VOCABULARY
1.Grapple
Meaning: fight without weapons
Synonym: clasp, clench
Sentence: “after a grapple with his conscience, he confessed to having an affair”
- Incongruous
Meaning: not appropriate for a particular occasion or situation
Synonym: amiss
Sentence: “there’s an incongruous modernism to the actor’s performance in this period piece”
3.Indomitable
Meaning: incapable of being defeated, overcome, or subdued
Synonym: bulletproof, invincible
Sentence: “an indomitable spirit was needed to endure the rigors of pioneer life.”
4.Meliorate
Meaning: to make better
Synonym: better, enhance
Sentence: “regulations intended to meliorate the working conditions of migrant farm
laborers”
5.Persiflage
Meaning: good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
Synonym: backchat, jesting
Sentence: “Her cunning persiflage hurt them.”
- Relegate
Meaning: to force to leave a country
Synonym: deport, exile
Sentence: “courtiers and generals who incurred the emperor’s disfavor were soon
relegated to the farther reaches of the empire”
7.Rhapsody
Meaning: a state of overwhelming usually pleasurable emotion
Synonym: cloud-nine
Sentence: “listening to Mozart always left him in a rhapsody that lingered for the
remainder of the evening”
8.Acerbity
Meaning: intended to cause hurt feelings
Synonym: acridness, acuteness
Sentence: “the customer made his displeasure known with more acerbity than was
necessary”
9.Juxtapose
Meaning: having a border in common
Synonym: adjoining, conterminous, flanking
Sentence: “the juxtaposed photographs of the country’s richest and poorest areas are
a telling commentary on inequality”
10.Effrontery
Meaning: shameless boldness
Synonym: cockiness, cheekiness, pertness
Sentence: “the little squirt had the effrontery to deny eating any cookies, even
with the crumbs still on his lips”
