Sadlier Vocab Level G Unit 2

accost

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

SYNONYMS: buttonhole, approach

ANTONYMS: avoid, shun

animadversion

(n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

SYNONYMS: rebuke, reproof

ANTONYMS: praise, compliment

avid

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

SYNONYMS: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

ANTONYMS: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

brackish

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

SYNONYM: saline

ANTONYMS: clear, sweet

celerity

(n.) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

SYNONYMS: promptness, speed

ANTONYMS: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

devious

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

SYNONYMS: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful

ANTONYMS: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

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

halcyon

(n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher;

(adj.) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

SYNONYMS: (adj.) tranquil, placid, palmy

ANTONYMS: (adj.) turbulent, tumultuous

histrionic

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

SYNONYMS: affected, stagy

ANTONYMS: muted, untheatrical, subdued

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

ANTONYMS: (adj.) soothing, quieting; (n.) peacemaker

maelstrom

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

SYNONYMS: chaos, turbulence, tumult

myopic

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

SYNONYM: shortsighted

ANTONYM: farsighted

overt

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

SYNONYMS: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

ANTONYMS: clandestine, covert, concealed

pejorative

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

ANTONYMS: complimentary, ameliorative

propriety

(n.) the state of being proper, appropriateness;

(pl). standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

SYNONYMS: fitness, correctness

ANTONYMS: unseemliness, inappropriateness

sacrilege

(n.) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

SYNONYMS: desecration, profanation, defilement

summarily

(adv.) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

SYNONYMS: promptly, peremptorily

suppliant

(adj.) asking humbly and earnestly;

(n.) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

talisman

(n.) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical power, an amulet, fetish

undulate

(v.) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

SYNONYMS: fluctuate, rise and fall