Vocabulary Fall List 6

1. abase - verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
The teacher abased the students when she told them that her prior classes were much smarter than her class this year.
2. abdicate - verb give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
The king abdicated his throne to his brother because he was unable to fulfill his responsibilities.
3. abomination - noun an action that is vicious or vile; an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
The abomination from the crowd, resulted in the performers decision to never return.
4. brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory shortness
The brusque comment really upset the co-worker, which resulted in no affiliation between the works for many weeks.
5. saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
The saboteur was torturing the journalists for writing about his country and people.
6. debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity
The basketball team had a debauchery after winning the NCAA championship, as they deserved it.
7. proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow rapidly
The plant proliferated due to the excessive amount of sun that it was exposed to.
8. anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to another age; something located at a time when it could not have existed or occurred
The man said that he had seen dinosaurs in the park, which was obviously an anachronism.
9. nomenclature - noun a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
The scientist talked of the nomenclature, which was used to name all of the possible theories he had come up with.
10. expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate
The teacher expurgated the personal statement, leaving a lot of work for the student.
11. bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready disposition to fight
The group of bellicose boys were always getting in trouble for fist fighting during physical education.
12. gauche - adj. lacking social polish
The gauche girl had no friends and was very difficult to talk with, many felt bad for her.
13. rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
The rapacious lion was taking all of the food supply and eating all of the animals in the jungle.
14. paradox - noun (logic) a statement that contradicts itself
Many authors use paradox in their writing to reveal a truth in an unusual way.
15. conundrum - noun a difficult problem
In Advanced Placement Chemistry, the students come across conundrums every day, due to the difficulty of the course.
16. anomaly - noun (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun); a person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or form or rule
The writing was very anomaly, which the teacher really appreciated because it wasn't the original five paragraph essay.
17. ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
The ephemeral holiday only lasted one week and then everyone was headed back to reality.
18. rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
The rancorous player was still bitter that someone had taken her starting position.
19. churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude and boorish
The churlish student always made fun of the students who needed help and did not understand the lesson.
20. precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
The precipitous mountain was very intense and only the expert hikers would attempt to tackle this mountain.