List 8

despondent adj./ despondency n.	feeling miserable, unhappy, gloomy; without or almost without hope -- After losing both parents is a terrible fire, the Baudelaire children became despondent.
dilapidated adj./ dilapidation n.	reduced to or fallen into partial ruin or decay, as from age, wear, or neglect -- In an effort to beautify the city, the town council voted to tear down the dilapidated factory.
shrewd adj. / shrewdness n.	characterized by keen awareness, sharp intelligence, and often a sense of the practical; disposed to artful and cunning practices; tricky -- Shakespeare's Shylock was criticized for being a shrewd lender and shocked Antonio by requesting a pound of flesh instead of monetary payment.
slander n.&v.	a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report; defamation by oral utterance rather than by writing -- The baseball player sued the general manager for making slanderous remarks about him at the press conference.
libel n. / libelous adj.	a defamation by written or printed matter, rather than spoken words; the crime of publishing that matter -- Accused of bigotry in the press, the politician sued for libel.
squander v.	to foolishly waste a valuable resource -- Rather than spending his inheritance on tuition, the youth squandered it on expensive cars.
scuttle v.& n.	to run with short, quick steps; to deliberately sink (a ship) by making openings in the bottom; dispose of; a receptacle for carrying coal -- Crabs scuttle across the ocean floor. -- We scuttled that project the moment we recognized it could only lose money.
wager n. & v.	something risked on a certain event; to place a bet on; to suppose -- My dad and I have a friendly wager on who will win the championship.
reckon v. / reckoning n.	to compute or calculate; to account for money (or one's soul); to estimate or suppose; regard, deem -- I reckon that buying that boat will set you back at least 10K. -- On the day of reckoning, will you go to heaven or hell?
insinuate v. / insinuation n.	to suggest or hint slyly; to introduce into a position or situation by indirect or artful methods -- Her tone insinuated the opposite of what she said. -- Since he volunteered for several years at the company, he was able to insinuate himself into a full-time position without ever formally applying.
suffice v.	to be enough or adequate for; satisfy; be sufficient -- My father purchased a supply of canned beans that would suffice for the entire neighborhood. -- Suffice it to say [idiomatic phrase] that the salad went moldy in the fridge before we ate even half of it.
sporadic adj. / sporadically adv.	appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional -- His sporadic attendance during the fourth term of his senior year hurt his chances of being accepted to colleges that put him of their wait list.
intermittent adj./ intermittently adv.	alternately ceasing and beginning again -- My windshield wipers got stuck on the intermittent setting.
venal adj. / venality n.	open to or associated with bribery; capable of being purchased, as by a bribe -- I'm not above a little venality in order to secure a good table with a view.
vehement adj./ vehemently adv. / vehemence n.	marked by great zeal; ardent; impassioned. -- The accused woman vehemently denied the charges against her.
abate v./ abatement n.	to make less, reduce in size, number, degree, amount importance, speed, or force -- As the hurricane began to weaken, its wind speed gradually abated. -- Low income families can sometimes qualify for abatements of their rent. The difference is then subsidized by the housing authority.
abhor v. / abhorrent adj.	to regard with repugnance; feel the horror of; detest; loathe -- Most people abhor the tactics of fundamentalist terrorists. -- I found abhorrent her blithe assumption that all Middle Easterners are terrrorists.
smite v. / smitten adj. / smote (past tense)	to strike or hit hard, as with the hand, a stick, or other weapons; to deliver or deal (a blow, hit, etc.) by striking hard -- I will rob the bank and smite anyone who comes across my path. -- And the Lord smote the sinner with his wrath. -- She was smitten--in love the very first moment she saw him.
disseminate v.	to scatter or spread widely, as though sowing seed; promulgate extensively; broadcast; disperse -- The Center for Disease Control enlisted state government support to disseminate information about preventive medicine through public school systems.
egregious adj.	extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant -- Though hesitant to admit guilt, the CEO acknowledged that the security leak was an egregious mistake.
innocuous adj. / innoculate v.	1. having no adverse effect; harmless; not likely to offend or provoke to strong emotion; insipid; 2. to protect from disease by exposing a patient to a lesser or dormant form of that disease, thus building immunity -- I was surprised that my sister-in-law was so offended by my mother-in-law's comment because I found it to be innocuous. -- The doctor innoculates patients to protect them from infectious diseases.
peevish adj./ peevishness n.	bad-tempered or tending to complain in an immature fashion; discontented; fretful, contrary, spiteful -- The peevish student was so unpleasant to be around that his fellow classmates avoided him rather than listen to him whine.
kitsch n. / kitschy adj.	sentimentality or vulgar, often deliberately pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts -- I love my kitschy plastic Jesus figurine and display it prominently on my dashboard. -- Postmodern art relies heavily on kitsch.
kin n./ kinship n. / kith n.	1. all of a person's near and extended relatives; 2. relation through blood or marriage; 3. acquaintances, friends, or neighbors -- Complex traditions of kinship governed the conduct of relationships and the descent of property in ancient Nordic culture -- "kith and kin"
laudable adj. / laud v.	commendable, praiseworthy -- He made a laudable decision, deferring his freshman year at college to work for CityYear. -- Military service is publicly lauded by politicians, but not paid as much as it should be.
insipid adj.	without flavor, tasteless; not exciting, lifeless -- Most cafeteria food is unhealthy as well as insipid. -- I met his insipid girlfriend at the party, but I don't think I heard her say more than ten words.
effeminate adj. / effeminacy n.	having qualities or characteristics associated with women -- At the moment, teenage boys' sporting of long hair is not necessarily taken as a sign of effeminacy.
emasculate v./ emasculated adj. / emasculation n.	to deprive of force or strength; destroy the masculine vigor of; weaken. – Otherwise invincible, in the presence of kryptonite Superman is emasculated (and you've gotta admit the caped look-with-spandex leotard is fairly effeminate). -- The Viagra craze is one powerful indicator of how deeply middle-aged men fear emasculation as they age.
androgynous adj. / androgyny n.	hermaphroditic: having both masculine and feminine characteristics; having an ambiguous sexual identity -- In the 90s, Saturday Night Live ran a recurring skit that featured an androgynous character named Pat who befuddled her co-workers with her ambigous responses to their indirect inquiries about her gender.
lackey n. / lackadaisical adj.	1. male servant of low rank usually in some sort of livery or uniform; follower who has no will of his own; toady 2. lazy and flaky, unwilling or unable to recognize when serious behavior or attention are called for -- The more lackadaisical you are in school, the more likely you are to become someone's lackey in the long run.
caprice n. / capricious adj.	a sudden turn of mind, emotion, or action caused by a whim or impulse; freakish emotion, vagary -- The only reason she could divine for why she was fired was the sudden caprice of her manager, who seemed to assess her employees based on hairstyle rather than job performance. -- New England weather is notoriously capricious, so you had better come prepared.
cantankerous adj.	bad-tempered, quarrelsome, contentious, perverse -- Cantankerous cats catapulted mischievous mice.
memorandum n. / memoranda n. pl.	an informal written note or reminder; diplomatic communication -- Lots of people who don't learn how to write in high school embarrass themselves when called upon to write formal memoranda, or MEMOS, in workplace settings.
prospectus n.	document describing a proposed business investment, literary work, etc. for evaluation by prospective investors, participants, or buyers -- The prospectus for the business plan was so poorly written that the young entrepeneurs were never considered for funding.