divergence

• noun: a split in 2 directions– Verb: diverge– Adjective: divergent

• Sample sentences:– “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.”

(Hint: Robert Frost poem – Two paths

diverged in a yellow wood...)

(Latin di = 2, vers = turn.)

76

judicious

• adjective: wise, making good decisions– Adverb: judiciously

• Sample sentences:– He was known to be careful and judicious

in his choices.– She chose her friends judiciously, placing

her confidence in those who were reliable and discreet.

(Hint: Like a good judge. Or, Judge Judy.)

77

languish

• Verb: To lose motivation or energy, become feeble

– Adjective: languid– Noun: languor

• Sample sentences:– For years he languished in a prison cell.

(Hint: Lacking a wish – a person who languishes loses his will to do things.)

78

malice• Noun: ill will, the desire to cause harm

– Adjective: malicious– Adverb: malicously– Related words: malevolent, malign

• Sample sentences:– This was not an impulsive crime; he acted

with malice aforethought.– The malicious things they said on Facebook

led her to contemplate suicide.

(Hint: “mal” means bad.)

79

entreaty

• noun: a plea or request– Verb: entreat

• Sample sentences– She begged for clemency, but her

entreaties were adamantly rejected.

(Hint: Entreat for entry to a concert.)

80

somber

• Adjective: dark or gloomy

• Sample sentences:– The day after the accident, a somber mood

prevailed.

(Hint: Somber rhymes with bomber; when a bonmber explodes a bomb, darkness falls.)

81

maraud• verb: to raid and plunder

– Noun: marauders– Adjective: marauding

• Sample sentences:– Anglo-Saxon villagers feared the Viking

marauders who swept down from the sea.

– Marauding rebels overran the countryside.

(Hint: Harry Potter had a “marauder's map”.)82

nostalgia• noun: sentimental longing for the past

– adjective: nostalgic

• Sample sentences:– Disney's “Main Street” capitalizes on

American nostalgia for a past that never really existed.

– Every time I hear a Beatles song, I get nostlagic for the 60s.

(Hint: Greek roots – nostos is home, algia is pain – so, homesickness.)

83

pretentious

• Adjective – self-important– Adverb: pretentiously

• Sample sentences:– He showed off his new-found wealth in a

pretentious McMansion.

(Hint – He pretends to be better than everyone else.)

84

volatile• adjective: explosive, unstable

– Noun: volatility

• Sample sentences:– Easily angered, he had a volatile temper.– As the police and protestors faced each

other, it was a volatile situation.– Be careful – that substance has high

volatility

85

permeate• verb: to spread throughout

– Adjective: permeable

• Related words: percolate, perforate, perennial, permanent (Latin prefix per, “through, throughout, thoroughly”)

• Sample sentences:– An atmosphere of welcome permeated

the house.– Chemicals can pass through a permeable

membrane.

(Hint: The smell of garlic permeated the house.)

86

instigate

• verb: to cause to happen, incite, provoke– Noun: instigator, instigation

• Sample sentences:– The provacateur instigated a riot.– Tommy took the cookies, but only at the

instigation of his big brother.

(Hint: Rhymes with initiate.)

88

uncouth• Adjective: crude or clumsy

• Sample sentences:– He was so uncouth he blew his nose in his

napkin at dinner.

(Hint: Un courteous youth)

87

duplicity• noun: lies, falsehood, double-dealing,

fraud– adjective: duplicitous

• Related words: complicate, implicate, implicit, explicate, replicate (Latin verb plicare, “to fold”)

• Sample sentence:– Eventually her duplicity got her in trouble,

as people learned what a liar she was.

(Hint: Duplicity is like being 2-fold, or a two-faced liar.)89

facetious• Adjective: humorously sarcastic, cleverly

amusing– Adverb: facetiously

• Sample sentences:– He was only being facetious when he

said people in famine-stricken areas would not have to diet.

– “Oh, yes, lets have a picnic in the rain,” he said facetiously.

(Hint: His face was not serious. )

90