Unit 1

Adjunct (n.)

Adjunct (n.)

• Something added to something else as helpful or useful but not essential

• An assistant or helper

• A valuable quality or characteristic

Adjunct (adj.)

• Added or connected in a subordinate capacity

• Attached to a faculty or staff in an auxiliary capacity

Bellwether (n.)

• The male sheep that leads the flock to the slaughterhouse

• A leader, as in a desperate or violent undertaking

• An indicator of trends

Caterwaul (v.)

• To howl or screech like a cat

• To quarrel

Caterwaul (n.)

• A harsh or noisy cry

• A racket

Chimerical (adj.)

• Absurd

• Wildly fantastic

• Impossible

Effete (adj.)

• Lacking in wholesome vigor or energy

• Worn out or exhausted

• Sterile or unable to produce

• Out of date

Fait accompli (n.)

An accomplished or presumably irreversible deed, fact, or action

Hidebound (adj.)

• Narrow-minded and rigid especially in opinions or prejudices

• Stubbornly or unthinkable conservative

Hierarchy (n.)

Any system of things or people arranged or graded one above another in order of rank, wealth, class, etc.

Liturgy (n.)

• A religious service or right

• The form of a ritual or other act of public worship

Mirage (n.)

• Something illusory without substance or without a basis in reality

• An illusion

Morass (n.)

• A patch of low, soft, wet ground

• A swamp

• A confusing situation in which one is entrapped, as in quicksand

Noisome (adj.)

• Offensive or disgusting

• Foul smelling

• Harmful or injurious

Oblivious (adj.)

• Forgetful

• Unaware

Poltroon (n.)

A base coward

Proselytizing (n.)

• A convert

• A disciple

Quasi (adj.)

Resembling but not actually being, seemingly but not actually or completely

Raillery (n.)

Good humored ridicule, teasing

Ribald (adj.)

Irreversibly mocking, coarse, vulgar, or indecent in language

Supine (adj.)

• Lying flat on one's back

• Listless or lethargic

• Apathetic or passive

Vignette (n.)

• A short description or sketch

• A picture or illustration with edges that gradually shade off

• A decorative design on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter