2ND QUARTER VOCABULARY AND SPELLING WORDS

WEEK 1
VOCABULARY WORD

PART OF
SPEECH

PRONOUNCIATION

COMMON MEANING

anaphylaxis

noun

/nflakss/

an acute allergic
reaction to an antigen
(e.g. a bee sting) to
which the body has
become hypersensitive

aghast

adjective

/gst/

shocked or surprised in
an unpleasant way

behoove

verb

/bihov/

[OLD FASHIONED]
(FORMAL)
it is right to do
something <e.g. itll
behooves you to speak
rudely to your
parents>

biennial

adjective

/baienil/

happening once every

two years

carte blanche

noun

/kartblan/

complete freedom to do
something

an extremely
destructive event or
violent change
(esp. of men)
attractive, confident,
and carefully dressed
to make a place less
attractive esp. by
taking things from it
by force

cataclysm

noun

/ktklizm/

debonair

adjective

/debner/

despoil

verb

/dispil/

emanate

verb

/emneit/

to come from or out of

fulminate

verb

/flmineit/

to criticize strongly

homeostasis

noun

/
homiosteis
s/

nostrum

noun

/nastrm/

obtrude

verb

/btrud/

perjury

noun

/prdri/

prefatory

adjective

/preftri/

recidivist

noun

/risidivist/

saturnine

adjective

/stnain/

termagant

noun

/tmgnt/

uncouth

adjective

/nku/

(BIOLOGY)
the process by which
a living thing or cell
keeps the conditions
inside it the same
despite any changes
in the conditions
around it
a medicine, esp. one
that is not considered
effective, prepared by
an unqualified person
(FORMAL)
(esp. of something
unwanted) to make
something or to
become too noticeable
esp. by interrupting
the crime of telling a
lie in court after
promising to formally
to tell the truth
(OF WRITING or
SPEECH)
coming at the
beginning of a piece
(SPECIALIZED)
a criminal who
continues to commit
crimes even after they
have been punished
(LITERARY)
serious and unfriendly
(DISAPPROVING)
a woman who argues
noisily to get or
achieved something
(OF A PERSON or
PERSONS BEHAVIOR)
rude and unpleasant

yore

noun

/jr/

(LITERARY)
of a long time ago

WEEK 2
VOCABULARY WORD

PART OF
SPEECH

PRONOUNCIATION

accrue

verb

/kru/

adjure

verb

/dr/

bumptious

adjective

/bms/

bungle

verb

/bgl/

cavil

verb

/kvl/

chaste

adjective

/teist/

decadence

noun

/dekdns/

desultory

adjective

/desltri/

COMMON MEANING
to increase over a
period of time, or to
get an amount of
something gradually
over time
to ask or to order
someone to do
something
unpleasantly
confident
to do something
wrong, in a careless or
stupid way
(FORMAL)
to make unreasonable
complaints, especially
about things that are
not important
without having any
sexual activity or
involvement outside
of marriage
a state of low
standards in a society,
social decay
(FORMAL)
without a clear plan or
purpose and showing

little effort or interest

a short piece of
writing or a poem
about a dead person,
especially one written
on their gravestone
(FORMAL)
to refuse to accept
something as truth

epitaph

noun

/epitf/

gainsay

verb

/geinsei/

knavery

noun

/navre/

roguish mischief

nugatory

adjective

/nugtri/

(FORMAL)
worth nothing or of
little value

ominous

adjective

/amns/

suggesting something
unpleasant will happen

opprobrium

noun

/probrim/

(FORMAL)
severe criticism and
blame

pique

verb

/pik/

to excite or cause
interest

proviso

noun

/prvis/

recusant

noun

/rekysnt,
rikyoooznt/

saunter

verb

/snter/

(LAW)
a part of a legal
document that states
that something must
happen or be done
person who refuses to
submit to an authority
or to comply with a
regulation
to walk in a slow and
relaxed way, often in
no particular direction

tensile

adjective

/tensil/

unwonted

adjective

/nwantid/

capable of being
stretched (as a
material)
(FORMAL)
unusual; not often
experienced or shown

WEEK 3
VOCABULARY WORD

PART OF
SPEECH

PRONOUNCIATION

COMMON MEANING

assayer

noun

/ser/

a person or company
that tests a metal, etc.
to find how pure it is

aver

verb

/vr/

to say that something

is certainly true

chortle

verb

/trtl/

to laugh with pleasure

and satisfaction

consort

verb

/knsort/

consternation

noun

/
kanstrnei/

deliquesce

verb

/delikwes/

to spend time in the

company of particular
people
a feeling of strong
annoyance and anger,
usually because of
something bad that
you cannot change or
that is completely
unexpected
become liquid,
typically during
composition

divestiture

noun

/daivetitr/

(FINANCE)
the act of selling an
asset, a business or a
part of a business

facsimile

noun

/fksimli/

an exact copy, esp. of a

document
a brief attempt at or
involvement in an
activity outside a
persons or
organizations usual
range of activities
(of something said)
confused and unclear
or giving false idea

foray

noun

/frei, for-/

garbled

adjective

/garbld/

lambaste

verb

/lmbeist,
-bst/

to criticize someone
severely

obeisance

noun

/beisns/

the fact of obeying or

respecting someone
or something you do
that expresses this

ossify

verb

/asfi/

cease developing; be
stagnant or rigid

platonic

adjective

/pltanik/

indemnify

verb

/indemnifai/

rapacious

adjective

/rpes/

(of a relationship or
emotion) affectionate
but not sexual
(INSURANCE, LAW)
to pay someone for
loss or damage that
they have suffered or
to formally promise to
do this
having or showing a
strong wish to take
things for yourself,
usually using unfair
methods or force

ruffian

noun

/rfin/

scourge

noun

/skrd/

welter

noun

/weltr/

stigma

noun

/stigm/

[OLD FASHIONED or
HUMOROUS]
a violent, wild, and
unpleasant person,
usually a man
someone or something
that causes harm, evil
or destruction
a large number of
things in confusion or
disorder
a strong lack for a
person or a group of
people or a bad
opinion of them
because they have
done something
society does not
approve of

WEEK 4
VOCABULARY WORD

PART OF
SPEECH

allude

verb

commiserate

verb

coterie

noun

PRONOUNCIATION

/loood/
/kmizereit/
/kot -/

COMMON MEANING
suggest or call
attention to indirectly;
hint at
to feel or express
sympathy for
someones suffering
or unhappiness
a small group of
people with shared
interests, often one
that does not want

other people to join

them

depredation

noun

educe

verb

gauche

adjective

gerrymander

verb

liable

adjective

libertine

noun

microcosm

noun

/deprdein/
/ed(y)ooos/

/go/

/derimndr/

/laibl/

/libtin/

/
maikrokaz
m/

(AN ACT CAUSING)

damage or destruction
bring out or develop
(something latent or
potential)
behaving in a way that
is offensive to other
people, esp. because
of not knowing what is
correct or not caring
about the feeling of
others
(POLITICS and
GOVERNMENT) to
divide an area into
election districts
(=areas that elect
someone) in a way
that gives an unfair
advantage to one
group or political
party
likely to do, happen,
or experience
something
(FORMAL)
(DISAPPROVING)
a person, usually a
man, who lives in a
way that is not moral,
having sexual
relationships with
many people
a small place, society,
on that has the same
characteristics as
something much
larger

objurgate

verb

/abjrgat/

parapet

noun

/prpet/

putrid

noun

/pjutrid/

ineluctable

adjective

/inilktbl/

rummage

verb

/rmid/

solace

noun

/sals/

wheedle

verb

/hwidl/

travail

noun

/trvei/

soliloquy

noun

/slilkwi/

rebuke severely; scold

a low wall along the
edge of a roof, bridge,
etc.
very decayed and
having an unpleasant
smell
impossible to avoid
<e.g. ineluctable
weather>
to search for
something by moving
things around without
care and looking into,
under, and behind
them
help and comfort
when you are feeling
sad or worried
to try to persuade
someone to do
something or to give
you something by
using your charm and
by repeatedly asking
in a way that would
make refusal
embarrassing
[usually plural]
an unpleasant
experience or
situation, especially
one that involves a lot
of hard work or effort
(LITERATURE)
a speech in a play
which the character
speaks to himself or
herself or to the other
people watching
rather done to other
characters

zymurgy

noun

/zimrje/

the study or practice

of fermentation in
brewing, wine making,
distillery

WEEK 5
VOCABULARY WORD

PART OF
SPEECH

PRONOUNCIATION

chafe

verb

/teif/

contumacious

adjective

/
kant(y)oooma
s/

descant

noun

/desknt/

effluvium

noun

/floovem/

extempore

adjective
or adverb

/ekstempri/

foist

verb

/fist/

germane

adjective

/dmein/

COMMON MEANING
to make or become
damaged or sore by
rubbing
(LAW)
(ARCHAIC)
(especially of a
defendants behavior)
stubbornly or willfully
disobedient to
authority
a part of a piece of
music that is higher
than the main tune
(plural: effluvia)
an unpleasant or
harmful odor,
secretion or discharge
(FORMAL)
done or said without
any preparation
impose an unwelcome
or unnecessary person
or thing on
ideas or information
that is germane to a
particular subject or
situation is connected
with and important to

it

guffaw

verb

/gf/

macerate

verb

/msreit/

meretricious

adjective

/meritris/

mordant

adjective

/mrdnt/

obloquy

noun

/ablkwe/

parse

verb

peremptory

adjective

quokka

noun

/kwak/

quondam

adjective

/kwandm/

/pars/

/prmptri/

to laugh loudly but

briefly
(SPECIALIZED)
to leave food in a
liquid so that it
absorbs the liquid and
becomes soft, or to
become soft in this
way
seeming attractive but
really false or of little
value
(esp. of humor) cruel
and criticizing in a
humorous way
strong public criticism
or verbal abuse
to separate a
sentence into
grammatical parts,
such as subject, verb,
etc.
(FORMAL)
having the
expectation of
immediate and
complete obedience,
or to be obeyed
without explanation
a small wallaby (=an
animal with a long tail
and strong legs for
jumping with) which in
past existed in great
numbers in Western
Australia
(FORMAL)
that once was; former

striated

adjective

/straietid/

suffuse

verb

/sfjuz/

surmise

verb

/srmaiz/

touch

interjectio
n

/tuei/

having long, thin

lines, marks, or strips
of color
(LITERARY)
to spread through or
over something
completely
to decide that
something is true
without having
complete information
or proof
used to admit that
someone has made a
good point against
you in an argument or
discussion