Grade Seven Unit Nine

1. accelerate (v) to speed up, cause to move faster; to bring about more quickly syn: step up, quicken, hasten ant: slow down, retard. decelerate Ex. Pressing the gas pedal causes the car to accelerate.

2. bystander (n) one who looks on or observes, a person present but not taking part syn: observer, spectator, onlooker ant: active participant Ex. The bystander watched the parade go by.

3. canvass (v) to go through an area in order to procure votes, sales, or opinions; to go over in detail; to discuss syn: poll, survey, solicit Ex. Each candidate has people who canvass an area for votes.

4. casual (adj) happening by chance or on an irregular basis; showing little concern; informal syn: accidental, haphazard, offhand ant: formal, serious, premeditated, intentional Ex. The woman was a casual acquaintance seen only at occasional business meetings.

5. downtrodden (adj) treated unfairly and cruelly, oppressed syn: mistreated, ground underfoot ant: uplifted, liberated Ex. The litter of kittens was downtrodden before being rescued by the Humane Society.

6. entice (v) to attract, tempt syn: lure, beguile ant: nauseate, sicken, revolt, repel Ex. Catnip entices my cats.

7. erode (v) to wear away gradually, eat away syn: corrode, abrade ant: nurture, promote, encourage Ex. Each betrayal caused their friendship to erode further.

8. flounder (v) to thrash about in a clumsy or ineffective way syn: wallow, struggle Ex. The speaker floundered about looking for the right word to use.

9. graphic (adj) lifelike, vivid, relating to the pictorial arts syn: lively, descriptive, colorful ant: dull, boring, unrealistic, colorless Ex. The graphic novel visualized the action of the story.

10. gruesome (adj) horrible, revolting, ghastly syn: gory, hideous, grisly ant: pleasant, delightful, appealing Ex. The movie graphically depicted the gruesome details of the mauling.

11. melancholy (adj) sad, gloomy, unhappy (n) sadness, gloominess syn: (adj) depressed, dejected (n) dejection, depression ant: (adj) merry, happy, cheerful (n) joy, elation Ex. The tone of the poem was melancholy as the writer described losing his true love.

12. ordeal (n) a difficult or painful experience, a trial syn: test, hardship ant: pleasure, cinch Ex. Preparing for the marathon was an ordeal. The runner ran fifteen miles every day in all types of weather.

13.parch (v) to make dry and thirsty; to shrivel with heat syn: dry up, dehydrate, desiccate ant: soak, drench, saturate, waterlog Ex. The runner was parched after the race and had to replenish his electrolytes.

14. persist (v) to continue steadily in a course of action, refuse to stop or be changed; to last, remain syn: persevere, keep at it, endure ant: give up, discontinue Ex. To become a good athlete, one must persist at perfecting the fundamentals.

15.puny (adj) of less than normal strength or size; of no importance syn: undersized, pint-size, small, weak ant: robust, brawny, mammoth, gigantic Ex. The runt of the litter was puny and might not survive.

16. quibble (v) to evade or belittle a point by twisting words or raising minor objections (n) a petty objection syn: (v) nitpick, split hairs, cavil (n) squabble Ex. The siblings started to quibble over flavors of ice cream to distract their parents from the original argument about who had broken the television.

17. ratify (v) to approve, give formal approval to; confirm syn: endorse, sanction, uphold ant: cancel, repeal, annul, veto Ex. The student council members ratified the agreement to raise the price of a dance ticket.

18. regal (adj) royal, kinglike; fit for a king syn: majestic, stately, princely, august ant: lowly, humble, abject, servile Ex. The actor portraying the king, had to speak in a royal voice.

19. stifle (v) to smother, prevent from breathing; to hold back or choke off syn: strangle, suppress, snuff ant: nurture, promote, encourage Ex. She had to stifle the urge to sing during class.

20. vital (adj) having life, living; necessary to life, essential; key, crucial syn: indispensible, fundamental ant: nonessential, unnecessary Ex. Oxygen is vital to human beings.