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Composition 11 WotD
A comprehensive list of the WotD words.
| Words | Definition | Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| brouhaha (n) | a noisy commotion; a big controversy over a ridiculous cause | The town cat being kicked out of the library brewed up a large brouhaha in the town square. |
| wanderlust (n) | the desire to wander and explore | The vast mountain landscape filled her with wanderlust. |
| dilemma (n) | a difficult decision between two and undesirable choices | "The people often face the dilemma of feeding themselves or their cattle." |
| compassion (n) | being filled with sympathy and sorrow for another and wanting to help | She was filled with compassion when she saw the injured puppy on the side of the road. |
| nonchalant (adj) | to be unusually casual and indifferent in a serious situation | The student acted nonchalant to his sinking G.P.A. |
| defenestrate (v) | to throw someone or something out of a window | The tennis ball was defenestrated after a poor throw. |
| ingenious (adj) | clever; original; inventive | "Another ingenious invention was a system to prevent early starts in the foot races." |
| baffled (adj) | confused; bewildered | "Her reaction really baffled me." |
| dawdle (v) | to waste time | I dawdled around, despite the looming deadline. |
| sesquipedalia (n) | a long word | His knowledge of sesquipedalias, such as pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, did not impress his second-grade classmates. |
| façade (n) | an outward appearance or act that hides an unpleasant truth | I could sense the hostility lurking behind her polite facade. |
| insight (n) | a deep understanding of a person or thing | "The research will give valuable insight into the workings of the brain." |
| prevail (v) | to succeed, triumph | The heroes prevailed over the villain. |
| supercilious (adj) | being arrogant; acting superior to others | She gained a large amount of negative attention after the supercilious comments she made on the Jimmy Kimmel Tonight Show. |
| gregarious (adj) | sociable, outgoing | His gregarious personality made him a lot of friends. |
| pretentious (adj) | attempting to impress others by exaggerating one's knowledge and importance | She pretentiously name-dropped at the party in order to let everyone know she was the coolest person in the room. |
| disparage (v) | to dismiss something or condemn it without good reason | She disparaged her friend's hard-won mark on the Physics test by making fun of her. |
| harangue (v) | to lecture and nag someone excessively | She skipped class just once and her mother harangued her about it for weeks. |
| tweak (v) | make minor adjustments to refine something | She tweaked her writing until it said exactly what she wanted it to say. |
| hinder (v) | blocking someone; creating difficulties for someone | Her nerves were hindering her breathing when she went to sing. |
| meddle (v) | to interfere unnecessarily in other's affairs | He meddles with his friends' situations and only made things worse. |
| chagrin (n) | embarrassment and shame | He was filled with chagrin after his sharp words hurt her feelings. |
| rescind (v) | to reverse/retract an order/decision | The company immediately rescinded their statement after being hit with a huge amount of backlash. |
| nepotism (n) | the practice of favouring relatives | "The president was accused of nepotism." |
| yokel (n) | a country bumpkin; a rustic person | "At school, his classmates regarded him as a yokel and laughed at his rustic mannerisms." |
| petulant (adj) | someone who shows great annoyance or irritation to minor problems | The petulant child screamed after not getting the toy he wanted. |
| curative (adj) | providing a remedy; ability to cure | The curative effects of medicinal herbs are well documented. |
| affable (adj) | friendly; easygoing | Her affable friend was always cheerful and well-meaning. |
| monomania (n) | an obsession for one thing | Her monomania for collectible 80's toys caused her to fly to Idaho to procure a classic Ghostbusters action figure of Peter Venkman. |
| accost (v) | to approach someone boldly and aggressively | She was accosted by the ambitious salesman and couldn't leave without buying a Volvo. |
| charisma (n) | charm | The politicians charisma gained him a large following. |
| sully (n) | to dirty someone's reputation | During the campaign, the candidates tried their best to sully one another's reputations. |
| cantankerous (adj) | bad tempered and always ready to fight | The cantankerous old man hated the young cats. |
| opine (v) | to express an opinion | "I love pizza, but I hate cheese," she opined. |
| plethora (n) | a huge amount | The store had a plethora of antique items. |
| mountebank (n) | charlatan; con artist | The mountebank swindled thousands of unsuspecting people. |
| multifarious (adj) | composed of many components | The machine's multifarious design was confusing to the common person |
| meretricious (adj) | attracting attention through vulgar, flashy behaviour | Her meretricious antics were designed to attract attention. |
| macabre (adj) | scary/haunted housie | The macabre story scared him. |
| duress (n) | stress | In the second half of the play most of the characters are under duress. |
| maelstrom (n) | a storm | The politician was caught in a maelstrom of controversy. |
| humuhumunukunakuapua'a (n) | State fish of Hawaii | I can't pronounce humuhumunukunakuapua'a. |
| curio (n) | a novelty; an item that is a curiosity | She had a curio box at home. |
| cull (v) | to assemble; to gather and collect together | She culled together some interesting ideas for her next written assignment. |
| quahog (n) | an edible clam found off the coast of North America | "Pass the quahogs, I'm starving!" |
| zest (n) | gusto; spice; vigour; enjoyment | She looked for ways to add telling details and zest to her writing. |
| levity (n) | lightness and fun | Looking to add levity to the occasion, he peppered his speech with ironic jokes. |
| esquivalience (n) | the shirking (avoidance) of one's official duties | He was fired due to esquivaliance. |
| slake (v) | to chug, to guzzle | He slaked a two-liter Gatorade in a matter of seconds. |
| fabricate (n) | to make up for the purpose of deception | The fabricated evidence was presented to the courtroom. |
| intriguing (adj) | arousing one's curiosity or interest; fascinating | "The story raises all kinds of intriguing questions." |
| speculate (v) | form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence | The people speculated that there would be flying cars in 2030 |
| "The cat's paw" (p) | a person used by another to do dangerous, distasteful, or unlawful work | "You always try to make a cat's paw of me, but I refuse to do any more of your work." |
| kakorrhaphiophobia (n) | an abnormal, persistent, irrational fear of failure | My kakorrhaphiophobia stopped me from working on the project. |
| tizzy (n) | a state of nervous excitement or agitation | "She got herself in a real tizzy because she couldn't find her car keys." |
| acquisitive (adj) | excessively interested in acquiring money or material things | "There are still quite a number of rather wicked, acquisitive people in the world." |
| bough (n) | a main branch of a tree | "I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough." |
| brook (v) | to tolerate | She would brook no discussion on skipping the trip to Disneyland. |
| brunt (n) | the impact; an attack | She bore the brunt of her brother's anger when he lost his cell phone. |
| craven/pusillanimous (adj) | cowardly/really cowardly | The craven dog backed down from the smaller dog. |
| foolhardy (adj) | foolish | Taking his skateboard down the hill was foolhardy and he was lucky he wasn't hurt. |
| folly (n) | mistake | The villain learned the folly of his ways |
| circumspect (adj) | to take into account all the factors before acting | He was circumspect about his decisions |
| swashbuckler (n) | a daring hero of adventure literature or movies | "The cover had the classic image of a swashbuckler" |
| scenario (n) | a hypothetical situation | "His best-case scenario would be a fine rather than imprisonment" |
| mayhem (n) | chaos; disorder | "The result of the vote caused mayhem on the streets of the capital" |
| daunting (adj) | scary; intimidating | "It was a daunting task, but she threw herself into it with enthusiasm" |
| undaunted (adj) | brave; unafraid | "Even though the road ahead promises to be difficult, he remains undaunted" |
| machinations (n) | evil plans | "He exposed the machinations of big business" |
| candid (adj) | open and honest | She was candid about why she quit the swimming team. |
| connoisseur (n) | an expert | She was a connoisseur of fine paintings. |
| quarry (n) | something hunted or pursued | "The cat stalked its quarry" |
| qualm (n) | twinge of conscience | He had no qualms about stealing the last doughnut from his friend. |
| pretext (n) | a questionable excuse | She skipped the rugby practice under the pretext that she had a major project to finish. |
| passe (adj) | old fashioned; out of style | "The fashions may seem passé and the faces a little square." |
| hullabaloo (n) | a total commotion | Don't cause a hullabaloo. Don't do it. |
| adamant (adj) | absolutely definite | He was adamant that he had seen a flying cat. |
| huckster (n) | a shifty salesman who sells suspicious products | The huckster sold deeds to the Brooklyn Bridge all over town. |
| foment (v) | to instigate or stir up trouble | He tried to foment unrest between his querulous friends. |
| nuance (n) | subtle difference in shade, meaning of expression, or sound | She discerned subtle nuances between the original painting and the forgery. |
| marooned (adj) | to be stranded or abandoned on a desert island (or anywhere undesirable) | The student was marooned on The Island of Lost Poems. |
| correlation (n) | a mutual connection or relationship between two things | There is a correlation between smacking up the family car and getting grounded. |
| vital (adj) | absolutely essential and necessary | "She played a vital role in the negotiations." |
| zephyr (n) | a soft gentle breeze | A zephyr blew across the tropical beach. |
| akin (adj) | -like something | This new movie is akin to another I saw last week. |
| charlatan (n) | a faker, phoney, or con-man | The charlatan fooled the world into thinking that... |
| nadir | a low point (lowest) | He hit a nadir when... |
| inconspicuous (adj) | unnoticeable and not easily seen | He tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible as he... |
| intuition (n) | the quality of having good perception and understanding of something | His intuition told him that... |
| trilemma (n) | a difficult choice between three undesirable things | The controversy brought a difficult trilemma for the president. |
| Idyllic (adj) | happy; peaceful; ideal | For many people, a tropical beach is an idyllic setting. |
| ambivalent (adj) | indecisive, unsure | She was ambivalent about the trip. She wasn't sure if she would go. |
| regale (v) | to entertain; to enthrall | She regaled her friends with stories of nightmares. |
| rue (adj) | to regret; to wish something didn't happen | She rued the day she didn't bother to put gas in her car, and got stranded on the side of the highway. |
| skeptical (adj) | unsure; doubtful & cynical | He was skeptical on the reason why his friends didn't show up to the movie. |
| yen (n) | craving for something | He had a yen for Doritos, so he went to the gas station to buy some. |
| circuitous (adj) | roundabout; like a circuit | The circuitous conversation went nowhere. |
| tenacious (adj) | tending to cling to an idea/belief | He clung tenaciously to his convictions no matter what anyone said. |
| sublime (adj) | inspire great admiration or awe | The music he heard was so sublime, he decided to become a composer. |
| vainglorious (adj) | excessively proud or vain about your accomplishments. | "The vainglorious are the ones who often fall down the farthest." |
| astute (adj) | having the ability to accurately assess | On her first day of the job, she proved to be an astute problem solver. |
| foible/peccadillo (n) | a minor character flaw | "They have to tolerate each other's little foibles." |
| argosy (n) | a large merchant ship | "The argosy scrolled through the river" |
| vigilant (adj) | watchful | "She was vigilant in staying on top of her schoolwork." |
| eerie (adj) | strange; unsettling | "The mist instilled an eerie feeling as they walked through the forest." |
| fathom (v) | to fully understand | He was unable to fathom what her friend was talking about. |
| falter (v) | to hesitate | "He faltered under the threat of death" |
| flabbergasted (adj) | shocked; astounded | "The town was flabbergasted by the policies invoked by the mayor." |
| fiddle sticks (n) | nonsense | The student exclaimed "Fiddlesticks!", when he dropped all his textbooks. |
| indomitable (adj) | unstoppable in the face of fear | The mountain climber's indomitable attitude helped her climb Mt. Celeste. |
| cursory (adj) | to do something quickly, especially looking or reading | He gave a cursory glance at his phone, before putting it back in his pocket. |
| faze (adj) | rattled; bothered; upset | Nothing fazed or rattled him, he was always calm |
| frazzled (adj) | worn out; stressed | After a long day of school, all the students were frazzled |
| nonplussed (adj) | slightly confused | He was nonplussed by the words on the fancy restauraunt. |
Created by:
cattwith2ts
Popular English Vocabulary sets