insufficient (IN suh FISH int) adj. not enough; inadequate
• You don’t want to write a check if you have insufficient funds in your
account.
• Never base a conclusion on insufficient information.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. inadequate]
insular (IN su loer) adj. 1. like an island; detached; isolated; 2. narrow minded;
illiberal; provincial in outlook
• The residents of Manhattan live on an island, yet their view of the world is
far from insular.
• One might expect a resident of a small town in Iowa to have an insular
view of the world situation, and one would be wrong to think so.
[-ly adv., -ity n.] [Syn. isolated]
insure (in SHUR) vt. 1. to contract to receive monetary compensation for loss of
property, life, and so on; 2. to guarantee
• Many states require that automobiles be insured in case one damages someone else’s property.
• By taking the 8:00 A.M. train, Clara insures that she will be at work on time.
[-d, insuring]
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intercede (in teor SEED) vt. 1. to interfere to help work out an agreement; to
mediate; 2. to step in to prevent something from happening
• Bob’s mom interceded to work out an agreement between him and his
brother over which TV show to watch.
• The police interceded to keep a gang war from erupting.
[-d, interceding] [Syn. mediate]
interpolate (in TOER puh layt) vt. 1. to stick something in amongst others
(especially one or more words into a text); 2. to estimate an intermediate value in a
table by taking an average of the surrounding values
• One must only interpolate a few no’s into a text to totally change its meaning.
• To find the value of the sine of 60.5°, interpolate from the sines of 60° and 61°.
[-d, interpolating] [Syn. edit]
intractable (in TRAK tuh bl) adj. 1. difficult to manage; unruly; stubborn;
2. difficult to manipulate, treat, or cure
• David’s cowlick was completely intractable, and no hair tonic or mousse
seemed able to help.
• The new infection was intractable, resisting most known antibiotics.
[intractably adv.] [Syn. unruly]
intransigent (in TRAN si jint) adj. 1. unreconcilable; 2. refusing to compromise;
uncompromising —n. a person who is uncompromising
• The governor was intransigent in his position against having broccoli as the
state vegetable.
• The swimming coach was intransigent in his insistence on everyone doing
20 laps in the pool before calling it a day.
• When it came to doing homework before playing after school, Loren’s
mother was an intransigent.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. uncompromising]
intricate (IN trik it) adj. puzzling because of complicated structure or directions;
difficult to follow or understand
• The instructions for assembling the model airplane were extremely intricate.
• The intricate gingerbread work on the exterior gives a very distinctive character to Victorian-style houses.
• For the beginner, the Japanese game of Go seems simple when, in fact, it is
a very intricate game.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. complex]
introspective (in troh SPEK tiv) adj. looking within one’s self and analyzing
one’s inner thoughts and feelings
• Before one commits to a lifetime of doing anything, it is important to be
introspective and know one’s own feelings.
• An introspective examination never hurt anybody.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. meditative]
300 Essential Vocabulary
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invective (in VEK tiv) n. 1. an abusive term; insult; curse; 2. strong criticism;
violent language
• Using invective when speaking of people never won anybody new friends.
• It is not considered appropriate to use invective when traveling in polite
circles.
irascible (i RAS i bl) adj. 1. quick tempered; easily angered; 2. showing or resulting from quick temperedness
• Greg is irascible and flies off the handle quite readily.
• The broken front door is a by-product of Max’s being irascible.
[irascibly adv.] [Syn. irritable]
isotope (Y suh tohp) n. any one of two or more elements that share the same
atomic number, but have different atomic weights
• Carbon, atomic number 6, has two isotopes, C-12 and C-14, with atomic
weights shown by their numbers.