Vocabulary Unit 4Mrs. Williams

English 9 and 9B

abscond (v.) to run off and hide

• Synonyms: bolt, make off, skip town

• EX– The thieves who absconded with several of the museum’s most valuable paintings have never been found.

anarchy (n.) a lack of government and law; confusion

• Synonyms: chaos, disorder, turmoil, pandemonium

• Antonyms: law and order, peace and quiet

• EX– In the final days of a war,

civilians may find themselves living in anarchy.

arduous (adj.) hard to do, requiring much effort

• Synonyms: hard, difficult, laborious, fatiguing

• Antonyms: easy, simple, effortless

• EX– No matter how carefully

you plan for it, moving to a new home is an arduous chore.

auspicious (adj.) favorable; fortunate

• Synonyms: promising, encouraging, propitious

• Antonyms: ill-omened, ominous, sinister

• EX– My parents describe the

day that they first met as a most auspicious occasion.

daunt (v.) to overcome with fear, intimidate; to dishearten, discourage

• Synonyms: dismay, cow• Antonyms: encourage,

embolden, reassure• EX– Despite all its inherent

dangers, space flight did not daunt the Mercury program astronauts.

disentangle (v.) to free from tangles or complications

• Synonyms: unravel, unwind, unscramble, unsnarl

• Antonyms: tangle up, ensnarl, snag

• EX– Rescuers worked for

hours to disentangle a whale from the fishing net wrapped around its jaws.

fated (adj.) determined in advance by destiny or fortune

• Synonyms: destined, preordained, doomed

• Antonyms: accidental, fortuitous, chance, random

• EX– The tragic outcome of

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is fated from the play’s very first scene.

hoodwink (v.) to mislead by a trick, deceive

• Synonyms: dupe, put one over on

• Antonyms: undeceive, disabuse, clue in

• EX– Many sweepstakes offers hoodwink people into thinking they have already won big prizes.

inanimate (adj.) not having life; without energy or spirit

• Synonyms: lifeless, dead, inert, spiritless

• Antonyms: living, alive, energetic, vigorous, lively, sprightly

• EX– Although fossils are inanimate, they hold many clues to life on Earth millions of years ago.

incinerate (v.) to burn to ashes

• Synonyms: burn up, cremate, reduce to ashes

• EX– Because of

environmental concerns, many cities and towns no longer incinerate their garbage.

pliant (adj.) bending readily; easily influenced

• Synonyms: supple, flexible, elastic, plastic

• Antonyms: rigid, stiff, inflexible, set in stone

• EX– The pliant branches of

the sapling sagged but did not break under the weight of the heavy snow.

precipice (n.) a very steep cliff; the brink or edge of disaster

• Synonyms: cliff, crag, bluff, promontory, ledge

• Antonyms: abyss, chasm, gorge

• EX– During the Cuban missile

crisis, the world hovered on the precipice of nuclear war.

prototype (n.) an original model on which later versions are patterned

• Synonyms: example, sample

• Antonyms: copy• EX– The assembly line

managers studied the prototype of the new car for weeks before production began.

rectify (v.) to make right, correct

• Synonyms: remedy, set right

• Antonyms: mess up, botch, bungle

• EX– The senators debated a

series of measures designed to rectify the nation’s trade imbalance.

reprieve (n.) a temporary relief or delay; (v.) to grant a postponement

• Synonyms: (n.) stay, respite, deferral; (v.) postpone, delay

• Antonyms: (v.) proceed• EX

– A vacation is a kind of reprieve from the cares and responsibilities of everyday life.

– A judge may reprieve a first-time offender from jail time until sentencing.