Welcome to Decent Exposure High School Volume III:
indignant (Slide 2)
usurp (Slide 3)
tremulous (Slide 4)
deride (Slide 5)
insolent (Slide 6)
revere (Slide 7)
petulant (Slide 8)
complacent (Slide 9)
amiable (Slide 10)
buttress (Slide 11)
knell (Slide 12)
covet (Slide 13)
entreat (Slide 14)
chastise (Slide 15)
discreet (Slide 16)
lucid (Slide 17)
obstinate (Slide 18)
vacuous (Slide 19)
enigma (Slide 20)
aversion (Slide 21)
avert (Slide 22)
nonchalant (Slide 23)
frugal (Slide 24)
zeal (Slide 25)
pious (Slide 26)
astute (Slide 27)
opulent (Slide 28)
indignant: defensively angry because of
an insult
Forms:
Syn: insulted, defensive
N: indignation
Ant: flattered
V: 00
Related: dignity, indignity
Adj: indignant
, and a storm of
Adv: indignantly
“We weren’t trying to hear him! said Ron indignantly.
Rage, astonishment, indignation , and a storm of
She only felt a furious surge of indignation
passions, rushed through the listener’s heart, as indignantly.
Harry Potter and the
that
hebare.
should think her such
a fool.
the plot was
laid
Goblet of Fire
--J.K. Rowling
Gone with the Wind
--Margaret Mitchell
Nicholas Nickleby
--Charles Dickens
Any form of this word will appear once in every 299 pages of text.
usurp: seize political power undeservedly
Syn: commandeer,
appropriate
Ant: yield,
surrender
Forms:
N: usurper, usurpation
V: usurp, usurps
usurped, usurping
William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by
Adj: 00 Adv: 00
The
history
of
the
present
King
of
Great
Britain
is
the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who
The
a history
ghosts
of
were
repeated
returning;
injuries
theyof
and
filled
usurpations.
Italy,
they
wanted
leaders,
and
had
been
late
much
This was a shocking thing; that the slime ofaccustomed
the pit
were
even usurping
the places she had known
usurpation
toseemed
and
conquest
to utter cries andThe
voices;
thatofthe
amorphous
Declaration
Independence
A Room
with a
View
--Thomas
Jefferson,
et. al.
as a child.
--E.M.
Forster
dust gesticulated and sinned;
that
what
was dead,
Alice’s
Adventures
in Wonderland
and had no shape, should
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 658 pages of text.
--Lewis Carroll
usurp
the offices of life.
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde
--Robert Louis Stevenson
tremulous: shaky, usually because of fear
Forms:
Syn: undulating
N: tremor
Ant: rigid
V: tremble, trembles,
Related: tremor
trembled, trembling
In theDumbledore’s
grass, the daisies
smilewere
was tremulous.Adj: tremulous
Adv: tremulously
…with
every
successive Sabbath,
his cheek
wasto test,
Now,
tremulously,
experimentally,
daring
H.P.
The Picture
and theof
Deathly
DorianHollows
Gray
--J.
--Oscar
K. Rowling
Wilde
theand
Witch
inhaled.
paler
thinner,
and his voice more
tremulous.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
--Ray Bradbury
Any form of this word will appear once in every 873 pages of text.
deride: to express scorn with cruel laughter
Forms:
Syn: mock; jeer
N: derision
Ant: compliment, support V: deride, derides,
Related: ridiculous
derided, deriding
Adj: derisive
Adv:
derisively
Putting
He
gave
all
a
the
short,
derision
derisive
he
could
laugh.
in
his
voice,
jeered,
There was a stirring in the crowd, a few hoots of hederision,
“How
did yousmiled.
like getting
shot?”
H.P. and the Chamber of Secrets
but
Kennedy
--J. K. Rowling
Eragon
Usually, she could will herself
to absorb
Mariam’s
October
Sky
--Christopher Paolini
--Homer
Hickam
and finger-pointing
derision.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
--Khaled Hosseini
Any form of this word will appear once in every 650 pages of text.
insolent: disrespectful; fresh; bratty
Forms:
Syn: impudent; disrespectful;
N: insolence
audacious; brazen; impertinent
V: 00
Ant: deferential; respectful;
Adj: insolent
humble; obedient; docile
Adv: insolently
“I will not suffer,” said the Baron, “such meanness on your
Remember
You’re
He
part,
stared
or such
insolent,
that
back
I am
insolence
not
,insolent,
woman.
Dumbledore,
on yours.”
his eyes
whoseemingly
forgave your
huge
Angela’s
Candide Ashes
insolence
and insubordination.
behind his glasses.
--Frank
--Voltaire
McCourt
and KeyHollows
H.P. and Lock
the Deathly
--Sarah Dessen
--J.K. Rowling
Any form of this word will appear once in every 419 pages of text.
revere: respect deeply, almost to the point of worship
Forms:
Syn: pay homage to
N: reverence
Ant: desecrate; insult
V: revere, reveres, revered,
Related: Reverend
My hands naturally came together in
revering
Adj: reverent,
irreverent
reverent
worship.
Adv:
irreverently
The Life
of reverently,
Pi
--Yan Martel
The woman eyed her with a
reverent
,almost awestruck,
A Thousand Splendid Suns
They revere those old soldiers.
expression.
--Khaled Hosseini
The noble soul has
The Bourne Identify
--Robert Ludlum
reverence for itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in The Fountainhead
--Ayn Rand
Any form of this word will appear once in every 167 pages of text.
petulant: cranky, grouchy
Forms:
Syn: irritable, peevish,
cantankerous, fractious,
testy, pouty,
N: petulance
V: 00
Adj: petulant
Ant: agreeable, docile,
benign, easygoing
Adv: petulantly
His manner varies from genial bullying when he is in a good
Youhumor
can be
toas
stormy
petulant
petulance
as you want,
when tomorrow.
anything goes wrong.
Ender’s
Pygmalion
Game
“I’m
“But
angry
we’rewith
justyou,
sitting
Emil,”
here,”
she
he
broke
said,
out
sounding
with petulance.
petulant
--Orson
--George
ScottBernard
Card Shaw
and tired and cross.
O Pioneers!
--Willa Cather
Cujo
--Stephen King
Any form of this word will appear once in every 1,613 pages of text.
complacent: blissfully unaware; undeservedly
confident
Forms:
Syn: smug
N: complacency
Ant: cautious, wary
V: 00
Related: placid
Adj: complacent
he’d let
himselfwith
become
too complacent
Adv: complacently
MiloBut
nodded
serenely
complacent
gratification.
with what he’d been doing.
Summer Pleasures
Catch-22
--Nora
Roberts
--Joseph
Heller
That would have wiped that complacent smile off his face.
“Don’t let that make you complacent though,” he warned me.
Naked in Death
Twilight
--J.D. Robb
--Stephanie
Meyer
Any form of this word will appear once in every 656 pages of text.
amiable: friendly; sociably pleasant
Syn: gregarious, affable
Forms:
Ant: hostile, aloof
N: amiability
V: 00
Related: amor
Adj: amiable
Adv: amiably
I am playful; playfulness is part of my amiable
character.
Varia The
did not
spytry
chatted
to look amiably.
amiable and kept her gloomy
expression.
Little Dorrit
The
Idiot
The Killer Angels
--Charles Dickens
--Fyodor
Dostoevsky
--Michael Shaara
I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s.
The Book Thief
--Markus Zusak
Any form of this word will appear once in every 920 pages of text.
buttress: (n. or v.) support, as in an architectural
structure that supports a building
Forms:
Syn: reinforce, fortify
N: buttress, buttresses
V: buttress, buttresses
Ant: undermine
buttressed, buttressing
There was a soldier standing with his girl in the shadow
Adj: 00 Adv: 00
of one
He
could
of the
seestone
the arched
buttresses
buttresses
aheadofofthe
us.cathedral dome.
It’sThey
got all
these turrets
and flying
buttresses
stuff.
behaved
like people
who do
not
want
toand
beHorses
seen;
A Farewell
All
the
Pretty
to
Arms
--Ernest Hemingway
--Cormac
McCarthy
lurking in shadow behind
buttresses
The Princess
or in Diaries
doorways.
--Meg Cabot
The Silver Chair
--C.S. Lewis
Any form of this word will appear once in every 1,929 pages of text.
knell: the sound of a bell, esp. a bell that informs
of a death
Any form of this word will appear once in every 4,220 pages of text.
There
It
could
His manner
seemed
just as was
well
to beso
have
ancasual
ominous
beenwhen
himself
he
knell
for
waswhom
ofsounding
some
theevil
death
theto come.
knell
death was
knelltolling.
Tara.
Theofbell
clanged
Theand
Idiot knelled.
Love
in theDostoevsky
Time of Cholera
--Fyodor
Gone
Sea
Wolf
with the
WindMarquez
--Gabriel
Garcia
--Margaret
--Jack
London
Mitchell
Forms:
Syn: toll, peal
N: knell, knells
Expression: death knell
V: knell, knells, knelled,
knelling
Adj: 00
Adv: 00
covet: to want something that you have no right to want
Syn: begrudge, envy
Forms:
Ant: bestow, bequeath
N: 00
V: covet, covets, coveted
“Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor’s wife.”
coveting
Adj: covetous
When someone covets
Adv: covetously
He He’s
decided
coveted
to end the
that
lifefor
of aanother
long
time,
manand
whonow
stood
he has it.
something,
they
desire
and
lust
after
it.
He put on his hat and the dark cordovan gloves I coveted.
coveted.
between him and the land he
The Alchemist
The Lovely Bones
--Michael
Scott
Snow Falling
Cedars
--AliceonSebold
--David
Guterson
Sara Shepherd, Pretty
Little
Liars
Any form of this word will appear once in every 816 pages of text.
entreat: plead with
Syn: beseech
Ant: reject
Any form of this word will appear once in every 1,094 pages of text.
IYou—poor
entreat you
to suppose
that Iand
moved
andnot
obscure,
and small
plainthis
as way
you are-in
Let
me
toentreat
beg foryou
ayou,
partner.
for yourme
own
sake
and for hers,
I order
entreat
to
accept
as
a
husband.
Say no more against it, I entreat
you.
to be more quiet.
Pride and Prejudice
Hard
Mansfield
Jane
Times
EyrePark
--Jane
Austen
Forms:
--Charles
--Jane
--Charlotte
Austen
Dickens
Bronte
N: entreaty, entreaties
V: entreat, entreats,
entreated, entreating
Adj: 00
Adv: 00
chastise: punish Syn: castigate; reproach; reprove; rebuke;
censure; reprimand; penalize
Ant: reward; laud; praise; extol; fawn over
Forms:
N: chastisement
V: chastise, chastises,
chastised, chastising
Adj: 00
Adv: 00
How
Now
I didn’t
I,bring
ofrule,
allHe
you
people,
would
in here
chastise
just
to someone
chastise
them
both,
for
you.
harshly.
their
past?
It wascould
a minor
rather
like
rudeness,
punishable
by gentle
chastisement.
The
Eldest
The Kite
Shining
Runner
The
Giver
--Christopher
--Khaled
--Stephen
Hosseini
King
Paolini
--Lois
Lowry
Any form of this word will appear once in every 1,031 pages of text.
Syn: subtle, covert, modest
Ant: overt, immodest, obvious, indiscreet
discreet: kept secret or private
Forms:
N: discretion, indiscretion
V: 00
Adj: discreet, indiscreet
Adv: discreetly, indiscretely
IOld
He
daresay
discovered
folks, you know,
Isabelle
like
have
to
everybody
be
discretion
discreetly
else, that
and
and
once,
know
aggravatingly
the
many
world.
I think I impressed upon him how important it is to handle
years ago, I was
unsentimental
in guilty
letters.of an indiscretion.
this thing discreetly.
This Side
The Merry
Doll’s
of Paradise
House
Wives of Windsor
A
Streetcar
Named Desire
--F. Scott
--Henrik
--William
Fitzgerald
Ibsen
Shakespeare
--Tennessee Williams
Any form of this word will appear once in every 530 pages of text.
lucid: clear
Syn: comprehensible, coherent, limpid
Ant: incomprehensible, incoherent, muddy
Forms:
N: lucidity
V: 00
Adj: lucid
Adv: 00
IMy
was
lucid-were
clear–
buteven
my tongue
wouldn’t
Though
She
was
mind
drunk,
perfectly
made
Alessandro
athings
final
lucid
attempt
was
,you
at
lucid.
could
being
say
lucid.
controlled,
despite
fit
around
herthe
anxiety.
words.
A
The
Soldier
Bourne
Things
They
the
Identity
Great
Carried
War
The
Life ofofPi
--Robert
--Tim
--Mark
Helprin
Ludlum
--Yan O’Brien
Martel
Any form of this word will appear once in every 867 pages of text.
Syn: mulish, cantankerous
obstinate: stubborn
Ant: agreeable, negotiable, flexible, conciliatory
ob: against or reverse:
obstruct, obnoxious,
object
And
“I’ll do
I’ve
as
had
I choose
enough
ofobvious,
Iyou
goobstinately.
as
too—you
I please,”
beastly,
want
the
gum!”
Violetand
said
“I
said Bilbo
stuck-up
You
know how
Forms:
N: obstinacy
backs up.
obstinately.
obstinate
Charlie
pig. and the Chocolate Factory
--Rahl Dahl
obstinate men get when they get their
The Magician’s
Hobbit
Nephew
--J.R.R.
--C.S.
Lewis
Tolkien
V: 00
Adj: obstinate
Adv: obstinately
Gone With the Wind
--Margaret Mitchell
Any form of this word will appear once in every 338 pages of text.
vacuous: empty-headed, lacking substance
Ant: profound, intellectual, erudite, sophisticated
Syn: shallow, inane, superficial
Relatives: vacuum; evacuate, vaccinate
Any form of this word will appear once in every 5,791 pages of text.
The
veiled, the
vacuous
look
passedHe
and
Bourne
reached
for
He opened
medicine
cabinet.
stared
rather
vacuously
His eyes seemed wandering, vacuous again.
the itphone.
into
for a few seconds, as though he had forgotten why he
opened
it. noticed the vacuous of my face and the
People
The Bourne Identity
--Robert Ludlum
aimlessness of my conversation.
Cujo
--Stephen
Forms:
Franny
and King
Zooey
N: vacuous, vacuity
V: 00
Adj: vacuous
Adv: vacuously
--J.D.
Salinger
The
Waves
--Virginia Woolf
Forms:
enigma: puzzle, mystery Syn: conundrum
N: enigma
V: 00
Adj: enigmatic
Adv: 00
It was
He
She
found
got
just
uphimself
another
very early,
fascinated
of the
intrigued
enigmas
by the
by theenigma
heenigma
never solved.
of the dream.
girl’s disappearanceLove in the
Childhood’s
End
Time of Cholera
Clarke
--Gabriel--Arthur
Garcia C.
Marquez
Childhood’s
End
I watched curiously as an enigmatic
range of
emotions
--Arthur C. Clarke
flitted across her face.
New Moon
--Stephanie Meyer
Any form of this word will appear once in every 5,511 pages of text.
Syn: revulsion, loathing
Ant: attraction, magnetism, proclivity, addiction
aversion: strong, automatic dislike,
esp. one causing a negative physical
reaction
Forms:
N: aversion
V: avert, averts, averted,
averting
She had
“Wean
have
unreasoning
an aversion aversion
to it,” shetosaid,
her choosing
stepmother.
the
word carefully.
Adj: averse
aversely Holmes
The Alchemist
Adventures ofAdv:
Sherlock
--Arthur Conan
--Michael
Scott Doyle
She had avoided Emily Brent with a shuddering aversion
Others called them Mujahideen, but, when they did, they
And Then There Were None
made a face—a sneering,
distasteful
face—the word reeking
--Agatha
Christie
of deep aversion.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
--Khaled Hosseini
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 338 pages of text.
Syn: evade, reject
avert: turn away from
Ant: seek out,
Root: vert, verse
to turn: divert,
diverse; convert,
converse; subvert,
subversive; traverse
Forms:
N: aversion
V: avert, averts, averted,
averting
Adj: averse
Tally
They
shrug,
averted
mumble,
her and
eyes
andfrom
avert
Shay’s
theirhis
beauty,
gazes.
trying
He
merely
turned
red
eyes.
Adv: 00
to focus her thoughts.
averted
Uglies
Water for
Listening
forElephants
Lions
--Scott
--SaraWhelan
Westerfeld
Gruen
--Gloria
A potential crisis had been
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 338 pages of text.
averted.
The Shack
--William P. Young
nonchalant: having a free,casual, informal attitude
Syn: insouciant; blithe
I just got very cool and
Ant: tense, intense
Forms: N: nonchalance
V: 00
nonchalant.
Adj: nonchalant
Catcher in the Rye
Adv: nonchalantly
--J. D. Salinger
MyAnd
driver
hedrove
said nonchalantly ,and
“I can
recklessly,
waltz.” averting
“Don’t rush, act nonchalant” , Amy cautioned.
collisions by the thinnest of margins, all without so much as a
I Am the Cheese
pause in the incessant stream--Robert
of words Cormier
spewing from his
mouth.
The Grapes of Wrath —John Steinbeck
The Kite Runner —Khaled Hosseini
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 2,269 pages of text.
frugal: thrifty; reluctant to spend money
Syn: miserly, parsimonious
Ant: extravagant, lavish
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 1,326 pages of text.
They’re so
frugal
Forms: N: frugality
Verb: 00
Adj: frugal
Adv: frugally
with things here, waste is practically
a criminal activity.
In order to secure my credit
and character
Susanne
Collins as a tradesman,
--The
Games
frugal,
IThe
tooktruest
care happiness,
not only to be
reality
industrious
and and
he in
said,
layHunger
in working
hard
And
Iavoid
reckon
I appearances
deserve a treat
today,
after being so frugal
but
to
all
to
the
contrary.
living frugally.
Animal Farm
for the last few days. --George
Confessions
of a Shopoholic
Orwell
The
Autobiography
--Sophie
Kinsella of Benjamin Franklin
--Benjamin Franklin
zeal: excessive commitment or enthusiasm
Syn: exuberance, ardor, fervor, elan, fanaticism
Forms: N: zeal, zealot
Ant: apathy, lethargy, nonchalance,
Verb: 00
indifference, ennui
Adj: zealous
Adv: zealously
They flung themselves intoI didn’t
their work
havewith
thatsavage
patriotic zeal.
Above 26,000 feet, moreover, the line between appropriate
One Day in the
Life
of Ivan
Denisovich
The
Things
They
Carried
zeal
and reckless summit
fever becomes
--Alexander
Solzhenitsyn
--Tim grievously
O’Brien thin.
Into Thinimagination,
Air
If something captured my undisciplined
I pursued
--Jon Krakauer
it with a zeal
bordering on obsession.
Into Thin Air
Any form of this word will appear once
--Jon Krakauer
in every 202 pages of text.
pious: observing religious laws and customs
Ant: profane, blasphemous
Forms: N: piety
Verb: 00
Adj: pious
Adv: piously
Why do you turn away from your pious
practices and good works?
A Portrait of the Artist as a
Pious people have always gotten
my nerves.
YoungonMan
Most were
pious Christians or--James
Muslims.
Joyce
The
Secret
Life of Bees
Outcasts
United
--Sue
Monk Kidd
He really seemed somehow to other
to fancy
his wife
--Warren
St.that
John
had
piety
and benevolence enough for two.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Any form of this word will appear once
--Harriet Beecher Stowe
in every 274 pages of text.
astute: sharply observant
Forms: N: asuteness
Syn: shrewd
Verb: 00
Ant: obtuse, naïve, gullible
Adj: astute
Adv: astutely
I’d say that’s a remarkably
astute analysis.
4. Chrysler may not like Toyota, but the
astute
The
Shining
Mr. Iacocca does not call for an air strike
against
Tokyo.
“You’ve completely changed, you used to be --Stephen
so
astute,
King
are you losing it now?
The Bourne Ultimatum
--Robert
The TrialLudlum
--Franz Kafka
For all his sagacity, for all his caution and
astuteness,
the old judge had gone the way of the rest.
Any form of this word will appear once
in every 1,835 pages of text.
And Then There Were None
--Agatha Christie
opulent: observably wealthy,
showy
Syn: ostentatious, lavish
Ant: humble, modest, understated
Forms: N: opulence
Verb: 00
Adj: opulent
Adv: opulently
Related: optical, optician
An
opulent
priest is a contradiction.
The opulence of having
Les Miserables
a teacher for each grade made an
--Victor
Hugo
Nowhere
in
all
America
will
you
parks and gardens
East
offind
Eden
impression on him.
--John
Steinbeck
more opulent
than in New
Bedford.
“How grand you look, Randolph,” he continued in a thin
Moby Dick
voice while studying his host and --Herman
glancing around
Melvilleat the
opulent suite.
Any form of this word will appear once
The
in every 1,590 pages of text.
Bourne Ultimatum
--Robert Ludlum