1. Ascetic N. A person who rejects physical comfort for self- discipline Jim decided to become an ascetic to see if he could overcome his problems with addictions.

2. Assuage V. To provide relief from something distressing When Kate started to cry over breaking up with her boyfriend, her little sister tried to assuage her by holding her hand.

3. Benign adj. Kindhearted, gentle, harmless His benign behavior towards abandoned animals helped him get a job at the animal hospital.

4. Bombast N. Speech with little meaning intended to impress the audience The bombasts from the presidential candidates are getting a little boring.

5. Castigate V. To scold or criticize someone harshly Because Jerry was mad at his friend Larry for wrecking his car, Jerry decided to castigate him in front of his other friends to get back at him.

6. Concise adj. Short and clearly written or stated In a concise sentence, tell me why you love winter.

7. Conundrum N. Something confusing, mystery Because girls are a conundrum to Keith, he decided not to go the prom.

8. Deride V To make fun of something, ridicule Do not deride something you know nothing about.

9. Ethereal Adj. Delicately beautiful, heavenly Jenny’s ethereal portrait of her mom won the Best of Show award at the fair.

10. Expurgate V To edit something by removing offensive parts After my mom expurgated the book, I was allowed to read it.

11. Fickle adj. Frequently changing interests or loyalty Political candidates hope their supporters are not fickle because they need all the votes they can get.

12. Inadvertent adj. Done without thinking, by accident When he inadvertently knocked over the glass of water, his mother tried not to yell at his mistake.

13. Inchoate adj. Not yet fully developed, partly formed When Jenny’s art teacher looked at her inchoate art design, he gave her an extra day to get it finished.

14. Insolvent adj. Unable to pay bills, bankrupt Big Buck Barbeque became insolvent because it couldn't attract enough customers to come and eat there.

15. Lionize V To make or treat somebody like a celebrity We decided to lionize Mr. McGood because he was always at the bus stop ready to protect us from distracted drivers.

Vocab Practice For all of the words, list two things that are examples of that word and explain why. Fickle My mom---sometimes she’s happy, other times she’s sad. My girlfriend—one day she likes me, the next day she doesn’t