vocab-2016-07-27.md

• importunate: adj. expressing earnest entreaty
• convalescence: noun gradual healing (through rest) after sickness or injury
• Copse: noun a dense growth of bushes
• anfractuous: adj. full of twists and turns
• Agnate: adj. related on the father's side; noun one related on the father's side
• Sub-rosa: adj. designed and carried out secretly or confidentially
• soused: adj. very drunk; wet from being plunged into liquid
• Abulia: noun a loss of will power
• Screed: noun an accurately levelled strip of material placed on a wall or floor as guide for the even application of plaster or concrete; a long piece of writing; a long monotonous harangue
• Probity: noun complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
• Convalesce: verb get over an illness or shock
• Sharpie: noun a long narrow shallow-draft boat with a flat bottom and a triangular sail; formerly used along the northern Atlantic coast of the United States; a professional card player who makes a living by cheating at card games; an alert and energetic person
• Sinewy: adj. (of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful; (of meat) full of sinews; especially impossible to chew; consisting of tendons or resembling a tendon
• Foment: verb bathe with warm water or medicated lotions; try to stir up public opinion
• perfidy: noun betrayal of a trust; an act of deliberate betrayal
• arrogate: verb make undue claims to having; seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession; demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to
• Canny: adj. showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others
• Patois: noun a regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard; a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)
• Abattoir: noun a building where animals are butchered
• concupiscence: noun a desire for sexual intimacy
• aplomb: noun great coolness and composure under strain
• Badinage: noun frivolous banter
• tine: noun prong on a fork or pitchfork or antler
• providential: adj. resulting from divine providence; relating to or characteristic of providence; peculiarly fortunate or appropriate; as if by divine intervention
• stalwart: adj. used especially of persons; dependable; having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships; noun a person who is loyal to their allegiance (especially in times of revolt)
• Doyen: noun a man who is the senior member of a group
• Debouch: verb pass out or emerge; especially of rivers; march out (as from a defile) into open ground
• sidle: verb move sideways; move unobtrusively or furtively
• Rime: noun correspondence in the sounds of two or more lines (especially final sounds); ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside); verb compose rhymes; be similar in sound, especially with respect to the last syllable
• bedraggled: adj. limp and soiled as if dragged in the mud; in deplorable condition
• Lee: adj. towards the side away from the wind; noun the side of something that is sheltered from the wind; American general who led the Confederate armies in the American Civil War (1807-1870); soldier of the American Revolution (1756-1818); leader of the American Revolution who proposed the resolution calling for independence of the American colonies (1732-1794); United States physicist (born in China) who collaborated with Yang Chen Ning in disproving the principle of conservation of parity (born in 1926); United States actor who was an expert in kung fu and starred in martial arts films (1941-1973); United States striptease artist who became famous on Broadway in the 1930s (1914-1970); United States filmmaker whose works explore the richness of Black culture in America (born in 1957)
• side: adj. located on a side; noun an extended outer surface of an object; either the left or right half of a body; an aspect of something (as contrasted with some other implied aspect); an opinion that is held in opposition to another in an argument or dispute; a lengthwise dressed half of an animal's carcass used for food; a family line of descent; one of two or more contesting groups; a surface forming part of the outside of an object; a line segment forming part of the perimeter of a plane figure; a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location; (sports) the spin given to a ball by striking it on one side or releasing it with a sharp twist; an elevated geological formation; verb take sides with; align oneself with; show strong sympathy for; take the side of; be on the side of
• Brackish: adj. slightly salty (especially from containing a mixture of seawater and fresh water); distasteful and unpleasant; spoiled by mixture
• Bromide: noun any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; formerly used as a sedative but now generally replaced by safer drugs; a trite or obvious remark
• Whet: verb sharpen by rubbing, as on a whetstone; make keen or more acute
• Solecism: noun a socially awkward or tactless act
• Paroxysm: noun a sudden uncontrollable attack
• Milquetoast: noun a timid man or boy considered childish or unassertive
• Livery: adj. suffering from or suggesting a liver disorder or gastric distress; noun the care (feeding and stabling) of horses for pay; uniform worn by some menservants and chauffeurs; the voluntary transfer of something (title or possession) from one party to another
• scurrilous: adj. expressing offensive reproach
• promontory: noun a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)
• Tippler: noun someone who drinks liquor repeatedly in small quantities
• Billingsgate: noun foul-mouthed or obscene abuse
• Schlock: noun merchandise that is shoddy or inferior
• remunerative: adj. for which money is paid; producing a sizeable profit
• Assiduous: adj. marked by care and persistent effort
• Coterie: noun an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
• Lark: noun any of numerous predominantly Old World birds noted for their singing; any carefree episode; a songbird that lives mainly on the ground in open country; has streaky brown plumage; North American songbirds having a yellow breast; verb play boisterously
• Wastrel: noun someone who dissipates resources self-indulgently
• Seraph: noun an angel of the first order; usually portrayed as the winged head of a child
• Sinecure: noun an office that involves minimal duties; a benefice to which no spiritual or pastoral duties are attached
• Animus: noun a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
• truculent: adj. defiantly aggressive
• recrudescence: noun a return of something after a period of abatement
• Rout: noun an overwhelming defeat; a disorderly crowd of people; verb cause to flee; make a groove in; dig with the snout; defeat disastrously
• highfalutin: adj. affectedly genteel
• prevaricator: noun a person who has lied or who lies repeatedly
• superciliousness: noun the trait of displaying arrogance by patronizing those considered inferior
• sepulchral: adj. of or relating to a sepulchre; suited to or suggestive of a grave or burial; gruesomely indicative of death or the dead
• sagacious: adj. skillful in statecraft or management; acutely insightful and wise
• mendacious: adj. intentionally untrue; given to lying
• Famulus: noun a close attendant (as to a scholar)
• Serried: adj. (especially of rows as of troops or mountains) pressed together
• sobriquet: noun a familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)
• Victual: noun any substance that can be used as food; verb take in nourishment; lay in provisions; supply with food
• Espalier: noun a trellis on which ornamental shrub or fruit tree is trained to grow flat
• Revetment: noun a facing (usually masonry) that supports an embankment; a barrier against explosives
• Green: adj. of the color between blue and yellow in the color spectrum; similar to the color of fresh grass; not fully developed or mature; not ripe; looking pale and unhealthy; concerned with or supporting or in conformity with the political principles of the Green Party; naive and easily deceived or tricked; noun green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass; an area of closely cropped grass surrounding the hole on a golf course; a river that rises in western Wyoming and flows southward through Utah to become a tributary of the Colorado River; an environmentalist who belongs to the Green Party; United States labor leader who was president of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952 and who led the struggle with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1873-1952); street names for ketamine; any of various leafy plants or their leaves and stems eaten as vegetables; a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area; verb turn or become green
• about: adj. on the move; adv. in the area or vicinity; all around or on all sides; in or to a reversed position or direction; to or among many different places or in no particular direction; (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; in rotation or succession; (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct
• cathect: verb inject with libidinal energy
• uxoriousness: noun foolish fondness for or excessive submissiveness to one's wife
• maladroit: adj. not adroit
• Caprice: noun a sudden desire
• Victual: noun any substance that can be used as food; verb take in nourishment; lay in provisions; supply with food
• Dilatory: adj. wasting time; inclined to waste time and lag behind; using cautious slow strategy to wear down opposition; avoiding direct confrontation
• consternation: noun fear resulting from the awareness of danger
• Eremite: noun a Christian recluse
• Gee: noun a unit of force equal to the force exerted by gravity; used to indicate the force to which a body is subjected when it is accelerated; verb give a command to a horse to turn to the right side; turn to the right side
• Gnomic: adj. relating to or containing gnomes
• Obdurate: adj. showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings; stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
• Reconnoiter: verb explore, often with the goal of finding something or somebody
• Shufti: noun a quick look around (originally military slang)
• Marmoreal: adj. of or relating to or characteristic of marble
• Solicitude: noun a feeling of excessive concern
• persiflage: noun light teasing
• Fatuity: noun a ludicrous folly
• Hebetude: noun mental lethargy or dullness
• Pell-mell: adj. with undue hurry and confusion; adv. in a wild or reckless manner
• equanimity: noun steadiness of mind under stress
• rapprochement: noun the reestablishing of cordial relations
• Perfidious: adj. tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans
• Carrion: noun the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food
• Cowl: noun a loose hood or hooded robe (as worn by a monk); protective covering consisting of a metal part that covers the engine; verb cover with or as with a cowl
• Urbanity: noun the quality or character of life in a city or town; polished courtesy; elegance of manner
• Shrewish: adj. continually complaining or faultfinding
• Aquiline: adj. curved down like an eagle's beak
• perfunctory: adj. hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough; as a formality only
• Pendulous: adj. having branches or flower heads that bend downward
• Petulant: adj. easily irritated or annoyed
• Trenchant: adj. clearly or sharply defined to the mind; characterized by or full of force and vigor; having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect
• Gird: verb bind with something round or circular; prepare oneself for a military confrontation; put a girdle on or around; encircle or bind
• Bonny: adj. very pleasing to the eye
• Arrant: adj. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers
• Reprove: verb take to task
• Propitiatory: adj. intended to reconcile or appease; having power to atone for or offered by way of expiation or propitiation
• Perfidious: adj. tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans
• Livery: adj. suffering from or suggesting a liver disorder or gastric distress; noun the care (feeding and stabling) of horses for pay; uniform worn by some menservants and chauffeurs; the voluntary transfer of something (title or possession) from one party to another
• Welter: noun a confused multitude of things; verb be immersed in; toss, roll, or rise and fall in an uncontrolled way; roll around, "pigs were wallowing in the mud"
• abstemious: adj. sparing in consumption of especially food and drink; marked by temperance in indulgence
• Impetuous: adj. marked by violent force; characterized by undue haste and lack of thought or deliberation
• Impertinence: noun inappropriate playfulness; the trait of being rude and impertinent; inclined to take liberties; an impudent statement
• Vulpine: adj. resembling or characteristic of a fox
• Dudgeon: noun a feeling of intense indignation (now used only in the phrase `in high dudgeon')
• Trumpery: noun ornamental objects of no great value; nonsensical talk or writing
• Sedition: noun an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government
• Feint: noun any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack); verb deceive by a mock action
• Termagant: noun a scolding nagging bad-tempered woman
• Scurrilous: adj. expressing offensive reproach
• Jingoism: noun fanatical patriotism; an appeal intended to arouse patriotic emotions
• quiescent: adj. causing no symptoms; being quiet or still or inactive; not active or activated; marked by a state of tranquil repose
• Mawkish: adj. effusively or insincerely emotional
• Prig: noun a person regarded as arrogant and annoying
• Wile: noun the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)
• Spume: noun foam or froth on the sea; verb make froth or foam and become bubbly
• Satyr: noun one of a class of woodland deities; attendant on Bacchus; identified with Roman fauns; man with strong sexual desires
• Hangdog: adj. frightened into submission or compliance; showing a sense of guilt
• Chagrin: noun strong feelings of embarrassment; verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
• Desultory: adj. marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose; jumping from one thing to another
• Triage: noun sorting and allocating aid on the basis of need for or likely benefit from medical treatment or food
• Reticulate: adj. resembling or forming a network; verb divide so as to form a network; distribute by a network, as of water or electricity; form a net or a network
• Rangy: adj. allowing ample room for ranging; adapted to wandering or roaming; tall and thin and having long slender limbs
• osculate: verb have at least three points in common with; be intermediate between two taxonomic groups; touch with the lips or press the lips (against someone's mouth or other body part) as an expression of love, greeting, etc.
• Liaise: verb act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
• Recalcitrant: adj. marked by stubborn resistance to authority; stubbornly resistant to authority or control
• Priapic: adj. overly concerned with masculinity and male sexuality; resembling or being a phallus
• Perspicacity: noun the capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw sound conclusions; intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings)
• Abstruse: adj. difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
• Voluptuary: adj. displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses; noun a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses
• Effrontery: noun audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to
• Licentious: adj. lacking moral discipline; especially sexually unrestrained
• Lecherous: adj. given to excessive indulgence in sexual activity
• Muzhik: noun a Russian peasant (especially prior to 1917)
• sinew: noun possessing muscular strength; a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
• catenary: noun the curve theoretically assumed by a perfectly flexible and inextensible cord of uniform density and cross section hanging freely from two fixed points
• Piquancy: noun the quality of being agreeably stimulating or mentally exciting; a tart spicy quality
• Prurient: adj. characterized by lust