- Adroit (adj.) skillful; clever
He was not an adroit speaker, but he was a genius with numbers.
- Macroscopic (adj.) visible to the naked eye
On a clear night, the Milky Way appears macroscopic.
- Fatuous (adj.) foolish
Her fatuous simpering began to grate on our nerves.
- Bovine (adj.) pertaining to cows or cattle
The cave drawing depicted bovine creatures.
- Ferret (v.) to search or drive out
John knew the answer was in the text but couldn’t ferret it out.
- Affectation (n.) a phony attitude
Amy couldn’t stand the affectations of the girls in the popular clique.
- Knell (n.) a sound made by a bell, often rung slowly for a death or funeral
The knell of the church bell told the town the minister passed away.
- Dichotomy (n.) a division into two parts
Disagreements among board members caused a dichotomy for the organization.
- Callow (adj.) young and inexperienced
The callow boy left for war, but an exhausted man returned.
- Laconic (adj.) using few words; short; concise
The laconic man wasted few words.
- Quiddity (n.) an essential quality
Patience is a quiddity of a good teacher.
- Patent (adj.) evident or obvious
The electronic store refused to offer a refund to the customer due to the patent abuse of the game system.
- Peccadillo (n.) a minor offense; a misdeed
Stealing tips from tables was a peccadillo in Bill’s mind.
- Sagacious (adj.) wise; having keen perception and sound judgment
The sagacious old man always had answers to moral problems.
- Rationalize (v.) to make an excuse for
The boy tried to rationalize his absence from school.
- Deride (v.) to ridicule; to mock
The unpopular professor derided students who made mistakes.
- Censure (v.) to criticize sharply
The judged censured the repeat offender for his criminal behavior.
- Gambol (v.) to frolic
The preschoolers liked to gambol about the playground.
- Immolate (v.) to kill someone as a sacrificialvictim, usually by fire
Some Buddhist monks immolated themselves in protest of the government’s policies.
- Recondite (adj.) difficult to understand; profound
Only a few students understood the recondite explanation of the theory.
- Martinet (n.) a strict disciplinarian; taskmaster
The teacher was a martinet who never made exceptions to the rules.
- Quagmire (n.) a swamp; a difficult or inextricable situation
The war was a political quagmire for three U.S. presidents.
- Gibe (v.) to scoff; to ridicule
The man gibed at everything his wife said.
- Agape (adj.) open-mouthed; surprised
The judge was agape when the witness told the ridiculous story.
- Carcinogen (n.) causing cancer
Nicotine is a carcinogen.
- Olfactory (adj.) pertaining to smell
The child’s olfactory senses were lessened due to his head cold.
- Imperious (adj.) domineering; haughty
The judge pronounced the verdict in an imperious voice.
- Grotesque (adj.) absurd; distorted
The boy made a grotesque face toward his sister.
- Neologism (n.) a new word or expression
Some writers coin neologisms to impress their readers.
- Hackneyed (adj.) commonplace; overused
“Good as gold” is a hackneyed expression.