Unit 2 Vocab Level G

  1. Accost

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

    2. S: buttonhole, approach, confront

    3. A: avoid, shun

  2. Animadversion

    1. (n) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval

    2. S: rebuke, reproof

    3. A: praise, compliment

  3. Avid

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

    2. S: keen, enthusiastic, grasping

    3. A: reluctant, indifferent, unenthusiastic

  4. Brackish

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

    2. S: saline

    3. A: clear, sweet

  5. Celerity

    1. (n) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action

    2. S: promptness, speed

    3. A: slowness, sluggishness, dilatoriness

  6. Devious

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

    2. S: roundabout, indirect, tricky, sly, artful

    3. A: direct, straightforward, open, aboveboard

  7. Gambit

    1. (n) in chess and opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type

    2. S: ploy, ruse, maneuver

  8. Halcyon

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

    2. S: tranquil, placid, palmy

    3. A: turbulent, chaotic, tumultuous

  9. Histrionic

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

    2. S: affected, stagy

    3. A: muted, untheatrical, subdued

  10. Incendiary

    1. (adj) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion

    2. (n) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist; one who causes strife

    3. S: (adj.) inflammatory, provocative ; (n.) firebrand 

    4. A: (adj.) soothing, quieting; (n.) peacemaker

  11. Maelstrom

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

    2. S: chaos, turbulence, tumult

  12. Myopic

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

    2. S: shortsighted

    3. A: farsighted

  13. Overt

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

    2. S: clear, obvious, manifest, patent

    3. A: clandestine, covert, concealed

  14. Pejorative

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

    2. A: complimentary ameliorative

  15. Propriety

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

    2. S: fitness, correctness

    3. A: Unseemliness, inappropriateness

  16. Sacrilege

    1. (n) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred

    2. S: desecration, profanation, defilement

  17. Summarily

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

    2. S: promptly, peremptorily

  18. Suppliant

    1. (adj) asking humbly and earnestly (n) one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor

  19. Talisman

    1. (n) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers, an amulet, fetish

  20. Undulate

    1. (v) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearance or form

    2. S: fluctuate, rise and fall