Sadlier-Oxford Level G 1-15 English Vocab
Terms
undefined, object
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- acquisitive
- able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or property
- arrogate
- to claim or take without right
- banal
- hackneyed, trite, commonplace
- belabour
- to work on excessively, to thrash soundly
- carping
- tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; petty nagging critiscism.
- coherent
- holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful
- congeal
- to change from liquid to solid, thicken; to make inflexible or rigid
- emulate
- to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model
- encomium
- a formal expression of praise, a lavish tribute
- eschew
- to avoid, shun, keep away from
- germane
- relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting
- insatiable
- so great or demanding as to not be satisfied
- intransigent
- refusing to compromise, irreconcilable
- invidious
- offensive, hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment
- largesse
- generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions
- reconnaissance
- a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection
- substantiate
- to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to
- taciturn
- habitually silent or quiet
- temporize
- to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise
- tenable
- capable of being held or defended
- accost
- to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenge or aggressive way
- animadversion
- a comment indicating strong criticism or dissapproval
- avid
- desirous or something to the point of greed; intensely eager
- brackish
- having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink
- celerity
- swiftness, rapidity of motion or action
- devious
- straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or acting in a shifty or underhanded way
- gambit
- in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type
- halcyon
- a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; clam; peaceful; happy; golden; prosperous; affluent
- histrionic
- pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial, melodrama
- incendiary
- deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to stir up strife or rebellion
- maelstrom
- in a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a whirlpool in violence and destruction
- myopic
- nearsighted; lacking abroad, realistic view of a situation
- overt
- open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized
- pejorative
- tending to make worse, expressing disapproval or dispargement
- propriety
- the state of being proper; appropriateness; standards of what is proper or socially acceptable
- sacrilege
- improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred
- summarily
- without delay or formality; briefly, concisely
- suppliant
- asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a request humbly and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor
- talisman
- an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers
- undulate
- to movie in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike appearence or form
- articulate
- to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; to connect by a joint or joints; expressed clearly or forcefully; able to employ language clearly and forcefully; jointed
- cavort
- to romp or prance around exuberantly; to make merry
- credence
- belief, mental acceptance
- decry
- to condemn; express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate
- dissemble
- to disguise or conceal; deliberately give flase information
- distraught
- very much agitated or upset as a result of emotional or mental conflict
- eulogy
- a formal statement of commendation; high praise
- evince
- to display clearly; to make evident; to provoke
- exhume
- to remove from a grave; to bring to light
- feckless
- lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible, unreliable
- murky
- dark and gloomy; obscure; lacking in clarity and precision
- nefarious
- wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standard
- piquant
- stimulating to taste or to mind; spicy, pungent; appealing; provacative
- primordial
- develpoed or create at the very beginning; going back to the most ancient times or earliest stage; fundemental, basic
- propinquity
- nearness in place or time; kinship
- unwonted
- not usual or expected; not in character
- utopian
- founded upon or invlving a visionary view or an ideal world
- verbiage
- language that is too wordy or inflated in proportion to the sense or content, wordiness; a manner of expression
- verdant
- green in tint or color; immature in experience or judgement
- viscous
- having a gelatinous or gluey quality, lacking in easy movement or fluidity
- atrophy
- the wasting away of a body organ or tissue; any progressive decline or failure
- bastion
- a fortified place, a stronghold
- concord
- a state of agreement, harmony, unanimity; a treaty, pact, convenant
- consummate
- complete or perfect in the highest degree; to bring a state of completion or perfection
- disarray
- disorder, confusion; to throw into disorder
- exigency
- urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency
- flotsam
- floating debris; homeless, impoverished people
- frenetic
- frenzied, highly agitated
- glean
- to gather bit by bit, to gather small quantities of grain left in teh field by reapers
- grouse
- a type of game bird; a complaint; to complain, grumble
- incarcerate
- to imprison, confine, jail
- incumbent
- obligatory, required; one who holds a specific office at the time spoken
- jocular
- humorous, jesting, jolly, joking
- ludicrous
- ridiculous, laughable, absurd
- mordant
- biting or caustic in thougt, manner, or style; sharply or bitterly harsh
- nettle
- a prickly or stinging plant; to arouse displeasure, impatience, or anger; to vex or irritate severly
- pecuniary
- consisting or measured in money; of our related to money
- pusillanimous
- contemptibly cowardly or mean-spirited
- recumbent
- in a reclining position, lying down, in the posture of one sleeping or resting
- stratagem
- a scheme to outwit or decieve an opponent or to gain an end
- acuity
- sharpness
- delineate
- to portray, sketch, or describe in accurate or vivid detail; to represent pictorally
- depraved
- marked by evil and corruption; devoid of moral principle
- enervate
- to weaken or lessen the mental, moral, or physical vigor of; enfeeble, hamstring
- esoteric
- intended for or understood by only a select few, private, secret
- fecund
- fruitful in offspring or vegetation; intellectually productive
- fiat
- an arbitrary order or decree; a command or act of will or consciousness
- figment
- a fabrication of the mind; an arbitrary motion
- garner
- to acquire as the result of effort; to gather and store away, as for future use
- hallow
- to set apart as a holy or sacred, sanctify, consecrate; to honor greatly, revere
- idiosyncrasy
- a peculiarty that sevres to distinguish or identify
- ignominy
- shame and disgrace
- mundane
- earthly and worldly, relating to practical and material affairs; concerned with what is ordinary
- abject
- degraded; base, contemptible; cringing; servile; complete and unrelieved
- agnostic
- one who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic; without faith, skeptical
- complicity
- involvement in wrongdoing; the state of being an accomplice
- derelict
- someone or something that is abandoned or neglected; left abandoned, neglectful of duty
- diatribe
- a bitter and prolonged verbal attack
- effigy
- a crude image or a despised person
- equity
- the state or quality of being just, fair or impartial; fair and equal treatment; something that is fair; teh money value or a property above and beyond any mortgage or other claim
- inane
- silly, empty or menaing or value
- indictment
- the act of accusing; a formal accusation
- indubitable
- certain, not to be doubted or denied
- intermittent
- stopping and beginning again, sporadic
- moot
- open to discussion and debate, unresolved; to bring up for discussion; a hypothetical law case argued by students
- motif
- a principal idea, feature, theme or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design
- neophyte
- a new convert, beginner, novice
- perspicacity
- keenness in observing or understanding
- plenary
- complete in all aspects or essentials; absolute; attended by all qualified members
- surveillance
- a watch kept over a person; careful, close, and disciplined observation
- sylvan
- pertaining to or characterized by forests; living or located in a forest; woodland, woody
- testy
- easily irritated; characterized by impatience and exasperation
- travesty
- a grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a disguise, especially the clothing of the opposite sex; tp ridicule ina broad or burlesque fashion
- allay
- to calm or pacify; to set to rest; to lessen or relieve
- bestial
- beastlike; beastly, brutal; subhuman in intelligence and sensibility
- convivial
- festive, sociable, having fun together, genial
- coterie
- a circle of acquaintances; a close-knit, often exclusive, group of people with a common interest
- counterpart
- a person or thing closely resembling or corresponding to another
- demur
- to object or take objection to
- effrontery
- shameless boldness; impudence
- embellish
- to decorate, adorn, touch up; to improve by adding details
- ephemeral
- lasting only a short time; short-lived
- felicitous
- appropriate, apt; well-chosen; marked by well-being or good fortune, happy
- furtive
- done slyly or stealthily, sneaky, secret, shifty, or stolen
- garish
- glaring; tastelessly showy or decorated in a vulgar or offensive way
- illusory
- misleading, deceptive; lacking in or not based on reality
- indigent
- needy, impoverished
- inordinate
- far too great, exceeding reasonable limits, excessive
- jettison
- to cast overboard, get rid or as unnecessary or burdensome
- misanthrope
- a person who hates or despises people
- pertinacious
- very persistent; holding firmly to a course of action or a set of beliefs; hard to get rid of, refusing to be put off
- picayune
- of little value or importance, paltry, measly; concerned with trifling matters, small-minded
- raiment
- clothing, garments
- allege
- to assert without proof or confirmation
- arrant
- throughgoing, out-and-out, shameless, blatant
- badinage
- light and playful conversation
- conciliate
- to overcome with distruct or, win over; to appease, pacify; to reconcile, make consistent
- countermand
- to cancel or reverse one order or command with another that is contrary to the first
- echelon
- one of a series of grades in an organization or field of activity; an organized military unit; a step-like formation or arrangement
- exacerbate
- to make more violent, severe, bitted or painful
- fatuous
- stupid or foolish in a self-satisfied way
- irrefutable
- impossible to disprove, beyond argument
- juggernaut
- a massive and inescapable force that crushes whatever is in its path
- lackadaisical
- lacking spirit or interest, halfhearted
- litany
- a prayer consisting of short appeals to God recited by the leader aternating with responses from the congregation; any repetitive chant; a long list
- macabre
- grisly, gruesome; horrible, distressing, having death as a subject
- paucity
- an inadequate quantity, scarcity, dearth
- portend
- to indicate beforehand that something is going to happen; to give advance warning of
- raze
- to tear down, destroy completely; to scrape off or out or cut
- recant
- to withdraw a statement or belief which one has previously been commited renounce, retract
- saturate
- to soak thoroughly, fill to capacity; to satisfy fully
- saturnine
- of a gloomy or surly disposition; cold or sluggish in mood
- slough
- to cast off, discard; to get rid of something objectionable or unnecessary; to plod through as if mud; a mire; a state of depression
- acclamation
- a shout of welcome; an overwhelming verbal vote of approval
- bucolic
- characteristic of the countryside, rural; relating to shepherds and cowherds, pastoral
- calumniate
- to slander; to accusely falsely and maliciously
- chary
- extremely cautious, hesitant or slow; reserved, diffident
- collusion
- secret agreement or cooperation
- dilettante
- a dabbler in the arts; one who engages in an activity in an amateurish, trifling way; superficial
- imperturbable
- not easily excited; emotionally steady
- increment
- an enlargement, increase, addition
- mandate
- an authoritative command, formal order, authorization; to issue such an order
- paltry
- trifling, insignificant; mean, despicable; inferior, trashy
- paroxysm
- a sudden outburst; a spasm, convulsion
- pedantry
- a pretentious display of knowledge; overly rigid attention to rules and details
- peregrination
- the act of traveling; an excursion, especially on foot or to a foreign country
- redolent
- fragrant, smelling strongly; tending to arousememories ro create an aura
- refulgent
- shining, radiant, resplendent
- shibboleth
- a word, expression, or custom that distinguishes a particular group or persons from all others
- tyro
- a beginner, novice; one with little or no background or skill
- unremitting
- not stopping, maintained steadily; never letting up, relentless
- vaciliate
- to swing indecisively from one idea or course of action to another; to waver weakly in mind or will
- vituperative
- harshly abusive, severly scolding
- askance
- with suspicion, distrust, or dissapproval
- attenuate
- to make thin or slender; to weaken or lessen in force, intensity or value
- benign
- gentle, kind; forgiving, understanding; having a favourable or beneficial effect, not malignant
- cavil
- to find fault in apetty way, carp: a trivial objction or critiscism
- charlatan
- one who feigns knowledge or ability; a pretender, imposter, or quack
- decimate
- to kill or destroy a large part of
- foible
- a weak point, failing, minor flaw
- forgo
- to do without, abstain from, give up
- fraught
- full of or loaded with; accompanied by
- inure
- to toughen, harden; to render used to something by long subjection or exposure
- luminous
- emitting or reflecting light, glowing; illuminate
- obsequious
- marked by slavish attentiveness; excessively submissive, often for purely self-interested reasons
- obtuse
- blunt, not coming to a point; slow or dull in understanding; measuring between 90 and 180 degrees, not causing a sharp impression
- oscillate
- to swing back and forth with a steady rythm, to fluctuate or waver
- penitent
- regretful for one's sins or mistakes; one who is sorry for wrongdoing
- peremptory
- having the nature of a command that leaves no opportunity for debate, denial, or refusal; offensively self-assured, dictatorial; determined, resolute
- rebuff
- to snub; to repel, drive away; a curt rejection, a check
- reconnoiter
- to engage in reconnaissance; to make a preliminary inspection
- shambles
- a slaughterhouse; a mass of bloodshed; a state of complete disorder
- sporadic
- occuring at irregular intervals, having no set plan or order