Eighth-grade Core Vocabulary
1. Affable: adj. easy to approach; friendly. The students showed how affable
they are by welcoming the new girl with smiles and hugs.
2. Arduous: adj. difficult and strenuous. The 1500 foot climb was very arduous,
but well worth the work.
3. Astute: adj. clever; cunning. The astute chimpanzees learned how to unlock
their cages. They escaped and took over the world!
4. Beseech. Verb. beg eagerly. The students beseeched Cameron to write
poetry, and he acquiesced.
5. Cogitate. Verb. think about something. Lukas cogitated on the idea of
adopting an alligator but fortunately decided against it.
6. Dapper. Adj. neat, trim, smart. Damian was looking quite dapper in the
tuxedo he wore for the ball.
7. Dearth of. Adj. lack of. I notice a dearth of derogatory remarks among
students, which is fantastic!
8. Deter. Verb. discourage. I think that students’ desire to be honorable people
has caused a dearth of derogatory remarks.
9. Earnest. Adj. serious in purpose. Students try in earnest to live honorable
lives.
10. emanate. verb. to come from. Why do strange odors always seem to
emanate from Laura’s science classes?
11. exasperate. verb. irritate to a high degree. Pogo, my dog, exasperates me
when he doesn’t come when I call him.
12. implore. verb. beg. Sometimes I implore Pogo to come, but it I beg in vain.
13. Incessant. Adjective. non stop. The incessant flicker and buzz of the lights
gave me a headache.
14. Inequities. noun. inequalities; things that are unfair. During our countries
history, many people have experienced inequities which made life difficult.
15. Integrity. noun. Honesty: doing what you believe to be right no matter what.
He showed integrity when he told the truth knowing he would be ridiculed.
16. Quercus Lobata. Noun. Valley Oak. We learned that the Latin name for the
Valley Oak is Quercus Lobata, and the Quercus Lobata has lobed leaves.
17. Integrity. Adj. honesty, doing what is right even when it is hard. It took a
lot of integrity for the commander to admit he made a wrong decision even
though he know that he would get demoted.
18. Intrepid. Adj. brave, bold. It takes an intrepid hiker to hike to the dome of
Castle Crags or to dare the seven mile loop in the park.
19. malicious. Adj. Deliberately harmful. It was a malicious person who spray
painted all over the sculpture in the park.
20.Brewer’s Blackbird. Proper noun. The Brewer’s Blackbird is very common in
the Western United States. The males sport shiny black feathers with tints of
blue and they view the world through yellow eyes, while the females display
browner feathers and brown eyes.
21. mirth. noun. amusement; laughter. I could see the mirth in her eyes when
she revealed the punch line.
22. mortify. adj. to deeply embarrass. My mortification was complete when I
realized that my shirt was on inside.
23. obstreperous. adj. noisy, unruly. The obstreperous man made it difficult to
hear the ceremony; he spoke loudly and kept getting up and down during the
speeches!
24. Ominous. Adj. the feeling of something to come. An ominous feeling of dread
overcame me as I entered the ancient deserted house.
25. Palpable. Adj. capable of being touched. The excitement was palpable as the
movie star entered the room.
26. Plethora of. Noun. an abundance of. The fans overwhelmed the star with a
plethora of questions.
27. Puerile. Adj. childish and immature. The puerile way in which the teen begged
her mother to stay at the mall was hard to listen to.
28. Reiterate verb. restate. I will reiterate the importance of reading every night.
29. Slovenly. Adj. Even thought he was highly qualified, he didn’t get the job.
His slovenly appearance prevented him from even getting an interview.
30.Succinct. Adj. clearly express in few words. He was able to explain how
what to do in case of a fire in a clear and succinct manner which made it
easy to understand and remember.
31. Sycophant. Noun. a person who flatters someone who holds power. The
“queen bee” of the mean girls had a sycophant hanging around who was
always supporting the mean things queen did.
32. Tolerable. Adj. able to be endured. The behavior of “queen bee” was not
tolerable, and soon all the kids in her class avoided her like the plague.
33. amicable. adj. friendly. I had an amicable relationship with that woman until
she started drinking and driving.
34. assess. verb. judge the value of. I will assess your writing skills, and then I
will decide what to teach you.
35. audacity. noun. bold or daring with disregard for safety. Barbara Washburn
had the audacity to believe she could climb Mt. McKinley, and she did it!
36. blatant. adj. brazenly obvious. Her blatant disregard for the rules got her into
trouble when she ended up breaking the equipment.
37. commence. verb. to begin. I like my students to commence writing their
paragraphs as soon as they enter the class.
38. derision. noun. We looked at the drunk driver with derision as he was hauled
off to jail.
39. Discombobulate verb. confuse. After three students tried to explain Laura’s
message at the same time, I felt a little discombobulated.
40. Devious. Adj. sly, shifty. The devious spies took pictures of the secret files
using tiny cameras that were implanted in the logo on their sweatshirts.
41. Egregious. Adj. extraordinary in a bad way. There are many bad driving
violations, but drinking and driving is the most egregious.
42. Emit. Verb. to send forth. The slovenly student’s backpack always emits a
strange odor.
43. Fractious. Irritable; unruly. It is not fun to work with fractious people because
they always argue and cause fights.
44. Inadvertently. Adj. accidentally. The janitor inadvertently bumped the launch
switch, sending the space shuttle into space a week early.
45. Incoherent. Adj. unable to express thoughts clearly or orderly. After he fell on
his head, he was incoherent for quite a while.
46. Ingenuous. Adj. sincere. We appreciate her because she is ingenuous; we
have a hard time tolerating those who pretend to be something they’re not.
47. Insufferable. Adj. cannot be tolerated. I find people who are phony to be
insufferable.
48. Malevolent. Adj. spiteful, wicked, mean. Spray painting the lockers was a
malevolent act.
49. Manifest. Verb. cause to become clear, to see with the eye or understand.
His dreams were manifested because of his hard word.
50.Miscreant. Noun. wrongdoer. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn often behaved
like miscreants, but they had good hearts.
51. Muse. verb. to think or meditate in silence. As I sat on the quiet hillside, I
mused upon the wonder of nature.
52. Odious. Adj. highly offensive. The idea of drinking and driving is odious.
53. Omnipresent. Adj. Present everywhere at the same time. Imagine an
omnipresent superhero; She could stop all crime all over the world!
54. Perceive. Verb. understand. I could perceive an ominous silence in the room
as I walked in.
55. Protrude. Verb. stick out. Cyrano de Bergerac’s nose protruded from his face,
and he was self-conscious about it.
56. Pulchritudinous. Adj. beautiful. Cyrano fell in love with a pulchritudinous
woman, but ironically. h helped his friend woo for his friend.
57. Sagacious. Adj. wise. My grandfather gave me very sagacious advice. He
said to save money for a rainy day.
58. Subdued. Adj. quiet and controlled. After the results from the dance
competition were announced, the room was subdued.
59. Superlative. Adj. surpassing all others. His superlative language earned him a
first place spot in the essay contest.
60.Taciturn. Adj. reluctant to join in conversation. Sometimes students seem
taciturn, but they just want to make sure they have an educated comment to
make before they speak.
61. Transgression. Noun, break the rules. It would be a forgivable transgression
to give me chocolate as an appreciation gift.