Edit · Vocab Level G U2

Accost

(v) To approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way.

Synonyms: Buttonhole, approach

Antonyms: Avoid, shun

Sentence: She was not receptive to my suggestions because

she felt I accosted her with criticisms.

Animadversion

(N.) A comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Synonyms: rebuke, reproof

Antonyms: praise , compliment

Sentence: The broker was dreading walking into his annual review to receive his boss' animadversion on his lack of ethic and drive.

Avid

(adj) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

Synonyms: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

Antonyms: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

Sentence: Since childhood the writer was an avid storyteller who created magical parallels to the modern universe.

Brackish

(adj.)Having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

Synonyms: saline

Antonyms: Clear, sweet

Sentence: The shipwrecked passengers adrift on the lifeboat became ill after the brackish water was left to seep into their lungs.

Celerity

(N) Swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

Synonyms: promptness, speed

Antonyms: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

Sentence: The victim was not only traumatized by the crime, but the lack of celerity of the responding officers to find the assailant

Devious

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

Synonyms: roundabout, indirect, sly, artful

Antonyms: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

Sentence: The interrogator used devious methods to try to get the suspect to incriminate himself.

Gambit

(n.) in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

Synonyms: ploy, ruse, maneuver

Sentence: The general's gambit did not pay off and soon they were surrounded by enemies.

Halycon

(n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj.) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

Synonyms: tranquil, placid, palmy

Antonyms: turbulent, tumultuous

Sentence: Winston thought of the halcyon Golden Country when

he began losing hope in defeating the Party

histrionic

(adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

Synonyms: affected, stagy

Antonyms: muted, subdued

Sentence: To avoid going to school and taking their test, she put on a histrionic performance that she was sick and felt a cold coming on, and didn't want to selfishly get her peers sick.

incendiary

(adj.) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n.) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

Synonyms: (adj.) inflammatory, provocative (n.) firebrand, instigator

Antonyms: (adj.) soothing, quieting (n.) peacemaker

Sentence: The incendiary group decided to form a coalition of protesters in order to display their anger towards recent controversy.

maelstrom

(n.) a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

Synonyms: chaos, turbulence, tumult

Sentence: Many innocent people are caught in the maelstrom of violence that has haunted countries from centuries worth of wars.

myopic

(adj.) nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment

Synonyms: shortsighted, unrealistic, narrow-minded

Antonyms: farsighted, open minded

Sentence: The myopic foreign policy of Oceania led to the unsuccessful rebellion from the party.

overt

(adj.) open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

Synonyms:clear, obvious, manifest, patent

Antonyms: clandestine, covert, concealed

Sentence: Ms. Belle will not accuse a student of plagiarism unless

there is overt evidence they cheated.

perjorative

(adj.) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

Synonyms:mean, hurtful

Antonyms: ameliorative, approving

Sentence: The father's pejorative words on his daughters date was clear and created a tense aura in the air when the two met.

propriety

(ADJ.) The state of being proper, appropriateness plural; (N.) (proprieties) standards of what is proper and socially acceptable

Synonyms: fitness, correctness, decorum

Antonyms: unseemliness, inappropriateness

Sentence: The first week of school was filled with going over how to behave with propriety in the classroom.

sacrilege

(N.) Improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

Synonyms: desecration, profanation, defilement

Sentence: The kids committed an act of sacrilege when they stole Winifred Sanderson's spell book, so she used her calling to find it and get revenge

summarily

Without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

Synonyms: promptly, peremptorily

Antonyms: late/hesitant

Sentence: At her boss's request, she summarily put together the project proposal knowing this would influence the upcoming promotion and bonus.

suppliant

(ADJ.) asking humbly and earnestly (N.) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

Synonyms: Pleading, begging, imploring.

Antonyms: Clamant, insistent, self-assertive.

Sentence: He was suppliant in his request for extended time on an essay after realizing he lacked in time management and was honest with the teacher rather than making up an elaborate excuse.

talisman

An object that serves as a charm or is believe to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Synonyms: amulet, charm, fetish, idol

Antonyms: bad luck, bad vibes

Sentence: A woman gave a story about her talisman, and how it saved her from the dangers that came in this world.

undulate

(V)To move in waves or in a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

Synonyms: Flow, ripple, wobble

Antonyms: Still, uniform, aligned

Sentence: The Baseball fans began to undulate as they cheered, so they appeared to move in a wave.