Level F Vocabulary Unit #2

Focus Words  bombastic  callow  epitome  ingratiate  occult  surmise

bombastic= negative (adj) pompous; high- sounding language pretentious inflated My teacher wants me to write clear, direct responses, not just fill up lines with bombastic blabber.

bombastic  bastic bastic  pretentious-  ntious ntious  pompous-  ous?s=t ous?s=t Origins Either from bombast (“padding, stuffing”), or from middle name of Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus), who often used extremely arrogant speaking style.bombast

Other Forms boasted bombastically- Adverb bombastical politician- Adjective

callow=negative (adj) without experience; immature; lacking sophistication and poise inexperience green Fans complained about the bad calls made by the callow NFL referees.

callow  ow?s=t ow?s=t No Feathers Origins Old English calu ‘bald’; probably from Latin calvus ‘bald.’ This was extended to mean ‘unfledged,’ which led to the present sense ‘immature.’

Other Forms comparative adjective: callower (especially of a young person) inexperienced and immature without hair without feathers

epitome=positive (n) A condensed account; an instance that represents a larger reality model archetype The Queen of England is the epitome of a proper lady.

epitome  ome?s=t ome?s=t  abstract or digest

Other Forms plural noun: epitomes Origin: early 16th century: via Latin from Greek epitomē, from epitemnein ‘abridge,’ from epi ‘in addition’ + temnein ‘to cut.’

ingratiate=negative (v) To make oneself agreeable to and accepted by others cozy up to gain favor by others (sometimes used in a derogatory manner) Betsy tried to ingratiate herself to her new team members by bringing them cupcakes.

ingratiate  atiate atiate

Other Forms IngratiatingIngratiating adjective IngratiatinglyIngratiatingly adverb IngratiationIngratiation noun IngratiatoryIngratiatory adjective ingratiatedingratiated, ingratiating transitive verbingratiating Origin: early 17th century: from Latin in gratiam ‘into favor,’ on the pattern of obsolete Italian ingratiare, earlier form of ingraziare.

occult=negative (adj) mysterious, magical (verb) to hide or conceal supernatural esoteric There were rumors that the old woman had occult powers.

occult  lt lt  esoteric webster.com/dictionary/esoteric  abstruse -difficult to comprehend

Other Forms Origin: late 15th century (as a verb): from Latin occultare ‘secrete,’ frequentative of occulere ‘conceal,’ based on celare ‘to hide’; the adjective and noun from occult- ‘covered over,’ from the verb occulere. oc·cult′ly- adverb oc·cult′ness- noun oc·cult·ed, oc·cult·ing, oc·cults- verb

surmise=negative (v) to guess without support or proof (n) Idea that lacks proof infer gather After looking at the test scores, I surmise that some students did not study.

surmise  webster.com/dictionary/surmise webster.com/dictionary/surmise

Other Forms Origin: late Middle English (in the senses ‘formal allegation’ and ‘allege formally’): from Anglo-Norman French and Old French surmise, feminine past participle of surmettre ‘accuse,’ from late Latin supermittere ‘put in afterward,’ from super- ‘over’ + mittere ‘send.’ verb: surmise; 3rd person present: surmises; past tense: surmised; past participle: surmised; gerund or present participle: surmising noun: surmise; plural noun: surmises

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