Vocab 22 & 23

mercenary:
(n) a hireling, especially a hired professional soldier
(adj) motivated solely by a desire for material gain

syn: freelancer, soldier of fortune, condottiere, greedy, avaricious, acquisitive, grasping, rapacious
ant: altruistic, disinterested

moot:
(adj) debatable and therefore unresolved
(v) to bring up for discussion

syn: arguable, disputable, questionable, doubtful, broach, raise, pose, put forward
ant: incontrovertible, indisputable, irrefutable

Morass: (n) a swamp or bog; a confused or degrading situation that is difficult to get out of

syn: marsh, fen, quagmire

motley:
(n) a kind of multicolored cloth; a garnment made from this cloth, especially the costume worn by a court jester or clown
(adj) multicolored; diverse or varied

syn: polychrome, polychromatic, piebald, variegated, heterogeneous, miscellaneous
ant: monochrome, monochromatic, monolithic, homogeneous, uniform

mundance: (adj) worldly (as opposed to spiritual): humdrum or everyday

syn: earthly, terrestrial, secular, temporal, material, physical, ordinary, prosaic, routine, commonplace, banal
ant: celestial, heavenly, cosmic, unworldly, spiritual, metaphysical, transcendental, extraordinary, unique

myriad: (adj) countless, innumerable

syn: multitudinous, multifarious, manifold, infinite
ant: finite, limited

narcissistic: (adj) dominated by an excessive love or admiration of oneself

syn: egotistical, egotistic, egomaniacal, self-centered, conceited, vain
ant: self-depreecating, self-deprecatory, self-critical, self-destructive

nebulous: (adj) hazy, vague, or indistinct

syn: amprphous, opaque, shapeless, fuzzy, indefinite
ant: clear, distinct, well-defined, unambiguous

negligible: (adj) too small to be significant

syn: insignificant, inconsewuential, trivial, piddling, trifling, nugatory
ant: significant, considerable, telling, meaningful, critical, crucial, pivotal

nepotism: (n) unwarranted favoritism shown to relatives or friends by someone in high office

syn: partisanship, bias, partiality, patronage

nomadic: (adj) wandering, roving

syn: itinerant, migratory, peripatetic
ant: settled, fixed, stationary

nominal: (adj) existing in name only; insignificantly small

syn: titular, token, symbolic, trifling, inconsequential
ant: real, actual, exorbitant, excessive

nostalgia: (n) a longing to return to a sentimentalized past; homesickness

syn: yearning, pining, hankering, wistfulness, sadness, sentimentality, sorrow, regret, lonesomeness

novice: (n) a person who has just entered a religious order on a probationary basis; a beginner of any kind

syn: postulant, neophyte, tyro, fledgling, trainee, rookie, probationer, greenhorn, tenderfoot
ant: expert, pro, veteran, old hand, past master, virtuoso

nuance: (n) a slight or subtle variation in meaning, expression, tone, feeling, color, or the like

syn: subtlety, nicety, overtone, gradation, refinement

obscene: (adj) offensive to accepted standards of decency; repulsive

syn: indecent, lewd, salacious, smutty, bawdy, scatological, pornographic, risque, suggestive, vulgar, crude, coarse, disgusting, abominable, reprehensible, loathsome
ant: decent, refined, modest, laudable, meritorious

obsequious: (adj) excessively submissive to another person's wishes or ideas, often for purely self-interested reasons

syn: servile, fawning, subservient, groveling, mealymouthed, sycophantic, unctuous, compliant, deferntial
ant: independent, franl, candid, outspoken, self-assertive, aggressive, bumptious

obssession: (n) an irrational preoccupation with an idea or feeling that usually results in severe anziety

syn: compulsion, fixation, mania, phobia, hang-up

obselete: (adj) no longer in use; outmoded

syn: old-fashioned, antiquated, dated, out-of-date, passe, old hat, superannuated, archaic, defunct, extinct
ant: up-to-date, new, novel, fresh, newfangled, avantgarde, ultramodern

officious: (adj) excessively forward in offering unwanted or unnecessary help or advice; meddlesome

syn: intrusive, prying, nosy, forward, pushy, bossy, importunate

ominous: (adj) foreshadowing evil; menacing or threatening

syn: portentous, ill-omened, foreboding, untoward, unpromising, sinister
ant: lucky, happy, felicitous, auspicious, propitious

opportune: (adj) suitable, appropriate, or timely

syn: convenient, seasonable, apt, fitting, propitious, fit, auspicious, advantageous
ant: inappropriate, untimely, unsuitable, ill timed, inconvenient, inauspicious

obstensible: (adj) apparent or professed

syn: purported, alleged, avowed, nominal, supposed, reputed, evident, manifest
ant: true, real, actual, authentic, genuine

ostracise: (v) to banish or exclude from a group; to shun

syn: expel, exile, blacklist, blackball, snub, boycott, bar,repudiate, reject, proscribe, outlaw
ant: accept, welcome, embrace, associate with

pandemonium: (n) general disorder, confusion, noise, and commotion

syn: chaos, bedlam, turmoil, tumult, din, cacophony, hubbub, hullabaloo, ruckus, racket, rumpus
ant: order, silence, calm, traquility, placidity, repose, peace

paradox: (n) a seemingly self-contradictory statement that, on closer examination, proves worthy of belief; someone or something that is full of contradictions and inconsistencies

syn: riddle, enigma, anomaly

paraphrase:
(v) to restate in other words or another form, often in order to clarify meaning or avoid difficulties
(n) a restatement in other words or another form

syn: reword, rephrase, reqording, rephrasing, free, rendering, version
ant: quote, rephrase, reproduce, quotation

parochial: (adj) located in, or supported by, a parish ( a type of exxlesiastical district); restricted in scope or range; narrow or limited

syn: local, regional, district, narrrow-minded, insular, provincial, hidebound, myopic
ant: broad-minded, cosmopolitan, liberal

parody:
(n) a comic imitation of the style, form, or content of a serious piece of work; a performance that is so bad as to constitue a mocker of the thing it is intended to represent
(v) to imitate in a mocking or unworthy way

syn: spoof, takeoff, lampoon, caricature, burlesque, travesty, satire, spoof, lampoon, satrize, mock, ridicule

pensive: (adj) immersed in deep, often melancholy, thought

syn: mediative, reflective, contemplative, introspective, sad, melancholy, wistful, heavyhearted, mournful, doleful
ant: lighthearted, blithe, cheerful, gay, mirthful, merry, jocund