English III Honors Vocabulary

Vocabulary tests will be scheduled for every two weeks.  You are to write 20 sentences for each test, using context clues in each sentence.  You will receive 3 additional average points on your test for turning in the sentences at the beginning of the period; you will have 3 average points deducted for not turning in the sentences at the beginning of the period.  You are responsible for spelling and using the words.

In addition to these 20 words, you are responsible for the "spelling only" words which are posted in the room and at the  English Honors III page under Thursday. 

*******************End First Semester; Begin Second Semester********************

Vocabulary Unit 9--Test Thursday, February 2

acclamation         asperity                  coherent                congeal                  euphemism

ambient                 cabal                      collateral               encomium             fecund

1. completely surrounding                                 the ambient air

2. change from liquid to solid thicken             a sight to congeal the blood

3. security for a loan; accompanying              to post his securities as collateral

4. fruitful, productive, fertile                             known for his fecund mind

5. formal praise, lavish commendation          a speech filled with encomium

6. shout of welcome, show of approval,         elect by acclamation

    overwhelming oral vote in favor

7. mild or indirect expression used instead     face the facts without use of euphemism

    of an unpleasant one

8. sticking together, making a logical whole   a speech that was not even coherent

9. hardships, difficulties, mishaps                    endure the asperity of life

10. small group working in secret                     became a member of the ruling cabal

gainsay                  insipid                    mundane               overweening                         perspicacious

innate                     lenient                    nuance                   penchant                               plenary

1. keen in observing and understanding          known as a perspicacious commentator

2. earthly, worldly                                                lacking interest in mundane affairs

3. deny, contradict, dispute                               dare to gainsay another’s statement

4. full, complete, entire                                       a plenary session of the court

5. shade of difference                                         appreciate the nuance in the use of words

6. lacking taste or savor, uninteresting, dull    bored by his insipid conversation

7. strong attraction or inclination                     have a penchant for doing something

8. natural, inborn                                                 discover an innate talent

9. conceited, presumptuous                               filled with an overweening pride

10. mild, merciful                                                hope for a lenient judge

Vocabulary Unit 10--Test Thursday, February 16

apace                     devious                  mutable                 obeisance              prefatory

covenant               invidious                nascent                  paltry                     profane

1. solemn agreement between two                   sign a covenant

    or more parties

2. deep bow, motion of respect                         make an obeisance before the king

3. out of a straight line, winding, erring            take a devious route home

4. beginning to exist or develop                        the nascent states of Africa

5. petty, mean, almost worthless                      allotted a paltry sum of money

6. swiftly, fast                                                       to proceed apace

7. capable of change, fickle                              the mutable conventions of society

8. introductory                                                     a few prefatory remarks

9. offensive, hateful                                            annoyed by his invidious comparisons

10. not holy, impure, defiled; to violate          to profane a holy place

      or treat with irreverence

quintessence         stricture                  sylvan                    travesty                 unremitting

slough                    surveillance           testy                       tyro                         vertigo

1. pertaining to or characteristic of forests     paint a sylvan scene

2. grotesque imitation; to ridicule by               a travesty of justice

    burlesque treatment

3. pure essence, most typical example            the quintessence of charm

4. beginner, novice                                              a mere tyro at the game of golf

5. dizziness, giddiness                                         suffer from vertigo

6. easily irritated                                                  in a testy mood

7. adverse criticism; binding, contraction       a bitter speech filled with stricture

8. not stopping, maintained steadily                 the results of unremitting labors

9. watch kept over a person                              keep under strict surveillance

10. muddy hole, bog; cast off                           tried to slough off his prejudices

Junior Vocabulary Unit 11--Test March 1, 2012

acuity                     depraved               fetish                      interpolate             meretricious

agnostic                 exigency                gregarious             malediction           moot

1. object of unreasoning devotion or               a catchword that becomes a popular  fetish

    superstitious fear

2. curse                                                                  utter a malediction

3. sharpness, as of the senses                            known for his acuity of hearing

4. insert between other parts or things;            interpolate a new matter in the agenda

    alter, correct

5. debatable, doubtful                                        discuss a moot point in the procedure

6. evil, corrupt                                                      depraved by a life of crime

7. one who believes that nothing is known     lost his faith and became an agnostic

     about the existence of God; doubter

8. attractive in a showy way                             an meretricious display of wealth

9. urgency, pressure, emergency                       try to meet the unforeseen exigency

10. habitually living together; friendly            man is a gregarious animal

neophyte               pertinacious          redolent                 summarily             tour de force

periphery               raiment                  sacrilege                 suppliant               unscathed

1. feat of strength or skill                                   a literary tour de force

2. clothing, garments                                           don wild raiment for the gala party

3. very persistent, holding firmly to a              a pertinacious opponent of corruption

    course of action

4. asking humbly and earnestly; one who      a suppliant pleading for mercy

    asks humbly and earnestly

5. unharmed, untouched                                    come through the war unscathed

6. disrespectful treatment of something          guilty of sacrilege

    held sacred

7. new convert, beginner in anything               a mere neophyte in the study of literature

8. line bounding a surface, outward bound    defenses arranged around the periphery

    or region

9. without delay or formality                            summarily removed from office

10. fragrant, smelling strongly; tending to      redolent of lilacs in April

      arouse memories or create an aura

Vocabulary Unit 12--Test Thursday, April 5

amenity                 deposition             façade                   paroxysm              pittance

aperture                 diabolical              increment              pedantry               presage

1. small quantity or allowance                                          exist on a mere pittance

2. devilish, very cruel or wicked                                        a diabolical plot to assassinate the leader

3. opening, gap, hole                                                           enter through an aperture in the wall

4. severe, sudden attack; fit convulsion                          a paroxysm of laughter

5. front of a building, frontal appearance                      construct a new façade

6. that which is pleasant or agreeable                              observe a social amenity

7. pretentious display of knowledge, slavish                  bored by his pedantry

    attention to rules and details

8. removal from office; formal testimony                     the deposition of a witness

9. portend, give warning of a future event;                    a speech that presages international tensions

    that which gives warning, omen

10. enlargement, increase, addition                                 a substantial increment to his wealth

recreant                repine                     talisman                 untenable              verbiage

recrimination        risqué                     undulating             unwonted              viscous

1. not usual, not in character                                             plan an unwonted role

2. having a wavelike motion                                             the undulating motion of the snake

3. sticky, thick                                                                      a viscous fluid resembling glue

4. cowardly, false; coward, traitor                                    deserted by recreant supporters

5. abundance of useless words, use of too                     a speech weakened by bloated verbiage

    many words

6. complain, feel discontentment                                     to repine at his sad fate

7. charm, amulet                                                                 wear an ornament as a talisman

8. vulgar, suggestive in a coarse way                               tell a risqué story

9. answer to an accusation, countercharge                    accusations and recrimination

10. not capable of being supported                                 caught in an untenable situation

Vocabulary Unit 13--Test Thursday, April 19, 2012

archetype              banal                      cavil                        foible                      inexorable

asseverate             brackish                 charlatan               foment                   moribund

1. weak point; failing                                           forgive his human foible

2. salty, distasteful                                               avoid drinking brackish water

3. inflexible, relentless, merciless                    try in vain to escape inexorable fate

4. hackneyed, trite, commonplace                   bored by the banal dialogue

5. excite, rouse, instigate                                   deliberately trying to foment disorder

6. find fault with in a petty way; trivial             inclined to cavil at every opportunity

    objection

7. original model, idea, or type                         the archetype of the modern hero

8. affirm earnestly                                               asseverate that we will fight to the end

9. one who pretends to knowledge or            to expose the charlatan

    ability

10. dying, on the way out                                   a moribund custom

necromancer                        respite                   subsist                    utopian                  vituperative

ordain                                    seraph(im)             usury                      vacillate                wraith

1. waver in mind or will                                      vacillate from one extreme to another

2. exist, remain alive, live                                   to subsist on meat only

3. abusive, severely scolding                             an angry and vituperative speech

4. time of relief, lull, delay, reprieve                gain a respite from his labors

5. magician, wizard                                              the talents of a necromancer

6. ghost, apparition                                              the appearance of a wraith

7. illegal rate of interest                                     laws which forbid usury

8. member of the highest order of angels      be among the seraphim

9. establish by decree; introduce into the      to ordain new educational standards

     ministry

10. founded upon or involving imaginary       given to utopian schemes

     or ideal perfection; visionary, impractical

Vocabulary Unit 14--Thursday, May 3

adjure                    derelict                  effigy                      insatiable               largesse

burgeon                 diatribe                  germane                intransigent           maelstrom

1. so great that it cannot be satisfied               an insatiable appetite for gossip

2. bud, sprout, grow                                            the leaves that burgeon in the spring

3. liberal giving, bounty                                      the beneficiary of his largesse

4. bitter and prolonged verbal attack              a diatribe against our cause

5. relevant, appropriate                                     facts germane to the case at hand

6. refusing to compromise, irreconcilable      to take an intransigent attitude

7. appeal to solemnly, entreat                           adjure to tell the truth

8. crude image of a hated person                     burn the enemy leader in effigy

9. whirlpool, turmoil                                            caught in a maelstrom

10. that which is abandoned or neglected;    a derelict cast upon the beach

      left or abandoned; neglectful of duty

myopic                   piquant                  propinquity           sardonic                 subpoena

pejorative              primordial             refulgent               shibboleth             visionary

1. stimulating to the taste or mind                    charmed by his piquant wit

2. summons for an appearance in court          deliver a subpoena

3. shining, radiant, resplendent                        the refulgent façade of the cathedral

4. nearsighted                                                      myopic view of world events

5. word or expression that distinguishes         repeating the shibboleth of his party

    a particular class or set of persons

6. not practical, dreamy, unreal; one given    derided as a visionary

    to farfetched ideas or schemes

7. bitterly ironic, sarcastic                                  annoyed by his sardonic gibes

8. tending to make worse, disparaging            to use a word in its pejorative sense

9. nearness in place or time                              awed by the propinquity of the shrine

10. existing at the very beginning                     the study of primordial man

Here are the selected vocabulary from which your final exam words will be taken.

agrarian                

apace                    

aperture              

archetype             

asseverate            

cavil                       

deposition            

effigy                     

exigency                               

façade

fetish     

foment                  

hoyden                 

indictment            

insatiable              

moot                      

moribund

motif      

nascent

ordain                   

paroxysm    

pedantry               

periphery             

pittance     

presage                 

primordial            

propinquity

recrimination

redolent

refulgent              

risqué                    

sacrilege               

sardonic

subsist   

summarily             

sylvan    

temporize             

unscathed            

untenable             

unwonted             

usury                     

vernacular            

viscous                  

visionary     

wraith                    

zephyr