Sadlier Level G - Unit 2

accost

(v.) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or 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, speed)

(ant: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness)

devious

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or 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: tranquil, placid, palmy)

(ant: turbulent, tumultuous)

histrionic

(adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; 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 fire, arsonist; one who causes strife

(syn: inflammatory, provocative; firebrand)

(ant: soothing, quieting, peacemaker)

maelstrom

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

(syn: chaos, turbulence, 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.) a state of being proper, appropriateness; standards of what is proper

(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

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

(syn: fluctuate, rise and fall)