vocab 23

If you're engaged to get married, but suddenly fall in love with someone else, you have got yourself in quite a predicament. A predicament is a difficult, confusing, and unpleasant situation.

If you're sanguine about a situation, that means you're optimistic that everything's going to work out fine.

lacking in shape

Deter means to discourage. Many believe that the use of capital punishment deters people from committing murder. Others think that is hogwash( bullshit, crap).

Incarceration is the state of being in prison. If you don't fancy(imagine) incarceration, don't go through with that bank heist.

a scheming or crafty action or artful design intended to accomplish some usually evil end

A villain is a bad person — real or made up. In books, movies, current events, or history, the villain is the character who does mean, evil things on purpose.

High on drama and lacking any emotional restraint, overwrought is an adjective that means deeply, excessively agitated or nervous.

Calling someone preeminent means they're truly outstanding or better than everyone else — not in general, but in a specific field or specialty. Such as a preeminent physician.

• If someone is being scornful and mocking in a humorous way, call her sardonic. If you want to write comic sketches for late-night talk shows, work on being sardonic.
• sarcastic

When you talk to or about someone in a mocking tone, you're making fun of them in a nasty, mean way.

• (of metal) not alloyed; pure
• unalloyed copper

• combined with extraneous elements
• impure

• An analgesic is a medicine that takes away physical pain. 
• anodyne, pain pill, painkiller

type of private political meeting

• An exposition takes place when you "expose" something — like at a fair or convention for showing off goods, art, or similar wares. An exposition can also be the section of a story that explains the basics of the tale.
• clear explanation

whirlpool; storm in the ocean

Something that is palatable is acceptable to one’s sense of taste—literally or figuratively.

Mediocre is an adjective that means "merely adequate" or "of only ordinary quality." A "C" is a mediocre grade for students who are fair to middling.

You know that guy in your school with a GPA over 100?(me) He is a savant in the making. A savant is someone over-the-top smart, a scholar. It might take a savant only five minutes to do an entire math test.

A magnanimous person has a generous spirit. Letting your little sister have the last of the cookies, even though you hadn't eaten since breakfast, would be considered a magnanimous act.

A palisade is a heavy-duty fence that's strong enough to keep out intruders, like one you might see around a military camp.

• having or showing knowledge of events before they take place.
• prophetic, predictive

damaged; attacked

• eat (food or prey) hungrily or quickly.
• he devoured half of his burger in one bite

Do you ever have the feeling that something bad is about to happen? That’s called a presentiment.

• When you see the word celerity, think accelerate, like a car when you step on the gas. You may want to study for exams with celerity, but using a slower, more methodical approach will often yield better results.
• fast moving; swiftness of movement; speed

If you're dexterous, you're good with your hands. To be dexterous is an essential trait for knitters(needleworker) and sleight-of-hand magicians

• If you are clumsy, you are maladroit. But the word can mean all kinds of clumsy. Trip over your words? You are verbally maladroit. Stumble in social situations? You're socially maladroit.
• clumsy; unskillful

If there is no doubt about it, it's unequivocal. An unequivocal response to a marriage proposal? "Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes!"

A dichotomy is an idea or classification split in two. When you point out a dichotomy, you draw a clear distinction between two things.

A malady is an illness, like a malady that keeps you home, sick in bed for days, or something that causes you to have trouble or to suffer, like jet lag — a malady that affects travelers.

easily felt; easily perceived

• release from restraint or inhibition; set free
• his imagination is unfettered by the laws of logic

An annex is an extension of, or an addition to a building. A small room off of a main room is an annex, and attics are another type of annex.

unimportant; insignificant; negligible

a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases.

A remedy is something that relieves or cures a problem or illness. Aloe vera is a common remedy for sunburn.

When you prevaricate, you lie or mislead. Now, go ahead and tell me whether you already knew that meaning, and don’t prevaricate about it — give me the story straight!

To run or move with short hurried movements; scurry.

to remove a priest from his position

take possession of; seize; capture

A malefactor has done something illegal and has been or will be convicted, such as the malefactor who was videotaped stealing money from a cash register; criminal

Something that is unprecedented is not known, experienced, or done before. If you've never gone on a family beach vacation but you're planning one now, you could refer to it as an unprecedented decision.

If you're absolutely convinced your team is going to the Super Bowl, you state it with certitude or confidence; certainty

• (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
• I can resist anything except temptation

A proclivity is a natural tendency to like something, such as your sister's proclivity for nice restaurants and traveling .

Anything that is pleasing to the senses can be called sensuous; appealing to the senses

• A dike is a structure made of earth or stone that's used to hold back water. If you visit the Netherlands, you can see their elaborate system of dikes, without which much of the country would be underwater
• dam; embankment

• 1. neutral
• 2. not outstanding

• run or jump about playfully 
• frolic; leap; bound

A frolic is a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun.

• Intransigence is a stubborn refusal to change your views.
• stubbornness

small amount

• (of an action or gesture) carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection.
• superficial; cursory

hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed.

link together

very important

nomadic; moving from place to place

• 1. something that is hunted
• 2. mine for stone

add fuel to; strengthen

• linking into chains
• Concatenation refers to a series of things — ideas, events, animals — that are somehow interconnected, individual parts that are linked to form a single unit, like the links in a chain.

to fool someone

obtrusively bright and showy; lurid; gaudy

Intrepid is just a fancy word for describing a person or action that is bold and brave. Super heroes are intrepid in their struggle for truth, justice and the American way.

impassive; dull; indifferent

• hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking.
• hinder and prevent; hesitate over

gather; collect

• habitual
• having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.

temporary prohibition or halt to activity

telling lies under oath

• a peculiar behavioral habit.
• oddity, fancy

very lively; cheerful; jovial; happy

arousing envy

• Something that is moribund is almost dead, like a moribund economy that has been stuck in a recession for years.
• on the point of death

• wander aimlessly
• You ramble when your talking or your walking goes on and on and on. And on. You’re in no hurry to make a point or get to your destination — if there is one at all.

loud and harsh

• show feelings of superiority; be patronizing.
• take care not to condescend to your reader

• (of a person) lean and haggard, especially because of suffering, hunger, or age 
• emaciated; bony and angular

abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food.

• cannot be invaded
• unassailable, untouchable

placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy

If you’re fussy, you’re all about the little details.

branches; subdivisions of a complex system; outcomes

• (of regulations, requirements, or conditions) strict, precise, and exacting.
• California's air pollution guidelines are stringent

• troublesome influence
• The noun bane refers to anything that is a cause of harm, ruin, or death. But we often use it for things that aren't that bad, just feel like it. You might say mosquitoes are the bane of your existence.

• If you condone something, you allow it, approve of it, or at least can live with it. Some teachers condone chewing gum, and some don't.
• tacitly support; overlook

a category; type

resentment; animosity; bad feeling

swagger; show off

poet

relevant

Ire is another word for "anger." So if you routinely steal your neighbor's newspaper, don't be surprised to be on the receiving end of his ire.

• (of a gift or sum of money) larger or more generous than is usual or necessary
• generous; charitable

use bombastic language

A bastion is a stronghold or fortification that remains intact.

A conflagration isn't just a few flames; it's an especially large and destructive fire that causes devastation.

wipe out; remove all trace of

Procrastinates means putting off doing something until a future time. When people sit down to write term papers, they can find all kinds of clever ways to procrastinate: reorganizing the paperclips, calling everyone they know, typing "I am bored" fifty times in a row.

A sentinel is a guard, a lookout, a person keeping watch. It's often a soldier, but not always. If you're watching a pot, waiting for it to boil, you're standing sentinel over it — and incidentally, it won't boil until you leave.