Vocabulary List #11

English 2 Vocab List 11

1.  alienate; verb - to turn away the normal feelings of fondness toward anyone; to estrange.  Unwilling to alienate our old neighbors, we put up with their boisterous friends.

2.  celestial; adjective - having to do with the heavens; divine. The new astronauts will be the celestial pioneers of the 21st century.

3. desecrate; verb - to treat with disrespect. The young troublemakers planned to desecrate the cemetery by overturning headstones.

4.  enervate; verb - to weaken; to lessen the strength of. Strenuous dieting will enervate most people.

5.  furtive: adjective - done quickly and with stealth to avoid being noticed; secret. Cynthia's furtive gesture and cryptic remark did not go unnoticed.

6.  incisive; adjective - keen; penetrating. Incisive criticism by the newspaper's film reviewer had led us to a renewal of the movie.

7.  lucid; adjective - easily understood; rational; clear; clear-minded.  The lecturer's lucid explanation left no questions unanswered.

8.  peruse; verb - to study; to read . Margaret tried to peruse the letter when she thought she was not being observed.

9.  rejuvenate; verb - to make young or fresh again.  The half time pep talk rejuvenated the team.

10.  scapegoat; noun - one taking the blame for the mistake and crimes of others.  Billy maliciously made his brother the scapegoat for his setting fire to the gauge.

11.  tawdry; adjective - gaudy and cheap; vulgarly ornamental.  Isabella needed but one glance to rule out the wedding dress as too tawdry for her.

12.  unethical;  adjective - not conforming to approved standards of behavior, a socially accepted code, or professionally endorsed principles and practices.  It is no longer considered unethical for lawyers to advertise their services.

13.  verbose; adjective - wordy; tedious. Craig mistakenly believed that being urbane meant being verbose.

14.  wither; verb - to dry; to shrivel; to cause to lose courage or to be ashamed.  A prolonged drought could wither the crops and throw the economy into a tailspin.

15.  zealot; noun- a person who shows great enthusiasm for a cause.  A zealot for political reform will go to almost any lengths to further his cause.