1. Vocabulary Unit 9 Level F

2. What do you know?
We stood on the dock that moonless night, waiting for the storm to abate.
Athletes have little choice but to enjoy the sometimes puzzling adulation of their fans.
The author’s views on bringing up children are anathema to my dad but a delight to my mother.

3. Abate 
V. to make less in amount, degree, etc.; to subside, become less; nullify; to deduct, omit
Syn: diminish, decrease, subside, let up
Ant: Intensify, increase, magnify, wax

4. adulation N. praise or flattery that is excessive
Syn: Adoration, idolization, hero-worship
Ant: ridicule, derision, odium

5. anathema 
N. an object of intense dislike ; a curse or strong denunciation
Syn: Malediction, imprecation, abomination
Ant: benediction, blession

6. What do you know?
The astute management of money is a valuable skill but may not by itself make a good executive.
Her career exhibited both the miser’s ever-growing avarice and the miser’s diminishing charm.
It was the inspectors’ culpable neglect of duty that left such old buses in service.

7. astute Adj. shrewd, crafty, showing practical wisdom
Syn: Acute,sagacious, judicious, wily,
Ant: Obtuse, doltish, empty-headed, dumb

8. avarice N. a greedy desire, particularly for wealth
Syn: cupidity, rapacity, acquisitiveness

9. culpable Adj. deserving blame, worthy of condemnation
Syn: guilty, blameworthy, peccant,
Ant: blameless, innocent, laudable, meritorious

10. What do you know?
She hired an assistant because, on her own, she was always dilatory in paying her bills.
Whoever allowed that man on a stage is guilty of an egregious blunder.
I won’t soon give my vote to a candidate who shows such a marked tendency to equivocate.
Looking back, I see that the magic of that summer was evanescent.

11. dilatory
Adj. tending to delay or procrastinate, not prompt; intended to delay or postpone
Syn: stalling, slow, tardy, laggard
Ant: prompt, punctual, speedy, expeditious,

12. egregious Adj. conspicuous, standing out from the masses
Syn: glaring, flagrant, blatant,
Ant: unnoticeable, paltry, piddling

13. equivocate 
V. to speak or act in a way that allows for more than one interpretation; to be deliberately vague or ambiguous
Syn: Talk out of both sides of one’s mouth, palter, hedge
Ant: To speak one’s mind plainly

14. evanescent Adj. vanishing, soon passing away, light and airy
Syn: ephemeral, transient, transitory,
Ant: everlasting, immortal, imperishable

15. irresolute Adj. unable to make up one’s mind, hesitating
Syn- Indecisive, Vaccilating,
Ant- Determined, decisive

16. nebulous
Adj. cloud-like, resembling a cloud, cloudy in color, vague,  confused, indistinct
Synonym: Hazy, fuzzy, cloudy, opaque.
ANT: distinct, definite, clear

17. novice Ant- Veteran, Pro, expert
N. one who is a beginner at some activity requiring skill or experience
Syn-Neophyte, Trainee, apprentice, (scrub!)
Ant- Veteran, Pro, expert

18. penury N. extreme poverty, barrenness, insufficiency
Syn-Destitution, indigence,
Ant- affluence, luxury

19. pretentious
Adj. done for show, striving to make a big impression; claiming merit or position unjustifiably; making demands on one’s skill or abilities, ambitious
Syn-Ostentatious, Inflated
Ant- Unaffected, modest

20. recapitulate V. to review a series of facts, to sum up
Syn- Summarize, review, go over

21. resuscitate V. to revive, bring back to consciousness or existence
SYN- revitalize, reanimate, restore, reactivate

22. slovenly Adj. dirty, untidy, careless Syn- Unkempt, slatternly, lax.
Ant- Neat, meticulous

23. supposition
N. something that is assumed or taken for granted without conclusive evidence
Syn- assumption, presumption, hypothesis

24. torpid Adj. inactive, sluggish, dull Syn: Lethargic, languid
Ant: energetic, vigorous