More Vocabra #8

legendary

• Almost every U.S. school child knows about Paul Revere’s legendary ride through the night.

• Smitty’s delicious cinnamon rolls were legendary throughout the countryside

• DEFINITION: well known; famous

scrutinize

• The doctor scrutinized the X-rays for half an hour before she finally found a tiny crack in the bone.

• Kelly scrutinized her term paper before turning it in. She didn’t want it to have any errors.

• Definition: to look at closely or examine closely

nomad

• Roy was a nomad, wandering from city to city in search of a job.

• In their retirement, Arlen’s grandparents have become nomads, driving all over North America in their RV.

• DEFINITION: a wanderer who has no fixed home

caricature

• An artist drew a caricature that made Mr. Beeman look like a duck.

• If you think you have a big nose in real life, you should see what it would look like in a caricature.

DEFINITION: a cartoon-like picture of someone, with exaggerated features.

parched

• The worst thing about living in the middle of the desert is that you’re always parched.

• After playing tennis in 104-degree heat, Nina was so parched that she drank three bottles of Gatorade.

• DEFINITION: dry and thristy

defiant

• When Mr. Gulley asked Ursula to open her book, she defiantly threw it on the floor.

• Chloe is so defiant that others are embarrassed to be around her when she talks to her parents.

• DEFINITION: openly and boldly resisting or challenging

clad

• When Harold started to leave for school clad in shorts and a T-shirts, his grandma yelled, ‘Are you crazy? It’s 30 degrees outside!’

• The handsome knight was clad in sparkling armor.

• Definition: dressed; clothed

subtle

• You can’t always be subtle with Shannon. If you want her to do something, you have to spell it out.

• The taste of basil in the spaghetti sauce was so subtle I hardly knew it was there.

• DEFINITION: not obvious; only hinted at

spontaneous

Wade likes to plan out his evenings, but Jada likes to be more spontaneous.

When Bert spontaneously took a plane to New York one afternoon, no one could believe it.

DEFINITION: acting on impulse instead of planning it out

improbable

• Niko hadn’t studied at all, so his parents thought it improbable that he would pass his driver’s test.

• Since her mom hated cats and her dad hated dogs, it was improbable that Melanie would ever have a pet.

• DEFINITION: not likely

quash

• ‘We need to quash that rumor immediately! ’ cried the alarmed school board member.

• The government quashed the rebellion before it became violent.

• DEFINITION: to put an end to

atrophy

• If you spend a month in a wheelchair, the muscles in your legs might atrophy and make it difficult to walk when you get out.

• ‘Don’t let your brains atrophy from disuse over the summer,’ the teacher warned his students on the last day of school.

• DEFINITION: to shrink or waste away

Prefix

• bi, bis

• Definition two

• bicycle, biannual, biennial

Suffix

• ance, ancy

• Definition the act of, state of being

• performance, truancy

Root

• bas

• Definition low

• basement