Lesson 4

Aesthetic to Volatile

AESTHETICNoun or adjective

relating or pertaining to art or beauty

The aesthetics of the room were appealing to me. (n)

My aesthetic tastes don’t appeal to my husband. (adj)

ALOOFadj- apart;

indifferent

Cats can be quite aloof when they want to be.

ARCHAICadj- antiquated, old; out of date and

out of use

Every year it seems a computer becomes archaic, as a new one is created to take its place.

ASSUAGEv- to ease, to mitigate, to make

less painful or burdensome, to calm

Everyone needs someone to assuage their ‘boo-boos.’

BELIE

Verb- To contradict or give a false impression of

Hitler’s baby pictured belied the fact that he would grow to be a heartless cold-blooded psychopath.

CONTENTIOUS

adj- quarrelsome, stirring controversy

Politicians can be quite contentious during election campaigns.

DAUNT

to intimidate, to dismay

DISCORD

Lack of agreement, tension, and strife

DISSEMINATION

The act of spreading widely

DOGMATIC

adj- strongly opinionated in an unwarranted manner

The dogmatic teacher turned

off his students because of his

negative opinions.

DUPLICITY(noun)double-dealing, hypocrisy

(adj) duplicitousThe Enron bosses who took money from their employees’ pension plans to buy luxuries were guilty of duplicity.

EGOCENTRIC

adj--self-centered, selfish

Some might argue that the economic downturn is in part a result of our egocentric lifestyles---buying luxury items that we can’t afford on credit just to satisfy our every desire.

EUPHEMISMNoun-substitution of an inoffensive term for an offensive oneGarbage collector sanitation engineer

Stewardess flight attendant

GLUTTONOUSadj- greedy for food and drink

N- gluttony or glutton

In Monty Python’s movie The Meaning of Life, a gluttonous food critic makes a

disgusting mess of himself.

MUNDANE

adj- ordinary, boring, commonplace, banal

The characters from the hit show The Office make the mundane

routines of an office seem hysterically funny.

OMINOUS

Threatening, foreboding, mysterious

One glance at the ominous sky convinced us to take cover.

PETULANCE

unreasonable touchiness or irritability

My mom can be particularly petulant in traffic.

POMPOUSExaggerated show of dignity or self-importance; pretentious; arrogant

He is so pompous, I can’t stand to be around him.

SLOTHFULadj-Lazy, indolent

This is the slothful way to exercise with your Wii.

TRIVIAInsignificant matters; seemingly

meaningless matter

VERBOSE

wordy, talkative; loquacious

VIRULENT

extremely poisonous; hateful

VOLATILE

adj--quickly changeable, easily vaporized