2016 Vocabulary #16 – Period 5
1.
lurid [loo r-id]
–adjective
1. gruesome; horrible; revolting: the lurid details of an accident.
2. glaringly vivid or sensational; shocking: the lurid tales of pulp magazines.
3. terrible in intensity, fierce passion, or unrestraint: lurid crimes.
4. lighted or shining with an unnatural, fiery glow; wildly or garishly red: a
lurid sunset.
5. wan, pallid, or ghastly in hue; livid.
Origin: 1650–60; < L
2.
contumely [kon-too-muh-lee,
–noun,
1. insulting display of contempt in words or actions; contemptuous or
humiliating treatment.
2. a humiliating insult.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME
3.
edifice
[ed-uh-fis]
–noun
1. a building, esp. one of large size or imposing appearance.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME
4.
inauspicious
[in-aw-spish-uh s]
–adjective
not auspicious; boding ill; ill-omened; unfavorable.
Origin: 1585–95
5.
magistrate [maj-uh-streyt, -strit]
–noun
1. a civil officer charged with the administration of the law.
2. a minor judicial officer, as a justice of the peace or the judge of a police
court, having jurisdiction to try minor criminal cases and to conduct
preliminary examinations of persons charged with serious crimes.
Origin: 1350–1400; ME
indubitably
6.
in-doo-bi-tuh-buh l, -dyoo-]
adjective
that cannot be doubted; patently evident or certain; unquestionable.
Origin: 1615–25; < Latin
sepulchre
7.
[sep-uh l-ker]
–noun
1. a tomb, grave, or burial place.
Origin: 1150–1200; ME
8.
rotundity
[roh-tuhn-di-tee]
–noun,
1. the condition or quality of roundness or plumpness, as of an object or
person.
2. fullness, as in tone or speech.
3. a full or rounded tone, phrase, or the like: oratorical rotundities.
Origin: 1580–90; < L
augur
[aw-ger]
–verb (used with object)
9.
3. to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate.
4. to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken: Mounting sales
augur a profitable year.
Origin: 1540–50; < L
10. physiognomy [fiz-ee-og-nuh-mee, -on-uh-mee]
–noun,
1. the face or countenance, esp. when considered as an index to the
character: a fierce physiognomy.
2.
3.
Also called anthroposcopy. the art of determining character or
personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, esp. of
the face.
the outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some insight into
its character: the physiognomy of a nation.
Origin: 1350–1400