Book Four

UNIT 1 VOCABULARY

• rapport and goodwill

camaraderie

• There is great camaraderie among the teammates.• They have developed a real camaraderie after

working together for so long.• It is about the camaraderie of troops bound for

Vietnam who as their leader warns, have one another and nothing but one another when they fall into hell. —Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 25 Mar. 2002

• The coach attributed the team’s success to the camaraderie among the players.

• fragile; easy to break

frangible

• Frangible china teacups that were totally inappropriate for a child's birthday party were placed on the tables.

• Mom seldom used the frangible, antique dishes in the china cabinet.

• any long, repetitive, or dull recital

litany

• He has a litany of grievances against his former employer.

• The team blamed its losses on a litany of injuries.

• The dissatisfied customer read a litany of complaints to the company representative.

• a suspension of activity; an authorized delay

moratorium

• The treaty calls for a nuclear testing moratorium.• The director of the blood bank called for

a moratorium in donations until the surplus could be used up.

• In 2000, Illinois declared a moratorium on executions after 13 death-row inmates were exonerated. —Evan Thomas et al., Newsweek, 19 Nov. 2007

• The warring factions declared a moratorium on combat during the peace talks.

• fervent (enthusiastic); fanatical

zealous

• The detective was zealous in her pursuit of the kidnappers.

• I was zealous in my demands on my sisters for promptness in rehearsals. I was passionate, intolerant of small talk, hungry for knowledge, grabby, bossy, precocious. —Lynn Margulis, Curious Minds, (2004) 2005

• The zealous gardener planted so many flowers that a number of them did not have the necessary space in which to grow.

• To dry out; to remove moisture

desiccate

• That historian's recount of the event desiccates what is actually an exciting period in European history.

• Add a cup of desiccated coconut to the cookie dough batter.

• Janet desiccates flowers and then uses them to make wreaths.

• causing mental or physical pain

wrenching

• I felt a wrenching pain in my back as I tried to move the large desk by myself.

• The wrenching photographs of the starving children prompted Mike to send a donation.

• full; abundant

replete

• The book is replete with photographs.• The country's history is replete with stories of

people who became successful by working hard.

• The anglers were happy to find their stream replete with trout.

• Tiresome and long; seemingly endless

interminable

• The baby’s cry seemed interminable as we waited for her mother to get home.

• The last few hours of school before the holiday vacation seemed interminable.

• suitable for cultivation of land

arable

• The family is selling several acres of arable land.

• Death Valley and the Badlands are both characterized by their lack of arable soil.

• mournful; gloomy

lugubrious

• There are several comedic actors known for their lugubrious manners.

• The diner's dim lighting makes eating there a particularly lugubrious experience.

• The lugubrious funeral scene temporarily interrupted the comic tone of the play.

• to shorten

truncate

• A truncated version of the 11 o'clock newscast followed the awards show, which ran over its time slot—as it always does.

• The candidate truncated his campaign because of a family illness.

• Occurring or seeming to occur everywhere; omnipresent

ubiquitous

• The company's advertisements are ubiquitous.• By that time cell phones had

become ubiquitous, and people had long ceased to be impressed by the sight of one.

• Hot dogs are the ideal road trip food—inexpensive, portable, ubiquitous. —Paul Lucas, Saveur, June/July 2008

• The camping trip was horrible; the mosquitoes were ubiquitous and hungry.

• everyday language

vernacular

• My uncle writes essays in a very easy-to-read, vernacular style.

• He spoke in the vernacular of an urban teenager.

• But ask baseball people about [Michael] Young, and they'll admiringly tell you that he is a “grinder,” vernacular for a player who works his butt off. —Chris Ballard, Sports Illustrated, 8 May 2006

• composure; calmness

equanimity

• She was an Olympic diver who always displays remarkable equanimity on the platform.

• Those who are doomed to become artists are seldom blessed with equanimity. They are tossed to drunken heights, only to be brought down into a sludge of headachy despair; their arrogance gives way to humiliation at the next curve of the switchback. —Patrick White, Flaws in the Glass, (1981) 1983

• Oddly enough, the plaintiff recounted the story of her attack with perfect equanimity.