Vocabulary #4

1. Obsequious - adj. attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner; attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery.
The obsequious girl flirted with the bartender who eventually gave her a free drink.
2. Beatitude - noun a state of supreme happiness.
After the wedding the bride and groom, as well as every on else, danced the night away in beatitude.
3. Bete Noire - noun a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear.
All of the students felt strongly about the bête noire, who had taught them absolutely nothing all year.
4. Bode - verb indicate by signs
The interpreter boded what was being said to those who were hard of hearing.
5. Dank - adj. unpleasantly cool and humid
The dank weather meant that a lot of the town would be grumpy and unpleasant.
6. Ecumenical - adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions
The ecumenical church tried to accumulate more followers by walking the neighborhoods and passing out fliers.
7. Fervid - adj. extremely hot; characterized by intense emotion
The fervid conversation led to screaming, yelling and eventually lots of tears.
8. Fetid - adj. offensively malodorous, smelling extremely unpleasant.
The P.E. locker rooms fetid smell lingered over the weekend as most of the students forgot to take their clothes home and wash them.
9. Gargantuan - adj. of great mass; huge and bulky
The grocery stores gargantuan stock of cereal would please all of the customers no matter what flavor they prefer.
10. Heyday - noun the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
Awhile after the Great Depression and all the work to build the economy back up, there was finally a heyday period.
11. Incubus - noun a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; someone who depresses or worries others; a situation resembling a terrifying dream
The child woke up suddenly due to an incubus that reoccurred all throughout the night.
12. Infrastructure - noun the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area; the basic structure or features of a system or organization
The infrastructure of the government is sometimes quiet faulty, which leads to a government shut down.
13. Inveigle - verb influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
The teenagers inveigled their teacher to not give them homework for the night.
14. Kudos - noun an expression of approval and commendation
The teachers got kudos for coordinating an awesome field trip and lab to go with it.
15. Lagniappe - noun a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)
The store owner gave the customer a lagniappe for buying so many items and spreading the word about the store throughout the community.
16. Prolix - adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
The prolix author wrote a one thousand page book that went on and on about the world ending.
17. Protege - noun a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career
The protégé of Michael Angelo would learn great technique about art and painting.
18. Prototype - noun a standard or typical example
The teacher provided multiple prototypes to ensure that the students would complete the assignment correctly.
19. Sycophant - noun a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
Many sycophants are parents trying to get playing time for their child and constantly take the coach out to dinner.
20. Tautology - noun useless repetition; (logic) a statement that is necessarily true
The author had used a lot of tautology which became apart of his diction and overall purpose of the story.
21. Truckle - noun a low bed to be slid under a higher bed; verb yield to out of weakness; try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
The bullied student truckled to the bully who kept getting in his face and hurting him.