Vocabulary #4

1. obsequious: showing servile complaisance or deference: fawning 

Ex: The obsequious intern had two perfect coffees waiting for his boss on his very first day of work.
2. beatitude: supreme blessedness; exalted happiness

Ex: The student felt beatitude after she received straight A's in all of her AP classes.
3. bete noire: a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear

Ex: She was the bete noire of class after she reminded the teacher to collect the 1,000 page essay at the end of the class.
4. bode: to be an omen of; portend

Their argument did not bode well for the future after they angrily walked away from each other without resolving the issue at hand.
5. dank: unpleasantly moist or humid; damp 

Ex: The dank basement was not exactly the ideal place to hold a sleepover for her little brother.
6. ecumenical: general; universal

Ex: The ecumenical colors associated with Halloween include black and orange.

7. fervid: heated or vehement in spirit, enthusiasm

Ex: I would like to think that our fervent War Zone had something to do with our win last Friday.

8. fetid: having an offensive odor; stinking

Ex: I had to throw away some old leftovers in the fridge as their fetid smell and mold repulsed me.

9. gargantuan: gigantic; enormous; colossal

Ex: The gargantuan amount of things to do and buy this senior year is starting to make me go insane.

10. heyday: the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, prime, etc.

Ex: The heyday of our soccer team occurred when I was still in junior high as they got to the final rounds of CIF.

11. incubus: an imaginary demon or evil spirit supposed to descend upon sleeping persons

Ex: Grendel is a perfect example of an incubus in "Beowulf".

12. infrastructure: the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization

Ex: The infrastructure of her math class is based on basic algebra.

13. inveigle: to entice, lure by flattery; to acquire, win

Ex: He was able to inveigle me into going to Homecoming with him after he said he would take me to the nicest restaurant in town.

14. kudos: honor; glory; acclaim

Ex: Dr. Preston has a portion of his board titled "Kudos" to announce the students who receive scholarships.

15. lagniappe: a gratuity or tip

When we go to fast food establishments, we usually do not leave them a lagniappe on the table.

16. prolix: extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long or wordy; (of a person) given to speaking or writing at great length

Ex: Some scholarship contests contain a word limit and thus a submitted prolix essay will not be considered.

17. protege: a person under the patronage, protection, or care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare

Ex: Sierra Sanchez likes to call my sister her little protege after she taught her the basics of volleyball and essentially helped her make the team and has even become a starter.

18. prototype: the original or model on which something is based or formed; someone who serves as an exemplar of class

Ex: The prototype had a few minor glitches, which is why they are continuing to work on it before they can officially release it to the public.

19. sycophant: self-seeking, servile flatterer, fawning parasite

Ex: The sycophant began acting much nicer to his boss in hopes he would get a raise soon.

20. tautology: needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those if immediate context without clearness

Ex: Her tautology on the idea of encourage the use of cell phones in class was unnecessary as the administration would never consider such a thing.

21. truckle: to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely

Ex: Truckle can sometimes be used as a synonym to obsequious.