Thursday, September 19, 2013

vocabulary: fall #5

Adroit - adj. Clever or skillful in using your hands or mind
He was adroit at tax avoidance.
 Amicable - adj. Having a spirit of friendliness without serious disagreement or rancor
There will be an amicable statement of the dispute.
 Averse - adj. Having a strong dislike of or opposition to something
As a former CIA director, he is not adverse to secrecy.
 Belligerent - adj. Hostile and aggressive
A bull-necked, belligerent old man.
 Benevolent - adj. Well meaning and kindly
She had a benevolent smile that touched my heart.
 Cursory - adj. Hasty and therefore not thorough or detailed
A cursory glance at the figures.
 Duplicity - n. Deceitfulness; double-dealing
If intricate duplicity is what you like, read on.
 Extol - v. Praise enthusiastically
He extolled the virtues of the Russian people. 
 Feasible - adj. Possible to do easily or conveniently
 A road feasible for travel.
 Grimace - n. An ugly, twisted expression on a person's face, typically expression ing disgust, pain, or wry amusement
She gave a grimace of pain.
 Holocaust - n. Any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life
The Holocaust was the mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
 Impervious - adj. Not permitting penetration or passage; impenetrable
The coat is impervious to rain.
 Impetus - n. A moving force; impulse; stimulus
 The grant for building the opera house gave impetus to the city's cultural life.
 Jeopardy - n. Hazard or risk of or exposure to loss, harm, death, or injury
For a moment his life was in jeopardy.
 Meticulous - adj. Taking or showing extreme care about minute details; precise; thorough
A meticulous craftsman; meticulous personal appearance.
 Nostalgia - n. A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time
nostalgia for his college days.
 Quintessence - n. The pure and concentrated essence of a substance
He's the quintessence of arrogant ruthlessness, yet he's awkwardly innocent.
 Retrogress - v. To go backward into an earlier and usually worse condition
To retrogress to infantilism.
 Scrutinize - v. To examine in detail with careful or critical attention.
As you point out, it depends on which part of history you choose to scrutinize.
 Tepid - adj. Moderately warm; lukewarm
He grabbed some tepid water.

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