8th Grade Vocabulary List 2008 - 2009
Language Arts
Key Concept Definition
1. Antonym A word opposite to another
2. Appositives An adjective that directly follows the noun it describes
3. Author’s bias The position the author puts forward, supported by reasons
4. Author’s purpose Why the writing is being written
5. Ballad A songlike poem that tells a story, often dealing with adventure and romance
6. Bandwagon A movement that by its mass appeal or strength attracts followers
7. Cause and effect Explaining the reasons that something happened or the results that an event or a
situation will probably produce
8. Character A person or an animal that takes part in the action of a written work
9. Clarify To make an idea clear or intelligible
10. Classification To categorize items into different groups or systems
11. Climax The high point or turning point in the action of the plot
12. Colon Used to introduce a letter, a list, or an important point; they are used between
the numbers in time.
13. Compare/contrast Analyzing the similarities and differences between two or more things
14. Compassion A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is experiencing
misfortune
15. Conflict A struggle between opposing forces
16. Conventions Spelling, punctuation, and stylistic parts of writing
17. Dialogue A conversation between characters
18. Direct object The noun or pronoun that receives the action of the predicate directly
19. Drama A story written to be performed by actors
20. Elegy A solemn and formal lyric poem about death
21. Elements of a Story Setting, characters, plot, and theme
22. Empathy Experiencing the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another
23. Epic A long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero
24. Evidence Ground for belief; proof
25. Expository Writing that explains or informs
26. First person A story told by a character who uses the first person pronoun “I”
27. Format of the writing What type of writing will be completed
28. Free verse Poetry not written in a regular, rhythmical pattern, or meter
29. Genre A division or type of literature
30. Haiku A three-line Japanese verse form. The first and third line have five syllables,
while the second line has seven syllables
31. Homophone A word pronounced the same as another but different in meaning (heir and air)
32. Hyperbole An exaggerated statement; sometimes meant to be funny
33. Ideas and content The main idea of a writing
34. Idioms An expression that has a meaning particular to a language or region
35. Indirect object The noun or pronoun that receives the action of the predicate indirectly. It
names the person to whom or for whom something is done
36. Inference A logical guess or assumption based on the details that are given, combined
with your own knowledge and experience
37. Intended Audience For whom the writing is written
38. Literary response A piece of writing that discusses what is of valley in a book, short story, a play,
a poem, an essay, or an article
39. Loaded words Words or phrases which have strong emotional overtones or connotations and
create strong positive (or negative) reactions
40. Logical order Placing ideas in a sequence that is clear to readers
41. Lyric A highly musical poem that expresses the observations and feelings of a single
Speaker
42. Main idea (Stated or implied/explicit and implicit) What the message of the writing is
43. Major character The most important character in a story, poem, or play
44. Minor character One who takes part in the action but is not the focus of attention
45. Mythology A collection of myths
46. Narrative A writing that tells a story
47. Narrators A speaker or character who tells a story
48. Organization The order of the writing
49. Paraphrasing Rewording something that has been read in a different form to make clearer
50. Peer pressure Pressure from one’s peers to behave in a manner similar or acceptable to them
51. Personification A type of figurative language which gives human characteristics to a nonhuman
Subject
52. Plot Sequence of events in a story (contains exposition, climax, and resolution)
53. Poetry Writing that uses rhythms and is organized in lines and groups of lines called
stanzas
54. Point of view The perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told
55. Predict To tell the future
56. Preposition A word that shows position, direction, or how two words or ideas are related to
each other
57. Prepositional phrase The preposition, the object of the preposition, and the modifiers of the object
58. Primary and secondary source The firsthand or eyewitness of an event; a description of the event by
someone who did not experience it
59. Propaganda The deliberate spreading of information, rumors, etc.
60. Prose Writing that is organized in sentences and paragraphs
61. Repetition Something made by or resulting from repeating
62. Research To investigate
63. Responsibility A thing for which one is responsible, in charge of
64. Resolution The falling action of the story
65. Role of the writer The author of the writing
66. Root A word or word base from which other words are made by adding a prefix or
suffix
67. Second person A story told by a character who uses the second person “you”
68. Semi-Colon Sometimes used in place of a period; other times it serves the same function as a comma
69. Setting The time and place of the action
70. Simile A comparison between two unlike ideas which uses like or as
71. Simple, compound, complex, compound/complex sentences Types of sentences that contain one or
more independent clauses, and/or one or more dependent clauses
72. Sonnet A fourteen-line lyric poem with a single theme
73. Suffix A word part that is added after a word
74. Synonym A word having the same meaning as another
75. Subject The part of a sentence that is doing something or about which something is said
76. Summary A brief statement of previously given facts
77. Testimonial Something given or done as an expression of admiration or gratitude
78. Thesis statement A sentence that shares the main idea of the entire writing, normally in the
Introduction
79. Third person (limited and omniscient) A story told by a character who is watching the action and uses
the third person pronouns “he”, “she”, etc.
80. Topic of the writing The meaning of the writing prompt
81. Verb A word that shows action or existence (state of being)
82. Voice The individuality of the writer as “heard” in the writing
83. Word choice The words that are used in writing
Science
Key Concept Definition
84. Acceleration (a) Change of velocity per unit of time.
85. Air resistance The force exerted by air molecules on objects moving through air.
86. Speed (v) The distance traveled by an object in a unit of time. Speed is reported in
standard units of distance per unit time, such as meters per second or kilometers per hour.
87. Average speed The theoretical constant speed at which an object would have to travel in
order to go a given distance in a given period of time. Total distance divided by total time.
88. Constant speed Speed that does not vary over time.
89. Terminal speed The maximum speed a particular object can obtain during free fall
through air.
90. Displacement The amount and direction of change of position between an object's
initial position and final position.
91. Distance (d) The amount of change of position between an initial position and a final
position; always a positive number.
92. Force (F) An interaction between masses. A push or pull.
93. Net force The sum of all the forces acting on a mass.
94. Friction A force acting between surfaces in contact. Friction acts to resist motion.
95. Gravity (g) The force due to gravitational attraction between Earth and other masses.
96. Inertia The property of mass that resists change of motion. Large masses have a
lot of inertia.
100. Matter Anything that has mass and takes up space.
101. Mass (m) A measure of the quantity of matter in an object.
102. Momentum (p) A measure of the motion of an object in terms of its mass and its velocity. The
greater the mass and/or velocity, the greater the momentum.
103. Motion The act of changing position.
104. Position (x) An object's location at a given time.
105. Velocity (v) The change in position per unit of time.
106. Atom The smallest particle of an element.
107. Electron A subatomic particle with a negative charge.
108. Neutron A subatomic particle with no charge.
109. Proton A subatomic particle that has a positive charge.
110. Atomic number The number assigned to an element, based on the number of protons in the
nucleus of its atom.
111. Bond An attractive force acting between atoms.
101. Molecule A particle made of two or more atoms that are held together with strong
(covalent) bonds.
102. Compound A substance whose particle is made of two or more different kinds of atoms.
103. Element A fundamental substance that cannot be broken into simpler substances by
chemical or physical processes.
104. Mixture Two or more substances together.
105. Density The ratio of mass and volume in a sample of matter.
106. Dilute A solution with a small amount of solute dissolved in a large amount of solvent.
107. Dissolve To incorporate one substance uniformly into another substance at the particle
level.
108. Precipitate An insoluble product of a reaction.
109. Solution A mixture formed when one substance dissolves in another.
110. Transparent Matter through which an image can be seen clearly.
111. Chemical reaction A process during which starting substances (reactants) change into new substances (products) with different arrangements of atoms.
112. Concentrated A solution with a large amount of solute dissolved in a small amount of solvent.
113. Reactant A starting substance in a chemical reaction.
114. Product A substance produced in a chemical reaction.
115. Volume A defined quantity of space.
116. Homozygous gene A gene composed of two identical alleles (e.g., both dominant).
117. Heterozygous gene A gene composed of two different alleles (a dominant and a recessive).
118. Gene The basic unit of heredity carried by the chromosomes; code for features of
organisms.
119. Chromosome A structure that transfers hereditary information to the next generation.
120. Reproduction The process by which organisms create new individuals of their kind. Some
reproduce asexually (without the joining of two cells) and others reproduce sexually (the joining of egg and sperm cells).
121. Environment The surroundings of an organism including the living and nonliving factors
122. Phenotype The traits produced by the genotype; the expression of the genes.
123. Genotype An organism's particular combination of paired alleles.
124. Incomplete metamorphosis A process of gradual maturing of an insect (egg, nymphal stages or
instars, adult).
125. Natural selection The process by which the individuals best adapted to their environment tend to
survive and pass their traits to subsequent generations.
126. Population All the individuals of one kind (one species) in a specified area at one time.
127. Recessive allele A form of a gene that is expressed as the trait only when a dominant allele is not present.
128. Dominant allele A form of a gene that is expressed as the trait when a dominant allele is present.
129. Trait The specific way a feature is expressed in an individual organism.
130. Species A kind of organism; members of a species are all the same kind of organism
and are different from all other kinds of organisms.
131. Variation The range of expression of a trait within a population.
132. Autotroph Organisms that make their own food.
133. Heredity The genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring.
134. Genetic Occurring among members of a family usually by heredity
135. Dominant Ruling, governing, or controlling; having or exerting authority or influence
136. Recessive That one of a pair of alternative alleles whose effect is masked by the activity or
the second when both are present in the same cell or organism.
137. Homogeneous Corresponding in structure because of a common origin.
138. Heterogeneous Consisting of dissimilar elements or parts; not homogeneous
139. Pollination The transfer of male pollen grains from the anther in one flower to the stigma
on the female pistil in another flower.
140. Dormant A state of suspended biological activity. Dormant organisms are alive but
inactive.
141. Seed-dispersal strategy A way that seeds can be transported away from the parent plant, such as wind
or animals.
Math
Key Concept Definition
142. Whole Numbers A real number subset that consist of the natural numbers and zero
{0,1, 2, 3, …}.
143. Integers A real number subset that consist of the natural numbers, their opposites, and
zero. {…, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, …}
144. Rational numbers Numbers that can be written as a fraction. These include terminating and
repeating decimal numbers.
145. Irrational numbers Numbers that cannot be written as fractions. These include non-terminating
and non-repeating decimals.
146. Real Numbers The real number system consists of all the rational and irrational numbers.
147. Perfect Squares Perfect squares have square roots that are integers. {1, 4, 9, 16, 25,…}
148. Scientific Notation Scientific notation is used to represent very large or very small numbers.
149. Decimal A number with one or more places to the right of a decimal point.
150. Fractions A number in the form a/b that names part of a region or part of a group.
151. Factorial Notation Multiplying consecutive numbers
152. Mixed Numbers A number written as a whole number and a fraction.
153. Commutative Property States that the order in which numbers are added or multiplied does not matter.
154. Associative Property States that the way in which numbers are grouped when more than two
numbers are added or multiplied does not matter.
155. Distributive Property States that everything inside the parentheses is multiplied by whatever is
outside the parenthesis.
156. Identity Property Shows what happens when you add zero to a number or multiply a number by
one.
157. Inverse Property Shows what happens when you add a number’s opposite to that number or
multiply a number by its reciprocal.
158. Zero Product Property States that a number multiplied by zero is equal to zero.
159. Ratio A comparison of two numbers.
160. Proportion States that two ratios are equal. A proportion has two cross products that are
equal to each other.
161. Percent Can be written as a fraction with a denominator of 100.
162. Estimation Rounding or estimating the solution to a problem.
163. Iterative Pattern A sequence of numbers to which you do the same thing over and over again.
164. Recursive Pattern A sequence of numbers in which previous numbers are used to find the next