Weekly Words The following are words that are “common” vocabulary used in everyday writing, reading, and speaking. It is important that you internalize words you may not be familiar with in order to build your vocabulary skills. Find interesting ways to use these words so they become part of you. 

Acrimonious Acrimonious Adjective Bitter or sarcastic in temper, manner or tone This book is an acrimonious attack on the present administration. Synonyms: horrible, negative, bad Antonyms: nice, good, positive Derivatives: acrimoniously, acrimoniousness

Acumen Acumen (noun) Keenness of mind or judgment She shows great acumen as a businesswoman. Synonyms: wise, intellectual, sagacious, clever Antonyms: unwise Derivatives: acumenicle acumenically ?????

Affinity Affinity Noun A natural attraction or liking The young couple had a great affinity for each other. Synonyms: affection, fondness, connection Antonyms: dislike, aversion Derivatives: affinities, affinity (adj)

Apathy Apathy (noun) A lack of interest, concern, or desire to act He views his current grades with a great degree of apathy. Synonyms: Antonyms: Derivatives:

Capricious Adjective Tending to change suddenly, unexpectedly, and for no apparent reason, unpredictable ble. Synonyms: moody, unpredictable Antonyms: predictable, emotionless, happy Derivatives: capriciously, capriciousness

Cognizant Adjective Aware After his injury, the man was barely cognizant of his surroundings. Synonyms: mindful, knowledgeable, conscious Antonyms: unaware, confused, dazed, oblivious Derivatives: cognizantly

Adjective Stating opinions or beliefs in a positive and haughty manner. Dogmatic The dogmatic teacher would not let anyone question his statements. Synonyms: arrogant, snobby Antonyms: nice, humble Derivatives: dogmatically, dogmatism, dogmatist

Epiphany (noun) To suddenly understand a concept. After reading the book, he had an epiphany about the events leading to the American Revolution. Synonyms: discovery, uncover, clear Antonyms: confused, blurry, obscure Derivatives: epiphanies

Adjective Useless, hopeless, or ineffective Futile Adjective Useless, hopeless, or ineffective He tried to resist eating the chocolate cake, but it was futile. Synonyms: frivolous, empty, unsuccessful, fruitless, unproductive Antonyms: effective, fruitful, productive, successful Derivatives: futility

Derivative: incessantly-adverb Synonyms Antonyms Unceasing Ceasing Continue discontinue Repeatedly interrupted Incessant Adjective Derivative: incessantly-adverb Continuing or non-stop The incessant ringing of his cell phone kept everyone in the office from being able to concentrate.

Innocuous (Adjective) Harmless; innocent The snake looked scary, but it was really innocuous. “I am so cute and innocent.” Synonyms: kind, safe, painless, inoffensive Antonyms: offensive, harmful, painful, dangerous, scary Derivatives: innocuousness – noun Innocuously - adverb

Deceitful; working in a hidden but harmful manner Insidious Adjective Deceitful; working in a hidden but harmful manner His insidious plan to hide money from his family wasn’t working out so well. Synonyms: misleading, sly, deceptive, sneaky Antonyms: fair, honest, sincere Derivatives: insidiously-adv. Insidiousness-noun

Mitigate verb To make milder or less severe or painful The nurse tried to mitigate the suffering of the injured child. Synonyms – decrease, lessen, relieve Antonyms – worsen, increase, intensify Derivatives : mitigation - noun

Morose Bad tempered, gloomy, sullen The old man was known for being extremely morose. Adjective Synonyms: cranky, grouchy, acrimonious Antonyms: sweet, nice, happy Derivatives: morosely – adverb moroseness - noun

Ostentatious - adjective Done to impress others or to attract attention The large bags that the shoppers were carrying were incredibly ostentatious. Synonyms: boastful, showy, flashy Antonyms: obscure, modest, quiet Derivatives: ostentatiousness – noun ostentatiously - adverb

Plausible adjective Seeming to be true, honest or worth of trust; believable. Her excuse was plausible, but I still had my doubts. Synonyms: credible, valid Antonyms: incredulous, dishonest Derivatives: plausibility – n plausibly -adv

Precocious Adj.: Developed or matured earlier than usual My son’s reading habits are incredibly precocious. Synonyms: mature, advanced, developed Antonyms: undeveloped, immature Derivatives: precociously, precociousness

Quiescent adjective In a state of inactivity or rest. He is in a quiescent frame of mind. Synonyms: asleep, deactivated Antonyms: active, rowdy, awake Derivatives: quiescently, quiescence

Ramification noun The act or process of dividing; an effect or consequence that results from a situation or statement. What are the ramifications of his plan? Synonyms: result, sequel, consequence, effect Antonyms: cause, reason Derivatives: ramifications, ramify

Redundant Adjective Using more words than necessary to express an idea; wordiness; unnecessary; superfluous. In an attempt to meet length requirements, the girl’s paper was very redundant. Synonyms: wordy, overused Antonyms: essential, necessary Derivatives: redundancy, redundantly, redundancies

Refutable The written statement was refutable.. adjective Refutable Able to be proven wrong or false The written statement was refutable.. Synonyms: deny, disapprove, rebut Antonyms: agree, validate, confirm Derivatives: refute, refutability, refutably

Rudimentary Elementary; in the beginning or early stage of Adjective Elementary; in the beginning or early stage of development; incompletely or imperfectly developed. A penguin has rudimentary wings. Synonyms: immature, novice, simple, beginner Antonyms: mature, precocious, developed, prepared Derivatives: rudiment

The man had a very sanguine personality. Sanguine adjective Cheerful and optimistic; having a red color; ruddy The man had a very sanguine personality. Synonyms: enthusiastic, buoyant, lively Antonyms: pessimistic, morose Derivatives: sanguinity, sanguineness, sanguinely

Unscrupulous adjective Showing no regard for what is right The unscrupulous businessman cheated his customers. Synonyms: unprincipled, unethical, dishonest, questionable, conscienceless Antonyms: principled, moral, ethical, honest Derivatives: unscrupulously, unscrupulousness

Ubiquitous adjective being everywhere at once, or seeming to be everywhere at once The famous actress was ubiquitous when she had a new movie coming out. Synonyms: omnipresent, everywhere, universal Antonyms: rare, scarce, occasional Derivatives: ubiquitously, ubiquities

Surreptitious adjective Done by secret or sly means The secret society had a surreptitious meeting. Synonyms: sneaky, hidden, obscure Antonyms: truthful, open, obvious Derivatives: surreptitiously, surreptitiousness

Terse adjective brief and to the point; concise Her terse reply surprised her friends. Synonyms: abrupt, compact, concise, condensed Antonyms: lengthy, wordy, longwinded Derivatives: tersely, terseness

Wanton adjective marked by extreme thoughtlessness or ill will; immoral; not controlled; unruly At first the student was apathetic, but then she began showing wanton misbehavior. Synonyms: cruelty, malicious, unjust, inconsiderate, inhuman Antonyms: careful, considerate, restrained, humane Derivatives: wantonly, wantonness

Zenith noun the highest or greatest point This performance was the zenith of the musician’s career. Synonyms: climax, peak, crest, crown Antonyms: bottom, nadir, base, floor Derivatives: zenithal

Expedite verb to speed up the process or progress of; to do quickly and efficiently The man asked the doctor to expedite the exam because he was in a hurry. Synonyms: hurry, quicken, rush, accelerate Antonyms: slow, decelerate, inefficient Derivatives: expedited, expedites