Sadlier Oxford's Vocabulary Workshop Level H Unit 3

pragmatic

(adj). concerned with practical considerations or values; dealing with actions and results rather than with abstract theory; stiff in one's opinions SYN: down-to-earth, businesslike ANT: idealistic, impractical, visionary

therapeutic

(adj). having the power to heal or cure; beneficial SYN: curative, salutary, salubrious ANT: harmful, injurious, deleterious

quizzical

(adj). puzzled; mocking; odd; equivocal SYN: peculiar, perplexed, mystified, derisive ANT: unequivocal, crystal-clear, unambiguous

ancillary

(adj). subordinate or supplementary SYN: auxiliary, subsidiary, accessory ANT: central, key, primary, principal, main

virtuoso

(n). a brilliant performer; a person with masterly skill or technique; (adj). masterly or brilliant SYN: expert, master, prodigy, maestro ANT: amateur, beginner, novice; (adj). mediocre

schism

(n). a formal split within a religious organization; any division or separation of a group or organization into hostile factions SYN: rift, breach ANT: united front, reconciliation

forte

(n). a person's strong point; what a person does best SYN: gift, aptitude, specialty ANT: weakness, shortcoming, foible

icon

(n). a representation or image of a sacred personage, often considered sacred itself; an image or picture; a symbol; a graphic symbol on a computer monitor display; an object of blind devotion SYN: emblem, idol

interstice

(n). a small, narrow space between things or parts of things SYN: gap, slot, crevice, interval, lacuna

paean

(n). a song of prase, joy, or triumph SYN: hymn, ode, anthem ANT: dirge, elegy, lament, threnody

mountebank

(n). a trickster or swindler; a charlatan SYN: impostor, quack ANT: sucker, dupe, "mark," "pigeon"

enclave

(n). an enclosed district, region, or area inhabited by a particular group of people or having a special character SYN: island, subgroup

rapacity

(n). inordinate greed; the disposition to obtain one's desires by force, extortion, or plunder SYN: avarice, cupidity, voraciousness ANT: liberality, generosity, altruism

persiflage

(n). lighthearted joking, talk, or writing SYN: banter, jesting, repartee, badinage

plethora

(n). overfullness; superabundance; superfluity SYN: surplus, surfeit, glut, excess ANT: shortage, paucity, dearth, scarcity

macrocosm

(n). the universe considered as a whole; the entire complex structure of something SYN: cosmos, entirety ANT: model, miniature, microcosm

condescend

(v). to come down or stoop voluntarily to a lower level; to deal with people in a patronizing manner SYN: deign

bowdlerize

(v). to remove material considered offensive (from a book, play, film, etc.) SYN: censor, purge, expurgate

cozen

(v). to trick; to cheat or swindle SYN: dupe, decieve, beguile, inveigle

gratis

(adj). free; (adv). without charge SYN: (adj). on the house; (adv). freely ANT: (adv). for a price