Sem 2: Words of the Week

Arduous

difficult; takes a lot of effort

Impetus

motivation; drive; force or energy with which the body moves

Precarious

unstable; likely to collapse

Stifle

to stop; prevent

Vehement

showing strong passion

Assuage

soothe; help/calm

Deference

give someone power to decide; in compliance to

Derelict

not doing something because of laziness; didn’t want to

Reticent

quiet; silent; reserved

Verbatim

word for word

Blithe

carefree and unconcerned (good or bad)

Candor

honesty; frankness

Gaunt

skinny to the point of being malnourished

Indolent

flat out lazy

Shirk

avoid; weasel way out of

Savant

A prodigy; very talented at something

Callous

cold-hearted; cruel

Cursory

quick skim/scan

Eloquent

well-spoken; persuasive

Petulant

childish

Succinct

short and to the point (usually a summary)

Sycophant

suck-up

Tenet

rule

urbane

cultural and sophisticated

Vapid

not stimulating at all; empty headed

Colloquial

informal language

Maudlin

Overly sad and emotional

Opine

blabber on about opinions

Surmise

to guess

Terse

angry or rude; brief (negative connotation)

Malapropism

the misuse of a word

Maverick

unorthodox or independent-minded person

Paucity

lack or scarcity of something

Galvanize

inspire someone into action

Quixotic

morally good but reckless; unrealistic or impractical

Garrulous

talkative; chatty

Loathe

passionate hatred

Impertinent

rude; harsh

Puerile

childishly immature

Turpitude

moral corruption (bad morals)