Vocab Week #5

acumen - noun a tapering point; shrewdness shown by keen insight
adjudicate - verb bring to an end; settle conclusively; put on trial or hear a case and sit as the judge at the trial of
anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
apocryphal - adj. being of questionable authenticity; of or belonging to the Apocrypha
disparity - noun inequality or difference in some respect
dissimulate - verb hide (feelings) from other people
empirical - adj. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory; relying on medical quackery
flamboyant - adj. richly and brilliantly colorful; elaborately or excessively ornamented; noun showy tropical tree or shrub native to Madagascar; widely planted in tropical regions for its immense racemes of scarlet and orange flowers; sometimes placed in genus Poinciana
fulsome - adj. unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
immolate - verb offer as a sacrifice by killing or by giving up to destruction
imperceptible - adj. impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses
lackey - noun a male servant (especially a footman); a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
liaison - noun a channel for communication between groups; a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
monolithic - adj. characterized by massiveness and rigidity and total uniformity; imposing in size or bulk or solidity
nihilism - noun a revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sake; complete denial of all established authority and institutions; the delusion that things (or everything, including the self) do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal
patrician - adj. of the hereditary aristocracy or ruling class of ancient Rome or medieval Europe; of honorary nobility in the Byzantine empire; belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy; noun a person of refined upbringing and manners; a member of the aristocracy
propitiate - verb make peace with
sic - adv. intentionally so written (used after a printed word or phrase); verb urge a dog to attack someone
sublimate - adj. made pure; noun the product of vaporization of a solid; verb direct energy or urges into useful activities; vaporize and then condense right back again; change or cause to change directly from a solid into a vapor without first melting; remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; make more subtle or refined