Name: __________________________
Vocabulary Unit #2 – Honors
Definitions
1. accost – (v.) to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or
aggressive way.
2. animadversion – (n.) a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval
3. avid – (adj.) desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager
4. brackish – (adj.) having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink
5. celerity – (n.) swiftness, rapidity of motion or action
6. devious – (adj.) straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done or
acting in a shifty or underhanded way
7. gambit – (n.) in chess, an opening move that involves risk or sacrifice of a minor piece
in order to gain a later advantage; any opening move of this type
8. halcyon – (n.) a legendary bird identified with the kingfisher; (adj.) of or relating to
the halcyon; calm, peaceful; happy, golden; prosperous, affluent
9. histrionic – (adj.) pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial;
melodramatic
10. incendiary – (adj.) deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires;
tending to stir up strife or rebellion; (n.) one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist;
one who causes strife
11. maelstrom – (n.) a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a
whirlpool in violence or destruction
12. myopic – (adj.) nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking
foresight or discernment
13. overt – (adj.) open, not hidden, expressed or revealed in a way that is easily
recognized
14. pejorative – (adj.) tending to make worse; expressing disapproval or disparagement,
derogatory, deprecatory, belittling
15. propriety – (n.) the state of being proper, appropriateness; (pl.) standards of what is
proper or socially acceptable
16. sacrilege – (n.) improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred
17. summarily – (adv.) without delay or formality; briefly, concisely
18. suppliant – (adj.) asking humbly and earnestly; (n.) one who makes a request humbly
and earnestly, a petitioner, suitor
19. talisman – (n.) an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical
powers , an amulet, fetish
20. undulate – (v.) to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike
appearance or form
Completing the Sentence
1. To our dismay, we discovered that the water we had worked so hard to bring to the
surface was too _____________ for human consumption.
2. As an employee of the local polling service last summer, it was my job to
_____________ people on the street and ask their opinions.
3. Many a rich southern planter saw all his or her financial resources swallowed up in
the ____________ of the Civil War.
4. After the prisoner had been found guilty of treason, he was led before a firing
squad and _____________ executed.
5. Saying that “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” is not an
effective response to their ______________ on your conduct.
6. During the rainy season, the highway sank at so many points that its surface began
to _______________ like the track for a roller coaster.
7. I stand before you an abject ________________, hoping against hope for a sign of
your forgiveness
8. My brother is such a(n) ___________________ collector of toy soldiers that I
sometimes think our house has been invaded by a pint-sized army.
9. The suffix –ling often has a(n) _________________ connotation, as in the word
princeling, derived from prince.
10. On the return trip, we cut straight across the meadows rather than take the more
___________ path along the river.
11. In Grandmother’s day, standards of _____________ required that a young lady
wear a hat and gloves when she went out in public.
12. The _______________ with which he accepted our invitation to dinner suggested
that he was badly in need of a good meal.
13. The tons of _______________ material ignited and turned the waste disposal
plant into a roaring inferno.
14. In the eyes of most Americans, people who burn or spit on our flag are guilty of an
intolerable _________________.
15. We looked back on those _________________ years before the war broke out as
a kind of “golden age” in our history.
16. Any book on chess strategy usually discusses the standard opening moves, such as
the knight’s ________________.
17. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a(n) _________________ act of war.
18. Down in the main square, a wrinkled old peasant was selling charms and
_________________ to ward off the evil eye.
19. To be really convincing on stage, an opera singer must possess both vocal and
________________ abilities.
20. His pale face, hunched shoulders, and _______________ stare showed that he had
spent his life poring over old books and documents.
Synonyms
1. a tireless petitioner
2. a lucky amulet
3. the vortex of public opinion
4. ripple in the current
5. was taken in by her stratagem
6. outraged by the desecration
7. apologized for his unnecessary rebuke
8. swam in the briny water
9. abruptly resigned from the Cabinet
10. behaved with her usual decorum
11. memories of our serene beginnings
12. confronted the thief at the door
13. completed the job with alacrity
14. their derogatory references to his past
15. took an indirect route
Antonyms
16. indentified the peacemaker
17. made a very low-keyed plea for mercy
18. one of the most reluctant participants
19. known for farsighted thinking
20. took secret action to avoid a crisis
Choosing the Right Word
1. His reckless words had an (incendiary, overt) effect on the already excited crowd.
2. He is the kind of person who is concerned not with real moral values but simply with
appearances and (propriety, celerity).
3. He regarded his Phi Beta Kappa key as a(n) (talisman, animadversion) that would
open all doors and win him universal acceptance.
4. After years of failure to sell a single story, the young writer described himself
bitterly as “a(n) (pejorative, avid) collector of rejection slips.
5. She was buffeted about in a veritable (gambit, maelstrom) of emotions, caused
mainly by her own dissatisfaction with herself.
6. His methods were so complicated and his purposes so (avid, devious) that we were
not sure if he was spying on the enemy or on us.
7. Without even considering the new evidence that I was prepared to present, they
(deviously, summarily) denied my appeal to reopen the case.
8. In an age when the United States has truly global responsibilities, we can ill afford
leaders with (myopic, pejorative) points of view.
9. The adoring fan regarded my negative comments about his favorite singer as
tantamount to (maelstrom, sacrilege).
10. I certainly do not claim that my performance in office was beyond criticism, but I
deeply resent (animadversions, maelstroms) on my honestly.
11. Although all politicians must have some ability to dramatize themselves, it is very
easy to overdo the (proprieties, histrionics).
12. As the defendant left the courtroom, he was (gambited, accosted) by a group of
reporters seeking his reaction to the verdict.
13. Wait tends to react slowly, but when he feels that his own interested are at stake
he cane move with striking (celerity, myopia).
14. Since the word appeasement is associated with disastrous concessions to Adolf
Hitler, it has acquired a(n) (pejorative, overt).
15. John Masefield’s poem “Sea Fever” has an (avid, undulating) rhythm that actually
gives one the feeling of being on a rolling ship.
16. “His acts of defiance have been so (myopic, overt) and premeditated that I have no
choice but to fire him,” she said sadly.
17. Instead of imbibing the (brackish, suppliant) waters of superstition, let us refresh
ourselves with long drafts of pure, clean common sense.
18. “I realize that this kind of financial (gambit, sacrilege) has its risks,” she said, “but
I expect it to pay off handsomely in the end.”
19. Nary a ripple disturbed the (halcyon, brackish) calm of the sea on that glorious
summer’s afternoon.
20. The infatuated schoolboy, in one of his more restrained expressions, described
himself as “a (sacrilege, suppliant) at the altar of love.”
Vocabulary in Context
The Wonder Around Us
Most people today have a far greater appreciation of the preciousness of the land
and sea than the general public living just a half century ago. In the 1940s and 1950s, many
held the myopic view that natural resources were limitless and impervious to pollution. The
marine biologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was one of the first scientists to challenge
these wildly held assumptions. She did so by writing a series of evocative books about the
sea, culminating in the 1951 bestseller, The Sea Around Us. To the surprise of many, Carson
found an avid audience for her unique blend of science and lyricism and became one of the
pioneers of the growing ecological movement.
Through her imaginative prose, Carson made the brackish waters of the world’s
oceans come alive for her readers. She helped them see that the ocean was not a deep,
dark, empty abyss, but a living home to a fascinating array of plants and animals.
Carson also dramatized the intricate relationship between wind and water. The
rotation of the earth, water temperature, and wind combine to produce the great ocean
currents – giant global maelstroms that carry the sea’s waters in roughly circular patterns.
The wind also whips up the ocean waters into waves that undulate across the sea’s surface.
Carson explained that these waves vary from the smallest ripples to giant mountains of
water, called tsunamis, that travel up to 600 miles per hour – with a sometimes startling
celerity – and cause great damage when they came ashore. No matter what force of nature
Carson evoked, she never failed to make her reader feel a part of the process she was
describing, and to respect the earth and seas.
1.
The meaning of myotic is
a. imaginative
b. enlightened c. democratic d. shortsighted
2. Avid most nearly means
a. enthusiastic
b. grateful
c. critical
d. varied
3. Brackish is best defined as
a. frigid
b. briny
c. deep
d. mysterious
4. The meaning of maelstroms is
a. whirlpools
b. explosions
c. motors
d. earthquakes
5. Undulate most nearly means
a. creep
b. sing
c. ripple
d. reflect
6. Celerity most nearly means
a. quantity
b. cost
c. speed
d. time