Unit 6A Vocabulary Words
Accede (ak-seed) (verb): to give consent, approval, agreement, or adherence
If you accede, it means you agree with someone or give in to his or her wish. The word is often used in a political context — the Queen acceded to the Prince's demands for more territory, a larger army, and funnier jesters.
Accede can also be used for everyday situations. If you accede to your mother's request that you come home before ten, it means you'll be missing that midnight movie with your friends. Accede comes from the Latin accedere, meaning to "approach or enter upon." It differs slightly from concede, which also means consent, but a more reluctant kind. If you were to concede to your mom's 10 PM curfew rather than accede to it, you'd be doing so against your will.
Brandish(bran-dish) (verb): to shake or wave something (like a weapon) back and forth in an aggressive fashion
To brandish something is to wave it about aggressively, as one might brandish a sword or tennis racket (if it's a particularly intense game).
Brandish often implies that a person is wielding a physical weapon. In fact, brandish comes from the archaic French word brandir, meaning “sword.” However, it’s also possible to brandish objects that aren’t weapons. If you win a bowling tournament, for example, you might be inclined to brandish your shiny new trophy in front of the other competitors. Be careful, though; they might mistake your trophy for a "brandir" and respond accordingly.
Comprise(come-prize) (verb): to be made up of; to include or contain
To comprise is to make up or form. John, Paul, George, and Ringocomprise the Beatles, and the periodic table is comprised of 118 elements.
Comprise is a term for describing what something includes or contains. It does not work, however, in the active sense. While you can include your friends in your holiday plans, you can't comprise them. However, when describing who tagged along on the ski trip, you can say that the chalet's cozy bedrooms comprised a who's-who of your favorite people.
Deft(deft) (adjective): skillful, especially with one’s hands
Deft means "showing cleverness and skill in handling things." What you want to see in football or basketball is some deft handling of the ball.
The original meaning of deft was "humble or gentle." From the same Old English source comes the word daft "silly or foolish." You can see how they diverged. A deft person might appear humble and quiet because they're focused and efficient in their display of skill. A daft person appears humble and quiet because they don't have anything to say. The uncomplimentary daft is a mainly British word, so you probably won't get the chance to confuse it with deft.
Destitute(des-ti-toot) (adjective): poor enough to need help from others; deprived of the necessities of life
When you think of the word destitute, which means poor or lacking other necessities of life, think of someone who is in desperate straits. A very, very tight budget is poor. Living on the streets is destitute.
Destitute essentially means not having something. When you're destitute in the sense of being poor, you're technically "destitute of money." You can be destitute of other things as well. If all your friends have abandoned you, you're "destitute of friends." If you are applying for a job as a waitress but have never worked in a restaurant in any capacity, you're "destitute of experience."
Explicit(ex-pliss-it) (adjective) precisely and clearly expressed or stated
Anything explicit is very clear, whether it's instructions or a dirty movie.
Thanks to parental-advisory warnings about "explicit language" or "explicit violence," you might think this word only applies to things that are dirty, naughty, or adult in some way. That is a common meaning of explicit, but it's not the only meaning. This also means anything that is clear and easy to understand. Explicit orders are easy to carry out; explicit instructions are easy to follow. When someone is explicit, they're not beating around the bush or being confusing.
Extirpate(ex-tur-pate) (verb): to tear up by the roots; to destroy totally
The verb extirpate originally literally meant "to weed out by the roots." Now you'd use it when you want to get rid of something completely as if pulling it up by the root.
Use the verb extirpate when you mean to destroy completely or get rid of completely. You can try to extirpate all the bedbugs that came home with you from your vacation, but you will probably be afraid that some resisted the exterminator to munch on you later.
Inopportune(in-op-er-tune) (adjective): coming at an inconvenient or inappropriate time
Since the meaning of "opportune" is "favorable" or "well-timed," it's easy to guess that the meaning of inopportune means something that is ill-timed or inappropriate. That little prefix in- means "not," and it totally turns the meaning of a word around.
Think of the Latin word opportunus, which means "fitting" or "opportune." When you add in- in front of it, or any word, you give the word the opposite meaning. That's the history of the word inopportune, which has been used since the early 16th century to describe something that is "not fitting." For example, "She opened the door at an inopportune moment and saw him fire the gun." Bad timing? You bet. And very inopportune.
Ironic(eye-ron-ick) (adjective): a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens
If something is ironic it's unexpected, often in an amusing way. If you're the world chess champion, it would be pretty ironic if you lost a match to someone who just learned to play yesterday.
Ironic is the adjective for the noun irony. In contemporary speech, when we call something ironic, we often mean sarcastic. If you spill coffee all over drawings you've been working on all morning, you might ironically tell your coworker, "I've done something wonderful!" An ironic outcome is the opposite of what's intended. Having someone splash mud on you is always annoying, but it would be ironic if they had splashed you because they were running up to wipe dirt off you.
Musty(musty) (adjective): tale, moldy; out of date
Musty is an unclean, stale and possibly moldy smell. If something smells musty that means it’s probably been sitting in a damp corner without any air for a little too long.
Musty smells take time to develop: they’re caused by dampness and mold, and signal some amount of decay. You might also call the smell of a musty old basement rank or foul. But people also use musty to insult someone’s writing, or their ideas. A musty speech wouldn’t just be old-fashioned, it would be old in a bad way: rotten and boring.