VocabularyWeek of May 23

By Deborah Andrews pd. 2

Perfunctory Emily sat in her Biology

class, with a perfunctory expression painted upon her face, as she waited in an agonizing silence for the lesson to come to an end.

Perfunctory – adj. - automatic, unthinking

Synonyms: careless, boredom, unaware, unconcerned

Meticulous Frank’s obsessive

compulsive disorder was so extreme, that he became accustomed to meticulously cutting his grass to an exact length.

Meticulous- adj.- taking extreme care about minute details

Synonyms: precise, thorough, exact

Lament After discovering her

little miracle was diagnosed with cancer, Betsy lamented her five year old son, who was oblivious to what was occurring inside of his body.

Lament- to express grief for or about

Synonyms: mourn, hurt, wail, weep, sorrow, etc.

Paraphernalia

• While walking through The Deb shop at the mall, you can find a copious amount of paraphernalia necessary for proms, semi-formals, and other dances.

Paraphernalia- noun- furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity

Synonyms: equipment, apparatus, gear

Despotic Adolf Hitler was

considered a very racist, despotic, human being, who believed that there was a perfect race, which only contained people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Despotic- adj.- tyrannical, oppressive

Synonyms: absolute

Tangible

After Amelia was rejected by her crush and best friend, Charlie, the awkward silence was so thick in the air, it was almost tangible.

Tangible- adj- capable of being touched

Synonyms: actual, perceptible, real, concrete

Sensuous

Sensuous- adj.- gratifying to senses

Synonyms: luxurious, lush, passionate, attractive

It was his sensuous touch, the look in his eyes, and the words he had just spoken, that made her first kiss perfect.

Prima Donna

Prima donna- adj.- indicating the most important performer or role

Synonyms: Diva, the lead

Some celebrities seem very genuine, caring, and good in public; however, when out of plain sight, they are spoiled prima donnas.

Garrulous

Garrulous- adj.- excessively talkative

Synonyms: wordy, chattering, mouthy, “motor mouth”, etc.

Tiffany was unable to pay any attention towards the movie because Alicia, her garrulous best friend, could not refrain from speaking about her boyfriend.

Syntax

Syntax- the way in which words are arranged

Synonyms: arrangement, order, pattern, structure, etc.

Mr. Abrams, the Honors English 9 teacher, seems to become annoyed over our improper syntax errors, so he finds in them our essays and has us fix them on the spot.

Sagacity

Sagacity- noun- wisdomSynonyms: clear thinking,

common sense, enlightenment

The author of the novel Animal Farm held a lot of sagacity when he stated that power creates evil in a person.

RavenousThe thirst for human

blood that newborn vampires have is so unquenchable, that it makes each soulless leach obtain a ravenous appetite, and leads to a gruesome, horrifying bloodbath.

Ravenous- adj.- extremely hungry, extremely rapacious, intensely eager for satisfaction

Synonyms: famished, voracious

Parsimonious In the classic movie A

Christmas Carol, an old, parsimonious man refuses to give his workers the holidays off, and is taken to different periods of time to show how his greed affects life.

Parsimonious- adj.- penny-pinching, fugal

Synonyms: stingy, greedy

Virulent In the famous

tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo sacrifices his life by drinking a virulent poison, so he can join his fair maiden in the afterlife.

Virulent- adj.- highly deadly

Synonyms: dangerous, lethal