Quarter 2 Zing Words

Abeyance

A state of temporary disuse or suspension

Adamant

Refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind

Aficionado

A person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime

Aggrandize

Increase the power, status, or wealth of; Enhance someone's reputation beyond what is justified by facts

Aggregate (N or V)

A structure formed from elements, fragments, or particles; To form or group into a class or cluster

Angst

A feeling of deep anxiety or dread, usually subconsciously; A feeling of persistent worry about something trivial

Appropriate (v)

Take something for one's own use without owners permission; Devote money or assets to a special purpose

Aspersion

An attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something

Assiduous

Showing great care and perseverance

Assuage

Make an unpleasant feeling less intense; Satisfy and appetite or desire

Behemoth

A huge or monstrous creature; A big and powerful organization

Bête noire

A person or thing that one particularly dislikes

Bilk

To get money from someone by deceit or without justification, cheat or defraud; Obtain money fraudulently; Evade, elude

Canard

An unfounded rumor or story; A small winglike projection attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing to provide extra stability

Capitulate

Cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; Surrender

Carouse

To drink a lot of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way; A noisy, lively drinking party

Carp

A fish found in large ponds, which are farmed for food; Complain or find fault continually about trivial matters

Circuitous

A route or journey longer than the most direct way

Cognizant

Having knowledge or being aware of

Compunction

A feeling of guilt or moral scruple that prevents or follows the doing of something bad

Coup d'état

Another word for coup; A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power by the government; A notable or successful stroke or move, usually in card play; To touch an armed enemy as a deed of bravery, or the act to first touch the item to claim it; A contusion cause by the brain being touched by the skull to the point of trauma

Coup de grâce

A final blow or shot needed to kill a human or animal; An action or event that serves as the culmination of a bad or deteriorating situation

Cupidity

Greed for money or possessions

Debauch

Destroy or debase the moral purity of/corrupt, usually to a woman; The habit or practice of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, such as eating eating and drinking, debauchery

Debunk

Expose the falseness of a myth, idea, or belief; To reduce ones inflated reputation through ridicule

Denigrate

Criticize unfairly; Disparage

Desiccated

Having had all moisture removed, dried out, typically of food for preservation; Lacking vitality or interest

Diaphanous

Light, delicate, and translucent, usually referring to fabric

Discursive

Digressing from subject to subject; Relating to discourse; Proceeding by argument or reasoning instead of intuition

Disparate

Essentially different, unable to compare; Completely unalike

Dissonance

Lack of harmony among musical notes; A tension or class resulting disharmony or unsuitable elements

Draconian

Relating to law, excessively harsh and severe

Effrontery

Insolent or impertinent behavior

Effulgent

Shining brightly, radiant

Effusive

Expressing gratitude, pleasure, or approval without any limits

Éminence grise

A person who exercises power or influence within a certain sphere without holding any official position

Enmity

To feel or to be actively opposed or hostile towards someone or something

Ennui

boredom; A weariness resulting from a lack of interest

Erudite

Having or showing great knowledge or learning

Eschew

Deliberately avoid using; Abstain from

Evnice

Reveal the presence of a quality or feeling; Be evidence of, indicate

Exacerbate

To make something of negative connotation (problem, situation, feeling) worse

Expunge

Erase or remove completely of something unwanted or unpleasant

Extraneous

Irrelevant or unrelated to a subject or object

Feckless

Lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible

Florid

Blushing/having a red expression on the face; Elaborately complicated; Use of unusual words or complicated rhetorical constructions; Relating to diseases, occurring in a fully developed form

Foray

A surprise attack, usually to get something, a raid; Make or go on a foray

Fraught

A situation with a high probability of something undesirable to happen as its outcome; Causing or affected by anxiety or stress

Garner

Gather or collect, usually information or approval; To store, deposit; A storehouse or granary

Garrulous

Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters

Harangue

A lengthy and aggressive speech; To lecture someone at length in an aggressive and critical manner

Harrowing

Acutely distressing

Hegemony

Leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others

Iconoclast

A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions; A destroyer of images used in religious worship

Incendiary

A device or attack intended to cause fires; Tending to stir up conflict; Very exciting; A person who starts fires, in a military context; a person who stirs up conflict

Incorrigible

Someone or their tendencies that can't be corrected, improved, or reformed

Inure

Accustom someone to something unpleasant; Come into operation, take affect

Inveigle

Persuade someone to do something through deception or flattery; Gain entrance to a place through deception or flattery

Jejune

Naive, simplistic, and superficial; Relating to ideas or writing, dry and uninteresting

Juggernaut

A huge, powerful, and overwhelming force or institution

Largesse

Generosity in bestowing money or gifts upon others; Money or gifts given generously

Maudlin

Self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness

Mercurial

A person subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind, sprightly, lively; Relating to the planet mercury; Relating to drugs, contains mercury

Mores

The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a community

Obstreperous

Noisy and difficult to control; Aidan Valdez

Palliate

Make a disease less severe or unpleasant without removing the cause; allay or moderate fears or suspicions; Disguise the seriousness of an offense

Parochial

Relating to a church parish; Having a limited or narrow outlook or scope

Pastiche

A work of art that imitates a previous work, artist, or period;

Probity

The quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and decency

Prolix

Relating to speech or writing, using or containing too many words, tediously lengthy

Quixotic

Exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical

Quotidian

Daily; Everyday, ordinary

Raison d'être

The most important reason for someone or something's existence

Rankle

Cause annoyance or persistent resentment through a comment, event, or fact; Annoy or irritate someone; Relating to a wound or sore, continue to be painful, fester

Remand

Place a defendant on bail or custody, usually once trial is adjourned; A committal to custody

Ribald

Referring to sexual matters in an amusingly coarse or irreverent way

Sacrosanct

Relating to principle or routine, regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with

Saturnine

Relating to a person, slow and gloomy; Relating to a person, dark in coloring and moody or mysterious

Schadenfreude

Pleasure from another persons misfortune

Slake

Satisfy thirst

Sophomoric

Relating to the characteristics of a sophomore, pretentious or juvenile

Stigmatize

To describe worthy of disgrace or great disapproval

Stymie

Prevent or hinder the progress of, block

Tantamount

Equivalent in seriousness to, virtually the same as

Terse

Sparing in the use of words, abrupt

Zeitgeist

The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time