1. Shostak Vocabulary Unit 10
By: Twinkle Patel

2. Askance (adv.) with suspicion, distrust, or disapproval
The English teacher looked askance at the suggestion that students read compendiums of Dickens’s novels.
Syn: distrustfully, suspiciously, skeptically

3. Attenuate (v.) To weaken or lessen in force, intensity, or value
After making sure the wound was clean, the doctor took steps to attenuate the victim’s pain.
Syn: thin out, dilute, water down
Ant: thicken, strengthen, bolster

4. Benign
(adj.) gentle, kind, forgiving, understanding; having a favorable or beneficial effect; not malignant
Abraham Lincoln’s sensitive stepmother had a benign influence on the lonely boy who had lost his mother.
Syn: benevolent, salutary, salubrious, harmless
Ant: malevolent, deleterious

5. Cavil (v.) to find fault in a petty way, carp
(n.) a trivial objection or criticism
I suggest you do not cavil over small things but instead focus on what is important.
Despite a few cavils I might make, I still find her to be an excellent poet.
Syn: (v) to nitpick, quibble

6. Charlatan
(n.) one who feigns knowledge or ability; a pretender, impostor, or quack. The reporter exposed the real estate agent as a charlatan who routinely deceived her customers. Syn: fraud

7. Decimate (v) to destroy or kill a large part of
Again and again, Napoleon was able to decimate the armies of his enemies and lead his men on to further victories.
Syn: ravage, devastate, obliterate

8. Foible (n.) a failing, a minor flaw, a weak point
Gossiping is one human foible not likely to be eradicated.
Syn: shortcoming, defect, quirk
Ant: forte, virtue
Nail biting is a foible.

9. Forgo (v.) to do without, abstain from, give up
One of the best, if not the easiest, way to lose weight is to forgo dessert.
Syn: refrain from, renounce
Ant: indulge in, partake of
Give up
Smoking!

10. Fraught (adj.) full of or loaded with; accompanied by
Even with the most advanced equipment, expeditions to the top of Mt. Everest are still fraught with danger.
Syn: charged with
Ant: devoid of, lacking, deficient in

11. Inure
(v.) to toughen, harden; to render used to something by long subjection or exposure
The Inuit have become inured to the hardships of the long Arctic winters through years of experience.
Syn: accustom, acclimate
The Iditarod dog
sled race
The Iditarod dog sled race

12. Luminous (adj.) emitting or reflecting light, glowing; illuminating
Walking under that luminous night sky induced in me weighty thoughts not often pondered.
Syn: radiant, bright, refulgent, lustrous
Ant: dark, opaque, dim, murky

13. Obsequious
(adj.) marked by slavish attentiveness; excessively submissive, often for
self-interested reasons
Jane Austen ridiculed characters who were obsequious to the upper class but snobby to the lower class.
Syn: fawning, servile, sycophantic, mealy mouthed
Ant: assertive, bumptious, overbearing, candid, frank, independent

14. Obtuse (adj.) slow or dull in
understanding; measuring between 90° and 180°; not causing a sharp impression.
The lieutenant was too obtuse
to see the danger and led his
company right into the hands of
the enemy.
Syn: stupid, dumb, thick, mild,
dull-witted
Ant: acute, perceptive, quick-witted

15. Oscillate
(v.) to swing back and forth with a steady rhythm; to fluctuate or waver
The terrified narrator in Poe’s story The Pit and the Pendulum watches the dreaded instrument oscillate as it slowly moves toward him
Syn: vibrate, vacillate

16. Penitent (adj.) regretful for one’s sins or mistakes
(n.) one who is sorry for wrongdoing
The thief was sincerely penitent .
In the Middle Ages, penitents often confessed their sins publicly and were publicly punished.
Syn: (adj.) remorseful, regretful, rueful, sorry
Ant: (adj.) unrepentant, remorseless

17. PEREMPTORY
(adj.) having the nature of a command that leaves no opportunity for debate, denial, or refusal; offensively self-assured, dictatorial; determined, resolute.
The board members resented the director’s peremptory tone of voice.
Syn.: high-handed, unconditional
Ant: irresolute, tentative, mild, unassuming

18. Rebuff (v.) to reject; to snub; to repel, drive away
(n.) a curt rejection
The old man rebuffed his neighbors by refusing all offers of friendship.
Her rebuff of my invitation was quite rude.
Syn: (v.) spurn, repulse
(n.) setback
Ant: (v.) accept, welcome

19. Reconnoiter Reconnaissance Drone
(v.) to engage in reconnaissance; to make a preliminary inspection
Infantry officers often ask for volunteers to reconnoiter the terrain ahead before ordering their soldiers to advance.
Syn: to scout
Reconnaissance Drone

20. Shambles
(n.) a state of complete disorder, disarray and confusion, a mess
The burglars made a complete shambles of the apartment in their search for money and jewelry.

21. Sporadic
(adj.) occurring at irregular intervals, having no set plan or order.
The soldiers heard sporadic gunfire from the other side of the river.
Syn: intermittent, spasmodic
Ant: constant, steady, continuous, uninterrupted

22. CONCATENATION –add-on
(n.) The state of being linked together in a series like a chain
He planned the concatenation of events for his life, but will it happen that way?
Syn. chain, series,
sequence

23. CONCOMITANT – add-on
(n.) An event or situation that happens at the same time as or in connection with another
(adj.) Occurring or existing alongside something else
Earthquakes and tsunamis are natural concomitants.
Budget cuts lead to concomitant decreases in services .
Earthquake

24. (Special Thanks to Twinkle Patel c/o 2010 for this ppt.)