“Giving kids clothes and food is one thing but it is much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important, and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people.” - Dolores Huerta

Monday, October 13, 2014

Vocabulary #6

abase - verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
abdicate - verb give up, such as power, or duties and obligations
The new teacher, unable to control his classroom, abdicated his power to the students.

abomination - noun  an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
Many people who follow the Indian culture find the eating of cow meat an abomination.

brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness
The man pushed past me brusquely.

saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks
The saboteur turned out to be a double secret agent.

debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
The debauchery full of teens was stopped by a concerned neighbor.

proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly

anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; something/someone located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
In the movie The Great Gatsby (the new version) there is said to be an anachronism.

nomenclature - noun a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
The Dewey decimal system is a nomenclature

expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
The principal made his speech more concise by expurgating some items.

bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready disposition to fight
The big bully was bellicose.

gauche - adj. lacking social polish
The poor street boy, when put in a social situation, seemed gauche.

rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities
The gluttonous man ate rapaciously.

paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
Big little shrimp is an advertisement paradox.

conundrum - noun a difficult problem
The monkey faced a conundrum when his banana fell out of his reach.

anomaly - noun  a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common
Luna Lovegood is seen as an anomaly in the Harry Potter series.

ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived

rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
The rancorous old man threw a chess piece at his archenemy.

churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
The churlish child threw a tantrum in the middle of the store, kicking and screaming his little head off.

precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
The precipitous activity led by the teens turned out much better than they expected.

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