Even More Words

Vocabulary and Usage List: Ninth Grade

Peregrination (n) ("Unwilling to let McCandless go, I spent more than a year retracing the convoluted path that led to his death in the Alaskan taiga, chasing down details of his peregrinations with an interest that bordered on obsession.") A quest or journey, especially by foot. [The related adjective, peregrine, means "from afar, alien."]
Asceticism (n) ("In college McCandless began emulating Tolstoy’s asceticism and moral rigor to a degree that first astonished, and then alarmed, those who were close to him.") Rigorous self-denial; extreme abstinence; austerity. The word has religious overtones, as it relates to the idea of living a holy life through self-denial.
Fulminate (v) ("Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist…") To issue vehement denunciations or condemnation (usually followed by "against"). [L. fulminare: to thunder]
Contumacious (adj) ("Thompson, Samuel, and Swanson, however, are contumacious Alaskans with a special fondness for driving motor vehicles where motor vehicles aren’t really meant to be driven.") Stubbornly perverse or rebellious; willfully disobedient.
Enigmatic (adj) ("When they flew away, they took McCandless’s remains, a camera with five rolls of exposed film, the SOS note, and a diary—written across the last two pages of a field guide to edible plants—that recorded the young man’s final weeks in 113 terse, enigmatic entries.") Resembling a riddle; perplexing, mysterious.
Mawkish (adj) ("The Cabaret’s plywood-paneled walls are hung with deer antlers, Old Milwaukee beer promos, and mawkish paintings of game birds taking flight.") 1) Having a faint sickly flavor; slightly nauseating; insipid. 2) Characterized by sickly sentimentality. [ME mawk: maggot]
Imminent / Eminent(adj.) ("His father, Walt, is an eminent aerospace engineer…") This is the first usage pair. Imminent means likely to occur at any moment; eminent means distinguished, renowned, illustrious.
Upbraid (v) ("Indeed, Chris had only recently upbraided Walt and Billie for expressing their desire to buy him a new car as a graduation present…") To find fault with or reproach severely; censure.
Credo (n) ("…telling the truth was a credo he took seriously.") Any creed or formula of belief. [L. credo: I believe]
Indolent (adj) ("Emasculated through a series of dams and diversion canals, the lower Colorado burbles indolently from reservoir to reservoir through some of the hottest, starkest country on the continent.") Having a disposition to avoid exertion; lazy; slothful.
Perfunctory (adj) ("The journal entries became short and perfunctory.") Performed merely as a routine duty; done without interest, care, or enthusiasm.
Adherent (n) ("On the face of it, Bullhead City doesn't’t seem like the kind of place that would appeal to an adherent of Thoreau and Tolstoy, an ideologue who expressed nothing but contempt for the bourgeois trappings of mainstream America.") A person who follows or upholds a leader/cause. (Usually followed by of)
Bourgeois (adj) (see above) belonging to or characteristic of the middle class; conventional in thinking or behavior; dominated by materialistic pursuits.
Fatuous (adj) ("McCandless conveniently overlooked the fact that [Jack] London himself had spent just a single winter in the North and that he’d died by his own hand on his California estate at the age of forty, a fatuous drunk, obese and pathetic, maintaining a sedentary lifestyle that bore scant resemblance to the ideals he espoused in print.") Foolish, inane, silly, esp. in an unconscious, self-satisfied manner.
Desiccated (adj) ("Away from the lakeshore the land rises gently and then abruptly to form the desiccated, phantasmal badlands of Anza-Borrego.") Devoid of moisture; very dry.
Harangue (n/v) ("He also turned the tables and started lecturing the grandfatherly figure about the shortcomings of his sedentary existence….Franz took these harangues in stride and in fact delighted in the boy’s company.") A scolding or heated verbal attack.
Corollary (n) ("McCandless’s apparent sexual innocence, however, is a corollary of a personality type that our culture purports to admire….") A natural consequence or result [L. corollarium: money paid for a garland, gift, or gratuity]
Purport (v) (see above) to profess or claim, often falsely.
Succor (n) ("McCandless may have been tempted by the succor offered by women, but it paled beside the rough congress with nature, with the cosmos itself.") Aid, help, relief [L. succurrere, run to help]
Congress (n) (see above) The act of coming together. [L con + gressus, with + step]
Pathological (adj) ("It may, after all, be the bad habit of creative talents to invent themselves in pathological extremes that yield remarkable insights but no durable way of life for those who cannot translate their own psychic wounds into significant art or thought." [Theodore Roszak, "In Search of the Miraculous"]) Deviating from a healthy, normal condition.
Opprobrium (n) ("The article about McCandless in Outside generated a large volume of mail, and not a few of the letters heaped opprobrium on McCandless—and on me, as well, the author of the story, for glorifying what some thought was a foolish, pointless death.") The disgrace or reproach occasioned by conduct considered shameful.[The word comes directly from the Latin.]
Callow (adj) ("Ruess was, in the words of Wallace Stegner, ‘a callow romantic…an atavistic wanderer of the wastelands.’") Immature or inexperienced: a callow youth, e.g. (The word also means "featherless," referring to immature birds. Try this meaning out on an ornithologist!)
Atavistic (adj) (see above) reverting to or suggesting the characteristics of a remote ancestor [L. avus, grandfather, forefather]
Mercurial (adj) ("According to members of the extended family, his moods can be dark and mercurial, although they say his famous temper has lost much of its volatility in recent years.") Changeable, fickle, flighty, erratic. [The word derives from the Roman belief that personality traits were influenced by the position of stars/planets at the time of birth; mercurial refers to traits thought characteristic of Mercury's influence.]
Vagary (n) ("In addition to the financial strain of exchanging a steady paycheck for the vagaries of self-employment, Walt’s separation from his first wife left him with two families to support.") Extravagant or erratic notion or action; a flight of fancy. [L. vagor, to wander, to rove. The English vagary carries this association: a wandering mind may well have flights of fancy.]
Continual / Continuous (adj) Continual implies repetition, whereas continuous implies action that exists without a pause. (The football season is a continual delight. During the blizzard, continuous snowfall made driving an impossibility.)
Monomania (n) ("He could be very generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption, qualities that seemed to intensify through his college years.") An exaggerated zeal for or interest in one idea or subject [G. mono + mania, one/single + madness]
Incorrigible (adj) ("One of the two individuals he professed to admire greatly over the last two years of his life was a heavy drinker and incorrigible philanderer who regularly beat up his girlfriends.") Bad beyond correction or reform; not swayed by punishment, willful; uncontrollable.
Philanderer (n) (see above) A man who seeks romantic attachment without having serious intentions. [G. phil, love—as in philosophy and philanthropy]
Sanctimonious (adj) ("…Chris would fixate on his father’s own less than sterling behavior many years earlier and silently denounce him as a sanctimonious hypocrite.") Making a false show of religious devotion or righteousness. [L. sanctimonia, holiness, and the related words sanctuary and sanctify are positive, whereas sanctimonious is decidedly negative.]
Pensive (adj) ("In both photos Chris stares at the lens with the same pensive, recalcitrant squint, as if he’d been interrupted in the middle of an important thought and was annoyed to be wasting his time in front of the camera.") Deeply serious or sadly thoughtful; a mood characterized by dreaminess or wistfulness. [The word describes the mood of someone who should be studying vocabulary but instead sits staring out at the autumn trees, listening to the rain.]
Recalcitrant (adj) (see above) Resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; hard to deal with or manage. [related to L. calx, heel, and the verb calcitrare, to kick with the heels]
Mundane (adj) ("Because I was alone, however, even the mundane seemed charged with meaning.") Of or relating to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; common, ordinary, banal. [L. mundus, world]
Phantasmagoria (n) ("Here the glacier spills abruptly over the edge of a high plateau, dropping seaward through a gap between tow mountains in a phantasmagoria of shattered ice.") A shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.
Cow(n) (It seemed like time for an easy word) The mature female cattle of the genus bos; that thing from which most of you get milk.
Inundate (v) ("It took only twenty minutes for the spindrift to inundate my bivvy sack…") To flood with water; to overwhelm with an abundance of anything. [L. unda, wave—related to what a waterbed does: undulate.]
Rime (n) ("Fittingly, the summit was a surreal, malevolent place, an improbably slender wedge of rock and rime no wider than a file cabinet.") An opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of supercooled water droplets on impact with an object.
Hubris (n) "The fact that I survived my Alaskan adventure and McCandless did not survive his was largely a matter of chance….Eighteen years after the event, I now recognize that I suffered from hubris, perhaps, and an appalling innocence, certainly, but I wasn't’t suicidal.") Overweening pride; an inflated sense of self-worth.
Gloaming (n) ("He woke early on the morning of April 28, walked down to the highway in the predawn gloaming, and was pleasantly surprised when the first vehicle to come along pulled over to give him a lift.") Dusk, twilight.
Among / Between (prep.) (We have traveled among many cities, but if we had to settle down, our choice would be between New York and Seattle.) Use between for two items; among for three or more.
Eclectic (adj) (Ralph’s combination of tuxedo and jeans shows an eclectic taste.) Choosing what appears to be the best from different sources and styles.
Abyss (n) (Climbing up the increasingly steep ridge, Claire challenged herself to look down into the rime-coated abyss.) An immeasurable depth or void; the bottomless pit; hell. [The adjective abysmal means the worst, as in "the lowest of the low"]
Primal (adj) being first in time; it often refers to a condition of life prior to civilization. You probably have heard the phrase primal urges. [L. primus, first—related to primary and prime]
Onychophagia (n) (Suffering from onychophagia, Bret often walked around hunched over, with his reddened hands stuffed deep in his pockets.) The practice of biting one’s fingernails, esp. as a result of a nervous condition.
Poignant (adj) (When Alice gave Tommy the rose, everyone thought it a poignant moment.) Keenly distressing to the mind; appealing to the emotions; touching.
Fusillade (n) (Dodging the fusillade of bullets, Private Ryan ran to find the brief shelter of a doorway.) A simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms; a general discharge or outpouring of anything.
Unctuous (adj) (The used car salesman’s pitch was unctuous.) Oily, slick, smooth—applied pejoratively to people.
Adverse / Averse (adj) (The plane turned back because of adverse weather conditions, and no passenger was averse to the pilot's decision, even if it meant further delays.) Adverse means "unfavorable, harmful"; averse means "opposed to, reluctant." [L. advertere, to turn]
Pusillanimous (adj) (He wavered, then fled: a wildly running figure, haunted by childish fears of the dark, tearful and pusillanimous.) Lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted. [L. pusillus + animus,, very small + spirit]
Obsequious (adj) (Frankie’s obsequious behavior around Ms. Kaz annoyed other students.) Full of servile compliance; fawning. [L. sequor, follow]
Supplicate (v) (The ancient Greeks supplicated Artemis, goddess of the chase, before and after any hunting party.) To ask for humbly or earnestly, such as by praying. [L. supplicare, entreat, pray to]
Facetious (adj) (The teacher grew red in the face when he heard the student’s facetious rendition of Hamlet’s soliloquy: "To be or not to be: That is the big big question.") Playfully jocular; humorous and flippant.
Scud (v) (The clouds scudded across the sky.) To run or move quickly, usually associated with wind or water.
Vestige (n) (I see a vestige of breakfast on your shirt) A mark, trace or visible evidence of something. [L. vestigium, footprint, trace]
Forage (v) (The explorers had to forage for fresh food when their last supplies had run out.) To search for food or supplies.
Elicit / Illicit (v/adj) Elicit means "to draw information out." (The detectives played with the suspect’s fears in their attempt to elicit additional details of the crime). Illicit means "illegal." (The illicit sale of tobacco to minors should be punished more severely.)
Aesthetic(adj) (Having no aesthetic sense, George thought the poem was "dumb.")Pertaining to a sense of the beautiful.
Volition (n) ("I was forced to admit that volition alone, however powerful, was not going to get me up the north wall.") a choice or decision made by the will [L. volo, I will. (Perhaps you've heard the ancient Swedish saying, nollo volo solo Volvo—or, "never will I drive my chariot alone.")]
Fillip (n/v) (The movie "Pulp Fiction" gave John Travolta’s slumping career a much needed fillip.) Something which rouses, excites, or revives (noun form, as used in the prior sentence). As a verb the word means "to strike with the nail of a finger snapped from the end of the thumb."
Glean (v) (Astronomers manage to glean a great deal from pictures of the cosmos that the average person would find blurry and hard to fathom.) To gather slowly and laboriously; to gather what is left by reapers. [from Ruth: "Pray, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.]
Privation (n) (Her many years of privation began to affect her health.) A lack of the usual comforts or necessities. [L. privare, deprive, rob]
Awry (adj) (We planned to visit beautiful Renton, but our plans went awry when I discovered our car was totally out of gas.) Away from the expected or proper direction; amiss.
Salon (n) (In Mrs. Francis Kay’s opulent Washington D.C. salon, many an important political decision has been arranged over a snifter of brandy.) A drawing or reception room in a large house; an assembly of guests in such a room—usually to discuss art, politics, etc.
Allusion (n). (Making one of his typical allusions to baseball, my father hoped I would "knock one out of the park" when I took my driver’s test.) A mention of or a reference to something. (The verb form is to allude.)
Ubiquitous (adj) (The ubiquitous fast food restaurant is a peculiarly American, bourgeois institution.) Being or seeming to be everywhere. [L. ubi, where]
Venerable (adj) (We always thought of our Math teacher as venerable, and our respect intensified when we learned that she had once been on the Olympic ping pong team.) Worthy of honor or respect by virtue of dignity, character, position, or age. [L. venerari,to worship, honor, pray to]
Disinterested/ Uninterested (adj) To be disinterested is to be impartial or unbiased. (A judge had better be disinterested.) To be uninterested is to be lacking interest in something. (My Dad is entirely uninterested in my monomania, horror films.)
Emulate (v) (I tried to emulate my ski instructor’s cool turns, but instead ended up having to endure the facetious remarks from those on the lift.) To be ambitious to equal or surpass another.
Animadversion (n) (My history teacher has nice things to say about computers, but she delivers animadversions on the supposed benefits of giving them to kids in middle school.) A critical or censorious remark (usu. used with on). [L. animum advertere, to turn the mind to; over time, the to became against—as also seen in the case of related words adversary and adverse.]
Hypnogogic (adj) (The most famous case of hypnogogic composition must surely be that of Samuel Coleridge’s "Kubbla Khan," a strange, mystical poem that the poet claimed was written in a dreamlike state.) Of or relating to the drowsiness preceding sleep. [G. hypno, sleep—as in hypnotism.]
Onus (n) (The students felt a great onus had been lifted when Mr. Lapsley agreed to postpone the test.) A troublesome load or burden. [L. onus, load]
Discomfit (v) (President Nixon was continually discomfited by the investigative reporting of The Washington Post into the Watergate affair.) To thwart the plans or purposes of; to frustrate.
Attest (v) (The college students’ rowdy behavior attested to their belief that they needed to "blow off some steam" right after taking final exams.) To give proof or evidence of; to affirm, esp. in an official capacity. [L. attestari, to bear witness to]
Conscious / Conscience (adj/n) To be conscious means to be aware of one's surrounding; its opposite is unconscious; both words can be used literally (I am conscious now, after my car accident..) or figuratively (I am conscious of my duties as a citizen...). The noun conscience refers to the sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action (A small cricket tries to appeal to Pinocchio's conscience..).
Stymie (v) (The enemy's plan was stymied when the Allies began to suspect a sneak attack.) To block, check, or thwart. [The word derives from Scottish, in which stymie is a person with poor eyesight. Go figure!]
Pulchritude (adj) (The cowboy hat had, what his sister scornfully called, "the Clark Kent effect"--though his mother assured him that it only emphasized his manly pulchritude.) Physical comeliness; beauty. [L. pulchritudo, beauty]
Ostracize (v) (When Charley missed the easy lay up, his team members were mean enough to ostracize him from the their meeting on the next day.) To banish from society; to exile [G. ostrakizein, to banish by voting with shells or potsherds, which in turn is related to the modern act of blackballing a prospective member from joining a club.]
Affect / Effect (v/n) Affect is a verb which means to change, alter or influence. (The high altitude at the Mexico City Olympics affected many athletes, causing some to perform less than optimally.) When effect is used as a noun (by far its most common usage) it means "outcome" or "result." (The thin air's effect was particularly adverse for those who had not prepared for this problem.)
Rustic (adj) (Many emigrants came to the United States from rustic villages, and they were often shocked by their first sight of the New York harbor.) Pertaining to country life; unsophisticated [L. rus, country--as in our word, rural]
Osculation (n) (In "Titanic," the hero slips into the bitter chill waters, but not before one final, blue-lipped osculation.) The act of kissing [L. osculari, to kiss]
Fastidious (adj) (My mother is fastidious when it comes to her children's general appearance; she never ignores stains or mussed hair.) 1) hard to please; excessively critical or demanding; 2) requiring excessive care or delicacy; particular. (L. fastidium, disgust]
Unalloyed (adj) ("At the sight of Gillian they pause in their work and, resting on their huge mower for a minute, regard her progress with unalloyed pleasure."--Kate Atkinson) Unmixed; pure.
Stoical (adj) (Suffering and angry, but also grimly satisfied with being so stoical, Ramsey stood leaning on his rifle, unwilling to show the others his pain.) impassive; characterized by a calm, austere fortitude. [The word comes from a school of philosophy in ancient Greece (the Stoics) which believed in the repression of emotion.]
Reticence (n) (I sensed no tension or embarrassment in her reticence; she simply refused to speak.) Disposed to be silent; not inclined to speak freely; to be reserved. [L. reticere, to be silent]
Malevolent (adj) ( In his horror film "The Birds," Hitchcock manages to make mundane crows seem odious and malevolent) Wishing evil to another or others; vindictive; malicious. [L. male + volent, bad + wishing]
Surreptitious (adj) (Romeo and Juliet spend their first romantic scenes in surreptitious flirtation.) Obtained, done or made by stealth; clandestine.
Palpable (adj) (The excitement in the arena was almost palpable as the candidate made her acceptance speech.) 1) Readily seen, heard or perceived; obvious, evident; 2) capable of being touched or felt; tangible. [L. palpare, to touch]
Chimera (n) (His hope of being elected class president was a mere chimera, for even those closest to Adam regarded him as an insufferably pompous oaf.) In Greek mythology: a fire-breathing she-monster usually represented as a combination of goat, lion, and serpent. It has since come to mean "any creation of the imagination which is foolish or impossible."
Number / Amount (n) Use number for plural expressions that you are able to count (number of cats; number of coins; number of socks). Use amount for uncountable expressions (amount of money; amount of dust; amount of pressure).
Melancholy (n) (Hamlet's melancholy would have been immediately apparent to an Elizabethan audience: the young fellow wears black, mopes, and leans over the battlements, sighing.) Tender or pensive sadness; a bittersweet feeling of dejection. [from the Gr. name for the condition of having black bile]
Banal (adj) (Today's performance of the ballet seems lifeless and banal, especially in light of last evening's exceptional dancing.) Completely ordinary; unaffecting; drearily predictable.
Gelid (adj) (After reading about Krakauer's own almost-fatal Arctic climb, I began to feel gelid myself!) Icy cold.
Abate (v) (Sara's raging fever abated, and her eyes finally opened, clear and focused.) To reduce in amount or intensity.
Diaphanous (adj) (The bride's gown, of tulle, silk, and lace, was a diaphanous surprise in varying shades of white.) Allowing light to show through.
Complement / Compliment (n) A complement is something that makes up a whole, completes, or brings to perfection (Little baby Ralph was a perfect complement to our family.) A compliment is a flattering comment made to someone or about something (I always make it a point to compliment my mother-in-law on her cooking.)
Curt (adj) (The cab driver interrupted my question about the fare with a curt "Pay up and shut up!") Rudely abrupt or brief.
Lapidate (v) (Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" ends with an unexpected scene of lapidation.) The act of stoning to death. [L. lapis, stone]
Cite / Site / Sight (v/n/n) Cite means to to quote or mention (She cited three laws in her defense.) Site refers to a location (This is the site of the historic battle of Gettysburg.) Sight refers to view (The end was in sight. And it is!)
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (n) (Memorizing pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis was indeed a challenge.) Black lung disease--and one of the longest words in the English language.
Blase (adj) (After her first ten World Cup wins, Heidi was accused by her coach for being blase about the upcoming Winter Games.) Indifferent, bored, or uninterested, from an excess of pleasure or enjoyment.
Escarpment (n) (By running up the escarpment, the enemy was able to attack the fort from above, and thus won the battle in short order.) A steep slope.
Serendipity (n) (It was surely serendipity which caused the two young people to meet that moonless night on the foredeck, when all of the ship's crew had retired and the winds wafting the sails bore the sweet scent of jasmine.) This word comes from a fairytale by Horace Walpole about three princes who reigned on the island of Serendib and kept by chance stumbling into marvelous situations. The word refers to the making of happy or unexpected discoveries by accident.
Seraphic (adj) (To most of her friends, Leah's infatuation with her cat was silly; Leah, however, seriously maintained that the common alley cat was actually a seraphic, wise, and exceedingly noble beast.) Of or resembling a seraph, especially in beauty, purity, or supreme bliss. The word derives from "seraphim" (in Christian theology, the highest order of angels).
Purloin (v) (My favorite story by Poe is the one about the purloined letter because the solution to the letter's whereabouts is so cool.) Make away with; take by deception; filch, steal.
Cacoethes (n) (Herbert had an unsavory cacoethes for picking his nose in public.) A bad habit.[Thanks to Professor Van Dyke for this gem.]
Berserk (adj) (People usually see the mosh pit as a place where teens can go berserk.) A berserker was a wild Norse warrior of great strength and ferocious courage, who fought on the battle field in a frenzied fury known as "the berserker's rage." Hence the adjective means: filled with wild rage. [This one courtesy of Peter Grimm, '02]
Dotty (adj) (The movie "Arsenic and Old Lace" is about two dotty old sisters who serve to unwary visitors poisoned elderberry wine.) (1) Mentally unbalanced,; crazy; amusingly eccentric; (2) having a feeble or unsteady gait; shaky.
Dissuade (v) (I was dissuaded from seeking to be a contestant on "Hollywood Squares," when my brother pointed out that he always beats me at tic-tack-toe.) This is the opposite of "persuade." It means to persuade not to.
Fodder (n) (I never realized what the phrase "cannon fodder" meant until I did my report on the Battle of Gettysburg.) Food for livestock (literally), the word has come to mean "raw material"--often unvalued.
Forestall (v) (Germany forestalled attacking the United States because Hitler wanted first to win the war in Europe before widening the conflict.) To thwart or prevent something from happening.
Effigy (n) (The students made, out of hemp and wire, an effigy of Professor Humperscuttle and, prancing with glee, hung it from a lamppost.) A representation, especially one used in expressing disgust, of some person.
Phrenologist (n) ("His brow, broad and high, would have been of great interest to a phrenologist."--from "He Who Listens...") A practitioner of phrenology, a pseudo-science of the nineteenth century. Phrenologists claimed that statistical measurements of the human face and head could be used to predict a a person's character, including propensity for criminal behavior.
Propensity (n) (see above) An inclination or leaning; proclivity. [L. pendere, to hang]
Besotted (adj) (He was completely in love with, some cruel ones might say besotted with, the girl sitting next to him in History, though she never once looked his way.) Intoxicated; foolishly infatuated with.
Incorrigible (adj) (Jeff's friends found him to be an incorrigible liar, someone who consistently told falsehoods and was found out, only to engage in lies again. ) Incapable of being corrected, improved or rectified. [L. corrigere, to put right)
Bombast (n) (The speaker's bombast was supposed to be an eloquent call to action, but I found it forgettable, if high-sounding, claptrap.) Talk or writing that has little meaning but sounds very grand and important.
Sententious (n) ("He who listens may hear--to his regret," I proclaimed, with the sententious tone of a confessor."--from "He Who Listens May Hear...") Abounding in wise sayings; wise, but with the additional sense of being self-righteously moral.
Jejune (adj) (Hollywood movies often turn sophisticated and subtle stories into jejune mush with happy endings.) Flat, dull, barren. [L. jejunus, empty]
Mutable (adj) (Organisms are mutable over time, and their mutations are either more or less successful at adaptation.) Changeable; inconstant, fickle. [L. mutabilis, changeable, fickle]
Coup de grace (expression) (The reviewer of "Star Ship Troopers" administered a coup de grace by saying that she would rather marry a toad than have to see the film again. Ouch!) The shot or blow that brings on death. [Fr. "blow of mercy," referring to the shot that finishes off the fatally wounded man.]
Chary (adj) (My PE teacher is extremely chary with his compliments, usually referring to a great feat of freshman athleticism as "not bad.") Careful, cautious.
Addle (v) (The essay test had so addled the English class that their kind and sympathetic teacher promised she would give students extra points for spelling their names correctly.) To confuse or muddle. The common term is "addle witted," though few can say it three times fast without sounding....addle witted.
Bauble (n) (Baubles, buttons, and seemingly meaningless articles sometimes have very important meanings and histories--as we found in reading Atkinson's novel.) A showy but valueless trinket or toy.
Bevy (n) (While the bevy of dancers moved in diaphanous unison, the choreographer curtly yelled, "Stop the music!") A group or flock.
Alms (n) money, clothing or food given to the poor for succor. (My church asks for alms on a regular basis; this year I helped with the food drive.)
Triskaidekaphobia (n) fear of the number thirteen. [Gr. treis, three; kai, and; deka, ten; phobia, fear]
Crux (n) (The crux of the matter was my own fear of that unspeakably evil word..."triskaidekaphobia"...which, to torture me, my brother uttered--you guessed it--thirteen times.) A vital, basic, or decisive point; a perplexing difficulty. In rock climbing, a crux refers to a particularly difficult problem whose solution makes the climb successful. (L. crux, cross]
Aspersion (n) (Mr. Tower has been known to cast aspersions on people who do not regularly watch World Federation Wrestling.) The act of damaging someone's reputation by making disparaging remarks. [L. spargere, scatter or sprinkle--as in insults tossed that dirty a name]
Mellifluous (adj) sounding sweet; honeyed. (My neighbor, Mrs. Methyll A. Goss, should immediately change her name to something more mellifluous!)
Stygian (adj) (The stygian depths of Moore Hall contained the lair of Peter Hayes.) Gloomy, dark; infernal. [The word derives from one of the rivers in the Ancient Greek underworld: Styx, across which the ferryman Charon ferried dead souls.
Bilk (v) (The insurance salesman sought to bilk illiterate pensioners out of their hard earned money.) Cheat, swindle, connive.
Repartee (n) (The sophomores were quite impressed when the freshman engaged in a brilliant repartee.) Sparkling and witty reply; quick, pointed response. [The word derives from a French term referring to a fencing move that swiftly returns a thrust.]
Miscreant (n) (You miserable miscreant! How dare you double park in front of my car!) A villain; a malevolent or evil person.
Philately (n) (Realizing that he loved foreign countries and colorful pictures, Melvin decided to take up philately.) The study and collection of postage stamps.
Rigmarole (n) (Having claimed for years that filing taxes was nothing more than bureaucratic rigmarole, Lucy was deeply chagrined when the government informed her that she owed thousands in interest and penalties.) A complicated and petty procedure; foolish talk.
Chagrin (n) (see above) The feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or humiliation.
Chafe (v) (Englebert Humperdink's crooning chafed the dentist's patient, who was forced to listen to the "Easy Listening" station while having his molars x-rayed.) To wear or abrade by rubbing; to irritate or annoy. [The expression "chafe at the bit" means to become impatient at delay.]
Conclave (n) (The meeting of the powerful Judiciary Meeting was a conclave of serious and subdued students.) A secret or private meeting of a group with authority and influence. [L. con, with; clavis, key. Conclaves were often found in rooms locked with a key.]
Conundrum (n) (Most suspense movies today offer too easily solved conundrums; in contrast, Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" saved the surprise solution for the very end.) A riddle or puzzling problem.
Persiflage (n) ("What rot! What utter persiflage!" Muttering in this way to himself, the River Rat crawled slowly out of his burrow, once again somewhat disgusted by the Mole's failure to see the seriousness of the issue.) Irresponsible talk; the treating of serious things as if they were trivial. [F. persifler, to banter]
Sophomoric (adj) (Those are a lot of sophomoric questions, said the senior peevishly.) Suggestive of or relating to the traditional sophomore, especially in intellectual pretension, over-confidence, conceit, or assumed knowledge. [Gr. sophos, wise + moros, foolish, silly] And guys ...please don't tell your friends in the 10th grade!
Ardent (adj) ("All his reverence and all his fondness and all the leanings of his life were for the ardenthearted...." All The Pretty Horses) Zealous; fervent; burning with desire [L. ardens, burning]
Sequestered (adj) ("...and a few last chitterings of birds sequestered in the dark and wiry brush." All the Pretty Horses) Secluded, isolated; withdrawn into solitude or retirement. [The word is the same in the Latin.]
Primogeniture (n) (When the girl narrator in Nine Guardians is stopped from reading the document containing her family history, she is told that it will one day belong to her brother, Mario. This is an instance of Spanish customs of inheritance, which are based on the law of primogeniture.) The system of inheritance or succession by the eldest son. [L. primus, first; genitus, begotten]
Redundant (adj) (Zak looked again to see if he had misread it, but there it was: the sign over the door read "Department of Redundancy Department.") Unnecessarily repetitive; excessively wordy.
Partisan (n) (The movie, "Romero," contained shocking scenes having to do with how citizens were treated by authorities who suspected that they were partisans.) One who supports--takes a part in-- a cause or idea, or who sides with a particular person.
Apathetic (adj) (No one ever said students have to be ardent about school work, but students too apathetic to even take note of assignments are generally ones who are unlikely to win at poker.) showing or having little or no emotion; indifferent or unresponsive. [Gr.a, not; pathos, feeling]
Deride (v) (Julian was derided for making the suggestion that TOLO be held only once every four years.) To ridicule; to laugh at with contempt and disapproval.
Ephemeral (adj) (Jay Leno will find out what his predecessor Johnny Carson already knows: fame can be truly ephemeral, and once out of the public eye, a star quickly fades....Of course, the money helps!) Transitory, fleeting.
Engender (v) (The recent Arab uprising in Israel has engendered a storm of controversy.) To produce; to cause to come into being.
Infamous (adj) (Presidential pardons are rarely praiseworthy, often infamous.) Having an extremely bad reputation; detestable; shamefully bad.It does not mean "little known."
Extol (v) (The teacher extolled little Ralphie's contribution to the school art fair, even though all the students snickered, knowing that he had created his "artwork" with a dixie cup and a piece of gum, in a matter of minutes.) Strongly praise, heartily commend.
Pragmatic (adj) (His dad was the pragmatic type: happy to take apart a car engine, but uneasy when conversation veered to what he derided as "pie in the sky" notions.) Practical; down-to-earth; based on real experience rather than abstract theory.
Austere (adj) (The austere face of the rock towered over Jacki's head, but she put aside her fear and once again began to climb.) Forbidding; stern; unadorned.
Vacillation (n) (In the business world, a leader would do wise to make a poor decision rather than endlessly engage in vacillation.) Indecision; a wavering back and forth.
Heresy (n) (Some consider the theory of evolution to be abject heresy; others, truth.) An opinion or doctrine opposed to established beliefs (often established religious beliefs).
Expedient (adj) (While the show's producers found it expedient to hire a celebrity for the lead, many thought that the part should have gone to an actress more worthy.) Providing an immediate advantage; acting in one's own self-interest.
Provocative (adj) (While scientists may have scoffed, the talk show audience was enthralled by Professor Humperskittle's provocative notion that immediately prior to the Big Bang there was what he termed "the Great Big Pop.") Attracting attention or interest; exciting.
Complacent (adj) ("You lazy lump of dog meat, giddyup!" said Jim, as he complacently patted the steering wheel of his vintage Toyota Tercel. One of the other students in his carpool was heard to mutter: "Jim's been reading too much of All The Pretty Cows.") Smugly self-satisfied; pleased with oneself.
Taciturn (adj) (John Wayne gives one of his best performances in "The Quiet Man," where he plays a taciturn American boxer who seeks to retire in Ireland.) Indisposed to talk.
Personify (v) (Ralph said that Mr. Culhane's attempts to personify his stuffed lion, "Bob," were particularly poignant.) To attribute human character to an inanimate object; or to embody (a quality or idea) in a real person or a concrete thing, as one might say that Martin Luther King personifies courageous resistance.
Perspicacious (adj) (Far from being dull and obtuse, the winner of "Survivor" has to display a perspicacious attitude.) Having keen mental perception; discerning.
Intractable (adj) ("Darren, you are an intractable malcontent, who we must ask to leave the school!" thundered Principal Huff, indignantly. "I believe, sir, the proper relative pronoun is in the accusative case: whom we must ask to leave the school would be correct," said Darren with a supercilious chuckle). Stubborn, obstinate; not docile; resisting treatment (an intractable disease, e.g.).
Supercilious (adj) (see above) Haughtily disdainful or contemptuous. [L. super, above; cilium, eyebrow: whence the term for the expression of someone with one eyebrow lifted.]
Otium cum dignitate (Latin expression) (To his mother's rebuke that he never got around to his weekend chore of doing the laundry, and instead wasted Saturday playing computer games, Nils replied: "I am not the laundry type, mom, and besides, you know, otium cum dignitate.") Translate as: Leisure with dignity.
Forbearance (n) (My natural forbearance was sorely tried when I had to sit for three hours in the rear of the ski bus with the entire class of sixth grade boys.) (1) A refraining from something; (2) patient endurance, even when provoked.
Ribald (adj) (It [the train] came boring out of the east like some ribald satellite.." All the Pretty Horses ). Vulgar or indecent in speech; coarsely mocking, abusive or irreverent.
Effusive (adj) (My aunt's back pats and effusive thanks always rang hollow, for I knew she hardly cared that I helped her.) Unduly demonstrative; lacking reserve [L. effusus, having poured out]
Humbug (n) (Ralphie's English teacher had declared to the class that every single essay was a hodgepodge of humbug; Ralph knew that this was bad, but had no idea what it meant.) (1) If about a person, it refers to someone who is not what he claims to be; an imposter. (2) If about a thing: nonsense.
Oracular (adj) (My dad always looked especially oracular when he made his annual prediction as to which team would win the World Series.) Uttered in a way that seems divinely inspired; ambiguous or obscure. [The latter meaning derives from the days of ancient Greece when priest, who acted as the "mouth" of the God or Goddess, would answer questions in an especially ambiguous fashion--so as not to be proved wrong, some might say.]
Louche (adj) ("In Victorian London, even in a place as louche and notoriously crime-ridden as Lambeth Marsh, the sound of a gunshot was a most rare event indeed." Simon Winchester) Look this one up.
Famous / Notorious (adj) A famous person or event is one that is widely known; a notorious one is widely but unfavorably known. (John Glenn is a famous astronaut; Billy the Kid was a notorious gunman.)
Horripilation (n) (Most viewers suffer from horripilation when seeing "Silence of the Lambs" for the first time.) The act of being so badly frightened that the hair on the back of the neck stands up. [L. horridus, shaggy--where we also find the root of horrid]
Subversion (n) (Those deemed guilty of subversion are often exiled, or worse, as in the movie "Gladiator.") Complete overthrow, leading to utter ruination and destruction. [L. subvertere, to turn upside down]
Bowdlerize (v) (In the used bookstore I found a copy of a silly romance novel that had been clumsily bowdlerized with a broad-tipped pen: all the "racy" parts were a red smudge.) To remove or edit passages (in a play, novel, etc.) prudishly considered immodest or salacious. [Thomas Bowdler (d. 1825) produced a "cleaned up" edition of Shakespeare's plays.]
Howdah (n) (The swaying magnificence of the King's army came into view, with rank upon rank of howdahs glittering in the dawn.) A canopied seat used for riding on the back of an elephant or camel.
Guile (n) (Having little natural guile, Grace found fooling her sister to be very difficult.) Cunning; duplicity.
Deride (v) (Deriding Ralphie for his mismatched socks and gravy-stained shirt was something of a tradition among his siblings.) To ridicule; to laugh at with contempt.
Disgruntled (adj) (Mary was a disgruntled postal worker who took a sly pleasure in never quite shutting mail boxes.) sulky and dissatisfied.
Eulogy (n) (Ralph Waldo Emerson's eulogy at the grave of his friend Henry David Thoreau is one of the most moving appreciations I have ever read.) A spoken or written tribute to a person, especially one who has recently died.
Estrangement (n) (While their estrangement never led to outright war, the division between East and West Germany was fraught with tension.) Unfriendly or hostile separation; being removed from. (You may have heard the adjectival form in the phrase "estranged spouse.")
Fickle (adj) (Teachers seem especially fickle: one day they assign too much work, and the next too little.) Likely to change for no good reason.
Impasse (n) (In the Mexican prison, the boys had reached an impasse, and grimly went about the business of surviving day to day.) A difficult, dangerous, or vexing situation from which there is little hope of escape; a deadlock.
Innuendo (n) (The prosecutor made some damning claims and none-too-subtle innuendos, while the defendant sweated and mumbled on the witness stand.) An insinuation; an intimation , especially of a derogatory nature. [L. innuere, to signal]
Derogatory (adj) (No derogatory remark hurts me more than to say that I have no taste when it comes to choosing good action films.) Tending to detract or disparage; depreciatory.
Probity(n) (A judge needs wisdom, experience, and most of all probity.) Honesty, integrity, uprightness. [L. probitas, uprightness]
Cipher (n) (What Harriet learned in French was summed up by the cipher on her final test.) 1) as an arithmetic symbol, a zero; 2) as a person, someone who is of no importance; 3) as writing, a code or the solution of a code. [To encipher something means to put it into code; to decipher means to crack the code.]
Thralldom (n) (The video arcade held the boys in thralldom, and when they finally tore themselves away, they were dazed, hungry, and broke.) The state of being a thrall; bondage, slavery, servitude.
Stipulate (v) (The actress's contract stipulated that she would receive one percent of the gross revenue.) To make an express demand or arrangement as a condition of agreement.
Lepidopterist (n) (Vladmir Nabokov not only wrote famous novels; he also was a lepidopterist and chess master.) An expert in the study of butterflies and moths.
Ingratiate (v) (David tried hard to ingratiate himself with his fellow teammates, but he remained apart from the lockeroom banter.) To work to make oneself liked.
Tepid (adj) (The tepid support offered her by the firm's board of directors made Sally's rise to power somewhat questionable.) Lukewarm; halfhearted.
Infuse (v) (The audience seemed to agree on one thing: the director had botched his attempt to infuse the plot with seriousness; the movie was entertaining, but only in a banal and sophomoric way.] To introduce into; instill.
Foster (v) (English class tries to foster an appreciation of literature.) To promote the development of; to encourage.
Debunk (v) (His claim to being a graduate of Princeton was easily debunked, and with his probity in question, Melvin Pintermister resigned.) To expose as untruth or nonsense.
Conjugal (adj) (Wary of conjugal bliss and naturally fickle, Harry went from one relationship to the next, consoling himself with beer, MTV, and humbug.) Having to do with marriage. [L. con, with; iungere, to tie or yoke together]
Commiserate (v) (I try to commiserate with my friends' problems, but sometimes they seem so petty!) To express pity for; to sympathize with.
Klatu baragda nichto! (Alien expression) Part of your homework is to see the classic sci-fi movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," where the phrase basically saves human civilization from certain and final extinction. [The English department extends a thanks to Mr. Tower for this one.]
Cleave (v) (Teachers cleave to the notion that vocabulary lists like this one are not only useful but actually fun. Like, are they dotty, addledwitted, and totally incorrigible, or what!) 1) to come together closely; 2) to split apart. Cleave is thus a fitting way to end your list because it is a member of that most extraordinary (and tiny) group of words which are their own opposites. Can you find another for extra credit?