English 12 H Vocab Midterm Review 1

Boon

A gift or blessing

Cajole

To urge, coax

Defile

To make unclean, impure

Effrontery

Impudence, nerve, insolence

Fastidious

Meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards

Grandiloquence

Lofty, pompous language

Hapless

Unlucky

Ignominious

Humiliating, discracing

Abrogate

To abolish, usually by authority

Rancor

Deep, bitter resentment

Sacrosanct

Holy, something that should not be criticized

Tacit

Expressed without words

Ubiquitous

Existing everywhere, widespread

Vacillate

To fluctuate, hesitate

Wanton

Deliberate and unprovoked violent acts

Zenith

The highest point, culminating point

Abjure

To reject, renounce

Blandish

To coax by using flattery

Cacophony

Tremendous noise, disharmonious sound

Decry

To criticize openly

Ebullient

Extremely lively, enthusiastic

Fallacious

Incorrect, misleading

Garrulous

Talkative, wordy

Hackneyed

Unoriginal, trite

Iconoclast

One who attacks common beliefs or institutions

Jubilant

Extremely joyful, happy

Laconic

Terse in speech or writing

Maelstrom

A destructive whirlpool which rapidly sucks in objects

Nadir

The lowest point of something

Obdurate

Unyielding to persuasion or moral influences

Palliate

To reduce the severity

Quagmire

A difficult situation