Vocabulary List #10

aficionado: an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast


Jessica was a hardcore tennis aficionado and is very passionate in every game she plays.


browbeat: to intimidate by using overbearing looks or words; bully


Jack browbeats Piggy into giving him his glasses to start a fire.


commensurate: having the same measure; of equal extent or duratio, adequate


Jackie's talent with acting is commensurate along with Beka's talent for acting.


diaphanous: very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent


The ghost's diaphanous appearance frightened Coraline.


emolument: profit or fees from office or employment


The emoluments were stored in Josh's greedy hands at Smarty Mart.


foray: a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder; a quick, sudden attack


The worm's foray lasted but a few minutes, leaving the citizens devastated with the mysterious lost of their belongings in Bikini Bottom.


genre: a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content


Sarah quite enjoys the science fiction genre whereas Michelle perfers fantasy.


homily: usually of a nondoctrinal nature/an inspirational saying or cliche


The biblical homily that was said daily to John brought music to his ears everytime he heard it.


immure: to enclose within walls/to shut in, seclude or confine; to imprison


Students argue that they feel as though the school is trying to immure them by adding more fence around the perimeter.


insouciant: free from concern, worry or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant


Timon and Pumba are both insouciant with their lives with the simple phrase: Hakuna Matata


matrix: something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops/a formative part


The gelatinous monster enveloped the matrix from which he arrived.


obsequies: funeral rites or ceremony


The obsequies for the victim of a shark attack was performed in the ocean.


panache: a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair


Brittany's Halloween party was panache and flashy to a point where it resembled a rave.


persona: the narrator of a character in a literary work, person's perceived or evident personality


Roger's personas take a dramatic turn whenever he takes his characters too far and starts trouble.


philippic: any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation


Both men raged on in a fury of nasty philippics to one another during the heated debate.


prurient: having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts, desire


Shakespeare has an odd way of showing his prurient fascination towards death in his plays.


sacrosanct: extremely sacred or inviolable; not to be tresspassed or entered upon


Cows are extremely sacrosanct to people in India and I find it unexplainable.


systemic:of or pertaining to a system/pertaining to or affecting the body as a whole


The systemic vitamins taken by Nikki were helping her from catching the spreading cold.


tendentious:having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose


Most of my friends are very tendentious when it comes between studying and partying.


vicissitude: change or variation in the course of something; alteration or interchange


Kelli's vicissitude in school when becoming sick really screwed her over as she fell behind in her work.