Vocab Unit 2 Level G

Accost

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

S: buttonhole, approach, confront

A: evade, avoid, shun

Animadversion

(n) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

S: rebuke, reproof

A: praise, compliment

Avid

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

S: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

A: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

Brackish

(adj) having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

S: briny, saline

A: fresh, clear, sweet

Celerity

(n) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

S: promptness, alacrity, speed

A: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

Devious

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

S: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful

A: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

Gambit

(n) in chess and opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

S: ploy stratagem, ruse, maneuver

Halcyon

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

S: tranquil, serene, placid, palmy

A: turbulent, chaotic, tumultuous

Histrionic

(adj) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic S: affected, stagy

A: low-keyed, muted, untheatrical, subdued

Incendiary

(adj) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to sir up strife or rebellion; (n) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who cases strife

Maelstrom

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

A: vortex, chaos, turbulence, tumult

Myopic

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

S: shortsighted

A: farsighted

Overt

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

S: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

A: secret, clandestine, covert, concealed

Pejorative

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

A: complimentary ameliorative

Propriety

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

Sacrilege

(n) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

S: desecration, profanation, defilement

Summarily

(adv) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

S: 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 powers, an amulet, fetish

Undulate

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

S: ripple, fluctuate, rise and fall