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Sophomore Pre-IB English Vocab

Word, part of speech

Definition

Synonym & Antonym

Sentence

Valiant, adjective

Showing courage and/or determination

S: heroic, brave

A: cowardly

As valiant as he was, he still couldn’t resist being vulnerable to his lover.

Pestilence, noun

A fatal epidemic disease

S: plague, pandemic

A: N/A

COVID-19 was the pestilence of the 21st century.

Abide, verb

To bare patiently

S: endure, heed

A: reject

Jordina abided patiently as Kaito slowly picked up the banana he threw.

Disdain, noun

The feeling that someone is unworthy of another’s respect

S: contempt, scorn

A: admiration

You can see the fire and disdain in Tiffany’s eyes as Mateus takes her last candy cane.

Turncoat, noun

A traitor to their party

S: traitor, betrayer

A: patriot

Luke is a turncoat to the group, he snitched on us for eating Thy’s snacks.

Flout, verb

Openly disregard

S: disdain, defy

A: observe

Deven flouted Eric’s directions on the chemistry work as soon as he explained it.

Canker, noun

A dead area of a tree bark affected by a disease

S: fungal disease, fungal rot

A: thriving

Tiffany’s apple tree is infected and dead, caused by canker.

Subdued, adjective

Quiet and depressed

S: somber, dejected

A: lively

The class was subdued to find out their teacher was there.

Throng, noun

A packed crowd of people or animals

S: Mass, mob

A: dispersed

Nathan pushed his way out of the throng to find Averie.

Shrewd, adjective

Smart and understands gestures

S: sharp, clever

A: ingenuous 

Hannah was shrewd enough to understand his intentions.

Solicit, verb

To ask for something from someone

S: seek, beseech

A: dismiss

Autumn solicited help from Clara on ideas about the paper.

Dissuade, verb

To persuade someone to not do something

S: discourage, prevent

A: encourage

Yuna tried to dissuade Jordina from drawing on the board, but she still did it.

Perturb, verb

To do something to make someone anxious

S: worry, disturb

A: reassure

Yuna was perturbed by Autumn and Clara’s capricious actions.

Covertly, adverb

Without being openly known

S: secretly, clandestinely

A: openly

Kaito watched Mateus covertly as he ate the waffle.

Semblance, noun

An outward appearance that’s not necessarily true

S: facade, appearance

A: reality

Averie put on quite a semblance when she saw Victoria going around.

Blithe, adjective

Happy and carefree

S: unconcerned, nonchalant

A: thoughtful

A blithe girl was Tiffany as she danced around the classroom.

Requited, verb

To return something to someone(usually a feeling?)

S: reciprocate, return

A: unrequited

After years, someone had finally requited my love.

Coy, adjective

Pretending to be shy but making it alluring(describing women)

S: bashful, demure

A: brazen

Eliana gave him a coy smile as he held the door for her.

Bestow, verb

To present an honor

S: give, grant

A: withhold

The IB coordinator bestowed the Diploma certificate to her as she walked up the stage.

Disparage, verb

To see something with little worth

S: scorn

A: praise

Jordina never missed an opportunity to speak like a gen-alpha child.

Word, part of speech

Definition

Synonym & Antonym

Sentence

Harrowing, adjective 

Really disturbing or distressing

S: heartbreaking, agonizing, painful

A: calm, comfort, heartening

What she went through when her mother died was truly harrowing.

Fastidious, adjective

Giving extreme attention to details, excessively concerned with cleanliness, hard to please.

S: exacting, hypercritical, picky

A: easy-going, sloppy

He was the most fastidious teacher I’ve known, picked out every tiny detail we did wrong and made a fuss about it.

Ameliorate, verb

Make something bad better

S: improve, help

A: worsen

The teacher decided to ameliorate the test since the pass rate last year was really low.

Evince, verb

To reveal a feeling or quality of someone or something

S: reveal, show

A: conceal

The tone of his voice clearly evinced how he felt about the new building.

Countenance, verb and noun

Noun: a person’s face

Verb: to tolerate something

Verb:

S: tolerate, allow

A: criticize

Her countenance was easily won without force.

Repose, noun and verb

Noun: rest, sleep

Verb: to put something somewhere

Verb: 

S: lie, rest, situated

A: strain, hard-working

She was reposed on the bed after a long day.

Poignant, adjective

A sense of sadness or regret

S: touching, pitiful

A:  unaffecting

The movie was so poignant that he even cried as he watched.

Inexorable, adjective

Impossible to stop

S: unstoppable, unavoidable, inevitable

A: preventale

It is inexorable to see her this way since she’d been hiding it for too long.

Capitulate, verb

To admit defeat

S: yield, surrender

A: resist

The kingdom had already capitulated to us, since they were damaged badly now.

Endeavor, verb & noun

Verb: to try to look for something

Noun: an attempt to achieve something

Verb S: try, attempt

Verb A: neglect

Noun S: effort, attempt

Noun A: inactivity

Their endeavor pleased and touched the king’s heart, so their will was granted.

Capacious, adjective

Having a lot of space/room

S: roomy, spacious

A: cramped, enclosed

The new location is clean and capacious, we could fit more than 15 tables in there.

Acquit, verb

To act or behave well

S: perform, behave

A: fail, halt

She acquitted well in her test, she even got a reward from her parents.

Dauntless, adjective

Showing fearlessness, not hesitant and determined

S: fearless, determined

A: weakheared

Joan of Arc was a dauntless individual at the battle, praised by all for her fearlessness.

Inure, verb

Used to something unpleasant

S: harden, adapt

A: sensitize

The children were abused so much that they were inured to violence.

Derive, verb

To get something/obtain something from somewhere

S: obtain, gain

A: Forfeit, reject

Her home was where they derived comfort and security from.

Conjecture, verb

To form an opinion on incomplete information

S: imagine, speculate

A: fact

Lots conjectured that the lunch for the day was terrible

Peruse, verb

To read something closely

S: examine, read

A: neglect

She perused the passage thoughtfully and wrote down her answer.

Foreboding, noun

A bad feeling, that something bad will happen

S: apprehensive, anxiety

A: calm

He had the foreboding sense that something might have happened to her.

Ardent, adjective

Enthusiastic or passionate

S: passionate, eager

A: half hearted

She was an adent fan of his.

Vehemence, noun

The display of strong feeling, passion

S: urgency, intensity

A: mildness

It was shown in his vehemence, that he was very interested in her.

Word, part of speech

Definition

Synonym & Antonym

Sentence

Undulate, verb

Moves smoothly up and down, rise and fall, not like the word vacillate

S: surge, wave

A: calm

The sea undulated harshly that night.

Indelible, adjective

Unable to be removed or forgotten

S: unfading, ineradicable

A: erasable

She made an indelible impression on me, by the way she acted

Penury, noun

Extremely in poverty

S: pennilessness, deprivation

A: affluence

Their family lived in penury their whole lives, when he came to the capital, he was shocked at the wealth.

Venerable, adjective

A great deal of respect and wisdom, coming from age

S: distinguished, venerated

A: disreputable

He had been through a lot, a venerable and studious professor

Exculpate, verb

To declare that someone is not guilty

S: acquit, vindicate

A: incriminate

She exculpated the man from court, for he is innocent

Obdurate, adjective

Not wanting to change one’s opinion

S: unyielding, stubborn

A: amenable

He is an obdurate individual, refusing to agree with what is clearly right 

Convalescence, noun

In a state of rest after an illness

S: rehabilitation, recovery

A: relapse

After the surgery, she went through a period of convalescence

Odious, adjective

Extremely unpleasant

S: repulsive, revolting

A: delightful

After creating the art, he felt odious from his creation

Abhor, verb

Regarded with disgust and hatred

S: loath, detest

A: admire

Frankenstein abhorred his creation in utter disgust

Facile, adjective

Easy to achieve, effortless

S: undemanding, effortless

A: hard-won

To the king, the war with that country was a facile victory for his country

Vacillate, verb

Wavering between different opinions, movement between ideas

S: dither, waver

A: resolute

She vacillated when he asked if she wanted to start this course again.

Verdant, adjective

Greens, grass, rich vegetation

S: lush, leafy

A: barren

The farm was doing well, such a verdant field of greenery.

Incipient, adjective

An initial stage, something developing

S: developing, initial

A: full-blown

Their incipient feeling of gratefulness for him was filled to the brim when he did that

Erroneously, adverb

In a mistaken way, incorrectly

S: mistakenly, inaccurately

A: accurately

Her gift was erroneously opened by her little brother.

Dogma, noun

A principle set by an authority that as true without questions 

S: doctrine, ideology

A: doubt

The government declined all religious dogma

Repugnance, noun

Intense disgust

S: loathing, disgust

A: delight

Frankenstein made no attempt to hide his repugnance when he saw the creature

Precipice, noun

A very steep rock/cliff

S: bluff, steep

A: lowland

He stood in shock after seeing her being pushed of from the precipice

Progeny, noun

A decadence 

S: offspring, posterity

A: ancestor

Eric is a progeny of the creature

Caprice, noun

A sudden change of mood

S: impulse, whim

A: stability

She had a caprice after seeing how he moved quickly to another girl after leaving her

Pernicious, adjective

Having a harmful effect in a subtle/gradual way

S: harmful, damaging

A: beneficial

Climate change is pernicious

Word, part of speech

Definition

Fitfully, adverb

Not regularly or continuously.

Sanguine, noun

Blood red color

Adherent, noun

Someone who supports a party/person/idea

Specious, adjective

Seemingly true, but actually false

Archaic, adjective

Very old or old fashioned

Urbane, adjective

Refined in manner

Gesticulate, verb

Using dramatic gestures instead of speaking 

Sordid, adjective 

  • Ignorant actions and is morally distaste

  • Dirty or squalid

Aureole, noun

A circle of light around something, like a halo

Tableaux, noun

Mutable, adjective

Liable to change

Myriad, noun and adjective

Noun: 

  • A countless great number

  • A unit of ten thousand

Adjective: 

countless and great in number

Zealot, noun

A person who is uncompromising in their beliefs

Vapid, adjective

Offering nothing that is stimulating

Invariably, adverb

In every case or occasion

Pugnacious, adjective

Eager to fight, argue or quarrel

Thwart, verb

To prevent someone from achieving something

Drivel, noun

nonsense

Compendium, noun

A short but detailed info of a subject

Harangue, noun or verb

Noun: a long and aggressive speech

Verb: lecturing someone aggressively for a long time

Word, part of speech

Definition

Synonym & Antonym

Sentence

Dissemble, verb

To conceal one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs. 

S: dissimulate, masquerade

A: admit, unveil

The best way to dissemble her thoughts from them is to keep herself from speaking.

Supersede, verb

To take the place of someone who used to be in charge or to replace something that used to be used

S: override, replace 

A: keep, retain

Eric superseded Luke with Tristan,  since he is going away on Dec 6th.

Repudiate, verb

Refuse to associate with

S: reject, renounce

A: embrace, adopt

Deven publicly repudiated herself from ever knowing Eric.

Apoplectic, adjective

To overcome with anger, to get really angry

S: furious, enraged

A: amenable, delighted

Luke was apoplectic at the sight of Eric playing footsies with someone else.

Burly, adjective

Large built

S: sturdy, brawny

A: puny, small

To Deven, Eric had a burly build.

Hapless, adjective

Very unfortunate(usually describing a person)

S: unfortunate, unlucky

A: lucky, fortunate

Luke and Eric have the most hapless luck when it comes to girls, so they resorted to staying with each other instead.

Homely, adjective

British definition: cozy and comfortable in a house

S: comfy, hospitable

A: uncomfortable, formal

Deven’s home was very homely when we visited on her birthday.

Jocund, adjective

Cheerful and lighthearted 

S: joyous, bright

A: sad, heavy

Jordina is one of the most jocund girls I’ve ever met.

Proclivity, noun

A tendency to do something regularly

S: liking, fondness

A: loathing, disinclination

Tiffany cannot control her proclivity to start screaming as soon as she sees a duck.

Supercilious, adjective

Behaving as if they are more superior than others, prideful and arrogant 

S: haughty, pretentious

A: humble, modest 

There are none as supercilious than her, walking around with her head higher than anyone else.

Sycophant, noun

A person who excessively praise another to gain advantage 

S: flatterer, toady

A: individualist, free-thinker

She was loved by the king, and hated by all the sycophants around her.

Vacuous, adjective

Showing a lack of intelligence

S: mindless, vacant

A: expressive, meaningful

Her smile was vacuous, as if she hadn't seen light in years.

Anachronistic, adjective

A out of place/time object or act

S: antiquated, obsolete

A: modern

Eric is very anachronistic, as he is about to turn 17 in the midst of a bunch of 15 year olds.

Edify, verb

To instruct or improve morally or intellectually 

S: educate, enlighten

A: mislead, confuse

Luke had edified Eric about how to be a gentleman.

Eschew, verb

To deliberately avoid using something

S: abstain, relinquish

A: indulge, accept

Deven eschewed Eric after learning that he liked the Eagles.

Galvanize, verb

Shock or excite something or someone into taking action in something

S: startle, jolt

A: demotivate, bore

He was galvanized by the news of a fight.

Paucity, noun

Something in small quantities

S: scarcity, shortage

A: abundance, full

The paucity of food shortage caused many to suffer.

Colloquially, adverb

A locally known language that is informal

S: dialectal, common

A: formal, literary 

He spoke colloquially in a formal occasion, and she wasn't from around there, so she didn’t understand at all.

Visceral, adjective

A gut feeling

S: instinctive, innate

A: reasoned, mechanical 

Luke had a visceral feeling that Eric wants to play footsies with Deven instead of him.

Occult, noun

A supernatural or mythical beliefs and practices.

S: witchery, sorcery

A: obvious, unblurred

She always looked like someone whose studies are occult.