Period 1 Word of the Week - effulgent

This week, first period selected effulgent as our word of the week.  A brilliant choice!  Effulgent means radiant, splendorous, or brilliant.  The sentence we wrote to demonstrate our understanding of effulgent is:

The scene before our eyes was truly effulgent; the radiantly pregnant woman made snow angels in the newly-fallen snow, which sparkled in the morning sun.

Period 8 Word of the Week - soporific

This week, period 8 selected soporific as our word of the week, possibly due to Ms. B's teaching style.  Something soporific tends to induce drowsiness or sleep.  Our sentence:


Math class had a soporific effect on the students, who all fell asleep within one minute of the bell ringing.

Period 7 Word of the Week: lugubrious

This week, period 7 selected lugubrious as our word of the week.  Lugubrious means "looking or sounding sad and dismal."  Our sentence to demonstrate our understanding of the word was:


Jennifer was lugubrious when she saw her boyfriend kissing another girl on Valentine's Day.

Periods 1 & 8 Word of the Week: luxate

On Friday, February 13, periods 1 and 8 selected luxate as our word of the week. To luxate is to dislocate something or put it out of place, like dislocating your shoulder or your hip.  Here are the sentences we made to demonstrate our understanding of the word:

1. During the football game, Raspusia tackled Bob, luxating his shoulder.

2. Eric luxated his shoulder when trying to do a triple axel on the ice rink.

Period 1 Word of the Week: Opulence

This week, period 1 selected opulence as our word of the week.  Opulence is wealth, affluence, or material possessions.  The sentence we constructed to reflect our understanding of the word is:

Because of Oprah's vast opulence, she has no problem giving to others.

Periods 7 & 8 Word of the Week: desiderium

Periods 7 and 8 both voted for desiderium as this week's word of the week.  Desiderium is a noun meaning "an ardent longing, as for something lost." We constructed the following sentences to demonstrate our understanding of the word:

1. Abbie spent her money on a donut necklace, so now she is in a desiderium for what she so recklessly lost.

2. Even a decade after his death, Michael Jackson's children found themselves in a desiderium over the loss of their father.

All Classes' Word of the Week: flummox

Flummox is our very first word of the week for this semester!  The verb, to flummox, means to perplex or confuse.  Thus, to be flummoxed is to be perplexed or confused.  Here are the sentences our classes concocted to show our lack of confusion regarding the word flummox:

1. In math class, it felt like Mr. Duncan was intentionally trying to flummox his students.

2. Coco was flummoxed when she arrived at the Bat Mitzvah and she was supposed to be at her friend's Quince.

3. Setareh was flummoxed when she was jumped by Rango and Django.

All Classes' Word of the Week: Prevaricate

On December 12, all of our classes selected prevaricate to be the word of the week.  To prevaricate is to speak or act in an evasive way - to try to avoid telling the truth.  Our classes wrote a variety of sentences to exemplify our understanding of the word:


1. Elizabeth Proctor prevaricated when Judge Danforth asked her if John was faithful to her.
2. Lynden prevaricated when his mom asked him how he was doing in English class; he said he just got A's on three math assignments.
3. When challenged by his teammates to make a slam dunk, Matt prevaricated and hit a layup.

Period 7 Word of the Week: Impute

On December 5, period 7 selected the word impute as our word of the week.  The student who posted saw this word on the internet and thought that it relates well to The Crucible.  Impute means to "represent something as being done, caused, or possessed by someone; to attribute."  It is usually used to attribute bad or unpleasant things, but not always.


The sentence we devised to show our understanding of the word impute is:


Through investigation, the mass graves in Syria were imputed to ISIS.

Periods 1 & 4 Word of the Week: Entropy

On December 5, periods 1 and 4 selected entropy as our word of the week.  Many students are familiar with this word from science classes, but none had studied any alternate definitions.  When we looked it up, we discovered that entropy is a "lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline into disorder."


The sentences we constructed to show our understanding of the word are:


1) Teenagers' bedrooms decline from sparkling gems into entropy over the course of a week.
2) Timmy's bedroom was clean until his friends came over, and it degraded into entropy.

Period 1 Word of the Week: parochial

On November 21, first period selected parochial as our word of the week.  This word was found in our current class text, in The Crucible.  Parochial has two meanings:

1) of or relating to a church parish, or
2) having a limited or narrow scope.

The sentence we created to show our understanding of the word is:
The Nazis' discrimination against non-Germanic people revealed their parochial views.

Periods 4 & 7 Word of the Week: Akin

On November 14, period 4 chose akin as our word of the week, and on November 21, period 7 selected the same word!  Akin means similar to or alike.  The sentences we created to express our understanding of akin are:

1) Samsung was sued by Apple for creating a tablet that was akin to the iPad.
2) Dolphins are akin to whales because they are both mammals who live in the ocean.

All Classes Word of the Week: Absquatulate

On November 14, periods 1 and 7 selected absquatulate as our word of the week.  The following week, November 21, period 4 selected the same word!

To absquatulate is to run away, usually taking something or someone along.  Here are the sentences we devised to show our understanding of the word:

1) The stupid bank robbers failed to absquatulate with their loot; they got in the wrong car!
2) As the house burned down, I absquatulated with my cat and my baby - my two most precious possessions.
3) The robbers absquatulated with abundant amounts of money from the bank.

Word of the Week: Miasma

During Homecoming week, all three English classes selected miasma as our word of the week.  The student who posted the word miasma read it in a book.  When we looked it up, we discovered that a miasma is "a highly unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor."  The sentences our classes created to demonstrate our understanding of the word are:

1) No one could enter the locker room without crying because of the miasma created by a skunk nesting in a pile of sweaty shinguards.

2) There was a catastrophic miasma in the locker room after football practice; the coach and trainers passed out due to the smell of wet, stinky gear.

3) After the pep rally in the gym the rank breath of the underclassmen left a miasma.

Word of the Week: Winnow

This week's word, winnow, was found by a student in SAT prep materials.  The definition of winnow is to blow through, or, in farming terms, to blow a current of air through grain in order to remove the chaff.  This word is most commonly used figuratively, meaning to scan or sort through many items to find a desired item.  The sentences we wrote to demonstrate our understanding of winnow are:

1) The homeless man winnowed through the McDonald's dumpster to find something to eat.
2) Timmy winnowed through his messy backpack, trying to find a pencil for warmup.
3) At Lord & Taylor, Matt was winnowing through suits to find a wedding tux in his size.

Word of the Week: Promontory

This week, our classes only had one choice available for the word of the week: promontory.  A promontory is a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water.  Our sentences that demonstrate our understanding of the meaning of promontory are:


1. Juan dove off the promontory into the ocean, just for kicks.
2. The earthquake caused a dangerous landslide; boulders fell from the promontory into the ocean.
3. During the rainy season the promontory is very unsafe because landslides are likely.

Word of the Week: effervescent

This week, all of our English classes selected effervescent as our word of the week. 


Effervescent means:
1. giving off bubbles, fizzy
2. vivacious and enthusiastic


Here are some sentences the classes devised to show their understanding of effervescent:


1. Ms. B is a very effervescent person, even at 7:30 AM.
2. The fans at the Kanye concert were so effervescent that they got Kanye to play an encore.
3. Dre Money is effervescent every day, even on Monday morning when most people are sleepy.

Period 1 Word of the Week: esurient

This week, period 1 selected esurient as our word of the week.  Neither the students nor the teacher knew this word, so we looked it up and found that it means: "greedy or hungry."

The sentence we created to demonstrate our understanding of the word is, "Kanye West was very esurient; he stole all the attention when he stole the mic from Taylor Swift at the VMAs."

Periods 4 & 7 Word of the Week: motley

Both period 4 and period 7 voted for motley to be our word of the week.  Motley means "incongruously varied in appearance or character; disparate."  Many students were concerned that the definition contained some large and unfamiliar words, so our classes also discussed the definition of incongruously, making a connection to geometry class (congruent and incongruent shapes).

The sentences that we came up with to demonstrate our understanding of motley are:

Period 4: GHS's student demographic is motley; we have scholars of every background, culture, race, religion, and age.

Period 7: The many colors of the leaves make the forest look motley in the fall.

Period 4 Word of the Week: celerity

For our first word of the week, period 4 selected celerity.  Celerity means "rapidity of motion or action."  Before we made our sentence, we enjoyed joking about "celery" and "celebrity" being our word of the week.

The sentence we created to demonstrate our understanding of this word was:

With his incredible celerity, Ussain Bolt broke the world record for the 100 meter dash.

Periods 1 & 7 Word of the Week: idiosyncrasy

Periods 1 and 7 both selected idiosyncrasy as our first word of the week.  We looked up the definition in two different online dictionaries, and the definition found in period 7 was more concise, so I will use it here:

Idiosyncrasy: "1) an unusual way in which a particular person behaves or thinks, or 2) an unusual part or feature of something."

The sentences we created to demonstrate our understanding of the word are:

Period 1: Addiction to fame is an idiosyncrasy shared by many celebrities.
Period 7: Harry Potter's idiosyncrasy is that he can talk to snakes.

Welcome, class of 2016!

I am so excited to learn along with you by starting to use our vocabulary blog this school year.

As you read, watch TV, listen to music, travel, work, and use the internet, I hope you will keep track of unfamiliar words and post them here on our blog.  Each week our class will vote on a "word of the week" that we will study and practice.  That will help us all incorporate the new word into our vocabulary.

Periodically, you will be quizzed on the words we've studied in class to see how well you're paying attention.  Our quizzes will help you figure out how many new words you've learned.  You might just impress yourself...
 
Oh, and by the way, GO TROJANS!

Period 3 Word of the Week: subvert

On the 9th, period 3 chose subvert as the word of the week.  The following week, periods 2, 4, and 7 selected the same word!  Subvert means "to undermine the power and authority of" someone or something.

To demonstrate our understanding of the word, we all created sentences:

1. Macbeth subverted the royal line of succession by killing King Duncan.
2. The notorious hacker group, Anonymous, subverted the authority of the U.S. government by helping Edward Snowden.
3. Teenagers who talk while the teacher is talking are subverting the teacher's authority.
4. Harriet Tubman used the underground railroad to subvert the system of slavery.

In my opinion, these are the best sentences we've devised all year.  Hooray for the English 11 Honors students!

Periods 2, 4, & 7 Word of the Week: satiate

This week, periods 2, 4, and 7 chose satiate as our word of the week.  Since I posted this late, I am also able to include period 3 in this posting, because satiate was the period 3 word of the week from 5/16-5/23.

Satiate means "to satisfy to the full."

Here are the sentences our classes created to help demonstrate the meaning of our word of the week:


1. David's hunger for Ritz crackers can never be satiated.
2. Before dinner, Macbeth spoiled his appetite; he ate until he was satiated.
3. Little Johnny's curiosity about where babies come from was satiated, for the moment, by his parents' lies.
4. After eating all the balls on the game board, the hungry hungry hippos felt satiated.

Word of the Week for all Classes: posthumously

This week, all of Ms. B's English classes selected posthumously as the word of the week.  Posthumous (and thus, posthumously, the adverb form of the word) means:

1) published after the death of the author,
2) born after the death of the father, or
3) occurring after death.

The sentences we created to show our understanding of the word were:

1) Whitney Houston was acting in Sparkle before she died; the movie was released posthumously.
2) John Harvill was posthumously venerated by Dr. Starr with a school named after him.
3) This Is It, the Michael Jackson movie, was released posthumously as a tribute to Jackson.
4) This Is It, the movie about Michael Jackson, was released posthumously.

extinguish

Period 3 Word of the Week: reticent

Period 3 selected reticent as our word of the week.  Reticent means "not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily."  We created an imaginary student named Blake to demonstrate our understanding of the word:

Blake's reticent behavior was meant to disguise his true age - 21 - from his 14-year-old classmates.

Period 2 Word of the Week: lethargic

Since 2nd period is still sleepytime for most students, this week's word of the week makes perfect sense.  Students selected lethargic for this week's study.  Lethargic means "affected by lethargy, sluggish and apathetic."

The sentence we created to show our understanding of the word is:

Students in European History class tend to be lethargic because the teacher speaks in a monotone.

Periods 4 & 7 Word of the Week: censorious

Both period 4 and period 7 selected censorious as our word of the week this week.  Censorious means "severely critical of others."  Here are the sentences we devised to demonstrate our understanding of the word:

1) Perez Hilton is censorious of other celebrities; he is always criticizing their outfits.
2) The Grim Eater was censorious of every food he ate, except for the ratatouille, which he loved.

Period 3 Word of the Week: piety

This week, period 3 selected piety as our word of the week.  Piety is "the quality of being religious or reverent."  After a lengthy discussion of the Dalai Lama, our class came up with this sentence:

The Dalai Lama's piety attracts many followers to Buddhism.

Period 2 Word of the Week: predilection

On March 21, period 2 selected predilection as our word of the week.  A predilection is "a preference or special liking for something," or "a bias in favor of something."  This week, the sentence we wrote to demonstrate our understanding of predilection was:

Students have a predilection for teachers who give less homework.

Period 7 Word of the Week: zealot

Enthusiastic period 7 selected zealot as our word of the week.  A zealot is "a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals."  The class felt that we have a group of zealots present here at GHS:

The G'burg Junkies are zealots; they attend every GHS sports event.

Period 4 Word of the Week: abate

As a result of a voting conspiracy, our class selected abate as our word of the week.  To abate is to "become less intense or widespread."  The word usually refers to negative things that decrease in intensity or reach.  After a lengthy discussion of things that can abate, our class settled on the following sentence:

Aurora's cries abate as she falls asleep.

Period 2 Word of the Week: intrepid

This week, brave and bold period 2 forged ahead in selecting intrepid as our word of the week.  Intrepid means fearless, daring, or bold.  Many superheroes are characterized this way, but students in our class thought Batman would be the best candidate for a sentence (which, coincidentally, turned out to be quite alliterative):

Batman must be intrepid when battling Bane because Bane broke Batman's back before.

Period 7 Word of the Week: fallacious

This week, period 7 selected fallacious as our word of the week.  Fallacious means "based on a mistaken belief." After learning the definition, our class had a heated discussion about whether or not blood is blue when it is not oxygenated.  As a result, we devised the following sentence:

Is the argument that blood is blue fallacious?

Period 3 Word of the Week: Dogmatic

Period 3 selected dogmatic as our current word of the week.  Dogmatic means "inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true."  We reviewed some synonyms to help us understand the word dogmatic, and these included rigid and inflexible.

We then devised a sentence to help us understand the meaning of the word:

Kim Jong Un is a dogmatic leader; his word is law, and breaking the law is punishable by death.

Period 4 Word of the Week: Trepidation

Students in period 4 elected to use trepidation as our word of the week.  Trepidation is a feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen.  No one had any trepidation about making up a sentence to help us understand the word:

Kia had trepidation about telling Jordan her true feelings because he might reject her.

Periods 4 and 7 Word of the Week: banal

Oh, blah! Periods 4 and 7 selected banal as their word of the week.  How unoriginal!

Banal means something so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.

Here's what we wrote:

1. #YOLO is so banal; only freshmen still say it.
2. Sharkeisha remix videos are so banal; everyone in my eighth-period class has made one.

Period 2 Word of the Week: enigma

This week, period two solved a the mystery of an undefined word by selecting enigma as our word of the week.  An enigma is a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.

After much debate, we wrote the following sentence:

The Illuminati are an enigma because we don't know who the members are or if they even exist.

Period 3 Word of the Week: gregarious

This week, Ms. B's third period class selected gregarious as our word of the week.  Gregarious means fond of company or sociable.  We wrote a sentence about Greg, our fictionally sociable friend:

My friend Greg is gregarious; he is always partying on Friday nights.

Period 7 Word of the Week: tittup

Predictable period 7 selected tittup as the word we will study next week.  Tittup has two definitions:

1. an exaggerated prancing, bouncing movement or manner of moving;
2. to move, especially to walk, in an exaggerated prancing or bouncing way, as a spirited horse.

Ms. B not only demonstrated what a tittup might look like, but she also gave an example of when the word tittup was used in last year's spring musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  The class also crafted a sentence to demonstrate our understanding of the word:

Kate tittuped out of school on Friday afternoon because she was ready for her weekend.

Period 3 Word of the Week: venerate

This week, period 3 voted for venerate to be our word of the week.  Venerate means, "to regard or treat with reverence, to revere."  We discussed that in layman's terms, that means to respect or look up to someone.

The class insisted that Ms. B should be the subject of our sentence:

"We all venerate Ms. B because of her intelligence and enthusiastic personality."

Period 2 Word of the Week: scrupulous

This week, period 2 selected scrupulous as our word of the week.  Scrupulous has two meanings:

1. having scruples 0 having or showing strict regard for what one considers right or principled;

2. punctiliously or minutely careful, precise, or exact.

To demonstrate our understanding of the word scrupulous, we invented a sentence:

Scrupulous Bob plays by the rules; he never skips class because he has OCD and would freak out.

Period 4 Word of the Week: iconoclastic

Period 4 selected an excellent word as this week's champion: iconoclastic.  The word has two definitions:

1. attacking or ignoring cherished beliefs and long-held traditions as being based on error, superstition, or lack of creativity;

2. breaking or destroying images, especially those set up for religious veneration.

The sentence we wrote to demonstrate our understanding is:

"John blew up* Hallmark to send an iconoclastic message against Valentine's Day."

* Period 4 in no way advocates violence in the name of iconoclasm.

futile

gullible

eminent

servile

inert

irate

appease

illusory

flagrant

reprove

apathy

illict

incongruous

reverent

quacious

Euphemism

diffidence

voluble

insipid

hackneyed

effulgent

deride

blandish

approbation

acrimony

Polemical

Strident

Deference

Officious

Fastidious

Cajole

Inexorable

Levity

Inure

Anachronism

Abstruse

Furtive

Impeccable

Esoteric

Quiescent

Epitome

Prodigal

Guile

Insularity

Inundate

Spurious

Assuage

Surreptitious

Precocious

Didactic

Taciturn

Pacifist

Precarious

Period 2 Word of the Week: Prestidigitation

This week, period 2 chose prestidigitation as our word of the week.  Prestidigitation means "slight of hand," or being skilled with the hands and fingers, as is a magician who plays tricks.

The sentence we wrote to demonstrate our understanding of this word is: "The magician was horrible at prestidigitation; his card tricks were terrible."

Periods 3 & 7 Word of the Week: Usufruct

Periods 3 and 7 selected usufruct as the word of the week.  According to www.dictionary.com, usufruct means:

"The right of enjoying all the advantages from the use of something that belongs to another, as far as is compatible with the substance of the thing not being destroyed or injured."

To demonstrate our tenuous understanding of this old legal term, we wrote sentences:

1. Devin enjoyed the wifi usufruct at McDonald's.
2. Lexi's baby cousin uses her cell phone usufruct to play games.

Period 4 Word of the Week: Antidisestablishmentarianism

Period 4 selected antidisestablishmentarianism as our word of the week. Forgive me for not wanting to type it repeatedly, as it is very long!  The word means:

"Opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church."

Our sentence to demonstrate our understanding was:

In NSL we learned about antidisestablishmentarianism, which is being against taking away government money from churches.