Week 3 Vocabulary
Week 3 Vocabulary
Vocabulary Words
1. Dissent (Verb)
Meaning: To disagree; to withhold assent.
Example: “You have that right, as you know. The right to dissent is one
of our most important freedoms here. “But the meeting is in four days.
2. Dissipate (Verb)
Meaning: To drive away, disperse.
Example: A state court issued an injunction, and the mob eventually
dissipated.
3. Dissolution (Noun)
Meaning: Disintegration, or decomposition into fragments.
Example: My life has been for many years in a process of dissolution
and it seems to me that now, finally, it is time for me to do the honorable
thing.
4. Dissonance (Noun)
Meaning: A state of disagreement or conflict.
Example: “There is a limit to their tolerance for dissonance,” she added.
5. Distaff (Adjective)
Meaning: Of, relating to, or characteristic of women.
Example: Actually, I do see the merits of a distaff leader, assuming she’s
the candidate who most closely represents what’s best for the country.
6. Distend (Verb)
Meaning: To extend; to stretch out; to spread out.
Example: The next morning, we found, near the bowl, a stiff, hairy rat
with a distended belly.
7. Distill (Verb)
Meaning: To extract the essence of; concentrate; purify.
Example: The long years of solitude and unhappiness had distilled her
emotions and purified her feelings down to a few terrible, magnificent
passions, which possessed her totally.
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8. Dither (Verb)
Meaning: To be uncertain or unable to make a decision about doing
something.
Example: He irritated Strauss by dithering over the offer for months
without replying.
9. Diurnal (Adjective)
Meaning: Happening or occurring during daylight, or primarily active
during that time.
Example: Most birds are diurnal.
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Meaning: To remove or take off (something such as clothing).
Example: She had doffed the shirt and Bermuda-shorts which she had
been wearing and was now dressed for her journey home.
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Example: Even at the best of times, Tefu was a difficult fellow:
dyspeptic, argumentative, overbearing.
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Example: Students had gathered on the hockey field nearby, burning
paper effigies of the Principal around a glowing bonfire; the smoke
curled into the night air and mixed with their laughter and chatter.
5
Meaning: To draw out, bring out; to obtain information from someone
or something.
Example: Somehow, this remark did not elicit the dramatic response I
expected.
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Example: He was the romantic type and instantly became enamored
with his friend’s sister.
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Example: The microwave oven was an enigma: We wondered how it
cooked food, since it didn’t grill or fry.
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Meaning: Fair, just, or impartial.
Example: Castro promised a more equitable society based on
communist principles.
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72. Esoteric (Adjective)
Meaning: Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small
number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest, or an
enlightened inner circle.
Example: The writing in this manual is very esoteric; I’d need a degree
in engineering just to understand it!
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Meaning: Disappearing, vanishing.
Example: While a still image proclaims permanence, a moving image is
evanescent.
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87. Exculpate (Verb)
Meaning: To clear of or to free from guilt; exonerate.
Example: “The president was not exculpated for the acts that he
allegedly committed,” Mueller said.
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95. Expound (Verb)
Meaning: To set out the meaning of; to explain or discuss at length
Example: He expounded often on the dangers of the imperial
presidency.
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103. Facile (Adjective)
Meaning: Amiable, flexible, easy to get along with; Lazy, simplistic
(especially of explanations, discussions etc.).
Example: His facile disposition made him many friends.
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111. Fastidious (Adjective)
Meaning: Excessively particular, demanding, or fussy about details,
especially about tidiness and cleanliness.
Example: Both Jack and Heather were fastidious, very attentive to
hygiene and the condition of their fingernails.
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Example: The ruling’s timing proved felicitous: It came on the
penultimate day of the court’s session, at the end of New York’s vibrant
gay pride week and just before the Fourth of July.
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127. Fleeting (Adjective)
Meaning: Passing quickly; of short duration.
Example: And, despite all the horror and hopelessness, I was fleetingly
happy.
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Meaning: To presage, or suggest something in advance.
Example: Beet sugar was a foreshadowing of what we have today: the
Age of Science, in which sweetness is a product of chemistry.
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Meaning: A marginal or peripheral part; Those members of a political
party, or any social group, holding unorthodox views.
Example: Perhaps she had joined some fringe group of the far right wing
that was making her belligerent and hostile.
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Example: The girl’s picture helped galvanize public opinion against the
administration’s policy.
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