1. Vocabulary Week Four

2. Gratitude (noun) Ferocious (adj.)
Six days later, when it ended, I was unable to find a proper way to thank him, and I never have, and so, if nothing else, this story represents a small gesture of gratitude twenty years overdue.
A feeling of thankfulness and appreciation.
The wildest, most savage animal ready to rip your arms off and shred the muscles is a ferocious beast.
Marked by extreme and violent energy.

3. Cryptic (adj.) Grotesque (adj.)
He killed me at the Scrabble board, barely concentrating, and on those occasions when speech was necessary he had a way of compressing large thoughts into small, cryptic packets of language.
Having a secret or hidden meaning.
Many of the artists past paintings of people have been caricatures mockingly absurd or grotesque.
Distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal, odd, and hideous.

4. Reticent (adj.) Insufficient (adj.)
On the first day of high school even the most outgoing students seem a bit reticent.
Unwilling to communicate very much, talk a great deal, or reveal all facts.
A high school diploma is very helpful for getting a job, but by itself, it’s probably insufficient to land a job as an astronaut.
A quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement.

5. Vigil (noun) Mockery (noun)
David went to the peace vigil with a close friend whose brother was robbed and murdered with a handgun while driving a taxi in Texas.
To stand guard or observe an event for devotional purposes.
Mockery of your math teacher is unwise just before he grades your final exams.
Showing contempt by derision, ridicule or making a fool out of someone.

6. Skittish (adj.) Rectitude (noun)
At night he had trouble falling asleep—a skittish feeling—always on guard, hearing strange noises in the dark, or imaging an attack.
Unpredictably excited, nervous or jumpy.
Due to Tara’s moral rectitude, she refused to be involved in the plan to cheat on the upcoming vocabulary quiz.
Righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest.