Vocab AP Seminar 1-3

acquisitive

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

syn: greedy, grasping, avaricious, retentive.

ant: altruistic, unretentive

arrogate

v. to claim or take without right

syn: expropriate, usurp, commandeer

ant: relinquish, renounce, abdicate, abandon

banal

adj. hackneyed, trite, commonplace

syn: stale, insipid

ant: fresh, novel, original, new

belabor

v. to work on excessively; to thrash soundly

syn: overwork

carping

adj: tending to find fault, esp in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way. n: petty, nagging criticism

syn: nit-picking, caviling

adj: approving, uncritical

coherent

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

syn: connected, unified, consistent, cohesive

ant: muddled, chaotic, disjointed

congeal

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

syn: harden, jell, coagulate, solidify

ant: melt, liquefy

emulate

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

syn: copy, mimic, rival, match, measure up tp

encomium

n. a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute

syn: panegyric, eulogy, commendation

ant: condemnation, castigation, criticism

eschew

v. to avoid, shun, keep away from

syn: abstain from, steer clear of, forgo

ant: embrace, adopt

germane

adj: relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting

syn: pertinent

ant: irrelevant, extraneous, inappropriate

insatiable

adj. so great or demanding as not to be saitisfied

syn: unquenchable, ravenous, voracious

intransigent

adj. refusing to compromise, irreconcilable

syn: uncompromising, unyielding, obdurate

ant: lukewarm, halfhearted, yielding

invidious

adj. offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness amd resentment

syn: malicious, spiteful, prejudicial, pejorative

ant: complimentary, flattering, ameliorative

largesse

n. generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions

syn: liberality, munificence, bounty

ant: stinginess, miserliness, niggardliness

reconnaisaance

n. a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination

syn: scouting expedition

substantiate

v. to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to

syn: verify, confirm, validate, authenticate

ant: refute, disprove, invalidate

taciturn

adj. habitually silent or quiet, inclined to talk very little

syn: tight-lipped, uncommunicative, laconic

ant: garrulous, loquacious, prolix, verbose

temporize

v. to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postponse a decision; to compromise

syn: hedge, 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, confront

ant: evade, avoid, shun

animadversion

n. a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

syn: rebuke, reproof

ant: praise, compliment

avid

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

syn: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

ant: reluctant, indifferent, unenthousiastic

brackish

adj. having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink

syn: briny, saline

ant: fresh, clear, sweet

celerity

n. swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

syn: promptness, alacrity, speed

ant: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

devious

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

syn: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful

ant: direct, straighforward, open, aboveboard

gambit

n. in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifices of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

syn: ploy, stratagem, ruse, maneuver

halcyon

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

syn: tranquil, serene, placid, palmy

ant: trubulent, chaotic, tumultuous

histrionic

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

syn: affected, stagy

ant: low-keyed, muted, untheatrical, subdued

incendiary

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

syn: inflammatory, provocative, firebrand

ant: soothing, quieting, peacemaker

maelstrom

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

syn: vortex, chaos, trubulence, tumult

myopic

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

syn: shortsighted

ant: farsighted

overt

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

syn: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

ant: secret, clandestine, covert, concealed

pejorative

adj. tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement, derogative, deprecatory, belittling

ant: complimentary, ameliorative

propriety

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

syn: fitness, correctness, decorum

ant: unseemliness, inappropriateness

sacrilege

n. improper or disrepectful treatment of something held sacred

syn: desecration, profanation, defilement

summarily

adv. without delay/formality; briefly, concisely