english vocab final (1-6)

Arrogate

(v.) To claim or take without right.

(SYN: expropriate, commandeer)

(ANT: renounce, abdicate, abandon)

Banal

(adj.) Hackneyed, trite, commonplace.

(SYN: stale, insipid)

(ANT: fresh, original, new)

Encomium

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

(SYN: panegyric, eulogy)

(ANT: condemnation, castigation, criticism)

Eschew

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

(SYN: abstain from, steer clear of, forgo)

(ANT: embrace, adopt)

Invidious

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

(SYN: malicious, spiteful, prejudicial, pejorative)

(ANT: flattering, ameliorative)

Temporize

(v.) To stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise.

(SYN: dillydally, procrastinate)

Tenable

(adj.) Capable of being held or defended.

(SYN: defensible, justifiable, maintainable)

(ANT: indefensible, unjustifiable)

accost

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

(syn: buttonhole, approach)

(ant: avoid, shun)

animadversion

(n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

(syn: rebuke, reproof)

(ant: praise, compliment)

histrionic

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

(syn: affected, stagy)

(ant: muted, untheatrical, subdued)

pejorative

(adj.) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogatory, deprecatory, belittling

(ant: complimentary, ameliorative)

propriety

(n.) a state of being proper, appropriateness; standards of what is proper

(syn: fitness, correctness)

(ant: unseemliness, inappropriateness)

summarily

(adv.) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely

(syn: promptly, peremptorily)

cavort

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

syn. gambol

decry

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

syn. denounce, censure, devalue

ant. tout, commend, extol, laud, praise

dissemble

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

syn. dissimulate, mask, feign

evince

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

syn. exhibit, manifest, occasion

propinquity

n. nearness in place or time; kinship

syn. similarity

ant. remoteness, distance

unwonted

adj, not usual or expected; not in character

syn. unusual, uncommon, unexpected, atypical

ant. usual, customary, typical

Bastion

(n.) A fortified place, stronghold.

(SYN: citadel, rampart, parapet)

Consummate

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

(SYN: masterful, clinch, conclude)

(ANT: launch, initiate, begin, kick-off)

Disarray

(n.) Disorder, confusion. (v.) To throw into disorder.

(SYN: disorganization, dishevel, mess up)

(ANT: organization, order, tidiness)

Exigency

(n.) Urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency.

(SYN: requirement, crisis)

Flotsam

(n.) Floating debris; homeless, impoverished people.

(SYN: floating wreckage)

Frenetic

(adj.) Frenzied, highly agitated.

(SYN: frantic, overwrought)

(ANT: calm, controlled, relaxed, leisurely)

Glean

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

(SYN: cull, pick up)

Grouse

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

(SYN: kvetch, bellyache)

Incarcerate

(v.) To imprison, confine, jail.

(SYN: intern)

(ANT: liberate, free)

Incumbent

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

(SYN: mandatory, necessary)

(ANT: optional, unnecessary)

Jocular

(adj.) Humorous, jesting, jolly, joking.

(SYN: waggish, facetious, droll)

(ANT: solemn, grave, earnest, grim)

Ludicrous

(adj.) Ridiculous, laughable, absurd.

(SYN: risible, preposterous)

(ANT: heartrending, poignant, pathetic)

Mordant

(adj.) Biting or caustic in thought, manner, or style; sharply or bitterly harsh.

(SYN: acrimonious, acidulous, sardonic, scathing)

(ANT: bland, mild, gentle, soothing)

Nettle

(n.) A prickly or stinging plant; (v.) To arouse displeasure, impatience, or anger; to vex or irritate severely.

(SYN: peeve, annoy, incense, gall)

(ANT: please, delight, soothe, pacify)

Pecuniary

(adj.) Consisting of or measured in money; of or related to money.

(SYN: monetary)

Pusillanimous

(adj.) Contemptibly cowardly or mean-spirited.

(SYN: lily-livered)

(ANT: stouthearted, courageous)

Recumbent

(adj.) In a reclining position, lying down, in the posture of one sleeping or resting.

(SYN: prone, supine, inactive)

(ANT: erect, energetic, dynamic)

Stratagem

(n.) A scheme to outwit or deceive an opponent or to gain an end.

(SYN: trick, ploy, subterfuge)

Acuity

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

(SYN: acuteness)

(ANT: dullness, obtuseness)

Delineate

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

(SYN: picture, render)

Depraved

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

(SYN: perverted, degenerate, vicious, corrupt)

(ANT: moral, virtuous, upright, uncorrupted)

Enervate

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

(SYN: impair, cripple, paralyze)

(ANT: invigorate, strengthen, buttress)

Esoteric

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

(SYN: cryptic, arcane, recondite)

(ANT: accessible, comprehensible, intelligible)

Fecund

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

(SYN: fertile, teeming, prolific)

(ANT: infertile, barren, unproductive)

Fiat

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

(SYN: dictum, ukase)

Figment

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

(SYN: invention, fancy)

Garner

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

(SYN: collect, accumulate, accrue)

(ANT: scatter, squander, waste, dissipate)

Hallow

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

(SYN: venerate, bless)

(ANT: defile, profane, sacrilege)

Idiosyncrasy

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

(SYN: quirk, mannerism)

Ignominy

(n.) Shame and disgrace.

(SYN: humiliation, disrepute, odium)

(ANT: honor, acclaim)

Mundane

(adj.) Earthly, worldly, relating to practical and material affairs; concerned with what is ordinary.

(SYN: prosaic, humdrum, routine, sublunary)

(ANT: heavenly, spiritual, transcendental)

Nuance

(n.) A subtle or slight variation (as in color, meaning, quality)

(SYN: shade, nicety, refinement)

Overweening

(adj.) Conceited, presumptuous; excessive, immoderate.

(SYN: arrogant, unbridled, inflated)

(ANT: restrained, understated, meek)

Penchant

(n.) A strong attraction or inclination.

(SYN: proclivity, predilection)

(ANT: disinclination, aversion)

Reputed

(adj.) According to reputation or general belief; having widespread acceptance and good reputation; (part.) alleged.

(SYN: putative, reputable)

(ANT: proven, corroborated, authenticated)

Sophistry

(n.) Reasoning that seems plausible but is actually unsound; a fallacy.

(SYN: specious reasoning)

Sumptuous

(adj.) Costly, rich, magnificent.

(SYN: lavish, munificent, opulent, splendid)

(ANT: skimpy, stingy, niggardly, spartan)

Ubiquitous

(adj.) Present or existing everywhere.

(SYN: pervasive, universal)

(ANT: restricted, limited, rare, scarce)

Abject

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

(SYN: wretched, miserable, ignoble, sheer, utter)

(ANT: noble, exalted)

Agnostic

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

(SYN: doubter)

(ANT: believer)

Complicity

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

(SYN: connivance, collusion)

(ANT: non-involvement, innocence)

Derelict

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

(SYN: vagrant, delinquent)

(ANT: punctilious, conscientious, scrupulous)

Diatribe

(n.) A bitter and prolonged verbal attack.

(SYN: harangue, tirade)

(ANT: panegyric, encomium, eulogy)

Effigy

(n.) A crude image of a despised person.

(SYN: figure, figurine)

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.

(SYN: justice, fairness, impartiality)

(ANT: unfairness, bias, prejudice)

Inane

(Adj.) Silly, empty of meaning or value.

(SYN: idiotic, moronic, fatuous)

(ANT: sensible, meaningful, profound)

Indictment

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

(SYN: charge, accusation)

Indubitable

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

(SYN: unquestionable, indisputable)

(ANT: questionable, debatable, dubious)

Intermittent

(adj.) Stopping and beginning again, sporadic.

(SYN: fitful, spasmodic, random)

(ANT: uninterrupted)

Moot (adj.) (n.) (v.)

(adj.) open to discussion and debate, unresolved; (v.) to bring up for discussion; (n.) a hypothetical law case argued by students.

(SYN: debatable, questionable, broach)

(ANT: undebatable, indisputable, self-evident)

Motif

(n.) A principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design.

Neophyte

(n.) A new convert, beginner, novice.

(SYN: tenderfoot, tyro, greenhorn)

(ANT: veteran, past master, expert, pro)

Perspicacity

(n.) Keenness in observing and understanding.

(SYN: acumen, discernment)

(ANT: dullness, obtuseness)

Plenary

(adj.) Complete in all aspects or essentials; absolute; attended by all qualified members.

(SYN: unrestricted)

(ANT: limited, restricted, incomplete)

Surveillance

(n.) A watch kept over a person; careful, close and disciplined observation.

(SYN: observation, monitoring)

Sylvan

(adj.) Pertaining to or characteristic of forests; living or located in a forest; wooded, woody.

(SYN: arcadian)

Testy

(adj.) Easily irritated; characterized by impatience and exasperation.

(SYN: irritable, peevish, waspish, petulant)

(ANT: imperturbable, unexcitable)

Travesty

(n.) A grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a disguise, especially the clothing of the opposite sex; (v.) to ridicule by imitating in a broad or burlesque fashion.

(SYN: burlesque, caricature, farce)