Words Worth Learning

Vocabulary Set 4

10/2-10/6

phlegmatic

Definition: Having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition.

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Sentence 1: He believed that if he was phlegmatic during �the test he would do better because �he wasn’t stressed.

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Sentence 2: He noticed that his friend �seemed phlegmatic whenever he �watched a tv show, he was immersed�completely.

Andy

arrogate

Def: To take or claim without justification. Verb

Syn: Usurp, seize, commandeer, and take

Sen 1: The man arrogated the role of leadership in the group, simply taking it because no one else had.

Sen 2: The conceited man chose to arrogate the handicapped parking spot even though he didn’t have a disability, instead of leaving it open for a disabled person.

HTR: Arrogate is like arrogant and taking something without any claim is something an arrogant person might do.

Adi

accede

Part of speech: Verb.

Definition: To go along and agree to someone else’s ideas or demands.

Sentence one: Aine acceded to Mr. Heumann’s demands, and began to make her fourth vocabulary slide.

Sentence two: Getting the class to accede was easy once she had control of their minds.

Way to remember: Replace the “pt” in accept with a “de”.

Aine

deleterious

• Adjective
• Definition: harmful to living things
• Sentence 1: The kid playing on the play structure was being very deleterious to the other kids on the play structure.
• Sentence 2: The massive oil spill has a number of deleterious consequences for the environment.
• How to remember: Delete as in erase but in this case in in harming living things.

Andres

cuirass

Definition: noun 1. A piece of armor consisting of breastplate and backplate fastened together. 2. An artificial ventilator that encloses the body, leaving the limbs free, and forces air in and out of the lungs by changes in pressure.

1. As part of my knight costume I wore a cuirass.

2. I need a cuirass to control my seizure.

Roots: Reformation Age French/Latin

How to remember: The sword pierced through your ‘cuir-ass’!

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Benjamin

Clinquant

Definition: Glittery with gold and silver; tinseled

Part of speech: Adjective

1. Her husband surprised her with the most clinquant ring i’ve ever seen, it glittered like no other
2. My father gave me an ancient coin for my birthday. I was surprised because it was so clinquant. It almost blinded my eyes

Roots: Dutch

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Bitanya

Tenacious

Definition: Not easily letting go or giving up

Part of Speech: adjective

Sentence 1: The child would not let go of his mother, he was being too tenacious.

Sentence 2: People are tenacious of things important to them and just don’t let go.

Synonyms: firm, tight, clinging, persistent

How to remember: Tenacious is close with tendency and when you are tenacious you probably had some tendency for that thing

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Bruce

mercurial (adj.)

Definition: Lively, witty, fast talking, hard to catch, and likely to do the unexpected.

Origin: From the Roman god Mercury, or born under the planet

Sentences:

• His mercurial ways made Mathew hard to understand, and even harder to get to know.
• They have mercurial personalities, doing the opposite of what is expected, and always acting rowdy, even if the situation did not call for it.
• How to Remember: Like the god Mercury

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Elizabeth

vitiligo(noun)

Def. Vitiligo is a disease where skin(usually of a dark person) loses its pigment in certain areas in blotches.

The poor lady was diagnosed with vitiligo.

Michael Jackson’s skin changed because he had vitiligo.

It’s roots come from latin, but it’s root word is unknown.

There isn’t really a big way to remember it, it’s a pretty specific word.

Elliot

Emma

onerous

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(owe-ner-ous)

POS; Adjective

Def; (of a task, duty, or responsibility) involving an �amount of effort and difficulty that is oppressively burdensome

1. Sowing in the oppressive heat was onerous to the poorly paid workers.
2. It is onerous to be friends with people who lock people in a bathroom.

Origin; Latin (onus) + Latin (onerosus) + Old French (onereous) = onerous

HTR; You own a lot of responsibilities and sometimes responsibilities can be burdensome

Destinesia

Def: When you get where you were intending to go but you forget why you were going there in the first place. (Noun)

Sen 1: When Billy went on the roof he had a wave of destinesia, he couldn’t remember why why he was up there.

Sen 2: Billy walked from San Jose to New York, but then had destinesia and forgot why he was there.

HTR: think of nesia as forgetting and desti as as in destination, forgetting-destination.

Hayden

prolific

Definition~(of a plant, animal, or person) producing much fruit or foliage or many offspring.

Roots~Medieval Latin

1. The coconut tree was prolific, it was full of coconuts.
2. Kiya was very prolific, she always did more than asked.

How to remember~Kinda sounds like productive.

Jamie

Chide^(Verb)

Definition: to scold or rebuke

She chided him because he didn’t reply to her texts.

The mother chided her children because they didn’t finish their chores.

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Josh

oxymoron

Definition: something (such as a concept) that is is the opposite of what it is

Part of speech: Noun

Sentence 1: Dry creek water park is such a oxymoron.

Sentence 2: Her singing could raise the living dead.

Roots: Greeks

How to remember: Morons mix things up.

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Kiya

accretion

Definition: The process of growth or increase, typically in gradual increments.

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Sentence one: Thomas watched the accretion of the Flare’s cure, it was gradually pieced together.

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Sentence two: The grass had accreted, a word that she had learned ment slow growth.

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How to remember: Use the word accelerate, except instead of beginning to move faster, it means continuing to grow slowly.

Alex

Lofty

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Part of speech: Adjective

Definition: Extending high in the air; of imposing height;towering

Sentence 1: It is a lofty tree reaching a height of 170 ft.

Sentence 2: Coast, enclosed by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, the slopes of which are covered with villas and gardens.

Origin: English loft and English aloft made Middle English lofty.

How to remember: Think of a loft bed.

Avani

empathy

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Definition: Understanding and entering another's person's feelings

Sentence 1: �When I saw a homeless lady I felt empathy� for her.

Sentence 2: �I felt empathy for the death of the guy who�got shot by a kid.

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Dominick

Pique

DEF: a feeling of irritation or resentment resulting from a slight, especially to one's pride.(Noun).

1. Since I annoyed Maya to much, she hide her drawings in a fit of pique.
2. I used to keep my dads photos but I burned them all one day in a fit of pique.

SYN: Irritation, annoyance, resentment, anger, displeasure.

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ORIGIN: French word piquer, meaning prick or irritate.

HTR: Pique when said sounds like peak, and you peak your attitude

when someone annoys you.

Betina

dauntless

Def: Showing fearlessness and determination.

Part of speech:Adj

Synonyms: Brave and daring

Sentence 1: My friend was dauntless when he skydived, he was so brave.

Sentence 2: People that went to help with the hurricanes were dauntless. They were fearless.

How to remember: You can remember it by if you take out daunt and replace it with fear that is what the word means.

Lance

Isonomy (n)

Def. Equality of political rights

Example 1. Lena believed that the U.S.A had no isonomy at the moment, she wanted equal rights in America’s politics.

Example 2. Maya’s teacher made her choose a new word for her weekly word slide, so she chose isonomy, the “equality of political rights”.

Origin - A greek word, related to “isonomia”

Maya

verisimilitude

Definition (Noun): The appearance of being real or true.

Sentence 1: Even though Jeremy was telling a lie, he still managed to present his story with verisimilitude.

Sentence 2: When the child who broke the zero tolerance rules was put on trial he made his case with verisimilitude even though he was lying.

Roots: Latin verus -> (veri + similis) = verisimilis -> verisimiltudo -> verisimilitude

How to Remember: The tude in verisimilitude rhymes with true and the definition is the appearance of being real or true.

Samek

undermine

Definition:�Verb�1. To injure or destroy by insidious activity or imperceptible stages,sometimes tending toward a sudden dramatic effect.�2. To attack by indirect, secret, or underhand means; attempt to subvert by stealth.�3. To make an excavation under; dig or tunnel beneath, as a military stronghold.�4. To weaken or cause to collapse by removing underlying support, as by digging away or eroding the foundation.��Sentences:�1. Emma tried to undermine Panda’s authority by making jokes about her behind her back.�2. Numerous floods had undermine the foundation so greatly that the house was no longer safe.

Roots - First recorded in 1300-50, undermine is from the Middle English word underminen. See under-, mine2

How to remember: A mine can weaken a ship, and the mines are under the ships when they blow up, and loose lips sink ships

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Panda

impedimenta

Definition: Oversized gear that makes it awkward to carry.

Sentence 1: The football managers of the local high school team were quickly dragging the impedimenta for the upcoming game down the school hallway toward the bus.

Sentence 2: Tears flowed down the parents’ faces as their carried the impedimenta of all of their only child’s belongings up the four flights of stairs to her dorm room.

Part of speech: Plural Noun

Synonyms: stuff, baggage, equipment, things

How to remember: Imped (first part of word) reminds me of impede( delay or prevent something by obstructing them) which is a similar definition.

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Winston

bumfuzzle

Def : To confuse or to fluster

Sentence 1 : I always bumfuzzle my friend when we play a complex game.

Sentence 2 : I like to bumfuzzle my friends by giving impossible problems.

Synonyms : Confuse, fluster

How to remember : Think of fuzzle like fuzzy, like in your brain is fuzzy and unclear

Yaseen

Narcolepsy

Definition: A disorder where the affected person will suddenly fall asleep at random intervals.

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Sentence 1: The narcoleptic child fell asleep while in a fight, he nearly died.

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Sentence 2: Narcolepsy is a very dangerous disorder, it has caused many deaths.

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Roots: From greek narke: numbness or stupor, and lepsis: attack or seizure.

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How to remember: Sounds like narcotics.

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Zach

Impavid

Definition: Fearless

Part of speech: Adjective

Sentence 1: The girl would do anything, she was impavid, she would even jump off of a building.

Sentence 2: Only the impavid would choose to jump from an airplane without a parachute for fun.

Roots: Latin

How to remember it: Impavid sounds like pavement and when someone jumps off of a building because they are fearless they might land on the pavement.

Ariana