Vocab

Sagacity

The quality of having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment; shrewd.

Affectation

"1. behavior, speech, or writing that is artificial and designed to impress.

2. a studied display of real or pretended feeling."

Profligacy

"1. reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources.

2. licentious or dissolute behavior."

Constancy

"1. the quality of being faithful and dependable.

2. the quality of being enduring and unchanging."

Pillory

A wooden framework with holes for the head and hands, in which an offender was imprisoned and exposed to public abuse.

Insipid

"1. lacking flavor

2. lacking vigor or interest."

Avarice

Extreme greed for wealth or material gain.

Sottish

Resembling a sot : drunken also : doltish, stupid.

Obsequious

Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.

Ardor

Enthusiasm or passion.

Raucous

Making or constituting a disturbingly harsh and loud noise.

Concupiscence

Strong sexual desire; lust.

Provincial

"1. of or concerning a province of a country or empire.

2. of or concerning the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow–minded."

Acrimony

Bitterness or ill feeling.

Alacrity

Brisk and cheerful readiness.

Impediment

A hindrance or obstruction in doing something.

Epiphenomenon

"1. a secondary effect or byproduct that arises from but does not causally influence a process.

2. MEDICINE a secondary symptom, occurring simultaneously with a disease or condition but not directly related to it."

Affability

The quality of having a friendly and good–natured manner.

Spurn

Reject with disdain or contempt.

Intrepid

Fearless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect).

Languid

"1. displaying or having a disinclination for physical exertion or effort; slow and relaxed.

2. weak or faint from illness or fatigue."

Genteel

Polite, refined, or respectable, often in an afected or ostentatious way.

Condole

Express sympathy for (someone); grieve with.

Raillery

Good–humored teasing.

Assiduous

Showing great care and perseverance.

Calcitrant

Stubborn; refractory; unmanageable.

Scurrility

"1. the quality of one making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation.

2. the quality of being humorously insulting."

Perfidy

Deceitfulness; untrustworthiness.

Plaintive

Sounding sad and mournful.

Intimation

"1. an indication or hint.

2. the action of making something known, especially in an indirect way."

Magnanimous

Generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or less powerful person.

Propriety

"1. the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals.

2. the details or rules of behavior conventionally considered to be correct.

3. the condition of being right, appropriate, or fitting."

Traipsed

"1. walk or move wearily or reluctantly.

2. walk about casually or needlessly."

Horse sense

Common sense, discreetness, discretion, gumption

Guile

Sly or cunning intelligence.

Languish

Failing to make progress or be successful.

Approbation

Approval or praise.

Indigent

poor; needy.

Pedantic

of or like a pedant.

Equanimity

mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.

Ostentation

pretentious and vulgar display, especially of wealth and luxury, intended to impress or attract notice.

Piety

the quality of being religious or reverent.

Festal

of or relating to a feast or festival : FESTIVE

Vacillate

"1: to waver in mind, will, or feeling : hesitate in choice of opinions or courses

2a: to sway through lack of equilibrium b: FLUCTUATE, OSCILLATE"

Prognosticate

"1: to foretell from signs or symptoms : PREDICT

2: to give an indication of in advance : FORESHADOW"

Blithe

"1: lacking due thought or consideration : CASUAL, HEEDLESS

2: of a happy lighthearted character or disposition"

Demagogue

"1: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

2: a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times"

Interminable

having or seeming to have no end

Exegesis

"EXPOSITION, EXPLANATION

especially : an explanation or critical interpretation of a text"

Machinations

"an act of machinating

a scheming or crafty action or artful design intended to accomplish some usually evil end"

Adumbrating

"indicate faintly.

  foreshadow or symbolize."

Elucidate

make (something) clear; explain.

Irascible

having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.

Trepidation

a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen.

Totemic

"relating to or resembling a totem or totems.

regarded as being symbolic or representative of a particular quality or concept."

Coquette

A woman who regularly makes romantic or sexual overtures; a flirt.

Judicature

"–the administration of justice. –judges collectively; the judiciary."

Abscissa

(in a system of coordinates) the x –coordinate, the distance from a point to the vertical or y –axis measured parallel to the horizontal or x –axis.

Inveterate

having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long–established and unlikely to change.

Credulity

a tendency to be too ready to believe that something is real or true.

Haute

fashionably elegant or high–class.

Apocryphal

"Of questionable authorship or authenticity.

Erroneous; fictitious."

Effontry

Brazen boldness; presumptuousness.

Extirpate

"To destroy totally; kill off.

To render absent or nonexistent: synonym: eliminate.

To pull up by the roots."

Egalitarian

"adj: relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

noun: a person who advocates or supports ___________ principles"

Torpid

"mentally or physically inactive; lethargic.

(of an animal) dormant, especially during hibernation."

Impudent

not showing due respect for another person; impertinent.

Etatism

"–statism

–concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government often extending to government ownership of industry"

Convalescent

"adj. (of a person) recovering from an illness or operation.

noun. a person who is recovering after an illness or operation."

Opprobrium

"harsh criticism or censure.

the public disgrace arising from someone's shameful conduct."

Pernicious

"having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.

the __________ influences of the mass media"""""

Conflagration

an extensive fire which destroys a great deal of land or property.

Insuperable

impossible to overcome.

Expostulate

express strong disapproval or disagreement.

Vicissitude

a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.

Abstruse

difficult to understand; obscure.

Satrap

"a provincial governor in the ancient Persian empire.

any subordinate or local ruler."

Celerity

swiftness of movement.

Casuistry

the use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions; sophistry.

Aberration

"a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome.

BIOLOGY: a characteristic that deviates from the normal type.

OPTICS: the failure of rays to converge at one focus because of limitations or defects in a lens or mirror"

A priori

"adjective: –Proceeding from a known or assumed cause to a necessarily related effect; deductive. –Derived by or designating the process of reasoning without reference to particular facts or experience. –Knowable without appeal to particular experience."

Appellation

"noun: –A name, title, or designation. –A protected name under which a wine may be sold, indicating that the grapes used are of a specific kind from a specific district. –The act of naming."

Vitiated

"verb spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of.

destroy or impair the legal validity of."

Contemporaneous

"adj. existing or occurring in the same period of time."

Proffer

"hold out (something) to someone for acceptance; offer.

he _________ his resignation"""""

Rapine

"the violent seizure of someone's property.

the fruits of violence and ______"""""

Penitent

Feeling or expressing remorse for one's misdeeds or sins; contrite.

Meliorate

"To make better; improve. To grow better."

Autodidact

A self–taught person.

Excursus

"A lengthy, appended exposition of a topic or point.

A digression."

Cumulonimbus

multi–level clouds, extending high into the sky in towers or plumes

Subterfuge

deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.

Dilettantes

"One who dabbles in an art or a field of knowledge.

A lover of the fine arts."

Evince

To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest.

Ascetic

characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self–discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

Exchequer

"a royal or national treasury.

BRITISH the bank account into which tax receipts and other public monies are paid; the funds of the British government."

Tendrils

"A twisting, slender structure by which a plant, such as a grape or cucumber, twines around and often climbs an object or another plant.

Something, such as a ringlet of hair, that is long, slender, and curling."

Encomium

"Warm, glowing praise.

A formal expression of praise."

Detritus

waste or debris of any kind.

Salubrious

health–giving; healthy.