Vocabulary Unit 5 amnesty - noun a general pardon for an offense against a government; - PowerPoint Presentation

Vocabulary Unit 5

amnesty - noun a general pardon for an offense against a government; in general, any act of forgiveness or absolution Many political prisoners were freed under the amnesty granted by the new regime.

autonomy - noun Self-government, political control After the colonies gained autonomy from England, many Americans still clung to English traditions.

axiomatic- adj. Self-evident, expressing a universally accepted principle One should not accept the idea that the camera never lies as an axiomatic truth. It is axiomatic that democracy, more than any other form of government, calls for the active participation of all the people in public affairs.Isn’t it strange that the basic ideas that some economists regard as axiomatic are rejected by others as absolutely false!

blazon - verb t o adorn or embellish; to display conspicuously; to publish or proclaim widely They will blazon the results of the election across the Internet and every television set in the land.

caveat- noun A warning or caution to prevent misunderstanding or discourage behavior I tried to warn them of the dangers involved in such an undertaking, but all my caveats and admonitions fell on deaf ears.

equitable – adj. f air, just, embodying principles of justice He did more work, so a sixty-forty split of the profits seemed an equitable arrangement.

extricate - verb To free from entanglements or difficulties; to remove with effort The ring must have slid off my finger as I was trying to extricate the dog’s head from the pipe.

filch - verb To steal, especially in a sneaky way and in petty amounts If you filch pennies from the cash drawer, you will be tempted to steal larger amounts one day.

flout- verb To mock, treat with contempt She chose to ignore my advice, not because she wanted to flout my beliefs, but because she had strong opinions of her own. Young people who consider themselves nonconformists often goto extremes in their determination to flout the conventions.Any unit of government – national or local – that flouts sound e conomic principles is headed for disaster.

fractious- adjective Tending to be troublesome; unruly, quarrelsome, contrary; unpredictable We had many talented players, but the fractious behavior of a few individuals impaired our team spirit and led to a losing season.

precept- noun A rule of conduct or action I tend to be guided by the simple precepts that have proven their v alue over long periods of human experience.

salutary- adjective b eneficial, helpful; healthful, wholesome Parents usually try to encourage small children to eat fruits and vegetables because these foods have a salutary effect on a person’s health. Failures are always unpleasant, but if you learn from them, they may have a salutary e ffect on your future career.

scathing-adj. b itterly severe, withering; causing great harm Sometimes a reasoned discussion does more to change people’s minds than a scathing attack.

scourge- verb To whip, punish severely Jonathan Swift used wit to scourge the British government for its cruel treatment of Ireland.

sepulchral- adj. f unereal, typical of the tomb; extremely gloomy or dismal We stumbled upon a sepulchral space in the basement of the church that was filled with skulls and bones.

soporific- adj./noun Tending to cause sleep, relating to sleepiness or lethargy Something that induces sleep He claimed that the musical was soporific and that he had sleptthrough the entire second act.Shakespeare’s Juliet drinks a soporific so as to appear to be dead – a trick she is soon to regret. The soporific effect of his droning lectures surpasses that of any s leeping pill now in use.

straitlaced - adj Extremely strict in regard to moral standards and conduct; prudish; puritanical The standards of behavior generally accepted in Victorian times w ould probably be rejected today as excessively straitlaced.

transient – adj /nounLasting only a short time, fleeting;One who stays only a short time The popular self-help book teaches that material things aretransient while moral values are eternal.His fame as a football star proved to be transient , and he found h imself just another young man looking for a job. Many farm hands lived the lives of transients during the Great Depression.

unwieldy - adj Not easily carried, handled, or managed because of size or complexity We loaded the trunk with the chairs and the coffee table, but theg rand piano was too unwieldy.

vapid - adj d ull, uninteresting, tiresome; lacking in sharpness, flavor, liveliness, or forceWhile critics called the movie vapid, I thought the performerswere very compelling.In spite of Ms. Horan’s obvious love for that novel, I found it to be mediocre and vapid in every respect. Even the most talented actors could not breathe life and c redibility into the vapid lines of that silly play.