Weekly Words The following are words that are

Weekly Words The following are words that are “common” vocabulary used in everyday writing, reading, and speaking. It is important that you internalize words you may not be familiar with in order to build your vocabulary skills. Find interesting ways to use these words so they become part of you.

Acrimonious • Acrimonious Adjective • Bitter or sarcastic in temper, manner or tone • This book is an acrimonious attack on the present administration. Synonyms: horrible, negative, bad Antonyms: nice, good, positive Derivatives: acrimoniously, acrimoniousness

Acumen • Acumen (noun) • Keenness of mind or judgment • She shows great acumen as a businesswoman. Synonyms: wise, intellectual, sagacious, clever Antonyms: unwise Derivatives: acumenicle acumenically ? ? ?

Affinity • Affinity Noun A natural attraction or liking • The young couple had a great affinity for each other. Synonyms: affection, fondness, connection Antonyms: dislike, aversion Derivatives: affinities, affinity (adj)

Apathy • Apathy (noun) • A lack of interest, concern, or desire to act • He views his current grades with a great degree of apathy. Synonyms: Antonyms: Derivatives:

Capricious Adjective • Tending to change suddenly, unexpectedly, and for no apparent reason, unpredictable • ble. Synonyms: moody, unpredictable Antonyms: predictable, emotionless, happy Derivatives: capriciously, capriciousness

Cognizant • Aware After his injury, the man was barely cognizant of his surroundings. Synonyms: mindful, knowledgeable, conscious Antonyms: unaware, confused, dazed, oblivious Derivatives: cognizantly Adjective

• Adjective Stating opinions or beliefs in a positive and haughty manner. The dogmatic teacher would not let anyone question his statements. Synonyms: arrogant, snobby Antonyms: nice, humble Derivatives: dogmatically, dogmatism, dogmatist Dogmatic

Epiphany (noun) To suddenly understand a concept. After reading the book, he had an epiphany about the events leading to the American Revolution. Synonyms: discovery, uncover, clear Antonyms: confused, blurry, obscure Derivatives: epiphanies

• Adjective Useless, hopeless, or ineffective He tried to resist eating the chocolate cake, but it was futile. Synonyms: frivolous, empty, unsuccessful, fruitless, unproductive Antonyms: effective, fruitful, productive, successful Derivatives: futility Futile

Incessant Adjective Derivative: incessantly-adverb Continuing or non-stop The incessant ringing of his cell phone kept everyone in the office from being able to concentrate. Synonyms Unceasing Continue Repeatedly Antonyms Ceasing discontinue interrupted

Innocuous (Adjective) • Harmless; innocent The snake looked scary, but it was really innocuous. Synonyms: kind, safe, painless, inoffensive Antonyms: offensive, harmful, painful, dangerous, scary Derivatives: Derivatives innocuousness – noun Innocuously - adverb “I am so cute and innocent. ”

Insidious Adjective Deceitful; working in a hidden but harmful manner His insidious plan to hide money from his family wasn’t working out so well. Synonyms: misleading, sly, deceptive, sneaky Antonyms: fair, honest, sincere Derivatives: insidiously-adv. Insidiousness-noun

Mitigate verb To make milder or less severe or painful The nurse tried to mitigate the suffering of the injured child. Synonyms – decrease, lessen, relieve Antonyms – worsen, increase, intensify Derivatives : mitigation - noun

Morose • Bad tempered, gloomy, sullen • The old man was known for being extremely morose. Synonyms: cranky, grouchy, acrimonious Antonyms: sweet, nice, happy Derivatives: morosely – adverb moroseness - noun Adjective

Ostentatious - adjective Done to impress others or to attract attention Synonyms: boastful, showy, flashy Antonyms: obscure, modest, quiet Derivatives: ostentatiousness – noun ostentatiously - adverb The large bags that the shoppers were carrying were incredibly ostentatious.

Plausible adjective Seeming to be true, honest or worth of trust; believable. Her excuse was plausible, but I still had my doubts. Synonyms: credible, valid Antonyms: incredulous, dishonest Derivatives: plausibility – n plausibly -adv

Precocious Adj. : Developed or matured earlier than usual My son’s reading habits are incredibly precocious. Synonyms: mature, advanced, developed Antonyms: undeveloped, immature Derivatives: precociously, precociousness

Quiescent adjective • In a state of inactivity or rest. • He is in a quiescent frame of mind. Synonyms: asleep, deactivated Antonyms: active, rowdy, awake Derivatives: quiescently, quiescence

Ramification noun • The act or process of dividing; an effect or consequence that results from a situation or statement. • What are the ramifications of his plan? • Synonyms: result, sequel, consequence, effect • Antonyms: cause, reason • Derivatives: ramifications, ramify

Redundant Adjective Using more words than necessary to express an idea; wordiness; unnecessary; superfluous. In an attempt to meet length requirements, the girl’s paper was very redundant. Synonyms: wordy, overused Antonyms: essential, necessary Derivatives: redundancy, redundantly, redundancies

Refutable adjective Able to be proven wrong or false The written statement was refutable. . Synonyms: deny, disapprove, rebut Antonyms: agree, validate, confirm Derivatives: refute, refutability, refutably

Rudimentary Adjective Elementary; in the beginning or early stage of development; incompletely or imperfectly developed. A penguin has rudimentary wings. Synonyms: immature, novice, simple, beginner Antonyms: mature, precocious, developed, prepared Derivatives: rudiment

Sanguine adjective Cheerful and optimistic; having a red color; ruddy The man had a very sanguine personality. Synonyms: enthusiastic, buoyant, lively Antonyms: pessimistic, morose Derivatives: sanguinity, sanguineness, sanguinely

Unscrupulous adjective Showing no regard for what is right The unscrupulous businessman cheated his customers. Synonyms: unprincipled, unethical, dishonest, questionable, conscienceless Antonyms: principled, moral, ethical, honest Derivatives: unscrupulously, unscrupulousness

Ubiquitou s adjective being everywhere at once, or seeming to be everywhere at once Synonyms: omnipresent, everywhere, universal Antonyms: rare, scarce, occasional Derivatives: ubiquitously, ubiquities The famous actress was ubiquitous when she had a new movie coming out.

Surreptitious adjective Done by secret or sly means The secret society had a surreptitious meeting. Synonyms: sneaky, hidden, obscure Antonyms: truthful, open, obvious Derivatives: surreptitiously, surreptitiousness

Terse adjective brief and to the point; concise Her terse reply surprised her friends. Synonyms: abrupt, compact, concise, condensed Antonyms: lengthy, wordy, longwinded Derivatives: tersely, terseness

Wanton adjective marked by extreme thoughtlessness or ill will; immoral; not controlled; unruly At first the student was apathetic, but then she began showing wanton misbehavior. Synonyms: cruelty, malicious, unjust, inconsiderate, inhuman Antonyms: careful, considerate, restrained, humane Derivatives: wantonly, wantonness

Zenith noun the highest or greatest point This performance was the zenith of the musician’s career. Synonyms: climax, peak, crest, crown Antonyms: bottom, nadir, base, floor Derivatives: zenithal

verb Expedite to speed up the process or progress of; to do quickly and efficiently The man asked the doctor to expedite the exam because he was in a hurry. Synonyms: hurry, quicken, rush, accelerate Antonyms: slow, decelerate, inefficient Derivatives: expedited, expedites