English III High Honors Final Vocab Words

alacrity

cheerful willingness; readiness; liveliness.

aversion

strong dislike; repugnance; antipathy

loath

unwilling; averse; disinclined; reluctant

loathe

have an intense aversion to; detest

acme

highest point; pinnacle; summit

consummate

Perfect; superb; carried to the highest degree

eminent

standing out; notable; famous

ethereal

of the heavens; celestial;airy; delicate;intangible

exalt

Lift up with joy, pride, etc./raise in rank or to a higher position

precipitous

Steep as a precipice/hasty;rash

subliminate

Redirect the energy of a person's bad impulses into socially and morally higher channels/ purify; refine

sublime

Of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire

great admiration or awe

zenith

the highest point; peak

abject

Deserving contempt; sunk to a low condition; wretched

abysmal

Deep; profound; immeasurably great

menial

low; mean; subservient; servile

nadir

lowest point

plumb

get to the bottom of; ascertain the depth of; fathom

consanguinity

kinship; relationship by birth

gentility

social superiority, as demonstrated by genteel manners, behavior, or appearances

nepotism

the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs.

progeny

offspring; children; descendants

pungent

sharp in smell or taste; acrid; biting; stimulating

putrid

rotten and foul smelling

unsavory

Unpleasant to taste or smell/ morally offensive

antediluvian

antiquated; belonging to the time before the Biblical Flood

archaic

no longer used, except in a special context; old-fashioned

callow

young and inexperienced; unfledged

decrepit

weakened by old age

inveterate

1. firmly established by age; deep-rooted

2. habitual

obsolete

no longer in use; out-of-date

posthumous

1. published after the author's death

2. occurring after death

pristine

in original, long-ago state; uncorrupted

puerile

foolish for a grown person to say or do; childish

senile

showing the weakness of age

abstemious

sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinate

carousal

drinking party; drunken revelry

sober

1. not drunk; temperate

2. serious; free from excitement or exaggeration

doldrums

1. calm, windless part of the ocean near the equator

2. listlessness

carrion

decaying flesh of a carcass

dross

waste; refuse

expurgate

remove objectionable material from a book; bowdlerize; purify

sordid

filthy; vile

squalor

filth; degradation; sordidness

sully

tarnish; besmirch; defile

adjacent

lying near or next to; bordering; adjoining

contiguous

touching; adjoining

juxtapose

put side to side; put close together

propinquity

1. kinship

2. nearness of place; proximity