Critical Thinking
Terms
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- Fahrenheit
-
temperature scale with a freezing point of 32 degrees and a boiling point of 212 degrees
"Paper catches fire at 451 degrees Fahrenheit." - subconscious
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the part of the mind below the level of consciousness
"My urge to kick the dog was a subconscious one; it surprised me as much as it did the dog." - melancholy
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sadness or depression of spirits; gloom
"An air of melancholy spread through the forest after the elf died." - exploitation
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utilization of another person or group for selfish purposes
"Prison labor is an example of state-sponsored exploitation." - suffuse
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to spread through with color, liquid, or light
"The morning sky suffused with deep colors." - subside
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to settle down or become less; to be calmed
"I let my anger subside before I tried to talk with him. I didn't want to lose control." - intuitive
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capable of knowing without reasoning or deduction
"I had an intuitive sense that the aliens were right around the corner." - mortal
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destined to die
"Some have searched for a fountain of youth to escape their mortal fate." - manifested
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plainly demonstrated, revealed, made evident
"His plans manifested in the death of his enemy." - scapegoat
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one that is made to bear the blame for others
"Jews were used as the scapegoat during the Holocaust." - status quo
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the state of staying the same
"I like the status quo; it's something that requires no adaptation." - beatific
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marked by utter benignity; resembling or befitting an angel or saint
"Dressed in robes of white and seated upon the throne, the King looked very beatific." - cadence
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balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory
"The rhythmic cadence of her speech was hypnotizing." - certitude
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the state of being certain, greater certainty than circumstances warrant
"I felt with utter certitude that I would be assigned homework that day." - moor
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a vast infertile land, covered with heath and peat bogs
"During our journey through the moor, I fell into many bogs." - strew
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to cover by scattering
"The battleground was strewn with dead bodies." - verbage
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a deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of the word 'verbiage' that assimilates it to the word 'garbage'
"Her essay was verbage. It was over-wordy but contained no meaning." - welter
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to wallow or roll about, as in mud or high seas
"The pigs weltered lazily in the mud." - filigree
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ornamental work made from gold, silver, or other fine twisted wire
"He gave me a gold filigree ring for my birthday." - insidious
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treacherous, spreading harmfully in a subtle manner
"The poison spread through his body like an insidious disease. When he learnt of its presence, it was too late." - totalitarian
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having total control
"Communist countries are said to be totalitarian." - lassitude
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weariness, lethargy, languor
"I began the day with vigor, but by the end, I was filled with great lassitude." - doublethink
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believing two contradictory ideas at the same time
"Believing that 2+2=4 and also believing that 2+2 is not equal to 4 is an example of doublethink." - Orwellian
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relating to the works of George Orwell, especially 1984, a book about a totalitarian state.
"Some new aspects of the anti-terrorism bill have an Orwellian creepiness to them." - archaic
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outdated
"Because he spoke many archaic words, we could not understand him." - heresy
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belief contrary to the popular opinion
"People were burned at the stake for heresy in Salem, Massachusetts." - servile
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slave-like
"Peasants during the Middle Ages were servile. They worked hard and received little in return." - sinecure
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a job that requires little or no work
"The president's job is not a sinecure because it requires a lot of responsible decision-making." - degradation
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lowering in rank, character, or status
"The degradation of army discipline can be seen from the prison abuses in Iraq." - truncheon
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policeman's club or a baton
"The murder weapon was a truncheon, so the police officer was immediately a suspect." - vapid
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dull, spiritless, boring
"The lecture was vapid and I soon fell asleep." - cursory
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hasty, without attention to details
"The bad teacher gave the essay a cursory glance and assigned it a grade without reading it." - diatribe
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denunciation, bitter verbal attack
"The president unleashed a bitter diatribe against his opponent during the presidential debate." - engender
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produce, cause, bring into being
"His insulting words engendered a fight." - ephemeral
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lasting only a short time
"The effects of the pain killer were ephemeral. They wore off quickly." - dearth
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shortage
"The dearth of food during the winter caused many people to starve." - hedonist
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one that lives solely for pleasure
"The hedonist was happiest in the late hours, when the parties degenerated into debauchery." - carping
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complaining
"Students are always carping about how much homework they have." - cache
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secret hiding place, something hidden in a secret hiding place
"I kept my money hidden in a secret cache under my bed." - clemency
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leniency, mercy
"Presidents and governors often show clemency to those on death row when their term is about to end." - imbroglio
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a confused and complicated situation
"Arthur found himself in an imbroglio when several women claimed he was the father of their children." - undulate
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to move like a wave
"The wheat undulated like an ocean of yellow." - paucity
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scarcity
"There was a paucity of participation in the class." - abstemious
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moderate in eating or drinking, abstaining
"He was abstemious with his food supply when he got stranded on a deserted island." - sachet
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a small bag of perfumed herbs or powder
"She made a scented sachet and put it into her car to make the car smell better." - candor
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frankness
"The candor of his speech made us realize that he didn't beat around the bush." - assiduous
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diligent
"Her teacher praised her for her assiduous work." - vermilion
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bright red
"The sun glowed in a vermilion color." - censure
- critism
- atrophy
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wasting away
"He needed physical therapy to prevent the atrophy of his unused legs." - pallor
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lack of color
"I could see the pallor of her face when she found out that she failed her test." - circumspect
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prudent, cautious
"She was always circumspect when crossing the street." - assuage
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to ease or lessen pain or distress
"He told her soothing words to assuage her pain." - cataract
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waterfall
"The moisture from the cataract produced a rainbow." - ardour
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emotional warmth or eagerness
"Their ardour was clear as they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed." - aggrandizement
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an increase in rank, wealth or power
"Most governments are dedicated to self-aggrandizement." - unmollified
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not soothed, appeased or pacified
"She remained unmollified when he bought her a new dog to replace the one he had killed." - cow
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to intimidate
"The boy was cowed by the bully into giving him all of his money." - altrusistic
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thoughtful of the welfare of others
"The altruistic girl shared her Christmas dinner with the poor." - solicitude
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concern, care
"He showed great solicitude when he donated all of his money to the poor." - jaunty
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perky, easy in manner
"Many people do not think Kerry has a jaunty smile." - contravene
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to conflict with
"The time of his baceball practice contravenes his basketball practice." - vortex
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whirlpool
"A tornado is a like a vortex in the air." - haricot
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a type of bean
"Haricot is the name of a type of bean i like to eat." - devoid
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being without usual, typical, or expected attribute or accompaniment
"Paul was finally devoid of any hope." - nostalgia
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a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition
"I have a deep sense of nostagia about my high school years." - voracity
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insatiable hunger
"the monster's voracity was legendary. It ate 16 pigs a day." - disillusion
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the condition of being disenchanted
"with each new death, Paul became more and more disillusioned." - template
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something that serves as or establishes a pattern
"world war 1 set forth a template for the way violence would erupt in our century." - ostracized
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exiled, excluded
"young men during world war 1 often joined the army for fear of being ostracized." - futile
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completely ineffective
"he died in a futile attempt to win the war." - trajectory
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the curve that a body in motion describes in space
"the soldiers found themselves helpless under a crisscross of shell trajectories." - peat
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decayed soil
"he found himself alone in the marsh lying on a bed of peat, surrounded by reeds." - ideology
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a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture
"the soldier's longing for home was stronger than any war ideology." - discomfiture
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frustration, embarrassment
"his plan to show up at the prom in an elephant suit was bound to end in discomfiture." - queue
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a line of people
"i waited in a queue for 2 hours to ride Splash Mountain." - lorries
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trucks
"the lorry trundled down the road." - gangrene
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decay of tissue as a result of injury
"they had to remove his toes when they found gangrene under his toenails." - trundles
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moves on wheels
"the lorry trundled down the road." - indefatigable
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untiring
"in his new robotic legs, the soldier would be indefatigable; he could walk for days." - concord
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agreement
"they finally found themselves in concord regarding their homework-they both hated it." - pithily
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concisely
"journalists must write pithily." - acrid
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bitter, stinging
"he disliked the acrid scent of smoke." - sallow
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sickly, yellowish complexion
"the sallow youth must have been sick because nobody could look that yellow and still be healthy." - mastiff
- large hunting dog
- megalomania
- delusions of grandeur
- fodder
- course food for cattle, sheep, etc
- aberration
- deviation from the right path, a mental disorder
- trifle
- a small amount
- debauchery
- indulgence in sexual pleasure
- acquiesce
- to give in by keeping quiet
- chimerical
- imaginary, absurd, wildly fanciful
- dyspepsia
- indigestion
- appall
- horrify
- discern
- see clearly, percieve
- err
- to make a mistake
- esteem
- value highly
- feign
- pretend
- loiter
- move aimlessly
- meditate
- think, reflect
- obsess
- beset, haunt
- redeem
- make amends for
- regale
- entertain
- relent
- soften
- salvage
- restore, save
- wrest
- pull away
- brevity
- shortness
- chaos
- confusion