Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

WORDS, WHAT ELSE.


Some synonyms that coin analogies, and a few important antonyms are listed down. They have surfaced in recent tests, not too infrequently. lifted from places, they assort a few test-takers' experience. Leaf through in leisures.
Synonyms:
1. Esoteric - Beyond the understanding of an average mind; mysterious, obscure; not publicly disclosed; confidential; confined to a small group; intended for or understood by only a particular group; of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people
2. Augury - The art, ability, or practice of auguring; divination; sign
of something coming; an omen; phenomenon that serves as a sign or warning of some future good or evil; practice of reading signs or omens
3. Rapacious - Taking by force; plundering; greedy; ravenous; subsisting on live prey; grasping; having an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit
4. Spurious - Lacking authenticity or validity in essence or origin; not genuine; false; of illegitimate birth; similar in appearance but unlike in structure or function; counterfeit, fake; fraudulently or deceptively imitative
5. Reminiscence - The act or process of recollecting past experiences
or events; event that brings to mind a similar, former event; calling to mind of incidents within the range of personal knowledge or experience; narrative of experiences undergone by the writer. commentary (often used in plural)
6. Sacrilegious - Grossly irreverent toward what is or is held to be sacred; showing irreverence and contempt for something sacred; profane; grossly irreverent toward what is held to be holy
7. Unflappable - Persistently calm, whether when facing difficulties or experiencing success; not easily upset or excited; cool and calm
8. Apron - A garment of cloth worn to protect your clothing; a defined area on an airfield intended to accommodate aircraft for purposes of loading or unloading passengers or cargo, refueling, parking, or maintenance; flat piece of wood mounted under the base of a cabinet; part of a stage in a theater extending in front of the curtain; platform, as of planking, at the entrance to a dock
9. Arboreal - Relating to or resembling a tree; living in trees; pertaining to trees; of or relating to or formed by trees; inhabiting or frequenting trees; resembling a tree in form and branching structure
10. Altercation - A vehement quarrel; discussion, often heated, in which a difference of opinion is expressed; fight, often verbal; angry fight or dispute
11. Whet - To sharpen (a knife, for example); hone; make more keen; stimulate; sharpen; arouse; excite
12. Obstreperous - Noisily and stubbornly defiant; aggressively boisterous; unruly; not submitting to discipline or control; offensively loud and insistent
13. Interloper - One that interferes with the affairs of others, often for selfish reasons; a meddler; one that intrudes in a place, situation, or activity; one that trespasses on a trade monopoly, as by conducting unauthorized trade in an area designated to a chartered company; ship or other vessel used in such trade; one who encroaches or intrudes; person given to intruding in other people's affairs
14. Voluble - Marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent; turning easily on an axis; rotating; talkative; marked by a ready flow of speech
15. Reify - To regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence; interpretation of an abstract idea or concept, such as the state, as real or concrete; consider an abstract concept to be real
16. Modicum - A small, moderate, or token amount
17. Fraught - Filled with a specified element or elements; charged; marked by or causing distress; emotional; freight; cargo; marked by distress; filled with or attended with
18. Placidity - The quality or state of being placid; calmness; serenity; a feeling of calmness; a quiet and undisturbed feeling; a disposition free from stress or emotion
19. Phlegmatic - Without emotion or interest; having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional
20. Intermittent - Stopping and starting at intervals; alternately containing and empty of water; irregular, sporadic; happening or appearing now and then
21. Unctuous - Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness; slippery; greasy; affectedly and self-servingly earnest; too polite in speech or manner
22. Saunter - To walk at a leisurely pace; stroll; leisurely pace; leisurely walk or stroll; stroll; walk in a confident manner; act of walking, especially for pleasure
23. Cavil - To find fault unnecessarily; raise trivial objections; quibble about; detect petty flaws in; carping or trivial objection; critic of our own work
24. Laxatives - Laxatives are products that promote bowel movements; having power to open or loosen the bowels
25. Doleful - Filled with or expressing grief; mournful; causing grief; depressing
26. Lugubrious - Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree
27. Awe - A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might; amazement; amaze; deep respect mixed with fear and wonder; impress strongly by what is unexpected or unusual
28. Tepid - Moderately warm; lukewarm; lacking in emotional warmth or enthusiasm; halfhearted; neither hot nor cold
29. Unsubstantial - Lacking material substance; insubstantial; lacking firmness or strength; flimsy; lacking basis in fact; lacking material form or substance; unreal
30. Slipshod - Marked by carelessness; sloppy or slovenly; shabby or seedy; careless; not well done; indifferent to correctness, accuracy, or neatness
31. Equivocation - Intentionally vague or ambiguous; falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language; a statement that is not literally false but that cleverly avoids an unpleasant truth; expression or term liable to more than one interpretation; use or an instance of equivocal language
32. Mendicant - Depending on alms for a living; practicing begging; beggar; member of an order of friars forbidden to own property in common, who work or beg for their living; one who begs habitually or for a living
33. Repose - Freedom from labor, responsibility, or strain; relax; recline; calm; rest; to lie while being supported by something; to place (trust, for example); cease from troubling
34. Futility - The quality of having no useful result; uselessness; lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness; condition or quality of being useless or ineffective; fruitlessness
35. Dicey - Involving or fraught with danger or risk; risky;of uncertain outcome; especially fraught with risk
36. Zest - A distinctive property of a substance affecting the gustatory sense; spirited enjoyment; energy, gusto; taste, flavor; hearty enjoyment. Also: The outermost part of the rind of an orange, lemon, or other citrus fruit, used as flavoring; piquancy
37. Fustian - A coarse sturdy cloth made of cotton and flax; pretentious speech or writing; pompous language; pompous, bombastic, and ranting
38. Thaw - Change from a frozen solid to a liquid by gradual warming; unfreeze, warm
39. Sangfroid - A stable, calm state of the emotions
40. Grueling - Physically or mentally demanding to the point of exhaustion; difficult, taxing
41. Venerate - To regard with respect, reverence, or heartfelt deference
42. Quisling - A traitor who serves as the puppet of the enemy occupying his or her country; someone who collaborates with an enemy occupying force
43. Hodgepodge - A mixture of dissimilar ingredients; a jumble; mixture, mess; a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas; collection of various things
44. Skittish - Feeling or exhibiting nervous tension; very nervous; lively; shy
45. Circumlocution - The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language; roundabout expression; evasion in speech or writing; redundancy
46. Bewail - To cry over; lament; express sorrow or unhappiness over; regret strongly
47. Bemoan - To express grief over; lament; express disapproval of or regret for; deplore; express sorrow; regret strongly
48. Blasphemous - Impiously irreverent; showing irreverence and contempt for something sacred; irreverent
49. Minotaur - A monster who was half man and half bull, to whom young Athenian men and women were sacrificed in the Cretan labyrinth until Theseus killed him
50. Stern - Hard, harsh, or severe in manner or character; grim, gloomy, or forbidding in appearance or outlook; firm or unyielding; uncompromising; inexorable; relentless; the rear part of a ship or boat; rear part or section
51. Abaft - Toward the stern; nearer the stern than; behind; at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane; in or behind the stern of a ship
52. Abattoir - A slaughterhouse; something likened to a slaughterhouse
53. Cleaver - The knife used by slaughterers
54. Gerontophobia - Fear of old people or of growing old; fear of growing old, or a hatred of the elderly
55. Mollify - To calm in temper or feeling; soothe; lessen in intensity; temper; reduce the rigidity of; soften; ease the anger or agitation of; ause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of; make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate
56. Presbyterians - Supporters of Calvinism, preaching the doctrine of the elect and advocating church government by a hierarchy of courts. Ultimate authority was the Bible and services gave great prominence to preaching
57. Presbyterian (1) - One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should be called presbyters; that form of church government which invests presbyters with all spiritual power, and admits no prelates over them; also, the faith and polity of the Presbyterian churches, taken collectively
58. Presbyters (2) - A priest in various hierarchical churches; elder of the congregation in the early Christian church
59. Cinnamon - A light brown spice made from the inner bark of a tree that grows in the East Indies; of a light reddish brown
60. Stygian - Gloomy and dark; infernal; hellish
61. Zealot - Excessive enthusiasm or u can say excessive zeal; or fanatic
62. Impertinent - Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold; not pertinent; irrelevant; bold, disrespectful
63. Satiate - To satisfy to the full or to excess; stuff, satisfy
64. Debauched - Dissolute; dissipated; violated, corrupted; lead away from virtue or morality; to corrupt
65. Gallant - Smartly or boldly stylish; dashing; unflinching in battle or action; valiant; nobly or selflessly resolute; courteously attentive especially to women; chivalrous; fashionable young man; having or showing courage; brave, gentlemanly
66. Mason - One who builds or works with stone or brick; craftsman who works with stone or brick; to build of or strengthen with masonry
67. Sap - A person who is easily deceived or victimized; lessen or deplete the nerve, energy, or strength of; lessen or weaken severely, as by removing something essential; squeeze out; watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other substances to the various tissues; vitality; leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack; covered trench or tunnel dug to a point near or within an enemy position; undermine the foundations of (a fortification)
68. Crux - The basic, central, or critical point or feature; puzzling or apparently insoluble problem; most important part; a cross; a difficulty; a stumbling-block; a puzzle
69. Awry - In a position that is turned or twisted toward one side; askew; away from the correct course; amiss
70. Intransigent - Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising; firmly, often unreasonably immovable in purpose or will; not capable of being swayed or diverted from a course; unsusceptible to persuasion
71. Wag - To move (a body part) rapidly from side to side or up and down, as in playfulness, agreement, admonition, or chatter; humorous or droll person; a wit; walk with a clumsy sway; waddle; person whose words or actions provoke or are intended to provoke amusement or laughter
72. Droll - Amusingly odd or whimsically comical; amusing, farcical; buffoon; arousing laughter
73. Sabotage - Destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations, as by civilians or enemy agents in time of war; treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause or an endeavor; deliberate subversion; deliberate damage to equipment or information; incapacitate, damage
74. Saboteur - Someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
75. Venerable - Commanding respect by virtue of age, dignity, character, or position; worthy of reverence, especially by religious or historical association; belonging to, existing, or occurring in times long past; respected
76. Subtle - So slight as to be difficult to notice or appreciate; able to make or detect effects of great subtlety or precision; clever, cunning; nice, quiet, delicate; having a low intensity; not severe and having no serious sequelae; difficult to detect or grasp by the mind
77. Infirm - Weak in body, especially from old age or disease; feeble; lacking firmness of will, character, or purpose; irresolute; not strong or stable; shaky; sick, weak; weak; feeble, as from disease or old age
78. Vigorous - Possessing, exerting, or displaying energy; energetic, powerful; active in mind or body; robust
79. Providential - Happening as if through divine intervention; opportune; of or resulting from divine providence; characterized by luck or good fortune; opportune; unexpectedly and conspicuously beneficial to the person so describing it
80. Fortuitous - Happening by accident or chance; occurring unexpectedly; lucky, accidental; fortunate
81. Surfeit - To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust; overindulge; excessive amount; satisfy to the full or to excess; Immoderate indulgence, as in food or drink; overfill; state of being more than full; quality of being so overabundant that prices fall
82. Incrimination - The act of incriminating; crimination; charging of someone with a misdeed; an accusation that you are responsible for some lapse or misdeed
83. Loathsome - Arousing loathing; abhorrent; objectionable as to elicit despisal or deserve condemnation; hateful; disgusting
84. Harebrained - Foolish; flighty; stupid, unthinking; senseless as to be laughable; very foolish
85. Floppy - Tending to flop; loose and flexible; lacking in stiffness or firmness; limp
86. Insolence - The quality of being arrogant; state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident; boldness, disrespect; instance of insolent behavior, treatment, or speech
87. Inclement - Stormy; showing no clemency; unmerciful; bitter, nasty (weather); cruel, merciless; (of weather of climate) physically severe; used of persons or behavior; showing no clemency or mercy
88. Nepotism - Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives, as in business; favor a relative, especially in regard to political office; favoritism

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Words of the Day

picayune (adj): (informal) small and of little importance
"giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction"


infraction (n): A crime less serious than a felony


felony(n): a serious crime (such as murder or arson)


arson (n): malicious burning to destroy property