100 Words Definitions, Part 1

Following the 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know post. I've decided to put up a list of the definition of each words.

Since as I've mentioned, I have so many words that I did not know the meaning of it >.< (shame on me)

So, here are the first 50. I search for the definition using TheSage ;)

1. abjure
Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure.

2. abrogate
Revoke formally.

3. abstemious
- Sparing in consumption of especially food and drink.
- Marked by temperance in indulgence.

4. acumen
- Shrewdness shown by keen insight.
- A tapering point.

5. antebellum
Belonging to a period before a war especially the American Civil War.

6. auspicious
- Attended by favorable circumstances.
- Tending to favor or bring good luck.

7. belie
- Represent falsely.
- Be in contradiction with.

8. bellicose
Having or showing a ready disposition to fight.

9. bowdlerize
Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate.

10. chicanery
The use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them).

11. chromosome
A thread-like body in the cell nucleus that carries the genes in a linear order.

12. churlish
- Having a bad disposition; surly.
- Rude and boorish.

13. circumlocution
- An indirect way of expressing something.
- A style that involves indirect ways of expressing things.

14. circumnavigate
Travel around, either by plane or ship.

15. deciduous
- (of plants and shrubs) Shedding foliage at the end of the growing season.
- (of teeth, antlers, etc.) Being shed at the end of a period of growth.

16. deleterious
Harmful to living things.

17. diffident
- Lacking self-confidence.
- Showing modest reserve.

18. enervate
- Weaken mentally or morally.
- Disturb the composure of.

19. enfranchise
- Grant voting rights.
- Grant freedom to; as from slavery or servitude.

20. epiphany
- A divine manifestation.
- [ Epiphany ] Twelve days after Christmas; celebrates the visit of the three wise men to the infant Jesus.

21. equinox
- (astronomy) Either of the two celestial points at which the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic.
- Either of two times of the year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator and day and night are of equal length.

22. euro
The basic monetary unit of most members of the European Union (introduced in 1999); in 2002 twelve European nations (Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Austria, Finland) adopted the euro as their basic unit of money and abandoned their traditional currencies.

23. evanescent
Tending to vanish like vapor.

24. expurgate
Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate.

25. facetious
Cleverly amusing in tone.

26. fatuous
Complacently or inanely foolish.

27. feckless
- Generally incompetent and ineffectual.
- Not fit to assume responsibility.

28. fiduciary
- A person who holds assets in trust for a beneficiary.
- Relating to or of the nature of a legal trust (i.e., the holding of something in trust for another).

29. filibuster
- A tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches.
- A legislator who gives long speeches in an effort to delay or obstruct legislation that he (or she) opposes.
- Obstruct deliberately by delaying; of legislation.

30. gamete
A mature sexual reproductive cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomes.

31. gauche
Lacking social polish.

32. gerrymander
- An act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage).
- Divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts.

33. hegemony
The domination of one state over its allies.

34. hemoglobin
A hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their characteristic color; function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues.

35. homogeneous
All of the same or similar kind or nature.

36. hubris
Overbearing pride or presumption.

37. hypotenuse
The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.

38. impeach
- Bring an accusation against; level a charge against.
- Charge with a crime or misdemeanor.
- Charge with an offense or misdemeanor.
- Challenge the honesty or credibility of; as of witnesses.

39. incognito
- With your identity concealed.
- Without revealing one's identity.

40. incontrovertible
- Necessarily or demonstrably true.
- Impossible to deny or disprove.

41. inculcate
Teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions.

42. infrastructure
- The stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area.
- The basic structure or features of a system or organization.

43. interpolate
- Insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby.
- Estimate the value of.

44. irony
- Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.
- Witty language used to convey insults or scorn.
- A trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs.

45. jejune
- Lacking interest or significance.
- Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity.
- Lacking in nutritive value.

46. kinetic
- Supplying motive force.
- Characterized by motion.
- Relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces associated therewith.

47. kowtow
- A former Chinese custom of touching the ground with the forehead as a sign of respect or submission.
- Try to gain favor by cringing or flattering.
- Bend the knees and bow in a servile manner.

48. laissez faire
The doctrine that government should not interfere in commercial affairs.

49. lexicon
- A language user's knowledge of words.
- A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words with information about them.

50. loquacious
Full of trivial conversation.

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Will be continued to Part 2 ;)
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