 GROUP 9 
LANGUOR: n. weak or lifeless in feeling
- By nine o’ clock I feel too languorous to do anything except watch TV.
- To prevent languor in the workplace, the employees do calisthenics for five
minutes every two hours.
- The story is about a slow journey down a river flowing languorously to the
sea.
Synonym: lethargy
Antonym: liveliness
EVANESCENT: adj. vanishing quickly; fleeting
- Snowfall in spring is usually evanescent; the snow melts very quickly.
- The rumor is that an evanescent ghost haunts the forest. People who’ve seen it
say that it vanishes as suddenly as it appears.
- Old timers tend to lament the evanescence of youth. “How quickly youth
passes,” they say.
Synonym: brief
Antonym: enduring
ASTUTE: adj. sharp-minded; very clever
- The teacher said, “How astute you must be to have found that mistake in the
problem. No one has ever notices it before.”
- An astute lawyer, Jonah wins most of his cases.
- As an astute reader of poetry, Helen seems always to find meaning hidden
between the lines.
Synonym: perceptive
Antonym: stupid
CREDULOUS: adj. eager to believe; gullible
- The credulous housewife believed she had won a million dollars from the
Publisher’s Clearing House.
- Judy was so credulous that she simply nodded happily when Kirven told her
he could teach her how to fly. Judy’s credulity was limitless.
Synonym: naive
Antonym: suspicious
SERVILE: adj. slave like; very humble and submissive
- Roy has no right to treat you like a servile lackey. You are not his slave or
valet.
- I hate having a servile job. It’s not in my nature to bow to the whims of others.
- Susan’s servility caused her to cater to everyone’s desires but her own.
Synonym: fawning
Antonym: bossy
FORTUITOUS: adj. happening by chance
- Wally’s fortuitous meeting with Mr. Berman in the restaurant helped to
facilitate he agreement between both their companies.
- My fortuitous discovery of the cache of valuable stamps enabled me to buy a
motorcycle.
- With one fortuitous question, the reporter unraveled the actor’s composure.
Synonym: lucky
Antonym: predictable
FASTIDIOUS: adj. hard to please; dainty in taste
- Lauren was so particular about her home that she was extolled as a fastidious
housekeeper.
- In The Odd Couple, Jack Lemmon was the fastidious one, while the sloppy
Walter Matthau was his antithesis.
- Everett was so fastidious that his messy fraternity brothers refused to room
with him.
Synonym: demanding
Antonym: indifferent
EMULATE: v. to try to equal or surpass
- When they were in high school, Dudley’s kid brother always tried to emulate
him.
- In qualifying for the medal, you will emulate your sister’s performance.
- We hired a Japanese efficiency expert to emulate his foreign success in our
factory.
Synonym: follow, mimic
Antonym: differ
MARRED: v. injured; spoiled; damaged; disfigured
- The fight in the corridor marred Lorna’s otherwise perfect record as a model
student.
- The beauty of a graceful statue was marred by the incongruous graffiti
scrawled over it.
- Marlo thought her freckles marred her appearance, but her family assured her
they were among her best features.
Synonym: faulty
Antonym: perfect
LETHARGIC: adj. having little or no energy
- It takes Herbie two hours to shake the lifeless feeling of a lethargic Monday
morning.
- Sunday mornings make Otto feel lethargic. He rarely stirs from his bed until
after noon.
- With the lethargy lifted, he turns into a human dynamo.
Synonym: lazy
Antonym: energetic
Homework: Please create a sketch (or find a picture) of a main character from your
novel using two of the words listed above. It should be in the format of a flash card
(picture on the front-with the character’s name, description on the back that incorporates
two words, definitions, parts of speech, synonyms and antonyms). This is worth 8
points and will be due on Friday, May 30.