Vocab Unit 2

accost

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

Syn: Buttonhole, Approach
Ant: Avoid, Shun

Animadversion

n. a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Syn: Rebuke, reproof
Ant: praise, compliment

avid

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

Syn: keen, enthusiastic, grasping
Ant: Reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

brackish

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

SYN: saline
ANT clear, sweet

celerity

n. swiftness, rapidity of motion or action
syn: promptness, alacrity, speed
ant: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

devious

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded wayS
Syn: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful
ant: 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

Syn: 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

Syn: tranquil, placid, palmy
Ant: turbulent, tumultuous

histrionic

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

Syn: affected, stagy
Ant: 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

Syn: inflammatory, provocative; firebrand
Ant: soothing, quieting peacemaker

maelstrom

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

Syn: chaos, turbulence, tumult

myopic

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

Syn: shortsighted
Ant: farsighted

overt

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

pejorative

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

Ant: complimentary, ameliorative

propriety

(n) the state of being proper, appropriateness; (pl) standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

Syn: fitness, correctness
Ant:unseemliness, inappropriateness

sacrilege

n. improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

Syn: desecration, profanation, defilement

summarily

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

Syn: promptly, peremptorily

Suppliant

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

tailsman

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

undulate

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

Syn: fluctuate, rise and fall