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VOCABULARY LISTS > USER LISTS

litotes, sesquipedalian, meiosis 77 words

October 14, 2008 By philip A.

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Definitions Notes & Examples Words Only
  1. litotes
    understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
  2. sesquipedalian
    a very long word (a foot and a half long)
  3. meiosis
    (genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms; the nucleus divides into four nuclei each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants)
  4. exigent
    demanding attention
  5. erstwhile
    belonging to some prior time
  6. ersatz
    an artificial or inferior substitute or imitation
  7. felo-de-se
    a person who kills himself intentionally
  8. sotto voce
    in an undertone
  9. animus
    a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility
  10. torpor
    a state of motor and mental inactivity with a partial suspension of sensibility
  11. callow
    young and inexperienced
  12. craven
    lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful
  13. exigency
    a pressing or urgent situation
  14. chiasmus
    inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
  15. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
  16. redoubtable
    inspiring fear
  17. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  18. simile
    a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like' or `as')
  19. metaphor
    a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
  20. artless
    simple and natural; without cunning or deceit
  21. artful
    not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
  22. probity
    complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
  23. demode
    out of fashion
  24. plutocracy
    a political system governed by the wealthy people
  25. votive
    dedicated in fulfillment of a vow
  26. insouciance
    the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you
  27. roman a clef
    a novel in which actual persons and events are disguised as fictional characters
  28. antipodal
    the relation of opposition along a diameter
  29. insouciant
    marked by blithe unconcern
  30. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
  31. trenchant
    having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect
  32. truculent
    defiantly aggressive
  33. bloviate
    orate verbosely and windily
  34. harlequin
    a clown or buffoon (after the Harlequin character in the commedia dell'arte)
  35. riposte
    (fencing) a counterattack made immediately after successfully parrying the opponents lunge
  36. ennui
    the feeling of being bored by something tedious
  37. reverie
    an abstracted state of absorption
  38. shibboleth
    a manner of speaking that is distinctive of a particular group of people
  39. nonplussed
    filled with bewilderment
  40. bemuse
    cause to be confused emotionally
  41. fulsome
    unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
  42. oleaginous
    containing an unusual amount of grease or oil
  43. effete
    marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay
  44. antipathy
    a feeling of intense dislike
  45. Zeitgeist
    the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation
  46. assignation
    the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan
  47. picaresque
    involving clever rogues or adventurers especially as in a type of fiction
  48. perfidy
    an act of deliberate betrayal
  49. putative
    purported; commonly put forth or accepted as true on inconclusive grounds
  50. prelapsarian
    of or relating to the time before the Fall of Adam and Eve
  51. exegesis
    an explanation or critical interpretation (especially of the Bible)
  52. apercu
    a short synopsis
  53. doppelganger
    a ghostly double of a living person that haunts its living counterpart
  54. aquiline
    curved down like an eagle's beak
  55. pathos
    a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow)
  56. chimera
    a grotesque product of the imagination
  57. bumptious
    offensively self-assertive
  58. tawdry
    tastelessly showy
  59. omniscience
    the state of being omniscient; having infinite knowledge
  60. philistine
    a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits
  61. paean
    (ancient Greece) a hymn of praise (especially one sung in ancient Greece to invoke or thank a deity)
  62. meritocracy
    a form of social system in which power goes to those with superior intellects
  63. tryst
    a secret rendezvous (especially between lovers)
  64. eponym
    the person for whom something is named
  65. coda
    the closing section of a musical composition
  66. ethos
    (anthropology) the distinctive spirit of a culture or an era
  67. oligarchy
    a political system governed by a few people
  68. argot
    a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)
  69. Pierrot
    a male character in French pantomime; usually dressed in white with a whitened face
  70. sui generis
    constituting a class of its own; unique
  71. karma
    (Hinduism and Buddhism) the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation
  72. nonpareil
    model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
  73. exiguous
    extremely scanty
  74. exigent
    demanding attention
  75. gibbet
    alternative terms for gallows
  76. potation
    the act of drinking (especially an alcoholic drink)
  77. tautology
    useless repetition