Vocabulary Flashcards from Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover vocabulary terms and their definitions from the lecture notes, providing a comprehensive resource for study and review.

Hoi Polloi

The masses; common people.

Minutia

The small, precise, or trivial details of something.

Altruistic

Unselfish, concerned with the welfare of others.

Erroneous

Wrong; incorrect.

Colloquialisms

A word or phrase that is not formal or literary and is used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

Kowtow

Act in an excessively subservient manner.

Ostranenie

The artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance perception of the familiar.

Fritter

Waste time, money, or energy on trifling matters.

Extricate

Free (someone or something) from a constraint or difficulty.

Hubris

Excessive pride or self-confidence.

Kakistocracy

Government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.

Modicum

A small amount of a particular thing; especially something considered desirable or valuable.

Troglodyte

Someone who dwells in a cave.

Derision

Contemptuous ridicule or mockery.

Catholic

Universal; wide-ranging.

Métier

The work one is especially suited for; one's specialty; an occupation.

Fixity

The state of being unchanging or permanent.

Apocryphal

Of doubtful authenticity.

Supposition

Something that is assumed or taken for granted without conclusive evidence.

Diminution

Lessening; reduction in size.

Ephemera

Things that are important or used for only a short period of time.

Contentious

Quarrelsome, inclined to argue.

Perfunctory

Done without care; in a routine fashion.

Fractious

Tending to be troublesome; unruly, quarrelsome, contrary; unpredictable.

Simulacrum

An insubstantial or vague semblance, a representation of a person.

Efficacy

The ability to produce a desired or intended result.

Passé

No longer fashionable; out of date.

Belie

Contradict; give a false impression.

Hermetically

Completely sealed; airtight.

Demarcate

Set the boundaries or limits of.

Internecine

Mutually destructive.

Behoove

To be necessary or proper for.

Ameliorate

To improve, make better, correct a flaw or shortcoming.

Acquiesced

Accept something reluctantly but without protest.

Execrable

Extremely bad or unpleasant.

Assuage

To make easier or milder, relieve; to quiet, calm; to put an end to, appease.

Apropos

Fitting the occasion; suitable or apt.

Evergreen

Something that retains its freshness, interest, or popularity.

Unmoored

Free, unattached, unconnected.

Anomie

Social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values.

Quasi-

Resembling but not actually being; seemingly but not actually or completely.

Sardonic

Grimly or scornfully mocking, bitterly sarcastic.

Regicide

Killing of a king.

Eminence

Fame or recognized superiority, especially within a particular sphere or profession.

Suprachiasmatic nucleus

A pair of cell clusters in the hypothalamus that controls circadian rhythm.

Faux pas

A socially awkward or tactless act.

Supplant

To take the place of, supersede.

Antinomies

A contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable.

Lection

A version of a text in a particular copy or edition.

Paroxysm

A sudden outburst; a spasm, convulsion.

Contemporary

Belonging to the same period of time as oneself; a person of the same time.

Architectonics

The scientific study of architecture.

Consequentialism

The doctrine that the morality of an action is to be judged solely by its consequences.

Neoplasticism

A style of abstract painting developed by Piet Mondrian.

Phenomenology

The study of individuals' own unique, first-person, conscious experience.

Circumambulation

Walking around as part of ritual practice.

Slake

To quench; to satisfy a craving.

Contronym

A word with two opposite or nearly opposite meanings.

Chryselephantine

Fashioned of gold and ivory.

Apricity

The warmth of the sun in the winter.

Hecatomb

An ancient Greek and Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen or cattle.

Infallible

Incapable of making mistakes.

Authoritarian

A government in which one leader or group of people holds absolute power.

Catharsis

The process of releasing and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions.

Wrought

Put together; created.

Machiavellian

Unprincipled and crafty.

Dinkus

A typographic symbol often denotes an intentional omission or logical break in writing.

Hiemal

Wintry, relating to winter.

Aural

Of or related to the ear or the sense of hearing.

Quixotic

Exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical.

Exegesis

An explanation of a text; a critical interpretation.

Impetus

A moving force, impulse, stimulus.

Founder

To fill with water and sink.

Surfeit

Excess; an excessive amount.

Vituperative

Harshly abusive, severely scolding.

Bucolic

Characteristic of the countryside; rural.

Ennui

A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.

Nonce

Of a word or expression coined for or used on one occasion.

Sesquipedalian

Very long (words).

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

Fear of long words.

Blype

A piece or a shred of skin.

Reverie

A daydream; the condition of being lost in thought.

Solipsism

The view that the self is all that can be known to exist.

Limn

Depict or describe in painting or words.

Ouroboros

An ancient symbol of the snake biting its own tail, signifies the eternal cycle of life.

Fait accompli

A thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it.

Xanthophobia

Fear of the color yellow.

Aposematic

Bright conspicuous markings of certain distasteful or poisonous animals.

Ambivalence

Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something.

Shambolic

Chaotic, disorganized, or mismanaged.

Al desko

At one's desk in an office.

Milquetoast

A timid, weak, or unassertive person.

Limerence

The state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person.

Tête-à-tête

A private conversation between two people.

Entropy

Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.

Portmanteau

A word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’) or brunch (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’)

Au courant

In the current, up to date, informed.

Pastiche

An artistic work that imitates the style of another work, artist, or period.

Obsequious

Overly submissive and eager to please.

Enigmatic

Puzzling, perplexing, inexplicable, not easily understood.