lang/lit vocab q2

Acquiescent

Acquiescent

Adj; reluctantly agreeable, compliant

Acrimony

N; words or behavior filled with harshness or anger

Ambidextrous

Adj; able to use both hands with equal skill

Amorphous

Adj; without form or shape

Analagous

Adj; similar

Antithesis

N; opposite

Archaic

Adj; old, antiquated

Assiduous

Adj; persistent, hard working, diligent, attentive to detail

Atrophy

V; waste away, wither

Avarice

N; greed

Banal

Adj; boring, trite, insipid

Blight

N; decay, disease, widespread death

Bumptious

Adj; pushy, obnoxiously self-assertive

Capacious

Adj; large, roomy, spacious

Caustic

Adj; burning, either with chemicals or sarcasm

Circumspect

Adj; cautious

Cloister

N; secluded or isolated from the outside world, a place of seclusion

Concise

Adj; short and to the point, terse

Consonance

N; a blending of sounds or opinions, harmony, agreement

Conviction

N; an opinion that is strongly held

Copious

Adj; in large quantity, abundant

Criteria

N; requirements or standards used to make a decision

Decadence

N; moral decay or decline

Deride

V; make fun of, ridicule

Despondent

Adj; feeling hopeless or depressed

Dilatory

Adj; causing lateness, stalling

Discord

N; disagreement, dissonance

Divergence

N; the act of splitting off into different directions

Doleful

Adj; extremely sad

Efficacy

N; the ability to produce desired results

Endemic

Adj; native to a particular country or among a particular group

Ephemeral

Adj; temporary, short-lived

Erudition

N; the knowledge acquired through many years of study

Eulogize

V; to praise highly, to extol

Exalt

V; raise in rank, elevate, praise

Extol

V; praise

Flaccid

Adj; lacking firmness, soft, limp

Foresight

N; the ability to see ahead, anticipate, or predict

Frugal

Adj; careful with money, thrifty

Garner

V; collect, gather, accumulate, earn

Glutton

N; a person who consumes huge quantities of food or drink, someone with great endurance

Hamper

V; interfere with movement or progress

Hedge

V; to avoid giving a clear answer, thereby escaping responsibility or blame

Homogeneous

Adj; the same throughout, consistent, uniform

Immutable

Adj; unable to change

Impede

V; get in the way, hinder

Impudence

N; rudeness, insolence

Incongruous

Adj; out of place

Incorrigible

Adj; impossible to correct, control, or discipline

Inert

Adj; lacking movement, inactive, sluggish

Ingenuous

Adj; naive, unsophisticated, inexperienced

Insipid

Adj; dull, flat, without sparkle or flavor

Insolvent

Adj; unable to pay bills, bankrupt

Irreverent

Adj; disrespectful

Jaunty

Adj; lively, perky

Jocular

Adj; joking, playful, jesting, witty

Kindle

V; to start a fire, ignite, arouse

Latent

Adj; existing but inactive, such as a certain quality, dormant, invisible

Loathe

V; to hate

Loquacious

Adj; talkative

Magnate

N; a person of great power

Malleable

Adj; able to be reshaped by force, pliable, impressionable

Meticulous

Adj; very careful about details

Minute

Adj; very small in size

Myriad

Adj; large number, many

Nuance

N; slight degree, shade of difference

Objurgate

V; scold, castigate

Obsolete

Adj; no longer usable, outdated

Ominous

Adj; a sign of something unpleasant that's about to happen, inauspicious

Opulence

N; luxury, wealth, riches

Paltry

Adj; worthless, insignificant, petty

Paucity

N; too few, scarcity

Pernicious

Adj; destructive

Pithy

Adj; to the point, concise (p)

Platitude

N; dull, trite statement

Potent

Adj; powerful

Predilection

N; a preference for something

Prodigious

Adj; very large

Prudent

Adj; wise, shrewd, cautious

Qualify

V; to limit the meaning of a previous statement, to modify

Ratify

V; approve (by formal vote, for example), confirm

Redolent

Adj; strongly scented, fragrant

Relevancy

N; having a clear relationship to the matter at hand

Repudiate

V; disown, reject

Rotund

Adj; round

Sardonic

Adj; humorous, but humor tinged with sarcasm or disdain, cynical

Scrupulous

Adj; very thorough, doing what is right and ethical

Sententious

Adj; short and to the point, terse (s)

Solemn

Adj; serious, somber, grave

Specious

Adj; having a false or misleading appearance, only seeming to be true

Stymie

V; block, get in the way of, hamper

Succinct

Adj; short and to the point, concise (h)

Superfluous

Adj; unnecessary, extra

Tantamount

Adj; equal, comparable

Terse

Adj; of few words, to the point, pithy

Torpid

Adj; sluggish, dull, lacking enthusiasm

Trepidation

N; fear

Undermine

V; to weaken by wearing away the foundation, to sabotage

Unerring

Adj; without making a mistake

Vagrant

N; homeless person, wanderer