English 9 Vocab 1-6
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nanabananas on January 6, 2011
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120 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Approbation | The expression of approval or favorable opinion, praise; official approval |
| Assuage | To make easier or milder, relieve; to quiet, calm; to put an end to, appease, satisfy, quench |
| Coalition | A combination, union, or merger for some specific purpose |
| Decadence | Decline, decay, or deterioration; a condition or period of decline or decay; excessive self-indulgence |
| Elicit | To draw forth, bring out from some source (such as another person) |
| Expostulate | To attempt to dissuade someone from some course or decision by earnest reasoning |
| Hackneyed | Used so often as to lack freshness or originality |
| Hiatus | A gap, opening, break (in the sense of having an element missing) |
| Innuendo | A hint, indirect suggestion, or reference (often in a derogatory sense) |
| Intercede | To plead on behalf of someone else; to serve as a third party or go-between in a disagreement |
| Jaded | Wearied, worn-out, dulled (in the sense of being satiated by excessive indulgence) |
| Lurid | Causing shock, horror, or revulsion; sensational; pale or sallow in color; terrible or passionate in intensity or lack of restraint |
| Meritorious | Worthy, deserving recognition and praise |
| Petulant | Peevish, annoyed by trifles, easily irritated and upset |
| Prerogative | A special right or privilege; a special quality showing excellence |
| Provincial | (adj.) Pertaining to an outlying area; local; narrow in mind or outlook, countrified in the sense of being limited and backward; of a simple, plain design that originated in the countryside; (n.) a person with a narrow point of view; a person from an outlying area; a soldier from a province or colony |
| Simulate | To make a pretense of, imitate; to show the outer signs of |
| Transcend | To rise above or beyond, exceed |
| Umbrage | Shade cast by trees; foliage giving shade; an overshadowing influence or power; offense, resentment; a vague suspicion |
| Unctuous | Excessively smooth or smug; trying too hard to give an impression of earnestness, sincerity, or piety; fatty, oily; pliable |
| Ameliorate | To improve, make better, correct a flaw or shortcoming |
| Aplomb | Poise, assurance, great self-confidence; perpendicularity |
| Bombastic | Pompous or overblown in language; full of high-sounding words intended to conceal a lack of ideas |
| Callow | Without experience; immature, not fully developed; lacking sophistication and poise; without feathers |
| Drivel | Saliva or mucus flowing from the mouth or nose; foolish, aimless talk or thinking; nonsense; to let saliva flow from the mouth; to utter nonsense or childish twattle; to waste or fritter away foolishly |
| Epitome | A summary, condensed account; an instance that represents a larger reality |
| Exhort | To urge strongly, advise earnestly |
| Ex Officio | By virtue of holding a certain office |
| Infringe | To violate, trespass, go beyond recognized bounds |
| Ingratiate | To make oneself agreeable and thus gain favor or acceptance by others (sometimes used in a critical or derogatory sense) |
| Interloper | One who moves in where he or she is not wanted or has no right to be, an intruder |
| Intrinsic | Belonging to someone or something by its very nature, essential, inherent; originating in a bodily organ or part |
| Inveigh | To make a violent attack in words, express strong disapproval |
| Lassitude | Weariness of body or mind, lack of energy |
| Millennium | A period of one thousand years; a period of great joy |
| Occult | Mysterious, magical, supernatural; secret, hidden from view; not detectable by ordinary means; to hide, conceal; eclipse; matters involving the supernatural |
| Permeate | To spread through, penetrate, soak through |
| Precipitate | To fall as moisture; to cause or bring about suddenly; to hurl down from a great height; to give distinct form to; characterized by excessive haste; moisture; the product of an action or process |
| Stringent | Strict, severe; rigorously or urgently binding or compelling; sharp or bitter to the taste |
| Surmise | To think or believe without certain supporting evidence; to conjecture or guess; likely idea that lacks definite proof |
| Abominate | To have an intense dislike or hatred for |
| Acculturation | The modification of the social patterns, traits, or structures of one group or society by contact with those of another; the resultant blend |
| Adventitious | Resulting from chance rather than from an inherent cause or character; accidental, not essential; (medicine) acquired, not congenital |
| Ascribe | To assign or refer to (as a cause or source), attribute |
| Circuitous | Roundabout, not direct |
| Commiserate | To sympathize with, have pity or sorrow for, share a feeling of distress |
| Enjoin | To direct or order; to prescribe a course of action in an authoritative way; to prohibit |
| Expedite | To make easy, cause to progress faster |
| Expiate | To make amends, make up for; to avert |
| Ferment | A state of great excitement, agitation, or turbulence; to be in or work into such a state; to produce alcohol by chemical action |
| Inadvertent | Resulting from or marked by lack of attention; unintentional, accidental |
| Nominal | Existing in name only, not real; too small to be considered or taken seriously |
| Noncommittal | Not decisive or definite; unwilling to take a clear position or to say yes or no |
| Peculate | To steal something that has been given into one's trust; to take improperly for one's own use |
| Proclivity | A natural or habitual inclination or tendency (especially of human character or behavior) |
| Sangfroid | Composure or coolness, especially in trying circumstances |
| Seditious | Resistant to lawful authority; having the purpose of overthrowing an established government |
| Tenuous | Thin, slender, not dense; lacking clarity or sharpness; of slight importance or significance; lacking a sound basis, poorly supported |
| Vitriolic | Bitter, sarcastic; highly caustic or biting (like a strong acid) |
| Wheedle | To use coaxing or flattery to gain some desire |
| Affable | Courteous and pleasant, sociable, easy to speak to |
| Aggrandize | To increase in greatness, power, or wealth; to build up or intensify; to make appear greater |
| Amorphous | Shapeless, without definite form; of no particular type or character; without organizaton, unity, or cohesion |
| Aura | That which surrounds (as an atmosphere); a distinctive air or personal quality |
| Contraband | Illegal traffic, smuggled goods; illegal, prohibited |
| Erudite | Scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic |
| Gossamer | Thin, light, delicate, insubstantial; a very thin, light cloth |
| Infer | To find out by reasoning; to arrive at a conclusion on the basis of thought; to hint, suggest, imply |
| Inscrutable | Incapable of being understood; impossible to see through physically |
| Insular | Relating to, characteristic of, or situated on an island; narrow or isolated in outlook or experience |
| Irrevocable | Incapable of being changed or called back |
| Propensity | A natural inclination or predilection toward |
| Querulous | Peevish, complaining, fretful |
| Remonstrate | To argue or plead with someone against something, protest against, object to |
| Repudiate | To disown, reject, or deny the validity of |
| Resilient | Able to return to an original shape or form; able to recover quickly |
| Reverberate | To re-echo, resound; to reflect or be reflected repeatedly |
| Scurrilous | Coarsely abusive, vulgar or low (especially in language), foul-mouthed |
| Sedulous | Persistent, showing industry and determination |
| Sleazy | Thin or flimsy in texture; cheap; shoddy or inferior in quality or character; ethically low, mean, or disreputable |
| Amnesty | A general pardon for an offense against a government; in general, any act of forgiveness or absolution |
| Autonomy | Self-government, political control |
| Axiomatic | Self-evident, expressing a universally accepted principle or rule |
| Blazon | To adorn or embellish; to display conspicuously; to publish or proclaim widely |
| Caveat | A warning or caution to prevent misunderstanding or discourage behavior |
| Equitable | Fair, just, embodying principles of justice |
| Extricate | To free from entanglements or difficulties; to remove with effort |
| Filch | To steal, especially in a sneaky way and in petty amounts |
| Flout | To mock, treat with contempt |
| Fractious | Tending to be troublesome; unruly, quarrelsome, contrary; unpredictable |
| Precept | A rule of conduct or action |
| Salutary | Beneficial, helpful; healthful, wholesome |
| Scathing | Bitterly severe, withering; causing great harm |
| Scourge | To whip, punish severely; a cause of affliction or suffering; a source of severe punishment or criticism |
| Sepulchral | Funereal, typical of the tomb; extremely gloomy or dismal |
| Soporific | Tending to cause sleep, relating to sleepiness or lethargy; somehing that induces sleep |
| Straitlaced | Extremely strict in regard to moral standards and conduct; prudish, puritanical |
| Transcient | Lasting only a short time, fleeting; one who stays only a short time |
| Unwieldy | Not easily carried, handled, or managed because of size or complexity |
| Vapid | Dull, uninteresting, tiresome; lacking in sharpness, flavor, liveliness, or force |
| Anomalous | Abnormal, irregular, departing from the usual |
| Aspersion | A damaging or derogatory statement; the act of slandering or defaming |
| Bizarre | Extremely strange, unusual, atypical |
| Brusque | Abrupt, blunt, with no formalities |
| Cajole | To coax, persuade through flattery or artifice; to deceive with soothing thoughts or false promises |
| Castigate | To punish severely; to criticize severely |
| Contrive | To plan with ingenuity, invent; to bring about as the result of a scheme or plan |
| Demagogue | A leader who exploits popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power |
| Disabuse | To free from deception or error, set right in ideas or thinking |
| Ennui | Weariness and dissatisfaction from lack of occupation or interest, boredom |
| Fetter | A chain or shackle placed on the feet (often used in plural); anything that confines or restrains; to chain or shackle; to render helpless or impotent |
| Heinous | Very wicked, offensive, hateful |
| Immutable | Not subject to change, constant |
| Insurgent | One who rebels or rises against authority; rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority; surging or rushing in or on |
| Megalomania | A delusion marked by a feeling of power, wealth, talent, etc., far in excess of reality |
| Sinecure | A position requiring little or no work; an easy job |
| Surreptitious | Stealthy, secret, intended to escape observation; made or accomplished by fraud |
| Transgress | To go beyond a limit or boundary; to sin, violate a law |
| Transmute | To change from one nature, substance, or form to another |
| Vicarious | Performed, suffered, or otherwise experienced by one person in place of another |
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