1. Vocabulary Unit #9

2. abate v.—to make less in amount, degree; to deduct Synonym: decrease; subside We stood on the dock on that moonless night, waiting for the storm to abate.

3. adulation n.—praise or flattery that is excessive Synonym: idolization; hero-worship Athletes have little choice but to enjoy the sometimes puzzling adulation of their fans.

4. anathema n.—an object of intense dislike Synonym: abomination The author’s views on bringing up children are anathema to my dad but a delight to my mom.

5. astute Adj.—shrewd, crafty, showing practical wisdom Synonym: sagacious, wily The astute management of money is a valuable skill but may not by itself make a good executive.

6. avarice n.—a greedy desire, particularly for wealth Synonym: greedy Her avarice for acquiring property and wealth caused her to be dishonest and deceitful, even to those she loved.

7. culpable Adj.—deserving blame, worthy of condemnation Synonym: guilty; blameworthy It was the inspectors’ culpable neglect of duty that left such old buses in service.

8. dilatory Adj.—tending to delay or procrastinate; not prompt; intended to delay or postpone Synonym: stalling; tardy She hired an assistant because, on her own, she was always dilatory in paying her bills.

9. egregious Adj.—conspicuous, standing out from the mass (usually used in an unfavorable sense) Synonym: glaring; blatant Whoever allowed that obnoxious man on a stage is guilty of an egregious blunder.

10. equivocate v.—to speak or act in a way that allows for more than one interpretation; to be deliberately vague or ambiguous Synonym: hedge; to talk out of both sides of one’s mouth I won’t give my vote to a candidate who shows such a marked tendency to equivocate.

11. evanescent Adj.—vanishing, soon passing away; light and airy Synonym: transient Looking back, I see that the magic of that summer was evanescent.

12. irresolute Adj.—unable to make up one’s mind; hesitating Synonym: indecisive, vacillating In the play Hamlet, the prince is irresolute about whether to obey his father’s ghost or to go on as if nothing has happened.

13. nebulous Adj.—cloudlike, resembling a cloud; confused; vague Synonym: hazy; cloudy; fuzzy By the time everyone had expressed an opinion, the original idea had become somewhat nebulous.

14. novice n.—one who is just a beginner at some activity requiring skill and experience Synonym: apprentice; trainee You must be patient and realize that all his mistakes are typical of a novice in this line of work.

15. penury n.—extreme poverty Synonym: destitution; indigence We never seem to tire of stories of people who go from penury to sudden wealth.

16. pretentious Adj.—done for show, striving to make a big impression; ambitious Synonym: inflated Talking about one’s wealth is thought to be pretentious and in poor taste.

17. recapitulate v.—to review a series of facts; to sum up Synonym: review; summarize Don’t bother to recapitulate the plot of the book; instead, tell me if you liked it.

18. resuscitate v.—to revive, bring back to consciousness or existence Synonym: revitalize, reanimate We need someone who can resuscitate our neighborhood’s community spirit.

19. slovenly Adj.—untidy, dirty, careless Synonym: unkempt Her room was in a slovenly state, and it took her an entire Saturday to clean it.

20. supposition n.—something that is assumed or taken for granted without conclusive evidence Synonym: assumption; hypothesis Guided by a supposition that turned out to be false, they made some disastrous decisions.

21. torpid Adj.—inactive, sluggish, dull Synonym: lethargic, languid We all felt torpid after that long, dull lecture.