12CP Vocabulary

Mrs. Kelsey

8/29/07

Apathy (n) - lack of interest; lack of feeling

Conjecture (v/n) - to guess; to deduce or infer on slight evidence / a guess

Daunt (v) - to make fearful; to intimidate

Loquacious (adj) - talking a lot or too much

Neologism (n) - a new word or phrase; a new usage of a word

9/4/07Archetype (n) - an original model or pattern

Cryptic (adj) - mysterious; mystifying

Exemplify (v) - to illustrate by example; to serve as a good example

Incessant (adj) – unceasing

Magnanimous (adj) - forgiving; unresentful; noble in spirit; generous

Patriarch (n) - the male head of a family or tribe

Stymie (v) - to thwart; to get in the way of; to hinder

9/5/07

Abridge (v) – to shorten; to condense

Culpable (adj) – deserving blame; guilty

Deduce (v) – to conclude from the evidence; to infer

Depravity (n) - extreme wickedness or corruption

Impervious (adj) – not allowing anything to pass through; impenetrable

9/10/07

extricate (v) - to free from difficulty

fervor (n) - great warmth or earnestness; ardor; zeal

perennial (adj) - continual; happening again and again or year after year

tout (v) - to praise highly; to brag publicly about

vindictive (adj) - seeking revenge

zealous (adj) - enthusiastically devoted to something; fervent

9/11/07

address (v) - to speak to; to direct one's attention to

dialectical (adj) - relating to discussions; relating to the rules and methods of reasoning; approaching truth in the middle of opposing extremes

insidious (adj) - treacherous; sneaky

9/24/07

depravity (n) - extreme wickedness or corruption

elusive (adj) - hard to pin down; evasivefigurative (adj) - based on figures of

speech; expressing something in terms usually used for something else; metaphorical

infamous (adj) - shamefully wicked; having an extremely bad reputation; disgraceful

9/27/07copious (adj) – abundant; plentifulephemeral (adj) – lasting a very short timeidyllic (adj) – charming in a rustic way;

peacefulincandescent (adj) – brilliant; giving off heat

or lightmellifluous (adj) – sweetly flowing, as

music or a voiceredolent (adj) - fragrant

10/2/07

egregious (adj) – extremely bad; flagrant

exacerbate (v) – to make worse

fastidious (adj) – meticulous; demanding; finicky

lampoon (v) – to satirize; to mock; to parody

obsequious (adj) – fawning; subservient; sucking up to

platitude (n) – a dull or trite remark; a cliché

10/3/07

propensity (n) – a natural inclination or tendency; a predilection

rigorous (adj) – strict; harsh; severe

temerity (n) – boldness; recklessness; audacity

ubiquitous (adj) – being everywhere at once

visionary (n) - a dreamer; someone with impractical goals or ideas about the future

wistful (adj) – yearning; sadly longing

10/4/07

officious (adj) – annoyingly eager to help or advise

prodigy (n) – an extremely talented child; an extraordinary accomplishment or occurrence

proficient (adj) - thoroughly competent; skillful; good (at something) thoroughly competent; skillful; good (at something)

APPOSITIVE PHRASES

A mini-lessonFrom Sentence Composing for High School

by Don Killgallon

Copy the following information in the vocabulary section of your composition

notebook.

APPOSITIVE PHRASES

Appositives are noun phrases that identify adjacent nouns or pronouns.

They can occur as sentence openers:

A balding, smooth-faced man, he could have been anywhere between forty and sixty.

- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

They can occur as subject-verb splits:

A man, a weary old pensioner with a bald dirty head and a stained brown corduroy waistcoat, appeared at the door of a small gate lodge.

- Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

They can occur as sentence closers:

He had the appearance of a man who had done a great thing, something greater than any ordinary man would do.

- John Henrick Clarke, “The Boy Who Painted Christ Black”

Among the company was a lawyer, a young man of about twenty-five.

- Anton Chekov, “The Bet”

Order and combine these sentence parts so that they imitate the sentence above:

1. She was near the statue.

2. She was an obvious tourist.

3. She was an oriental lady.

4. She had a Kodak camera.

For the next group of vocabulary words, your homework sentences must contain an appositive phrase.

Review the mini-lesson for help, and try to vary the placement of the appositive phrase – as a sentence opener, a subject-verb split, or as a sentence closer.

And now, back to new words…

10/10/07

abhor (v) – to hate very, very much; to detest

affectation (n) - unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress

countenance (n/v) - face; facial expression / to condone or tolerate

disdain (n) – arrogant scorn; contemptedify (v) - to enlighten; to instruct, especially

in moral or religious matters

10/10/07

egocentric (adj) - selfish; believing that one is the center of everything

frugal (adj) – economical; penny-pinchingidiosyncrasy (n) - a peculiarity; an

eccentricityironic (adj) - meaning the opposite of what

you seem to say; using words to mean something other that what they seem to mean

Appositive ReviewCopy these sentences into the Vocabulary

section of your composition notebook. Highlight the appositive phrase in each.

1. I abhor okra, that slimy vegetable used in gumbo.

2. An elegant woman, she was given to rather idiosyncratic behavior.

3. She sneered at the man, her former husband, with undisguised disdain.

10/15/07 – with appositives!

itinerant (adj) – moving from place to place

juxtapose (v) – to place side by side

levity (n) – lightness; frivolity; unseriousness

mendacious (adj) – lying, dishonest

propriety (n) – properness; good manners

secular (adj) – having nothing to do with religion or spiritual concerns

10/16/07 (Yes, still with appositives)

vocation (n) – an occupation, a jobvestige (n) – an a remaining bit of

something; a last traceturpitude (n) – shameful wickedness;

depravitysloth (n) – laziness; sluggishnessserendipity - accidental good fortune;

discovering good things without looking for them

10/17 (Need you ask?)

ruminate (v) - to contemplate; to ponder; to mull over

revere (v) – to respect highly; to honor

respite (n) – a period of rest or relief

penitent (adj) – sorry; repentant; contrite

onerous (adj) – burdensome; oppressive

End of section – test on Friday

AdjectivesRemember, an adjective is any descriptive

word that can fit into this blank:Sam is a(n) ____________ student.

Some possibilities are:• happy• sad• angry• disruptive

Write out several more.

Opening AdjectiveAn opening adjective occurs at the opening

of a sentence (obviously). It may be a single word or the first word in an adjective phrase – a phrase that begins with an adjective and then continues the description:

• Happy to graduate• Angry at not getting the job• Disruptive because he was bored Write out several more.

Sentences can contain single or multiple opening adjectives.

Single opening adjective:

• Powerless, we witnessed the sacking of our launch.

Pierre Boule, Planet of the Apes

Multiple opening adjectives:

• Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century.

Armstrong Perry, Call It Courage

Opening adjective phrases:

• Numb of all feeling, empty as a shell, still he clung to life, and the hours droned by.

- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Match the opening adjectives with the sentences and write out each sentence. (Highlight the adjectives.)

1. ^, I wanted to run away and be gone from this strange place.

2. ^, I felt behind me, my hand pleading for that rifle.

3. ^, he rocked his own body back and forth, breathing deeply to release the remembered pain.

A. Frantic, never turning my head – because the water buffalo had started his charge

B. Able to move now

C. Lonesome

For homework tonight, be sure to write sentences that include opening adjectives or opening adjective phrases!

10/24/07 – new section

impugn (v) – to attack, especially to attack the truth or integrity of something

munificent (adj) – very generous; lavish

superficial (adj) – on the surface only; shallow; not thorough

venal (adj) – capable of being bribed; willing to do anything for money; corrupt

vociferous (adj) – loud; noisy

10/25/07

assiduous (adj) – hardworking; busy; quite diligent

choleric (adj) – hot-tempered; quick to anger

docile (adj) – easily taught; obedient; easy to handle

equitable (adj) – fair

futile (adj) – useless; hopeless

Delayed Adjectives

An adjective that is not an opening adjective!

• Delayed adjectives can occur in the middle or at the end of a sentence.

• Commas punctuate a delayed adjective – one if it occurs at the end of a sentence, two if earlier in the sentence.

• It can be a single adjective or an adjective phrase.

Single Delayed Adjectives

People under the helicopter ducked down, afraid, as if we were being visited by a plague or a god.

- Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

Multiple Delayed Adjectives

Each snowflake was different, Sister Zoe said, like a person, irreplaceable and beautiful.

- Julia Alvarez, “Snow”

Delayed Adjective Phrase

A dog came bounding among us with a loud volley of barks, and leapt round us, wild with glee at finding so many human beings together.

- George Orwell, “A Hanging”

Imitate this model:

“The baby’s eyes were the shape of watermelon seeds, very black and cut very precisely into her small, solemn face.”

- Anne Tyler, Digging to America

10/29/07

mitigate (v) – to moderate the effect of something

panacea (n) – something that cures everything

patronize (v) – to treat as an inferior; to condescend to

perfidy (n) – treacheryquerulous (adj) – complaining; grumbling;

whining