AICE Lang Vocab 3 J

pedestrian

ordinary or dull. A ________ is someone traveling by foot. If you're a ________, you will likely get annoyed at the drivers who don't stop so you can cross the street. Comes from a Latin word meaning "plain", and its adjective means "lacking wit or imagination."

Pedestrian - Companion Forms

pedestrian, pedestrianism, and pedestrianize

bona fide

in good faith. Something _____________ is the real deal, the real McCoy, genuine — it's not a fake or a counterfeit. A counterfeit hundred dollar bill is not __________.

adventitious

accidental; nonessential. ___________ is a word you use to talk about things that "just kind of happen," not because you are trying to do them, but because they just come along. Christopher Columbus's stumbling upon the Caribbean while searching for a new route to India was _________.

Adventitious --companion forms

Adventitiously, adventitousness

fecund

fertile; productive. The adjective ______ describes things that are highly fertile and that easily produce offspring or fruit. Rabbits are often considered to be _______ animals, and you may hear jokes in poor taste about people reproducing like rabbits if they have a lot of children.

Fecund-- companion

fecundity, nonfecund, unfecund.

deviate

to turn aside from a course; to stray. If something turns off course or is diverted, it ________(s) from the expected or the norm. ________(ing) from explicit recipe directions is never a good idea, unless you want inedible food or a kitchen fire.

Deviate-- companion forms

deviation, deviant.

obfuscate

to confuse; to bewilder. Some people are experts at _________(ing) the truth by being evasive, unclear, or obscure in the telling of the facts. The people who are good at ____________(ing) would include defense lawyers and teenagers asked about their plans for Saturday night.

Obfuscate -- companion forms

Obfuscation, obfuscator, and obfuscatory.

impale

(verb) to pierce with a sharp stake through the body. When you're preparing shish kebabs, you _________ chunks of marinated vegetables and meat on pointy metal skewers and then cook them on a grill.

extenuate

to lessen seriousness by providing partial excuses. To ___________ is to make less of something or try to minimize its importance. The fact that you walked your little sister to school because she missed the bus might _________ your teacher's response when you show up late.

Extenuate-- companion forms

extenuated, extenuates, extenuating.

parochial

local; narrow; limited. If an issue or a matter is _________, it is trivial or only concerns a local area. Likewise, a person with a _________ mentality is narrow-minded, or not open to new ideas.

Parochial-- companion forms

Parochialism, Parochially, Parochiality

glower

to stare angrily. If you see someone ________ at you, you might consider _________(ing) back, but no one likes an angry staring contest. To ________ is not only to stare, it's to stare angrily, as if you're going to throttle someone.

Glower-- companion forms

Glowered, Gloweringly, Glowering.

edify

improve someone morally. To _____ is to help someone understand, whether it is books that _______ those who want to learn a new language, or the explanations that hang beside paintings at a museum that _______ visitors who aren't familiar with the artist.

Edify-- companion forms

edifies, edified, edifying

ambiguous

open to more than one interpretation. Look to the adjective ________ when you need to describe something that's open to more than one interpretation, like the headline "Squad helps dog bite victim."

Ambiguous-- companion forms

Ambiguity, ambiguously, ambiguate

cataclysm

a violent change. The hurricane battered the coast, causing the city to flood, and tens of thousands of people were stranded without food or water. When an event causes great suffering, we call it a _________. Plague, Claws out!

Cataclysm-- companion forms

Cataclysms, Cataclysmic, Cataclysmically.

optimum

best; most favorable; ideal. An _________ is the best condition or highest extent of something. He didn't mean to create a science experiment, but the unwashed coffee cup under his desk became the _________ dark, wet environment for growing lots of mold.

importune

to ask persistently; to beg. Sure, to ___________ is to beg, but use it only when you're talking about going beyond mere begging into more urgent territory. The woman _________(d) the judge to release her innocent brother from jail.

Importune-- companion forms

Importunely, Importuner, importunate.