Word List #14Your Subtitle Here

1. Anneal: to toughen by heating and cooling

• “The blacksmith annealed the metal before pounding it into shape.”

2. Chiaroscuro: pictorial use of light and shade

• “The artist used chiaroscuro in his outline of the city.”

3. Crescendo: with increasing loudness; peak of intensity

• “The song reached a crescendo before crashing to an end.”

4. Dory: flat-bottomed boat

• The fishermen moved to the center of the lake in a small motorized dory.

5. Garrote: execute by strangling

• “In a fit of rage, Giles Corey attempted to garrote Mr. Putnam in the courtroom.”

6. Ingratiate: to win favor for

• “The servant ingratiated himself by bowing to his master.”

7. Junto: Group of political plotters

• “The hijackers from 9/11 were a junto with terrorist motives.”

8. Levy: 1. impose; wage; 2. conscription

• “The US levied war against Iraq in response to the 9/11 attacks.”

• “Troops were last levied into service during the Vietnam War.”

9. Nadir: lowest point

• “My parents’ divorce was the nadir of my life.”

10. Nihilism: rejection of all established beliefs

• “The characters in Fight Club exhibit nihilistic beliefs.”

11. Permeate: spread through

• Attitudes, whether positive or negative, are contagious. They will permeate throughout a group.”

12. Prelate: high dignitary

• “Prelates from the warring nations held peace talks.”

13. Redundant: not needed

• “Sentences with double negatives have redundant words.”

• You shouldn’t never use them.

14. Sanguine: 1. cheerful; 2. ruddy

• “The happy child had a sanguine personality.”

• “The cold weather gives me a sanguine complexion.”

15. Splenetic: Easily irritated

• “When I’m stressed, I quickly become splenetic.”

16. Tautology: needless repetition of ideas

• “When I run out of ideas in my essay, it becomes a tautology.”

17. Unmitigated: Absolute

• “The tornado’s unmitigated destruction devastated the town.”

Assignment

• Show mastery of each vocabulary word by writing a sentence that demonstrates its meaning.

• Underline the vocabulary word in the

sentence.

• Skip lines between sentences.