Vocabulary Unit 4 I miss you already!!!!

alliance (n) A joining together for some common purpose The two nations formed an alliance to defend each other in case of attack.

bewilder (v) To puzzle completely, confuse The captain continues to bewilder his troops by giving contradictory orders.

buffoon (n) A clown; a coarse stupid person Some students think they need to play the buffoon in order to be the center of attention.

controversial (adj) arousing argument, dispute, or disagreement The school board waited until all members were present before issuing the the controversial proposal to cut after school programs.

dishearten (v) To discourage Do not let your low test score on your math test dishearten you.

fruitless (adj) Not producing desired results When efforts to fight the infection with penicillin proved fruitless, the doctors tried a different antibiotic.

hostile (adj) unfriendly; unfavorable, warlike, aggressive Relations between the two nations have been hostile for years.

inflammable (adj) easily set on fire; easily angered or aroused Always be cautious when using inflammable cleaning solvents.

inflict (v) To give or cause something unpleasant, impose Despite all the jokes, teachers do not like to inflict pain on their students.

malignant (adj) deadly, extremely harmful, evil, spiteful or malicious Much to the patient’s relief, the X ray revealed no malignant growth.

mortify (v) To hurt someone’s feelings deeply; to cause embarrassment or humiliation; to subdue or discipline by self-denial or suffering The teacher was mortified that she could she had to grade exams for two weeks instead of passionately teaching her students.

orthodox (adj) in agreement with established or generally accepted beliefs or ways of doing things Students can become more successful if they adopt orthodox approaches to proven study strategies.

procure (v) To obtain through special effort; to bring about The hospital held a raffle to procure the necessary funds for their new children’s wing.

scurry (v) To run quickly, scamper, hurry Students scurry to their classes in the morning to ensure that they do not miss a minute of classroom instruction.

sodden (adj) soaked with liquid or moisture; expressionless, dull, spiritless, listlessness All at once, and with much loud honking, the flock of geese rose from the sodden marshlands.

spirited (adj) full of life and vigor The spirited student body cheered during Obama’s inauguration.

virtual (adj) having certain force or effect in fact but not in name so close as to be equivalent to the real thing. To those who worked in the office, the bossy new manager was a virtual dictator.

void (adj) completely empty; having no legal force or effect I thought the poem completely void of sense. (n) Empty or unfilled space My grandfather’s death left a great void in my grandmother’s life. (v) To cancel or nullify Do you know how to void a check?

wayward (adj) disobedient, willful; unpredictable, capricious Tracking the wayward path of a comet is no easy matter.

wince (v) To draw back sudden, as though in pain or fear The dog’s bite made the child wince in pain. (n) The act of drawing back in this way The patient’s wince told the doctor to press more gently.