1. Vocabulary Level F Unit 14

2. amenable – adj. willing to follow advice or authority; liable to be held responsible
Ex: The class was amenable to the substitute teacher’s requests because she bribed them with candy.

3. berate – v. to scold sharply
Ex: When the classroom teacher returned the next day, she berated the class for extorting candy from the substitute.

4. carnage – n. large-scale slaughter or loss of life
Ex: After the stern lecture, the classroom carnage consisted of exhausted, down-trodden students and an angry, frustrated teacher.

5. credulous – adj. too ready to believe, easily deceived
Ex: The credulous substitute had been fooled when the class told him that their teacher gives them food to get them to sit down and take notes.

6. criterion – n. a rule, test; a standard for judgment or evaluation
Ex: The teacher reminded her class that her criterion for receiving candy was far more than good behavior; it was perfect vocabulary quiz scores!

7. deplete – v. to use up as a result of spending or consumption; to diminish greatly
Ex: If teachers rewarded students just for following the basic rules, they would deplete their own money quickly.

8. expatiate – v. to expand on, write/talk at length or in detail; to move about freely
Ex: The teacher expatiated her point by providing students with a breakdown of how much money she spends on them throughout the school year.

9. extraneous – adj. present but not essential, irrelevant

10. inception – n. the beginning, start, earliest stage of some process
Ex: However, the teacher regaled the class with the history of rewarding positive behavior, beginning with its inception -Pavlov’s drooling dogs.

11. infirmity – n. a weakness or ailment
Ex: She even went so far as to refer to the students’ bribery attempts as an infirmity in their generation’s moral fiber.

12. jejune – adj. lacking in interest or substance; immature, juvenile
Ex: The students’ jejune act of attempting to blackmail the substitute teacher angered their parents when they found out.

13. obdurate – adj. stubborn, unyielding
Ex: The students’ were obdurate in their argument that the substitute offered the candy to them, and they did not extort it.

14. potpourri – n. a collection of diverse or miscellaneous items, a general mixture
Ex: The students provided a potpourri of excuses attesting to their innocence.

15. precocious – adj. showing unusually early development
Ex: The students were convinced that their precocious status made them immune from punishment for petty crimes.

16. sadistic – adj. delighting in cruelty
Ex: The class accused the teacher of having a sadistic side when the punishment she gave them was to each write a 500-word apology to the substitute for their behavior.

17. sententious – adj. given to use of maxims or adages; saying much in few words, pithy
Ex: Ultimately, the teacher advised the students to remember the sententious notion that actions speak louder than words.

18. supplicate – v. to beg earnestly and humbly
Ex: The students supplicated for a reprieve, but the teacher was merciless.

19. surfeit – n. an excess or overindulgence, as in eating or drinking
Ex: As it turns out, the students suffered such bad stomachaches from their surfeit of junk food that many were absent from school the following day.

20. tortuous – adj. winding, twisted, crooked; highly involved, complex; devious
Ex: The students’ tortuous plan to hide the truth from the teacher had failed.

21. turgid – adj. swollen, bloated, filled to excess; over decorated or excessive in language
Ex: The candy bribe failed to lead to any behavioral changes; instead, it resulted in turgid tummies and turgid apologetic letters.