Vocabulary Workshop Level H: Unit 10

Acumen

(n) keenness of insight; quickness or accuracy of judgement

Synonyms: perspicacity, shrewdness, acuity

Antonyms: ignorance, stupidity, obtuseness

Adjudicate

(v) to act as judge in a matter; to settle through the use of a judge or legal tribunal

Synonyms: arbitrate, referee, meditate

Anachronism

(n) a chronological misplacing of events, objects, customs, or persons in regard to each other

Synonym: chronological error

Apocryphal

(adj) of doubtful or questionable authenticity

Synonyms: fictitious, mythical, spurious, bogus

Antonyms: authentic, genuine, true

Disparity

(n) a difference or inequality in age, rank, degree, amount, or quality; a dissimilarity; unlikeness

Synonyms: discrepancy, incongruity

Antonyms: similarity, likeness, congruity

Dissimulate

(v) to hide or disguise one's true thoughts, feelings, or intentions

Synonyms: dissemble, pretend, misrepresent

Antonym: reveal

Empirical

(adj) derived from, dependent upon, or guided by practical experience, observation, or experiment, rather than by theory; so verifiable

Synonyms: observed, experiential, pragmatic

Antonyms: theoretical, hypothetical, conjectural

Flamboyant

(adj) highly elaborate or ornate; vividly colored; strikingly brilliant or bold

Synonyms: showy, ostentatious, florid

Antonyms: staid, sedate, decorous, seemly, sober

Fulsome

(adj) offensively insincere or excessive; disgusting, sickening

Synonyms: inordinate, repulsive

Antonyms: understated, muted, restrained, agreeable

Immolate

(v) to kill as a sacrifice, especially by fire; to destroy or renounce for the sake of another

Synonyms: slay, kill

Antonyms: save, rescue, preserve

Imperceptible

(adj) extremely slight; incapable of being perceived by the sense or the mind

Synonyms: minimal, undetectable

Antonyms: conscpicuous, noticeable, flagrant

Lackey

(n) a uniformed male servant; a servil follower

Synonyms: footman, toady, flunky, hanger-on

Antonyms: lord, liege, employer, boss

Liaison

(n) the contact or means of communication between groups; someone acting as such a contact; any close relationship; a thickening or binding agent used in cooking

Synonyms: intermediary, channel

Monolithic

(adj) characterized by massiveness, solidness, and total uniformity

Synonyms: undifferentiated, massive, dense

Antonyms: diversified, variform, multifarious

Mot juste

(n) the most suitable or exact word or expression

Synonym: right word

Antonyms: misnomer, misusage, malapropism

Nihilism

(n) a total rejection of existing laws, institutions,and moral values; extreme radicalism

Antonym: conservatism

Patrician

(n) a member of the ruling class; a person of high or noble rank or of prominent social standing; (adj) belonging to, befitting, or characteristic of such a person

Synonyms: (n.) aristocrat, peer, noble; (adj) highborn

Antonyms: (n.) peasant, commoner, plebeian

Propitiate

(v.) to make someone or something favorably inclined toward oneself; to conciliate, satisfy, or appease

Synonyms: placate, mollify

Antonyms: estrange, alienate, provoke, annoy

Sic

(adv) thus so; intentionally written so

Sublimate

(v) to redirect the energy of a biological or instinctual impulse into a higher or more acceptable channel

Synonyms: rechannel, elevate