VOCABULARY A Lesson Before Dying List 3 FLAUNT

VOCABULARY A Lesson Before Dying List 3

FLAUNT Verb To display proudly or show off To brag My friend flaunted her new Italian leather jacket at the beach, pretending like she was cold so that everyone could see it.

PENDING Adjective When something is supposed to happen but hasn’t happened yet When something has to happen before something else can happen Unfinished The pending hurricane that has been talked about on the news for weeks has everyone in the area scrambling to the store for bread and milk. My sister is going to get a car for her 16 th birthday, pending her

AGGRAVATE Verb To make worse To exasperate Younger brothers often aggravate their older brothers, because they find it entertaining to get a reaction out of them. Aggravate rhymes with irritate, which is one of its synonyms When you irritate, you aggravate

TYRANT Noun Cruel, overly restrictive rulers Unfair dictator Some of the 20 th century tyrants include Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Saddam Hussein. A minor tyrant in your life might be your parents, if they often place unreasonable, unfair demands on you.

STUTTER Verb To stammer and trip over words When I stutter, it is often because I am so excited about what I am talking about that I speak too quickly and eagerly to correctly process the words I am trying to say.

GESTURE Noun A movement of the hands or body A movement that has some meaning, intention, or emotion behind it He gave her a wink and a nod as he left the room. This gesture left her feeling a little queasy because she did not like this boy in the way he was suggesting.

INNATE Adjective Present at birth Inherent (a quality that is unchangeable) People have the innate ability to speak, but animals do not.

PETRIFY Verb To make something like a stone or to literally turn to stone To become stiff; to deaden To stun or paralyze with terror If you scare someone so much that they can’t move, you petrify them. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, no one knew the source behind all of the people being petrified in different corridors.

PRY Verb To be nosey To stick your nose into someone else’s business We all hate people who pry into our personal affairs – it is an annoying and disrespectful habit, and they don’t need to know about these private matters.

STEALTH Adjective To do something so quietly and carefully that no one notices Avoiding detection by moving carefully If you plan a birthday party by stealth, the guest of honor will be pleasantly surprised.

VENTILATE Verb To furnish with an opening to allow air to circulate or gas to escape The architect did not think about ventilating the storage space, and it was always very stuffy and musty whenever we went in there.

WELT Noun A swollen bruise A raised mark on the skin If someone hits you hard with a think stick, your skin might rise up in a welt.

AGITATE Verb To stir up Move or cause to move back and forth A washing machine agitates dirty clothes in warm soapy water to drive away the dirt. You agitate or shake up salad dressing to mix it, driving the oil away into the vinegar. If you watch a horror movie at bedtime, you may be too agitated to sleep.

CYNICISM Noun A feeling of distrust or that something isn’t going to work out well Pessimism Many people feel cynicism when politicians make big promises, certain that they will not actually be followed through with.

TOLERATE Verb To put up with or allow To put up with something or somebody unpleasant I don’t like my neighbor’s loud music, but I tolerate it because he only blasts it on Saturday afternoons, and he isn’t really disturbing anyone. I can tolerate my sister’s love of Broadway musicals, but I do prefer the dramas.

CREOLE Noun A person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean Most modern Creoles have family ties to Louisiana. They are most Catholic in religion, and through the 19 th century, most spoke French and were strongly connected to French colonial culture.

GRUESOME Adjective Shockingly repellant Inspiring horror, fright, and repulsion Horror movies often rely on gruesome effects for their shock value – lots of blood, bones, and murder.

GUMBO Noun A soup thickened with okra pods or filé and containing meat or seafoods and usually vegetables My dad has a special gumbo recipe that he cooks up on the first bitter cold day of every winter season. My family looks forward to the warm and hearty soup every single year.

IMPATIENT Adjective Don’t like to wait Restless or short-tempered under delay or opposition My doctor’s appointment was scheduled for 9: 00 am, so when they didn’t see me until 10: 00 am, I grew impatient with them for making me wait so long.

CRITICIZE Verb To find out what’s wrong with something To point out real or perceived flaws My best friend is just learning how to bake, so I decided not to criticize her first batch of burned cookies too harshly, or else she would just give up.