Page 323 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
314
QUICK REVIEW #114
Match the word from column 2 with the word from column 1 that means most
nearly the same thing.

1. obsolete a. caricature
2. occult b. obscure
3. odious c. manifest
4. odium d. sphere
5. oligarchy e. rural

6. opaque f. esoteric
7. opprobrium g. analyze
8. orb h. sponsor
9. overt i. aristocracy
10. parody j. hateful
11. parse k. infamy
12. pastoral l. hatred
13. patron m. passé

peccadillo (PEK uh DIL oh) n. a minor or slight sin; a small fault or misdeed
• Mark’s roving eye was a peccadillo that Noreen did not care to put up with,
so she dumped him.
• Treating as a peccadillo a child’s taking a candy bar from a store without
paying is as good as encouraging the child to go on to larger crimes.
pedantry (PED in tree) n. 1. petty insistence on exact adherence to minor arbi-
trary points of learning; 2. ostentatious demonstrations of knowledge
• Mrs. Higgins, true to her pedantry, insists that each of her students learn
Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” word for word.
• Bert, in his pedantry, never missed an opportunity to use a five-syllable
word when a two-syllable one would have done the job.
pedestrian (pi DES tree in) adj. 1. walking; done on foot; 2. of or for a walker;
3. lacking interest; ordinary; dull —n. a walker
• Special Walk/Don’t Walk signs are growing more popular for the benefit of
pedestrian citizens.
• The UN ambassador’s speech was very pedestrian and lulled half its listeners
into a daze.
• City drivers need to keep an eye out for pedestrians crossing the street.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. ordinary]