Word of the Week 2015-2016
Week / Word / Definition / Sentence8/24 / abundant: (adj) / present in large amounts or numbers. / Rainfallis abundant in theregion.
8/31 / audible: (adj) / able to be heard. / The sound of the door opening was clearlyaudible.
9/7* / apathy: (n) / a lack of interest, feeling, or emotion. / The scientist showed apathy for the assigned project, so little progress was made.
9/14* / aspire: (v) / to seek or achieve a goal. / Many children aspire to be professional athletes.
9/21 / beneficial: (adj) / helpful; leading to good health and happiness. / Eating fruits and vegetables is beneficial to your health.
9/28 / bestow: (v) / to give or present something to someone. / The Principal bent down to bestow a 1st place medal on the child who won the Science Fair.
10/5 / chronic: (adj) / lasting a long time; always present or encountered. / The doctor prescribed a medication for his chronic cough, so it finally went away.
10/12 / clarify: (v) / to make clear or pure. / The teacher asked students if they needed her to clarify the directions for the project.
10/19 / concession: (n) / he act of yielding or giving in to someone or something. / My mother let us play ‘hide & seek” in the house as a concession for the rainy weather.
10/26 / credibility: (n) / the ability to inspire belief or trust. / The witness has good credibility, so everyone believed her story.
11/2 / depress: (v) / to press down or cause to sink in. / Please depress the button to call and elevator.
11/9 / disintegrate: (v) / to break into small parts, pieces, or elements. / The paper towel started to disintegrate as I scrubbed the wet mess.
11/16 / emerge: (v) / to come out into view, rise, or appear. / We were able to see the baby chick emerge from its egg.
11/23 / evacuate: (v) / to remove from danger; to leave. / We had to evacuate the building during the fire drill.
11/30 / extravagant: (adj) / beyond what is reasonable or necessary; fancy. / His extravagant tastes were greater than his income, so he was always out of money.
12/7 / fatigue: (n) / extreme mental or physical tiredness. / Too much screen time can cause eye fatigue.
12/14 / finite (adj) / with an end or limit; a set amount. / Numbers go on forever, but there is a finite amount of letters in our alphabet.
1/4 / grateful: (adj) / having the desire to thank someone. / I am grateful for my supportive friends and family.
1/11 / hardy: (adj) / strong enough to survive difficult conditions. / The tomato plants I planted are hardy and should withstand the stormy weather.
1/18* / initiate: (v) / to cause or start something to happen. / I will initiate the project, but you will need to finish it.
1/25* / innate: (adj) / relating to qualities or abilities that you are born with. / Juan has an innate ability to communicate with animals, he will probably become a zoo keeper.
2/1 / inscription: (n) / words or letters that are written, printed, or engraved as a lasting record. / The inscription on the trophy made her smile as she remembered how hard she had worked to win the District Spelling Bee.
2/8 / inspire: (v) / influence or motivate someone to do something. / I tried to inspire my little sister to read by checking out her favorite books from the library.
2/15* / intercede: (v) / to come between two people or groups in order to settle a disagreement. / The coach needed to intercede when the two teams could not agree on whose turn it was.
2/22 / magnanimous (adj) / showing kindness, generosity, or forgiveness towards someone. / Themagnanimousking was generous and fair to all of his subjects, making sure that their troubles were resolved and their needs were met.
2/29 / maneuver: (n) / a skillful move or action. / I was able to maneuver around the obstacles on the field.
3/7 / manipulate (v) / to control or influence someone, usually in order to deceive. / The big bad wolf tried to manipulate the three little pigs into opening the door.
3/14 / minute: (adj) / very small; of little importance. / Other than the minute error, the book report was perfect.
3/28 / precaution: (n) / something done beforehand to prevent harm. / We brought a fire extinguisher to the cook out as a safety precaution.
4/4 / proceed: (v) / to go on or continue to do something. / Now that you completed your research, you can proceed with your project.
4/11 / purify: (v) / to remove harmful or unwanted substances to make something pure. / We learned how to use filters to purify water so that we could drink rain water on our camping trip.
4/18 / recede: (v) / to move away from or go back from a certain point or level. / The lake water is starting to recede because it hasn’t rained for two weeks.
4/25 / regenerate: (v) / to create or produce again. / A lizard’s tail can regenerate if it falls off.
5/2 / secede: (v) / separate or withdraw from an organization or country. / The country chose tosecedefrom the United Nations, rather than bow down to one of their resolutions.
5/9 / synchronize: (v) / to happen at the same time. / We mustsynchronizeour watches before we leave on the mission.
5/16 / triumph: (n) / a great win or achievement. / With hard work and dedication, we will triumph over the opposing team.
5/23 / vacate: (v) / to leave, give up, or withdraw. / Due to the impending flood, we had to vacate the building and move to higher ground.
5/30* / vigorous: (adj) / very strong or active, physically or mentally. / Aftervigorousworkout, he was breathing heavily and sweat covered his face.
6/6 / wither: (v) / to dry up or shrivel. / I realized that I had forgotten to water my plants when I noticed they had begun to wither.