Eng. 4 Vocab Test

Abject

(adj.) degraded; base, contemptible; cringing, servile; complete and unrelieved

Acclamation

(n.) a shout of welcome; an overwhelming verbal vote of approval

Accost

(v.) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or aggressive way

Acquisitive

(adj.) able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property

Acuity

(n.) sharpness (particularly of the mind or senses)

Agnostic

(n.) one who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic; (adj.) without faith, skeptical

Allay

(v.) to calm or pacify, set to rest; to lessen or relieve

Allege

(v.) to assert without proof or confirmation

Animadversion

(n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

Arrant

(adj.) thoroughgoing, out-and-out; shamelessly, blatant

Arrogate

(v.) to claim or take without right

Articulate

(v.) to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; to connect by a joint or joints; (adj.) expressed clearly and forcefully; able to employ language clearly and forcefully; jointed

Atrophy

(n.) the wasting away of a body organ or tissue; any progressive decline or failure; (v.) to waste away

Avid

(adj.) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager

Badinage

(n.) light and playful conversation

Banal

(adj.) hackneyed, trite, commonplace

Bastion

(n.) a fortified place, stronghold

Belabor

(v.) to work on excessively; to thrash soundly

Bestial

(adj.) beastlike; beastly, brutal; subhuman in intelligence and sensibility

Brackish

(adj.) having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

Bucolic

(adj.) characteristic of the countryside, rural; relating to shepherds and cowherds, pastoral

Calumniate

(v.) to slander; to accuse falsely and maliciously

Carping

(adj.) tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; (n.) petty, nagging criticism

Cavort

(v.) to romp or prance around exuberantly; to make merry

Celerity

(n.) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

Chary

(adj.) extremely cautious, hesitant, or slow (to); reserved, diffident

Coherent

(adj.) holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful

Collusion

(n.) secret agreement or cooperation

Complicity

(n.) involvement in wrongdoing; the state of being an accomplice

Conciliate

(v.) to overcome the distrust of, win over; to appease, pacify; to reconcile, make consistent

Concord

(n.) a state of agreement, harmony, unanimity; a treaty, pact, covenant

Congeal

(v.) to change from liquid to solid, thicken; to make inflexible or rigid

Consummate

(adj.) complete or perfect in the highest degree; (v.) to bring to a state of completion or perfection

Convivial

(adj.) festive, sociable, having fun together, genial

Coterie

(n.) a circle of acquaintances; a close-knit, often exclusive, group of people with a common interest

Countermand

(v.) to cancel or reverse one order or command with another that is contrary to the first

Counterpart

(n.) a person of thing closely resembling or corresponding to another; a complement

Credence

(n.) belief, mental acceptance

Decry

(v.) to condemn, express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate

Delineate

(v.) to portray, sketch, or describe in accurate and vivid detail; to represent pictorially

Demur

(v.) to object or take exception to; (n.) an objection

Depraved

(adj.) marked by evil and corruption, devoid of moral principles

Derelict

(n.) someone or something that is abandoned or neglected; (adj.) left abandoned; neglectful of duty

Devious

(adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way

Diatribe

(n.) a bitter and prolonged verbal attack

Dilettante

(n.) a dabbler in the arts; one who engages in an activity in an amateurish, trifling way; (adj.) superficial

Disarray

(n.) disorder, confusion; (v.) to throw into disorder

Dissemble

(v.) to disguise or conceal, deliberately give a false impression

Distraught

(adj.) very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict

Echelon

(n.) one of a series of grades in an organization or field of activity; an organized military unit; a steplike formation or arrangement

Effigy

(n.) a crude image of a despised person

Effrontery

(n.) shameless boldness, impudence

Embellish

(v.) to decorate, adorn, touch up; to improve by adding details

Emulate

(v.) to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model

Encomium

(n.) a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute

Enervate

(v.) to weaken or lessen the mental, moral, or physical vigor of; enfeeble, hamstring

Ephemeral

(adj.) lasting only a short time, short-lived

Equity

(n.) the state or quality of being just, fair, or impartial; fair and equal treatment; something that is fair; the money value of a property above and beyond any mortgage or other claim

Eschew

(v.) to avoid, shun, keep away from

Esoteric

(adj.) intended for or understood by only a select few, private, secret

Eulogy

(n.) a formal statement of commendation; high praise

Evince

(v.) to display clearly, to make evident, to provoke

Exacerbate

(v.) to make more violent, severe, bitter, or painful

Exhume

(v.) to remove from a grave; to bring to light

Exigency

(n., often pl.) urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency

Fatuous

(adj.) stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way

Feckless

(adj.) lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible, unreliable

Fecund

(adj.) fruitful in offspring or vegetation; intellectually productive

Felicitous

(adj.) appropriate, apt, well chosen; marked by well-being or good fortune, happy

Fiat

(n.) an arbitrary order or decree; a command or act of will or consciousness

Figment

(n.) a fabrication of the mind; an arbitrary notion

Flotsam

(n.) floating debris; homeless, impoverished people

Frenetic

(adj.) frenzied, highly agitated

Furtive

(adj.) done slyly or stealthily, sneaky, secret, shift; stolen

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

Garish

(adj.) glaring; tastelessly showy or overdecorated in a vulgar or offensive way

Garner

(v.) to acquire as the result of effort; to gather and store away, as for future use

Germane

(adj.) relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

Glean

(v.) to gather bit by bit; to gather small quantities of grain left in a field by the reapers

Grouse

(n.) a type of game bird; a complaint; (v.) to complain, grumble

Halcyon

(n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj.) of or relating to the halcyon; calm peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent

Hallow

(v.) to set apart as holy or sacred, sanctify, consecrate; to honor greatly, revere

Histrionic

(adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial; melodramatic

Idiosyncrasy

(n.) a peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify

Ignominy

(n.) shame and disgrace

Illusory

(adj.) misleading, deceptive; lacking in or not based on reality

Imperturbable

(adj.) not easily excited; emotionally steady

Inane

(adj.) silly, empty of meaning or value

Incarcerate

(v.) to imprison, confine, jail

Incendiary

(adj.) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n.) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

Increment

(n.) an enlargement, increase, addition

Incumbent

(adj.) obligatory, required; (n.) one who holds a specific office at the time spoken of

Indictment

(n.) the act of accusing; a formal accusation

Indigent

(adj.) needy, impoverished

Indubitable

(adj.) certain, not to be doubted or denied

Inordinate

(adj.) far too great, exceeding reasonable limits, excessive

Insatiable

(adj.) so great or demanding as not to be satisfied

Intermittent

(adj.) stopping and beginning again, sporadic

Intransigent

(adj.) refusing to compromise, irreconcilable

Invidious

(adj.) offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment