Unit 1

acquisitive

(adj.) able to get and retain idea or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property

S: greedy, avaricious, retentive

A: altruistic

arrogate

(v.) to claim or take without right

S: expropriate, commandeer

A: renounce, abdicate, abandon

banal

(adj.) hackneyed, trite, commonplace

S: stale, insipid

A: fresh, original, new

belabor

(v.) to work on excessively; to thrash soundly

S: overwork

carping

(adj.) tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; (n.) petty, nagging criticism

S: nit-picking, caviling

A: approving, uncritical

coherent

(adj.) holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful

S: connected, unified, consistent, cohesive

A: muddled, chaotic, disjointed

congeal

(v.) change from liquid to solid, thicken; to make inflexible or rigid

S: harden, jell, solidify

A: liquefy

emulate

(v.) to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model

S: copy, mimic, rival, match, measure up to

encomium

(n.) a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute

S: panegryic, eulogy

A: condemnation, castigation, criticism

eschew

(v.) to avoid, shun, keep away from

S: abstain from, steer clear of, forgo

A: embrace, adopt

germane

(adj.) relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

S: pertinent

A: irrelevant, extraneous, inappropriate

insatiable

(adj.) so great or demanding as not to be satisfied

S: unquenchable, ravenous

intransigent

(adj.) refusing to compromise, irreconcilable

S: uncompromising, unyielding, obdurate

A: lukewarm, halfhearted, yielding

invidious

(adj.) offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment

S: malicious, spiteful, prejudicial, pejorative

A: flattering, ameliorative

largesse

(n.) generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions

S: liberality, bounty

A: stinginess, miserliness, niggardliness

reconnaissance

(n.) a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination

S: exploration

substantiate

(v.) to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to

S: confirm, validate, authenticate

A: refute, disprove, invalidate

taciturn

(adj.) habitually silent or quiet, inclined to talk very little

S: tight-lipped, uncommunicative, laconic

A: garrulous, loquacious, prolix, verbose

temporize

(v.) to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation or postpone a decision; to compromise

S: dillydally, procrastinate

tenable

(adj.) capable of being held or defended

S: defensible, justifiable, maintainable

A: indefensible, unjustifiable