Sparknotes D-E

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Terms

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empathy: (n.) sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own (I feel such empathy for my sister when she's in pain that I cry too.)
epitome: (n.) a perfect example, embodiment (My mother, the epitome of good taste, always dresses more elegantly than I do.)
defer: (v.) to postpone something; to yield to another's wisdom (Ron deferred to Diane, the expert on musical instruments, when he was asked about buying a piano.)
debacle: (n.) a disastrous failure, disruption (The elaborately designed ﬁreworks show turned into a debacle when the ﬁreworks started ﬁring in random directions.)
emote: (v.) to express emotion (The director told the actor he had to emote, or else the audience would have no idea what his character was going through.)
etymology: (n.) the history of words, their origin and development (From the study of etymology, I know that the word "quixotic" derives from Don Quixote and the word "gaudy" refers to the Spanish architect Gaudí.)
decorous: (adj.) socially proper, appropriate (The appreciative guest displayed decorous behavior toward his host.)
dubious: (adj.) doubtful, of uncertain quality (Suspicious that he was only trying to get a raise, she found his praise dubious.)
exonerate: (v.) to free from guilt or blame, exculpate (The true thief's confession exonerated the man who had been held in custody for the crime.)
expedient: (adj.) advisable, advantageous, serving one's self-interest (In his bid for
delineate: (v.) to describe, outline, shed light on (She neatly delineated her reasons for canceling the project's funding.)
dither: (v.) to be indecisive (Not wanting to offend either friend, he dithered about which of the two birthday parties he should attend.)
deplore: (v.) to feel or express sorrow, disapproval (We all deplored the miserable working conditions in the factory.)
dearth: (n.) a lack, scarcity (An eager reader, she was dismayed by the dearth of classic books at the library.)
deprecate: (v.) to belittle, depreciate (Always over-modest, he deprecated his contribution to the local charity.)
deface: (v.) to ruin or injure something's appearance (The brothers used eggs and shaving cream to deface their neighbor's mailbox.)
didactic: 1. (adj.) intended to instruct (She wrote up a didactic document showing new employees how to handle the company's customers.) 2. (adj.) overly moralistic (His didactic style of teaching made it seem like he wanted to persuade his students not to understand history fully, but to understand it from only one point of view.)
extraneous: (adj.) irrelevant, extra, not necessary (Personal political ambitions should always remain extraneous to legislative policy, but, unfortunately, they rarely are.)
diaphanous: (adj.) light, airy, transparent (Sunlight poured in through the diaphanous curtains, brightening the room.)
diminutive: (adj.) small or miniature (The bullies, tall and strong, picked on the diminutive child.)
exhort: (v.) to urge, prod, spur (Henry exhorted his colleagues to join him in protesting against the university's hiring policies.)
dirge: (n.) a mournful song, especially for a funeral (The bagpipers played a dirge as the casket was carried to the cemetery.)
denounce: (v.) to criticize publicly (The senator denounced her opponent as a greedy politician.)
enthrall: (v.) to charm, hold spellbound (The sailor's stories of ﬁghting off sharks and ﬁnding ancient treasures enthralled his young son.)
engender: (v.) to bring about, create, generate (During the Olympics, the victories of
equanimity: (n.) composure (Even though he had just been ﬁred, Mr. Simms showed great equanimity by neatly packing up his desk and wishing everyone in the ofﬁce well.)
discretion: (n.) the quality of being reserved in speech or action; good judgment (Not wanting her patient to get overly anxious, the doctor used discretion in deciding how much to tell the patient about his condition.)
elicit: (v.) to bring forth, draw out, evoke (Although I asked several times where the exit was, I elicited no response from the stone-faced policeman.)
execrable: (adj.) loathsome, detestable (Her pudding is so execrable that it makes me sick.)
elaborate: (adj.) complex, detailed, intricate (Dan always beats me at chess because he develops such an elaborate game plan that I can never predict his next move.)
efﬁcacious: (adj.) effective (My doctor promised me that the cold medicine was efﬁcacious, but I'm still snifﬂing.)
disrepute: (n.) a state of being held in low regard (The ofﬁcer fell into disrepute after it was learned that he had disobeyed the orders he had given to his own soldiers.)
dissonance: (n.) lack of harmony or consistency (Though the president of the company often spoke of the company as reliant solely upon its workers, her decision to increase her own salary rather than reward her employees revealed a striking dissonance between her alleged beliefs and her actions.)
deter: (v.) to discourage, prevent from doing (Bob's description of scary snakes couldn't deter Marcia from traveling in the rainforests.)
egregious: (adj.) extremely bad (The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria was punished for his egregious behavior.)
devious: (adj.) not straightforward, deceitful (Not wanting to be punished, the devious girl blamed the broken vase on the cat.)
expurgate: (v.) to remove offensive or incorrect parts, usually of a book (The history editors expurgated from the text all disparaging and inﬂammatory comments about the Republican Party.)
exacerbate: (v.) to make more violent, intense (The gruesome and scary movie I saw last night exacerbated my fears of the dark.)
enfranchise: (v.) to grant the vote to (The Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised women.)
ebullient: (adj.) extremely lively, enthusiastic (She became ebullient upon receiving an acceptance letter from her ﬁrst-choice college.)
erudite: (adj.) learned (My Latin teacher is such an erudite scholar that he has translated some of the most difﬁcult and abstruse ancient poetry.)
depravity: (n.) wickedness (Rumors of the ogre's depravity made the children afraid to enter the forest.)
eloquent: (adj.) expressive, articulate, moving (The priest gave such an eloquent sermon that most churchgoers were crying.)
exult: (v.) to rejoice (When she found out she won the literature prize, Mary exulted by dancing and singing through the school's halls.)
desolate: (adj.) deserted, dreary, lifeless (She found the desolate landscape quite a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the overcrowded city.)
elegy: (n.) a speech given in honor of a dead person (At the funeral, the widow gave a moving elegy describing her love for her husband.)
disparate: (adj.) sharply differing, containing sharply contrasting elements (Having widely varying interests, the students had disparate responses toward the novel.)
disclose: (v.) to reveal, make public (The CEO disclosed to the press that the company would have to ﬁre several employees.)
extricate: (v.) to disentangle (Instead of trying to mediate between my brother and sister, I extricated myself from the family tension entirely and left the house for the day.)
discordant: (adj.) not agreeing, not in harmony with (The girls' sobs were a discordant sound amid the general laughter that ﬁlled the restaurant.)
effulgent: (adj.) radiant, splendorous (The golden palace was effulgent.)
emaciated: (adj.) very thin, enfeebled looking (My sister eats a lot of pastries and chocolate but still looks emaciated.)
disseminate: (v.) to spread widely (The politician disseminated his ideas across the town before the election.)
dissipate: 1. (v.) to disappear, cause to disappear (The sun ﬁnally came out and dissipated the haze.) 2. (v.) to waste (She dissipated her fortune on a series of bad investments.)
exculpate: (v.) to free from guilt or blame, exonerate (My discovery of the ring behind the dresser exculpated me from the charge of having stolen it.)
emulate: (v.) to imitate (I idolize Britney Spears so much that I emulate everything she does: I wear her outﬁts, sing along to her songs, and date a boy named Justin.)
emollient: (adj.) soothing (This emollient cream makes my skin very smooth.)
divisive: (adj.) causing dissent, discord (Her divisive tactics turned her two friends against each other.)
enervate: (v.) to weaken, exhaust (Writing these sentences enervates me so much that I will have to take a nap after I ﬁnish.)
dormant: (adj.) sleeping, temporarily inactive (Though she pretended everything was ﬁne, her anger lay dormant throughout the dinner party and exploded in screams of rage after everyone had left.)
defamatory: (adj.) harmful toward another's reputation (The defamatory gossip spreading about the actor made the public less willing to see the actor's new movie.)
excursion: (n.) a trip or outing (After taking an excursion to the Bronx Zoo, I dreamed about pandas and monkeys.)
elucidate: (v.) to clarify, explain (I didn't understand why my friend was so angry with me, so I asked Janine to elucidate her feelings.)
denigrate: (v.) to belittle, diminish the opinion of (The company decided that its advertisements would no longer denigrate the company's competitors.)
expiate: (v.) to make amends for, atone (To expiate my selﬁshness, I gave all my proﬁts to charity.)
extol: (v.) to praise, revere (Violet extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving brother.)
effervescent: (adj.) bubbly, lively (My friend is so effervescent that she makes everyone smile.)
evince: (v.) to show, reveal (Christopher's hand-wringing and nail-biting evince how nervous he is about the upcoming English test.)
duplicity: (n.) crafty dishonesty (His duplicity involved convincing his employees to let him lower their salaries and increase their stock options, and then to steal the money he saved and run the company into the ground.)
embellish: 1. (v.) to decorate, adorn (My mom embellished the living room by adding
excavate: (v.) to dig out of the ground and remove (The pharaoh's treasures were excavated by archeologists in Egypt.)
edict: (n.) an order, decree (The ruler issued an edict requiring all of his subjects to bow down before him.)
empirical: 1. (adj.) based on observation or experience (The scientist gathered empirical data on the growth rate of dandelions by studying the dandelions behind his house.)
enigmatic: (adj.) mystifying, cryptic (That man wearing the dark suit and dark glasses is so enigmatic that no one even knows his name.)
encumber: (v.) to weigh down, burden (At the airport, my friend was encumbered by her luggage, so I offered to carry two of her bags.)
exasperate: (v.) to irritate, irk (George's endless complaints exasperated his roomate.)
exalt: (v.) to glorify, praise (Michael Jordan is the ﬁgure in basketball we exalt the most.)
extant: (adj.) existing, not destroyed or lost (My mother's extant love letters to my father are in the attic trunk.)
deferential: (adj.) showing respect for another's authority (His deferential attitude toward her made her more conﬁdent in her ability to run the company.)
effrontery: (n.) impudence, nerve, insolence (When I told my aunt that she was boring, my mother scolded me for my effrontery.)
elated: (adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When she found out she had won the lottery, the writer was elated.)
discrepancy: (n.) difference, failure of things to correspond (He was troubled by the discrepancy between what he remembered paying for the appliance and what his receipt showed he paid for it.)
elude: (v.) to evade, escape (Despite an intense search, the robber continues to elude the police.)
equivocal: (adj.) ambiguous, uncertain, undecided (His intentions were so equivocal that I didn't know whether he was being chivalrous or sleazy.)
ephemeral: (adj.) short-lived, ﬂeeting (She promised she'd love me forever, but her "forever" was only ephemeral: she left me after one week.)
dissemble: (v.) to conceal, fake (Not wanting to appear heartlessly greedy, she dissembled and hid her intention to sell her ailing father's stamp collection.)
demure: (adj.) quiet, modest, reserved (Though everyone else at the party was dancing and going crazy, she remained demure.)
discomﬁt: (v.) to thwart, bafﬂe (The normally cheery and playful children's sudden misery discomﬁted the teacher.)
exigent: (adj.) urgent, critical (The patient has an exigent need for medication, or else he will lose his sight.)
duress: (n.) hardship, threat (It was only under intense duress that he, who was normally against killing, ﬁred his gun.)
epistolary: (adj.) relating to or contained in letters (Some people call me "Auntie's boy," because my aunt and I have such a close epistolary relationship that we write each other every day.)
evanescent: (adj.) ﬂeeting, momentary (My joy at getting promoted was evanescent
exorbitant: (adj.) excessive (Her exorbitant praise made me blush and squirm in my seat.)
decry: (v.) to criticize openly (The kind video rental clerk decried the policy of charging customers late fees.)
enamor: (v.) to ﬁll with love, fascinate, usually used in passive form followed by "of" or "with" (I grew enamored of that boy when he quoted my favorite love poem.)
dour: (adj.)stern, joyless (The children feared their dour neighbor because the old man would take their toys if he believed they were being too loud.)

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Deck Info

Number of cards 96