Vocabulary List #12: 11/24/97
adulterate | to corrupt or make impure by the addition of a foreign substance |
alacrity | promptness in response; cheerful readiness |
aridity | excessive dryness; lacking interest in life |
bourgeois | a middle-class person between workers and elite; commonplace; smug |
commiseration | the act of expressing sorrow or compassion |
deciduous | falling off or shedding seasonally or at a certain stage of development |
diabolical | characteristic of the devil; fiendish |
enfranchise | to set free (as from slavery); admit privileges of citizenship |
excruciating | very intense; extreme; agonizing |
germane | relevant or appropriate |
indigenous | living naturally in a particular region or environment; innate |
inimical | reflecting or indicating hostility; unfriendly; hostile |
itinerant | traveling from place to place |
jetsam | cargo that is cast overboard to lighten the load of a ship in distress |
legible | capable of being read or deciphered |
molest | to annoy; disturb or persecute |
munificent | characterized by great liberality or generosity; lavish; generous |
odious | exciting or deserving hatred or repugnance |
penitent | expressing humble or regretful pain or sorrow for sins |
picayune | of little value; petty |
precarious | dependent on uncertain circumstances; uncertain |
privy | admitted as one sharing a secret |
proletariat | the lowest social or economical class of a community; working class |
pungent | having a stiff or sharp point; causing a sharp, irritating sensation |
repugnant | incompatible; inconsistent; hostile; exciting distaste |
resplendent | shining brilliantly; characterized by a glowing splendor |
rudiment | a basic principle or fundamental skill |
spontaneity | involuntary or undetermined action or movement |
succinct | marked by compact, precise expression without wasted words |
undulating | forming or moving in waves; fluctuating |