Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Vocabulary #1

1. adumbrate - verb give to understand; describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of
ex: After watching The Fault in our Stars, Hannah adumbrated the movie for me so I could decide if I really wanted to watch the movie or not.
2. apotheosis - noun the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god); model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal
ex: When it comes to a strong eyebrow game, Cara Delevingne is definitely the apotheosis.
3. ascetic - adj. practicing great self-denial; pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline; noun someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline
ex: When it comes to homeless people, she is very ascetic and never hesitates to give them all of her spare change.
4. bauble - noun a mock scepter carried by a court jester; cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing
ex: Forever 21 has great baubles in their jewelry section, but hey times are tough and I'm not complaining.
5. beguile - verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness
ex: She was beguiled by the bad boy in her class because she thought he was so 'complicated'.
6. burgeon - verb grow and flourish
ex: My sister was ecstatic to see that her tomato garden had finally burgeoned.
7. complement - noun something added to complete or make perfect;either of two parts that mutually complete each other; a word or phrase used to complete a grammatical construction; number needed to make up a whole force; a complete number or quantity
ex: Sierra's thick eyeliner complemented her dark eyebrows perfectly for her senior identification card.
8. contumacious - adj. wilfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient
ex: My cat, Bubbles, was painfully contumacious about getting in the bathtub.
9. curmudgeon - noun a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas
ex: He was such a curmudgeon when it came to working on class projects with him.
10. didactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively)
ex: The recipe was so didactic and tedious that I crossed out five steps and still produced the same result. 
11. disingenuous - adj. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
ex: His excuse for not doing his homework was rather disingenuous.
12. exculpate - verb pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
ex: The man accused of murder was exculpated because they found new and sound evidence supporting the theory that his ex-wife framed him.
13. faux pas - noun a slip or blunder in etiquette, manners, or conduct; and embarrassing social blunder or indiscretion
ex: My father committed such a faux pas when he accidentally cussed in front of ten first graders.
14. fulminate - noun a salt or ester of fulminic acid; verb cause to explode violently and with loud noise; come on suddenly and intensely; criticize severely
ex: The volcano fulminated and caused severe damage to the neighboring town with its lava and superfluous amount of ashes that were disseminated.
15. fustian - noun a strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nappompous or pretentious talk or writing
ex: My fustian coat is so uncomfortable I would rather take it off and freeze my buns off.
16. hauteur - noun overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors
ex: Mr. Darcy initially appeared to be a hauteur man, but Elizabeth later discovered that he was the entire opposite.
17. inhibit - verb limit the range or extent of; to put down by force or authority
ex: My lack of sleep last night has inhibited my ability to add any sense of creativity to these bland sentences.
18. jeremiad - noun a long and mournful complaint
ex: Even though they had been dating for nearly six years, she had no jeremiads concerning the break up because they had changed into different people than they were at the inception of the relationship.
19. opportunist - adj. taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit; noun a person who places expediency above principle
ex: It appears one must be an opportunist to earn an abundance of money and without a second thought. 
20. unconscionable - adj. greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation; lacking a conscience

ex: She was an unconscionable woman when it came to her habitual action of robbing the poor.

2 comments:

  1. HAHAHA thanks for the cameo.
    QUICK QUIZ:
    The curmudgeon wouldn't let his neighbor use his bathroom which caused the neighbor to fulminate.

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    Replies
    1. HAHAHAH thanks now that's on my blog forever!! Most people consider that comment to be a faux pas, but anybody who knows the true Hannah Hurd would know that she would never inhibit what she is truly thinking, no matter how abhorrent!

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