Grade 11-12: Vocabulary Lesson for Tuesday, Week 11

Word List 11

1. abhor: to regard with horror or loathing; detest
2. acrimonious: bitter and sharp in language or tone; rancorous
3. adamant: impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding
4. ambiguous: open to more than one interpretation; doubtful or uncertain
5. arduous: demanding great effort or labor; difficult; testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous
6. austere: severe or stern in disposition or appearance; somber and grave; strict or severe in discipline; ascetic; having no adornment or ornamentation; bare
7. ascertain: to discover with certainty, as through examination or experimentation

Tuesday Activities

1. Use this site to create your own flashcards and quizzes. You will create a free account to keep your cards.
2. Go to the Spelling City website. Type in your list of vocabulary words. Click on the button that says Play A Game. Select Which Word. Play the game and write down the fill-in-the-blank sentences in your notebook.
3. Create a list on your computer of all the summer vocabulary words you have. Check your vocabulary notebook for the list. You can put these in Word, or Notebook, or any word processor. Save them and keep the list up to date each week.

Other Help

If you need more information on your words, click on the link to use a on-line dictionary.

Use the daily activities to help you remember words that you learn each week. It is much easier to remember what the words mean if you do something with them and use them frequently in talking with your parents, family and friends.

Sample sentences:

"We abhor bullying," the headmaster told the class assembly, "and we shall not allow it to mar our school.^
"Do your own work," the professor told us, "I absolutely abhor cheating and will not allow it in my classroom.^

The acrimonious debate seemed to damage the entire political process.
Playing the role of peacekeeper, the chairman did his best to defuse an acrimonious situation.

The judge was adamant; no amount of argument was going to persuade him to resign.
The president was adamant and refused to change his schedule in the face of terrorist threats.

Since he was unsure of himself, the young lieutenant always gave ambiguous orders.
"Rosebud," the famous ending written by Orson Welles remains ambiguous to this day.

Yes, an AP course is arduous, but the effort will be well worth it when you reach college.
Arduous training is required before one becomes a Navy Seal.

The small number of men who have walked the moon's surface all describe it as having austere beauty
Grim and austere on the outside, we soon discovered that our teacher had a heart of gold on the inside.

I relaxed, confident that the famous detective would soon ascertain my innocence.
Some things are so ambiguous that it will probably impossible to ever ascertain their true meaning.

 
 

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