2017 Vocabulary #20 – Period 2

1. rectitude [rek-ti-tood, -tyood] –noun 1. rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue: the rectitude of her motives. 2. correctness: rectitude of judgment. Origin: 1400–50; late ME < MF < LL

2. feign [feyn] –verb (used with object) 1. to represent fictitiously; put on an appearance of: to feign sickness. 2. to invent fictitiously or deceptively, as a story or an excuse. 3. to imitate deceptively: to feign another's voice. 4. to make believe; pretend: She's only feigning, she isn't really ill. Origin: 1250–1300; ME

3. intransitive [in-tran-si-tiv] –adjective Designating a verb or verb construction that does not require or cannot take a direct object, Origin: 1605–15; < L

4. bandolier [ban-dl-eer] –noun a broad belt worn over the shoulder by soldiers and having a number of small loops or pockets, for holding a cartridge or cartridges. Origin: 1570–80;

5. shrapnel [shrap-nl] –noun 1. a hollow projectile containing bullets or the like and a bursting charge, designed to explode before reaching the target, and to set free a shower of missiles. 2. shell fragments. Origin: 1800–10;

6. catharsis [kuh-thahr-seez] 1. the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music. 2. psychotherapy that encourages or permits the discharge of pent-up, socially unacceptable affects. Origin: 1795–1805; < Neo-Latin < Greek

7. eviscerate [ ih-vis-uh-reyt] –verb 1. to remove the entrails from; disembowel: to eviscerate a chicken. 2. to deprive of vital or essential parts: The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the leaders of the party. Origin: 1600–10; < L

8. taut [tawt] –adjective, 1. tightly drawn; tense; not slack. 2. emotionally or mentally strained or tense: taut nerves. Origin: 1275–1325

9. pagoda [puh-goh-duh] noun 1. (in India, Burma, China, etc.) a temple or sacred building, usually a pyramidlike tower and typically having upward-curving roofs over the individual stories Origin: 1625–35; < Portuguese

10. platitude [plat-i-tood, -tyood] noun a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially one uttered as if it were fresh or profound. Origin: 1805–15; < French: