Vocabulary 3-13 Quiz this Friday, October 4, 2013

Alter: to change Many inventions have change the course of history. Television altered the world, for example, by making it smaller. Fern’s dramatic weight loss and new hairstyle so altered her appearance that we barely recognized her.

Ample more than enough; plenty of Surprisingly, my compact car has ample space inside. Even Mario, who is six feet tall, never feels cramped in it. My parents believe that the most important requirement of any celebration is ample food, so that no one will go hungry.

Blunt straightforward and brief, often rudely so; honest to the point of rudeness “I’ll be blunt,” said Phyllis “This movie is boring.” My best friend is so blunt that he never softens the truth. He always states his opinion in a painfully straightforward way.

chronic continuing; lasting a long time, constant My little brother is a chronic complainer-all we hear from him is whining. Leon has been chain-smoking for so long that he has developed a chronic cough, heard daily by everyone in the office.

chronological in the time order in which events happened; arranged as events happened I could have followed the movie better if it had presented events in chronological order, instead of jumping back and forth in time. In your resume’, list your jobs in reverse chronological order-begin with the most recent job and go backward.

Optimist: someone who expects a good outcome; a hopeful person My sister is a true optimist. When her friends get out their umbrellas, she puts on suntan lotion. Alonso is such an optimist that when he lost his job, he said only, “I bet I’ll find a better one now.”

pretense a false claim The robber entered people’s houses under the pretense of being a repairman. I asked several questions about Dean’s illness, with the pretense of being concerned. In truth, I’ve never even liked Dean.

prolong to make something last longer Pulling off a bandage always hurts, but pulling it off slowly prolongs the pain. My online registration for fall classes was prolonged because the school computer system crashed.

refrain to hold oneself back from doing something; to stop oneself I refrained from saying what I really thought about Anne’s haircut because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Since she’s on a diet, Stella refrained from eating a second piece of carrot cake.

remorse a strong feeling of regret and guilt After she yelled at Russell, his mother was filled with remorse. She always regrets her outbursts of temper. Feeling remorse over losing her iPod, I apologized to my friend and promised to buy her a new one.