English Vocab 2

languid (adj)

Lacking in vigor or vitality; listless; indifferent.

perspicacity (n)

Keenness of mental perception and understanding.

vicissitudes (plural n)

Changes of circumstances or fortune, typically those that are 

unwelcome or unpleasant (“vicissitudes of the marketplace”; “vicissitudes of life”).

expound (vb)

To present and explain (a theory or idea) systematically and in 

detail (“expound an argument”).

beleaguered (adj)

Besieged. Beset with difficulties (“beleaguered city”; “beleaguered 

president”).

dirge (n)

A lament for the dead, especially one forming part of a funeral 

rite.

contrite (adj)

Feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.

prevaricate (vb)

To speak falsely or misleadingly; to deliberately misstate or create 

an incorrect impression. To lie.

ostensibly (adj)

Apparently or purportedly, but perhaps not actually.

pathological (adj)

Involving, caused by, or of the nature of a physical or 

mental disease.

innocuous (adj)

Not harmful or offensive. Harmless (“an innocuous question”).

impassively (adv)

Without emotion; apathetic; unmoved.

unctuous (adj)

Ingratiatingly flattering.

pinion (vb)

To disable or restrain; to bind; to shackle. Also, to bind or hold 

fast, as to a thing (“to be pinioned to one’s bad habits”).

phlegmatic (adj)

Not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic; 

sluggish.

recompense (n)

Compensation, as for an injury, wrong, etc.

cavalcade (n)

A procession of persons riding on horses. Any noteworthy series 

(i.e. events).

raze (vb)

To tear down; demolish; level to the ground.

salubrious (adj)

Favorable to or promoting good health; healthful.

inexorable (adj)

Unyielding; unalterable.