Fall Vocabulary study sheet

Not really anything creative per se, i am pretty orthodox in my studying, just reading the words/definitions is enough of a mnemonic device for me! Feel free to utilize anyone who actually reads this :)

Fall Vocabulary

List 1

• Adumbrate: verb (used with object), ad·um·brat·ed, ad·um·brat·ing. 1.to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.2.to foreshadow; prefigure.3.to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.
• Apotheosis: 1.the elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god.2.the ideal example; epitome; quintessence: This poem is the apotheosis of lyric expression.
• Ascetic: a person who leads an austerely simple life, especially one who abstains from the normal pleasures of life or denies himself or herself material satisfaction.
• Bauble: a showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket; gewgaw.
• Beguile: to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude.
• Burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish: The town burgeoned into a city. He burgeoned into a fine actor.
• Complement: something that completes or makes perfect: A good wine is a complement to a good meal.
• Contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully and obstinately disobedient.
• Curmudgeon: a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.
• Didactic: intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry. Inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.
• Disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere: Her excuse was rather disingenuous.
• Exculpate: verb (used with object), ex·cul·pat·ed, ex·cul·pat·ing. to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate
• Faux pas: a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; an embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion.
• Fulminate: to explode with a loud noise; detonate. 2. to issue denunciations or the like (usually followed by against ): The minister fulminated against legalized vice.
• Fustian: inflated or turgid language in writing or speaking: Fustian can't disguise the author's meager plot. 1. fustian means "pompous" or "bombastic"
• Hauteur: haughty manner or spirit; arrogance.
• Inhibit: to restrain, hinder, arrest, or check (an action, impulse, etc.).
• Jeremiad: a jeremiad is literary work or speech expressing bitter lament, prophecies of doom, or mournful complaints about society. (Think gothic tale)
• Opportunist: An individual that readily adapts to a given scenario, embracing opportunism no matter ethical provisions/concerns or oversights.
• Unconscionable: not guided by conscience; unscrupulous.

List 2

• Accoutrements: personal clothing, accessories, etc.
• Apogee: the highest or most distant point; climax.
• Apropos: fitting; at the right time; to the purpose; opportunely.
• Bicker: to engage in petulant or peevish argument; wrangle
• Coalesce: to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
• Contretemps: an inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance: He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink.
• Convolution: a rolled up or coiled condition; byzantine; overly complicated
• Cull: to choose; select; pick.
• Disparate: distinct in kind; essentially different; dissimilar: disparate ideas.
• Dogmatic: asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; opinionated.
• Licentious: unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.
• Mete: to distribute or apportion by measure; allot; dole (usually followed by out): to mete out punishment.
• Noxious: harmful or injurious to health or physical well-being: noxious fumes.
• Polemic: a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.
• Populous: full of residents or inhabitants, as a region; heavily populated.
• Probity: integrity and uprightness; honesty.
• Repartee: a quick, witty reply.
• Supervene: to take place or occur as something additional or extraneous (sometimes followed by on or upon ); to ensue
• Truncate: to shorten by cutting off a part; cut short: Truncate detailed explanations.
• Unimpeachable: above suspicion; impossible to discredit; impeccable: unimpeachable motives.

List 3

• Accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice: The play received accolades from the press.
• Acerbity: harshness or severity, as of temper or expression: It's a strange experience to read a critic best known for extreme acerbity writing about a subject he loves.
• Attrition: a wearing down or weakening of resistance, especially as a result of continuous pressure or harassment: The enemy surrounded the town and conducted a war of attrition.
• Bromide: a platitude or trite saying; a person who is platitudinous and boring: We continually hear that education is the bromide that will solve everything.
• Chauvinist: a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic, especially one devoted to military glory; a person who believes one gender is superior to the other, as a male chauvinist or a female chauvinist: The man was brazenly chauvinistic in his comments on the lady’s strength.
• Chronic: continuing a long time or recurring frequently: a chronic state of civil war.
• Expound: to set forth or state in detail; to explain; interpret: The man expounded knowledge in a very pedantic, hauteur manner.
• Factionalism: of a faction or factions: Factional interests had obstructed justice.
• Immaculate: free from fault or flaw; free from errors; spotless, clean: The dress was immaculate.
• Imprecation: the act of imprecating; cursing: The boy avoided the imprecation that was his teacher’s long lectures, rants.
• Ineluctable: incapable of being evaded; inescapable: The man had an ineluctable fate.
• Mercurial: changeable; capricious; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic: The man was mercurial in his activities.
• Palliate: to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate: Applying pressure to an open wound palliates the pain.
• Protocol: the customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality, precedence, and etiquette; It was protocol to clock in everyday before beginning work.
• Resplendent: shining brilliantly; gleaming; splendid: The troops were resplendent in their white uniforms.
• Stigmatize: to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon: The crimes of the father stigmatized the whole family.
• Sub rosa: confidentially; secretly; privately: The man sent his message in sub rosa fashion.
• Vainglory: excessive elation or pride over one's own achievements, abilities, etc.; boastful vanity: The man’s vainglory was unparalleled.
•  Vestige: a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence: A few columns were the last vestiges of a Greek temple.
• Volition: the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing: She left of her own volition.

List 4

• Apostate: a person who foresakes his religion, cause, party, etc: The monk was an apostate after his blatant breach of his religious law.

• Effusive: pouring out; overflowing: The teenager’s exuberance was overtly effusive.

• Impasse: a position or situation from which there is no escape: Between a literal rock and a hard place, the hikers were at an unfortunate impasse.

• Euphoria: a feeling of happiness, confidence or well-being sometimes exaggerated in pathological states as mania: The hipster felt a euphoric high as he listened to his indie band’s tracks.

• Lugubrious: mournful, dismal or gloomy: Busy work is a lugubrious task…

• Bravado: a pretentious, swaggering display of courage: The bullriders animated bravado in the face of the horned steer was unparalleled.

• Consensus: majority of opinion: We came to a consensus on what was the best movie of the summer this year.

• Dichotomy: division into two parts: Varied colors and shades in peacocks further the evidence of sexual dichotomy present in biology.

• Constrict: to draw or press in; cause to contract or shrink; My bloodflow is constricted when up late.

• Gothic: style of architecture; barbarous or crude, dark brooding tone/writing; Many Cathedral’s of Germany illustrate features of Gothic style.

• Punctilio: a fine point particular, or detail, as of conduct, ceremony, or procedure: Lawyers often emphasize the subjective punctilios of law to secure loopholes in cases.

• Metamorphosis: a complete change of form, structure, or substance; Butterflies are the apotheosis of biologic metamorphosis.

• Raconteur: a person who is skilled in relating stories and anecdotes interestingly: Connor McNamara constantly references quotes to preface his essays/conversations, he is quite the raconteur.

• Sine qua non: an indispensable condition, elements, or factor; something essential: Her presence was the sine qua non of every social event.

• Quixotic: extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable: When he did get around to talking about his own ideas, they seemed quixotic.

• Vendetta: any prolonged and bitter feud, rivalry, contention or the like; Seems like the fates have their own personal vendettas against me some days.

• Non sequitur: an inference or a conclusion that does not follow from the premises: Family Guy, with its constant random vignettes utilizes/ has mastered the art of non sequitur comedy.

• Mystique: an aura of mystery or mystical power surrounding a particular occupation or pursuit: There was a certain mystique about the fog ensconced mountaintop.

• Quagmire: a situation from which extrication is very difficult; There were in a vehicular quagmire when there car failed on the side of the road.

• Parlous: dangerous; or obsolete: Today’s systems of education are widely parlous in there ridiculous techniques/execution.  

List 5

• Acumen: keen insight; shrewdness: He had remarkable acumen in business matters.

• Adjudicate: to settle or determine (an issue or dispute) judicially: The court adjudicated the domestic dispute.

• Anachronism: something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time: A dinosaur in NY? What an anachronism!

• Apocryphal: false; spurious: He told an apocryphal story about the sword, but the truth was later revealed.

• Disparity: lack of similarity or equality; inequality; difference: there was a marked disparity in age between the mother and her daughters.

• Dissimulate: to disguise or conceal under a false appearance; dissemble: The man quickly dissimilated the argument.

• Empirical: provable or verifiable by experience or experiment; The evidence was empirically in favor to the suspects claims.

• Flamboyant: strikingly bold or brilliant; showy; The colors were ostentatiously flamboyant.

• Fulsome: offensive to good taste, especially as being excessive; overdone or gross: The fulsome praise embarrassed her deeply.

• Immolate: to kill as a sacrificial victim, as by fire; offer in sacrifice; Sacrifices were often immolated in the lava of active volcanoes.

• Imperceptible: not perceptible; not perceived by or affecting the senses; Her emotion were imperceptible.

• Lackey: a servile follower; toady; The lanky teen was followed by his large lackey.

• Liaison: a person who initiates and maintains such a contact or connection: The woman was the liaison, intermediary between federal and local governmental affairs.
• Monolithic: characterized by massiveness, total uniformity, rigidity, invulnerability, etc: the black tile was monolithic compared to the surrounding hominids.

• Mot juste: the exact, appropriate word.; the writer always found the Mot juste when composing his descriptions.
  
  
• Nihilism: total rejection of established laws and institutions; Caleb was indeed the apotheosis of nihilism.

• Patrician: a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat; Patricians are not looked kindly upon in the American Revolution.

• Propitiate: to make favorably inclined; appease; conciliate.; The immolated sacrifices propitiated the tribal’s pagan gods.
  
  
• Sic: to attack (used especially in commanding a dog); to de-notate error: Sic 'em!
  
  
• Sublimate: purified or exalted; sublimated: The purifier sublimated the tap water.

List 6

• Obsequious: servilely compliant or deferential; The servants were obsequious.
  
  
• Beatitude: supreme blessedness; exalted happiness; To kiss the ladies hand was of the greatest of the man’s beatitudes.
  
  
• Bête noire: a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear.; Busy work is the Bête noire of my existence.

• Bode: to be an omen of; portend; The storm clouds bode inclement weather ahead.

• Dank: unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly; The room was dank with mold and rain residue.

• Ecumenical: general; universal; English is often a ecumenical exercise in universal subjectivity/relativity.

• Fervid: heated or vehement in spirit, enthusiasm, etc; The agnostic and clergymen had a fervid religious debate.

• Fetid: having an offensive odor; stinking; Her shoes pervaded with an odiferous, dank, and fetid aroma.

• Gargantuan: large, monolithic, huge; The boxer was gargantuan, a titan amongst men.

• Heyday: height, in monitarial prosperity, success etc.; In its heyday, Blockbuster was a blockbuster in the retail space.

• Incubus: demonic, impish in character or appearance/actions. A cause of distress or anxiety like a nightmare; The boy was nearly an incubus with his mischievous behavior.

• Infrastructure: the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.; The schools infrastructure was dilapidated, crumbling from age.

• Inveigle: to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements; The femme fatale is frequently depicted inveigling her male prey.

• Kudos: honor; glory; acclaim; He received kudos as well as accolades from everyone for his performance.

• Lagniappe: Something given as a bonus or extra gift; As a Christmas bonus, Scrooge gave a gracious lagniappe to his laborers.

• Prolix: Using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy; My writing is occasionally prolix in prose.

• Protégé: a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career; Padowans are Jedi protégés.

• Prototype: A first or preliminary model of something, esp. a machine, from which other forms are developed or copied; The first prototype rockets were failures.

• Sycophant: A person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer; Sycophants are self-subscribing pukes to put it harshly, bluntly, always kissing up to get into the good graces of an individual.

• Tautology: The saying of the same thing twice in different words; Tautology is synonymous with redundancy.

• Truckle: Submit or behave obsequiously; The servants were truckling pilgrims, unquestioning in their servitude.

List 7

Aberration: an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image; a disorder in one's mental state; a state or condition markedly different from the norm; The mutant was a biological aberration.

Ad hoc: for the special purpose or end presently under consideration; The PSP function of Wi-Fi was ad-hoc for multiplayer connections.

Bane: something causes misery or death; Busy work is not just the bête noire of my existence, but the bane.

Bathos: triteness or triviality of style; a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one; insincere pathos; Bathetic stereotypes/stable characters are common in “Urban Fantasy” novels.

Cantankerous: having a difficult and contrary disposition; stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate; The old spy was cantankerous on his last mission.

Casuistry: moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas; argumentation that is specious or excessively subtle and intended to be misleading; Fickle casuistry is prominent in schools of thought.

De facto: in fact; in reality; Detroit used to be the defacto heart of US industrial endeavors.

Depredation: an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding; (usually plural) a destructive action; The bandits acts of depredation knew no bounds.

Empathy: understanding and entering into another's feelings; Empathy is crucial to human relationships.

Harbinger: an indication of the approach of something or someone; verb foreshadow or presage; Grey clouds are the harbinger of a storm, boding inclement weather.

Hedonism: an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good; the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle; Many were persecuted for their deemed “hedonistic” ways.

Lackluster: lacking luster or shine; lacking brilliance or vitality; The fireworks display was lackluster to say the least, the opposite of resplendent.

Malcontent: discontented as toward authority; noun a person who is discontented or disgusted; With a low brow, frowning lips, the teen’s malcontent was evident, a nihilist in every sense of the word.

Mellifluous: pleasing to the ear; sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding; Bebop is inarguably an audio pleasure, mellifluous to the ears.

Nepotism: favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs); Nepotism is common in economically unsound regions of the world.

Pander: give satisfaction to; The politician pandered to the people with false promises.

Peccadillo: petty misdeed; Stealing is no little peccadillo, nor a punctilio.

Piece de resistance: the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction; Snow is the piece de resistance of any Christmas.

Remand: the act of sending an accused person back into custody to await trial (or the continuation of the trial); verb refer (a matter or legal case) to another committee or authority or court for decision; lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; The court remanded the civilian.

Syndrome: a complex of concurrent things; a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease; PTSD syndrome is prevalent in war veterans.

List 8

• abeyance (noun) A state of temporary disuse or suspension

• ambivalent (adjective) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone

• beleaguer (verb) Beset with difficulties

• carte blanche (noun) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best

• cataclysm (noun) A large-scale and violent event in the natural world

• debauch (verb) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.

• eclat (noun) An enthusiastic approval

• fastidious (adjective) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

• gambol (verb) Run or jump about playfully

• imbue (verb) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality

• inchoate (adjective) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed

• lampoon (verb) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm

• malleable (adjective) Easily influenced; pliable

• nemesis (noun) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall

• opt (verb) Make a choice from a range of possibilities

• philistine (noun) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

• picaresque (adjective) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

• queasy (adjective) Nauseated; feeling sick

• refractory (adjective) Stubborn or unmanageable

• savoir-faire (noun) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations

List 9

Abortive: failing to produce the intended result: The experiment produced only abortive results.

Bruit: spread a report or rumor widely: The man bruited his misgreavings, expounded them in fact.

Contumelious: scornful and insulting behavior: His contumelious, contumacious, behavior was uncalled for.

Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle: The Roman Empire issued many a dictum, fulmination, during its draconian reign.

Ensconce: establish or settle: The meadow was ensconced by conifers, sentries for centuries van-guarding one of the last gardens not yet harvested by man.

Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions: Nazi culture was incredibly iconoclastic.

In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning: Many notable works of fiction begin in medias res.

Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict: Internecine love triangles are common tropes in fiction.

Maladroit: ineffective or bungling; clumsy: His actions were maladroit.

Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness: His maudlin expression was pathetic.

Modulate: exert a modifying or controlling influence on: The scientist modulates all his experiments.

Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner: Her portentous demeanor was disrespectful.

Prescience: the power to foresee the future: Ancient oracles were said to be imbued with prescience, precognition.

Quid pro quo: a favor or advantage granted in return for something: Giving a dish is only quid pro quo in dinner gatherings.

Salubrious: health-giving, healthy; pleasant, not run-down: The drink was a salubrious brew.

Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry: Effervescent and intoxicated, the festival reveled in saturnalia.

Touchstone: a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized:

There are many touchstone moments in our nation’s history.

Traumatic: emotionally disturbing or distressing; relating to or causing psychological trauma: Batman’s parent’s death was indeed traumatic.

Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of: The car jam vitiated the flow of traffic.

Waggish: humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner: The imp was waggish in his swagger.

List 10

Aficionado- a serious devotee of some particular genre, thing, person, etc.

Browbeat- to discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate

Commensurate- able to be measured by a common standard; mete out

Diaphanous- Of such fine texture as to be transparent or translucent

Emolument- Payment for an office or employment

Foray- an initial venture

Genre- a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry;

Homily- An inspirational saying or platitude

Immure- To confine within or as if within walls; imprison

Insouciant- carefree or unconcerned; light-hearted

Matrix- a substance, situation, or environment in which something has its origin, takes

form, or is enclosed

Obsequies- A funeral rite or ceremony

Panache- a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair: The actor who would play Cyrano must have panache.

Persona- The role that one assumes or displays in public or society; one's public image or personality, as distinguished from the inner self

Philippic- a bitter or impassioned speech of denunciation; invective

Prurient- unusually or morbidly interested in sexual thoughts or practices

Sacrosanct- Regarded as sacred and inviolable

Systemic- Of or relating to systems or a system

Tendentious- having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose: a tendentious novel.

Vicissitude- A change or variation

List 11

• Affinity- love or passion towards a particular thing; aficionado etc.

• Bilious- of or indicative of a peevish ill nature disposition

• Cognate- of the same nature

• Corollary- an immediate consequence or easily drawn conclusion.

• Cul-de-sac- any situation in which further progress is impossible.

• Derring-do- a daring action

• Divination- The art or practice that seeks to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge due to the interpretation of omens

• Elixir- A substance capable of prolonging life indefinitely

• Folderol- a useless accessory

• Gamut- an entire range or series

• Hoi polloi- the General populace

• Ineffable- incapable of being expressed in words

• Lucubration- to study by night

• Mnemonic- intended to assist memory

• Obloquy- abusive language

• Parameter- an independent variable used to express the coordinates of variable point and functions of them

• Pundit- a learned man

• Risible- provoking laughter

• Symptomatic- having the characteristics of a certain disease but arising of a different cause

• Volte-face- a reversal in policy