-
Candid
KAN did
Completely honest, straightforward
Candace's candidness overwhelmed her business colleagues, who were not used to such honesty.
-
Conjecture
kun JEK chur
Inference; guesswork
At this point, Kimaya's hypothesis about single-cell biorhythms is still conjecture: She doesn't have conclusive evidence.
-
Didactic
die DAK tik
Instructive
The tapes were entertaining and didactic; they both amused and instructed children.
-
Euphemsim
YOO fuh miz um
A mild, indirect, or vague term substituting for a harsh, blunt, or offensive term.
"To pass away" is a common euphemism for dying.
-
Extrapolate
ek STRAP uh layt
To infer or estimate by extending or projecting known information.
Seeing the wrecked bike and his daughter's skinned knees, Heath extrapolated that she had had a biking accident.
-
Incoherent
in ko HEAR unt
Lacking cohesion or connection
Maury's sentences were so incoherent that nobody understood a word.
-
Insinuate
in SIN yoo ayt
To imply or communicate stealthily
Sean insinuated that Grace stole the arsenic, but he never came out and said it.
-
Lucid
LOO sid
Easily understood; clear
Our teacher provides lucid explanations of even the most difficult concepts so that we can all understand them.
-
Rhetoric
RET uh rik
The art of using language effectively and persuasively
Since they are expected to make speeches, most politicians and lawyers are well-versed in the art of rhetoric.
-
Acumen
AK yoo men
Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgement or insight
Judge Ackerman's legal acumen was so well regarded that he was nicknamed the "Solomon of the South."
-
Adroit
uh DROYT
Dexterous; deft
An adroit balloon-animal maker, Adrianna became popular at children's parties.
-
Ascertain
as er TAYN
To find out, as through investigation or experimentation
The private investigator had long suspected my dog; before long, he ascertained that Toto was indeed the murderer.
-
Astute
uh STOOT
Shrewd; clever
Steward is financially astute; he invests wisely and never falls for scams.
-
Circumspect
SER kum spekt
Careful; prudent; discreet
Ned's circumspect manner makes him a wise appointment to the diplomatic corps.
-
Disseminate
dis SEM uh nayt
To scartter widely, as in sowing seed
The news about Dave's embarrassing moment at the party disseminated quickly through the school; by the end of the day, everyone knew what had happened.
-
Erudition
er yuh DISH un
Deep, extensive learning
Professor Ruby's erudition was such that she cold answer any question her students put to her.
-
Husbandry
HUZ bun dree
The application of scientific principles to agriculture, especially to animal breeding
After years of practicing animal husbandry, Marsha's husband was able to create a breed of dog that actually walked itself.
-
Pedantic
puh DAN tik
Excessively concerned with book learning and formal rules
Pedro's pedantic tendencies prompted him to remind us constantly of all the grammatical rules we were breaking.
-
Perspicacious
per spih KAY shus
Shrewd; clear-sighted
Persephone's perspicacious mind had solved so many cases that the popular private investagator was able to retire.
-
Pragmatic
prag MAT ik
Practical
Never one for wild and unrealistic schemes, Matt took a pragmatic approach to research.
-
Precocious
pre KO shus
Exhibiting unusually early intellectual aptitude or maturity
Bobby Fisher's precocious intellect made him one of the world's best chess players before he could even drive.
-
Prospectus
pro SPEK tus
Formal proposal
Before writing my thesis, I had to submit a detailed prospectus to the department for approval.
-
Rudimentary
roo duh MEN tuh ree
Basic; elementary; in the earliest stages of development
Josh's rudimentary golf skills were easily overpowered by Tiger Woods's amazing performance on the green.
-
Abstruse
ab STROOS
Difficult to understand
Abby found fer professor's lecture on non-Euclidian geometry abstruse; she doubted anyone else in class understood it either.
-
Callous
KAL us
Emotionally hardened; unfeeling
Callie's callous remark about her friend's cluttered room really hurt his feelings.
-
Convoluted
kon vo LOO tid
Intricate; complex
The directions were co convoluted that we became hopelessly lost.
-
Enigma
en IG ma
A puzzle, mystery, or riddle
The emu was an enigma; you could never tell what it was thinking.
-
Inscrutable
in SKROOT uh bul
Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable
The ancient poet's handwriting was so inscrutable, that even the most prominent Latin scholars could not read the manuscript.
-
Reticent
RET uh sint
Inclined to keep silent; reserved
Rosanna's reticent behavior caused the interviewer to think her incapable of conversing with other students.
-
Staid
STAYD
Unemotional; serious
Mr. Estado was well known for his staid demeanor; he stayed calm even when everyone else celebrated the team's amazing victory.
-
Arcane
ar KAYN
Known or understood by only a few
The dusty archive includes an arcane treasure trove of nautical charts from the Age of Discovery.
-
Assimilate
uh SIM uh layt
To absorb or become absorbed; to make or become similar
Keisha assimilated so quickly at her new school that she was named head of the social committee a month after enrolling.
-
Autonomy
aw TAHN uh mee
Independence; self-determination
Candice gained autonomy upon moving out of her parents' house into her own apartment.
-
Cosmopolitan
koz mo PAHL i tun
Worldly; widely sophisticated
Inga was surprisingly cosmopolitan considering that she had never left her tiny hometown in Norway.
-
Derivative (n)
duh RIV uh tiv
Something that comes from another source
Special Victims Unite and Criminal Intent are deriviative of the orginial Law and Order drama series.
-
Entourage
AHN ter azh
A group of attendants or associates; a retinue
Top celebrities travel with extensive entourages, which often include sercurity guards, assistants, stylists, managers, and publicists.
-
Esoteric
es oh TAIR ik
Intended for or understood by only a small group
Esme's play is extremely esoteric; someone not raised in Estonia would find it difficult to follow.
-
Gaffe
GAF
A clumsy social error; a faux pas
Geoff committed the gaffe of telling his date that he'd gone out with her sister the night before.
-
Idiosyncrasy
ID ee oh SINK ruh see
Characteristic peculiar to an individual or group
She had many idosyncrasies, one of wich was washing her socks in the dishwashers.
-
Insular
IN suh ler
Isolated; narrow or provinical
The family was so insular that no one else could get near them.
-
Orthodox
OR thuh doks
Adhering to the traditional and established, especially in religion
My father helf an orthodox view of baseball; he believed that the field should be outside and made of real grass.
-
Potentate
PO tun tayt
One who has the power and position to rule over others; monarch
An omnipotent potenate is a person to be reckoned with; great power in the hands of a great leader is a power combination.
-
Castigate
KAS tih gayt
To schold, rebuke, or harshly criticize
Mr. Castile preferred not to castigate sutdent misbehavior publicly; instead, he would quietly send the troublemaker to the principal's office.
-
Censure
SEN shur
To issue official blame
In recent years the FCC has censured networks for the provocative antics of Super Bowl halftime acts; what goes on during the game, however, usually escapes the organization's notice.
-
Denounce
duh NOWNTS
To condemn openly
In many powerful speeches throughout his lifetime, Martin Luther King, Jr. denounced racism as immoral.
-
Reclusive
ree KLOO siv
Seeking or preferring seclusion or isolation
Our neighbors were quite reclusive, hardly ever emerging from behind the closed doors of their home.
-
Relinquish
ree LING kwish
To retire from; give up or abandon
Ricky relinquished his career in order to search for the source of the world's best relish.
-
Renounce
ree NOWNTS
To give up (a title, for example), especially by formal announcement
Nancy renounced her given name and began selling records under ther moniker "Boedicia."
-
Vituperative
vie TOOP ur uh tiv
Markered by harshly abusive condemnation
The vituperative speech was so cruel that the members left feeling completely abused.
-
Circumscribe
kum skryb
To draw a circle around; to restrict
The archeologist circumscribed the excavation are on the map.
-
Contiguous
kun TIG yoo us
Sharing an edge or boundary; touching
The continental United States consists of 48 contiguous states.
|
|