JUNIOR VOCABULARY WORDS
WEEK ONE
WEEK FOUR
Desecrate (verb) – to violate the sacredness of a thing or
Petulant (adj) -- rude or irritable
place
The tennis player was petulant after losing the first set to
The thieves also desecrated the church with graffiti.
that 8th grader.
Gargantuan (adj) – enormous or gigantic
Our country has a gargantuan $4,000,000,000,000 debt.
Induce (verb) – to bring about or make happen
By promising them money, she induced voters to vote for
John.
Meticulous (adj) -- extremely careful with details
He was meticulous when doing his work, and always
received A’s.
Egregious (adj) -- obviously bad
The Braves lost the series because of their egregious play
on defense.
Profane (adj) – lewd or indecent
He exposed himself in public, and the police arrested him
for this profane offense.
Fathom (verb) -- to understand or comprehend
I can’t fathom why you’d eat glue.
Capitulate (verb) – to surrender or give in
We won’t capitulate to the terrorists’ demands.
Indomitable (adj) -- not capable of being conquered
The Red Sox were indomitable last year.
WEEK TWO
Nebulous (adj) – vaguely defined or cloudy
Obama has some pretty unclear and nebulous ideas about
how to fix healthcare.
WEEK FIVE
Lavish (adj) -- given without limits
(verb) -- to give without limits
Hugh Hefner gave Bridget, Kendra, and Holly lavish
gifts.
Inept (adj) – not suitable or qualified
Inept and ineffective teachers should be fired.
Quandary (noun) – a perplexing, irresolvable state
The war in Afghanistan has turned into a military
quandary.
Plethora (adj) – an extreme excess or abundance
The email attachment exposed his computer to a plethora
of viruses and worms.
Conundrum (noun) – a puzzle or problem
Women are a conundrum no man can solve.
WEEK THREE
Pragmatic (adj) – practical
I don’t know that it’s pragmatic to pack make-up on a
camping trip.
Sadistic (adj) – deriving pleasure from cruelty toward
others
I hate sadistic teachers who love to pile work on us.
Hapless (adj) – unlucky or unfortunate
He was a hapless man, and always seemed to be breaking
things and getting into accidents.
Frivolous (adj) – of little importance
Don’t bother me with the frivolous details of your
meaningless life.
Taciturn (adj) – habitually silent or untalkative
My grandfather is a quiet, taciturn man.
Lecherous (adj) – obsessed with sex
Teenage boys are often lecherous when talking about
girls.
Impudent (adj) – rude or insolent
The impudent child was grounded for smarting off to his
parents.
WEEK SIX
Enigma (noun) – a puzzling or mysterious person or
thing
The creation of the universe remains an enigma to us.
Atone (verb) – to repent or make amends
You must atone for your thievery by working at the soup
kitchen.
Cerebral (adj) – related to the intellect
Einstein was a brilliant, cerebral man.
Genial (adj) -- friendly
The dog was big and looked fierce, but was actually
genial.
Obfuscate (verb) – to render incomprehensible
His speech was so terrible it obfuscated the entire topic.
Malleable (adj) -- capable of being shaped or transformed
Pre-schoolers’ minds are very malleable.
Poignant (adj) – deeply affecting or moving
Forrest Gump is a poignant movie.
WEEK SEVEN
Verbose (adj) – wordy
English teachers and lawyers are often verbose.
WEEK TEN
Perturb (verb) -- to disturb greatly
The constant announcements during class perturb me.
Construe (verb) – to interpret or understand in a certain
way
I construed her cruel look to mean she hated me.
Liberate (verb) -- to set free or release from bondage
Quitting my job liberated me from the drudgery of factory
life.
Blight (noun) – a plague or disease
The blight destroyed this year’s cotton crop.
Lewd (adj) -- characterized by lust
Students often draw lewd and pornographic pictures on
my desks.
Intrepid (adj) – brave in the face of danger
The intrepid explorer traveled to the South Pole.
Prudent (adj) – cautious
It’s prudent to always wear your seatbelt.
WEEK EIGHT
Insolent (adj) – rude, overbearing, or arrogant
Franklin County has the most insolent, obnoxious fans.
Lethargic (adj) – sluggish or apathetic
After eating four Big Macs, I felt lazy and lethargic.
Defile (verb) – to make unclean or impure
I felt defiled after the creepy dude hugged me.
Atypical (adj) – unusual
The results of the test were atypical, so they decided to
run more tests to see if he was dying.
Eulogy (noun) – a speech given in honor of a dead person
I gave the eulogy at my grandfather’s funeral.
WEEK NINE
Quagmire (noun) – a messy, difficult situation
Dating three boys at one time got Kelli into a romantic
quagmire.
Devious (adj) – not straightforward or deceitful
My devious little brother is always getting me in trouble
with my parents for things I don’t do.
Trivial (adj) – insignificant or unimportant
I only want the important information, not the trivial
details.
Fuse (verb) -- to unite or blend as by melting together
Modern rock fuses punk and alternative together.
Deplete (verb) -- to reduce or lessen, as by use,
exhaustion, or waste
Because our cars are so inefficient, we are quickly
depleting our oil reserves.
Incoherent (adj) -- not logically coordinated
His essay was poorly organized, unclear, and totally
incoherent.
Malign (verb) -- to speak evil of, especially to do so
falsely
His enemy was always maligning James and trying to
make him look bad.
WEEK ELEVEN
Oust (verb) -- to eject
Mary ran a campaign to oust Joe as the Beta club
president.
Brusque (adj) -- rough or rude in manner of speech
I’m always brusque when speaking to people I don’t like.
Avert (verb) – to turn away
Disgusted, I averted my eyes from the vomit.
Noxious (adj) – hurtful
Global warming is partially caused by noxious pollution.
Exorbitant (adj) – going beyond the usual or proper
limits
He paid an exorbitant amount of attention to the lingerie
models.
WEEK TWELVE
Obsequious (adj) – showing a great willingness to serve
I hate students who are obsequious suck-ups.
Virulent (adj) – extremely infectious, toxic, poisonous, or
harmful
The last presidential campaign showed there are still
many virulent racists in America.
Prevalent (adj) – frequently occurring
The commercialization of Christmas shows how prevalent
greed is in our society.
Desist (verb) – to cease from action
The police illegally ordered the protesters to desist their
chants.
Singe (verb) – to burn slightly or superficially
I singed my fingers on the match.
WEEK THIRTEEN
Omit (verb) – to exclude
I omitted my criminal convictions from my job
application.
Purloin (verb) – to steal
We had difficulty replacing the projector the thieves
purloined.
Wane (verb) – to diminish in size and brilliancy
My enthusiasm for the assembly waned in the second
hour of speeches.
Habitual (adj) – according to usual practice
I have a bad grade because I habitually turn assignments
in late.
Submerge (verb) – to place or plunge under water
You have to submerge the capsules before they expand
into foam horses.
WEEK FOURTEEN
Sedition (noun) – conduct against the state or nation;
rebellion
Many argue burning the flag is like selling state secrets,
and should be punished as sedition.
Imbibe (verb) – to drink
I drove Drew home because he’d imbibed too many gin
and tonics.
Dogma (noun) – a statement of religious faith
I don’t adhere to dogma because I like to make my own
decisions about morality.
Phenomenon (noun) – an unusual occurrence
Halley’s comet is a rare and beautiful phenomenon.
Plausible (adj) – seeming likely to be true, though open
to doubt
I suppose it’s plausible that alien life exists.
WEEK FIFTEEN
Concur (verb) – to agree
I concur with the decision to eliminate 10 minute break.
Repulsive (adj) – grossly offensive
The Saw movies are disgusting and repulsive.
Nefarious (adj) – wicked or evil
She is such a nefarious gossip and liar.
Carnage (noun) – massive bloodshed
The carnage from the car accident was horrific.
Havoc (noun) – destruction and devastation
The terrorist attack caused havoc in Los Angeles.