vocab list #2

assimilate

To be or become absorbed; to conform.

arid

Describing a dry, rainless climate.

brusque

Rudely abrupt.

candor

Sincerity; openness.

conflagration

A widespread fire.

deleterious

Having a harmful effect; injurious.

dilettante

One with an amateurish or superficial understanding of a field of knowledge.

distractor

A possible answer that seems correct but is either wrong or not as good as the other answers.

enumerate

To name one by one, as in a list; to ascertain the amount of; to count.

erudite

Characterized by great knowledge; scholarly.

fractious

Quarrelsome; unruly.

gesticulating

Making gestures while speaking.

hackneyed

Worn out through overuse; trite.

harbinger

Something that indicates what is to come; a forerunner.

heinous

Hatefully evil; abominable.

malapropism

A form of word play in which one word is mistakenly substituted for another that sounds similar.

mundane

Commonplace; ordinary.

nomenclature

Names or terms used in a certain system.

non sequitur

A statement that doesn’t logically follow what was just said.

omnipotent

All powerful.

onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which the word imitates the sound being described.

permeated

Spread or flowing throughout.

pragmatic

Practial.

prodigious

Impressively great in extent, size, or degree.

prudent

Exercising good judgment; wise.

pugnacious

Combative; belligerent.

replete

Abundantly supplied; filled to capacity.

sardonic

Disdainfully or ironically humorous; harsh, bitter, or caustic.

sonorous

Producing a deep or full sound.

trepidation

Uncertainty; apprehension.