100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know



100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know World Literature

Words in Context

Each Friday, you will be quizzed on five new vocabulary words from the list below, beginning alphabetically. Weekly quizzes are cumulative—you may be quizzed not only on the current week’s words, but also all previous words assigned.

Consistent review and preparation will help you succeed.

To prepare, create a vocab. card for each of the words. On your card, include the definition(s), part of speech, and at least five synonyms and five antonyms. To determine what definition you should copy from the dictionary, use the definition that is suggested by the way the words are used in the sentences that follow.

1. abjure The defendant abjured his previous testimony

2. abrogate “In 1928, we were told that this amendment meant that our existing Aboriginal and

treaty rights were now part of the supreme law of the land, and could not be abrogated

or denied by any government.” – Matthew Coon Come, Native Americas

3. abstemious “Mr. Brooke was an abstemious man, and to drink a second glass of sherry quickly at

no great interval from the first was a surprise to his system.” – George Eliot, Middlemarch

4. acumen “No, no, my dear Watson! With all great respect for your natural acumen, I do not

think you are quite a match for the worthy doctor!” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The

Adventure of Missing Three-Quarter

5. antebellum While vacationing in Georgia, we took a tour of stately antebellum houses.

6. auspicious My boss was in a good mood, so I thought it was an auspicious time to ask for a raise.

7. belie Their laughter belied their outward anger.

8. bellicose The nations exchanged bellicose words over the border dispute.

9. bowdlerize The publisher bowdlerized the inappropriate language to make the play suitable for

family audiences.

10. chicanery “The successful man... who has risen by conscienceless swindling of his neighbors, by

deceit and chicanery, by unscrupulous boldness and unscrupulous cunning, stands

toward society as a dangerous wild beast.” – Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life

11. chromosome “Chromosomes occur in pairs,” the science teacher told the class.

12. churlish His churlish attitude made him a difficult partner.

13. circumlocution “At such a time” is a circumlocution for the word “when.”

14. circumnavigate “The whale he had struck must also have been on its travels; no doubt it had thrice circumnavigated the globe.” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick

15. deciduous Male deer have deciduous antlers.

16. deleterious “I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I

consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and

mischievous.” – The Hippocratic Oath (the oath doctors take when they begin to

practice medicine.

17. diffident Because he was too diffident to speak up for himself, his friends often took advantage

of him.

18. enervate “What is the nature of luxury which enervates and destroys nations?” – Henry David

Thoreau, Walden

19. enfranchise Many people who were enfranchised were nonetheless unable to vote because of poll

taxes that they could not afford to pay.

20. epiphany “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed

myself.” – Frank Maier, Newsweek

21. equinox The vernal equinox occurs on March 20 or 21, and the autumnal equinox occurs on

September 22 or 23.

22. euro Italy and France are two countries that have adopted the euro.

23. evanescent Despite the evanescent rays of sunshine, the children continued to play outdoors.

24. expurgate The R-rated movie was expurgated before it was shown on network television.

25. facetious The employee’s facetious remarks were not appreciated during the meeting.

26. fatuous “Aren’t you jealous of my new car?” he teased in a fatuous way.

27. feckless The feckless student turned in yet another late paper.

28. fiduciary The fiduciary for his estate was his eldest son.

29. filibuster The senator’s filibuster lasted more than 24 hours.

30. gamete The gamete could be seen only under the most powerful microscope.

31. gauche Sometimes his gauche behavior made family get-togethers awkward.

32. gerrymander The word ‘gerrymander’ comes from combining the word ‘salamander’ with the last

name of a former Massachusetts governor named Elbridge Gerry.

33. hegemony The hegemony of communism in Eastern Europe crumbled in the late 1980s.

34. hemoglobin In vertebrates, hemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body and

carries carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs.

35. homogeneous “Although the Vietnamese in America were at first a homogenous group, in the course of five separate waves of immigration, they have encompassed a diverse cross-section of Vietnamese society.” – Lowell Weiss, Atlantic Monthly

36. hubris His hubris would not allow him to admit that he made mistake.

37. hypotenuse While constructing the tree house, the son sawed the wood planks after the father measured the hypotenuse.

38. impeach The House of Representatives impeached Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in

1998; neither was convicted.

39. incognito The spy traveled incognito into enemy territory.

40. incontrovertible The lawyer presented incontrovertible proof of her client’s innocence.

41. inculcate “At Briarwoods Academy,” the headmaster stated, “we try to inculcate our students

with a sense of duty and integrity.”

42. infrastructure When considering the expansion of the new school, the district first had to examine the surrounding infrastructure.

43. interpolate Some scholars believe that the ending was not original to the story; instead, it was later

interpolated into the text to make fans happy.

44. irony The irony was that the more he learned, the more he realized he didn’t know.

45. jejune The boy’s jejune behavior resulted in an after school detention.

46. kinetic In a room full of still images, the kinetic sculpture attracted the most attention at the

art show.

47. kowtow Because everyone was afraid of being laid off, the employees all kowtowed to their strict boss.

48. laissez faire Because of the coach’s laissez-faire attitude toward his team, the players lacked discipline and team unity.

49. lexicon The lexicon of literature includes terms such as metaphor, simile, and personification.

50. loquacious His loquacious personality made him the center of every discussion at the party.

51. lugubrious The lugubrious nature of the ceremony was accentuated by the dramatic and emotional music.

52. metamorphosis From 9th grade to 12th grade, many students undergo quite a metamorphosis!

53. mitosis Without the process of mitosis, reproduction would be impossible.

54. moiety Tom divided the cake; while Becky devoured her portion, Sam nibbled on his moiety.

55. nanotechnology The Apple iPod is just one of many examples of how nanotechnology has changed the way we get our entertainment today.

56. nihilism Because of his nihilistic attitude, the painter’s work was often criticized as being overly

depressing and void of any hope.

57. nomenclature Our biology teacher explained the nomenclature of animals and plants today in class.

58. nonsectarian The airport chapel conducts nonsectarian services daily.

59. notarize To prevent fraud, every passport application has to be notarized before being processed.

60. obsequious His obsequious personality may have made him the teacher’s pet, but it only annoyed the other students in the class.

61. oligarchy “Even though we technically live in a democracy,” the student argued, “only a few people have true power in the government. Sometimes I think we live in an oligarchy instead.”

62. omnipotent “If the president has omnipotent power,” the student continued, “then how are average citizens supposed to participate effectively in their government?”

63. orthography The orthography of British English requires that colour and favourite be spelled with a u.

64. oxidize He could tell that the metal fender on his car began to oxidize because of the rust stains.

65. parabola “Although the famous St. Louis Arch has the same shape as parabola,” the math teacher

explained, “technically it is not.”

66. paradigm According to several national rankings, Conestoga High School is a paradigm in secondary education.

67. parameter Before the bell rang, the teacher reminded her students, “Be sure to look over the directions for your project so that you stay within the parameters of the requirements.”

68. pecuniary Most traffic violations are a pecuniary offense; depending on how severe the violation,

additional penalties—such as a driving license suspension—are also possible.

69. photosynthesis Because plants take in carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis, many

environmentalists argue that preserving nature is one way to help stem global warming.

70. plagiarize Copying someone else’s homework and passing it off as your own work is plagiarism.

71. plasma Because it contains the antibodies that help us fight infections, plasma plays a significant role in our immune systems.

72. polymer Glucose (sugar) and plastics are examples of polymers.

73. precipitous Warning signs and fences were placed along the trail to alert hikers to the precipitous areas of the park.

74. quasar To view the quasar, the astronomy students went to the observatory and used its high-powered telescope.

75. quotidian There’s nothing that interrupts the quotidian nature of the school day more than an unplanned fire drill.

76. recapitulate Before the professor introduced the new material, he spent five minutes recapitulating the

material covered in the last lecture.

77. reciprocal Although the two teams were fierce rivals, they shared a reciprocal respect for each others’ talent and drive.

78. reparation As reparation for losing her friend’s favorite scarf, Jennifer knitted her a new one for her

birthday.

79. respiration Respiration should never be confused with perspiration—both are necessary biological processes, but respiration doesn’t require you to use deodorant!

80. sanguine Because of her sanguine outlook on life, she interpreted the rain on her wedding day to be an auspicious sign rather than an ominous one.

81. soliloquy In the famous balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet reveals her feelings for Romeo through a short soliloquy.

82. subjugate The administration subjugated the students by threatening to take away free periods if the noise in the hallways did not calm down.

83. suffragist Susan B. Anthony is one of the most famous suffragists in U.S. history.

84. supercilious Because of his supercilious attitude, Mark was one of the hardest people to work with in a team—he always insisted he knew what was right and looked down on everyone else!

85. tautology Along with circumlocution, tautologies are often the culprits of unclear and imprecise writing in students’ essays, especially when students are trying to reach a minimum word count.

86. taxonomy “King Philip can order fresh green salads” is a mnemonic device to help remember the

taxonomy of biology—kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

87. tectonic Although they are constantly shifting, the movement of the tectonic plates can be felt most clearly during an earthquake.

88. tempestuous Despite her tempestuous childhood experiences, Marjane Satrapi grew up to be an accomplished and respected author and graphic artist.

89. thermodynamics According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed—it can only change forms.

90. totalitarian George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 warns against the consequences of totalitarian governments.

91. unctuous I didn’t believe a word that the unctuous salesperson said—all she wanted to do was get me to buy the make-up!

92. usurp In Hamlet, Claudius usurps the crown from his nephew, who is the rightful heir to the kingdom after his father dies.

93. vacuous Although the commercials promised that the interview with the celebrity would be revealing, the interviewer’s questions were so poorly constructed that only vacuous answers were offered.

94. vehement Although the child had been caught red-handed, he still protested vehemently, claiming his innocence.

95. vortex Eddies and whirlpools are examples of vortexes.

96. winnow The American Idol judges winnowed down thousands of contestants to the final twelve.

97. wrought The jewel thieves put together a carefully wrought plan, yet they were outsmarted by the acumen of Sherlock Holmes.

98. xenophobe Some people may argue that xenophobia has contributed to the harsh anti-immigration laws currently being implemented.

99. yeoman If you want to get something approved, don’t ask the yeoman; ask his superior.

100. ziggurat When studying ancient Mesopotamian culture, the student came across several pictures of

ziggurats in his research.

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