Vocabulary Week 1
Cacophony
The cacophony produced by city traffic at midday
was distracting to the students taking their final
exam in the nearby classroom.
Def.- noun -harsh discordance of
sound; dissonance; a discordant
and meaningless mixture of
sounds; example- a cacophony of
hoots, cackles, and wails.
futile
Attempting to force-feed the sick horse was
futile.
Def. - adjective - incapable of producing
any result; ineffective; useless; not
successful
melancholy
Marissa was in a melancholy mood all day
because her pet hamster had died.
The feeling at the funeral home was melancholy.
Def. – noun / adjective - a gloomy state of
mind, esp. when habitual or prolonged;
depression.
arduous
Climbing Mt. Everest was an arduous task for
the inexperienced climbers.
Def. - adjective - requiring great exertion;
laborious; difficult: an arduous undertaking.
requiring or using much energy and vigor;
strenuous: making an arduous effort. hard
to endure; full of hardships; severe: an
arduous winter.
inundated
Craig was inundated with homework after only
three days of school.
The theater was inundated with requests for
tickets.
Def.- verb - to flood; cover or overspread with
water; deluge. to overwhelm: To overwhelm
as if with a flood; swamp:
scrutinize
The detectives scrutinized the crime scene
before questioning the witnesses.
The coach has come under the scrutiny of the
press after the team’s third loss in row.
Def. - verb- to examine in detail with careful
or critical attention. To examine or observe
with great care; inspect critically. to look at
critically or searchingly, or in minute detail;
ambivalent
I am always ambivalent about going to Washington
D.C.; I love the trip, but I will miss my family.
Def.- noun - uncertainty or fluctuation,
esp. when caused by inability to make a
choice or by a simultaneous desire to say
or do two opposite or conflicting things.
ostracize
His friends ostracized him after his father's
arrest.
Def- verb - to exclude, by
general consent, from
society, friendship,
conversation, privileges,
etc.: to banish.
ruminate
He was found in the park, ruminating over the
difficult choice he had to make.
Def. - verb - to chew the cud, as a
ruminant. to meditate or muse;
ponder, think;
To turn a matter over and over in the
mind.
incredulous
Being a level-headed young man, Eric was
incredulous of stories about flying saucers.
Def. - adjective - not credulous; disinclined
or indisposed to believe; skeptical.
indicating or showing unbelief: an
incredulous smile. Skeptical; disbelieving
succumb
Because I am on a diet, I refused to succumb to
eating the cookies.
Try not to succumb to peer pressure.
Def - verb - to give way to superior
force; yield: give up or give in.
juxtaposition
The twins were sleeping juxtaposition in the
crib.
Def. - noun - an act or instance of placing close
together or side by side, esp. for comparison or
contrast. the state of being close together or side
by side.
facade
Somehow they managed to maintain a facade
of wealth even though they had lost their
life’s savings in the stock market.
Def. - noun – 1. the front of a building,
esp. an imposing or decorative one. 2.
a superficial appearance or illusion of
something