Vocabulary # 4

Accolade: an award or privilege granted as a special honor or as an acknowledgment of merit

·         An accolade was given to her because of her straight A’s all throughout high school.

Acerbity: sourness or acid of taste, character, or tone

·         Her voice was acerbity when her friend asked to borrow money.

Attrition: a rubbing away or wearing down by friction

·         Rubbing a bar of soap between your hands can cause attrition for the soap.

Bromide: a trite and unoriginal idea or remark, typically intended to soothe

·         I knew that her essay was bromide because it sounds exactly like mine.

Chauvinist: a person displaying aggressive or exaggerated patriotism

·         He was acting like a chauvinist because he flipped over the table during the argument about politics.

Chronic: marked by long duration or frequent recurrence

·         The chronic illness I had, made me makes frequent stops to the hospital.  

Expound: present and explain a theory or idea systematically and in detail

·         The biology teacher had expounded about evolution in class today.

Factionalism: a group of persons forming a cohesive

·         The factionalism was made up of wealthy gentlemen from the country club.

Immaculate: perfectly clean, neat, or tidy

·         To avoid losing paperwork, I immaculately organize my binder.

Imprecation: a spoken curse

·         Gossips can be an imprecation because they often leave you with only consequences.

Ineluctable: unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable

·         I was ineluctable when I saw the old lady fall as she was walking across the street.

Mercurial: changeable, volatile, having the quality of eloquence

·         As soon as I found out about her secrets, my thoughts about her were mercurial.

Palliate: make a disease or a symptoms less severe or unpleasant without removing the cause

·         Chemotherapy is a drug often used to palliate cancer so it reduces the cancer itself.

Protocol: an original draft, minute, or record of a document or transaction

·         The protocol when there’s a fire drill is to quickly and safely get down on the fields.

Resplendent: attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous

·         The flowers in the garden were resplendent because of their beautiful bright colors.

Stigmatize: describe or regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval

·         After the teacher caught her cheating, she was stigmatized for the rest of the semester.

Sub Rosa: happening or done in secret

·         Black markets are usually sub Rosa because of their illegal actions.

Vainglory: inordinate pride in oneself or one’s achievements

·         Her attitude at the awards ceremony was vainglory because she won the athletic award.

Vestige: a trace of something that is disappearing or no longer exists

·         The criminal took the vestige from the scene so that no one would suspect him.

Volition: the faculty or power of using one’s will

·         As her boss yelled at her in volition, she slowly walked back to her desk.