WEEK 2 VOCABULARY

Distend: Verb

To swell, to expand

Your stomach will distend if you eat too much Halloween candy!

The balloon distended when Iblew air into it.

Fecund: Adjective

To be fertile or productive

Zebra fish are fecund because they lay over 2000 eggs at a time!

Rabbits are often considered to be fecund.

Sage: Noun, Adjective

A wise man, to gain wisdom through experience and reflection, wise

The sage helped me find the path to nirvana.

That is sage advice; I shall try to follow it.

Vacuous: Adjective

Lacking ideas or intelligence

Frankly, your idea for the party is vacuous.

He had a vacuous look on his face when I asked him for directions.

Deride: Verb

To insult or ridicule

The bullies derided the little boy because he was two feet shorter than them.

You should not deride people when they make mistakes.

Assail: Verb

To attack with words or force

Please do not assail me in the hallway to ask about your grades!

The loud fireworks assailed my ears as I was trying to sleep.

Benevolent: Adjective

Generous, kind

The benevolent gentleman gave the charity $5,000.

If you are benevolent, even when you don’t want to be, you will be rewarded.

Scrutinize: Verb

To examine very carefully

You should carefully scrutinize a college before you apply.

Sherlock Holmes scrutinizes every clue he receives in order to solve a case.

Histrionic: Adjective

Overly dramatic

You don’t have to be so histrionic; it was only a spider!

My sister is so histrionic about everything that I’ve stopped listening to her.

Didactic: Adjective

Intending to teach, morally instructive

Going to religious education classes is a didactic practice.

Teachers try to be didactic with many of their lessons.