Vocabulary List #5

acumen (n): Quickness, accuracy, and keenness of judgment or insight
- I hope that I have acumen so that I can easily know who to trust.
adjudicate (v): To study and settle a dispute or conflict
- I don’t like being a mediator, but I will always adjudicate a fight between my friends.
anachronism (n): One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time
- President Lincoln sent an email is an anachronism.
apocryphal (adj): Erroneous; fictitious
- The idea that a dog could hold a pencil with it’s paw is apocryphal.
disparity (n): The condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference
- There is disparity in every high school because you start as a freshman and leave as a senior.
dissimulate (v): To conceal one's true feelings or intentions
- I often dissimulate whenever I am in a bad mood.
empirical (adj): Relying on or derived from observation or experiment
- I have to be empirical when learning information during my physics labs.
flamboyant (adj): Highly elaborate; ornate
- All of our dance recitals are flamboyant and amazing to watch.
fulsome (adj): Offensively flattering or insincere
- My friend acted fulsome when she said she would help me on my homework.
immolate (v): To kill as a sacrifice
- People often used to immolate so as to please the gods.
imperceptible (adj): Impossible or difficult to perceive by the mind or senses
- The idea behind the plot of the movie Inception is imperceptible to me.
lackey (n): A liveried male servant
- I wish I had a lackey so I force someone to do something for me.
liaison (n): An instance or a means of communication between different groups or units of an organization
- My main liaison among my friends would definitely be my cell phone.
monolithic (adj): Massive, solid, and uniform
- The asteroid heading for Earth is monolithic.
mot juste (n): Exactly the right word or expression
- I hope to use mot juste whenever speaking to adults.
nihilism (n): Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief
- I hope not to follow nihilism because I don’t want to lose who I am.
patrician (n): A person of refined upbringing, manners, and tastes
- My grandma acts as though she is a patrician because she has amazing etiquette.
propitiate (v): To conciliate (an offended power); appease
- I hope to propitiate all those who look up to me.
sic (adj): Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form or written intentionally
- I don’t like the idea of writings being sic because it usually means they are more confusing to read.
sublimate (v): To modify the natural expression of (a primitive, instinctual impulse) in a socially acceptable manner
- Someday I hope to sublimate the idea that a woman can burp in public.