vocab

abhor (v.) to hate, detest (Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)

acerbic (adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)

acquiesce (v.) to agree without protesting (Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

affable (adj.) friendly, amiable (People like to be around George because he is so affable and good-natured.)

anachronistic (adj.) being out of correct chronological order (In this book you’re writing, you say that the Pyramids were built after the Titanic sank, which is anachronistic.)

auspicious (adj.) favorable, indicative of good things (The tennis player considered the sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.)

balk (v.) to stop, block abruptly (Edna’s boss balked at her request for another raise.)

bereft (adj.) devoid of, without (His family was bereft of food and shelter following the tornado.)

cacophony (n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)

candor (n.) honesty, frankness (We were surprised by the candor of the mayor’s speech because he is usually rather evasive.)

capricious (adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)

coerce (v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat (The court decided that Vanilla Ice did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.)

culpable (adj.) deserving blame (He was culpable of the crime, and was sentenced to perform community service for 75 years.)

dearth (n.) a lack, scarcity (An eager reader, she was dismayed by the dearth of classic books at the library.)

desecrate (v.) to violate the sacredness of a thing or place (They feared that the construction of a golf course would desecrate the preserved wilderness.)

enervate (v.) to weaken, exhaust (Writing these sentences enervates me so much that I will have to take a nap after I finish.)

ennui (n.) boredom, weariness (I feel such ennui that I don’t look forward to anything, not even my birthday party.)

extraneous (adj.) irrelevant, extra, not necessary (Personal political ambitions should always remain extraneous to legislative policy, but, unfortunately, they rarely are.)

fastidious (adj.) meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards (Mark is so fastidious that he is never able to finish a project because it always seems imperfect to him.)

flabbergasted (adj.) astounded (Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am always flabbergasted when I learn the identity of the murderer.)

fortuitous (adj.) happening by chance, often lucky or fortunate (After looking for Manuel and not finding him at home, Harriet had a fortuitous encounter with him at the post office.)

gregarious (adj.) drawn to the company of others, sociable (Well, if you’re not gregarious, I don’t know why you would want to go to a singles party!)

hackneyed (adj.) unoriginal, trite (A girl can only hear “I love you” so many times before it begins to sound hackneyed and meaningless.)

haughty (adj.) disdainfully proud (The superstar’s haughty dismissal of her costars will backfire on her someday.)

imperious (adj.) commanding, domineering (The imperious nature of your manner led me to dislike you at once.)

inane (adj.) silly and meaningless (Some films are so inane that the psychology of the characters makes absolutely no sense.)

insidious (adj.) appealing but imperceptibly harmful, seductive (Lisa’s insidious chocolate cake tastes so good but makes you feel so sick later on!)

judicious (adj.) having or exercising sound judgment (When the judicious king decided to compromise rather than send his army to its certain death, he was applauded.)

latent (adj.) hidden, but capable of being exposed (Sigmund’s dream represented his latent paranoid obsession with other people’s shoes.)

lurid (adj.) ghastly, sensational (Gideon’s story, in which he described a character torturing his sister’s dolls, was judged too lurid to be printed in the school’s literary magazine.)

meager (adj.) deficient in size or quality (My meager portion of food did nothing to satisfy my appetite.)

mollify (v.) to soften in temper (The police officer mollified the angry woman by giving her a warning instead of a ticket.)