WEEKLY VOCABULARY
I
COERCE: (v) to compel, to force. [i.e. Andrew will not do his homework unless he is coerced.]
CONNOTATION: (n) the suggested or implied meaning of a word or expression beyond its actual meaning. Very often a word or phrase suggests something which it does not actually mean. Its suggested meaning is its connotation. A single word may have connotations, but so may a remark or an entire speech.
FALLACY: (n) a false idea, mistaken belief, error in thinking. [i.e. The belief that the world was flat was a fallacy.]
INDOLENCE: (n) love of ease and inactivity, laziness. [i.e. Indolence is a frequent cause of failure.]
PRECARIOUS: (adj) insecure, unsafe, dangerous. [i.e. Caught on a ledge between the cliff and the rising tide, we were in a precarious position.]
DUBIOUS: (adj) doubtful, uncertain, questionable. Dubious suggests that something is probably bad or undesirable.
LUCID: (adj) clear, easily understood. [i.e. The essay was written in such a lucid style that we had no trouble understanding it.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
II
AFFABLE: (adj) sociable, friendly, agreeable. [i.e. His affable manner is the secret of his popularity.]
AMENABLE: (adj) easy to persuade; open to suggestion; obedient. [i.e. Tom will never give in an inch, but his brother will be amenable to our request.]
CURSORY: (adj) rapidly or hurriedly done. Cursory suggests a superficial performance. [i.e. Having given the chapter only a cursory reading, I was not prepared for the test.]
IRRELEVANT: (adj) off the subject; not applicable. [i.e. In his essay on mountain climbing, Jon’s discussion of trout fishing seemed irrelevant.]
PANACEA: (n) a cure-all; a general remedy for all ailment. [i.e. The President was warned against expecting to find a panacea for the country’s ills; each problem has its own solution.]
NOSTALGIA: (noun) homesickness. [i.e. Recently separated from her native surroundings, she found that her nostalgia was almost unbearable.]
ADAMANT: (adj) unyielding; hard. [i.e. We pleaded, but he remained adamant and would not change his mind.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
III
AVARICE: (n) greediness; extreme desire for wealth. [i.e. His avarice was responsible for his cruelty to his employees and unfairness to his competitors.]
BIGOT: (n) a person stubbornly and intolerantly devoted to his own ideas, party, church, etc. [i.e. One’s inability to see another’s point of view marks him as a bigot.]
DIFFIDENT: (adj) shy; lacking in self-confidence. [i.e. The confidence of a diffident child will be strengthened by giving him work which he can do successfully.]
LOQUACIOUS: (adj) talkative; enjoys talking. [i.e. Being in a loquacious mood, Fred gave a long account of his war experiences.]
VERACITY: (n) truthfulness. [i.e. He is an honest man; his veracity is beyond question.]
AUGMENT: (v) to increase; to enlarge. [i.e. He augments his income by working overtime.]
CHRONIC: (adj) constant; habitual; with reference to a disease; long lasting. [i.e. We groaned when the teacher called on Steve, because we knew him to be a chronic complainer.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
IV
ALTRUISM: (n) concern for others, their interests, welfare, etc. [i.e. Unlike selfish men of wealth, he was noted for his altruism.]
DEROGATORY: (adj) showing an unfavorable opinion of someone or something; belittling. [i.e. After reading many derogatory opinions of Smith, we decided not to vote for him.]
NOTORIOUS: (adj) widely known but with a bad reputation. Notorious should only be used to describe a bad person. [i.e. Many notorious outlaws appear in the history of the West.]
PERTINENT: (adj) relating directly to the subject. [i.e. In considering any costly project, the size of your treasure is pertinent information.]
VENERABLE: (adj) deserving respect or admiration. Venerable is used when referring to the old. [i.e. The entire village considers my grandfather to be a venerable gentleman.]
ECCENTRIC: (adj) different from the usual; odd; peculiar. [i.e. The strange customs of foreigners seem eccentric to us.]
LETHARGIC: (adj) being inactive or indifferent; having a dislike for activity. [i.e. The actor’s lethargic performance was due to his illness.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
V
FACETIOUS: (adj) humorous, funny; trying to be humorous. [i.e. We were annoyed by his facetious reply to our serious question.]
PHLEGMATIC: (adj) sluggish; clam; not easily aroused. [i.e. Fred’s phlegmatic disposition is an advantage in a crisis.]
PLAUSIBLE: (adj) seeming to be true and reasonable. [i.e. A plausible argument is one which sounds convincing.]
INANIMATE: (adj) not living; without life or consciousness; dull. Inanimate means “not living” or “without life”. [i.e. Standing still, she seemed as inanimate as a statue.]
INCORRIGIBLE: (adj) not capable of being corrected; not correctable. When a person’s bad habits are so firmly established that nothing but bad behavior can be expected. The word is always used in reference to bad behavior. [i.e. We have tried to break him of biting his nails, but he is incorrigible.]
FEASIBLE: (adj) capable of being done. [i.e. The bridge is feasible from an engineering point of view.]
IMPLACABLE: (adj) cannot be calmed. [i.e. His implacable attitude caused him not to see the truth.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
VI
AMBIGUOUS: (adj) having two meanings; unclear. This word is most commonly used to describe a statement that can be understood to mean two different things. [i.e. The following sentence is ambiguous: Mary told Janet her father would call for her. Who’s father… Mary’s or Janet’s? The sentence may be interpreted two ways.]
AUDACIOUS: (adj) daring, bold, adventurous. Audacious commonly used to mean too bold or too daring. [i.e. John’s audacious spirit sometimes gets him into trouble.]
OSTENTATIOUS: (adj) showy, indicating fondness for unnecessary outward display. [i.e. Her ostentatious clothes and make-up showed her bad taste.]
IRREVOCABLE: (adj) cannot be withdrawn, canceled, or revoked. [i.e. Once it has been made, my decision will be irrevocable.]
LATENT: (adj) in existence but hidden or concealed. [i.e. He revealed a latent ability to control others.]
EMULATE: (v) to imitate another person in order to equal or surpass him; to rival. [i.e. A boy often emulates his older brother.]
OPULENCE: (n) wealth; riches; abundance. [i.e. Bill Gates’ opulence is incalculable.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
VII
AFFLUENT: (adj) rich, prosperous. [i.e. An affluent gentleman, he spent his money freely.]
APATHY: (n) lack of emotion, feeling or excitement: lack of concern with things which usually arouse feeling. [i.e. Mr. Stone’s apathy toward his children is responsible for their bad behavior.]
ASSIDUOUS: (adj) hardworking, persistent steadily working. [i.e. If Al were an assiduous in his studies as he is at golf, he would be an A student.]
IMPERVIOUS (to): (adj) cannot be penetrated or affected. [i.e. This furniture is made of a plastic impervious to weather.]
OBSEQUIOUS: (adj) overly polite and obedient, slave like. Used to describe those who “bow and scrap” to gain someone’s favor. [i.e. Jack surprised us by his obsequious manner in the presence of the principal.]
CHARLATAN: (n) a person who pretends to have knowledge or ability which he does not have; a quack; an imposter. [i.e. Due to his impossible explanations, the supposed doctor was proven to be a charlatan.]
PROPRIETY: (n) proper behavior. [i.e. I question the propriety of chewing gum in class.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
VIII
CANDID: (adj) frank, straightforward, sincere. A candid person is one who says what he thinks without “beating around the bush.” [i.e. You always know where you stand with Edward because he is candid.]
DISPARAGE: (v) to lower the estimation of someone or something; to speak slightingly of someone/something. [i.e. Although I do not approve of Mr. Strom’s appointment, I do not disparage his ability.]
MUNDANE: (adj) worldly, earthly. Means worldly as opposed to heavenly or spiritual. [i.e. He said the church should be concerned with mundane matters as well as with spiritual matters.]
SAGACITY: (n) mental keenness; shrewdness. [i.e. Crooked lawyers fear Judge Roberts’ sagacity.]
SANGUINE: (adj) hopeful, cheerful. [i.e. The coach’s sanguine view of our chances made us work harder than ever to win.]
COHERENT: (adj) sticking together, logically organized and consistent [i.e. Although the speech was entertaining, the subjects jumped all over the place and it was not coherent.]
INEXPLICABLE: (adj) not explainable. [i.e. Teachers were puzzled by her inexplicable behavior.
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
IX
ANTIPATHY: (n) a dislike of someone or something. Antipathy is usually followed by to or toward. [i.e. My antipathy to him was increased by his attempt to cheat me.]
CRYPTIC: (adj) having a hidden meaning; obscure; mysterious. Cryptic means that the remark of the writing is not entirely clear; it is puzzling. [i.e. His essay is so cryptic as to be almost meaningless to me.]
TACIT: (adj) silent, unspoken. Tacit is commonly used to mean implied. [i.e. His refusal to speak against the measure in the Senate was interpreted as tacit approval of it.]
TENACIOUS: (adj) holding fast or likely to hold fast; stubborn. [i.e. A tenacious person and fighter, he refused to stay down.]
VORACIOUS: (adj) greedy in eating; very eager. [i.e. The voracious diners left not a single crumb.]
EXPEDIENT: (adj) useful for producing a desired result; advisable; advantageous. [i.e. Knowing that traffic would be heavy, we decided that the train would be more expedient.]
LUCRATIVE: (adj) financially profitable [i.e. Buying Microsoft stock in the 1980s proved to be quite lucrative.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
X
INTANGIBLE: (adj) not capable of being touched; describing an object which is not material. Intangible is frequently used to mean not definite or clear to the mind. [i.e. In addition to the money I made from the job, I acquired a number of intangible benefits, such as experience, good will and a sense of responsibility.]
OSTRACIZE: (v) to banish from society or from social privileges. [i.e. She became so nosey that even her best friends ostracized her.]
SUBJUGATE: (v) to conquer, to subdue, to force into one’s power. [i.e. To subjugate the people is more difficult than to defeat their armies.]
VICARIOUS: (adj) done or felt through the experience of someone else. [i.e. Unable to play in the game, John participated vicariously by watching his friends play.]
VINDICITIVE: (adj) having a strong desire for revenge; revengeful. [i.e. Unable to forget my insult, he adopted a vindictive attitude towards me.]
INSATIABLE: (adj) not capable of being satisfied; greedy. [i.e. She had an insatiable need for ice cream eating gallons at a time.]
IMPUNITY: (n) without punishment; without harm. [i.e. Nothing goes through a hurricane with impunity.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
XI
INANE: (adj) lacking sense, pointless, silly. [i.e. His conversation is usually so inane that it is boring.]
INDIGENT: (adj) needy, poor. [i.e. The Red Cross keeps a list of the indigent families in the city.]
PLATITUDE: (n) a commonplace, trite remark. A person whose conversation is full of platitudes is a dull conversationalist, simply saying things that everyone has heard many times before. “Better be safe than sorry” is a type of platitude. [i.e. We were bored by Gerald’s assembly speech because it was just a series of platitudes.]
SCRUPULOUS: (adj) very careful to do the right thing; finding conscientious attention to details. [i.e. The teacher praised Helen for the scrupulous way she did her assignment.]
SUCCINCT: (adj) expressed briefly and clearly; concise. [i.e. When he returned, the scout gave a succinct report of his findings.]
ENIGMA: (n) a riddle; a puzzling problem or statement. [i.e. The strange things that Roger does make him an enigma.]
PERNICIOUS: (adj) causing harm, wicked. [i.e. Always a troublemaker, she is a pernicious influence on her classmates.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
XII
INNOCUOUS: (adj) harmless. [i.e. I considered his criticisms of me quite innocuous.]
OBSOLETE: (adj) no longer in use, out of date. [i.e. As golfing apparel, knickerbockers are obsolete.]
OMNICIENT: (adj) knowing everything; very wise. (Latin omni = all; omnipotent = all powerful) [i.e. People who think of themselves as omniscient are often irritating to others.]
PSEUDO: (adj) false, counterfeit, pretended. [i.e. Her pseudo sophistication is a pose which everyone sees through.]
RECIPROCATE: (v) to make return, to pay back for a compliment or a courtesy. [i.e. She invited me to her party in the hope that I would reciprocate by inviting her to mine.]
UBIQUITOUS: (adj) being everywhere at the same time; present everywhere. [i.e. When one travels abroad, one finds that Americans are the most ubiquitous people in the world.]
INCREDULOUS: (adj) unwilling to believe; doubting; skeptical; must be shown. [i.e. Accused of having told an incredible story, he supplied enough proof to convince even the most incredulous listener.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
XIII
HOMOGENEOUS: (adj) all of the same kind; composed of things which are alike. [i.e. In some schools students are grouped in homogeneous classes – all boys or all girls.]
DEPRECATE: (v) to express disapproval of someone or something. [i.e. The president deprecated the senate’s slow response to his proposal.]
CONNIVE: (v) to co-operate secretly with someone; to have a secret understanding with someone. [i.e. The team connived to lose the game.]
EXONERATE: (v) to free someone from blame or from an accusation. [i.e. After hearing my story the council exonerated me; I was free to go.]
PROXIMITY: (v) nearness to something [i.e. Our proximity to the screen made the movie seem blurry to us.}
TACITURN: (adj) no speaking, not talkative. [i.e. A taciturn person is one who says very little.]
MALIGN: (v) to speak evil of someone or something. [i.e. I did not mind when he maligned me because I knew no one would believe him.]
WEEKLY VOCABULARY
XIV
EXORBITANT: (adj) excessive, beyond what is customary or reasonable. [i.e. We liked the quality of his products but thought the prices were exorbitant.]
IMPECCABLE: (adj) faultless. [i.e. She is an impeccable housekeeper.]
PERFUNCTORY: (adj) done mechanically, without thought or interest. [i.e. Sometimes students say the “pledge of allegiance” in a perfunctory manner, as if it means nothing. ]
MALEVOLENT: (adj) wishing evil; showing ill will. [i.e. Hitler was a malevolent dictator.]
BENEVOLENT: (adj) wishing good; showing good will. [i.e. Santa Clause is a benevolent man.]
OFFICIOUS: (adj) offering help or advice which has not been asked for; meddling in others’ business. [i.e. We grudgingly paid attention to the officious freshman who barged into the senior room.]
RECALCITRANT: (adj) stubbornly resisting authority; disobedient. [i.e. The principal asked that only the most recalcitrant pupils be sent to him.]