100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know - List #2
abrogate (verb): to abolish or avoid.
When someone cuts in front of you in line, they are abrogating your right to be the
next one served.
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Due to the rampant cheating, the test scores were abrogated.
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bowdlerize (verb): to edit offensive parts out of something.
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If the hero in an R-rated movie adapted for TV exclaims, “Oh shoot fudge darn!”
but his lips seem to be saying something else, that movie has been bowdlerized.
Origins of word: The word bowdlerized comes from the name of Dr. T. Bowdler, who decided to
publish an edition of Shakespeare without sexual references or double-entendres (which is
when a word has two meanings, one of them cheeky). Mr. Bowdler thought he was performing
a great service for humanity, but generally if we call something bowdlerized, we’re implying that
it was edited in a prudish way.
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Being an iconic classic, however, hasn’t protected Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn from being banned, bowdlerized and bleeped.
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chromosome (noun): a strand of DNA that is encoded with genes. In most cells,
humans have 22 pairs of these chromosomes plus the two sex chromosomes (XX in
females and XY in males) for a total of 46.

The mammalian Y chromosome is a symbol of maleness and encodes genes
important for male reproduction.
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deleterious (adj.): of the quality that does harm or makes things worse.
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Smoking has obvious deleterious effects on your health, not to mention your
social life.
My parents were worried that their divorce would have a deleterious effect on us
kids, but in the end it was less harmful than watching them fight all the time.
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enfranchise (verb): to give the right to vote
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The verb enfranchise is used when a group of people are given voting rights or
freedoms they didn't have before. Many people under the age of 18 would like
lawmakers to enfranchise their peer group so they can vote.
White southern conservatives migrated to the Republican Party while
newly enfranchised blacks identified with the party of civil rights, the
Democrats.
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fatuous (adj.): lacking intelligence.
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When your mother outlaws calling your brother stupid, use fatuous instead.
The pro-gun arguments against closing the gun show loophole are so
attenuated and fatuous they can scarcely be understood.
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gauche (adj.): lacking social polish.
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Use the word gauche when you want to call something tacky, graceless,
tactless, rude, boorish, or awkward and foolish.
There are no errant words in his sentences, no gauche contemporary "likes" or
"y' knows".
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hemoglobin (noun): a hemoprotein in blood that helps transport oxygen, and gives
blood its red color.

Like the iron in hemoglobin that makes human blood red, the copper in
hemocyanin colors octopus blood blue.
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incognito (adj.): having one’s identity concealed
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When you want to do something and not be recognized, go incognito — hiding
your true identity.
Since he didn’t want anyone to know that he was there, he used his best drag
outfit so he could be incognito.
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kowtow (verb): to bend the knees and bow in a servile manner.
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Kowtow, which describes the act of kneeling and touching one’s head to the
ground to show respect, used to be a custom in Chinese culture. Now it refers
to acting like you're doing that, whether you actually bow or not.
One of Romney's difficulties is that he has to kowtow to these folks on abortion
and immigration, but without alienating mainstream voters.
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lexicon (noun): the vocabulary of a language or subject
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"No-hitter," "go-ahead run," and "Baltimore chop" are part of the baseball
lexicon.
No longer are the unemployed merely “takers” leeching off “makers,” to use in
Paul Ryan’s old lexicon.
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mitosis (noun): a process of cell division
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If you’re in biology class studying the way cells divide, then you’re probably
learning about mitosis.
The machinery is that of cell division, or mitosis, the process by which all
forms of life perpetuate themselves.
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nihilism (noun): the complete rejection of moral values and religious beliefs

If you're one of those people who believe there's nothing worth believing in, your
doctrine is nihilism.
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oligarchy (noun): a political system governed by a few people

Sometimes the word refers to the few powerful people in charge of a large
company or system. A financial oligarchy might try to block reform.
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paradigm (noun): a paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is
a way of looking at something.

This word comes up a lot in the academic, scientific, and business worlds. A new paradigm in
business could mean a new way of reaching customers and making money. In education, relying
on lectures is a paradigm: if you suddenly shifted to all group work, that would be a new
paradigm. When you change paradigms, you're changing how you think about something.
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quotidian (adj.): found in the ordinary course of events, everyday, mundane

Quotidian is a fancy way of saying "daily" or "ordinary." Quotidian events are the
everyday details of life.
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reciprocal (adj.): mutual, given or done in return

Reciprocal describes something that's the same on both sides. If you and your
sister are in a big fight on a long car trip, you might resolve it through
a reciprocal agreement that you'll stop poking her and she'll stop reading road
signs out loud.
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soliloquy (noun): a speech made alone, a monologue
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taxonomy (noun ):a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of
structure or origin
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usurp (verb): to seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; to
take as one's right or possession

If you take over your neighbor's backyard and claim his in-ground swimming
pool as your own, you might seize control of, or usurp his yard, but he'll
probably call the cops on you.