grade 9 vocabulary

Grade 9 VocabularyWord Part of Speech Definition

venerable adjective

puerile adjective

levity noun lack of proper seriousness; improper gaiety

frugal adjective thrifty; not wasteful

antipathy noun feeling of intense dislike

worthy of respect because of advanced age, dignity, etc.

foolish for a grown person to say or do; childish

List 1Sample Sentence

At family reunions our venerable grandmother, now past eighty, is accorded great respect.

Some seniors think it's fun to throw objects at passing cars, but I consider it puerile.

During the assembly George kept giggling; levity for which his teacher later scolded him.

Her frugal attitude allowed her to save a good deal of money at the supermarket.

Because of his bigoted remarks, the speaker provoked the antipathy of the audience.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyavocation noun a hobby; supplementary occupation

charlatan noun

doughty adjective brave; strong and able

elucidate verb to make clear; explain

indolent adjective lazy

one who poses as an expert in a skill or profession for which he is not qualified

The doughty naval commander fought against very heavy odds.

You may elucidate what happened after you relax for a while.

Bird watching was an avocation that gave him many hours of pleasure.

The Great Imposter is a movie about a charlatan who posed successfully as a surgeon.

He was indolent by nature but still blamed the heat wave for his inability to do work.


ludicrous adjective

callow adjective young and inexperienced; immature

blithe adjective merry; cheerful; happy

nepotism noun

malign verb to speak evil of; to slander

causing laughter because absurd or ridiculous; laughably absurd

favoritism shown to relatives, especially in securing jobs


Our neighbor is a blithe fellow who tells amusing stories.

I cannot bear to hear you malign such a good man.

His answer to the question was so ludicrous that everyone burst out laughing.

He was surprised when his company hired a callow youth just out of college for the important new position.

Whenever a President appoints a relative to a government position, the cry of nepotism is raised by the opposing party.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyposthumous adjective

heinous adjective outrageously evil or wicked

clandestine adjective

refute verb

cursory adjective hasty, hurried or not thorough

occurring after death; published after the author's death

kept secret or hidden especially for some illegal purpose; secretive

to disprove or demonstrate the falsity of something

The convict was severely punished for his heinous crime.

Only two of Emily Dickinson\s poems were published before she died; the rest were posthumous.

The clandestine activities of the terrorist group were never discovered by the police.

The district attorney summoned many witnesses to refute the testimony of the defendant.

His cursory studying of the material could not give him a full understanding of the subject.


reticent adjective quiet, reserved, or uncommunicative

travail noun hard work; exhausting labor; agony

opulence noun wealth, luxury, or abundance.

arduous adjective difficult, strenuous, or hard to achieve

paltry adjective practically worthless; petty; trifling


Because she was so reticent, very few people got to know her well.

She was amazed at the opulence of her neighbors.

His family found that the travail of serving ten years in a prison camp had changed him greatly.

Climbing the tree proved to be an arduous task but not a particularly dangerous one.

I complained not because of the paltry three cents that I was overcharged but because of the principle of the thing.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyabduct verb to carry off by force

tractable adjective easily managed, taught, or controlled

obliterate verb

prodigious adjective extraordinary in size or amount; enormous

haughty adjective

to do away with or destroy; to blot out completely

having or showing great pride in oneself and disdain, contempt, or scorn for others

The kidnappers abducted the child from her home.

Anyone who has orbited the Earth has performed a prodigious task.

The horse was tractable as long as he was going in the direction of the barn; otherwise he was unmanageable.

He tried to obliterate from his memory any trace of that horrible day.

He seemed at first to be rather cold and haughty, but we came to realize that this was due mainly to his shyness.


equanimity noun

exacerbate verb

gratuity noun

incredulous adjective

loquacious adjective Talkative; chatty

Evenness of mind or temper; calmness; composure

To irritate or make bitter; to make more violent

A tip; payment for service for which no bill is offered

Skeptical; doubtful; too extraordinary to be believed


The teacher was incredulous when he heard the amazing excuse.

When one becomes engaged in an argument it is best to retain one\s equanimity in order to keep the dispute from exploding into something bigger.

The line of questions so exacerbated the witness that he refused to answer.

A gratuity of 10 to 15 percent of the check is customary in many restaurants.

The lawyer\s loquacious summation annoyed his client, who could see that the jury was losing attention.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyreprehensible adjective Deserving blame; wrong

stringent adjective Strict; rigid; exacting

taciturn adjective Habitually silent; not given to conversation

ubiquitous adjective Present everywhere

vapid adjective Having lost its spirit or zest; spiritless

John Wayne often portrays taciturn characters in his movies.

The ubiquitous pizza parlors seem to be feeding America.

The man did not find the action of his enemy as reprehensible as he thought he would.

The Dean imposed a curfew of 7:00, the most stringent one in the history of the school.

The guest speaker made one of the most vapid speeches the audience had ever heard.


meticulous adjective

altruism (altruist) noun

ameliorate verb To improve or make better

rustic adjective

deride verb To make fun of; to scorn

Overly or unduly careful about small details; extremely careful

Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness

Characteristic of the country and country people; simple and unsophisticated


Altruism is a virtue that very few people possess.

She was extremely meticulous about her clothes and spent hours dressing for a party.

Despite the Mayor's best efforts, he could not ameliorate the situation in the ghetto.

His rustic manners seemed out of place in the elegant setting of the hotel dining room.

The teacher told the obnoxious student not to deride his fellow classmates.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularydiffident adjective Lacking self confidence; timid; shy

ostracize verb

truculent adjective Savage; cruel; fierce; warlike

vindicate verb

pugnacious adjective Eager and ready to fight; quarrelsome

To exclude someone from a social group by general consent

To clear of suspicion, as of a charge of wrongdoing

We discovered that beneath his diffident Personality there was an active and inquiring mind.

Although he was found innocent of treason, Aaron Burr was ostracized by society and left this country to live in England.

The debate, which might have been very interesting, was marred by a truculent exchange of personal abuse.

Since he has been fully vindicated by the investigation, he will resume his old position in the government.

He became much less pugnacious after he picked fights with boys who gave him sound beatings.


forbidding adjective

inane adjective foolish, silly, lacking sense or meaning

inure verb

anarchy noun

enmity noun

looking dangerous, threatening, disagreeable, repellent

to become accustomed to something, difficult, painful, etc.

the complete absence of government, political disorder or violence, disorder in any activity

hostility, antagonism, hatred; the bitter feelings of an enemy


I never became inured to running in the early morning.

The glow from the distant lighthouse cast a forbidding hue over the ocean.

We were trying not to sound inane as we spoke to the art historian, but we really knew nothing about the subject.

"If he gets up, we\ll all get up. It\ll be anarchy," is a famous line from The Breakfast Club.

Many Americans cannot help but feel enmity toward Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist network.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularysinecure noun

tacit adjective

inveigle verb

anachronism noun

avarice noun

any office or position that brings profit or advantage without involving much work or responsibility

not expressed or declared openly, but implied or understood

to trick into doing something, to lead on with deception

anything that is or seems to be out of its proper time in history

too great a desire to have wealth; greed for riches

No one would ever need to retire from a job that is a sinecure.

Her nod was enough tacit approval for me to understand her message.

The salesman had a reputation for inveigling his customers into buying things they did not intend to buy.

For a girl to call her boyfriend her "beau" is anachronistic in 2011.

His avarice increased with age, until it became an uncontrollable obsession for wealth.


condone verb

hackneyed adjective

imperative adjective required; absolutely necessary; compulsory

mundane adjective

placid adjective calm; peaceful; undisturbed

to excuse, forgive, or pardon; to overlook an offense

made trite and commonplace by overuse; stale

worldly, (as distinguished from heavenly); commonplace


His writing style is weakened by repeated use of hackneyed phrases.

It is imperative that you submit your application before May 1.

His behavior was so outrageous that I cannot see how anyone could even try to condone it.

Now that we have discussed all those profound philosophical problems, let's get down to the mundane job of preparing dinner.

Although the scene was still placid, I knew that before long we were in for some wild excitement.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyspurious adjective

stealthy adjective

urbane adjective

pariah noun a social outcast; one despised by society

desecrate verb

not genuine or true; lacking in authenticity; fake

marked by secrecy or concealment; furtive; sly

refined; polite and courteous in a smooth, polished way; suave

to violate the sacredness of something; to profane; to treat as if not sacred

The document on which we had intended to base our case turned out to be spurious--a crude counterfeit.

Creeping stealthily, through the underbrush, the soldiers approached their enemies.

I admired the urbane ease with which he handled the difficult situation.

In Lord of the Flies, Piggy quickly became the pariah of the small society that formed on the island.

Vandals had desecrated the church by carving their initials on the large wooden doors.


vociferous adjective

euphemism noun

dearth noun

harbinger noun

irate adjective angry, wrathful, incensed

loud, noisy, or vehement in making one's feelings known

a mild or pleasant expression substituted for one that is harsh or blunt

a scarcity or lack; too small a supply or shortage

a person or thing that comes before to announce or give an indication of what is to follow


The judge ordered the vociferous spectator to be thrown out of the courtroom

Instead of calling Meredith "fat," he tactfully employed the euphemism "pleasingly plump."

When the crops failed, there was a dearth of grain for flour, and bread prices skyrocketed.

The first robin is a well-known harbinger of spring. The first vulture circling is a harbinger of something else.

He is usually even-tempered, but he becomes irate when he encounters rudeness.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularypinnacle noun the highest point, peak; culmination

recalcitrant adjective

squalid adjective dirty from neglect; wretched

nebulous adjective unclear; vague; cloudy, misty

decry verb

stubbornly disobedient or rebellious; hard to handle; unruly

to speak out against strongly and openly; to denounce

At the very pinnacle of success, he enjoyed wealth, admiration from others, and widespread affection.

We cannot allow one recalcitrant student to disrupt the work of the entire class.

Jakob Riis photographed the awful living conditions in the squalid tenements of New York.

His ideas were so nebulous that no one could agree or disagree with him.

The graduation speaker decried the tendency of too many Americans to seek wealth before all else.


extol verb to praise highly; to laud

innate adjective

enigma noun

rancor noun

invective noun

that which seems to be with someone from birth; existing naturally rather than acquired

a perplexing or seemingly unexplainable matter or person

a continuing and bitter hate or ill will; deep spite and malice.

a violent verbal attack; strong criticism, insult curses, etc.


The speaker extolled the doctor for his great contributions to mankind.

His good taste and courtesy are not the result of training but rather are innate.

The many aspects of his changing personality make Tom an enigma to me.

Unfortunately, the debate between them was marked by personal rancor rather than honest discussion of the issues.

It is possible to wage a hard-hitting political campaign without resorting to the use of invectives.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyacumen noun

obdurate adjective

pragmatic adjective

audacious adjective fearlessly daring; bold; arrogantly insolent

banal adjective common, unoriginal, drearily predictable

keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a situation; shrewdness

not easily moved to pity or sympathy; hard- hearted, stubborn or obstinate

practical; concerned with actual, everyday things rather than with theory or speculation

In spite of all our efforts to persuade him, he remained obdurate.

The lecturer\s banal comments bored the audience to tears.

In the 19th century, many fortunes were made by men with great business acumen.

Rather than listening to the politicians explain the theories of poverty, he had the pragmatic problem of getting food on the table.

In this time of crisis, we need imaginative, bold and even audacious leadership.


culpable adjective

ignominious adjective

ostentatious adjective showing off boastfully; boastful

vicissitudes noun

alacrity noun cheerful willingness or eagerness

Responsible for doing something wrong; deserving blame; guilty

Deserving disgrace or shame; dishonorable; despicable

changes in fortune; ups and downs in circumstances


The traitor spent the last years of his life in ignominious exile.

You must learn to face the many vicissitudes of life.

Anyone who took any part in the conspiracy was considered equally culpable.

The man displayed his expensive new suit in a very ostentatious manner.

Since Bob needed a job to pay for his college expenses, he accepted with alacrity the offer.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularydecadent adjective in a state of decline or decay; deteriorating

garrulous adjective Talkative

temerity noun

eclectic adjective

anathema noun

Reckless, boldness; foolish disregard for danger

composed of materials gained from many sources, systems, etc.

a thing or person accursed or damned; a thing or person greatly detested; a formal curse

The garrulous cab driver kept up a steady stream of chatter.

When people lose interest in literature, it's a sign that the society is becoming decadent.

In 1941, Japanese militarists had the temerity to risk the future of their country on the wild gamble of a knockout blow on Pearl Harbor.

The statesman did no believe in only one political philosophy, but rather took a more eclectic view of world affairs.

After almost 200 years, the name of Benedict Arnold is still anathema to Americans.


magnanimous adjective

misanthrope noun a person who hates or mistrusts all people

parsimonious adjective unreasonably cheap or stingy

pundit noun

officious adjective

noble in mind; high-souled; generous in overlooking injury or insult; rising above pettiness or meanness

a person who has or professes to have great learning; actual or self- professed authority

offering unnecessary or unwanted advice or services; meddlesome, especially in an


Churchill emphasized that we should be firm in war, defiant in defeat, and magnanimous in victory.

Because of his hateful stares and habitual silence, the man had the reputation of being a misanthrope.

He had become so accustomed to a parsimonious way of living that he denied himself even the simplest comforts.

During the week of the Super Bowl, many so-called pundits are always telling you in advance which team will win the game.

To disguise the fact that he was performing no useful function, he developed an officious manner of intruding into everyone else\s work

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyoverbearing way

intrepid adjective bold; fearless; dauntless; very brave

lugubrious adjective

esoteric adjective

imperious adjective

poignant adjective

very sad or mournful, especially in a way that seems exaggerated or ridiculous

intended for or understood by only a chosen few beyond the knowledge and understanding of most people

arrogant; haughty; seeking to dominate; overbearing

distressing to the feelings; touching; appealing to the emotions; affecting

All honors should go to the intrepid and highly trained men who are exploring outer space.

His lugubrious expression was intended to suggest that he, more than anyone else, understood the sadness of the occasion.

The lecture was too esoteric to be appreciated by most people in the audience.

He is so inflated with the sense of his own importance that he adopts an imperious manner toward his subordinates.

Who can remain unmoved by the poignant scene in which Sidney Carton sacrifices his life for the woman he loves.


repugnant adjective distasteful; offensive; repulsive

tacit adjective implied but not expressed

vicarious adjective

prevaricate verb

involving sympathetic participation by a person in the experiences of another; experienced or endured or enjoyed through imaginative participation in the experiences of another

to evade or conceal the truth; to deviate from the truth; to lie


I find his horrible manners utterly repugnant.

Since mother raised no objection to my idea, I assumed that I had her tacit consent to go ahead with the plan.

Having been too frail to participate in competitive sports, he took vicarious pleasure in his younger brother's football heroics.

Although you may be tempted to prevaricate, in the long run it will be better off if you own up to what you did.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularysupercilious adjective contemptuously proud; haughty; disdainful

enervate verb to weaken; to deprive of force

plethora noun an excess; an overabundance

prototype noun

askew adverb to one side; crookedly

abrogate verb to cancel or repeal by authority; to annul

an original that serves as a model on which later stages are based or judged; an early and typical example

The long stretch of hot, humid weather enervated all of us.

In spite of his supercilious attitude, I refuse to concede that he is our social superior.

The boy has a plethora of energy and inventiveness, which he sometimes directs into mischief.

Salinger's brilliant Catcher in the Rye has served as the prototype for many novels about confused teenagers.

In my efforts to straighten the picture, I knocked the lampshade askew.

Since the treaty had proved unworkable, the two nations decided to abrogate it.


bequeath verb to leave to another in a will; to hand down

laud verb to praise highly

crass adjective grossly stupid or dull; coarse

complacent adjective smug; self satisfied; pleased with oneself

tribulation noun great misery or distress; great trouble


My father bequeathed to his children a little money and the glorious example of a life well spent in the service of his country.

At the testimonial dinner, he was lauded by community leaders for his service to the school.

His attempts to argue about a subject far beyond his depth seemed only to reveal his crass ignorance and conceit.

He had the complacent attitude of a man who considers himself superior to the "common herd."

The tribulations which he suffered and overcame have made him a wiser, more compassionate person.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularycajole verb

chagrin noun

docile adjective easily taught; responsive; tractable

vacillate verb to waver in mind or opinion

sage adjective marked by wisdom and good judgment

to coax or persuade with insincere or false words; to wheedle

mental distress due to disappointment or humiliation

Using rather far-fetched promises, I finally cajoled her into accompanying us to the fair

When he did not receive an invitation, he tried unsuccessfully to conceal his deep-seated chagrin.

Since I expected him to be unruly, I was pleasantly surprised by his gentle, docile behavior.

When you have considered all the factors carefully and have decided what is right, act without vacillating.

His sage advice has helped thousands of people deal with their problems.


dupe verb to deceive

acme noun highest point; pinnacle

deter verb

homily noun

epicure noun

to restrain or discourage from action through fear

a sermon; a discourse emphasizing moral principles

one who cultivates refined tastes, especially in eating and drinking


Once he had decided where his duty lay, nothing could deter him.

Only an inexperienced and naive person could be duped into investing money in such a hairbrained scheme.

Election to the Presidency was the acme of his long and brilliant career.

Instead of those high-flown homilies, we need some good practical plans.

The store specializes in delicacies that will please even the most demanding epicures.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularysurfeit noun excessive amount

itinerant adjective traveling from place to place

cache noun a hiding place

incite verb to instigate; to spur on

appease verb to bring to a state of peace or quiet; to satisfy by making concessions or giving in to

I have had my surfeit of excuses and evasions; I want action!

The tyrant can be appeased only by absolute submission to his will.

Peter became an itinerant folk singer, traveling to college campuses all over the land.

The conspirators had set up a cache of firearms in the old farmhouse.

Only intolerable living conditions could have incited the peasants to rebellion.


impetuous adjective impulsive; done hastily or rashly

perfidy noun treachery; breach of trust or faith

hovel noun a dirty, wretched dwelling place

advent noun coming into view or being; arrival


The advent of winter brings thoughts of sleds, ice-skates, and skis.

Because he is impetuous by nature, John often has cause to regret his rash actions.

Because he betrayed our country, Benedict Arnold's name has become a symbol of perfidy in American history.

It is shocking that the families of the migratory workers had to live in such hovels.

Your sentence

Grade 9 Vocabularyindigent adjective needy; poor

effrontery noun impudence; shameless boldness

rectify verb to correct; to set right

amass verb to accumulate; to gather together

By saving systematically over the years, he amassed a large fortune.

The purpose of this new program is to help those indigent people who can't help themselves.

How does he have the effrontery to ask me for help when he ignored my requests during my time of need.

It is good to rectify a mistake; it is better not to make it in the first place.

grade 9 vocabulary

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