Vocabulary 16

Using Context Clues

Abyss

• Bottomless gulf; anything too deep to measure

Agenda

• A list or program of things to be done or considered

Ephemeral

• Short-lived; lasting for a markedly brief time

Equilibrium

• A state of balance between opposing forces

Expend

• To lay out or use up

Fortuitous

• Happening by chance or accident

Grapple

• To try to cope with

Ideology

• A set of beliefs of an individual or a group

Palpable

• Easily perceived by the senses; obvious; touchable

Transient

• Temporary; passing with time

Vocabulary 17

Using definitions

Fraught

• Involving; full of; accompanied by

Frivolous

• Of little or no worth or importance; not worthy of serious notice; characterized by lack of seriousness or sense; trifling, petty, paltry, silly, foolish

gratify

• To give pleasure to by satisfying desires or humoring inclinations or feelings; to satisfy; indulge; humor, as one’s desires or appetites

Momentum

• Force or speed of movement; impetus

Narrate

• To give an account or tell the story of; to relate or recount events, experiences, etc. in speech or writing

Serendipity

• An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

Torrid

• Subject to parching or burning heat from the sun; oppressively hot, parching, burning; ardent; passionate; tropical, scorching, fiery

Ultimate

• Last; furthest or farthest; ending a process or series; maximum; decisive or conclusive; highest; extreme, remotest, uttermost

Vigilant

• Keenly watchful to detect danger or trouble; ever awake and alert; sleeplessly watchful

Wend

• To pursue or direct one’s way

Vocabulary 18

Prefixes That Tell Where

Circumlocution

• The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language; evasion in speech or writing; roundabout expression

Circumstance

• Condition or fact attending an event and having some bearing on it; a determining or modifying factor

Interact

• To act upon one another

Intersperse

• To distribute among other things at intervals

Intervention

• The act of coming between to modify, settle, or hinder some action

Midcontinent

• Located in the center of a land mass

Midlife

• Located in the middle of one’s period of existence

Subconscious

• Part of the mind below the level of awareness

Submerge

• To place under water; cover from view; obscure

Substandard

• Failing to meet a criterion or requirement