Honors English 12 - Unit 1 & 2 Vocab

acquisitive

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

SYN: greedy, avaricious, retentive

ANT: altruistic

arrogate

(v.) to claim or take without right

SYN: expropriate, commandeer

ANT: relinquish, renounce, abdicate, abandon

banal

(adj.) hackneyed, trite, commonplace

SYN: stale, insipid

ANT: fresh, original, new

belabor

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

SYN: overwork

carping

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

SYN: nit-picking, caviling

ANT: approving, uncritical

coherent

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

SYN: connected, unified, consistent, cohesive

ANT: muddled, chaotic, disjointed

congeal

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

SYN: harden, jell, solidify

ANT: liquefy

emulate

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

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

encomium

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

SYN: panegyric, eulogy

ANT: condemnation, castigation, criticism

eschew

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

SYN: abstain from, steer clear of, forgo

ANT: embrace, adopt

germane

(adj.) relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

SYN: pertinent

ANT: irrelevant, extraneous, inappropriate

insatiable

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

SYN: unquenchable, ravenous

intransigent

(adj.) refusing to compromise, irreconcilable

SYN: uncompromising, unyielding, obdurate

ANT: lukewarm, halfhearted, yielding

invidious

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

SYN: malicious, spiteful, prejudicial, pejorative

ANT: flattering, ameliorative

largesse

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

SYN: liberality, bounty

ANT: stinginess, miserliness, niggardliness

reconnaissance

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

SYN: exploration

substantiate

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

SYN: confirm, validate, authenticate

ANT: refute, disprove, invalidate

taciturn

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

SYN: tight-lipped, uncomunicative, laconic

ANT: garrulous, loquacious, prolix, verbose

temporize

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

SYN: dillydally, procrastinate

tenable

(adj.) capable of being help or defended

SYN: defensible, justifiable, maintainable

ANT: indefensible, unjustifiable

Accost

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

SYN: Buttonhole, approach

ANT: avoid, shun

Animadversion

(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, rapidity of motion or action

SYN: promptness, alacrity, speed

ANT: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

Devious

(adj.) Straying or wandering from a straight ot 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, ruse, 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: (adj.) turbulent, tumultuous

Histrionic

(adj.) Pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artifical; 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; arsonist; one who causes strife

SYN: (adj.) inflammatory, provocative; (n.) firebrand

ANT: (adj.) soothing, quieting; (n.) peacemaker

Maelstrom

(n.) A whirpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirpool in violence and destruction

SYN: chaos, turbulance, 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 is 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, 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 believe to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

Undulate

(v.) To move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike apperance or form

SYN: fluctuate, rise and fall