Senior Vocabulary

List 1

aural (adj.) of or pertaining to the ear or to the sense of hearing.

disingenuous (adj.) lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere, crafty

erudition (n.) learning; scholarly knowledge

adroitness (n.) skill; expert or nimble use of the hands or body

extirpation (n.) destruction; to remove or destroy totally; do away with; exterminate

fawning (adj.) attempting to win favor by flattery

husbandry (n.) 1. cultivation and production of edible crops or of animals for food; agriculture; farming. 2. careful management of resources

ignominy (n.) shame

insipid (adj.) flavorless; bland

invocation (n.) prayer; any petitioning or supplication for help or aid

modicum (n.) tiny amount

obsequious (adj.) groveling; characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference

soporific (adj.) sleep-inducing

tactile (adj.) through the sense of touch

belied (v.) proved to be false; contradicted; misrepresented

derided (v.) mocked; laughed at in scorn or contempt; scoffed or jeered at

dilatory (adj.) slow; sluggish; tending to delay or procrastinate

extant (adj.) still in existence; not destroyed or lost

hubris (n.) excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance

insolvent (adj.) Bankrupt; unable to satisfy creditors or discharge liabilities

List 2

defalcate (v.) 1. To cut off or take away, as a part of something. 2. To misuse funds; embezzle.-- Officers may have engaged in a covert defalcation of corporate funds.

officious (adj.) Intermeddling with what is not one's concern.-- Officers may have engaged in a covert defalcation of corporate funds

punctilious (adj.) Strictly observant of the rules or forms prescribed by law or custom. -- The older man last night led with the brash offense, while the younger one played punctilious defense.

demonstrable (adj.) Capable of positive proof.—The position will suit a self-starter who has demonstrable experience in a role of a similar nature.

rapine (n.) The act of seizing and carrying off property by superior force, as in war. -- “Men who were impelled to war quite as much by the desire of rapine as by the desire of glory” (Macaulay).

stagnate (v./adj.) To become dull or inert. -- Prices are set to stagnate and even fall by 2010.

subjection (n.) The act of bringing into a state of submission. – The men were tortured through the deprivation of food and water and subjection to deafening noise.

synod (n.) An ecclesiastical council. -- Catholic bishops attended a synod at the Vatican.

dearth (n.) Scarcity, as of something customary, essential, or desirable. -- The dearth of high-paying jobs has left many white collar workers without the means to pay their mortgages.

auriferous (adj.) Containing gold. -- The once auriferous California mine was marked as a national monument.

callow (adj.) Without experience of the world. -- “When you were a young and a callow fellow.”

cataclysm (n.) Any overwhelming flood of water. Any catastrophe -- The stock market crash of October 1929 was a cataclysmic event for most Americans.

excrescence (n.) Any unnatural addition, outgrowth, or development. -- The rise in fraud and corruption is an excrescence of economic deregulation.

foppish (adj.) Characteristic of one who is unduly devoted to dress and the niceties of manners. The aristocrat exclusively donned foppish hats and couture clothing.

gendarme (n.) In continental Europe, particularly in France, a uniformed and armed police officer. – Following WWI, gendarmes heavily patrolled the streets outside the cafés in Paris.

phosphorescence (n.) The property of emitting light. – The phosphorescent mineral was easy to identify in the conglomerate rock.

rigmarole (n.) Nonsense. – Many Americans feel that the rigmarole of political campaigns either trivializes or obscures critical issues.

venial (adj.) That may be pardoned or forgiven, forgivable. – Church doctrine makes a distinction between venial and mortal sins.

wrangle (v.) To maintain by noisy argument or dispute. – Many of the buyers who responded to my Craig’s List advertisement wanted to wrangle over my firm pricing.

irreverent (adj.) Showing or expressing a deficiency of veneration, especially for sacred things. – Some viewer’s felt that the comparison between Obama and Jesus was more than mere irreverence and crossed the line into sacrilege.

List 3

achromatic (adj.) Colorless; able to emit, transmit, or receive light without separating it into colors. – The scientist used an achromatic lens to examine the sample.

accursed (adj.) Doomed to evil, misery, or misfortune. – Victor Frankenstein laments his accursed attempt to discover the secret of imbuing life.

acrimonious (adj.) Full of bitterness. Ebenezer Scrooge became even more acrimonious around the holidays.

burnish (v.) To make brilliant or shining. My mother asked me to burnish the silverware before Thanksgiving dinner.

chattel (n.) A moveable article of personal property. In Great Expectations, Mr. Jaggers is only interested in accruing chattel, or as he terms it, “portable property.”

detrude (v.) To push down forcibly; to thrust out or away. – She unsuccessfully attempted to detrude her desire.

exigency (n.) A critical period or condition; that which is required in a particular situation —usually used in plural. – Today’s governments are exceptionally quick in responding to the exigencies of modern warfare.

garrote (n./v.) 1. An implement used for strangulation. 2. To execute by strangling. – The investigator found a contorted metal clothes hanger, which he later deemed a garrote.

imbroglio (n.) an intricate or complicated situation (as in a drama or novel) 2. an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding 3. a violently confused or bitterly complicated situation. The candidate could not escape the political imbroglio.

missive (n.) A message in writing, a letter. Voltaire wrote three missives directly to the king and instructed the messenger to ensure their safe delivery.

List 4

caprice - (n.) 1. whimmxfgdfghgh, impulse; a tendency to change one's mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality. 2. a sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather. -- A hailstorm in July is a caprice of nature.

errant - (adj.) deviating from the regular or proper course; erring; straying. 2. journeying or traveling, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure; roving adventurously. 3. moving in an aimless or lightly changing manner. -- The errant breeze disturbed the water’s tranquility.

laconic - (adj.) brief, terse; using few words; expressing much in few words; concise. -- His mother was annoyed by his tendency to give her laconic replies.

quaffable - (adj.) drinkable; easy to drink, esp. in quantity. –- Frederic Henry found the scotch to be quite quaffable from his hospital bed.

putsch – (n.) a plotted revolt or attempt to overthrow a government, esp. one that depends upon suddenness and speed. -- The passing of an unjust land law prompted the factional putsch.

flippant – (adj.) frivolous, lacking depth, seriousness. -- Her flippant attitude was initially attractive, but quickly became annoying.

turpitude – (n.) Essential baseness, depravity; corruption, perversion. -- The turpitude of the villain in the movie offended most audiences.

aesthete – (n.) Person having or affecting sensitivity to beauty; connoisseur, epicure. --Consuela's friends called her an aesthete when she claimed that Monet's paintings made her cry.

drub – (v.) To defeat decisively; beat, thrash. -- The powerful young boxer drubbed the longtime champion.

indecorous - (adj) In bad taste; vulgar, uncouth. -- My parents banned Chad from our house because of his indecorous behavior at dinner.

parity - (n.) Equality; sameness, equivalence. -- Hilda, to avoid squabbles, aimed for parity in the slices of birthday cake.

penurious - (adj.) Extremely stingy; frugal, parsimonious. -- Ebenezer Scrooge was most penurious, refusing to give even a penny to charity.

rhapsody - (n.) State of great happiness; ecstasy, rapture. -- Lorraine was in rhapsody when she was accepted to the college of her dreams.

recrimination - (n.) A retaliatory accusation; counterclaim. -- Frank, who was wounded by Sally's remark, made a bitter recrimination.

yegg – (n.) a burglar who robs safes; safecracker. – His math teacher wondered whether the boy would become a secret agent or a yegg.