AP Vocab 2

accost

to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way

S: buttonhole, approach, confront

A: evade, avoid, shun

animadversion

a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

S: rebuke, reproof

A: praise, compliment

evid

desirous of something to the point of freed; intensely eager

S: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

A: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

brackish

having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

S: briny, saline

A: fresh, clear, sweet

celerity

swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

S: promptness, alacrity, speed

A: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

devious

straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhand way

S: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful

A: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

gambit

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

S: ploy, stratagem, ruse, maneuver

halcyon

a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; of or relating to the halycon; calm, peaceful, happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

S: tranquil, serene, placid, palmy

A: turbulent, chaotic, tumultuous

histrionic

pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

S: affected, stagey

A: low-keyed, muted, untheatrical, subdued

incendiary

deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonists; one who causes strife

S: inflammatory, provocative, firebrand

A: soothing, quieting, peacemaking

maelstrom

a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction

S: vortex, chaos, turbulence, tumult

myopic

nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking foresight or discernment

S: shortsighted

A: farsighted

overt

open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized

S: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

A: secret, clandestine, covert, concealed

pejorative

tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

A: complimentary, ameliorative

propriety

the state of being proper, appropriateness; standards of what is proper or socially acceptable

S: fitness, correctness, decorum

A: unseemliness, inappropriateness

sacrilege

improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

S: desecration, profanation, defilement

summarily

without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

S: promptly, peremptorily, abruptly

suppliant

asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

talisman

an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

undulate

to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

S: ripple, fluctuate, rise and fall