Vocabulary List 1

Vocabulary List 1

Words taken from Into the Wild

1.  Ominous - adjective

Menacing; threatening; foreboding; inauspicious; portending evil or harm; having the significance of an omen.  

e.g.  The ominous, dark clouds boded rain.

e.g. 2.  The ominous music in the movie created a feeling of suspense.

2.  Anomaly - noun

A deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement or form; an abnormality; an exception; an incongruity; an inconsistency.

e.g.  The musician was an anomaly in a family of scientists.

e.g. 2.  The freezing temperatures in July were an anomaly in the weather pattern in Florida.

3.  Contumacious - adjective

Stubbornly resistant to authority; willfully disobedient; defiant; refractory; willfully obdurate.

e.g.  The dean gave the student detention for his contumacious behavior of speaking disrespectfully to his teacher whenever she asked him a question in class.

e.g. 2.  Consistent lateness to class is a contumacious act.

4.  Principle - noun

A basic truth, law, or assumption; a rule of standard especially of good behavior or judgment; a fixed or predetermined policy or mode of action.

e.g.  Nelson Mandela is a man of great principle.

e.g. 2.  The President of the United States is expected to uphold the principles of democracy.

5.  Flout - verb

To treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; to scoff at; to mock; to repudiate.

e.g.  In refusing to remove their caps in the hallways, the students flouted the rules of the school.

e.g. 2.  Students in the art studio often flout the conventions of dress to express themselves through their outrageous outfits.

6.  Sublime - adjective

Awesome; inspiring; majestic; transcendental; resplendent; elevated or lofty in thought of language; impressing the mind with a sense of grandeur.

e.g.  The beauty of the mountain was sublime.

e.g. 2.  The ballerina's grace on stage was sublime.

e.g. 3.  Great chefs concoct sublime desserts.

7.  Hector - verb

To bully; to torment; to harass; to act in a domineering or blustering way.

e.g.  The senior hectored the freshman on the first day of school.

e.g. 2. The prosecutor hectored the witness on the stand to discredit his testimony.

8.  Ironic - adjective

Using words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; an incongruity between the actual results of a sequence of events and the normal expected outcome; contradictory; device in language in which the real intent is concealed or contradicted by the literal meaning of the words.

e.g.  It was an ironic situation in that he made himself sick by worrying so much about his health.  e.g. 2. It was ironic that the police officer was arrested for unlawful conduct.

9.  Chasten - verb

To inflict suffering upon for the purpose of moral improvement; to chastise; to subdue; to discipline; to castigate; to punish.

e.g.  The student was chastened by the teacher for failing to do his homework.

e.g. 2.  Old age has chastened his violent temper.

10.  Emulate - verb

To try to equal or excel; to imitate with an effort to surpass.

e.g.  Most sons try to emulate their successful fathers.

e.g. 2. Will Smith's son Jaden tried to emulate his famous father by acting in a film.