Beyond the Key Terms Group 2
abjure (verb)
to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid
adumbrate (verb)
to foreshadow vaguely or intimate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow
anathema (noun)
a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing
anodyne (adj.)/(noun)
apogee (noun)
apostate (noun)
apotheosis (noun)
soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith
one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection
asperity (noun)
asseverate (verb)
severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability to aver, allege, or assert
assiduous (adj.)
augury (noun)
bellicose (adj.)
calumniate (verb)
captious (adj.)
cavil (verb)
celerity (noun)
chimera (noun)
contumacious (adj.)
debacle (noun)
denouement (noun)
descry (verb)
desuetude (noun)
desultory (adj.)
diaphanous (adj.)
diffident (adj.)
dirge (noun)
encomium (noun)
eschew (verb)
excoriate (verb)
execrate (verb)
exegesis (noun)
expiate (verb)
extirpate (verb)
fatuous (adj.)
fractious (adj.)
gainsay (verb)
heterodox (adj.)
imbroglio (noun)
indefatigable (adj.)
ineluctable (adj.)
diligent, hard-working, sedulous omen, portent belligerent, pugnacious, warlike
to slander, to make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion
in argument
disposed to point out trivial faults; calculated to confuse or entrap
to find fault without good reason speed, alacrity; think accelerate
an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion rout, fiasco, complete failure
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot to catch sight of disuse
random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose transparent, gauzy
reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence a song of grief or lamentation glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy to shun or avoid
to censure scathingly, to upbraid
to denounce, to feel loathing for, to curse, to declare to be evil critical examination, explication to atone or make amends for
to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind silly, inanely foolish
quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic difficult or embarrassing situation not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged certain, inevitable
inimitable (adj.)
insouciant (adj.)
inveterate (adj.)
jejune (adj.)
lubricious (adj.)
mendicant (noun)
meretricious (adj.)
minatory (adj.)
nadir (noun)
nonplussed (adj.)
obstreperous (adj.)
ossified (adj.)
palliate (verb)
panegyric (noun)
parsimonious (adj.)
pellucid (adj.)
peroration (noun)
plangent (adj.)
prolix (adj.)
propitiate (verb)
puerile (adj.)
puissance (noun)
pusillanimous (adj.)
remonstrate (verb)
sagacious (adj.)
salacious (adj.)
salutary (adj.)
sanguine (adj.)
saturnine (adj.)
one-of-a-kind, peerless
unconcerned, carefree, heedless deep rooted, ingrained, habitual
vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery a beggar, supplicant
cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show menacing, threatening low point, perigee
baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone
to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense
formal praise, eulogy, encomium; panegyrical means expressing elaborate praise cheap, miserly
transparent, easy to understand, limpid
the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech pounding, thundering, resounding
long-winded, verbose; prolixity means verbosity
to appease; to conciliate; propitious means auspicious, favorable childish, immature, jejune, nugatory
power, strength; puissant means powerful, strong cowardly, craven to protest, to object
having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage lustful, lascivious, bawdy remedial, causing improvement; wholesome cheerful, confident, optimistic gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
sententious (adj.)
stentorian (adj.)
stygian (adj.)
sycophant (noun)
tendentious (adj.)
timorous (adj.)
tyro (noun)
vitiate (verb)
voluble (adj.)
aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively
extremely loud and powerful gloomy, dark
toady; servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite biased; showing marked tendencies timid, fearful, diffident novice, greenhorn, rank amateur
to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language
Beyond the Key Terms Group 2 abjure (verb) to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid adumbrate (verb) to foreshadow vaguely or intimate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow anathema (noun) a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing anodyne (adj.)/(noun) apogee (noun) apostate (noun) apotheosis (noun) soothing; something that assuages or allays pain or comforts farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions deification; glorification to godliness; an exalted example; a model of excellence or perfection asperity (noun) asseverate (verb) severity, rigor; roughness, harshness; acrimony, irritability to aver, allege, or assert
assiduous (adj.) augury (noun) bellicose (adj.) calumniate (verb) captious (adj.) cavil (verb) celerity (noun) chimera (noun) contumacious (adj.) debacle (noun) denouement (noun) descry (verb) desuetude (noun) desultory (adj.) diaphanous (adj.) diffident (adj.) dirge (noun) encomium (noun) eschew (verb) excoriate (verb) execrate (verb) exegesis (noun) expiate (verb) extirpate (verb) fatuous (adj.) fractious (adj.) gainsay (verb) heterodox (adj.) imbroglio (noun) indefatigable (adj.) ineluctable (adj.) diligent, hard-working, sedulous omen, portent belligerent, pugnacious, warlike to slander, to make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion in argument disposed to point out trivial faults; calculated to confuse or entrap to find fault without good reason speed, alacrity; think accelerate an illusion; originally, an imaginary fire-breathing she-monster insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion rout, fiasco, complete failure an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot to catch sight of disuse random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose transparent, gauzy reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence a song of grief or lamentation glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy to shun or avoid to censure scathingly, to upbraid to denounce, to feel loathing for, to curse, to declare to be evil critical examination, explication to atone or make amends for to destroy, to exterminate, to cut out, to exscind silly, inanely foolish quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable to deny, to dispute, to contradict, to oppose unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic difficult or embarrassing situation not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged certain, inevitable
inimitable (adj.) insouciant (adj.) inveterate (adj.) jejune (adj.) lubricious (adj.) mendicant (noun) meretricious (adj.) minatory (adj.) nadir (noun) nonplussed (adj.) obstreperous (adj.) ossified (adj.) palliate (verb) panegyric (noun) parsimonious (adj.) pellucid (adj.) peroration (noun) plangent (adj.) prolix (adj.) propitiate (verb) puerile (adj.) puissance (noun) pusillanimous (adj.) remonstrate (verb) sagacious (adj.) salacious (adj.) salutary (adj.) sanguine (adj.) saturnine (adj.) one-of-a-kind, peerless unconcerned, carefree, heedless deep rooted, ingrained, habitual vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery a beggar, supplicant cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show menacing, threatening low point, perigee baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense formal praise, eulogy, encomium; panegyrical means expressing elaborate praise cheap, miserly transparent, easy to understand, limpid the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech pounding, thundering, resounding long-winded, verbose; prolixity means verbosity to appease; to conciliate; propitious means auspicious, favorable childish, immature, jejune, nugatory power, strength; puissant means powerful, strong cowardly, craven to protest, to object having sound judgment; perceptive, wise; like a sage lustful, lascivious, bawdy remedial, causing improvement; wholesome cheerful, confident, optimistic gloomy, dark, sullen, morose
sententious (adj.) stentorian (adj.) stygian (adj.) sycophant (noun) tendentious (adj.) timorous (adj.) tyro (noun) vitiate (verb) voluble (adj.) aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively extremely loud and powerful gloomy, dark toady; servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite biased; showing marked tendencies timid, fearful, diffident novice, greenhorn, rank amateur to corrupt, to debase, to spoil, to make ineffective fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language