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Unit 2: Vocabulary from Readings 1

This list covers "Fire and Ice" and "The Gift of the Magi."
19 words 55 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. perish
    pass from physical life
    But if it had to perish twice,
    I think I know enough of hate
    To know that for destruction ice
    Is also great
    And would suffice.
  2. suffice
    be adequate, either in quality or quantity
    But if it had to perish twice,
    I think I know enough of hate
    To know that for destruction ice
    Is also great
    And would suffice.
  3. imputation
    a statement attributing something dishonest
    Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.
  4. parsimony
    extreme stinginess
    Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.
  5. mendicant
    practicing beggary
    It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
  6. vestibule
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring.
  7. depreciate
    lower the value of something
    Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.
  8. chaste
    pure and simple in design or style
    It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do.
  9. meretricious
    tastelessly showy
    It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do.
  10. ornamentation
    something used to beautify
    It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do.
  11. truant
    absent without permission
    Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy.
  12. setter
    a breed of dog that is sporty and good at hunting
    Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.
  13. laborious
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    "You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
  14. patent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    "You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
  15. enfold
    wrap or surround completely with or as if with a covering
    He enfolded his Della.
  16. regard
    look at attentively
    For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.
  17. discreet
    unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic
    For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.
  18. scrutiny
    the act of examining something closely, as for mistakes
    For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.
  19. assertion
    a declaration that is made emphatically
    The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Created on Tue Jan 12 08:44:09 EST 2021 (updated Tue Jan 12 11:53:13 EST 2021)

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