Chapter 21Sounds Like, Smells Like

Words About Hearing and Smelling

1. resonant Adj.

When Tate sings, his resonant tone is recognized by all his adoring fans.

Sounding again

2. sonorous adj.

Lying in the hammock, Kelly relished the sonorous backdrop of chirping crickets and humming bees.

A full rich sound

3. reverberate -verb

It is fun to yell into a canyon and then hear what you said reverberate back.

to whip back

4. acoustic -adj.

Jamie liked to play her new acoustic guitar for anyone who would listen.

An instrument whose sound is free of electronic effect.

5. timbre -nounIndefinable qualities of a sound that distinguish it from sounds identical in pitch and volume

Even the untrained ear can distinguish the timbre of a flute from that of a bassoon.

6. tintinnabulation - nounThe sound of the ringing of bells

tinnitis – noun a persistent ringing sound in the ear

While we generally think of the sound of bells as pleasant, anyone who has suffered even briefly from tinnitus can tell you the sound is maddening

7. noisome -adjUnpleasant or dangerous smells

Students passing by the wrestling room complained about the noisome odors filtering out into the halls, so the coach ordered the doors to be kept shut.

8. redolent -adj

A good fragrance or aromatic smell

A full week after receiving flowers from her boyfriend, her room remained redolent with their fresh smell.

9. pungent - adj.Sharp smells that may be pleasant or otherwise

The pungent smell of the spoiled butter was so overpowering that Jenny could not smell anything else for the rest of the evening.

10. odoriferous -adj

Having a smell

Having too many onions on his hamburger made Jonah’s breath a little too odoriferous for a peasant good-night kiss.

Chapter 22 Battle Talk

1. spat -nounA brief quarrel, usually fought with a few mean words

After their spat over which movie to see, the Jensens made up over a nice evening out to dinner instead.

2. Bicker -verb

A quarrel, usually over petty matters

The couple’s constant bickering drove their landlord crazy, and she finally asked them to move out of the building.

3. dispute noun/verb

Sam was certain that his answer on the test was right so he disputed his score with his teacher. After he realized his answer was wrong, he felt bad over the dispute.

Engaging in an

argumentative

discussion

4. squabble verb/nounA verbal argument over something pretty trivial (squabbles are more noisy than disputes)

A squabble over who gets to play with the iPad kept the two sisters busy all afternoon.

5. tussle noun/verb

When the two football players fought for the ball on the forty-seventh-yard line, one of them lost his helmet in the tussle.

A rough struggle

6. wrangle noun/verb

A noisy quarrel

After wrangling an hour over what to do for the evening, they realized it was too late to go out at all.

7. contention nounThe act of striving to win in a competition or debate.

The soccer team played their hearts out in a fierce contention to win the cup.

8. altercation -nounA vehement quarrel, usually verbal

Mom had to stop the altercation between the twins when they began to fight over the teddy bear their grandma had given them.

9. dissent -verbTo disagree or differ in opinion

The students dissented with the teacher about doing homework over the weekend, but the teacher still assigned it anyway.

10. irreconcilable -adjImpossible to bring into harmony or agreement

Since one of a the roommates was a slob and the other was a meticulous cleaner, their dispute was irreconcilable.