VOCABULARY #6

obsequious: (adjective) Obedient; Characterized by or showing too much willingness to serve or obey.
- When around her elders, the girl is quite obsequious. 

beatitude: (noun) Supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.
- He was in beatitude when he found out that he received a perfect score on his math test.

bete noire: (noun) A person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads.
- The girl was the bete noire of her basketball team; no one wanted to talk to her.

bode: (verb) To be an omen of; to announce in advance; predict.
- Staying up late does not bode well for the exam tomorrow morning. 

dank: (adjective) Unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and often chilly.
- The old man spent much of his time in a dank room. 

ecumenical: (adjective) General, universal; pertaining to the whole Christian church.
- The ecumenical speech had left a great impression on the entire audience.

fervid: (adjective) Heated in spirit, enthusiasm; burning, glowing.
- The girl gave a very fervid election speech at her school. 

fetid: (adjective) Having an offensive odor; stinking. 
- The boy who had sat next to me had a very fetid odor; I had to switch seats immediately.

gargantuan: (adjective) Gigantic, enormous, colossal.
- Completing scholarships and college applications is a gargantuan task. 

heyday: (noun) The greatest stage or period of greatest success, strength, etc. 
- The first year at her job was not the heyday of her career. 

incubus: (noun) A nightmare.
- After watching a scary movie, she had an incubus almost every night for an entire week.

infrastructure: (noun) The basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.
- The infrastructure on many of the buildings had to be fixed right away.

inveigle: (verb) To lure by flattery or artful talk.
- The young girl had inveigled her way into getting invited to the birthday party. 

kudos: (noun) Honor, glory, acclaim.
- She had received kudos from her teacher for having an extremely well written essay.  

lagniappe: (noun) A small gift given with a purchase to a customer; An extra or unexpected gift or benefit.
- He had received a lagniappe from his boss. 

prolix: (adjective) Extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy.
-  The poet had written a prolix poem on nature.

protege: (noun) A person under the patronage, protection, or care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare.
- Alfred Sisley had been a protege throughout his entire art career. 

prototype: (noun) Model that serves to illustrate.
- The new device served as a prototype. 

sycophant: (noun) A person who seeks favor by flattering people of wealth or influence.
- Since he had been known as a sycophant, the man had very few friends.

tautology: (noun) Needless repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence.
- His speech had been filled with a great amount of tautology. 

truckle: (verb) To submit or yield obsequiously.
- She was dedicated to accomplishing her dreams and refused to truckle to anyone. 

accolade: (noun) Any award, honor, or laudatory notice.
- The girl received accolades from her parents after receiving straight A's on her report card.   

acerbity: (noun) sourness in quality; harsh in temper or expression.
- He had been disliked by his peers due to his acerbity  

attrition: (noun) A reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength; A wearing down or weakening.
- The woman had reached attrition in her joints and had to stop working.

bromide: (noun) A person who is platitudinous and boring; A platitude or trite saying.
- No one wants to talk to her; she's known as a bromide.

chauvinist: (noun) A person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic; A person who believes one gender is superior to the other.
- Based on his views of things, the man had been seen as a chauvinist.   

chronic: (adjective) Constant, habitual, continuing a long time, or happening frequently.
- The man had a chronic disability.

expound: (verb) To explain or interpret in detail; To make a detailed statement.
- The man expounded his ideas to his group of friends.

factionalism: (adjective) The splitting of groups into factions; Conflict between factions.
- Factionalism should be eliminated due to all of the problems it creates.

immaculate: (adjective) Free from errors, pure.
- The boy had produced an immaculate poem. 

imprecation: (noun) A curse. 
- She muttered imprecations as her rival walked by.

ineluctable: (adjective) Incapable of being evaded; inescapable, unpreventable, unstoppable.
- He had an ineluctable destiny.

mercurial: (adjective) Changeable, likely to change.
- A mercurial personality will make you very unpopular. 

palliate: (verb) To lessen or relieve without curing. 
- The patient's symptoms had been palliated.

protocol: (noun) The official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or diplomatic occasions.
- The Protocol had prevented the governor from making any public statements.  

resplendent: (adjective) Shinning brilliantly; gleaming; splendid.
-  She looked resplendent in her senior pictures. 

stigmatize: (verb) To characterize or mark as disgraceful.
-  Stigmatizing someone based on their past is very unfair.

sub rosa: (noun) Confidentially, secretly, privately. 
-  Her plans were sub rosa.

vainglory: (noun) Excessive pride over one's own achievements or abilities.
- The valedictorian's vainglory made the entire class dislike him. 

vestige: (noun) A mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence. 
- Fossils are the last vestiges of dinosaurs.

volition: (noun) The act of making a choice or decision by the will. 
- He acted on volition and made choices based on what he felt was right for him.