Sem 2 Vocab

Aesthetic

(adj.) Pertaining to beauty; sensitive or responsive to beauty

Defunct

(adj.) No longer in existence or functioning, dead

Discomfit

(v.) To frustrate, thwart, or defeat; to confuse, perplex, or embarrass

Espouse

(v.) To take up and support; to become attached to, adopt; to marry

Fetish

(n.) An object believed to have magical powers; an object of unreasoning devotion or reverence

Gregarious

(adj.) Living together in a herd or group; sociable, seeking the company of others

Hapless

(adj.) Marked by a persistent absence of good luck

Impeccable

(adj.) Faultless, beyond criticism or blame

Importune

(v.) To trouble with demands; to beg for insistently

Interpolate

(v.) To insert between other parts or things; to present as an addition or correction

Irreparable

(adj.) Incapable of being repaired or rectified

Laconic

(adj.) Concise, using few words

Languish

(v.) To become weak, feeble, or dull; to droop; to be depressed or dispirited; to suffer neglect

Mendacious

(adj.) Given to lying or deception; untrue

Nadir

(n.) The lowest point

Omnipresent

(adj.) Present in all places at all times

Perfunctory

(adj.) Done in a superficial or halfhearted manner; without interest or enthusiasm

Plaintive

(adj.) Expressive of sorrow or woe, melancholy

Requite

(v.) To make suitable repayment, as for a kindness, service, or favor; to make retaliation, as for an injury or wrong; to reciprocate

Tantamount

(adj.) Equivalent, having the same meaning, value, or effect

abrogate

(v.) to repeal, cancel, declare null and void; revoke

SYN: annul, revoke
ANT: renew, ratify

ambient

(adj.) completely surrounding, encompassing

asperity

(n.) roughness, severity; bitterness or tartness; harshness

SYN: rigor, harshness
ANT: mildness, blandness, softness, lenience

burnish

(v.) to make smooth or glossy by rubbing, polish
(n.) gloss, brightness, luster; shine; buff

SYN: (v.) shine, buff
ANT: (v.) dull, abrade

cabal

(n.) a small group working in secret; gang

SYN: ring, gang, plot, conspiracy

delectable

(adj.) delightful, highly enjoyable; deliciously flavored, savory
(n.) an appealing or appetizing food or dish; scrumptious

SYN: (adj.) scrumptious
ANT: (adj.) repugnant, repulsive, distateful

deprecate

(v.) to express mild disapproval; to belittle; deplore; frown upon

SYN: deplore, frown upon
ANT: smile on, approve

detritus

(n.) loose bits and pieces of material resulting from disintegration or wearing away; fragments that result from any destruction; wreckage; ruins

SYN: wreckage, ruins, rubble

ebullient

(adj.) overflowing with enthusiasm and excitement; boiling, bubbling; exhilarated

SYN: exhilarated, elated
ANT: gloomy, morose, sullen, apathetic, blase

eclectic

(adj.) drawn from different sources; (n.) one whose beliefs are drawn from various sources; selective

SYN: (adj.) selective, synthetic, pick

flaccid

(adj.) limp, not firm; lacking vigor or effectiveness; soft

SYN: soft, flabby
ANT: hard, solid

impecunious

(adj.) having little or no money; impoverished

SYN: impoverished, indigent
ANT: affluent, wealthy, prosperous, rich

inexorable

(adj.) inflexible, beyond influence; relentless, unyielding

SYN: ineluctable, obdurate
ANT: avoidable, yielding, pliant

moribund

(adj.) dying, on the way out

SYN: obsolescent
ANT: thriving

necromancer

(n.) one who claims to reveal or influence the future through magic, especially communication with the dead; in general, a magician or wizard

SYN: sorcerer, conjurer

onerous

(adj.) burdensome; involving hardship or difficulty; weighty

SYN: weighty
ANT: light, easy, undemanding, untaxing

rife

(adj.) common, prevalent, widespread, happening often; full, abounding; plentiful, abundant, replete

ANT: devoid of, lacking

rudiments

(n. pl.) the parts of any subject or discipline that are learned first; the earliest stages of anything; basics

SYN: basics, fundamentals

sequester

(v.) to set apart, separate for a special purpose; to take possession of and hold in custody; segregate

SYN: segregate, isolate, closet

winnow

(v.) to get rid of something unwanted, delete; to sift through to obtain what is desirable; to remove the chaff from the wheat by blowing air on it; to blow on, fan; sift

SYN: sift, strain, filter, sort

Askance

(adv.) With distrust

Attenuate

(v.) to weaken

Benign

(adj.) Gentle

Cavil

(v.) To carp
(n.) A trivial objection

Charlatan

(n.) One who feigns knowledge

Decimate

(v.) To destroy

Foible

(n.) A weak point

Forgo

(v.) To do without

Fraught

(adj.) Full with

Inure

(v.) To toughen

Luminous

(adj.) Emitting light

Obsequious

(adj.) excessively submissive

Obtuse

(adj.) slow or dull in understanding

Oscillate

(v.) to fluctuate

Penitent

(adj.) Regretful for one's sins
(n.) One who is sorry

Peremptory

(adj.) resolute

Rebuff

(v.) To snub

Reconnoiter

(v.) To engage in reconnaissance

Shambles

(n.) mess

Sporadic

(adj.) Occuring at irregular intervals

acclamation

(n.) a shout of welcome; an overwhelming verbal vote of approval
(SYN: ovation, cheering, plaudits)
(ANT: booing, hissing, jeers, catcalls)

bucolic

(adj.) characteristic of the countryside, rural; relating to shepherds and cowherds, pastoral
(SYN: rustic)
(ANT: metropolitan)

calumniate

(v.) to slander; to accuse falsely and maliciously
(SYN: defame, libel)
(ANT: flatter, whitewash, praise)

chary

(Adj.) extremely cautious, hesitant, or slow (to); reserved, diffident
(SYN: skittish)
(ANT: heedless, reckless, incautious)

collusion

(n.) secret agreement or cooperation
(SYN: conspiracy, plot, connivance)

dilettante

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

imperturbable

(adj.) Not easily excited; emotionally steady.
(SYN: unflappable, unexcitable, serene, unruffled)
(ANT: excitable)

increment

(n.) an enlargement, increase, addition
(SYN: accretion)
(ANT: reduction, decrease)

mandate

(n.) an authoritative command, formal order, authorization; (v.) to issue such an order
(SYN: directive)
(ANT: forbid, ban, outlaw)

paltry

(adj.) trifling, insignificant; mean, despicable; inferior, trashy
(SYN: measly, meager, piddling, trivial)
(ANT: gigantic, immense)

paroxysm

(n.) a sudden outburst; a spasm, convulsion
(SYN: fit, seizure)

pedantry

(n.) a pretentious display of knowledge; overly rigid attention to rules and details
(SYN: nit

peregrination

(n.) the act of traveling; an excursion, especially on foot or to a foreign country
(SYN: journey, wandering, odyssey)

redolent

(adj.) fragrant, smelling strongly; tending to arouse memories or create an aura
(SYN: evocative, reminiscent, aromatic)
(ANT: unevocative, odorless)

refulgent

(adj.) shining, radiant, resplendent
(SYN: splendid)
(ANT: dim, dark, obscure, dingy, dull)

shibboleth

(n.) a word, expression, or custom that distinguishes a particular group of persons from all others; a commonplace saying or truism
(SYN: password, slogan)

tyro

(n.) a beginner, novice; one with little or no background or skill
(SYN: neophyte)
(ANT: veteran, past master, expert)

unremitting

(adj.) not stopping, maintained steadily, never letting up, relentless
(SYN: incessant, unrelenting)
(ANT: desultory, intermittent)

vacillate

(v.) to swing indecisively from one idea or course of action to another; to waver weakly in mind or will
(SYN: fluctuate, oscillate)
(ANT: persevere)

vituperative

(Adj.) harshly abusive, severely scolding
(SYN: abusive, scurrilous, insulting)
(ANT: complimentary, laudatory, flattering)

Allege

(v.) to assert without proof or confirmation

Arrant

(adj.) thoroughgoing, out

Badinage

(n.) light and playful conversation

Conciliate

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

Countermand

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

Echelon

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

Exacerbate

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

Fatuous

(adj.) stupid or foolish in a self

Irrefutable

(adj.) impossible to disprove; beyond argument

Juggernaut

(n.) a massive and inescapable force or object that crushes whatever is in its path

Lackadaisical

(adj.) lacking spirit or interest, halfhearted

Litany

(n.) a prayer consisting of short appeals to God recited by the leader alternating with responses from the congregation; any repetitive chant; a long list

Macabre

(adj.) grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing; having death as a subject

Paucity

(n.) an inadequate quantity, scarcity, dearth

Portend

(v.) to indicate beforehand that something is about to happen; to give advance warning of

Raze

(v.) to tear down, destroy completely; to cut or scrape off or out

Recant

(v.) to withdraw a statement or belief to which one has previously been committed, renounce, retract

Saturate

(v.) to soak thoroughly, fill to capacity; to satisfy fully

Saturnine

(adj.) of a gloomy or surly disposition; cold or sluggish in mood

Slough

(v.) to cast off, discard; to get rid of something objectionable or unnecessary; to plod through as if through mud; (n.) a mire; a state of depression