Vocabulary Unit 1

acquisitive

able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring wealth or properity; greedy, grasping, avaricious, retentive

arrogate

to claim or take without right; expropriate, usurp, commandeer

banal

hackneyed, trite, commonplace; stale, insipid

belabor

to work on excessively; to thrash soundly; overwork

carping

tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; petty, nagging criticism; nit-picking, caviling

coherent

holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible, meaningful; connected, unified, consistent, cohesive

congeal

to change from liquid to solid, thicken; to make inflexible or rigid; harden, jell, coagulate, solidify

emulate

to imitate with the intent of equally or surpassing the model; copy, mimic, rival, match, measure up to

encomium

a formal expression of praise, a livish tribute; panegyric, eulogy, commendation

eschew

to avoid, shun, keep away from; abstain from, steer clear of, forgo

germane

relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting; pertinent

insatiable

so great or demanding as not to be satisfied; unquenchable, ravenous, voracious

intransigent

refusing to compromise, irreconcilable; uncompromising, unyielding, obdurate

invidious

offensive, hateful, tending to cause bitterness and resentment; malicious, spiteful, preducial, perjorative

largesse

generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions; liverality, munificence, bounty

reconnaissance

a survey made for military purposes; any kind of preliminary inspection or examination; scouting expedition

substantiate

to establish by evidence, prove; to give concrete or substantial form to; verify, confirm, validate, authenticate

tacitum

habitaully silent or quiet, inclined to talk very little; tight-lipped, uncommunicative, laconic

temporize

to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a confrontation, or postpone a decision; to compromise; hedge, dillydally, procrastinate

tenable

capable of being held or defended; defensible, justifiable, maintainable