Level H Unit 11 Vocab Definitions
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apostate: one who forsakes his or her religion, party, or cause
Syn: renegade, defector, turncoat
Ant: true believer, loyalist
bravado: a display of false or assumed courage
Syn: swagger, bluster, braggadocio
Ant: mettle, bravery, pluck
consensus: a collective or general agreement of opinion, feeling, or thinking
Syn: unanimity, concord, accord, harmony
Ant: dissension, discord, disagreement
constrict: to make smaller or narrower, draw together, squeeze; to stop or cause to falter
Syn: contract, curb, restrain
Ant: enlarge, dilate, expand
dichotomy: a division into two contradictory or mutually exclusive parts; a branching or forking in an ancestral
Syn: schism, division, bifurcation
Ant: uniformity, oneness
effusive: highly demonstrative; unrestrained
Syn: gushy, lavish
Ant: restrained, reserved, muted, subdued
euphoria: a feeling of great happiness or well-being, often with no objective basis
Syn: elation, bliss, ecstasy, rapture
Ant: melancholy, depression, gloom
gothic: characterized by or emphasizing a gloomy setting and grotesque or violent events; such a literary r artistic
style; a type of medieval architecture
Syn: sinister, eerie
impassed: a dead end; a position from which there is no escape; a problem to which there is no solution
Syn: deadlock, standoff, stalemate
lugubrious: sad, mournful, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree
Syn: doleful, melancholy, dismal, dolorous
Ant: merry, jovial, hilarious, funny
metamorphosis: a complete transformation, as if by magic
Syn: change, makeover
mystique: an aura or attitude of mystery or veneration surrounding something or someone
Syn: charisma
non sequitur: an inference or conclusion that does not follow logically from the facts or premises
Syn: illogical reference, unsound conclusion
parlous: full of danger or risk, perilous
Syn: hazardous, risky, dangerous
Ant: safe, secure, risk-free
punctilio: a minute detail or conduct or procedure; an instant of time
Syn: fine point, nicety
quagmire: soft, soggy mud or slush; a difficult or entrapping situation
Syn: fen, marsh, bog, morass
Ant: bedrock, solid footing, terra firma
17. quixotic: extravagantly or romantically idealistic; visionary without regard to practical considerations
Syn: fanciful, impractical, utopian
Ant: realistic, down-to-earth, pragmatic
18. raconteur: a person who tells stories and anecdotes with great skill
Syn: storyteller, anecdotist
19. sine qua non: an essential or indispensable element or condition
Syn: necessity, requisite, desideratum
20. vendetta: a prolonged feud, often between two families, characterized by retaliatory acts of revenge; any act
motivated by vengeance
Syn: blood feud, rivalry
Completing the Sentence
1. Every great president must combine various roles- the practical politician, the masterful intellectual, the tough
administrator, the persuasive advocate- and at least a touch of the __________ visionary.
2. Although it may be true that hard work does not guarantee success, it is certainly a(n) __________ for doing
well in any endeavor.
3. His challenge to fight was pure __________; inwardly he hoped that no one would take him on.
4. It took Rome centuries to achieve the miraculous __________ from a minor city-state on the banks of the
Tiber to the leading power in the Mediterranean world.
5. One look at the coach’s __________ expression, and I knew that all our misgivings about the outcome of the
game had been borne out.
6. Modern military power requires great industrial resources, but to conclude from this that industrialized nations
are inherently militaristic is a __________.
7. To achieve an hourglass figure, fashionable ladies of the nineteenth century employed tight fitting corsets to
__________ their waistlines.
8. Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon offers a rare insight into the __________ of the bullring and the
attitudes that surround that ancient blood sport.
9. Not until later did I realize that their __________ expressions of interest in our welfare were insincere and
self-serving.
10. The police investigation established that the victim was not an innocent bystander but the target of a gangland
__________.
11. When he came to the throne, Julian the __________ renounced Christianity and began a vigorous campaign to
reestablish paganism as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
12. You cannot duck your responsibility for negotiating an agreement simply by announcing that you have
reached a hopeless __________.
13. As the disappointing results of the poll filtered in, the candidates sank into a(n) __________ of doubts about
the future.
14. Each episode in the silent-movie serial The Perils of Pauline ended with the heroine facing another
__________ predicament.
15. The mood of __________ brought about by our extraordinary good fortune caused us to relax our usual
alertness.
16. Though everyone in our club agreed that we had a problem, there was no group __________ on how to solve
it.
17. The rugged landscape, with the severe vertical lines of the mountains in the background lent an air of
__________ gloom to the entire scene.
18. How can you concern yourself with the __________ of protocol when your whole world is collapsing about
your ears?
19. The speaker said that they could see little hope for world peace unless something could be done to bridge the
__________ between the “have” and the “have-not” nations.
20. The man we a skilled __________ whose repertory of amusing anecdotes was seemingly inexhaustible.