Vocabulary #2

Accoutrements: accessory item of clothing or equipment
The accoutrements on the car aided in finding the restaurant.


Apogee: point of orbit of an object, furthest or highest point
Britney Spears reached her apogee in the 90s.


Apropos: at an opportune time
Darla’s arrival would not be described as apropos, she found herself in the middle of the couple’s fight.


Bicker: petulant quarrelling
The siblings were constantly bickering over meaningless things.


Coalesce: to grow together
The roots of the two trees coalesced and intertwined as time went on.


Contretemps: an embarrassing occurrence or situation
It seems that teenagers or prone to contretemps when at school.


Convolution: complication in design
The convolution in the outline caused confusion later on.


Cull: select from group, choose
She culled the best recipes in her mother’s cookbook to post on her blog.


Disparate: made of up of different, dissimilar elements
The disparateness of Carl’s outfit did not go over well at dinner.


Dogmatic: expression of opinions as if they were fact
Lara’s dogmatic insistence on the benefits of wellfare caused her to get into many arguments.


Licentious: lacking legal, moral restraint
His licentious behavior caused many of his coworkers to be uncomfortable.


Mete: to allot
The banker’s job in Monopoly is to mete out money.


Noxious: harmful to human beings
Gas masks are used to combat noxious fumes.


Polemic: aggressive attack on beliefs of another
The documentary was a polemic on George Bush’s political career.


Populous: densely populated
The populous city housed all walks of life.


Probity: uprightness
Sarah’s probity was admired by her peers.


Repartee: quick and witty reply
The student’s repartee surprised the arrogant teacher.


Supervene: to follow or an unlooked result
No one suspected that the aftershock that supervened the earthquake would cause so much damage.


Truncate: to cut short
The host truncated the nominees acceptance speech after two minutes.


Unimpeachable: reliable beyond a doubt, unquestionable
The evidence was labeled unimpeachable because it proved the suspect’s guiltiness so clearly.