Word Smart 4Th Edition (Set 2)

Front 1

ADHERENT (ad HEER unt) n

Back 1

follower; supporter; believer

The king’s adherents threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him.

Front 2

ADMONISH (ad MAHN ish) v

Back 2

to scold gently; to warn

The boys’ father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them.

Front 3

ADROIT (uh DROYT) adj

Back 3

skillful; dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease

Julio was an adroit salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale.

Front 4

ADULATION (aj uh LAY shun) n

Back 4

wild or excessive admiration; flattery

The rock star grew to abhor the adulation of his fans.

Front 5

ADULTERATE (uh DUL tuh rayt) v

Back 5

to contaminate; to make impure

We discovered that our orange juice had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been adulterated.

Front 6

ADVERSE (ad VURS) adj

Back 6

unfavorable; antagonistic

We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions: It was snowing and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.

Front 7

AESTHETIC (es THET ik) adj

Back 7

having to do with artistic beauty; artistic

Our art professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.

Front 8

AFFABLE (AF uh bul) adj

Back 8

easy to talk to; friendly

Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone.

Front 9

AFFECTATION (af ek TAY shun) n

Back 9

unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress

Becky’s English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago.

Front 10

AFFINITY (uh FIN uh tee) n

Back 10

sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity

Children have an affinity for trouble; that is, they often find themselves in it.

Front 11

AFFLUENT (AF loo unt) adj

Back 11

rich; prosperous

A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent, too, if it’s full of affluent people.

Front 12

AGENDA (uh JEN duh) n

Back 12

program; the things to be done

What’s on the agenda for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch.

Front 13

AGGREGATE (AG ruh gut) n

Back 13

sum total; a collection of separate things mixed together

Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans.

Front 14

AGNOSTIC (ag NAHS tik) n

Back 14

one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven

An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god. An agnostic, on the other hand, isn’t sure. He doesn’t believe, but he doesn’t not believe, either.

Front 15

AGRARIAN (uh GRAR ee un) adj

Back 15

relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land

Politics in this country often pit the rural, agrarian interests against the urban interests.

Front 16

ALACRITY (uh LAK ri tee) n

Back 16

cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond

David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity.

Front 17

ALLEGE (uh LEJ) v

Back 17

to assert without proof

If I say, “Cedrick alleges that I stole his hat,” I am saying two things:
1. Cedrick says I stole his hat.
2. I say I didn’t do it.

Front 18

ALLEVIATE (uh LEE vee ayt) v

Back 18

to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen

Visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman’s grief over the death of her canary.

Front 19

ALLOCATE (AL uh kayt) v

Back 19

to distribute; to assign; to allot

The long car trip had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan’s fault.

Front 20

ALLOY (AL oy) n

Back 20

a combination of two or more things, usually metals

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. That is, you make brass by combining copper and zinc.

Front 21

ALLUSION (uh LOO zhun) n

Back 21

an indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint

When Ralph said, “I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be,” he was alluding to a famous line in Hamlet. If Ralph had said, “As Hamlet said, ‘To be or not to be, that is the question,’” his statement would have been a direct reference, not an allusion.

Front 22

ALOOF (uh LOOF) adj

Back 22

uninvolved; standing off; keeping one’s distance

Cats are often said to be aloof because they usually mind their own business and don’t crave the affection of people.

Front 23

ALTRUISM (AL troo iz um) n

Back 23

selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others

The private foundation depended on the altruism of the extremely rich old man. When he decided to start spending his money on his new twenty-year-old girlfriend, the foundation went out of business.

Front 24

AMBIENCE (AM bee uns) n

Back 24

atmosphere; mood; feeling

By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful ambience that delighted young children.

Front 25

AMBIGUOUS (am BIG yoo us) adj

Back 25

unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways

We listened to the weather report, but the forecast was ambiguous; we couldn’t tell whether the day was going to be rainy or sunny.