Copyright © 2017 by Stephen Spignesi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected]. Skyhorse® and Skyhorse Publishing® are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Rain Saukas Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-2387-0 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2388-7 Printed in the United States of America Dedication This book is dedicated to my dear former students, all of whom now (I hope) know what “abrogate” means Acknowledgments Special thanks to Mike Lewis, John White, Rachel Montgomery, Lee Mandato, and Janet Spignesi Daniw, as well as Mike Campbell and all the fine folks at Skyhorse Publishing, word lovers all, who have always been helpful, generous, and supportive. Also, especial gratitude to all the fine folks at these websites for doing an extraordinary job and for making their efforts available to the world: 1. CollinsDictionary.com 2. DailyBeast.com 3. Definition.org 4. Dictionary.Cambridge.org 5. Dictionary.com 6. Fun-with-Words.com 7. IMDB.com 8. LiteraryDevices.net 9. MacmillanDictionary.com 10. MerriamWebster.com 11. NYTimes.com 12. OxfordDictionaries.com 13. Quodb.com 14. TheFreeDictionary.com 15. Thesaurus.com 16. Vocabulary.com 17. WordsinaSentence.com 18. YourDictionary.com …as well as the myriad dictionary and thesaurus sites online, many of which were extremely helpful in the compiling of this book. Foreword Words equal credibility. The more articulate a person is in their writing and speaking, the more seriously they will be taken —by everyone. This book teaches 499 words every student should know and focuses on the classroom-tested Trinity of Vocabulary Use: For each word, the vocabulary-enriched and educated student should be able to: • understand the word when they read it or hear it • use the word in their speaking, • make good use of the word in their writing I tried to provide easy-to-understand, informative and, on some occasions, humorous explanations of every word, and explore how to use them in sentences, and in proper context. The majority of these words were chosen because they are fairly commonplace in media, books, online, and elsewhere, and students need to be able to understand them. I come across many of these words all the time. A student came into class one day and said, “You taught my father something last night.” He explained that he was watching cable news with his father and the commentator remarked that a particular candidate was a demagogue. His father asked, “What’s a demagogue?,” and because we had just learned the word in class, my student was able to explain it to him so that he understood what the cable anchor was saying. This was a wonderfully gratifying moment for me. Thus, the idea for this book. The people who know these words and use them routinely are intelligent and eloquent. Their communication is also coherent because they know the right word to express the right message. In the Oxford English Thesaurus, there are 380 synonyms for “good.” Knowing which synonym describes precisely what the writer is trying to express is the product of knowing vocabulary words. Words are a tool and a good craftsman possesses and uses quality tools. For each word, the following information is provided: • Correct spelling of the word. • What the word is; i.e., verb, noun, adjective, etc. • Pronunciation: This book uses “real-world pronunciation” rather than traditional linguistic pronunciations (y’know, with the upside down “e” and all that.) The syllables are spelled out the way they sound, and the syllable that gets the emphasis is in italics. • A few informative facts about the word that are both instructive and entertaining, which also provide some context when relevant. They appear in gray sidebars next to the word. • Several examples of the word Used in Context, often citing pop culture sources such as TV shows and movies, as well as classic literature, encyclopedias, and contemporary writings. • A few synonyms for the word. Regarding Citations Movies are in italics; Books are in italics, followed by the author; Newspaper, Web, and Magazine Articles are in “quotes,” followed by the author; TV Shows are in italics, followed by the title of the episode in “quotes.” Stephen Spignesi New Haven, Connecticut Words transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it. —Ursula K. Le Guin Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs. —Pearl Strachan Hurd Don’t ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs. —Hamza Yusuf Good words are worth much, and cost little. —George Herbert If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. —Betty Eadie The 499 Words 1. Abdicate 2. Aberration 3. Abhor 4. Abjure 5. Abridge 6. Abrogate 7. Abstemious 8. Abstract 9. Abstruse 10. Accede 11. Accretion 12. Acerbic 13. Acquiesce 14. Acrimony 15. Acuity 16. Acumen 17. Addled 18. Adduce 19. Adroit 20. Adulation 21. Adumbrate 22. Advocate 23. Aesthetic 24. Affectation 25. Affinity 26. Aggrandize 27. Aggregate 28. Agnostic 29. Alacrity 30. Alienate 31. Allegory 32. Alleviate 33. Allusion 34. Altruism 35. Ameliorate 36. Amenable 37. Anachronism 38. Analogy 39. Anathema 40. Annul 41. Anomaly 42. Antagonist 43. Antecedent 44. Anticlimax 45. Antipathy 46. Antithesis 47. Aphorism 48. Apocryphal 49. Apprise 50. Approbation 51. A priori 52. Apropos 53. Arcane 54. Archetype 55. Arrogate 56. Assiduous 57. Assuage 58. Atheist 59. Atrophy 60. Attenuate 61. Augur 62. Avarice 63. Aversion 64. Begrudge 65. Beguile 66. Beleaguer 67. Bemoan 68. Bemused 69. Benevolent 70. Besmirch 71. Bifurcate 72. Bilingual 73. Bilious 74. Binary 75. Bipartisan 76. Bipolar 77. Blasphemy 78. Blithe 79. Bombastic 80. Bona fide 81. Bravado 82. Broach 83. Brusque 84. Bulwark 85. Bumptious 86. Bureaucracy 87. Buttress 88. Cacophony 89. Cadence 90. Cadre 91. Cajole 92. Callous 93. Canard 94. Canon 95. Cantankerous 96. Capacious 97. Capricious 98. Caricature 99. Carpe diem 100. Castigate 101. Catalyst 102. Catatonia 103. Catharsis 104. Causal 105. Caveat 106. Censorious 107. Censure 108. Chagrin 109. Chauvinism 110. Chicanery 111. Chide 112. Chimera 113. Circuitous 114. Circumspect 115. Codicil 116. Collegial 117. Colloquy 118. Comity 119. Commensurate 120. Comport 121. Concatenation 122. Conciliate 123. Condescending 124. Conflate 125. Conformist 126. Consanguineous 127. Consensus 128. Contemporaneous 129. Contentious 130. Contiguous 131. Convergence 132. Convivial 133. Culpable 134. Dearth 135. Debase 136. Declaim 137. Decorous 138. Decry 139. De facto 140. Deferential 141. Deign 142. Deleterious 143. Delineate 144. Demagogue 145. Denigrate 146. Deplorable 147. Despoil 148. Desultory 149. Deus ex machina 150. Devolve 151. Dialectic 152. Dichotomy 153. Didactic 154. Diffident 155. Digression 156. Dilatory 157. Diminution 158. Disclaim 159. Disconcerting 160. Discordant 161. Discredit 162. Discursive 163. Disenfranchise 164. Dishearten 165. Disinclined 166. Disingenuous 167. Disparity 168. Dispassionate 169. Disputatious 170. Dissemble 171. Dissolute 172. Divergent 173. Doppelganger 174. Duplicity 175. e.g. 176. Ebullient 177. Eclectic 178. Edify 179. Efficacy 180. Effrontery 181. Effusive 182. Egalitarian 183. Egregious 184. Ellipsis 185. Elocution 186. Elucidate 187. Emanate 188. Emasculate 189. Emergent 190. Empathy 191. Empirical 192. Emulate 193. Encroach 194. Endemic 195. Enervate 196. Enhance 197. Enigma 198. Enmity 199. Ennui 200. Ensorcelled 201. Entropy 202. Equable 203. Equivocate 204. Errant 205. Erudite 206. Eschew 207. Esoteric 208. Espouse 209. Estimable 210. Ethnocentric 211. Ethos 212. Euphemism 213. Evaluative 214. Evince 215. Exacerbate 216. Exasperation 217. Excoriate 218. Exculpate 219. Execrable 220. Exemplary 221. Exigency 222. Exiguous 223. Expedient 224. Expiate 225. Explicate 226. Extemporaneous 227. Extenuating 228. Extirpate 229. Extraneous 230. Extrapolate 231. Facade 232. Facetious 233. Facile 234. Facilitate 235. Fait accompli 236. Fallacious 237. Fastidious 238. Fatuous 239. Feckless 240. Felicitous 241. Feral 242. Filibuster 243. Foment 244. Forbearance 245. Fortuitous 246. Fractious 247. Fruition 248. Fulminate 249. Galvanize 250. Gambit 251. Gamut 252. Garrulous 253. Gauche 254. Glib 255. Gratuitous 256. Gregarious 257. Guile 258. Habeas corpus 259. Hackneyed 260. Haiku 261. Halcyon 262. Harangue 263. Harbinger 264. Hedonist 265. Histrionic 266. Hobson’s Choice 267. Holistic 268. Homogeneous 269. Hubris 270. Hyperbole 271. Hypothesis 272. i.e. 273. ibid. 274. Iconoclast 275. Ideology 276. Idiom 277. Idiosyncratic 278. Ignoble 279. Ignominious 280. Imminent 281. Immutable 282. Implacable 283. Imprimatur 284. Impugn 285. Impute 286. In medias res 287.