2. Concise (kun-SISE) 6-1 adjective Other forms: conciseness (noun); concisely (adv.)

3.  Phil read the concise note from his wife: “Leave. Now.”

4. -short and to the point; terse

5. Sounds like: Kahn’s Ice Picture: A company, called “Kahn’s Ice,” that sells and delivers blocks of ice. The slogan on their truck is “Cold!”

6. Impudence (IMP-yoo-dense) 6-2 noun Other forms: impudent (adjective); impudently (adverb)

7.  Impudence, or any disrespectful behavior, is not tolerated in a court of law.

8. -rudeness; insolence

9. Sounds like: in pew dance (a pew is a seat or bench in a church) Picture: It’s Sunday morning, and the church is filled. The minister is about to begin the sermon when suddenly a man jumps up in his pew and performs a wild dance. The churchgoers are shocked, to say the least, at this rudeness and lack of consideration for others.

10. Validate (VAL-ih-date) 6-3 verb Other forms: valid (adj.); validity, validation (nouns)

11.  Ellen felt validated when the company took a chance and supported her idea.

12. -confirm; corroborate; support; sanction

13. Sounds like: Valid date Picture: Two archeologists. One is handing the other a small statue and saying, “I’ve done all the tests on this piece and believe it was made in 1962 B.C. It was a Tuesday, July 18 th. Will you please confirm that this is a valid date?”

14. Meager (MEE-grr) 6-4 adjective Other forms: meagerness (noun); meagerly (adverb)

15.  The movie promised plenty of action, but the plot was meager.

16. -small in size or amount; thin; weak

17. Sounds like: me grr Picture: A puppy has just been given his bowl which contains a tiny amount of food. As gigantic human feet walk by, the puppy expresses his anger over the meager dinner. “Me grrr!”

18. Placate (PLAY-kate) 6-5 Verb

19.  She is skillful at placating unhappy customers.

20. -to appease (to satisfy); pacify; mollify

21. Sounds like: play Kate Picture: Two girls are playing hopscotch. A third girl, Katie, who is younger, is obviously upset because she has been excluded. Finally, in an effort to pacify her, one of the girls says, “It’s okay, you can play, Katie.” When she hears this, Katie’s face lights up and she happily joins the others.

22. Rudimentary (rood-ih-MEN-ter-ee) 6-6 Adj.

23.  Most of the people were inadequately clothed and lived in rudimentary houses.

24. -undeveloped; fundamental; basic

25. Sounds like: Rudy Elementary Picture: Rudy’s Elementary School, where the students learn only the simplest concepts. In math, they never get past 2+2, in spelling “cat” is the most difficult word they study.

26. AUSPICIOUS (adj) 6-7 (aw-SPIH-shuss) Other forms: auspiciousness (noun); auspiciously (adv)

27. The weather report calls for sunny skies and 70 degree weather; it is an auspicious beginning for her wedding. 27

28.  Taking place under promising conditions; likely to succeed 28

29. Picture: Two astronauts have just landed on the planet Neptune. Looking out the window of their spaceship, they see that they are surrounded by a frozen lake. In order to accomplish their mission, they must cross the ice and return to the spaceship quickly. One astronaut thinks it’s going to be very difficult. The other pulls out two pairs of special boots fitted with large ice skate blades. “This will be easy,” he says. Then, gesturing to the boots, “Our space shoes!” 29

30. FUTILE (adj) 6-8 (FYOO-til) Other forms: futility (noun); futilely (adv)

31. No matter how many times I read the passage, it was futile; I could not answer the question. 31

32. hopelessly ineffective; useless; in vain 32

33. Picture: Two men on a roof. They’re professional roofers, which is why they’re up there and which means they’re supposed to know how to estimate how many tiles they’ll need to do a certain roof. But they underestimated and now they’re trying to figure out how to stretch the few tiles they have left to cover about forty square feet of roof area. “It’s hopeless,” says one. “Too few tiles.” 33

34. (SAHN-er-uss) Other forms: Sonorousness (noun); sonorously (adv)

35. 35

36. loud, full in sound; booming 36

37. Picture: Russ and his wife have a baby, a boy named Son of Russ, who’s voice is unbelievably loud. Russ is on the couch trying to take a nap (Son of Russ kept him up all night). But once again, the baby’s booming cry is bounding down the stairs and bouncing off the walls, right into his father’s ears. 37