Vocab Unit 6 By: Jenna Caffarello

Abject (Adj) – Degraded; base, contemptible, cringing, servile; complete and unrelieved. In history class, we are learning about the abject lives of families during the Great Depression.

Agnostic (N) – One who believes that nothing can be known about God; a skeptic (Adj) – Without faith, skeptical When Susan was explaining how the earth was created, her friend did not understand because of her agnostic beliefs.

Complicity (N) – Involvement in wrongdoing; the state of being an accomplice When security watched the tape, they noticed a man helping the robber, so they charged him for complicity.

Derelict (N) – Someone or something that is abandoned or neglected; (Adj) – Left abandoned; neglectful of duty I felt so bad for the derelict puppy I saw wandering around the streets, so I took him home.

Diatribe (N) – A bitter and prolonged verbal attack Just because you don’t like me, does not mean you have to throw diatribes at me every time you see me.

Effigy (N) – A crude image of a despised person Tom hated his history teacher, so he drew an effigy of her, but he got caught and was sent to his home office.

Equity (N) – The state or quality of being just, fair, or impartial; fair and equal treatment; something that is fair; the money value of a property above and beyond any mortgage or other claim. When teaching little kids, you must remember that equity is important, otherwise, it’ll lead to fighting.

Inane (Adj) – Silly, empty of meaning or value While standing out in the rain, the reporter made an inane comment announcing that rain was coming.

Indictment (N) – The act of accusing; a formal Accusation During the test, the teacher made an indictment of Henry; he was cheating off of Sally’s paper.

Indubitable (Adj) – Certain, not to be doubted or denied When the tennis team played Hatboro Horsham, it was an indubitable fact that they were going to win.

Intermittent (Adj) – Stopping and beginning again, Sporadic I was getting very annoyed when the thunderstorm was making my television have only intermittent reception. .

Moot (Adj) – Open to discussion and debate, unresolved; (V) – To bring up for discussion; (N) – A hypothetical law case argued by students Your argument was a moot point because there was no way she was changing her mind.

Motif (N) – A principal idea, feature, theme, or element; a repeated or dominant figure in a design In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold scene was a motif that occurred throughout the novel.

Neophyte (N) – A new convert, beginner, novice When I first started my job, many people called me a neophyte, because I did not know anything.

Perspicacity (N) – Keenness in observing and understanding To accumulate perspicacity, you must pay attention in school, work hard, and ask questions.

Plenary (Adj) – Complete in all aspects or essentials; absolute; attended by all qualified members The vice president had plenary power when he took office while the president was in the hospital.

Surveillance (N) – A watch kept over a person, careful, close, and disciplined observation If you try stealing at the mall, surveillance will catch you, and you will be in trouble.

Sylvan (Adj) – Pertaining to or characteristic of forests, living or located in a forest, wooded, woody Thoreau lived in a sylvan cabin on Walden pond, because he wanted to see what nature could teach him about life.

Testy (Adj) – Easily irritated, characterized by impatience and exasperation The teacher was very testy today, because nobody did well on their critical paper.

Travesty Many movies today are travesties of the original (N) – A grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a disguise, especially the clothing of the opposite sex (V) – to ridicule by imitating in a broad or burlesque fashion Many movies today are travesties of the original books, because they are inaccurate, badly produced, or do not contain correct information.