Rare & Beautiful Words — Set 1: Quick Drills flashcards
10 of 25 cards free to study here · 8 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
Meaning to word: 25 of the Set 1 words, from a fresh one-line definition back to the word itself, with one new example of it in use.
Drills deck · part of Rare & Beautiful Words · written against: 200 uncommon words with their own Merriam-Webster entries, chosen for sound and precision. Updated 2026-10-10.
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Which word means brown warmed with red, as of a chestnut; also a potato or apple with dull, coarse, brownish skin?russetLight & Color
The baker's russet loaves cooled in a row on the windowsill. -
Which word means a natural mineral pigment, tinted by iron and manganese oxides, that paints a deep yellowish brown; also that shade?umberLight & Color
Two coats of umber stain darkened the new pine shelf to match the old desk. -
Which word means in song, to make the voice flutter and dart from note to note, decorating the tune as it goes?warbleSound & Speech
A canary warbled in its cage beside the cash register. -
Which word means a booming, open-mouthed laugh nobody tries to muffle; to laugh that way?guffawSound & Speech
The principal guffawed at the class skit, which surprised everyone. -
Which word means the lightest of winds, barely enough to cool your face; also, specifically, a west wind?zephyrWeather & Nature
A zephyr off the lake cooled the crowd at the outdoor concert. -
Which word means the peaceful, restful ease a body or mind settles into once exertion is over; also a composed, unflustered bearing?reposeMood & Feeling
Stretched in a deck chair after the move, Dad was the picture of repose. -
Which word means lean and limber, with a body that flows from one movement to the next like a leopard's?lithePeople & Manner
The lithe fencer twisted aside from the lunge and scored with a quick touch.
Also right: lissome -
Which word means the untried years of youth; also the glory days that came early on for someone or something?salad daysTime & Change
Grandma keeps a photo of her first apartment, a fifth-floor walk-up from her salad days. -
Which word means lovely in an unearthly, even heavenly way that comes from being airy and fragile?etherealForm & Texture
The hermit thrush's ethereal song rang through the dark woods. -
Which word means a racket and commotion that goes on and on, with everybody shouting at once?hullabalooPlayful Words
The cafeteria erupted in a happy hullabaloo when the mascot walked in.
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About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Learner's, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
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