Freshman English Vocab Unit 2

Adjourn

to stop proceedings temporarily; move to another place,

Court is adjourned until 10:00 tomorrow.

Alien

A citizen of another country; foreign, strange

Comely

Having a pleasing appearance,

She was a comely young woman with a warm smile and bright eyes.

Compensate

To make up for; to repay for services,

His enthusiasm compensates for his lack of skill.

Dissolute

Loose in ones morals or behavior,

He lived a dissolute life of endless parties and drinking.

Erratic

Not regular or consistent; different from what is ordinarily expected; undependable,

My coach said because of my erratic attendance at practice, I'm in danger of being cut from the team.

Expulsion

The process of driving or forcing out,

The student faced expulsion from school after breaking the strict honor code.

Feint

A deliberately deceptive movement; a pretense,

She feinted left before spinning around her opponent.

Fodder

Food for horses or cattle; raw material for a designated purpose,

The farmer stored extra fodder in the barn to feed the cows during the cold winter months.

Fortify

To strengthen, build up

He took a deep breath to fortify himself before stepping onto the stage.

Illegible

Difficult or impossible to read,

Water damage made several pages of the old journal illegible.

Jeer

To make fun of rudely or unkindly; A rude remark,

The angry crowd began to jeer when the player missed the easy shot.

Lucrative

Bringing in money; profitable,

She turned her simple hobby into a lucrative full-time career.

Mediocre

Average, ordinary, undistinguished,

George will never get a promotion if he keeps doing mediocre work.

Proliferate

To reproduce, increase, or spread rapidly,

Rumors about the incident proliferated on the Internet.

Subjugate

To conquer by force, bring under complete control,

The invading army marched across the border to subjugate the local towns

Sully

To soil, stain, tarnish, besmirch,

Dripping chocolate sauce onto the table will sully your mother's new white tablecloth.

Tantalize

To tease, torment by teasing,

She tried to tantalize her cat by dangling a feather toy just above his paws.

Terse

Brief and to the point,

His terse one-word reply let everyone know he was unhappy.

Unflinching

Firm, showing no signs of fear, not drawing back,

He showed unflinching courage when he spoke up against the unfair rules.