. , “this horse has a placid nature”, related words include quiescent (quiet and still), pacific also means peaceful (pacific ocean)

8
Q

saturated

A

soak or imbue thoroughly; cause a substance to unite with the greatest amount of another substance “ we got married on a rainy beach and my dress was saturated” come from the root satus meaning enough (satisfy, satiate, sated”

9
Q

stoic or stoical

A

indifferent to pleasure or pain, enduring without complaint, person indifferent to pleasure or pain. “Della was not only calm but positively stoic, facing the measles vaccination without a single yelp, in spite of her terrible fear of needles” Related words include impassive, inscrutable, stolid.

10
Q

substantiate

A

support with evidence or proof, give a material existence to. “You say you were at home when the crime occured two towns over, is there anyone who can substantiate your claim? Related words include corroborate and verify.

11
Q

e.g. and i.e.

A

for example, such as “he was positively traumatized by the romantic comedies his girlfriend made him watch (e.g. He’s just not that into you)” i.e. is an abbreviation for that is an means “that is to say” “he finally nailed the lutz, i.e. a toepick-assisted figure skating jump with an entrance from the back outside edge. Use e.g. to introduce examples and i.e. to a a definition or clarification

12
Q

corroborate

A

support, add evidence to “you’re telling me you were 30 miles away riding a roller coaster when the school was vandalized? Is there anyone who can corroborate your story?’ substantiate and verify are synonyms. Share a latin root robur with robust (for oak or strength)

13
Q

negate

A

deny or refute, make void or cause to be ineffective “if you add “i promise to try to work things out for at least a couple of weeks before giving up “ to our wedding vows, it would kind of negate the part where it says until death do us part” Nullify also means to make void or invalid. Sap, enfeeble and undermind all mean weaken.

14
Q

impartial

A

The judge rescued himself from the case because having a personal connection to the school where the shooting took place, he did not think he could be appropriately impartial” related words included disinterested, dispassionate and non partisan.

15
Q

whimsical

A

marked or motivated by whims (odd, fanciful ideas, erratic, unpredictable “ alice in wonderland is a famously whimsical story in which a little girl falls down a rabbit hole and finds a strange and at times absurd world. “ Related words include capricious (synonym), arbitrary, mercurial and Lark (merry adventure)

16
Q

arduous

A

very difficult, strenuous, severe, hard to endure “the arduous hike up rocky terrain was all worth it once the hikers reached the summit” Don’t confuse arduous with ardor or ardent which mean passionate.

17
Q

coalesced

A

come together, unite, fuse together “while everyone on the team was jockeying for power and recognition, eventually, the group coalesced and everyone was happy to share credit for a job well done” A coalition is a group that has coalesced (at least in theory)

18
Q

dogma

A

a system of principles laid down by an authority; established belief “It is part of the dogma of modern education that there are multiple intelligences that are equally valuable; try to suggest that some people just aren’t that smart, and you’ll find yourself a pariah” dogmatic has a negative connotation, but dogma can be neutral or even positive

19
Q

pathological

A

relating to or caused by disease, relating to compulsive bad behavior. “She thought her skin darkening was a result of the sun but it was actually pathological” when it is used along its meaning is that the person compulsively lies or hurts others.

20
Q

admonish

A

mildly scold, caution, advise or remind to do something. “She was and exacting boss who castigated an employee for jamming the copier, yet she merely admonished her five year old for the same offense” related words include reprove, upbraid, reprimand, and rebuke - these are all harsher than admonish

21
Q

detached

A

impartial, disinterested, unconcerned, distant, aloof “ He found her detached demeanor inappropriate for a funeral. It’s fine to politely ask how someone died, but it’s not appropriate to coldly question a relative on the medical history of the deceased” related words include standoffish (cold and unfriendly). A detached house is one that does not have a wall in common with another building.

22
Q

notoriety

A

ill fame, the state of being well known for a disgraceful reason. “Aiden was notorious for being late to everything” infamous is a synonym for notorious

23
Q

fortify

A

strengthen, invigorate, encourage. Related words include bolster, buttress, galvanize, shares a root meaning strong with fortress and fortitude (strength in facing adversity )

24
Q

dissonance

A

harsh, inharmonious sound, disagreement. “After allowing her sixth grader’s heavy metal band to practice in her living room, Mrs. Rosen decided she’d better get used to dissonance. Opposite to dissonance is assonance - sound resemblance or vowel rhyme.

25
Q

bogus

A

fake, fraudulent “the back of this bodybuilding magazine is just full of ads for bogus products” spurious and sham are synonyms

26
Q

surmise

A

guess, infer, opine “based on your attempt to figure out the tip on our restaurant bill, I would surmise that you actually have no idea how percentages work” conjecture is a synonym

27
Q

forfeit

A

surrender or lose as a result of an error, crime or failure to fulfill an obligation. Forfeit as a noun simply means that property, right etc. that was forfeited.

28
Q

heterogeneous

A

different in type, incongruous, compsoed of different types of elements. “rather than build the wall with plain brick, we used a heterogeneous mixture of stones- they are not only different colors, but a variety of sizes as well.

29
Q

counterproductive

A

defeating the purpose, preventing the intended goal. “The candidates attempt to win swing votes in Ohio was actually counterproductive” Related words include feckless (ineffectual), bootless (unsuccessful), inimical (unfavorable or harmful)

30
Q

embellish

A

decorate, add ornamentation, enhance with fictional or fanciful details. Related word: bedeck means adorn or deck out like deck the halls.

31
Q

erroneous

A

mistaken, in error, improper, morally incorrect. Hilda was completely unable to assemble her new desk chair after the instructions erroneously instructed her to screw the left armrest onto a small lever on the bottom of the chair” Related words include fallible (liable to be in error, capable of making mistakes)

32
Q

nascent

A

coming into existence, still developing, rudimentary “the violin teacher was always very encourgin with the children. All children sound terrible the first couple of years, so she offered plenty of praise to encourage nascent talent”, most likely a positive connotation

33
Q

sporadic

A

occasional, happening irregularly or in scattered locations

34
Q

appease

A

pacify, satisfy, relieve, concede to belligerent demands, sometimes at the expense of principles. Placate, mollify and assuage or near synonyms. Today appeasement is associated with cowardice and giving in to bullies.

35
Q

archaic

A

characteristic of an earlier period, ancient, primitive, “the school’s archaic computer system”

36
Q

spartan

A

very disciplined and stern, frugal, living simply, austere, suggestive of the ancient spartans. Ascetic (pertaining to a simple life with no luxuries, like a monk), austere (severe in manner, very self disciplined)

37
Q

eschew

A

shun, avoid, abstain from. “As a vegan, hew eschewed not only meat and dairy but also anything made of leather” related words include abjure (give up, especially under formal oath) and forswear (reject or renounce under oath, swear falsely in court)

38
Q

jargon

A

vocabulary specific to a group or occupation, convoluted or unintelligible language. Argot and cant also refer to specialized vocabularies (more often used to describe the underworld - lawyers have jargon, mobsters have argot or cant”. Cant can also mean lofty but insincere talk (pageant question talking about world peace) A lexicon is a dictionary or specialized vocabulary.

39
Q

figurative

A

metaphorical, based on figures of speech, contianing many figures of speech (as fancy-sounding writing); related to portraying human or animal figures as opposed to abstract objects. “The painter was renowned for his figurative art, including many portraits- he had been known to say that abstract artists were just people who have never learned to draw. “ the opposite of figurative is literal

40
Q

chronological

A

arranged in or relating to time order. “joey , i’m afraid you’ve done the assignment wrong- the point of making a timeline is to put the information in chronological order. Chron - the root means time.

41
Q

egregious

A

extraordinarily or conspicuously bad; glaring. “Your conduct is an egregious violation of our honor code- not only did you steal your roommate’s paper off his computer…” related words (flagrant- shamelessly bad)

42
Q

exhaustive

A

comprehensive, thorough, exhausting a topic or subject, accounting for all possibilities; draining, tending to exhaust. “The rebels finally surrendered after an exhaustive siege that left them without ammunition or even food.” related words are thoroughgoing (thorough, complete, zealous), omnibus (including or providing for many items)

43
Q

juncture

A

critical point in time, such as a crisis or a time when a decision is necessary; a place where two things are joined together. “We are at a critical juncture in the history of this organization” “the little canoe started to sink when it split at the juncture between the old wood and the new material used to repair it” junction is the act of joining. A juncture is more the actual line where two things join and a junction is the place where they come together.

44
Q

pious

A

devout, religiously reverent and dutiful, “some matrimonial websites catering to conservative religious groups contain listings for young women that feature testimonials from women’s relatives about her piety” pious shares a root “pure” with purity, puree and purge.

45
Q

abate

A

Reduce, diminish “her stress over spending so much money on a house abated when the real estate broker told her about the propert’s 15 year tax abatement.” tax abatement is used in the same way as tax relief. That is, a partial discount. Subside is a related word. The storm could abate or subside.

46
Q

canonical

A

authorized, recognized, pertaining to the canon, or body of accepted rule, standards or artistic works. “School boards often start controversies when replacing canonical books in the curriculum with modern literature; while many people think students should read works more relevant to their lives, others point out that moby dick i part of the canon for a reason. Canon comes from a greek word similar to “measuring rod” and which also give us cane.

47
Q

fathom

A

measure the depth of (usually of water) as with a sounding line; penetrate and discover the meaning of, understand. “I cannot even remotely fathom how you interpreted an invitation to sleep on my couch as permission to take my car on a joyride” Sound and plumb are synonyms. With a sounding line, a weight is placed at the bottom to measure water and it is measured in fathoms (six foot increments)

48
Q

dormant

A

asleep, inactive, on a break “some famous writers’ skills have lain dormant until quite late in life” Related words include (abeyance - temporary suspension, inactivity), hiatus (break or gap in an activity)

49
Q

philanthropy

A

efforts in improve the well -being of humankind, generally through giving money. “Many wealthy people turn to philanthropy as a way to create social good”

50
Q

penchant

A

liking or inclination (usually penchant for). “He seems like a mild- mannered accountant, but twice a year he sets off to Australia to satisfy his penchant for adventure sports”. Related words include predilection, propensity, proclivity, and bent. The french penchant means leaning- so leaning metaphorically in a certain direction.