1. Study Skills Vocabulary Unit 3
24-2

2. Chastise
Chas-tyze Verb Definition: to discipline; to criticize severely My mother chastised us for playing ball in the house.

3. Polarize
Poh-luh-ryz Verb Definition: to break up into opposing factions or groups The issue of what to have for dinner polarized the family since they couldn’t decide.

4. Tantalize
Tan-tal-ize Verb Definition: to excite by exposing something that is out of reach That tantalizing aroma of the bread made us all very hungry.

5. Synchronize
Sing-kra-nyz Verb Definition: to occur at the same time; simultaneous In order to perfectly synchronize their movements, the swimmers rehearsed daily.

6. Surmise
Sur-mize Verb Definition: to guess When everyone began to laugh, I surmised that I had been the butt of a joke.

7. Demise
Di-mize Noun Definition: death; the end Joe’s broken leg led to the demise of his football career.

8. Hiatus
Hye-ay-tus Noun Definition: a gap or an interruption; a break Susan asked for a three-month hiatus from work to spend time with her new baby.

9. Evince
I-vins Verb Definition: to show or demonstrate clearly The new billboard evinced our sales message.

10. Crux
Kruks Noun Definition: main point; the heart of the matter After Harry rambled on for hours, it was difficult to understand the crux of his speech.

11. Apex
Ay-peks Noun Definition: the highest point; peak When the swing reached its apex, we feared that girl may go over the top.