Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Vocabulary #5

shenanigans - secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering.
Ex: Students engage in youthful shenanigans during the last day of school.
ricochet - noun a glancing rebound; verb spring back; spring away from an impact
Ex: The jack-in-the-box ricocheted back when the handle was done turning
schism - noun division of a group into opposing factions; the formal separation of a church into two churches or the gwithdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences
Ex: A schism occurred during the French Revolution
eschew - verb avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of
Ex: Eschew the dogs children!
plethora - noun extreme excess
Ex: The cake decorator went to the plethora when making my wedding cake.
ebullient - adj. cheerful and full of energy 
Ex: She was ebullient and happy
garrulous - adj. excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.
Ex: The man is portrayed as a foolish and garrulous old man.
harangue - noun a lengthy aggressive speech 
Ex: The man was the type of guy who shouted harangues at people walking the streets about global warming.
interdependence - noun a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities (objects or individuals or groups)
Ex: The US citizens had relieved interdependence.
capricious - adj. determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; changeable
Ex: The brave man took on this dangerous journey with a capricious mind set.
loquacious - adj. tending to talk a great deal; talkative.
Ex: The toddler at church was extremely loquacious.
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; nounanything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form 
Ex: The butterfly is only a caterpillar for an ephemeral time.
inchoate - adj. just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary.
Ex: A still inchoate democracy
juxtapose - verb place side by side
Ex: Black and white pictures were juxtaposed next to bright colorful images at the art show.
perspicacious - adj. acutely insightful and wise;mentally acute or penetratingly discerning
Ex: Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas is a very perspicacious tree to Pocahontas.
codswallop - noun nonsensical talk or writing
 Ex: The whole protest was codswallop.
sesquipedalian - adj. characterized by long words; long-winded.
Ex: The essay contained sesquipedalian words that no one could pronounce.  
wonky - adj. inclined to shake as from weakness or defect; turned or twisted toward one side. 
Ex: The man had a wonky arm that he felt very uncomfortable with. 
diphthong. - also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable.
Ex: The word toy is a diphthong. 

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