Vocab Lesson 24

Plethora noun Synonyms: profusion, welter, superfluity, gult, surplus, surfeit, Deluge, avalanche Antonyms: scarcity, paucity, dearth, shortage, lack, want

Definition : Superabundance or excess. Sentences: As usual, we got a plethora of advice about what to do but precious little help doing it. Many Hollywood stars receive a plethora of fan mail every day.

Phobia Noun Synonyms: dread (of), horror (of), aversion (to), distaste (for), abhorrence (for), antipathy (for), Loathing (for) Antonyms: Liking (for), taste (for), partiality (for), fondness (for), affinity (for), predilection (for)

Definition: An intense irrational fear of something, any strong aversion. Sentences:She attributetd her pronounced phobia about dogs to the fact that she was nipped on the finger by an overly defensive collie when she was a child. The legislator warned that we must not allow our natural concern for security to develop into an obsessive phobia of foreigners.

Prelude noun Synonyms: overture, prologue, preface, curtain raiser Antonyms: postlude, epilogue, aftermath, sequel

Definition: An introductory piece of music; anything that precedes or introduces something else. Sentences: The prelude to the third act of Verdi's La Traviata is one of the most poignant pieces of music i have ever heard. In the State Departments view the unexpected concentration of troops along the border could be constructed only as a prelude to invasion.

Precarious Adj Synonyms: perilous, hazardous, risky, treacherous, dubious, touch-and-go, ticklish, touchy ,delicate Antonyms: safe, secure, stable, firm, certain, impregnable

Definition: Dangerously insecure, Unstable or uncertain. Sentences: Some of the firefighters battled the blaze from a precarious perch atop a mobile crane called a cherry picker. Even with the help of modern life- support systems, a premature baby's hold on life is often precarious.

Precocious Adj synonyms: toward, gifted, advanced, premature,. Ayntomys: Backward, restarted, underdeveloped , laggered

Definition: Developing unusually early. Sentences: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a precocious youngster who wrote his first opera at the age of eleven. Given the kinds of tools the Egyptians had to work with raising the pyramids constituted an extraordinarily precocious feat of engineering.

Pernicious Adj Synonyms: Deleterious, detrimental, malignant, baneful, ruinous, destructive Antonyms: Wholesome, beneficial, salutary, salubrious

Definition: Highly injurious or harmful. Sentence: Despite mounting medical evidence concerning the pernicious effects of fatty foods, many people categorically refuse to give up eating them on a daily basis.

Poignant Adj Synonyms: Heartbreaking, tender, heartrending, wistful, affecting, melancholy, elegiac, bittersweet. Antonyms: unaffecting, bland, vapid , inspired

Definition: Keenly touching or moving. Sentences: Though the play was essentially a comedy it nevertheless contained a poignant moment or two.

Plaintive Adj Synonyms: doleful, dolorous, disconsolate, lachrymose, wistful, heartbroken, tearful, lugubrious. Antonyms: merry, jocund, cheerful, lighthearted

Definition: Sorrowful or melancholy; mournful. Sentences: The Plaintive little scottish ditty entitled "the Exile's lament". The plaintive moaning of a distant foghorn accorded well with the regret i felt in my heart at leaving that fair city forever.

Persevere Verb Synonyms: presist, endure Antonyms: quit, desist, give up on, abandon

Definition: To continue steadfastly despite obstacles or discouragement. Sentence: The old saying "if at first you don't succeed try, try again" encourages us all to persevere in whatever we undertake.

Perjure Verb Synonyms: forswear, prevaricate

Definition: To lie deliberately while under oath to tell the truth. Sentences: Though there are minor inconsistances in his testimony, there is no evidence that the witness actually perjured himself. I described my reaction to his performance at the recital as favorably as i could without actually perjuring myself.

Permeate Verb Synonyms: pervade, infiltrate, diffuse, saturate, impregnate, imbue, filter into seep through, soak through

Definition: To spread through, to penetrate Sentences: Noxious fumes from the industrial accident so permeated the atmosphere that scores of people living nearby had to be evacuated from their homes. During the days before Constantinople fell to the turks in 1453, the mood of the besieged city was permeated by a sense of doom.

Plagiarism Noun synonyms: theft,piracy

Definition: To use of another person's writings or ideas as one's own without acknowledging their source. Sentences: "No one is going to accuse you of plagiarism" the editor told the fledgling author," Just because a couple of paragraphs in a very long novel are vaguely reminiscent of Hemingway".

Predatory Adj Synonyms: marauding, pillaging, looting, rapacious, voracious, avaricious, extortionate,

Definition: preying on, plundering or piratical. Sentences: Though many other predatory creatures prefer to hunt at night, lions and leopards are active during the day time. Karl Marx viewed capitalists as an essentially predatory class of people because he felt that they lived off the labor of others.

Peremptory Adj Synonyms: binding, obligatory, mandatory, prescriptive, categorical, unconditional, positive, emphatic, concerted, despotic, tyrannical, high handed. Antonyms: tentative, contingent, provisional, irresolute, indecisive hesitant, mild, unassuming, diffident,

Definitions and their sentence: A: Having the nature of a command in that is does not allow discusion, contradiction, or refusal. Good supervisions soon learn that they can get more cooperation from those under them by making polite requests than issuing peremptory orders. B: Determined, resolute. "Though we are always ready to settle our differences with other countries peacefully" the official said "we are not afraid to make peremptory use of force when necessary. C: Offensively dictatorial. Though his manner is peremptory with those below him in the office hierarchy, it is obsequious with those higher up.

Premise Noun and Verb Synonyms: proposition ,axiom, thesis, hypothesis, assumption, preface, introduce, posit, predicate, presuppose

Definitions: A: noun, A statement upon which an argument is based or from a conclusion is drawn. B: verb To state or assume as the basis for something else; to offer in advance as an explanation of or introduction to somethings else. Sentences: A: Your suggestion that you be given the lead in the school play is based on the totally unrealistic premise that you are the most talented actor available. B: Much of the judge's thinking is premised on the proposition that in the eyes of the law, all people are equal.