Vocabulary Review #3

Esoteric

Intended for or understood by only a select few, private, secret

Espouse

To take up and support; to become attached to, adopt; to marry

Ethereal

Light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly

Euphemism

A mild or inoffensive expression used in place or harsh or unpleasant one; a substitute

Evince

To display clearly, to make evident, to provoke

Exacerbate

to make more violent, severe, bitter, or painful

Exhume

To remove from a grave; to bring to light

Exigency

Urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency

Facade

The front of a building; a surface appearance

Fatuous

Stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way

Febrile

Feverish; pertaining to or marked by fever; frenetic

Feckless

Lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible, unreliable

Fecund

Fruitful in offspring or vegetation; intellectually productive

Felicitous

Appropriate, apt, well chosen; marked by well-being or good fortune, happy

Fetish

An object believed to have magical powers; an object or unreasoning devotion or reverence

Fiat

An arbitrary order or degree; a command or act of will or consciousness

Figment

A fabrication of the mind; an arbitrary notion

Flaccid

Limp, not firm; lacking vigor or effectiveness

Flotsam

Floating debris; homeless, impoverished people

Foible

A weak point, failing, minor flaw

Forgo

To do without, abstain from, give up

Frenetic

Frenzied, highly agitated

Furtive

Done slyly or stealthily, sneaky, secret, shifty; stolen

Gainsay

To deny, contradict, controvert; to dispute, oppose

Gambit

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

Garish

Glaring; tastelessly showy or overdecorated in a vulgar or offensive way

Garner

To acquire as the result of effort; to gather and store away, as for future use

Germane

Relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

Ghoulish

Revolting in an unnatural or morbid way

Glean

To gather bit by bit; to gather small quantities of gran left in a field by the reapers

Gregarious

Living together in a herd or group; sociable, seeking the company of others

Grouse

A type of game bird; a compliant; to complain, grumble

Halcyon

A legendary bird identified with the king fisher; of or relating to the halcyon; clam, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous

Hallow

To set apart as holy or sacred, sanctify, consecrate; to honor greatly, revere

Hapless

Marked by a persistent absence of good luck

Histrionic

Pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

Idiosyncrasy

A peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify

Ignominy

Shame and disgrace

Illusory

Misleading, deceptive; lacking in or based on reality

Imminent

About to happen, threatening

Impecable

Faultless, beyond criticism or blame

Impecunious

Having little or no money

Imperturbable

Not easily excited; emotionally steady

Importune

To trouble with demands; to beg for insistently

Improvident

Not thrifty, failing to plan ahead

Inane

Silly, empty of meaning or value

Incarcerate

To imprison, confine, jail

Incendiary

Deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who cause strife