Vocab Units 5 & 6 Level F

Unit 5

Amnesty (n) A general pardon for an offense against a government; in general any act of forgiveness or absolution Amnesty can mean a pardon for a wrongdoing, or it can also signal a government's willingness to overlook something. Amnesty sounds a little like "amnesia," and that's because in its more specific sense amnesty means "forgetting."   Amnesty to illegal aliens means the government will deliberately overlook their illegal entry to the country. 

Axiomatic (adj) Self-evident, expressing a universally accepted principle An axiom is a self-evident truth. axiomatic means evident without proof or argument. The authors of the Declaration of Independence could have written, “We hold these truths to be axiomatic,” but it wouldn't have the same ring.

Blazon (v) To adorn or embellish; to display obviously; to publish or proclaim widely

Equitable (adj) Fair, just, embodying principles of justice Equitable distribution means everyone gets their fair share of something. If you work on a group project in class, you want an equitable share of the credit. When you look at equitable, you might think you see the word, equal, but it doesn't mean fair in the sense of exactly the same. 

Filch (v) To steal, especially in a sneaky way and in petty amounts You can filch money, time, and stuff Considered a dirty, lowdown deed. Filching is similar to pilfering, swiping, and lifting— other words for taking what isn't yours.

Flout (v) To mock, to treat something with disregard To flout is to scorn or show contempt for it's believed that it evolved from the Middle English flowten “to play the flute." As a verb, it means to scorn, as in, for example, to scorn a law, person, or social norm by defying it.

Salutary (adj) Beneficial, helpful; healthful, wholesome Use salutary to describe something that's good for your health, like the salutary benefits of exercise, laughter, and getting enough sleep every night. Think of “salud!” which means "good health."

Soporific (adj) (n) (adj) Tending to cause sleep, relating to sleepiness or lethargy (n) Something that induces sleep Something that is soporific is sleep-inducing. Certain medicines, but also extreme coziness, can have a soporific effect.

Scourge (v) (n) (v) To whip punish severely (n) A cause of affliction or suffering; a source of severe punishment or criticism A scourge is a whip — or anything else that is punishing and dreadful. You could confront "a scourge of corruption" or "a scourge of hunger." As a verb, scourge means to cause suffering. Not surprisingly, it comes from the old French word meaning "to whip." A dictatorship could scourge and oppress its citizens, and an infectious disease could scourge an entire community. When you see scourge, think "suffering."

Scathing (adj) Bitterly severe, withering; causing great harm If you enter a singing contest and the judge says that your singing is like that of a toad with laryngitis, that is scathing criticism. Scathing comes from an old Norse verb, to scathe, which means to injure by fire or lighting. Now we use it when someone’s critique is so harsh that it feels like you've been burned. 

Vapid (adj) Dull, uninteresting, tiresome; lacking in sharpness, flavor, liveliness, or force To describe someone who is dull or uninteresting The word was originally used in English in a much more literal sense, describing beverages that lacked flavor.

Unit 6

Heinous (adj) Very wicked, offensive, hateful Heinous descends from Middle English, from Old French haineus, from haine "hatred," from hair "to hate." think of acts that are considered hateful (or outrageous, and shocking).  In Memory of the Harveys

Ennui (n) [ahn wee] Weariness and dissatisfaction from lack of occupation or interest, boredom Ennui is one version of "the blahs.“

Anomalous (adj) [ah nahm ah lous] Abnormal, irregular, departing from the usual Something that deviates from the norm is anomalous. Something anomalous can be good, such as an exciting new direction in music or art. But that anomalously low score on your math test? Not so good.

Fetter (n) (v) (n) A chain or shackle placed on the feet; anything that confines or restrains (v) to chain or shackle; to render helpless or impotent To fetter someone is to restrict their movement, either literally or metaphorically. You might feel fettered by your parents' rules, even without the chains.

Transmute (v) To change from one nature, substance, or form to another You can transmute your appearance — by dying your hair, piercing your nose, or changing your style of dress.  Transmute often describes physical change — like when alchemists tried to transmute lead into gold — but it can also be used more figuratively to describe anything that's transformed. For example, you might transmute your sketchy memories of growing up in Boston into the Great American Novel.

Brusque (adj) Abrupt, blunt, with no formalities If you ask a salesperson for help finding something and all you get in response is a brusque "Everything's out on the shelves,“ you might walk out of the store. 

Surreptitious (adj) Stealthy, secret, intended to escape observation Like if you plan a surprise party, you would do it surreptitiously

T shirt Megalomania (n) A delusion marked by a feeling of power, wealth, talent, etc., far in excess of reality Megalomania comes from the Greek megas ("great") and mania ("madness"). It is a madness of greatness, but not a great kind of madness! 

Bizarre (adj) Extremely strange, unusual, atypical Bizarre was borrowed from French, from bizarro "angry, fierce, strange," from Spanish, "bold, like a knight."

Castigate (v) To punish severely; to criticize severely Politicians in the Senate are always castigating each other for their alliances and opinions.  Castigate and chasten, which also means "to reprimand" but is less severe, share the Latin root castus which means "pure." Ideally, if you castigate someone, you mean to guide someone away from the wrong path and toward a more pure one. But it sure doesn't feel like that when you're being castigated!