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English Vocab VIII

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Terms

undefined, object
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musty
adj.
1. Stale or moldy in odor or taste.

2. a. Hackneyed or trite; dull.

2. b. Out of date; antiquated.

2.c. Out of use or practice; rusty.
complaisant
adj.

Exhibiting a desire or willingness to please; cheerfully obliging.
lewd
adj.
1. Preoccupied with sex and sexual desire; lustful.

2. Obscene; indecent.
fret
verb

1. To cause to be uneasy; vex:
“fret thy soul with crosses and with cares” (Edmund Spenser).

2. To gnaw or wear away; erode; chafe.

3. To disturb the surface of water; agitate.
crimson
n.
A deep to vivid purplish red to vivid red.
harry
v.
1. To disturb or distress by or as if by repeated attacks; harass.

2. To raid, as in war; sack or pillage.
troglodyte
–noun
1. a prehistoric cave dweller.

2. a person of degraded, primitive, or brutal character.

3. a person living in seclusion.

4. a person unacquainted with affairs of the world.

5. an animal living underground.
patrician
noun
1. a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.

2. a person of very good background, education, and refinement.

3. a member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome.

4. (under the later Roman and Byzantine empires) a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.

5. a member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.
contretempts
(kon-truh-tahn)
noun
an imopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance:

He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink.
auspices
noun

1. Patronage; support; sponsorship:
under the auspices of the Department of Education.

2. A propitious (favorable) sign or circumstance.

3. A divination or prognostication, originally from observing birds.
redoubtable
–adjective
1. that is to be feared; formidable.
the redoubtable power of God


2. commanding or evoking respect or reverence.
my redoubtable parents
bring to heel
Force to obey, subjugate.

The prisoners were quickly brought to heel.
opprobrium
–noun

disgrace incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful; infamy.
sanctimonious
adjective
making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.:

They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America.
apogee
–noun
1. Astronomy. the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, esp. the moon, or of a man-made satellite at which it is farthest from the earth. Compare perigee.

2. the highest or most distant point; climax.
semiotic
noun
Inflected Form: plural semiotics
: a general philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deals especially with their function in both artificially constructed and natural languages and comprises syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics —semiotic adjective
ipso facto
by the fact itself; by the very nature of the deed:

to be condemned ipso facto.
ape
noun
1. (loosely) any primate except humans.

2. an imitator; mimic.

3. Informal. a big, ugly, clumsy person.
piffle
–noun
nonsense, as trivial or senseless talk.

Normal Mailer detested trite piffle.
bereave
verb
1. to deprive and make desolate, esp. by death (usually fol. by of):
Illness bereaved them of their mother.

2. to deprive ruthlessly or by force (usually fol. by of):
The war bereaved them of their home.
natty
adj.
neatly or trimly smart in dress or appearance; spruce; dapper
a natty white uniform.
donnybrook
–noun (often initial capital letter)

an inordinately wild fight or contentious dispute; brawl; free-for-all;

melee (noun
1. a confused hand-to-hand fight or struggle among several people.
2. confusion; turmoil; jumble:
the melee of Christmas shopping.
billow
noun

any surging mass, esp. a surge of the sea
billows of smoke.
dolor
(dō'lər)

–noun

sorrow; grief.
malaise
–noun
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.

2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.
diminuendo
adj.
gradually reducing in force or loudness; decrescendo (opposed to crescendo).
demimonde
–noun
1. (esp. during the last half of the 19th century) a class of women who have lost their standing in respectable society because of indiscreet behavior or sexual promiscuity; demimondaine.

2. prostitutes or courtesans in general.

3. a group whose activities are ethically or legally questionable:
a demimonde of investigative journalists writing for the sensationalist tabloids.

4. a group characterized by lack of success or status:
the literary demimonde.
osteopath
noun
a therapist who manipulates the skeleton and muscles
crumpled
verb
1. to press or crush into irregular folds or into a compact mass; bend out of shape; rumple; wrinkle.

2. to cause to collapse or give way suddenly:
That right hook to the midsection crumpled him.
rejoinder
–noun
1. an answer; a response.
2. Law. a defendant's answer to a plaintiff's replication.
icon
–noun

An important and enduring person or symbol; idol.
"Voyager will take its place ... alongside such icons of airborne adventure as The Spirit of St. Louis and [the] Bell X-1" (William D. Marbach).

"He is ... a pop icon designed and manufactured for the video generation" (Harry F. Waters).
posterity
–noun
1. succeeding or future generations collectively:
Judgment of this age must be left to posterity.

2. all descendants of one person:
His fortune was gradually dissipated by his posterity.
imperturbable
–adjective
incapable of being upset or agitated; not easily excited; calm: imperturbable composure.
barefaced
–adjective
1. with the face uncovered.

2. shameless; impudent; audacious:
a barefaced lie.

3. without concealment or disguise; boldly open:
a barefaced approach.
improglio
ĭm-brōl'yō

noun
1. a misunderstanding, disagreement, etc., of a complicated or bitter nature, as between persons or nations.

2. an intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation.

3. a confused heap.
imbroglio
ĭm-brōl'yō

–noun, plural -glios.
1. A bitter, complicated misunderstanding or disagreement, as between persons or nations.

2. an intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation.

3. a confused heap.
decolletage
dey-kol-tahzh

–noun
A dress with a low neckline in front.
vaunted
adj.
praised boastfully or excessively:
the vaunted beauties of Paris.
blowback
noun.

1. The backpressure in an internal-combustion engine or a boiler.

2. Powder residue that is released upon automatic ejection of a spent cartridge or shell from a firearm.

3. The effect caused by recirculation into the source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by that country's intelligence service in an effort to mislead the government of another country.
blockish
–adjective
like a block; dull; stupid.
canoodle
verb

to caress amorously
transfixed
verb
1. to make or hold motionless with amazement, awe, terror, etc.

2. to pierce through with or as if with a pointed weapon; impale.

3. to hold or fasten with or on something that pierces.
gall
–noun
1. impudence; effrontery (shameless boldness; barefaced audacity).

2. bile, esp. that of an animal.

3. something bitter or severe, esp. bitterness of spirit; rancor (bitter resentment; rankling(); hatred; malice.)

4. —Idiom
gall and wormwood
bitterness of spirit; deep resentment.
rend
verb
1. To tear apart violently-- esp. one's garments or hair-- in grief, rage, etc.,
(often fol. by away, off, up, etc.).
The storm rend the ship to pieces.
A racial problem that is rending the nation.

2. to disturb (the air) sharply with loud noise.

3. to rankle (); harrow ().
carom
cA-rom

noun.

1. A collision followed by a rebound.

2.
1. A shot in billiards in which the cue ball successively strikes two other balls. Also called billiard.

2. A similar shot in a related game, such as pool.
salacious
–adjective

Lewd (lustful; indecent obscene); lecherous, esp. of writings, pictures, etc.
leitmotif
lahyt-moh-teef

–noun
a motif or theme associated throughout a music drama (esp. a Wagnerian opera) with a particular person, situation, or idea.
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