Lit Vocab Unit 4

Concord

"A concord is an agreement. If you want to watch a romantic comedy and your date wants to watch a horror film, you might compromise and come to a concord by agreeing to watch an action comedy." Definitions: 1. nv. a harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole 2. nv. agreement of opinions 3. v. arrange the words of a text so as to create a concordance 4. n. the determination of grammatical inflection on the basis of word relations Full Definitions of concord 1 n a harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole Synonyms: concordance, harmony Types: show 11 types... Type of: order established customary state (especially of society) v go together "Their ideas concorded" Synonyms: accord, agree, consort, fit in, harmonise, harmonize agree, check, correspond, fit, gibe, jibe, match, tally be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics Types: blend, blend in, go blend or harmonize Type of: agree, check, correspond, fit, gibe, jibe, match, tally be compatible, similar or consistent; coincide in their characteristics 2 n agreement of opinions Synonyms: concordance, harmony Type of: agreement the verbal act of agreeing v be in accord; be in agreement "Both philosophers concord on this point" Synonyms: agree, concur, hold agree achieve harmony of opinion, feeling, or purpose Antonyms: differ, disagree, dissent, take issue be of different opinions Types: show 13 types... v arrange by concord or agreement Type of: arrange, fix up make arrangements for 3 v arrange the words of a text so as to create a concordance "The team concorded several thousand nouns, verbs, and adjectives" Type of: arrange, set up put into a proper or systematic order 4 n the determination of grammatical inflection on the basis of word relations Synonyms: agreement Types: show 4 types... Type of: grammatical relation a linguistic relation established by grammar

Grouse

"A grouse is a small game bird. But the verb to grouse is different. It means to gripe about how unhappy you are. It's not recommended for most people, because grousing is unattractive." Primary Meanings of grouse: 1.nv. popular game bird having a plump body and feathered legs and feet 2. v.complain Full Definitions of grouse 1.n popular game bird having a plump body and feathered legs and feet Types: show 16 types... Type of: game bird any bird (as grouse or pheasant) that is hunted for sport n flesh of any of various grouse of the family Tetraonidae; usually roasted; flesh too dry to broil Type of: wildfowl flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food v hunt grouse Type of: fowl hunt fowl in the forest 2v complain Synonyms: beef, bellyache, bitch, crab, gripe, holler, squawk Type of: complain, kick, kvetch, plain, quetch, sound off express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness

Stratagem

"A stratagem is a scheme or a clever plot. You can have a stratagem for winning a chess game, getting the girl (or boy), and avoiding a punishment. However, your opponents, crushes, and parents may have a trick or two of their own. Sometimes a stratagem is a gem of an idea, really clever and worth trying. Great generals start a battle plan with a stratagem, and businesses might have a stratagem for making more money. A stratagem is often a trick or a way to deceive an enemy or get something through a plot or ploy, but it can also mean just a great idea that outwits someone. Your teacher probably has a stratagem for helping you remember and spell words." Definitions: 1.n an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade Synonyms: contrivance, dodge Types: plant something planted secretly for discovery by another pump-and-dump scheme an illegal scheme for making money by manipulating stock prices; the schemer persuades other people to buy the stock and then sells it himself as soon as the price of the stock rises wangle, wangling an instance of accomplishing something by scheming or trickery Type of: scheme, strategy an elaborate and systematic plan of action n a maneuver in a game or conversation Synonyms: gambit, ploy Type of: maneuver, manoeuvre, tactical maneuver, tactical manoeuvre a move made to gain a tactical end

Incumbent

"An incumbent is an official who holds an office. If you want to run for congress, you're going to have to beat the incumbent." Primary Meanings of incumbent: 1. adj necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding 2.adjn currently holding an office 3. adj lying or leaning on something else Full Definitions of incumbent: 1. adj necessary (for someone) as a duty or responsibility; morally binding "it is incumbent on them to pay their own debts" Synonyms: necessary absolutely essential 2. adj currently holding an office "the incumbent governor" Synonyms: current occurring in or belonging to the present time n the official who holds an office Synonyms: officeholder Types: office-bearer the person who holds an office Type of: holder a person who holds something functionary, official a worker who holds or is invested with an office 3. adj lying or leaning on something else "an incumbent geological formation" Synonyms: superjacent lying immediately above or on something else

Recumbent

"Bikes on which you recline rather than sit upright are recumbent. Recumbent means leaning back in a reclining position." Definitions of recumbent: 1 adj lying down; in a position of comfort or rest Synonyms: accumbent, decumbent unerect not upright in position or posture

Consummate

"Consummate means complete, finished, or masterful. If you refer to someone as a consummate chef, then you are saying he is the ultimate chef. If you say someone is a consummate jerk, then you are saying he is the ultimate jerk." consummate 1. adjv. having or revealing supreme mastery or skill 2. v. fulfill sexually Full Definitions of consummate 1 adj having or revealing supreme mastery or skill "a consummate artist" "consummate skill" Synonyms: masterful, masterly, virtuoso skilled having or showing or requiring special skill adj perfect and complete in every respect; having all necessary qualities "consummate happiness" "a consummate performance" Synonyms: complete perfect being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish adj without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers "a consummate fool" Synonyms: arrant, complete, double-dyed, everlasting, gross, perfect, pure, sodding, staring, stark, thoroughgoing, unadulterated, utter unmitigated not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; sometimes used as an intensifier v make perfect; bring to perfection Type of: accomplish, action, carry out, carry through, execute, fulfil, fulfill put in effect 2 v fulfill sexually "consummate a marriage" Type of: accomplish, action, carry out, carry through, execute, fulfil, fulfill put in effect

Jocular

"Do you like to make a lot of jokes? Are you often silly? Are you usually happy? If so, then you are a jocular person. Being jocular has to do with being both jokey and fun. A jocular suggestion is not a serious suggestion — it's a joke." Definitions of jocular: 1.adj characterized by jokes and good humor Synonyms: jesting, jocose, joking humorous, humourous full of or characterized by humor adv with humor Synonyms: jocosely

Flotsam

"Flotsam is the floating wreckage of a ship. You'll often hear it used with the word jetsam, which refers to floating objects that have been thrown from a ship, usually to lighten it before it sinks." Definitions: 1. n the floating wreckage of a ship Synonyms: jetsam Type of: wreckage the remaining parts of something that has been wrecked

Pecuniary

"If something has to do with money, it's pecuniary. If your grandfather's antique watch has pecuniary value, it's worth money — you could sell it for cash if you weren't sentimentally attached to keeping it." Definitions of pecuniary: 1. adj relating to or involving money "he received thanks but no pecuniary compensation for his services" Synonyms: monetary

Disarray

"If something is confused or disorganized, use the noun disarray, like the disarray that follows your little brother everywhere he goes because he spills everything and never puts away his toys." Definitions: disarray 1. n untidiness (especially of clothing and appearance) Synonyms: disorderliness Type of: messiness, untidiness the trait of being untidy and messy n a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought and behavior Synonyms: confusedness, confusion, mental confusion, muddiness Types: show 11 types... Type of: cognitive state, state of mind the state of a person's cognitive processes v bring disorder to Synonyms: disorder Antonyms: order bring order to or into Types: show 6 types... Type of: alter, change, modify cause to change; make different; cause a transformation

Nettle

"If you know what a nettle is—that is, a barbed seed that gets stuck in your clothes and hair—then you'll have no trouble remembering the verb nettle: it means to annoy, bother, irritate, or bedevil." Definitions of nettle: 1.n any of numerous plants having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact (especially of the genus Urtica or family Urticaceae) Types: show 6 types... Type of: weed any plant that crowds out cultivated plants v sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation Synonyms: urticate urticate whip with or as with nettles Type of: bite, burn, sting cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort v cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations Synonyms: annoy, bother, chafe, devil, get at, get to, gravel, irritate, nark, rag, rile, vex chafe feel extreme irritation or anger Types: show 10 types... Type of: displease give displeasure to

Mordant

"If you like Edgar Allan Poe and "The Addams Family," you have a taste for mordant entertainment — that is, anything particularly grim or dark in nature." Definitions of mordant 1. adj harshly ironic or sinister "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit" Synonyms: black, grim sarcastic expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds adj of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action Synonyms: caustic, corrosive, erosive, vitriolic destructive causing destruction or much damage n a substance used to treat leather or other materials before dyeing; aids in dyeing process Types: chrome alum a violet-colored salt used in hide tanning and as a mordant in dyeing antimony potassium tartrate, tartar emetic a poisonous colorless salt used as a mordant and in medicine sodium bichromate, sodium dichromate a red-orange salt used as a mordant Type of: color, coloring material, colour, colouring material any material used for its color

Ludicrous

"Ludicrous things are funny, absurd, or nonsensical. If someone says something silly or far-fetched, you could say "That's ludicrous!" Ludicrous originally meant something that was funny, playful, or joking: a ludicrous comment was just a really funny comment. Over time, ludicrous took on a more negative flavor. Now a ludicrous statement might be funny, but it's also ridiculous, hard to believe, off the wall, or even stupid. When people say "That idea is ludicrous!" it usually means the idea could never happen: the notion is laughable." Definitions of ludicrous: 1 adj incongruous;inviting ridicule "it is ludicrous to call a cottage a mansion" Synonyms: absurd, cockeyed, derisory, idiotic, laughable, nonsensical, preposterous, ridiculous foolish devoid of good sense or judgment adj broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce "ludicrous green hair" Synonyms: farcical, ridiculous humorous, humourous full of or characterized by humor

Glean

"Seeing a word in context lets you glean information about how it's used. Glean means to gather bit by bit. You might say, "I couldn't understand her accent, but from what I could glean, she needs money to take the bus." Definition: 1.v gather, as of natural products Synonyms: harvest, reap Types: cut reap or harvest Type of: collect, garner, gather, pull together assemble or get together

Frenetic

"The adjective frenetic is another way to say frenzied, frantic, or totally worked up. Kind of how you'd run around the kitchen madly trying to cook a last-minute dinner for 30 of your closest friends." Definitions: 1.adj excessively agitated; distraught with fear or other violent emotion "frenetic screams followed the accident" Synonyms: frantic, frenzied, phrenetic agitated troubled emotionally and usually deeply

Exigency

"Think of a mix of excitement and emergency, and you have exigency, a sudden, urgent crisis. The very word conjures up danger and intrigue that demand a cool head and an immediate effort at a solution." Definitions: exigency 1.n a pressing or urgent situation "the health-care exigency" Type of: crisis an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty n a sudden unforeseen crisis (usually involving danger) that requires immediate action Synonyms: emergency, pinch Type of: crisis a crucial stage or turning point in the course of something

Incarcerate

"Use the verb incarcerate when you need to put someone behind bars in a big way, meaning, send them to prison, like those who, after being found guilty of a crime and sentenced, become incarcerated." Definitions of incarcerate: 1.v lock up or confine, in or as in a jail "the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life" Synonyms: gaol, immure, imprison, jail, jug, lag, put away, put behind bars, remand Type of: confine, detain deprive of freedom; take into confinement

Atrophy

"Wearing a cast on a broken leg can cause atrophy, or withering, in the leg, because it is immobilized and gets no exercise." Definitions: 1 n a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse Synonyms: wasting, wasting away Type of: symptom (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease n any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of use) Synonyms: withering Type of: weakening becoming weaker

Bastion

"When the battle is getting long and the odds are getting longer, retreat to your bastion to regroup and prepare for the next round of fighting. A bastion is a stronghold or fortification that remains intact." Definition: 1. n. projecting part of a rampart or other fortification 2. n. a group that defends a principle Full Definitions of bastion 1 n projecting part of a rampart or other fortification Type of: fortification, munition defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it n a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during a battle Synonyms: citadel Examples: Kremlin citadel of Moscow, housing the offices of the Russian government Types: acropolis the citadel in ancient Greek towns kremlin citadel of a Russian town Type of: fastness, stronghold a strongly fortified defensive structure 2 n a group that defends a principle "a bastion against corruption" "the last bastion of communism" Type of: defence, defence force, defense, defense force an organization of defenders that provides resistance against attack

Pusillanimous

"You can describe someone who lacks courage as pusillanimous, such as a pusillanimous student who is too afraid to speak out against someone who is bullying others. Its Latin origin — pusillus and animus — tells us that pusillanimous means "very small spirit." Definitions of pusillanimous: 1. adj lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful Synonyms: poor-spirited, unmanly cowardly, fearful lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted