TEWWG Unit 1 Vocabulary

pugnacious

pugnacious

adj. ready and able to resort to force or violence; tough and callous by virtue of experience

sodden

adj. wet through and through; thoroughly wet

languid

adj. lacking spirit or liveliness

sanctum

noun a place of inviolable privacy; a sacred place of pilgrimage

conjecture

noun reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence; a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence); a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence; verb to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

malice

noun feeling a need to see others suffer; the quality of threatening evil

mien

noun dignified manner or conduct

scorn

noun open disrespect for a person or thing; lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike; verb reject with contempt; look down on with disdain

brazen

adj. made of or resembling brass (as in color or hardness); unrestrained by convention or propriety; verb face with defiance or impudence

confer

verb have a conference in order to talk something over; present

percale

noun a fine closely woven cotton fabric

temerity

noun fearless daring

coquetry

noun playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest

discomfiture

noun anxious embarrassment

fodder

noun) coarse food (especially for cattle and horses) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop; verb give fodder (to domesticated animals)

fractious

adj. unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome; stubbornly resistant to authority or control; easily irritated or annoyed

irk

verb irritate or vex

loins

noun the region of the hips and groin and lower abdomen; the lower part of the abdomen just above the external genital organs

promontory

noun a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea)

prostrate

adj. stretched out and lying at full length along the ground; lying face downward; verb render helpless or defenseless; throw down flat, as on the ground; get into a prostrate position, as in submission

ostentatious

adj. intended to attract notice and impress others; of a display that is tawdry or vulgar

cur

noun an inferior dog or one of mixed breed; a cowardly and despicable person

menial

adj. used of unskilled work (especially domestic work); noun a domestic servant

usurp

verb take the place of; seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

temporize

verb draw out a discussion or process in order to gain time