Vocabulary List - PDF document

Vocabulary List 1 st 9 weeks "The Scarlet Ibis" 1. imminent ( im· ə ·n ə nt ): adj. "about to occur" "With success so imminent , we decided not to tell anyone until he could actually walk." 2. infallibility ( in - fal - uh - bil - i - tee) : n. "an inability to make errors" " Once I had succeeded in teaching Doodle to walk, I began to believe in my own infallibility , and I prepared a terrific development program for him…" 3. reiterate ( rē - ' i - t ə - rāt): v. "to repeat" "'I certainly did,' Doodle reiterated , scowling at me over the top of his iced - tea glass…" 4. precariously (pri - ' ker - ē - ə s - lē): adv. "insecurely; in a dangerous or unstable way" "On the topmost branch a bird the size of a chicken, with scarlet feathers and long legs, was perched precariously ." 5. evanesce (e - v ə - ' nes): v. "to disappear; vanish" "I hadn't run too far before I became tired, and the flood of childish spite evanesced as well." "The Most Dangerous Game" 6. condone (k ə n - ' dōn): v. "to forgive or overlook" "'Did not make me condone cold - blooded murder,' finishe d Rainsford, stiffly." 7. droll ( ' drōl): adj. "amusingly odd or comical" "'How extraordinarily droll you are!' he said. (General) 8. scruple ( ' skrü - p ə l): n. "a feeling of uneasiness that keeps a person from doing something" "'But I think I can show you tha t your scruples are quite ill - founded.'" (General) 9. solicitously (s ə - l Ä­ s' Ä­ - t ə s - lē) : adv. "in a manner expressing care or concern" "'Ah, indeed?' the general inquired, solicitously ." 10. imperative (Ä­ m - p ĕ r' ə - t Ä­ v): adj. "absolutely necessary" "His need for rest was imperative , and thought, 'I have played the fox; now I must play the cat of the fable.'" "The Cask of A m ontillado" 11. preclude (pr Ä­ - klüd ') : v. " to make impossible, especially by taking action in advance" " At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled – but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk." 12. impunity ( Ä­ m - pyü ' Ä­ n - tē ): n. "freedom from penalty or harm" "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity ." 13. immolation ( Ä­ m ' ə - lā - sh ə n ): n. "death or destruction" "I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now w as at the thought of immol ation ." 14. abscond ( ă b - sk ŏ nd '): v. "to go away suddenly and secretly" "T here were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honor of the time." 15. aperture ( ă p' ə r - ch ə r): n. "an opening, such as a hole or a gap" "I thrust a torch through the rem aining aperture and let it fall within." "Daughter of Invention" 16. disclaimer ( d Ä­ s - klā' m ə r ): n. "a denial of responsibility or knowledge" " … she'd toss it in the wastebasket on her way out of the room and give a little laugh like a disclaimer ." 17. inhosp itable ( Ä­ n - h ŏ s'p Ä­ - t ə - b ə l ): adj. "not welcoming; hostile" "But in New York, I needed to settle somewhere, and the natives were unfriendly, the country inhospitable, so I took root in the language." 18. noncommittal ( n ŏ n ' k ə - m Ä­ t' l ): adj. "not committing oneself; not revealing w hat one thinks" "Week after week, I'd sit down, hoping to polish off some quick, noncommittal little speech." 19. insubordinate ( Ä­ n' s ə - b o r' d n - Ä­ t ): adj. "disobedient to a superior" "'That is insubordinate . It is improper. It is disrespec ting of her teachers – '" (father) 20. misnomer ( m Ä­ s - nō' m ə r ): n. "an inaccurate or incorrect name" "After it was drafted, she typed it up while I stood by, correcting her misnomers and mis - sayings." "Marigolds" 21. nostalgia ( n ŏ - st ă l' j ə ): n. "bittersweet longing for things from the past" "Whenever the memory of those marigolds flashes across my mind, a strange nostalgia comes with it and remains long after the picture has faded." 22. futile ( fyü t'l): adj. "having no useful result" "I suppose that futile waiting was the sorrowful background music of our impoverished little community when I was young." 23. poignantly (poin'y ə nt - l ē ): adv. "in a profoundly moving manner" "As I think of those days I feel most poignantly the tag - end of summ er, the bright dry times when we began to have a sense of shortening days and the imminence of the cold." 24. ostensibly ( ŏ - st ĕ n's ə - bl ē ): adv. "seemingly; to all outward appearances" "When Miss Lottie's house came into view we stopped, ostensibly to plan our s trategy, but actually to reinforce our courage." 25. retribution (r ĕ t'r ə - by ü 'sh ə n): n. "something given in repayment, usually as a punishment" "We children made a game of thinking of ways to disturb John Burke and then to elude his violent retribution ." 26. st oicism (st ō ' Ä­ - s Ä­ ' ə m): n. "indifference to pleasure or pain; a lack of visible emotion" "H er smooth skin was a dark reddish - brown, and her face had Indian - like features and the stern stoicism that one associates with Indian faces." 27. perverse (p ə r - v ə rs '): adj. "s tubbornly contrary; wrong; harmful" "For some perverse reason, we children hated those marigolds." 28. bravado (br ə - v ä 'd ō ): n. "a false show of courage or defiance" "I cursed and spat on the ground – my favorite gesture of phony bravado ." 29. impotent ( Ä­ m'p ə - t ə nt): adj. "powerless; lacking strength or vigor" "Then the rest of the kids let loose with their pebbles, storming the flowers and laughing wildly and senselessly at Miss Lottie's impotent rage." 30. exuberance ( Ä­ g - z ü 'b ə r - ə ns): n. "condition of unrestrained joy" "Joey and I had a particularly bitter argument after supper; his exuberance got on my nerves."