English notes #2

Accost

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

syn: buttonhole, approach

ant: avoid, shun

animadversión

(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, rapidly of motion or action

syn: promptness, speed

ant: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

devious

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

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, rouse, maneuver

halcyon

(n) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher (adj) of or relating to the halcyon; calm, peaceful: happy, golden: prosperous, affluent

syn: (adj) 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 ; arsonists, one who causes strife

syn:(adj) inflammatory, provocative: (n) firebrand

ant: (adj) soothing, quieting; (n) peacemaker

maelstrom

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

syn: chais, 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

syn: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

ant: clandestine, covert, concealed

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 us 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, peremptory

suppliant

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

talisman

(n) an object that serves ad 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