VOCAB UNIT 11

BREVITY

• N. Shortness
• Syn: terseness
• Ant: long-winded
• The brevity of a speech is crucial for interest.

COMPORT

• V. To conduct/bear oneself
• Agree, concur
• The employee was reminded to comport himself as a representative.

CONCISE

• Adj. expressing much in a few words
• Syn: brief, to the point
• Ant: wordy, long-winded
• People prefer a short, concise speech

DEMURE

• Adj. modest
• Syn: shy, sedate
• Ant: forward, assertive
• A demure customer approached, and hardly said a word the whole time.

DEPRECIATION

• N. Losing value
• Syn: cheapening
• Ant: increase, enhancement
• The depreciation of a mobile device greatly reduces the desire for it.

DETERIORATE

• V. To lower in quality
• Syn: worsen, decline
• Ant: fix up, enhance
• Many metals deteriorate with rust.

DIVULGE

• V. To tell, make public
• Syn: disclose
• Ant: hide, conceal
• I divulged my mother with the strange story

ENLIGHTENED

• Adj. free from ignorance
• Syn: knowing, aware
• Ant: ignorant
• The Buddha claimed after days of meditation, he became enlightened.

FORESTALL

• V. To prevent by acting first
• Syn: hinder, thwart
• Ant: accept, allow
• The senator thought of what questions might be asked to forestall being caught off guard.

GARBLE

• V. Distort until unintelligible
• Syn: jumble, confuse
• Ant: articulate
• Older radios tend to garble messages.

PROPONENT

• N. One who puts forward a proposal
• Syn: advocate
• Ant: opponent, foe
• The proponent offered a peaceful solution.

QUAVER

• V. To shake, tremble
• Syn: vibrate, shiver
• When depressed, some peoples voices may quaver

RECOIL

• V. To spring back; n. Act of springing back
• Syn: flinch; kickback
• Ant: advance, proceed
• High caliber weapons normally have a powerful recoil

RECOUP

• V. To make up for
• Syn: recover
• Ant: lose
• People who are sent to the ER tend to stay there to recoup

REEK

• N. (V. Give off) Unpleasant smell
• Syn: stench; stink
• Ant: perfume
• Garbage almost always reeks of something rotten.

RELENTLESS

• Adj. unyielding, harsh
• Syn: stern, merciless
• Ant: merciful
• The relentless officer kept pressing the innocent old lady

RIVULET

• N. Small stream
• Syn: creek
• The athlete had rivulets of sweat from exhaustion.

SQUANDER

• V. Spend foolishly, waste
• Syn: misspend
• Ant: save, hoard
• Some kids squander their allowance, but I save it up.

STACCATO

• Adj. detached in sound/style
• Syn: abrupt
• Ant: continuous
• We heard a staccato of random frog croaks near the lake.

StATUTE

• N. A law
• Syn: rule, enactment
• The government made a new statute, banning use of cars without mufflers.