My 100 Unfamiliar Words

1.
) Prowess
a.) His prowess as a football is undisputed – Reader’s Digest

b.) Reader’s Digest
c.) n: exceptional or superior ability, skill, or strength
d.) Webster’s Compact Dictionary
e.) My Sister’s prowess is in Spatial while I am in Logical thinking
2.) Primal
a.) Primal scream, a therapy to help emotional problems, was briefly popular in 1970s
c.) Adj: Original or primitive
e.) Our primal duty as a student is to respect our teachers and to study.
3.) Arcane
a.) The dusty scroll was inked in an arcane script no-one could follow
c.) Adj: mysterious or secret
e.) When I look in to her eyes, it can feel her arcane deep emotions.
4.) Putrid
a.) The putrid food in the in the kitchen freezer sent her running out
c.) Adj: rotten
e.) I can hardly imagine myself switching places with the squatters and beside the putrid
garbage
5.) Ominous
a.) I am having an ominous feeling about this

b.) My wife is a gangster (movie)
c.) Adj: portending evil or harm; foreboding; threatening
e.) An ominous bank of dark clouds
6.) Quip
a.) It’s a good thing my mother-in-law has a sense of humour. During a vacation, we were
driving past the Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah, and she said, “I haven’t
been there since I was a little girl. I wonder how much it’s changed.” “It’s no longer a
zoo,” I quipped “now it’s a museum.”
c.) n: a clever or witty remark or comment. vb: to utter quips.
e.) I love to hang around with my mother because of her funny quips
7.) Ambivalence
a.) Courtship stage is where you’ll start feeling uncertain and ambivalent
b.) Cosmopolitan magazine
c.) n: uncertainty or fluctuation, esp. when caused by inability to make a choice or by a
simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things Adj: ambivalent
e.) At first, I was ambivalent in choosing Nursing
8.) Scour
a.) Slough, Don’t scour your face

b.) Cosmopolitan magazine
c.) Vb: rub (as with a gritty substance) in order to clean
e.) I hate scouring my stained clothes, usually the white ones.
9.) Taciturn
a.) The boy was dour and taciturn

b.) Internet (www.dictionary.com )
c.) Adj: not inclined to talk
e.) I have known Lisa for years but I find it hard to befriend her because she has this
taciturn ambiance
10.) Farce
a.) Nothing went right, the entire show degenerated into a farce
b.) High school English Handouts
c.) n: satirical comedy with an improbable plot; ridiculous action
e.) Due to our lack of preparation, our human puppet show went farce. Good thing the
audience still liked it.
11.) Dour
a.) The boy was dour and taciturn

c.) Adj: severe; gloomy or sullen
e.) What’s with that dour look of yours?
11.) Dogmatism
a.) Dogmatic statements are suspects to the modern skeptical mind

c.) N: unwarranted stubbornness of opinion Adj: dogmatic
e.) It is hard to work and cooperate towards a Dogmatic Manager.
12.) Mundane
a.) Even in our seemingly mundane world. Love manages to rise above the ordinary
c.) Adj: relating to the world, lacking concern for the ideal or spiritual
e.) the Day you left me, I turned mundane.
13.) Susceptible
a.) Easily distracted and susceptible to group influence

b.) Our Daily Bread
c.) Adj: Likely to allow or be affected by something
d.) Webtser’s Compact Dictionary
e.) In our Culture today, we are more likely to be susceptible in modern gadgets that see it
as masters
14.) Adept
a.) I know Geisha’s are adept at lying

b.) Memoirs of Geisha
c.) Adj. highly skilled
e.) When I graduate, I want to be an adept professional nurse
15.) Adamant
a.) Robert was adamant. He’d sacrifice his own life, if necessary, to keep his family safe.”
b.) Reader’s Digest May 2008
c.) Adj: insistent
e.) My father is always adamant in terms of brushing my teeth.
16.) Comely
a.) Comely only in appearance, the big hen gave Thelma a rapid peck commensurate with
the size of its large beak at the instant Thelma reached to its egg
c.) Adj: good-looking
e.) I love to look at Marian Rivera’s comely face.
17.) Purport
a.) If the purport of your speech was to arouse rabble, you succeeded admirably
c.) Vb: convey outwardly as the meaning
e.) The Song heal the world by Michael Jackson has its own comely purport.
18.) Lax
a.) Japanese toy maker, TOMY has come up with a new piggy- well technically, it’s a bomb
bank, that lights up, vibrates, makes loud noises, and essentially explodes and scatters the
coins inside if you’ve been lax in your savings
b.) Reader’s Digest March 2008 pg. 15
c.) Adj: not strict or tense
d.)Webster’s Compact Dictionary
e.) I’ve been lax last semester, and this is what I get.
19.) Quintessence
a.) The next movie, 27 dresses, is quintessential romantic comedy

b.) Reader’s Digest March 2008 p.86
c.) n: purest essence of something; most typical example
e.) Frying eggs is quintessential in our breakfast routines.
20.) Pensive
a.) Filby became pensive

b.) The Time Machine, by H.G Wells
c.) Adj: thoughtful
e.) He pensively gave me his umbrella.
21.) Penchant
a.) Her penchant for speaking out of turn in meetings

b.) CORRECT ( Comprehensive Reviewer for College Admission Tests)
c.) N: strong inclination
e.) I have a strong penchant in collecting and reading reader’s digest.
23) Maudlin
a.) Despite his maudlin plots, may regard him as a great writer
b.) CORRECT ( Comprehensive Reviewer for College Admission Tests)
c.) Adj: stupidly sentimental
e.) Loving you leads me to undeniable maudlin
24.) Bellow
a.) Kelsey swept out her arm to point down the hall, and then bellowed. “They’re in my
room!
b.) Reader’s Digest March 2008 p. 97
c.) Vb: make a loud deep roar or shout.
e.) He bellowed his voice to grab our attention.
25.) Malignant
a.) As soon as the doctor said it was malignant, all I thought was that my mother was going
to die
b.) Reader’s Digest march 2008 p. 84
c.) Adj: harmful; likely to cause death
e.) Dengue should not be ignored, it is malignant.
26.) Compel
a.) What compels you?

b.) Taking Lives (movie)
c.) Vb: cause through necessity
e.) My dreams and aspirations compel me to study hard.
27.) Coyly
a.) The coyly look

b.) Cosmopolitan Magazine
c.) Adj: shy or pretending shyness
e.) I walked out the room wondering about his coyly smile.
28.) Futile
a.) He realized that near-military discipline and security meant further attempts to reach
Irene would be futile
c.) Adj: useless or vain
e.) Teaching someone who is not willing to learn is still futile
29.) Woo
a.) Then Telemachus told her all, the fear that Odysseus must surely by now be dead; how
every man far and near had came wooing his mother who could not reject their efforts
out-and-out
b.) Mythology by Edith Hamilton
c.) Vb: to make love to a woman; court
e.) In early times, males woo by serenading the girl they love
30.) Vehement
a.) A vehement defense
c.) Adj: showing strong esp. violent feeling
e.) The girl vehemently jerked herself free away from the robber.
31.) Maladroit
a.) to handle a diplomatic crisis in a very maladroit way

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maladroit
c.) Adj: clumsy or inept
e.) forgetting to bring your assignment in class is the most maladroit thing to do.
32.) Wanly
a.) Eileen smiled wanly

c.) Adj: sickly or pale
e.) My friend forced to smile that turned wan
33.) Indomitable
a.) An indomitable warrior

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Indomitable
c.) Adj: invincible
e.) Our God is indomitable.
34.) Ostentatious
a.) It will seem ostentatious

c.) N: pretentious display
e.) Beware of her, you will never guess how ostentatious she could be.
35.) Miser
a.) Lying on his death bed, the rich, miserly old man calls to his long suffering wife
c.) N: person who hoards money
e.) My father is a Miser, he will always ask me to walk rather than to ride tricycle on my way
school.
36.) Epithet
a.) Perhaps you were one of those children whom people called names “Dummy,” “Idiot,”
“Fatsp,” or some other cruel epithet.
b.) Our Daily Bread
c.) N: characterizing often abusive words or phrase
e.) My high school friends usually labels me with various epithets because I am tongue-tied.
37.) Derision
a.) He just laughs in Derision

b.) Our Daily Bread
c.) Vb: make fun of
e.) The poor beggar was the subject of the young teenager’s derision.
38.) Elicit
a.) Baby uses his new found power of smiling to elicit smile from others
c.) Vb; draw forth
e.) The sales clerk always uses their charm and smile to elicit costumers.
39.) Contrive
a.) A contrived scene like this

c.) Vb; bring about; devise or make with ingenuity
e.) I ask of you Lord, give me a contrived heart to overcome this obstacles in my life…
40.) Famish
a.) Eat at planned times, waiting until you’re famished can prompt unhealthy options to
satisfy cravings
c.) Vb: starve
e.) After the straight four hours of Chemistry, it left my mind drained and stomach
famished.
41.) Gloat
a.) “Protect me O lord from Peoples Gloating over me”

b.) Bible (KJV)
c.) Vb: to look at or think about with great or excessive, often smug or malicious, satisfaction
e.) The squatters gloated over campaigning senator.
42.) Tout
a.) Passing a lingerie store window that touted a big sale, she pointed to the mannequins
c.) Vb: praise or publicize loudly
e.) I unconsciously touted her name in extreme excitement.
43.) Retaliate
a.) Oh, Cameron,” his eight-year-old sister exclaimed, “you’re so forgetful!” “Oh, Melissa,” he
retaliated, “you’re so rememberable
c.) Vb: get revenge
e.) I am hiding the remote control to retaliate my big brother.
44.) Coast
a.) she coasted through a stop sign, catching the attention of the security guard
c.) Vb: move without effort
e.) It’s amazing how she coasted in the entrance without the guard noticing her school I.D
45.) Preside
a.) I was presiding over a wedding when the best man asked if I wouldn’t mind also keeping
an eye on the gift table
b.) Reader’s Digest April 2008
c.) Vb: act as chairman; exercise control
e.) As your treasurer, I am presiding over in terms of money here in our section.
46.) Blurb
a.) That is Dave’s office. He writes the blurb for the back of our novels
c.) N: short publicity notice
e.) A blurb caught my attention, because it states various Job openings that could be a
great help to all of us.
47.) Scruple
a.) My Scrupulously honest husband caught a coworker helping herself to company trash
bags and called her on it
c.) N: reluctance to ethical considerations; Vb: scrupulous adj: scrupulously
e.) The boy scrupulously walked straight in the highway, then caught jay-Walking,
48.) Exonerate
a.) The exonerated

b.) Reader’s Digest April 2008 pg. 34
c.) Vb: free from blame
e.) That exonerated person was a robber once, but not anymore.
49.) Indignation
a.) Indignant, my sister yelled back over the din

c.) N: anger aroused by something unjust or unworthy ; adj: indignant
e.) Being a mother two naughty kids, you could see her yelling most times indignantly.
50.) Erroneous
a.) In the confusion, He heard, erroneously as it turned out that his older children were
already out of the house
c.) Adj: wrong
e.) I have erroneously done my math assignments. It is because I find it hard to understand
and comprehend.
51.) Morose
a.) He is so morose and sullen

c.) Adj: gloomily or sullenly ill humored, as a person or mood
e.) The whole class turned morose after they got scolded by the teacher.
52.) Benevolent
a.) A benevolent Old man

c.) Adj: characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings
N: charitable nature; act of kindness, benevolence
e.) I can also be so benevolent, only if you are.
53.) Euphoria
a.) Methamphetamine, known on the street as crank, speed, ice, or go-fast, works on the
brain to produce a dangerous mixture of euphoria, paranoia, irritability and aggression
b.) Reader’s Digest May 2008 pg. 122
c.) N: a strong feeling of wellbeing or elation
e.) Every time my crush smiles at me, Euphoria struck me.
54.) Inauspicious
a.) I had an inauspicious start as a dog groomer when one of my first clients bit me
b.) Reader’s Digest December 2007 pg. 23
c.) Adj: not auspicious; boding ill; ill omened; unfavorable.
e.) It is inauspicious for me to stay in the office and do clerical tasks.
55.) Garrulous
a.) A garrulous woman complains

b.) Reader’s Digest May 2008 pg. 139
c.) Adj: talkative
e.) Our neighbors are happy to see my garrulous baby brother.
56.) Baloney
a.) Life is a baloney.

b.) Memoirs of Geisha
c.) N: foolishness; nonsense.
e.) “How pitiful, this is a baloney!”
57.) Albeit
a.) Mark lee overcame a rubbish debut to go on to star in some of Singapore’s highest-
grossing comedies and is now a familiar, albeit pimply, face in the entertainment scene.
b.) Reader’s Digest September 2008 pg. 40
c.) Conj: although; even if
e.) Do not be carried away, that is just a computer game. Albeit, a good one.
58.) Gruffly
a.) Responded Gruffly to her insult

b.) Comprehensive Reviewer for College Admission Tests (CORRECT)
c.) Adj; rough in speech or manner
e.) The boy was sanctioned because of talking gruffly at the professor.
59.) Exacerbate
a.) Using harsh soaps could be the cause of eczema, rather than just exacerbating the problem,
Soap can strip natural oils from the skin, leaving it ti irritation and infection
b.) Reader’s Digest March 2008 pg. 134
c.) Vb: to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate
e.) Scratching an open wound may exacerbate and lead to infection.
60.) Lament
a.) Ted turner, the billionaire media mogul, founder of CNN, who had been lamenting his
inability to snatch up the CBS network in a corporate mega deal.
b.) Tuesday’s With Morrie by Mitch Albom
c.) Vb; mourn, express sorrow for
e.) I was Lamenting at my stolen cell phone.
61.) Sapient
a.) The sapient king Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse
b.) http://www.answers.com/topic/sapient-2
c.) Adj: wise
e.) A sapient man learns from his own experiences.
62.) Somnolent
a.) He had no eye for such phenomena, because he had a

Somnolent want of interest in them.
b.) De Quincey
c.) Adj: sleepy
e.) I usually had somnolent days in college because of the workloads that must be accomplished
on time.
63.) Conundrum
a.) Conundrums
b.) Title of the Poem
c.) N: riddle
e.) Last month, I have read a short entertaining conundrum.
64.) Revel
a.) Now I enjoy, when they turn me over on my side and rub cream on my behind so I don’t
get sores. Or when they wipe my brow, or they massage my legs. I revel in it
b.) Tuesdays with Morrie P. 117
c.) Vb; take great delight
e.) I revel every time an acquaintance smiles and greets me.
65.) Dowdy
a.) I feel like some dowdy, decrepit, horribly dingy old fly
b.) The New Dress by Virginia Woolf
c.) Adj; lacking neatness and charm
e.) When I was In high school, they say I’m dowdy because of my childish personality.
66.) Decrepit
c.) Adj; impaired by age
e.) She was a famous singer once, unfortunately, now a decrepitly singing at small
entertainment bars.
67.) Dingy
c.) Adj; not fresh, bright or light
e.) A wise costumer can avoid buying dingy products.
68.) Sordid
a.) She planned with the little dressmaker how it was to go, seemed sordid, repulsive,
puffed up with vanity as she touched the letters on the hall table and said: “how dull to
show off”.
c.) Adj; vulgar, degrading or corrupt
e.) Swearing and cursing your parents can be the sordid thing a teenager could do. You’re
parents brought you up, so don’t bring them down.
69.) Saturnine
a.) What opposites the twins are! Fred is always cheerful and outgoing. Ted, however, is
saturnine
b.) Challenge of the millennium pg. 54
c.) Adj; Sardonic or sullen
e.) After failing the test, His face looks Saturnine.
70.) Spite
a.) Envy and spite, the most detestable of the vices, were her chief faults
c.) N: grudge with a wish to injure; treat insultingly
e.) She was smiling at me minute ago. I never thought she was still spiteful at our little
argument, not until you told me.
71.) Assert
a.) He is too assertive as a sales clerk

c.) vb; declare, defend
e.) A woman must be sometimes be assertive to protect her rights and speak up to what she
believes in.
72.) Bliss
a.) an extraordinary bliss shot through her heart

c.) n; complete happiness, heaven or paradise
e.) I imagined a blissful world when I was young. I was so Idealistic that time.
74.) Scanty
a.) And its being content with such miserable, scanty, sordid, little pleasures filled her eyes with
tears
b.) The New Dress by Virgia Woolf
c.) adj; barely sufficient vb; stint
e.) A family of three kids earning I50php a day is scanty to provide healthy foods three times a
day.
75.) Paltry
a.) but is was all so paltry, weak blooded and petty-minded to care so much at her age with two
children, to be still so utterly dependent on people’s opinions
b.) The New dress by Virginia Woolf
c.) adj; trivial
e.) The question in our exam is so paltry.
76.) Simpered
a.) She looked foolish, and self conscious, and simpered like a school girl and slouched across the
room, positively slinking, as if she were a beaten mongrel, and looked at a picture, an engraving
b.) The New Dress
c.) vb; give a silly smile
e.) She simpered to her Dismay.
77.) Slink
a.) a slink calf

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slink
c.) vb; move steadily or sinuously
e.) Due to her stage fright, she slinked and stuttered in front.
78.) Consecrate
a.) But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate . . . we cannot consecrate . . . we cannot hallow
this ground
b.) The Gettysburg Address
c.) vb; declare sacred, devote to a solemn purpose
e.) Bible is the most consecrated things in my life.
79.) Puerile
a.) Edison is still puerile emotionally

b.) Challenge of the Millennium p. 52
c.) adj; childish
e.) Puerile individuals must be understood and patience is necessary, because they are still
egoistic and still dependent on others.
80.) Soliloquy
a.) When I am alone, I talk to myself and anyone who witnesses or hears my soliloquy will surely
think that I am not quite Sane
b.) Challenge of the millennium p. 53
c.) n; dramatic monologue
e.) I have watched a Soliloquy and even brought me tears.
81.) Hobgoblin
a.) Darkness - This Hobgoblin makes me keep a lightened lamp beside my bed throughout the
night
c.) n; mischievous goblin, bogey
e.) Under the mysterious dark sky, a Hobgoblin stalks.
82.) Abstruse
a.) Abstruse theories

c.) adj; hard to understand
e.) yesterday you said yes, but now you said no. You’re so abstruse!
83.) Guile
a.) Torio is Gullible. He believes in everything that other people say

c.) n; insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.
e.) the reason why most of the people fall from modus operandi is because they are so
beguiling.
84.) Plaintive
a.) The Plaintive Cry of the caged bird is like the sad cry of a sick child
b.) Challenge of the millennium p.54
c.) adj; expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful
e.) Last night, I’ve heard a plaintive melody in the radio.
85.) Toil
a.) I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat
b.) Sir Winston Churchill
c.) vb; work hard and long
e.) I have been toiling on Chemistry. I hope I will pass on my upcoming finals.
86.) Tumult
a.) The tumult and the shouting dies
b.) Recessional by Rudyard Kipling
c.) n; confusion of loud noise and movement; violent agitation of mind or feelings
e.) a family without communication and understanding may lead tumult.
87.) Cerebrate
a.) So if you know the meaning of the meaning of words “bailey”, “Egress” , “cerebrate”. You
could help feed the hungry!”
c.) vb; think
e.) You must carefully cerebrate on your own decisions.
88.) Insatiable
a.) insatiable hunger for knowledge

b.) insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.
c.) adj; incapable of being satisfied
e.) The reason why Obesity happens on people is because they are so insatiable on eating
foods.
89.) Lilt
a.) Charlotte, A beautiful gray-haired woman who spoke in a lilting voice

b.) Tuesdays with Morrie pg. 100
c.) n; rhythmical swing or flow
e.) When I was young, my mother would sing me a lullaby then fall in deep slumber, under her
lilting voice.
90.) Gangly
a.) A gangling teenager

c.) adj; Lanky
e.) She is often teased as gangly because of her tall and bony attributes.
91.) Kempt
a.) a kempt little cottage

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kempt
c.) adj; neatly or tidily kept
d.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kempt
e.) Camille’s room is a bit small but is always kempt.
92.) Scrumptious
a.) “Scrumptious”.. yes English! Pacheeseburger ka naman diyan! Burger! Burger!
b.) McDonald’s Commercial
c.) adj; very pleasing, esp. to the senses; delectable; splendid
e.)
93.) Fleeting
a.) I like to think it was a fleeting moment of satisfaction for my dear old professor
b.) Tuesdays with Morrie pg. 186
c.) vb; pass rapidly; swift
e.) there’s a fleeting sensation of admiration passes by every time you smile at me.
94.) Abhor
a.) An abhorrent deed

b.) High School English Handouts
c.) vb; hate
e.) I never abhorred her, I just do not like her personality.
95.) Swig
a.) He took a swig from the flask

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/swig
c.) vb; drink in gulps
e.) the athlete swigged lavishly the water after the game.
96.) Mirth
a.) The excitement and mirth of the holiday season

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mirth
c.) n; gladness and laughter
e.) The mirth of spending my time on my family is priceless.
97.) Disaffect
a.) The dictator's policies had soon disaffected the people

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disaffect
c.) vb; cause discontentment in
e.) The disaffected citizen of the Philippines revolted around EDSA.
98.) Mutable
a.) The mutable ways of fortune
b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mutable
c.) adj; changeable
e.)
99.) Blandishment
a.) Our blandishments left him unmoved

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blandishment
c.) n; flattering or coaxing speech or act
e.) In spite of all the blandishments that she receives, she possesses her down to earth
personality.
100.) Succumb
a.) We succumbed to the blandishments of tropical living

c.) vb; give up, die
e.) I don’t want to be succumbed helplessly on Life’s trials.
101.) Bloated
a.) Full but not Bloated

b.) Candy Magazine
c.) vb; swell
e.) Her sores bloated reddish everywhere in her skin.
102.) Distended
a.) Habitual overeating had distended his stomach

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/distend
c.) vb; swell out
e.) blowing so much air in the balloon causes it to be distended.
103.) Lieu
a.) They went to a restaurant in lieu of fixing dinner in their burned kitchen
c.) n; place; stead
e.) My father came in the school’s seminar in Lieu of my mother.
104.) Debacle
a.) the revolution ended in a debacle

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/debacle
c.) n; disaster or fiasco
e.) Our country today is facing a series of debacles.
105.) Clandestine
a.) Their clandestine meetings went undiscovered for two years

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clandestine
c.) adj; secret
e.) Their relationship is clandestine.
106.) Fiasco
a.)
b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lfiasco
c.) n; ridiculous failure
e.) I’ve done everything to be appreciated but I am still a fiasco.
107.) Crux
a.) The crux of the trial was his whereabouts at the time of the murder
b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crux
c.) n; hard problem ; crucial point
e.) I cannot imagine a life without family and friends, my crux.
108.) Gist
a.) What was the gist of his speech?

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lgist
c.) n; main point of a matter
e.) Gist of our sleepless nights of long dreadful assignments is that to mold us to be a
responsible person.
109.) Vile
a.) Live, but depend, vile wretched, thee Godess cry’d

b.) The Myth of Arcachne by Ovid
c.) adj; thoroughly bad or contemptible
e.) after breaking up with her boyfriend, she turned vile and bitter.
110.) Bunkum
a.)
b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lbunkum
c.) n; nonsense
e.)
111.) Replete
a.) A speech replete with sentimentality

b.) Challenge the Millennium (book)
c.) adj; full
e.) The song I heard was replete and meaningful.
112.) haphazard
a.) Nodame plays the piano haphazardly

b.) Nodame Contable (movie)
c.) adj; having no plan or order
e.) I am usually haphazard and careless, but I’m trying my best to change this attitude
113.) Mendacious
a.) a mendacious report

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/luculent
c) adj; dishonest
e.) Reality speaking, there are many mendacious people in the world.
114.) Benighted
a.) Benighted ages of barbarism and superstition

c.) adj; ignorant
e.) because of Benightedness, many soldiers died not because of their wounds, but also because
the lack of sterilization and sanitary.
115.) Prosaic
a.) A prosaic mind
c.) adj; dull
e.) Tanya felt sluggish and prosaic because she slept late.
116.) Scurrilous
a.) A scurrilous attack on the mayor.

c.) adj coarsely jesting ; grossly or obscenely abusive
e.) There are a lot of scurrilous scandals that is happening in Hollywood.
117.) Pulchritude
a.)
c.) n; beauty
e.)
118.) Luculent
a.) A luculent explanation.

c.) clear or lucid; convincing; cogent
e.)
119.) Artless
a.) An artless Child

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Artless
c.) adj; sincere or natural
e.) She has an Artless beauty.
120.) Contretemps
a.) He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink.

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/contretemps
c.) N: an inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mischance
e.) the Model made a huge contretemps when she slipped on the floor at her catwalk.
121.) Prink
a.)
b.)
c.) Vb: To dress or groom oneself with elaborate care or vanity; primp.
e.)
122.) Baneful
a.) A baneful superstition

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/baneful
c.) Adj: destructive; pernicious
e.) There are a lot of baneful herbs lingering in the forest.
123.) Berceuse
a.)
b.)
c.) N: a cradlesong; lullaby
e.) My mother sang me various berceuse when I was young.
124.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
125.) Tenacious
a.) The tenacious puppy refused to release her chew toy

c.) Adj: .holding fast; retentive
e.) I saw how the tenacious Lady gets a hold of her bag from the robber
126.) Induce
a.) The approximate number of induced abortions performed worldwide in 2003 was 42 million,
which declined from nearly 46 million in 1995
b.) Wikipedia
c.) vb; persuade; bring about
e.) The Salesclerk induced me to buy this charming bracelet.
127.) Impervious
a.) A remote hospital in the province of kwaZuluNatal discovered that 53 patients were infected
with a strain tuberculosis impervous to standard treatments
b.) Reader’s Digest Septmeber 2008 pg. 37
c.) adj; incapable of being penetrated or affected
e.) The raincoat is impervious in the rain.
128.) Prevalent
a.) And in Taiwan, the prevalence rate of MRSA rose from 26 percent in 1986 to 77 percent in
2001
b.) Reader’s Digest September 2008 p.38
c.) adj; wide spread
e.)
129.) Foray
a.) “My Foray into comedy had been a fluke”

b.) Mark Lee
c.) vb; raid for plunder
e.) The defenders made a foray outside the walls.
130.) Prowl
a.) We also danced at shopping malls, marking our territories possessively like animals on the
prowl
b.) Reader’s digest September 2008 p. 45
c.) vb; roam about stealthily
e.) The cat prowled the alleys in search of food.
131.) Proclivity
a.) Is my Proclivity for dim-witted entertainment typical? Or, to paraphrhase Freud, what do you
woman and men want to laugh at?
b.) Reader’s digest September 2008 pg. 55
c.) n; inclination
e.) my mother is proclivity to cleanliness
132.) Blatant
a.) He also sought the help of the statisticians, who confirmed that the surgery was riskier than it
should have been; but the deaths were not down to blatant failures such as the tip slip of the a
scalpel or a machine failed
c.) adj; offensively showy
e.) I woke up from the blatant radio playing in our Neighborhood.
133.) Lull
a.) Diet soft drinks may also lull you into a false sense of security
c.) vb; make or become quiet or relaxed
e.) The mother sang a lullaby to lull the child to sleep.
134.) Emaciate
a.) Two emaciated man dressed as monks in saffron loin clothes hunch ever a big, black alms
bowl, peering inside.
c.) vb; become or make very thin
e.) I’ve seen a lot of emaciate street children near my school.
135.) Swelter
a.) Sweltering days in the tropics raise your pet’s risk of heat stroke
b.) Reader’s digest September 2008 pg. 145
c.) vb; be uncomfortable from excessive heat
e.) We had a sweltering weather here in the Philippines.
136.) Asunder
a.) Lightning split the old oak tree asunder

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/asunder
c.) adj; into separate parts; in or into pieces
e.) I took the knife and cut the mango asunder.
137.) Pertinacious
a.) a pertinacious salesman from whom I could not escape

b.) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pertinacious
c.) adj; obstinately persistent
e.)
138.) Retention
a.)
b.)
c.) n; state of being retained, ability to retain
e.)
139.) Opulent
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; lavish
e.)
140.) Flout
a.)
b.)
c.) vb; scourn
e.)
141.) Blithe
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; cheerful
e.)
142.) Obstinate
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; stubborn
e.)
143.) Glutinous
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; sticky
e.)
144.) Implore
a.) Imploring the Aid of Almighty God

b.) 1987 preamble
c.) vb; entreat
e.)
145.) whimsical
a.) He had a whimsical look

b.) Tuesdays with Morrie pg.165
c.) adj; full of whims, erratic
e.)
146.) Aphorism
a.) He shared his latest aphorism

b.) Tuesday with Morrie pg.162
c.) n; short saying stating general truth
e.)
147.) Remission
a.) He flew all over Europe for treatments. After five years of treatment, the drug appeared to
chase the cancer into remission
b.) Tuesdays with Morrie
c.) n; act of forgiving
e.)
148.) Gaunt
a.) Hid face went gaunt as a skeleton

b.) Tuesdays with Morrie
c.) adj; thin or emaciated
e.)
149.) Compunction
a.)
b.)
c.) n; remorse
e.)
150.) Importune
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; troublesomely persistent or urgent
e.)
151.) Virago
a.)
b.)
c.) n; shrew
e.)
152.) Trenchant
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; sharply perceptive
e.)
153.) Specious
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; apparently but not really genuine or correct
e.)
154.) imminent
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; ready to take place
e.)
155.) Verve
a.)
b.)
c.) n; liveliness or vividness
e.)
156.) Plethora
a.)
b.)
c.) n; excess
e.)
157.) Deleterious
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; harmful
e.)
158.) Efface
a.)
b.)
c.) vb; obliterate by rubbing out
e.)
159.) Contumacious
a.)
b.)
c.) adj; stubborn or insubordinate
e.)
160.) Balk
a.)
b.)
c.) n; hindrance ; vb; thwart ; stop short and refuse to go on
e.)
161.) Anachronistic
a.) Ideas and behavior considered anachronistic today

b.) Comprehensive reviewer for college admission test (CORRECT) p.107
c.) one that is chronologically out of place
e.)
162.) Perfunctory
a.) Just a Perfunctory kiss on his wife’s cheek

b.) Comprehensive reviewer for college admission test (CORRECT) p.108
c.) adj ; done merely as a duty
e.)
163.) Furtive
a.) A furtive glance at the newcomer

b.) Comprehensive reviewer for college admission test (CORRECT)
c.) adj; slyly or secretly done
e.)
164.) Jargon
a.)
b.) Comprehensive reviewer for college admission test (CORRECT
c.) n; special vocabulary of a group
e.)
165.) Sagacious
a.)
c.) adj; shrewd
e.)
166.) Juxtaposed
a.)
c.) vb; place side by side
e.)
167.) Feign
a.)
c.) vb; pretend
e.)
168.) Obfuscate
a.)
c.) vb; confuse
e.)
169.) Ubiquitous
a.)
c.) adj; ever present
e.)
170.) Impecunious
a.)
c.) adj; broke
e.)
171.) Laud
a.)
c.) vb or n; praise
e.)
172) Censure
a.)
c.) n; official reprimand vb; find blameworthy
e.)
173.) Dearth
a.)
c.) n; scarcity
e.)
174.) plethoric
a.)
c.) n; excess
e.)
175.) Teeming
a.)
c.) vb; become filled to overflowing
e.)
176.) Penurious
a.)
c.)
e.)
177.) temerarious
a.)
c.)
e.)
178.) Audacious
a.)
b.)
c.)
e.)
179.) Flagrant
a.)
c.)
e.)
180.) Stipulated
a.) As stipulated in the original contract

c.) vb; demand as condition
e.)
181.) Fledgling
a.) Am just a fledgling in the computer world

c.)
e.)
182.) Impeccable
a.) An example of impeccable manners

b.)
c.) adj; faultless
e.)
183.) Effrontery
a.) Couldn’t stand such effrontery and vile language pg. 109
c.) n; insolence
e.)
184.) Paucity
a.) Actual paucity of evidence to convict him

c.) n; shortage
e.) I remembered the time when we have paucity rice because of Hoarding.
185.) Deliberate
a.) Never marry a husband you deliberately flushes the toilet when you’re in shower
c.)
186.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
187.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
188.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
189.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
190.) Grotesque
a.) before passing the threshold, I paused to admire the quantity of grotesque carving
lavished over the front
b.) Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë
c.) Adj; absurdly distorted or repulsive ; ridiculous
e.) He has displayed grotesque manners.
191.) Plank
a.) while the sun poured into those attics, which a plank alone separated from each other so
that every footstep could be plainly heard.
b.) To lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
c.) n; heavy thick board
e.) I dipped my brush and painted the planks fencing our house.
191.) Melancholy
a.) He surveyed the fence, and all the gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down
upon his spirit.
b.) The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
c.) N; depression
e.) I don’t t listen so much sentimental songs, because it brings me to sweet melancholy.
192.)
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
e.)
193.) Queer
a.) They were indeed queer-looking party that assembled on the bank
b.) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
c.) Adj; different from the usual or normal
e.) Honestly, I have the fleeting moment of Queerness when I went in your house.
194.) Sulk
a.) Indeed, she had quite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky and would
only say “ I am older than you, and must know better”
b.) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
c.) Vb; be moodily silent
e.) Boy sulked after being scolded by her mother.
195.) Savage
a.) His swarthy lineaments still more savage and repulsive than if art had attempted an
affect which had been thus produced by chance.
b.) The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
c.) N; person belonging to a primitive society
e.) She’s a savage, clearly from the way she talks and wear.
196.) Vivacious
a.) “Are you an American man?” pursued by this vivacious infant.

b.) Daisy Miller: A study by Henry James
c.) Adj; lively
e.) Claudine dances vivaciously.
197.) Novelty
a.) “It was different at first, it was novelty; it took a load off me- and it was a fashionable
thing to do. But now I don’t know”
b.) I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
c.) n; something new or unusual ; newness
e.)
198.) Epoch
a.) Both as a specimen of the best and stateliest architecture of a long past epoch
b.) The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
c.) n; extended period
d.)
e.) I have kept a keychain given from my friend a long time epoch.
199.) beholden
a.) Second, I am beholden to you as the cause of their being so busy and so mean in vain,
and there is my hand upon it.
b.) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
c.) Adj; indebted
e.) I am grateful and beholden at your good deeds.
200.) Obsolete
a.) that FONT attributes are obsolete

b.) Web design
c.) Adj; no longer in use
e.) Using of Old walky-talky is obsolete today.
Journal
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My 100 Unfamiliar Words

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My 100 Unfamiliar Words

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1.

a.) His prowess as a football is undisputed – Reader’s Digest

a.) I am having an ominous feeling about this

a.) Slough, Don’t scour your face

a.) The boy was dour and taciturn

a.) The boy was dour and taciturn

a.) Dogmatic statements are suspects to the modern skeptical mind

a.) Easily distracted and susceptible to group influence

a.) I know Geisha’s are adept at lying

a.) The next movie, 27 dresses, is quintessential romantic comedy

a.) Filby became pensive

a.) Her penchant for speaking out of turn in meetings

a.) What compels you?

a.) The coyly look

a.) to handle a diplomatic crisis in a very maladroit way

a.) Eileen smiled wanly

a.) An indomitable warrior

a.) It will seem ostentatious

a.) He just laughs in Derision

a.) A contrived scene like this

a.) “Protect me O lord from Peoples Gloating over me”

a.) The exonerated

a.) Indignant, my sister yelled back over the din

a.) He is so morose and sullen

a.) A benevolent Old man

a.) A garrulous woman complains

a.) Life is a baloney.

a.) Responded Gruffly to her insult

a.) He had no eye for such phenomena, because he had a

a.) He is too assertive as a sales clerk

a.) an extraordinary bliss shot through her heart

a.) a slink calf

a.) Edison is still puerile emotionally

a.) Abstruse theories

a.) Torio is Gullible. He believes in everything that other people say

a.) insatiable hunger for knowledge

a.) Charlotte, A beautiful gray-haired woman who spoke in a lilting voice

a.) A gangling teenager

a.) a kempt little cottage

a.) An abhorrent deed

a.) He took a swig from the flask

a.) The excitement and mirth of the holiday season

a.) The dictator's policies had soon disaffected the people

a.) Our blandishments left him unmoved

a.) We succumbed to the blandishments of tropical living

a.) Full but not Bloated

a.) Habitual overeating had distended his stomach

a.) the revolution ended in a debacle

a.) Their clandestine meetings went undiscovered for two years

a.) What was the gist of his speech?

a.) Live, but depend, vile wretched, thee Godess cry’d

a.) A speech replete with sentimentality

a.) Nodame plays the piano haphazardly

a.) a mendacious report

a.) Benighted ages of barbarism and superstition

a.) A scurrilous attack on the mayor.

a.) A luculent explanation.

a.) An artless Child

a.) He caused a minor contretemps by knocking over his drink.

a.) A baneful superstition

a.) The tenacious puppy refused to release her chew toy

a.) “My Foray into comedy had been a fluke”

a.) Lightning split the old oak tree asunder

a.) a pertinacious salesman from whom I could not escape

a.) Imploring the Aid of Almighty God

a.) He had a whimsical look

a.) He shared his latest aphorism