Vocab 2 (11th) - Just definitions

impotent

powerless; lacking strength

In a helpless manner. ________ means lacking power or authority. Captain Bligh was __________ in the face of Christian's mutiny. It also refers to a man's inability to achieve or maintain an erection. If a man is sterile, or unable to reproduce, he is also called ___________.

antithesis

exact opposite; an opposite extreme

An _______ is the complete opposite of something. Though the counterculture was strong in America in 1968, voters elected Richard Nixon, the ________ of a hippie.

maelstrom

whirlpool; turbulence; agitated state of mind

A _______ is a powerful whirlpool. A luckless ship might go down in one, and conflicting ocean currents might cause one. These days, you're more likely to hear ________ used metaphorically to describe disasters where many competing forces are at play.

emendation

a correction by emending; a correction resulting from critical editing. A scholar might make an ________ to a manuscript by changing a word that is believed to have been copied incorrectly.

Chagrin

embarrassment; a complete loss of courage

_______ is a noun that represents an emotion or feeling and it's an uncomfortable one. If you feel _______, it means that you are embarrassed or distressed as a result of a failure.

bauble

a showy, cheap piece of jewelry, a useless thing.

________(s) are trinkets or novelty items that cost little and aren't very important or valuable, such as a plastic ring in the shape of a daisy that covers half of your finger in hot-pink plastic.

diaphanous

very sheer and light. If a dress is so see-through that light shines through it, it's ____________. You could also call it "sheer" or "transparent," but ____________ sounds much fancier.

labyrinth

a complicated network of winding passages; a maze. A ________ is a structure with many connected paths or passages in which it is hard to find your way. In figurative use, a _________is a complicated situation: our tax code is a ________ of rules and regulations.

gloat

to look at or think about with great satisfaction.

If you _____, you express great satisfaction at the misfortune of others. If your team scores a big win, it would be better not to ______. Be happy for your win, but don't laugh at the other team's loss.

impediment

a barrier; obstruction

An ____________ is anything that slows or blocks progress. It can refer to a physical thing, like a fallen tree in the road, or something more intangible, like how your short stature is an _________ to becoming a professional basketball player.

bestial

savage; brutal

________ sounds like beast, and that is precisely what it means, "beast-like." When a human acts like an animal, their behavior is called ________.

effete

worn out; barren, indulgent, affected or decadent.

________ is a disapproving term meaning decadent and self-indulgent, even useless. The stereotype of the rugged Westerner is just as false as the one of the _______ East Coast liberal.

shard

fragment

If you break a mirror, the thin ______ pieces you want to avoid are ______. A ______ is simply a broken piece of metal, glass, stone, or pottery with _______ edges.

bland

mild; tasteless; dull

When you have a nasty cold and you're very congested, food can taste unappealingly ______. That means dull, flavorless, or just plain "blah."

nihilism

a total rejection of established laws

If you're one of those people who believe there's nothing worth believing in, your doctrine is _________. In philosophy, _________ is the complete rejection of moral values and religious beliefs.

Eschew

deliberately avoid using; abstain from

If you ______ something, you deliberately avoid it.