APLang Vocab Unit 4

Adroit

clever or skillful in using the hands or mind

• The adroit thief could pick someone’s pocket without attracting notice

• Timing the jump perfectly I, the outfielder adroitly snagged the fly ball at the wall

Deleterious

Causing harm or damage

• She experienced the deleterious effects of running a marathon without stretching her muscles beforehand

Fervor or Fervent

intense and passionate feeling

• The fervent protestors chained themselves to the building and shouted all night long

• Struck by her son’s fervor for Brussels sprouts, the mother quickly piled more on his plate

Heinous

(Person or act, crime) utterly wicked

• The reporter had trouble describing the sordid details of the heinous crime

Licentious 

Promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters; unfaithful

• Fyodor Karamazov, the father in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Is defined by his licentious behavior, his house often replete with women and alcohol

• After a destructive period of licentiousness, the young women needed a season of fasting and prayer to restore her soul

Pariah

An outcast

• Following the discovery of his plagiarism, Professor Wiley was made a pariah in all academic circles

Replete

Filled or well-supplied with something 

• The Thanksgiving table was replete with all kinds of pies and pastries

Sacrosanct 

(Principle, place, or routine) regarded as too important 

• In the United States, the Constitution is often thought of as a sacrosanct document 

Temerity

Excessive confidence or boldness; audacity

• Odysseus faced the 100 suitors with the help of his son, a few loyal servants, and a healthy dose of temerity

Wane

Decrease in vigor, power; become weaker

• I’m not sure why, but whenever I lecture about the differences between the em dash and the semicolon, my students’ attention beings to wane