http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/100words/
The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know.
"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."
The following is the entire list of 100 words:
abjure abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious | lugubrious metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat |
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abjure :
to renounce or deny under oath
belie :
1. to show to be untrue: the facts belied the theory
2. to misrepresent: the score belied the closeness of the match
3. to fail to justify: the promises were soon beliedchicanery :
trickery or deception
decidious :
1. (of a tree) shedding all leaves annually
2. (of antlers or teeth) being shed at the end of a period of growth
enervate :
facetious :
Playfully jocular; humorous: facetious remarks.
gamete :
a cell that can fuse with another in reproduction, having one set of choromosomes [Greek gametē wife]
hegemony :
the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others;
"the hegemony of a single member state is not incompatible with a genuine confederation"; "to say they have priority is not to say they have complete hegemony"; "the consolidation of the United States' hegemony over a new international economic system"
impeach :
1. a. To make an accusation against.
b. To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
2. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.
jejune :
1. simple and unsophisticated
2. dull and uninteresting [Latin jejunus empty]
enervate :
1. To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: "the luxury which enervates and destroys nations" Henry David Thoreau. See Synonyms at deplete.
2. Medicine To remove a nerve or part of a nerve.
Usage Note: Sometimes people mistakenly use enervate to mean "to invigorate" or "to excite" by assuming that this word is a close cousin of the verb energize. In fact enervate does not come from the same source as energize (Greek energos, "active"). It comes from Latin nervus. Thus enervate means "to cause to become 'out of muscle'," that is, "to weaken or deplete of strength."
Usage Note: Sometimes people mistakenly use enervate to mean "to invigorate" or "to excite" by assuming that this word is a close cousin of the verb energize. In fact enervate does not come from the same source as energize (Greek energos, "active"). It comes from Latin nervus. Thus enervate means "to cause to become 'out of muscle'," that is, "to weaken or deplete of strength."
facetious :
Playfully jocular; humorous: facetious remarks.
gamete :
a cell that can fuse with another in reproduction, having one set of choromosomes [Greek gametē wife]
hegemony :
the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others;
"the hegemony of a single member state is not incompatible with a genuine confederation"; "to say they have priority is not to say they have complete hegemony"; "the consolidation of the United States' hegemony over a new international economic system"
impeach :
1. a. To make an accusation against.
b. To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
2. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.
jejune :
1. simple and unsophisticated
2. dull and uninteresting [Latin jejunus empty]
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