Vocabulary #18

English 2 Vocab List 18

  1. arduous; adjective - hard to do; strenuous. Climbing Mt. Everest is an arduous undertaking.

2. articulate; adjective – able to put one’s thoughts into words easily and clearly.  Being articulate, Ellyn was able to do well on her job interviews.

3.  composure; noun - calmness.  When summoned to the principal's office, the youngster lost his composure.

4. conciliatory; adjective – tending to soothe or reconcile.  After a caustic debate, each contestant was seeking a conciliatory gesture.

5.  disparage; verb - to discredit; to belittle. In bizarre fashion, normal went out of her way to disparage everything her sister did.

6. disparity; noun – lack of equality; difference.  Birth certificates corroborated the wide disparity in the couple’s ages.

7.  exemplary; adjective - serving as a model. Matthew Alexander's stature was enhanced by the report of his exemplary conduct in nursery school.

8. expedient; adjective – useful; advantageous; based on self-interest.  Henry’s decisions are never expedient ones because he is genuinely altruistic.

9.  innocuous; adjective - harmless. Who would have thought that my innocuous little remark would have embroiled us in a feud.

10.  platitude; noun - a thought or a remark that is dull, trite, flat, or weak. Mural's speech was so full of platitudes that you felt you were listening to a record.

11.  residual; adjective - left over, remaining. After the product had been distilled, there was a residual substance that baffled the chemist.

12. skeptical; adjective – not easily persuaded or convinced; doubting the fundamental doctrines of religion.  Shirley cast a skeptical look at her father when she was told she had to be home by 11 o’clock.

13. thwart; verb – to oppose directly; to baffle; to block; to frustrate.  The tight defense was able to thwart a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of play.

14. utopian; adjective – excellent, but existing only in fancy or theory; given to dreams or schemes of perfection.  The UN has not fulfilled the utopian dreams of its founders.

15. volatile; adjective – evaporating readily at normal temperatures; changeable; explosive; lighthearted; fleeting.  Alcohol and ether are highly volatile substances.