Junior Vocabulary

List 1

appropriate (v.) to take for one’s own or exclusive use; to steal; to set aside for a specific use or person. Her eclectic look appropriates elements of the styles of many periods: 1940’s shoulder pads, 70’s bellbottoms, 80’s punk haircut. – Every year the school board appropriates a proportion of tax revenue to purchase textbooks. – Since no one was using that old Starbucks mug in the office kitchen, I appropriated it.

assimilate (v.) to make similar; to absorb into the culture of a population or group --It is widely thought that contemporary immigrant populations are less eager to assimilate into mainstream American culture than they were fifty years ago.

atrophy (v.) to waste away or to cause to waste away. -- The cancer had already begun to atrophy her stomach.

beguile (v.) 1. to lead by deception 2. to please or persuade by the use of wiles. –She beguiles men with her feminine charm to get them to buy her expensive gifts. –I have no clue why she was so beguiled by him; he was not that smart or that cute.

bellicose (adj.) of a quarrelsome or hostile nature; warlike [connotes a relatively constant disposition or character trait] --I’m all for a show of enthusiasm at the homecoming game, but when the football coach’s manner become wholly bellicose, the events aren’t fun anymore.
bellicosity (n.): the noun form of bellicose.

belligerent (adj.) at war; of war; of fighting; seeking war; warlike[connotes an attitude prevailing in a specific situation, but not one that is not necessarily permanent] --When we arrived at what we thought would be a peaceful candlelight protest, we were surprised to find a belligerent crowd burning an effigy of the dictator.
belligerence (n.): the noun form of belligerent.

cartel (n.) an association of industrialists, business firms, etc. for establishing a national or international monopoly for price fixing, ownership of controlling stock, etc. –Economists argue over whether the high price of gas is merely due to OPEC exploiting its leverage as a cartel, or to investor speculation in oil commodity futures.

circumspect (adj.) carefully attentive to all circumstances that may relate to an action or judgment or conduct; cautious, careful. -- I admired his circumspection in researching college choices carefully before making his choice.

consortium (n.)/consortia (pl. n) a partnership; an agreement or association of the banking interests of two or more nations, as for giving joint financial aid to another nation. —Old Navy, the Gap, and Banana Republic are all owned by the same consortium.

co-opt (v.) to acquire and visibly attach to an activity or enterprise something that in its original context would not have been naturally associated with the activity/enterprise.
–Major advertisers commonly purchase the 1960’s rock standards because they want to co-opt an aura of hipness and associate it with their products. –When the exchange student from India first arrived in Littleton, she seemed out of place, but it did not take long for her to become co-opted into the habits and rituals of American teenagers.
co-optation (n.): the noun form of co-opt.

depose (v.) to remove from office or a position of authority; to oust; in law, to state under oath or to testify. –The tyrannical king was eventually deposed by a revolution.
deposition (n.) the act of deposing; testimony under oath

diminution (n.) a diminishing or the act of being diminished, a lessening or decrease; in music, the repetition of a theme in notes one half or one quarter the length of the original; a word formed from another by the addition of a suffix expressing smallness in size or endearment. --Bill Clinton suffered a diminution after the Monica Lewinski affair. –The lovebirds spoke to one another in cloying diminutives like “sweetykins” and “honeypie”.
diminutive (adj. & n.): adjectival and noun form of diminution.

discursive (adj.) 1. wandering from one topic to another; skimming over many apparently unconnected subjects; digressive 2. in philosophy, going from one premises to conclusions in a series of logical steps --I ran out of patience with the discursiveness of her essay. She could have made her point in half the space. –Those who once struggled with math are often better at providing clear, discursive explanations of mathematical operations than those who just “get” math intuitively.
discursiveness (n.): noun form of discursive.

emphatic (adj.) with emphasis or urgency. –The students’ reaction to the pop-test was so emphatic that the occupants of adjoining rooms could hear it quite plainly.
emphatically (adv.) adverbial form of emphatic.

endemic (adj.) 1. prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people 2. Native to or confined to a certain region [usually applied to plants or disease, and with a slightly negative connotation] --Using the word “wicked” to mean “really” or “very” is endemic to New England.

espionage (n.) 1. the act or practive of spyingl 2. use of spies by a government to discover military or political secrets of other nations. -- The CIA was under investigation for espionage.

gravitas (n.) high seriousness (as in a person’s bearing or in the treatment of a subject)
--His off-color jokes were utterly unsuited to the gravitas of the professor’s funeral.

indigenous (adj.) born, growing, or produced naturally in a region or country; native [usually applied to plant or animal life, neutral connotation] --While it’s possible to grow palm trees in Massachusetts, they do better in their indigenous environments.

innate (adj.) a born characteristic not cultivated or acquired through education --Though she hasn’t learned to swim yet, she is innately athletic so I imagine she’ll learn quickly. –The ability to write is not innate. While some pick it up more easily than others, all can become competent, and even the best writers need constant practice to hone and maintain their skills.

intrinsic (adj.) of or pertaining to the essential nature of the thing; inherent [usually applied to things or people or cultural phenomena] --Though not formally educated, Huck seems to have an intrinsic intelligence. –Paddled steamboats seemed almost intrinsic to the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century.

libido (n.) emotional or psychic energy that in psychoanalytical theory is derived from primitive biological urges and that is usually goal-directed; sex-drive. –Junk food diets and alcohol are said to dull a person’s libido.

maverick (n.) one who refuses to abide by the dictates or rules of a group; a glamorous or brave dissenter; a stand-out --The same over-the-top polyester outfit that could get you ridiculed at BU as a tacky freak might get you praised as a maverick at Brown.

mediate (v.) 1. to settle (a dispute) as intermediary. 2. to come between as the means of communication or representation of reality, ideas, images, etc. -- The students were trained to mediate between students in conflict.

medium (n. sing.) means of communication, as radio, television, newspapaers, and magazines, with wide reach and influence. -- In my mom's day, she was a "journalism" major, but today the field is more commonly referred to as "media and communication."

misanthropic (adj.) skeptical about or hostile to humanity and/or human behavior. –I would imagine that the role of “assistant principal” might tend to make one misanthropic, since one is faced every day with humanity, if not always at its worst, then certainly not at its best.
misanthropy (n.): the noun form of misanthropic.

philanthropic (adj.): benevolent, generous, humane; tending to make contributions to benefit the human condition ­--Now that Bill gates has secured his billions, he has turned his attention to philanthropic causes like ending world hunger and curing diseases.
philanthropy (n.): noun form of philanthropic.

poise (n.) 1. a state of balance or equilibrium; stability 2. freedom from affectation or embarrassment; composure 3. the bearing or deportment of the head or body; mien --On assembly days it becomes painfully apparent that poise and public speaking are not a priority at LHS.

potable (adj.) fit for drinking -- The plumber fixed our filtration system so now the water is potable.

prosaic (adj.) commonplace or dull, matter of fact, unimaginative; of or like prose (everday language not set into verse) rather than poetry. -- Any prosaic designs entered into an art competition will most certainly not be in contention for the grand prize.

putative (adj.) commonly regarded as such; reputed; supposed. -- Bobby McGee, one of the students in our class, is the putative braniac of the group, though occasionally even he makes mistakes.

scruple (n./v.) a feeling of hesitancy, doubt, or uneasiness arising from difficulty in deciding what is right, proper, expedient; qualm. -- Although we were scrupulously careful about keeping the screen door shut, still some wasps made it into the house.

sensibility (n.) the capacity for being affected emotionally or intellectually, whether pleasantly or unpleasantly; the capacity to respond intelligently and perceptively to intellectual, moral, or aesthetic events of value, especially those considered higher or refined --Even though he works as an accountant, he has acute aesthetic sensibilities. His office must be not just functional, but beautiful. –I have so much trust in my best friend Jane’s sensibility and her awareness of my taste that I would trust her to select a car, a house, or even a spouse for me.

List 2

circumscribe (v.) 1. to draw a line around; to encircle 2. to enclose within bounds
The architect circumscribed the prison with an electric fence so that the prisoners wouldn’t escape.

coerce (v.) to compel by force or intimidation
Though students often claim that teachers “make” them do their work, very few are truly coerced.

conduit (n.) 1. a pipe, tube, or natural channel for conveying water or other fluids. 2. a structure containing ducts for electrical conductors or cables.
In order to come out of your faucet, water must be pumped through a conduit.

construe (v.) to understand or explain the meaning or intention of; to interpret
It was hard for the class to construe what the teacher meant by “mixed metaphor” without an example, so she gave them one and then they understood.

crocodile tears (n.) tears that are not real -- The gold digger shed a lot of crocodile tears at her deceased husband’s funeral.

ellipsis (n.) the omission from a sentence or other construction of one or more words understandable from the context that would complete or clarify the construction. --The ellipsis in that newspaper article implied that the readers were not getting the whole story.

ellipse (n.) a plane curve, such that the sums of the distances of each point in its periphery from two fixed points (the foci) are equal.
The moon’s orbit around the earth, if one were to draw it out, would look like an ellipse.

enmity (n.) a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred, ill-will, or animosity
Teenagers often go through a period of irrational enmity towards their parents.

exorbitant (adj.) exceeding the bounds of custom, propriety, or reason, esp. in amount or extent. --The prices were so exorbitant at Idylwilde that I went to Market Basket instead.

extrapolate (v.) to infer from values within an already observed interval; to project, extend, or expand into an area not known or experienced, so as to arrive at a usually conjectural knowledge of the unknown area.
The detective extrapolated a working theory of the crime from the evidence at the scene.

infer (v.) to derive by reasoning; to conclude or judge from premises or evidence--Given her perfect 4.0 GPA and eloquent writing style, it was reasonable to infer that she would be applying to prestigious colleges.

List 3

discretion (n.) the power to decide or act according to one’s own judgment
–All the decisions were left to their discretion; we trusted them to do what they thought best.

endowment (n.) 1. money or property given for the permanent use of an institution, person, or object. 2. Any natural gift, as talent or beauty. 3. The act of endowing
--His endowment to scholarship allowed the school to accept five more students last year.

flagrant (adj.) 1. glaringly bad; notorious; outrageous 2. [archaic] aflame; blazing –He showed flagrant disregard for her feelings when he criticized her in public.

fortuitous (adj./adv.) 1. occurring by chance; casual; accidental 2. fortunate; lucky --It was fortuitous that my brother, who happens to drive a tow truck, was following me home last night because I got a flat tire, and he was a big help.

gregarious (adj.) inclined to associate with others; fond of company
--Greg’s gregarious nature made him a natural politician.

leaven (n.) a small piece of fermenting dough put aside to be used for producing fermentation in a fresh batch of dough.
leaven (v.) 1. to make batter or dough rise by means of a leavening agent 2. to spread through, causing gradual change
–You must leaven the dough so that after it is baked it will be fully raised.

morose (adj.) gloomy, sullen, or ill-humored
--Eeyore is the famously morose donkey in Winnie the Pooh.

munificent (adj.) characterized by or displaying great generosity
--At graduation, scholarship donors are recognized for their munificent contributions.

mutable (adj.) subject to change or alteration
--I left my New Year’s Eve plans mutable because I knew that Mary was apt to find someone cooler to hang out with.

obfuscate (v.) to darken; to bewilder, often used rhetorically
--I tried to obfuscate my parents when they asked where I’d been all night, but they could tell by my muddy boots and malodorous scent that I’d been night fishing with Tom again.

obsequious (adj.) compliant or servile to excess --The obsequious worker never questioned anything he was told to do, he just did it.

proxy (n.) 1. the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another 2. a written authorization empowering another person to vote or act for the signer --The president of the company sent her assistant as her proxy for the meeting that she wished to avoid.

rancor (n.) bitter resentment or ill will; hatred; malice
rancorous (adj.) showing rancor --After being fired, Joe showed off his rancor by setting his cubicle on fire and screaming obscenities at his boss.

retrograde (adj.) 1. moving backward; having a backward motion or direction; retiring or retreating 2. inverse or reversed --The progress of our project was so retrograde that we were almost back to where we started.

spurious (adj.) 1. not genuine, authentic, or true; counterfeit 2. of illegitimate birth
--The counterfeiter produced a lot of spurious bills before the cops caught him.

surrogate (n.) a person appointed to act for another
-I saw that in a zoo recently, workers were able to get a female tiger to act as a maternal surrogate for some abandoned piglets by dressing the little oinkers in tiger costumes.

facetious (adj.) joking or trying to be jocular, esp. at an inappropriate time. -- When he broke out laughing at the funeral, we could not tell if the boy was being facetious or had actually lost grip of this emotions.

fallacious (adj.) apt to mislead; deceptive or delusive quality; false or mistaken idea, illogical conclusion. -- Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (after the fact, therefore because of the fact) is a renowned example of fallacious logic.

assiduous (adj.) done with constant and careful attention; diligent, perservering. -- Runnng a marathon requires assiduous advance training.

disparate (adj.) containing or made up of different or incongruous elements; distinct in quality or character. -- There were significant disparities in the amounts of funding the students received.

discreet (adj.) careful about what one says or does; prudent. -- Politicians must be very careful not to make indiscreet remarks.

auspicious (adj.) of good omen, boding well for the future; successful, prosperous. -- The real estate company accepted the IT proposal because of its auspicious timing.

serendipitous (adj.) fortunate, but apparently accidental. -- I love the serendipity of shopping at antiques fairs. You never know what you'll find.


List 4

anathema (n.) something or someone accursed or assigned to damnation; something or someone detested.
Studying foreign languages was anathema to him, so he was happy when he had fulfilled his graduation requirement.

brazen (adj.) 1. bold, shameless, or impudent. 2. made of brass.
Brazen vulgarity is a trademark of South Park’s humor.

tentative (adj.) 1. of the nature of a trial, experiment, or attempt 2. unsure; not definite or positive; hesitant --We made tentative plans to meet next Friday, as she didn’t know if she was going to be able to get out of work early or not.

revere (v.) to regard with respect tinged with awe; to venerate
--While most kids revere their parents, teenagers are usually long past such naïve adulation.

transient (adj.) 1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory 2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary --Luckily, the bad weather was rather transient, and after a brief squall the skies cleared and we were able to play our soccer game.

foray (n.) 1. a quick raid or attack, usually for the purpose of taking plunder. 2. an initial venture outside one’s customary range of activity.
Too many late night forays into the fridge and you can kiss that modeling career goodbye.

mendacity (n.) the tendency to be truthful
Willful mendacity seems to be the modus operandi of the Bush administration with respect to its Iraq policy.

ruse (n.) an artifice; a trick --The magician’s ruse was incredibly believable because everybody thought it really happened!

vicarious (adj.) enjoyed or experienced by someone through his imagined participation in another’s experience --It is my guess that watching sports involves more than the vicarious pleasures of identifying athletic prowess.

vulgar (adj.) 1. characterized by ignorance or lack of good breeding or taste
2. indecent; obscene; lewd --The school’s conduct code prohibits any kind of vulgar words or gestures.

wan (adj.) 1. of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color 2. showing or suggesting ill health, fatigue, unhappiness, etc. --The bulimic teenager’s wan face showed little life.

zealot (n.) one who is fanatically devoted to a cause. --The protest was led by a zealot, whose brazen actions eventually got him arrested.

portentous (adj.) foreboding; 2. full of unspecifiable significance; 3. marked by pompousness; pretentiously weighty. -- The cloudy sky was portentous; we sensed we were in for a big storm.

adulate (v.) to flatter servilely, praise extravagantly. -- Eager to share his spoils, Charlemagne's vassals missed no opportunity to publicly adulate the king's military prowess.

abase (v.) to lower in rank, prestige, or esteem. -- It's depressing to see grown men and women abase themselves nightly on reality shows like "Fear Factor."

venerate (v.) to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference. -- It is primarily Catholic and Orthodox Christians who venerate saints; but nearly all Christians worship Christ.

vigil (n.) 1. a night watch; 2. the eve of a religious festival or holy day, or ceremony performed on that eve; 3. keeping steadily on the alert; closely monitoring a situation, assiduous. -- Neighborhood watch groups keep nightly vigils to make sure their homes remain safe from prowlers.

vigilante (n.) any person who assumes the authority of the law, as by avenging a crime. -- Vigilantes are often the heroes of old westerns.

wanton (adj.) 1. immoral or unchaste; lewd. 2. unrestrainedly excessive. 3. luxuriant; overabundant. 4. frolicsome; playful. -- While at the mall, the undisciplined teenager with a new credit card was prone to wanton spending.

acerbic (adj.) sour or bitter, as in taste, character or tone. -- The sour milk had an acerbic taste, sp we poured it down the drain.

camp (n.)/ campy (adj.) exaggerated, often self-reverential and self-derogatory form of irony (as if to mock oneself before giving someone else the chance); something, like Star Wars, "so bad, it's good" -- Participants in the annual gay pride parade often dress in campy, over-the-top costumes.

adamant (adj.) unyielding, firm. -- My mother was adamant in her position taht girls should not have their ears pierced before they are sixteen. -- She hold adamantly to her religious beliefs.