Mission bay High School - Previous Words

excrescence \ik-SKRESS-uhn(t)s\, noun:
1. Something (especially something abnormal) growing out from something else.
2. A disfiguring or unwanted mark, part, or addition.

It wasn't just predictable curmudgeons like Dr. Johnson who thought the Scottish hills ugly; if anybody had something to say about mountains at all, it was sure to be an insult. (The Alps: "monstrous excrescences of nature," in the words of one wholly typical 18th-century observer.)
-- Stephen Budiansky, "Nature? A bit overdone", U.S. News & World Report, December 2, 1996

plethora \PLETH-uh-ruh\, noun:
1. An abnormal bodily condition characterized by an excessive amount of blood in the system.
2. Excess; superabundance.

A plethora of servants helped make this possible; it was customary for a married officer to have as many as six servants, each with particular duties concerning lamps, fires, bathwater, cooking or sanitation.
-- Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A Biography

Bidders paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless gewgaws--fake pearls, ashtrays, golf clubs--merely, one supposes, because they were touched by the hand of this celebrity of celebrities.
-- Lawrence M. Friedman, The Horizontal Society

garrulous \GAIR-uh-lus; GAIR-yuh-\, adjective:
1. Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative.
2. Wordy.

Without saying a single word she managed to radiate disapproval . . . the air seemed to grow heavy with it and the most garrulous talker would wilt and fall silent.
-- Mark Amory, Lord Berners: The Last Eccentric

ersatz \AIR-sahts; UR-sats\, adjective:
Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.

Meanwhile, a poor copy was erected in the courtyard; many an unsuspecting traveler paid homage to that ersatz masterpiece.
-- Edith Pearlman, "Girl and Marble Boy", The Atlantic, December 29, 1999

perquisite \PUR-kwuh-zit\, noun:
1. A profit or benefit in addition to a salary or wages.
2. Broadly: The benefits of a position or office.
3. A gratuity or tip for services performed.
4. Anything to which someone has or claims the sole right.

In a tight market for skilled labor . . . corporations are increasingly buying homes for hot new hires -- a perquisite once reserved for top executives.
-- Jennie James, "For Many Europeans, There's No Place Like Home", Time, May 8, 2000

indelible \in-DEL-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. That cannot be removed, erased, or washed away.
2. Making marks that cannot easily be removed or erased.
3. Incapable of being forgotten; memorable.

It was part of his image, indelible as the ink stains under the breast pocket.
-- Mark Childress, Gone for Good

permeate \PUR-mee-ayt\, transitive verb:
1. To spread or diffuse through.
2. To pass through the pores or openings of.

A darkly sweet aroma permeated the air; white orchid blossoms erupted from snakelike vines.
-- Chu Tien-Wen, Notes of a Desolate Man

primogeniture \pry-moh-JEN-ih-choor\, noun:
1. The state of being the firstborn of the same parents; seniority by birth among children of the same family.
2. (Law) An exclusive right of inheritance that belongs to the eldest son.

Only now is the British government getting around to eliminating primogeniture and hereditary rights from the British Constitution by expelling hereditary peers from the upper house (still called the House of Lords).
-- Paul Johnson, "Thicker Than Water", National Review, August 11, 2003

perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\, noun:
Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.

His predictions over the years have mixed unusual aristocratic insight with devastating perspicacity.
-- "Why fine titles make exceedingly fine writers", Independent, November 3, 1996

soporific \sop-uh-RIF-ik; soh-puh-\, adjective:
1. Causing sleep; tending to cause sleep.
2. Of, relating to, or characterized by sleepiness or lethargy.

noun:
1. A medicine, drug, plant, or other agent that has the quality of inducing sleep; a narcotic.

They were almost an hour behind in their daily schedule, and both women looked tired after a soporific afternoon of three executive meetings.
-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, News of a Kidnapping

foundling \FOWND-ling\, noun:
A deserted or abandoned infant; a child found without a parent or caretaker. \FOWND-ling\, noun:
A deserted or abandoned infant; a child found without a parent or caretaker.

intransitive verb:
1. To be fitting; to accord; to agree -- usually followed by 'with'.

Then one day her daughter returns home with a foundling, an abandoned baby boy.
-- Charles R. Larson, Washington Post, September 26, 1999

comport \kum-PORT\, transitive verb:
1. To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner.

intransitive verb:
1. To be fitting; to accord; to agree -- usually followed by 'with'.

Considered friendly and funny in private, the queen has a formal, remote air in public that some people attribute to shyness and others say is a reflection of her belief that, as monarch, she should comport herself with dignity and restraint.
-- Sarah Lyall, "Tradition and Personality Keep Elizabeth Far From Her Subjects", New York Times, September 5, 1997

perfervid \puhr-FUR-vid\, adjective:
Ardent; impassioned; marked by exaggerated or overwrought emotion.
Years ago Philip Roth published a perspicacious essay on the pitfalls of writing satire, the gist of which was that the daily absurdities in our morning newspapers too often outdid even a novelist's most perfervid imaginings.

-- Mordecai Richler, "Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind", New York Times, April 11, 1999

woolgathering \WOOL-gath-(uh)-ring\, noun:
Indulgence in idle daydreaming.

It would be easy to slip off into woolgathering and miss a deadline.
-- Jeraldine Saunders, Washington Post, March 4, 2004

ensorcell \en-SOR-suhl\, transitive verb:

To enchant; to bewitch.
Had she tried to ensorcell him with a charm spell?
-- Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb, Finder's Bane

cozen \KUZ-un\, transitive verb:
1. To cheat; to defraud; to deceive, usually by petty tricks.
2. To obtain by deceit.

You would naturally not think so flat a rogue could cozen you. But have a care! These half idiots have a sort of cunning, as the skunk has its stench.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson, The Master of Ballantrae

ne plus ultra \nee-plus-UL-truh; nay-\, noun:
1. The highest point, as of excellence or achievement; the acme; the pinnacle; the ultimate.
2. The most profound degree of a quality or condition.

He also penned a number of supposedly moral and improving books which . . . were the very ne plus ultra of tedium.
-- Richard West, "A life fuller than fiction", Irish Times, August 9, 1997

cozen \KUZ-un\, transitive verb:
1. To cheat; to defraud; to deceive, usually by petty tricks.
2. To obtain by deceit.

evince \ih-VIN(T)S\,transitive verb:
To show in a clear manner; to manifest; to make evident; to bring to light.

The study showed that girls were better prepared for class, had better attendance records, and evinced more positive academic behavior overall.
-- Christina Hoff Sommers, The War Against Boys

invective \in-VEK-tiv\, noun:
1. An abusive expression or speech; a vehement verbal attack.
2. Insulting or abusive language.

adjective:
1. Of, relating to, or characterized by insult, abuse, or denunciatory language.

They all seemed to be in their usual mood of precarious good humour which could splinter at any moment into invective and menacing gesture.
-- Alice Thomas Ellis, Pillars of Gold

discomfit \dis-KUHM-fit; dis-kuhm-FIT\, transitive verb:
1. To make uneasy or perplexed, or to put into a state of embarrassment; to disconcert; to upset.
2. To thwart; to frustrate the plans of.
3. (Archaic). To defeat in battle.

Why were the men so discomfited, and why, in a group renowned for its openness, was there so much difficulty in speaking frankly?
-- Hermione Lee, Virginia Woolf

enunciate \ee-NUN-see-ayt; ih-\, transitive verb:
1. To utter articulately; to pronounce.
2. To state or set forth precisely or systematically.
3. To announce; to proclaim; to declare.

And all agree that he was from his college days a wonderful speaker, one who enunciated clearly and crisply and never seemed to have to grope for a word.
-- Louis Auchincloss, Woodrow Wilson

insuperable \in-SOO-pur-uh-bul\, adjective:
Incapable of being passed over, surmounted, or overcome; insurmountable; as, "insuperable difficulties."

Even as an adolescent bookkeeper in a trading house in Cleveland, Rockefeller minutely recorded his charitable donations in ledgers, which confirm that from an early age he had a penchant for giving money no less than for making it.
-- Ron Chernow, "Mystery of the Generous Monopolist", New York Times, November 18, 1998

pastiche \pas-TEESH; pahs-\, noun:
1. A work of art that imitates the style of some previous work.
2. A musical, literary, or artistic composition consisting of selections from various works.
3. A hodgepodge; an incongruous combination of different styles and ingredients.

The figure was a pastiche, assembled from fragments: a Greek head, a Roman imperial cuirass, and halo, limbs, weapons, and crocodile fashioned by a Venetian craftsman.
-- Patricia Fortini Brown, Venice and Antiquity

argot \AHR-go; -gut\, noun:
1. A specialized and often secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group.
2. A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps, and vagabonds.

No one likes jargon, especially other people's jargon, and few bodies of professional lingo are less beloved than the argot of educators.
-- Howard Gardner, The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.
The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].
It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.
Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?
When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!
Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

obviate \OB-vee-ayt\, transitive verb:
To prevent by interception; to anticipate and dispose of or make unnecessary.

On the positive side, a flood of cheap imports could help hold down inflation and obviate the need for higher interest rates.
-- Richard W. Stevenson and David E. Sanger, "Asian CrisisCould Wreak Havoc on Balance of Trade", New York Times, December 20, 1997

A major field study of the effect of pollen extracts on the common cold and its roborant . . . effects in 775 Swedish military recruits did not give unequivocal results in relation to the prophylactic effect of the preparation used against the common cold.
-- James P. Carter, Racketeering in Medicine

adage \AD-ij\, noun:
1. An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb.

We may find out too late the wisdom of the adage that cautions us to be careful what we wish for lest we get it.

-- Charles Murray, What It Means to Be a Libertarian

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me, the old adage goes.
-- Zachary Karabell, "No Left Turn", New York Times, September 24, 2000

entreat \en-TREET\, intransitive verb:
1. To make an earnest petition or request; to plead.
transitive verb:
1. To ask earnestly; to beseech; to petition for.
They entreat her to impart her wisdom. But she is silent.
-- John Darnton, "In Sweden, Proof of The Power of Words", New York Times, December 8, 1993

enjoin \en-JOIN\, transitive verb:
1. To direct or impose with authority; to order.
2. To prohibit; to forbid.
Few judges were friendly to unions, as demonstrated by a steady stream of decisions enjoining strikes, boycotts, picket lines, and other collective actions.
-- Sanford M. Jacoby, Modern Manors

apogee \AP-uh-jee\, noun:
1. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
2. The farthest or highest point; culmination.
But in retrospect, this period would prove to be the apogee of O'Sullivan's career, although he always felt bigger and better things were on his way.
-- Edward L. Widmer, Young America

Appalling adj. inspiring horror, dismay, or disgust. The living conditions in Iraq are appalling.

Contradict v. to imply the opposite or a denial of your actions or your words. The answer to the problem contradicts the theory of gravity.

Obedient adj. Submissive to the restraint or command of authority. The animals at the park are obedient to their rightful owner.

Buccaneer n. any of the freebooters preying on Spanish ships and settlements esp. in the West Indies in the 17th century; pirate. Mission Bay High's mascot is a buccaneer.

Responsibility n. the quality or state of being accountable for one's actions. It is the students' responsibility to keep the Weed Patch trash free.

Disheveled adj. marked by disorder or disarray. Don't show up for a job interview in a disheveled state.

Indestructible adj. Incapable of being destroyed, ruined, or rendered ineffective. This year the Mission Bay baseball team is going to be indestructible.

Exemplary adj. outstanding, deserving imitation because of excellence. The student showed pride in her exemplary project.

Chimerical adj. Created by or as if by a wildly fanciful imagination; highly improbable, given to unrealistic fantasies.

Energetic adj. Working vigorously
Ex:The science experiment caused an energetic chemical reaction.