Vocabulary Week 1

Vocabulary Week 12 GoldWord 1: Serendipity Def: Not looking for but finding something useful or wonderful by chance Sent: In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work and love. The other 99 percent is due to our efforts. Peter McWilliams

Word 2: NefariousDef: Evil and dishonest Sent: Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government ever heard of on earth. Mark Twain

Word 3: PugnaciousDef: Person that wants to argue and fightSent: It is unfair to blame man too fiercely for being pugnacious; he learned the habit from Nature. Christopher Morley

Word 4: LanguorDef: Mental and physical lazinessSent: Moderation is the languor and sloth of the soul, Ambition its activity and heat. Franois de la Rochefoucauld

Word 5: Palatable Def: Good enough to eat or drink Sent: Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable. William Mcilvanney

Word 6: Pariah Def: Person that is rejected, an outcast Sent: [They are] social pariahs, irrationally ostracized by their communities because of medically baseless fears of contagion. Stewart Oneglia

Word 7: NegligibleDef: So small or slight to be importantSent: The market has already come to the conclusion that the medium-term impact of Katrina will be negligible if not net positive.

Word 8: Crone Def: A withered, witchlike old woman Sent: These days, the witches are hardly old crones with twisted noses. They've got fishnets and you'd just want to jump in their cauldrons. John Majdoch

Word 9: Dabble Def: To take part in or do something but not very seriously Sent: Poetry is an art, and chief of the fine art; the easiest to dabble in, the hardest in which to reach true excellence. Edmund Clarence Stedman

Word 10: CulpableDef: Deserving blame, censure; blameworthySent: If he had broken the law, or was more culpable, perhaps. It was an accident. It wasn't an intentional violation. John Nash

Word 11: Deft Def: Quick and skillful in movementSent: He can hit any shot and he's got a deft touch around the greens. Chris Haack

Word 12: Demise Def: The ending or death of somethingSent: Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. Mark Twain

Word 13: Fraternize Def: To associate or be friendly with the enemy Sent: There's absolutely no way you can go barreling into second and dump a guy on a double play when you've been fraternizing with him before a game. Frank Robinson

Word 14: Consensus Def: Agreement reached by a group Sent: A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually. Abba Edan

Word 15: DestituteDef: Having no money or possessionsSent: The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship. Francis Bacon

Word 16: Debunk Def: To prove that an idea or belief is false Sent: We've gone in and talked face to face with kids who have dropped out of school. What they're telling us debunks popular assumptions. J Bridgeland

Word 17: Antiquated Def: No longer useful for modern needs Sent: You see, antiquated ideas of kindness and generosity are simply bugs that must be programmed out of our world. And these cold, unfeeling machines will show us the way. Bill Gates

Word 18:LenientDef: To punish less severely Sent: But the airline might file sooner, maybe in the next couple of months, to take advantage of the more lenient bankruptcy laws. Jim Corridore

Word 19: PanoramaDef: View in which you see a wide areaSent: We can't just have mainstream behavior on television in a free society, we have to make sure we see the whole panorama of human behavior.Jerry Springer

Word 20: DissipateDef: To scatter /weaken and finally disappearSent: To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education. Thomas Jefferson