Vocab List #6

Beatitude – supreme blessedness

            He never gave up searching for the feeling of beatitude.

Bête Noire – a detested person

            The man was  a bête noire who didn’t have any friends.

Bode – be an omen of a particular outcome

Dank – damp or musty

            The food at the one star restaurant was reviewed as dank and unappealing.

Ecumenical – universal

            The flat hand out directed to a person is the ecumenical sign for stop.

Fervid – intensely enthusiastic or passionate

            He was very fervid about his artwork.

Fetid – smelling extremely unpleasant

            The skunk sprayed a fetid smell which lasted all week.

Gargantuan – of great mass

            Mt. Everest is the gargantuan of all mountains.

Heyday – period of a persons or thing’s greatest success or popularity

            High school can be the heyday of many students, but so can college.

Incubus – cause of distress or anxiety

            His nightmare about clowns has been the incubus of fear his entire life.

Infrastructure – the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for operation

            The infrastructure of the paper company demanded workers to be on task.

Inveigle – persuade to do something by means of deception

            Its easy to be inveigled by someone if you don’t completely know them.

Kudos – praise and honor received for an achievement

            Everyone said “kudos to you” to John for getting into Cal Berkeley.

Lagniappe – something given as a bonus or extra gift

            The was offered a lagniappe for purchasing multiple paper towel rolls.

Prolix – using or containing too many words

            Normally if a sentence is prolix it becomes boring to read.

Protégé – a person who receives support and protection from an influencial patron

            He was a protégé in the skill of drawing to the great master.

Prototype – a first or preliminary model of something, from which other forms are developed

            The showing of the new prototype ended in an explosion of flames.

Sycophant – a person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage

            Many sycophants are also known as suck ups, or kiss a**es.

Tautology – the saying of the same thing twice in different words

Using tautology in essays is a lot better than using the same word over and over again.

Truckle – submit or behave obsequiously

            The man was acting like a truckle.

Obsequious – showing servile complaisance or deference

            Obsequious service is given, one generally leaves a tip.