Level 4B Flashcards
PROLIFIC
(proh-LIF-ik)
Adjective
Prolific describes someone or something that produces a large amount of a particular thing.
Examples: prolific athletes score lots of points (Drew Brees); prolific authors write lots of books (Stephen King); prolific trees bear lots of fruit (apple trees).
Sentence: The prolific musician composed over one hundred symphonies in one year.
MUNDANE
(MUHN-dayn or muhn-DAYN)
2 definitions
Adjective
A. If something is mundane, it is dull and ordinary.
B. Mundane can also refer to things that relate to ordinary life on earth rather than to spiritual things.
Examples for A: Boring lectures; protracted meetings; topics that garrulous people talk about.
Examples for B: A political speech about taxes; a business negotiation; a family meeting about the household budget.
Sentence for A: Mary was surprised by the mundane conversation that she had on her first date with Paul given that they had such exciting correspondence online.
Sentence for B: Prayer and meditation helped Nicole put her mundane worries aside.
MYRIAD
(MIR-ee-id)
Adjective (Myriad can also function as a noun.)
**Myriad refers to a very great or uncountable number of persons or things. **
Examples: the myriad problems of modern life; myriad stars in the sky; myriad books in the Library of Congress
Sentence: Devan’s friends and family provided myriad solutions to his problems, but he still thought of his situation as hopeless because he was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of advice he was receiving.
DISSIDENT
(DIS-i-dent)
Noun (Dissident can also function as an adjective)
**A person who strongly disagrees with and criticizes the government, especially in a country where this kind of action is dangerous. **
Examples: people that joined the Occupy Wall Street movement; Vietnam War protesters; Civil Rights leaders like MLK
Sentence: Chinese dissidents are often locked up for expressing their anti-government views.
LAUDABLE
(LAW-duh-bul)
Adjective
If something is laudable, then it is deserving to be praised or admired, even if it is not really successful.
Examples: laudable goals (wanting to graduate from college); laudable actions (volunteering to help the indigent); laudable motives (demanding a raise at work so that you can buy your mother a new car after hers broke down for the 19th time)
Sentence: Society considers working in a professions like social work or teaching to be laudable because they involve helping others without much financial incentive to do so.
INIMITABLE
(i-NIM-i-tuh-bul)
Adjective
If something a person does is inimitable, then it is too good or unique for anyone else to copy with the same effect.
Examples: an inimitable writing style (Shakespeare); an inimitable performance (Heath Ledger as the Joker); an inimitable achievement (landing on the moon)
Sentence: Kurt Cobain’s inimitable singing style set his band, Nirvana, apart from other grunge acts of the 1990’s.
JADED
(JAY-did)
2 definitions
Adjective
A. If you are jaded, then you are feeling fatigued by overwork.
B. Jaded can also describe a person who has become dull, emotionally numb, apathetic, or cynical because of experience or excess.
Examples for A: employees who work too much; student athletes who also have part time jobs; a teacher after grading a stack of essays at the end of a work week
Examples for B: veteran police officers who have seen too many murders; a counselor who works in a school full of at risk youth; a twenty-one year old getting on a flight after partying for 48 hours straight in Las Vegas
Sentence for A: The prison guard became jaded after working double shifts for forty days straight.
Sentence for B: The teenager was jaded after years of abuse and neglect.
MYOPIC
(my-AHP-ik, rhymes with dry topic)
2 definitions
Adjective
A. Literally, myopic refers to someone whose defective vision makes it difficult to see things that are far away (near-sighted).
B. Figuratively, myopic describes people who only think or care about things that are happening now or that relate to a particular group rather than things that will happen in the future or that relate to many people.
Examples for A: a myopic hunter must wear glasses when shooting; a myopic student can’t see the board; it is illegal for myopic drivers to operate a motor vehicle without glasses or contacts
Examples for B: a myopic community that doesn’t question how a new factory will dispose of its toxic waste; a teenager who tunes out teachers and parents who preach to him about preparing for the future; a myopic view of the world
Sentence for A: The myopic basketball player soon became the team’s best 3 point shooter after getting his new glasses.
Sentence for B: A myopic strategy might win a battle but will likely lose the war because it fails to consider the myriad complexities that come with such a long term crisis.
DEMONSTRABLE
(di-MAHN-struh-buul)
Adjective
If something is demonstrable, then it is able to be shown or proven.
Examples: scientists are expected to produce demonstrable results; a demonstrable statement can be proven to be true; a person’s guilt must be demonstrable in a court of law
Sentence: There is no demonstrable evidence that the hair loss treatment is successful, yet many hopeful balding people continue to spend money on it.
CALLOW
(KAL-oh)
Adjective
** If you are callow, then you are a young person who does not have much experience and does not know how to behave the way adults behave.**
Examples: a teenager working in customer service who freezes up and calls a manager every time something happens that she doesn’t understand; a middle school kid who farts loudly as a way to embarrass his older sister around her friends; an elementary school kid who laughs loudly any time someone gets emotional in class
Sentence: The callow freshman couldn’t understand why the senior girls laughed at him when he asked them how to find the secret rooftop pool at Slidell High, which his sophomore friends had been kind enough to tell him about.
What word fits this definition?
_____ describes someone or something that produces a large amount of a particular thing.
PROLIFIC
(proh-LIF-ik)
Did you pronounce the word correctly?
What word fits this definition?
A. If something is _____, it is dull and ordinary.
B. _____ can also refer to things that relate to ordinary life on earth rather than to spiritual things.
MUNDANE
(MUHN-dayn or muhn-DAYN)
Did you pronounce the word correctly?
What word fits this definition?
**_____ refers to a very great or uncountable number of persons or things. **
MYRIAD
(MIR-ee-id)
Did you pronounce the word correctly?
What word fits this definition?
**A person who strongly disagrees with and criticizes the government, especially in a country where this kind of action is dangerous. **
DISSIDENT
(DIS-i-dent)
Did you pronounce the word correctly?
What word fits this definition?
If something is _____, then it is deserving to be praised or admired, even if it is not really successful.
LAUDABLE
(LAW-duh-bul)
Did you pronounce the word correctly?
