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 |