Vocab Unit 6

1. Vocab Unit 6 By: Jenna Caffarello

2. Abject (Adj) – Degraded; base, contemptible, cringing, servile; complete and unrelieved. In history class, we are learning about the abject lives of families during the Great Depression.

3. Agnostic (N) – One who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic (Adj) – Without faith, skeptical When Susan was explaining how the earth was created, her friend did not understand because of her agnostic beliefs.

4. Complicity (N) – Involvement in wrongdoing; the state of being an accomplice When security watched the tape, they noticed a man helping the robber, so they charged him for complicity.

5. Derelict (N) – Someone or something that is abandoned or neglected; (Adj) – Left abandoned; neglectful of duty I felt so bad for the derelict puppy I saw wandering around the streets, so I took him home.

6. Diatribe (N) – A bitter and prolonged verbal attack Just because you don’t like me, does not mean you have to throw diatribes at me every time you see me.

7. Effigy (N) – A crude image of a despised person Tom hated his history teacher, so he drew an effigy of her, but he got caught and was sent to his home office.

8. Equity (N) – The state or quality of being just, fair, or impartial; fair and equal treatment; something that is fair; the money value of a property above and beyond any mortgage or other claim. When teaching little kids, you must remember that equity is important, otherwise, it’ll lead to fighting.

9. Inane (Adj) – Silly, empty of meaning or value While standing out in the rain, the reporter made an inane comment announcing that rain was coming.

10. Indictment (N) – The act of accusing; a formal Accusation During the test, the teacher made an indictmentof Henry; he was cheating off of Sally’s paper.

11. Indubitable (Adj) – Certain, not to be doubted or denied When the tennis team played Hatboro Horsham, it was an indubitable fact that they were going to win.

12. Intermittent (Adj) – Stopping and beginning again, Sporadic I was getting very annoyed when the thunderstorm was making my television have only intermittent reception..

13. Moot (Adj) – Open to discussion and debate, unresolved; (V) – To bring up for discussion; (N) – A hypothetical law case argued by students Your argument was a moot point because there was no way she was changing her mind.

14. Motif (N) – A principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold scene was a motifthat occurred throughout the novel.

15. Neophyte (N) – A new convert, beginner, novice When I first started my job, many people called me a neophyte, because I did not know anything.

16. Perspicacity (N) – Keenness in observing and understanding To accumulate perspicacity, you must pay attention in school, work hard, and ask questions.

17. Plenary (Adj) – Complete in all aspects or essentials; absolute; attended by all qualified members The vice president had plenary power when he took office while the president was in the hospital.

18. Surveillance (N) – A watch kept over a person, careful, close, and disciplined observation If you try stealing at the mall, surveillance will catch you, and you will be in trouble.

19. Sylvan (Adj) – Pertaining to or characteristic of forests, living or located in a forest, wooded, woody Thoreau lived in a sylvan cabin on Walden pond, because he wanted to see what nature could teach him about life.

20. Testy (Adj) – Easily irritated, characterized by impatience and exasperation The teacher was very testy today, because nobody did well on their critical paper.

21. Travesty (N) – A grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a disguise, especially the clothing of the opposite sex (V) – to ridicule by imitating in a broad or burlesque fashion Many movies today are travesties of the original books, because they are inaccurate, badly produced, or do not contain correct information.