WORK SHEET #1A

Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Abash__(v)__ to make ashamed; to embarrass.

Noor-ul-ain felt abashed when she forgot her speech.

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Abate__(v)__ to subside; to reduce( used for something bad or under able).

The storm abated after three hours. The noise abated when the crowd dispersed.

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Abdicate__(v)__ to step down from a position of power or responsibility.

The king abdicated his throne as he was seriously ill.

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Aberration__(n)__a deviation from standard; something not typical.

A snowstorm in June is an aberration; snow doesn’t normally fall in June.

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Abnegate__(v)__ to deny oneself things; to renounce.

Mrs. Morris abnegated desserts for one month after getting on the scale.

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Abortive__(adj)__unsuccessful.

Fred’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive; he fell when he was half way up.

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Abridge__(v)__shorten (used for books, plays or other written work).

The editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts.

I need an abridged version of the novel “Jane Eyre”.

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Sheet #2 Words with A

Abhor__(v)__to detest; to hate very much.

Haider abhors violence; he is a very polite child.

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Absolve__(v)__to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin.

The priest absolved the sinner who had come to the church to confess his sins.

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Abstinent__(adj)__voluntarily not doing something pleasant that is bad for you.

Harris used to be a chain smoker but now he is abstinent.

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Accolades__(n)__an award; an honour (used in the plural).

Shakespeare’s plays won the accolades of the critics as well as of the fans.

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Accost__(v)__to approach and speak to someone aggressively.

She was accosted in the street by a complete stranger.

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Adamant__(adj)__stubborn; completely inflexible.

The president is adamant that he will not resign.

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Admonish__(v)__to scold gently; to warn.

Mother admonished the boys not to eat the pie she just baked.

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 WORK SHEET #2B

Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Banal__(adj)__unoriginal; ordinary.

The dinner conversation was so banal that Amanda slept in her dessert dish.

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Bane__(n)__poison; source of suffering (used figuratively).

My strict and rude boss is the bane of my existence; he poisons my enjoyment of life.

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Beget__(v)__to give birth to; to create; to cause.

One lie often begets another lie.

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Belabor__(v)__to go over repeatedly or to an absurd extent.

For more than an hour, the boring speaker belabored his point about the challenge of foreign
competition.

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Beleaguer__(v)__to surround; to harass.

Oscar felt beleaguered at work. The attacking army beleaguered the city.

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Sheet #2 Words with B.

Belie__(v)__to give a false impression of.

His smile belied the grief in his heart.

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Belittle__(v)__to put someone down; to criticize.

The boss was disliked by all the employees because he always belittled their efforts.

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Belligerent__(adj)__quarrelsome; waging war.

All the students were afraid of the belligerent boy.

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Bemused__(adj)__confused.

He stood bemused in the middle of the parking lot, trying to remember where he had parked his
car.

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Benevolent__(adj)__generous; doing good deeds.

Giving money to the poor is a benevolent act.

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 WORK SHEET #3C
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Cacophony__(n)__harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices or sounds.

All around was bubbling cacophony of voices.

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Cajole__(v)__to persuade someone to do something he/she doesn’t want to do.

Ahmed cajoled Ali to stand mayor.

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Capitulate__(v)__surrender; to give up or give in.

After two weeks of the strike, the workers capitulated and went back to work.

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Capricious__(adj)__unpredictable.

Bill is very capricious, one minute he is smiling, the next minute he is frowning.

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Chagrin__(n)__humiliation; embarrassment; disappointment.

Much to my chagrin, I began to giggle during the eulogy at the funeral the personal charisma to
inspire people

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Charisma__(n)__magical-seeming ability to attract followers.

I think that he won’t be elected as the president as he does not have the personal charisma to
inspire people.

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Sheet #2 Words with C.

Charlatan__(n)__fraud; quack.

The doctor was arrested when he was exposed as a charlatan.

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Clemency__(n)__mercy; forgiveness.

The governor committed an act of clemency when he released allthe prisoners from state
penitentiary.

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Clique__(n)__an exclusive group bound together by some shared interest.

It was hard to have fun at the school if you weren’t a member of the right clique.

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Coerce__(v)__force someone to do or not to do something.

The director of CIA tried flattery, bribe and even tried to coerce but the member of Al-Qaeda did
not reveal the hideout of Osama Bin Laden.

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Collusion__(n)__conspiracy; secret cooperation.

The increase in oil prices was the result of collusion by the oil producing nations.

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Complement__(v)__to complete; by the perfect counterpart.

The flower arrangement complemented the table decorations.

Fish-flavoured ice cream was a perfect complement to the sea-food dinner.

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 WORK SHEET# 4D
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Daunt__(v)__to make fearful; to intimidate.

The steepness of the mountain daunted the team of amateur climbers.

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Dearth__(n)__lack; scarcity.

There was a dearth of gaiety at the boring party.

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Decimate__(v)__to kill or destroy a large part of.

Locusts often decimate the crops, leaving very little that is fit for human consumption.

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Decorous__(adj)__proper; in good taste.

He is respected for his decorous behavior.

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Despot__(n)__an absolute ruler.

Stephen was a despot; workers who disagreed with him were fired.

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Diffident__(adj)__timid; lacking self confidence.

The diffident student never made a single comment in class.

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Discreet__(adj)__prudent; wisely reserved.

Girls are usually gossipy and not always discreet.

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 WORK SHEET# 5E
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Ebullient __ (adj.) boiling; bubbling with excitement; exuberant .

Jane was ebullient when her fairy godmother said she could use one of her three wishes to wish
for three more wishes.

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Eccentric __ (adj.) not conventional; irregular .

Fred’s political views are eccentric: he believes that we should have kings instead of
governments and that the government should raise money by holding bake sales.

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Eclectic __ (adj.) choosing the best from many sources; drawn from many sources .

The eclectic menu included dishes from many different countries.

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Edify __ (v) to enlighten; to instruct, especially in moral or religious matters.

The parent’s goal was to edify their children, not to force a handful of facts down their throats.

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Efface __ (v) to erase; to rub away the features of .

The inscription on the tombstone had been effaced by centuries of weather.

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Sheet # 2 Words with E.

Effusion ___ (n) a pouring forth .An unrestrained expression while talking or writing
Anna’s effusive thanks for our silly present made us feel somewhat embarrassed.
Katy greeted the guests at her party with great effusion
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Egalitarian __ (adj.) believing in the social and economic equality of all people.

People often lose interest in egalitarian measures when such measures interfere with their own
interests.

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Egocentric ___ (adj.) selfish; believing that one is the centre of everything.

Paul was so egocentric that he could never give anyone else credit for doing anything.

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Egregious __ (adj.) extremely bad .

Erik’s manners were egregious; he ate his mashed potatoes with his fingers and slurped the
peas right off his plate.

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Elicit __ (to bring out; to call forth.

The interviewer skillfully elicited our true feelings by asking us questions that got to the heart of
the matter.

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Eminent __ (well-known and respected; outstanding .

The entire audience fell silent when the eminent musician walked on the stage.

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 WORK SHEET# 6F

Name: _________________ Section: ________________

Fabrication __ (n) a lie; something made up .

My story about being the Prince of Wales was a fabrication; I’m the King of Denmark.

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Facetious ___ (adj.) humorous; not serious; clumsily humorous .

Our proposal about shipping our town’s garbage to the moon was facetious, but the first
selectman took it seriously.

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Facile __ (adj.)fluent; skillful in a superficial way; easy.

His poems were facile rather than truly accomplished; if you read them closely, you soon realize
they were filled with clichés.

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Faction __ (n) a group; usually a small part of a larger group; disagreements within an
organization .

The faculty was relatively happy, but there was a faction that called for higher pay.

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Farcical ___ (adj.)absurd; ludicrous.

The serious play quickly turned farcical when the leading man’s belt broke and his pants fell to
his ankles.

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Fastidious ___ (adj.) meticulous; demanding; finicky .

He was so fastidious in his work that he neither needed a wastebasket nor an eraser.

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Sheet #2 Words with F

Fatalist ___ (n) someone who believes that future events are already determined and that
humans are powerless to change them .

The old man was a fatalist about his illness, believing there was no sense in worrying about
something over which he had no control.

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Fauna ___ (n) animals .

We saw little evidence of fauna on our walk through the woods, but we saw plenty of flora.

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Fecund ___ (adj. )fertile; productive.

The philosopher’s imagination was so fecund that ideas hopped out of him like million baby
rabbits.

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Fervor ___ (n)a great warmth or earnestness; ardor; zeal.

Avid baseball fans frequently display their fervor for the game by throwing food at bad players.

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Fetter ___ (v) restrain; to hamper.

The housewife’s young children were the fetters that prevented her from a pursuing a second
master’s degree.

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Flaunt ___ (v )to show off; to display ostentatiously.

Colleen flaunted her engagement ring, showing it to everyone who came near her.

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Foible ___ (n )a minor character flaw.

Patti’s foibles included a tendency to prefer dogs to people.

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 WORK SHEET# 7G

Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Garrulous__(adj)__talkative.

Jane is so garrulous; she is always seen talking on the phone.

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Genre__(n)__a type of literature, art, film or music.

Alan displayed a great talent for the genre of suspense.

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Genteel__(adj)__refined, polite or affecting refinement.

Jake had been born in a slum but now in his mansion his life was genteel.

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Gesticulate__(v)__to make gestures especially when speaking.

James gesticulated wildly on the other side of the ground in order to get our attention.

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Glut__(n)__surplus; an over abundance.

We had a glut of contributions but a dearth of volunteers.

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Sheet #2 words with G.

Grandiloquent__(adj)__using a lot of fancy words in an attempt to sound impressive.

The president made a grandiloquent speech but the masses could not understand what he was saying.

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Grandiose__(adj)__absurdly exaggerated.

The scientist’s grandiose plan was to build a shopping mall on the moon.

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Gratuitous__(adj)__given freely; unprovoked (something bad).

Their attack against us was gratuitous; we had never done anything to offend them.

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Gravity__(n)__seriousness.

No one realized the gravity of Alan’s drug addiction until it was too late to help him.

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Gregarious__(adj)__enjoying the company of others.

A garrulous person is usually gregarious.

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Guile__(n)__cunning; deceit.

Joseph used guile to pass the exam; he cheated.

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 WORK SHEET# 8H
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Hackneyed __ (adj.) overused; stale .

“As cold as ice” is a hackneyed phrase

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Hapless __ (adj.) unlucky .

Joe’s hapless search for fun led him from one disappointment to another.

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Harbinger __ (n) a forerunner ;a signal of.

Warm weather is the harbinger of spring.

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Hedonism __n) the pursuit of pleasure as a way of life .

Pete’s life of hedonism came to an end when his lottery winnings ran out.

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Hegemony __ (n) leadership, specially of one nation over another.

America once held an unchallenged nuclear hegemony.

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Heresy __ (n) any belief that is strongly opposed to established beliefs.

Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting that the sun did not revolve around the world.

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Hermetic __ (impervious to external influence; airtight .

The old men felt vulnerable and unwanted outside the hermetic security of their club.

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Heyday __(n) golden age; prime.

In his heyday, John was a world-class athlete; today he’s just John.

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Sheet #2 Words with H

Hiatus __ a break or interruption; often from work .

Spencer looked forward to spring break as a welcome hiatus from the rigors of camp parties.

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Hierarchy __ (n) an organization based on rank or degree; pecking order.

There appeared to be no hierarchy in the newly discovered tribe; there was no leader and, for
that matter, no followers.

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Histrionic __ (adj.)overly dramatic; theatrical.

The chairman’s histrionic presentation convinced no one.

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Homily __(n) a sermon.

The football coach often began practice with a lengthy homily on the virtues of clean living.

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Homogeneous___ (adj.) uniform; made entirely of one thing .

The class was extremely homogeneous; all the children had blue eyes, blonde hair, red shoes
and the same last name.

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Husbandry __ (n) thrifty management of resources; livestock farming .

Everyone husbanded oil and electricity during the energy crisis of the seventies.

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Hyperbole __ (n) an exaggeration used as a figure of speech; exaggeration .

The candidate was guilty of hyperbole; all the facts in his speech were exaggerated.

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Hypothetical __ (adj.0 uncertain; unproven .

Earl’s skill as a baseball player was entirely hypothetical; since he had never played the game .

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 WORK SHEET# 9I
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Iconoclast__(n)__one who attacks popular beliefs.

Kamran Khan is an iconoclast who avidly attacks all politicians.

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Ideology__(n)__a system of social or political ideas.

Hindus and had separate ideologies.

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Idiosyncrasy__(n)__an unusual feature.

Eating beans drenched in ketchup for breakfast was one of Alice’s idiosyncrasies.

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Idyllic__(adj)__naturally peaceful.

They built their house on an idyllic spot close to the stream.

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Ignominy__(n)__deep disgrace.

After the big scandal, the formerly high flying investment banker fell into a life of shame and
ignominy.

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Sheet #2 Words with I

Illicit__(adj)__illegal.

Criminals engage in illicit activities.

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Immutable__(adj)__unchangeable.

The rule of not talking while eating was immutable in our home.

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Impeccable__(adj)__flawless.

Jane’s clothes are always impeccable; there is not a single wrinkle.

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Imperial__(adj)__like an emperor or empire.

The palace was decorated with imperial splendor.

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Impervious__(adj)__not allowing anything to pass through; impenetrable.

A raincoat is impervious to water.

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 WORK SHEET# 10J, K,L
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Judicious__(adj)__showing good judgment.

The nomads made judicious use of the scarce supply of water.

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Juxtapose__(v)__to place side by side.

Comedy and tragedy were juxtaposed in the play.

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Kinetic__(adj)__lively; active.

Sam has a lively, kinetic personality.

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Labyrinth__(n)__a maze; complicated series of paths through which it is difficult to find your way.

Each of the fifty floors in the office building was a labyrinth of dark corridors.

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Laconic__(adj)__using few words.

The manager’s laconic dismissal letter left the fired employee feeling hurt and angry.

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Sheet #2 Words with L.

Lament__(v)__express regret; to mourn.

As the snowstorm gained in intensity, Stan lamented his decision that morning to dress in shor-
shirt.

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Lampoon__(v)__to criticize strongly using humorous means.

He was lampooned for his weight and short stature.

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Languish__(v)__be forced to remain and suffer in an unpleasant situation.

The innocent man was languishing in prison.

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Largess__(n)__generous giving of gifts.

The largess of his uncle got Sam into Cambridge.

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Latent__(adj)__present but not visible; potential.

The talent for music is latent in him.

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 WORK SHEET# 11M
Name: _________________ Section: _________________

Machination__(n)__secret and complicated plans for an evil purpose (always used in the plurals).

The machinations of the conspirators were aimed at nothing less than the overthrow of the
government.
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Magnanimous__(adj)__generous; forgiving especially after defeating someone or being treated

badly by them.

The boxer was magnanimous in defeat, telling the reporters that his opponent was very talented.

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Magnate__(n)__a rich , powerful or successful businessman.

Mr. Haris is a shipping magnate and has earned millions from this business.

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Malaise__(n)__a feeling of depression; state in which something is wrong wit a society but there
is no easy solution.

There is no quick solution to the prevailing economic malaise.

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Malfeasance__(n)__an illegal act.

President Ford officially pardoned former president Nixon before the latter could be convicted of
any malfeasance.

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Malinger__(v)__to pretend to be sick to avoid doing work.

Leo ale problem as quways malingered when it was his turn to clean up the house.
Sheet #2 Words with M.

Malleable__(adj)__easy to shape or bend.

Modeling clay is very malleable.

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Mandate__(n)__command or authorization to do something.

Our mandate from the executive committee was to find the answer to the problem as quickly as
possible.

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Manifest__(adj)__visible; evident.

There is manifest danger in riding a pogo stick along the edge of a cliff.

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Maudlin__(adj)__silly and overly sentimental.

The high school reunion grew more and more maudlin as the participants shared more and more
memories.

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Maverick__(n)__a nonconformist; a rebel.

The maverick police officer dot in trouble with the department for using illegal means to track
down criminals .

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Mendacious__(lying; dishonest.

The jury saw through the mendacious witness and convicted the defendant.

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 WORKSHEET # 12 N
Narcissism: noun- Excessive love of one’s body or oneself.

Looking at your reflection in the mirror, most of the time, is an act of narcissism.

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Nebulous: adj- Vague, hazy, distinct.

Oscar’s views are so nebulous that no one can figure out what he thinks about anything.

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Nefarious: adj- flagrantly wicked.

The convicted murderer has committed a myriad of nefarious acts.

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Neologism: noun- a new word or phrase.

At one time, every word was a neologism ;someone somewhere had to be the first to use it.

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Nepotism: n- showing favoritism to friends or family in business or politics.

Clarence had no business acumen, so he was counting on nepotism when he married the
boss’s daughter.

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Nihilism: noun- the belief that there are no values or morals in the universe.

A nihilist does not believe in any objective standards of right or wrong.

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