Vocabulary lessons 7, 8 and 9.

caprice	n	a whim or a fancy	He is movingto a different house for the third time in a year to satisfy the caprice of his eccentric wife
conducive	adj /adv	propitious, has the right conditions	Your untidy work antagonizes the examiner and is not conducive to your achieving good marks.
depleted	adj	finished, used up	The census shows that the rural population has been depleted by a general move towards the cities.
desist	v	to refrain, stop yourself	Shooting gulls is a violaton of the game laws; you must desist at once.
despicable	adj	gastly, horrible	The wicked Nero was undoubtedly the most despicable ruler of this era.
diffident	adj	lacking in confidence	His employer is affable enough, but the young man seems to be diffident about asking him a promotion.
dignitary	n.	people of importance	I was embarrassed to find myself seated on the platform surrounded by a galaxy of dignitary.
dynamic	adj	energetic, lively	Wee need a man with a dynamic personality to give the campaign the necessary impetus (push).
effusive	adj	shoing emotion	The Cavalier poets liked to exaggerate the charms of their ladies in poems of effusive praise.
finesse	n	delicacy, refinement	Gladstone was noted for his forceful rhetoric, but he lacked the finesse of Disraeli in polical affairs.
gainsay	v.	deny	Cynic he may be, but he also has a trait of generosity. This fact you cannot gainsay.
gratis	adv	free of charge	To enhance the popularity of his new store, the proprietor handed a package of tea gratis to each of his customers on opening day.
liberal	adj	free thinking	The old lady stints herself in order to make liberal donations to charity.
ornate	adj	highly decorated	The actors' costumes are far too ornated to portray humble village characters.
perfunctory	adj	without interest	The pupils were disappointed when the principal cast only a perfunctory glance at their notebooks.
portend	v	to predict	The Premier's speecj portends an early election, or have I mistaken its purport.
preoccupation	n	concern, anxiety	So profound was my father's preoccupation that he did not notice the ringing of the telephone.
repression	n	to dominate	His children are quite boisterous (noisy) , and they certainly show no sign of repression.
sardonic	adj	cynicall, sarcastic	One can tell that she is being sarcastic by the sardonic expression on her face.
vacillate	v	to be undecided.	If the present government continues to vacillate, let us elect one that will adhere to a definte policy.

acrid	adj	bitter, sour in taste & smell	The boy had to be revivedby artificial repsiration after he had inhaled acrid fumes from the damaged refrigerator.
assuage	v	to soothe, make less severe	Cyclops was a legendary giant, who needed a whole sheep at a meal to assuage his hunger.
conclusive	adj	completes / convincing	The police produced conclusive evidence that the robber entered the house in the guise of a plumber.
delve	v	to dig into	The more I delve into his past, the more I am inclined to descredit his claims.
digress	v	to go off the point, out of topic	Stich closley to the point; if you digress, you will not have enough time to refute your opponent's arguments.
disintegrate	v	to fall appart	Under aggresive attacks by barbarian hordes, the Roman empire began to disintegrate.
emancipate	v	to free, liberate	Lincoln's policy with regard to the Southern States was dominated by his deternination to emancipate the slaves.
facetious	adj	intending to be amusing but insulting	I abhot a perosn who will not refrain from making facetious coments on solemn occasions.
felon	n	criminal	Naval captains used to contrive to man their ships with felons from the gaols.
galavanize	v	to protect from rust / stimulate someone into activity	At the ominous sound of the siren, the firemen were galvanized into action.
impassive	adj	does not show emotion	While the villagers wrangled over the possession of the trader's trinkets, the old chief remainded aloof and impassive.
influx	n	inflow	Canadian hotel-keepers are preparing to accommodate the impending influx of tourists from the United States.
innate	n	natural, in born	The homing pigeonpossesses an innate sense of direction and even on long flights, rarely becomes lost.
irksome	adj	troublesome, bothersome	She finds that the drudgery of housekeeping without modern facilities is extremely irksome.
occult	adj	deeling with the supernatural	Stonehenge, situated in Southern England, is the place where Druid priests practised their occult rites.
preclude	v	excltude possibility of something	In order to prelude the possibiltiy of any misunderstanding, I expressly urged him to use my name as a reference.
projectile	n	missile, throughn object.	A weapon used by some primitive African natives is a long bamboo tube, from which they blow deadly, poisoned projectiles.
purveyor	n	supplier or distributer	There are already several purveyors of meat in this locality; another one would superfluous.
revoke	v	to take back, cancel	Although the Emperor realized that he was wrong, he refused to revoke his unjust edict.
trite	adj	ordinary, boaring, common	I hoped to glean something original from this essay, but foundthat its ideas were exceedingly trite.

aesthetic	adj.	pertaining or relating to a scene of beauty.	The aesthetic taste of the curator accounts for the fact that the art collection surpasses any other in the country
brevity	n	short lapse of time	"Brevity is the soul of wit", is a much-quoted excerpt from Shakespeare.
concur	v	to agree with	The dissenssion between us occurred because he wabted to dismiss the oldest employee, and I refused to concur.
crucial	adj	vital, important	Wven a momentary lapse of attention at this crucial point in the experiment vould be disastrous.
decorum	n	etiquette or correct behavior	the child should not be allowed to misbehave with impunity. His mother ought to give him a lecture on decorum.
demonstrative	adj	showing emotion	The child is never demonstrative towards his parents, and it is difficult to tell if he feels any filial affection.
devolve	v	to result in / or to succeed someone, to follow.	Since he is a reputable banker, the job Church Treasurer will naturally devolve on him.
dilemma	n	a problem, a quandry	We were faced with the choice of spending the night on the edge of the abbys, or finding our way in the dark. What a dilemma!
disconsolate	adj	to be extremely depressed	things may look black, but don't be disconsolate. We have surmounted greater difficulties in the past.
epigram	n	a short, clever saying	When Shakespeare and his contemporaries met, many a clever epigram was coined.
fastidious	adj	particulary carefull, fussy	Set the table with great care, because Mrs. Robinson is most fastidious in matters of etiquette.
immaterial	adj	unimportant, pointless	The notorious highwayman was finally brought to hustice. The fact that he had been kind to the poor was considered to be relatively immaterial.
imposition	n	burden	I fell that it would be quite an imposition to ask such an illustrious person to judge our dramatic contest.
imprompt	adj	without preparation, unprepared	The speakers in the oratorical contest have to deliver a prepared oration and a short imprompt speech.
infuse	v	to allow something to spread	The sound of martial music will often infuse young men with a spirit of patriotism.
insatiable	adj	that which cannot be satisfied	The shrew mouse has an insatiable appetite, and eats several times the equivalent fo its own weight in food each day.
to quaff	v	to drink rapidly	The Vikings believed that after death they would sit and quaff wine in Odin's palace.
requisition	n	an order, demand	Manages of remote Hudson's Bay posts could send requisitions for supplies only once a year.
strapping	adj	well build, broad shoaldered	Preceded by linkboys, seventeenth-century Londoers were caried in chairs by strapping bearers.
wreak	v	to inflict	When Elisabeth Barrett eloped, her malicious father wanted to wreak his anger on her pet dog.

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2002, Je.L