Vocabulary List #19: 2/10/98
abscond | to depart secretly and hide oneself |
axiom | a proposition regarded as a self-evident truth |
benign | of a gentle disposition; showing kindness and gentleness |
caucus | a closed meeting of a group to set policy / choose candidates |
dismantle | to take apart or into pieces; to strip of dress or covering |
embellish | to make beautiful by decorating; heighten attractiveness |
exotic | strikingly or excitingly different or unusual; not native |
fetid | having a heavy, offensive smell |
grovel | to creep with face to the ground; to give oneself over to unworthiness |
horrendous | perfectly horrid, dreadful |
impervious | not allowing entrance; incapable of being damaged or harmed |
lien | charge on real or personal property for satisfaction of debt |
meager | lacking desirable qualities; deficient in quality or quantity |
non sequitur | a statement that does not follow logically previous material |
orison | prayer |
palpitate | to beat rapidly or flutter; throb |
parody | a work imitating the style of another for comedy or ridicule |
pied | of two or more colors in blotches; piebald |
protracted | lengthen in duration; extended; drawn to scale |
quarry | game killed in hunt; prey; excavation for obtaining stone or slate |
rectify | to set right, remedy; to correct by removing errors |
reek | to have a strong, offensive smell; permeated with unpleasantness |
sloth | indolence, laziness |
specious | having deceptive attraction or allure; false look of truth |
synonymous | alike in meaning or significance |
tenet | a principle of belief held by a group or organization; doctrine |
urbanity | the state of being of a city; city conduct |
venomous | poisonous, noxious, spiteful, malevolent |
visage | the face or appearance of a person; aspect |
whim | a sudden and capricious idea or turn of mind; impulse |