1. alcove The gold was hidden in the alcove, a cave within the rocks. Alfred’s kitchen had an alcove, where his table sat surrounded in windows. Alice described the alcove in her bedroom as a personal cave.  alcove (n) small, hollow space in a wall

2. brindled The pit bull’s brindled fur had a random, colorful pattern. Bill’s patchy, brindled cow stood out amongst his black-and-white dairy cows. The brindled right ear and brindled circle around the left eye gave character to the otherwise solid-white cat.  Brindled, like Dirk (adj) light brownish yellow/gray with darker streaks or spots

3. cohort The scientist shared his findings with his cohort, so they could take notes together. Charlie and his cohort often shared lunch together. Cameron and his cohorts resented the dress code, and felt like they all looked like clones. (n) companion; associate; partner 

4. conventional One of the most conventional school lunches includes a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Conventional classrooms include desks in rows, sometimes attached to the floor. When conventional knowledge doesn’t work, some people turn to magic. Conventional, “regular” oven (adj) usual; traditional

5. decoy Hunters use decoys to distract their prey. Magicians’ hands can be a decoy to the audience, leading their eyes away from the trick. While in the paint-gun war, Devon released a flare as a decoy so he could run from his opponents. (n) person or thing used to distract or lead others in a different direction

6. forerunner  forerunner! (n) person or thing that came before Atari was the forerunner of modern video games with the development of “Pong.” The three-wheeler was the forerunner of the modern quads. Rotary telephones are the forerunner of the now-almost-outdated touch-tone phones.

7. hustle Harry was able to hustle a Kobe Bryant rookie card by trading his only Kevin Durant. The crook hustled the cashier by confusing her while she was making change. His uncle shared stories of his friends making money by hustling at the pool hall. Hustling and trading (v) to gain by non- conventional effort

8. impasse The scientist was at an impasse, unable to make a hypothesis from the data. The traffic was gridlocked, and at an impasse. The couple could not agree, and remained at an impasse. Impossible impasse (n) situation in which no progress can be made; deadlock; stalemate

9. predatory Hawks are predatory and pose a threat to backyard pets. Bullies are predatory and usually don’t think about the well-being of others. Being stalked by a predatory and selfish being can be irritating. predatory (adj) describing one who steals or hurts others for their own gain

10. puny In December, the tree only produced puny, wrinkled apples. Being in a cast made his ankle puny and weak. Puny people sometimes keep strong friends around as bodyguards. (adj) weak and small 