9 Vocabulary Unit 5

Accost Verb To approach and speak to someone aggressively Synonym: confront

Accost Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man.

Accost The store manager accosted the shoplifter.

Animosity Noun Resentment; hostility; ill will Synonym: resentment

Animosity The rivals for the state championship felt great animosity towards each other.

Animosity Curtis felt a great deal of animosity towards the kid who used to shove him in his locker.

Bastion Noun Stronghold; fortress; fortified place Synonym: fortress

Bastion Mrs. Garnett’s classroom is a bastion of boredom; that is, it’s a place where originality seldom, if ever, makes its way inside.

Bastion The robbers terrorized the village for several weeks, and then escaped to their bastion high in the treacherous mountains.

Chastise Verb To inflict punishment on Synonym: to discipline

Chastise My mother chastised us for destroying the kitchen in our attempts to build a model volcano.

Chastise We tried to chastise the dog for sleeping on the bed, but it never seemed to work; the minute we turned out backs he curled up on the pillows.

Construe Verb To interpret Synonym: to interpret

Construe Preston construed his contract as giving him the right to do whatever he wanted at work.

Construe The meaning of the poem, as I construed it, had to do with the love of a man for his dog.

Deride Verb To ridicule; to laugh at contemptuously Synonym: to make fun of

Deride John derided Max’ driving ability after he nearly crashed the car multiple times in one trip.

Deride The school derided their soccer team because they hadn’t won a game in 25 years.

Enfranchise Verb To grant the privileges of citizenship, especially the right to vote Synonym: to give the right to vote to

Enfranchise In the United States, citizens become enfranchised on their eighteenth birthdays.

Enfranchise American women were not enfranchised until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 which gave them the right to vote.

Fetter Verb To restrain; to hamper Synonym: to restrict

Fetter In his pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, the runner was fettered by multiple injuries.

Fetter The woman was fettered from buying a house by her horrible credit.

Imminent Adjective Just about to happen Synonym: near

Imminent The pink glow in the east made it clear that sunrise was imminent.

Imminent The hurricane is imminent and has homeowners rushing to board up their windows.

Introspective Adjective Tending to think about oneself; examining one’s feelings Synonym: inward looking

Introspective The introspective artist was always questioning his own painting skills.

Introspective The ringing of the cellphone interrupted my introspective moment at the lake.

Maxim Noun A fundamental principle; an old saying Synonym: a saying

Maxim We always tried to live our lives according to the maxim that it is better to give than to receive.

Maxim If Jack had heeded the maxim and looked before he leaped, he would not have bought the cheap house surrounded by drug dens.

Pacify Verb To calm someone down; to placate Synonym: to calm

Pacify A parent gives a pacifier to a baby to pacify him.

Pacify The airline attempted to pacify the stranded passengers with offers of free flight vouchers.

Plebeian Adjective Common; vulgar; low-class Synonym: low-class

Plebeian Sarah refused to eat fast food, saying it was too plebeian for her discriminating palate.

Plebeian The millionaire called the hotel a plebeian accommodation because it did not offer room service.

Redolent Adjective Fragrant Synonym: fragrant

Redolent The air in autumn is redolent of wood smoke and fallen leaves.

Redolent The flower arrangements on the tables were both beautiful and redolent.

Serendipity Noun Accidental good fortune; discovering good things without looking for them Synonym: by a happy chance

Serendipity Jane met her husband simply by serendipity when they were both waiting in line at the post office.

Serendipity It had to be serendipity when we found our dream house during a random drive in the country.