VOCABULARY LISTS 7 - 9
List 7
1. abhor–v. to hate, loathe, detest; I abhorpeoplewho pick their nose in
public; it’s disgusting.
2. acme–n. top, highest point of perfection,zenith, summit; The empire
was at the acmeof its power.
3. affluence - riches, wealth, opulence,abundance;After the Civil War,
plantation owners went fromaffluence to poverty.
4. amnesty– n. a general pardon, a grant ofimmunity; The workerwas
offered amnestyin exchange for his testimony against hisboss.
5. assent – v. & n. to agree, concur, or subscribe to; agreement,
acquiescence, or compliance. Assenting to his demands, I did as I
was told.
6. assuage–v. to lessen the pain or distress,pacify, to mitigate, to calm;
To assuage hisguilt over forgetting her birthday, he boughtan
extravagant gift the next day.
7. bilious–adj. sour, bad-tempered, cross, bitter; unpleasant or
distasteful; full of bile or bile-colored; My bilious neighbor often
complained aboutsmall and petty things we did.
8. blasé–adj. (pron. blah-zey) bored,indifferent, uninterested,
satiated,unimpressed; After attending 8 proms, the senior girl
was blasé about going to anther formal.
9. cavalier – adj & n. showing an arrogant or offhand disregard,
dismissive; a gentleman, a chivalrous man, a knight; Sam had a
cavalier attitude toward school; he hardly put any effort in to it
at all and did seemed not to care about his poor grades.
10. circumspect–adj. cautious, discreet, unobjectionable,careful;
Around his grandmother, Joe was circumspect, remembering to
curb his foul language, and to remember his manners.
11. contraband–n. smuggled goods, prohibited goods, booty, loot
Undercover agents arrested a suspected smuggler at the airport
bringing in 25 contraband birds under his clothes.
12. countenance–n.& v face, expression, features,visage; to allow
or permit; I could tell by his countenance that the interview went
well. AND You should not have countenanced his rudeness.
13. deleterious–adj. harmful, injurious, pernicious; There were
deleterious gases escaping from the manufacturing plant.
14. despot– n. bully, dictator, tyrant; The dictator would probably
be replaced by another despot.
15. dissident–n & adj. one who differs or disagrees ;disagreeing,
dissenting. He was a dissident and a Czech patriot.
List 8
16. effrontery–n. nerve, shameless boldness, temerity, presumption;
I can’t believe she had the effrontery to take 3 pieces of pizza
when there was still a lot of people who hadn’t had any yet.
17.eminence – n. high station, rank, or reputation; He got his
eminence through hard work and unfailing politeness.
18. erudite–adj. well read, scholarly, knowledgeable,learned; I had
difficulty following the professor’s erudite lecture.
19. expatiate - to expand, enlarge, amplify; The instructor told me my
essay was too narrow in focus, and I needed to expatiate my ideas.
20. feign – v. to fake or pretend in order to deceive; Her mother was
not fooled when Noori feigned an illness.
21. felicitous–adj. fitting, apt, appropriate; pleasant, delightful; well
-suited to the occasion; The speaker’s felicitous introductory joke
put everyone at ease.
22. garrulous–adj. pointlessly or annoyingly talkative, chatty,
tediously loquacious; My minister’s garrulous sermons bore the
congregation, so I’ve been going to another church.
23.gesticulate–v. making motions, gestures, waving; use one’shands to punctuate one’s speech; The teacher tried to get Suzie to stop
gesticulating so much, so she had her sit on her hands.
24. impasse–n. standstill, deadlock, roadblock,an insoluble
difficulty; The divorcing couple came to an impasse when dividing up
their property; neither wanted to share the dog.
25. ineluctable - certain, unavoidable, inexorable, inevitable,
inescapable; After three generations of doctors, Tom felt it was his
ineluctable destiny to be one too, although he wanted to be an actor.
26. intransigent –n. & adj. stubborn, uncompromising,mulish (like a
mule), irreconcilable; The shop owner was intransigent; he would
NOT sell to anyone for any amount of money.
27. ken–n. knowing, field of knowledge,cognizance,comprehension
Astrophysics was beyond my ken; I hadn’t the foggiest idea what
Dr. Sheldon Cooper was saying.
28. lucid - clear, exact, enlightening; sane;comprehensible;
translucent; There were a few lucid moments in Jon’s madness,
but they got fewer and fewer as his disease progressed.
29. malinger–v. to shirk work, evade duty, to feignincapacity, to
loaf; His mother knew he like to malinger, so if he said he was
sick he had to prove it by taking his temperature.
30. mnemonic – n. memory improvement or a memory device; To
help me remember the bones of the hand, I used the mneumonic
“Sally left the party to take Cathy home.”
List 9
31. myriad – adj. & n. crowds of, very numerous, innumerable,
multitudinous; I like to go to the desert and see the myriad stars.”
32. narcissistic – adj. vain, self-centered, egoistic, self-adulatory; She
is so narcissistic, she can’t pass a mirror without looking.
33. odious – adj. hateful, disgusting, offensive, repugnant; There was
an odious smell coming from the kitchen.
34. palpitate – v. to beat quickly , pound, throb; He was so nervous
asking her out, he thought she could hear his heart palpitate.
35. pedant - one who parades his learning; one who emphasizes
minor details or rules; You would think he would do well on
Jeopardy, he’s such a pedant.
36. platonic–adj. idealistic, spiritual, unsensual; She just wanted “tobe
friends,” but he was not interested in a platonic relationship.
37. pragmatic - adj. practical, businesslike, factual; He has a
pragmatic view of the world.
38. promiscuous–adj. loose, sexually uncontrolled, casual,
indiscriminate. She was beautiful but promiscuous.
39. recalcitrant–adj. resisting authority,uncooperative. The
recalcitrant protester chained himself to the tree.
40. restive–adj. nervous, uneasy, restless, fidgety,contrary, balky;
The soldiers grew restive waiting for the battle to begin.
41. sardonic–adj. very sarcastic, biting, ironic; mocking, cynical
When the young girl asked if she was safe, the villain gave a
sardonic grin and answered, “not with me!”
42. sensuous–adj. physical, sensory; He was taken away by the
senuous music
43. stolid–adj. not easily excited, unemotional,impassive; He was
no stolid merchant but a audacious risk-taker.
44. sybarite–n. a lover of luxury, voluptuary,sensualist; The lifelong
sybarite was devastated when she was forced to live in a homeless
shelter after going bankrupt.
45. tirade–n. antagonistic speech, outburst,denunciation; His angry tirade at the salesclerk made everyone around stare.
46. vagary–n. a whim, quirk, capriciousness; The vargaries of the
weather made it hard to know what to wear to school.
47. venal –adj. corrupt, purchasable or bribable,mercenary; The venal
judge was charged with bribary.
48. vicarious–adj. second-hand, substitute,empathetic; Some parents live
vicariously through their children’s accomplisments.
49. vice – n. immoral or evil practice or habit; depraved or degrading
behavior; If your worst vice is drinking sodas, I wouldn’t worry about
your eternal salvation.
50. vitiate–v. to be weakened, spoiled, made faulty,debased, “wasted”;
You made a good decision, so don’t vitiate it by boasting about your
success.