•Level F•Unit 1

SADLIER- OXFORD VOCABULARY WORKSHOP

APPROBATIONNoun

Definition: the expression of approval or favorable opinion; praise

Synonym: sanction

Antonyms: disapproval, condemnation, censure

Sentence: My broad hint that I had paid for the lessons myself brought smiles of approbation from all the judges at the piano recital: their approval meant a great deal to me.

ASSUAGEVerb

Definition: to make easier or milder, relieve; to quiet, calm, to put an end to, appease, satisfy, quench

Synonyms: mitigate, slake, allay

Antonyms: intensify, aggravate, exacerbate

Sentence: Her eyes told me that more than a few well-chosen words would be needed to assuage her hurt feelings; I would have to work hard to appease her.

Noun

Definition: a combination, union, or merger for some specific purpose.

Synonyms: alliance, league, federation, combine

Antonym: splinter group

Sentence: The various community organizations formed a coalition to lobby against parking laws; this alliance helped to keep the new laws from passing.

COALITION

Noun

Definition: decline, decay or deterioration; a condition or period of decline or decay; excessive self-indulgence

Synonyms: degeneration, corruption

Antonyms: rise, growth, maturation

Sentence: Some viewed her love of chocolate as decadence because she ate two candy bars a day; however, this self-indulgence never caused her to gain weight.

DECADENCE

Verb

Definition: to draw forth, bring out from some source

Synonyms: evoke, extract, educe

Antonyms: repress, quash, squelch, stifle

My attempt to elicit information over the phone was met with a barrage of irrelevant recordings; I had to wait for ten minutes to extract the information from a real person.

ELICIT

Verb

Definition: to attempt to dissuade someone from some course or decision by earnest reasoning

Synonyms: protest, remonstrate, complain

Elizabeth found it useless to expostulate with her brother for siding with her boss; all of her protesting just seemed to alienate him.

EXPOSTULATE

Adjective

Definition: used so often as to lack freshness or originality

Synonyms: banal, trite, commonplace, corny

Antonyms: new, fresh, novel, original

The jokes about dumb blondes are hackneyed and offensive, so please quit telling those trite and unpleasant anecdotes.

HACKNEYED

NounDefinition: a gap, opening, break (in the sense of having an element missing)Synonyms: pause, lacunaAntonyms: continuity, continuationShe will be on hiatus until October 13th; this vacation was unscheduled, but she does deserve it.

HIATUS

Noun

Definition: a hint, indirect suggestion, or reference (often in a derogatory sense)

Synonyms: insinuation, intimation

Antonyms: direct statement

She was carefully spreading innuendos about her opponent’s lack of education: she hoped these hints would help her win the election.

INNUENDO

Verb

Definition: to plead on behalf of someone else; to save as a third party or go-between in a disagreement

Synonyms: intervene, mediate

The referee had to intercede in the dispute between the two players, and soon the game was proceeding again as if he had not acted as a go-between.

INTERCEDE

Adjective

Definition: wearied, worn-out, dulled (in the sense of being satiated by excessive indulgence)

Synonyms: sated, surfeited, cloyed

Antonyms: unspoiled, uncloyed

She became jaded to the luxuries in life after so many years of living with money; she was wearied by the years of indulgence she had lived.

JADED

Adjective

Definition: causing shock, horror, or revulsion; sensational; pale or sallow in color; terrible or passionate in intensity or lack of restraint

Synonyms: gruesome, gory, grisly, baleful, ghastly

Antonyms: pleasant, attractive, appealing, wholesome

The details of the accident were detailed and lurid; in fact, they were so gruesome that they would shock anyone who read the paper.

LURID

Adjective

Definition: worthy, deserving recognition and praise

Synonyms: praiseworthy, laudable, commendable

Antonyms: blameworthy, reprehensible

She was repeatedly honored for her meritorious work with the victims of the disaster, but she never thought of the work as praiseworthy but simply as her duty as a member of society.

MERITORIOUS

Adjective

Definition: peevish, annoyed by trifles; easily irritated and upset

Synonyms: irritable, testy, waspish

Antonyms: amiable, placid

An overworked parent may be unlikely to indulge the complaints of a petulant child; the irritable child is likely to simply stress the parent more.

PETULANT

Noun

Definition: a special right or privilege; a special quality showing excellence

Synonyms: perquisite, perk

He seemed to feel that a snooze at his desk was not an annoying habit but the prerogative of a veteran employee; but this imagined privilege was only in his mind.

PREROGATIVE

Adjective

Definition: pertaining to an outlying area; local; narrow in mind or outlook, countrified; backward; of a simple plain design that originated in the countryside

Noun

A person with a narrow point of view; a person from an outlying area; a soldier from a province or colony

Synonyms: (adj) narrow-minded, parochial, insular, naïve

Antonyms: (adj) cosmopolitan, broad-minded

The banjo, once thought to be a provincial product of the Southern hills, actually came here from Africa; it is a misconception that it is thought of as countrified.

PROVINCIAL

Verb

Definition: to make a pretense of, imitate; to show the outer signs of

Synonyms: pretend, affect

Military training exercises are used to simulate actual warfare; these imitations are for the purpose of readying the unseasoned soldiers for warfare.

SIMULATE

Verb

Definition: to rise above or beyond; exceed

Synonyms: surpass, outstrip

A great work of art may be said to transcend time, and it is remembered beyond the life of the artist and for decades or even centuries.

TRANSCEND

Van Gogh

Noun

Definition: shade cast by trees; foliage giving shade; an overshadowing influence or power; offense, resentment; a vague suspicion

Synonyms: irritation, pique

Antonyms: pleasure, delight, satisfaction

Taking umbrage at the joke, Elizabeth stormed out of the room, but we didn’t think her offense was justified.

UMBRAGE

Adjective

Definition: excessively smooth or smug; trying too hard to give an impression of earnestness, sincerity, or piety; fatty, oily; pliable

Synonyms: mealy-mouthed, fawning, greasy

Antonyms: gruff, blunt

The unctuous salesman tried too hard, pushing us away from his sale; his fawning behavior just repulsed us.

UNCTUOUS