Vocab Terms

Front 1

scavenge

list 1

Back 1

to clean refuse (waste) from; to remove unwanted subtances

Hint 1

people sell junk scavenged from the garbage

Front 2

immure

list 1

Back 2

enclose or confine (someone) against their will

Hint 2

her brother was immured in a lunatic asylum

Front 3

gesticulate

list 1

Back 3

use gestures, especially dramatic ones, instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words

Hint 3

they were shouting and gesticulating frantically at drivers who did not slow down

Front 4

efflorescence

list 1

Back 4

the time and process of building and the unfolding of blossums

Hint 4

the

Front 5

uncommunicative

list 1

Back 5

unwilling to talk or impart information

Hint 5

tyler was very uncommunicative

Front 6

crumple

list 1

Back 6

crush (something, typically paper or cloth) so that it becomes creased and wrinkled

Hint 6

he crumpled up the paper bag

Front 7

swathe

list 1

Back 7

to wrap in swaddling clothes

Hint 7

his hands were swathed in bandages

Front 8

irrelevance

list 1

Back 8

not connected with or relevant to something

Hint 8

the topic in biology was irrelevant to science

Front 9

immerse

list 1

Back 9

dip or submerge in a liquid

Hint 9

immerse the paper in water for twenty minutes

Front 10

submerge

list 1

Back 10

cause to be under water

Hint 10

houses had been flooded and cars submerged

Front 11

whittle

list 2

Back 11

carve (wood) into an object by repeatedly cutting small slices from it.

Hint 11

he sat whittling a piece of wood

Front 12

underlay

list2

Back 12

place something under (something else), especially to support or raise it

Hint 12

the green fields are underlaid with limestone

Front 13

discursive

list 2

Back 13

tending a wide range of subjects

Hint 13

students often write dull, secondhand, discursive prose

Front 14

hiatus

list 2

Back 14

a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process

Hint 14

there was a hiatus in the song

Front 15

tensely

list 2

Back 15

in a state of mental or nervous strain

Front 16

snivel

list 2

Back 16

cry and sniffle

Hint 16

Kate started to snivel, looking sad and stunned

Front 17

crass

list 2

Back 17

lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence

Hint 17

the crass assumptions that men make about women

Front 18

emboss

list 2

Back 18

carve, mold, or stamp a design on (a surface) so that it stands out in relief

Hint 18

an embossed brass dish

Front 19

dangle

list 2

Back 19

hang or swing loosely

Hint 19

saucepans dangled from a rail

Front 20

impalpable

list 2

Back 20

unable to be felt by touch

Hint 20

an impalpable ghost

Front 21

Ludicrous

list 3

Back 21

Laughably and obviously absurd; foolish

Hint 21

But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains.

Front 22

Ineffectual

list 3

Back 22

Insufficient to produce a result; useless

Hint 22

Piggy tiptoed to the triangle, his ineffectual protest made, and joined the others.

Front 23

jeer

list 3

Back 23

To abuse vocally; To taunt or mock

Hint 23

A sound, half-laugh, half-jeer, rose among the seated boys.

Front 24

Inarticulate

list 3

Back 24

Incomprehensible; unable to speak with clarity

Hint 24

Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness.

Front 25

Leviathan

list 3

Back 25

Something very large; giant sea creature in the Bible

Hint 25

Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and thewater boiled over the table rock with a roar.

Front 26

Clamor

list 3

Back 26

A loud outcry; great expression of discontent

Hint 26

Between the flashes of lightning the air was dark and terrible; and the boys followed him,clamorously.

Front 27

Mutinously

list 3

Back 27

Unruly; insubordinate or constituting a mutiny

Hint 27

Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering.

Front 28

Crestfallen

list 3

Back 28

Dispirited and depressed; dejected

Hint 28

"I don't remember this cliff," said Jack, crestfallen

Front 29

Impervious

list 3

Back 29

Incapable of being penetrated or affected.

Hint 29

So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph, fuming

Front 30

Enterprise

list 3

Back 30

An undertaking or business organization; industrious

Hint 30

the darkness and desperate enterprise gave the night a kind of dentist's chair unreality.

Front 31

Egregious

list 4

Back 31

Extremely bad

Hint 31

The student who threw sloppy joes across the cafeteria was punished for his ____ behavior.

Front 32

Odious

list 4

Back 32

Instilling hatred or intense displeasure

Hint 32

Mark was assigned the _____ task of cleaning the cat’s litter box.

Front 33

Prosaic

list 4

Back 33

Plain, lacking liveliness

Hint 33

Heather’s _____ recital of the poem bored the audience.

Front 34

Vex

list 4

Back 34

To confuse or annoy

Hint 34

My little brother _____ me by poking me in the ribs for hours on end.

Front 35

Capricious

list 4

Back 35

Subject to whim, fickle

Hint 35

The young girl’s _____ tendencies made it difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.

Front 36

Assiduous

list 4

Back 36

Hard-working, diligent

Hint 36

The construction workers erected the skyscraper during two years of _____ labor.

Front 37

Feral

list 4

Back 37

Wild, savage

Hint 37

That beast looks so _____ that I would fear being alone with it.

Front 38

Decry

list 4

Back 38

To criticize openly

Hint 38

The kind video rental clerk _____ the policy of charging customers late fees.

Front 39

Burnish

list 4

Back 39

To polish, shine

Hint 39

His mother asked him to _____ the silverware before setting the table.

Front 40

Zephyr

list 4

Back 40

A gentle breeze

Hint 40

If not for the _____ that were blowing and cooling us, our room would’ve been unbearably hot.

Front 41

Cerebral

list 5

Back 41

Of or relating to the brain

Hint 41

I was actually born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside my skull.

Front 42

Susceptible

list 5

Back 42

Yielding readily to or capable of

Hint 42

I haven’t had a seizure in seven years, but the doctors tell me that I am “ susceptible to seizure activity.”

Front 43

Impediment

list 5

Back 43

Something immaterial that interferes with action or progress

Hint 43

You wouldn’t think there is anything life threatening about speech impediments, but let me tell you,there is nothing more dangerous than being a lad with a stutter and a lisp.

Front 44

Woe

list 5

Back 44

Misery resulting from affliction

Hint 44

And now I’m sure you’re asking, “Okay, okay, Mr. Hunger Artist, Mr. Mouth-Full-of-Words, Mr. Woe-Is-Me,Mr. Secret Recipe, what is the worst thing about being poor?”

Front 45

Whimper

list 5

Back 45

Cry weakly or softly

Hint 45

He whimpered in pain.

Front 46

Perseverance

list 5

Back 46

Persistent determination

Hint 46

Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance.

Front 47

Persistent

list 5

Back 47

Never-ceasing

Hint 47

Rowdy isn’t a fast reader, but he’s persistent.

Front 48

Ambidextrous

list 5

Back 48

Equally skillful with each hand

Hint 48

I’m ambidextrous.

Front 49

Minion

list 5

Back 49

Servile or fawning dependant

Hint 49

Some of our teachers make us eat birdseed so we’ll feel closer to the earth, and other teachers hatebirds because they are supposedly minions of the Devil.

Front 50

Decrepit

list 5

Back 50

Worn and broken down by hard use

Hint 50

And let me tell you, that old, old, old, decrepit geometry book hit my heart with the force of a nuclearbomb.

Front 51

vow

list 6

Back 51

Promise

Hint 51

We all got really mad and vowed to kick their asses the next game.

Front 52

Pummel

list 6

Back 52

Strike, usually with the fist

Hint 52

I would have been pummeled.

Front 53

Stroll

list 6

Back 53

Walk leisurely and with no apparent aim

Hint 53

And pretty soon, a janitor opened the front door and all of the other kids strolled inside.

Front 54

Bureau

list 6

Back 54

An administrative unit of government

Hint 54

YOU MUST ALWAYS PICK FIGHTS WITH THE SONS AND/OR DAUGHTERS OF ANY INDIANS WHO WORKFOR THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

Front 55

Impending

list 6

Back 55

To lose in time; about to occur

Hint 55

I couldn’t sleep that night because I kept thinking about my impending doom.

Front 56

Rummage

list 6

Back 56

Search haphazardly

Hint 56

I got out of bed at dark-thirty, and rummaged around the kitchen for anything to eat.

Front 57

Petrify

list 6

Back 57

To change into stone

Hint 57

In geology class, the teacher, Mr. Dodge, was talking about the petrified wood forests nearGeorge, Washington, on the Columbia River, and how it was pretty amazing that wood couldturn into rock.

Front 58

Articulate

list 6

Back 58

Characterized by clear expressive language

Hint 58

Yeah, I was so articulate.

Front 59

Tautology

list 6

Back 59

A statement that is necessarily true

Hint 59

“Are you going to bore me with your tautologies all day or are you going to actually saysomething?”

Front 60

Illiterate

list 7

Back 60

Not able to read or write

Hint 60

I couldn’t ask Gordy because then he’d know I was an illiterate Indian idiot.

Front 61

Dilate

list 7

Back 61

To make or become wider

Hint 61

“Because your eyes dilated, your breathing rate increased a little bit, and you started to sweat.”

Front 62

Redundancy

list 7

Back 62

Repetition of an act needlessly

Hint 62

“It’s a redundancy.”

Front 63

Secede

list 7

Back 63

Withdraw from an organization or polity

Hint 63

one of those towns, called Poison, tried to secede (that means quit, I looked it up) from the rez.

Front 64

Monotonous list 7

Back 64

Sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch

Hint 64

But he was so boring and monotonous that he was only teaching us how to sleep with our eyesopen.

Front 65

Mode

list 7

Back 65

A particular functioning condition or arrangement

Hint 65

I’m in my Zen mode, trying to make this whole thing a spiritual experience.

Front 66

Subtle

list 7

Back 66

Difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze

Hint 66

I can pick up on subtle clues.

Front 67

Earnest

list 7

Back 67

Showing sincere and intense conviction.

Hint 67

I wanted to make fun of her, but she was so earnest.

Front 68

Taut

list 7

Back 68

Pulled or drawn tight

Hint 68

Her leg muscles were stretched and taut.

Front 69

Retroactive

list 7

Back 69

Affecting things past

Hint 69

It’s so retroactive that it’s radioactive!”