100 words I encountered while reading The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

1. Snickering the act of someone who stifled his laugh

Example: The teacher saw her student snickering after her classmate failed the exam.
2.

Plastered to get drunk or wasted

Example: The only way he could deal with the grief following his wifes death was to get so plastered.
3.

Angst painful sadness

Example: Before he left he told everyone that he cant handle the angst he is feeling.
4.

Straitjacket a range of situations seen as unpleasant

Example: The straitjacket that happened in the mall traumatized the kids.
5.

Forlorn something or someone that was abandoned

Example: After 20 years they visited the forlorn house of their ancestor.
6.

Sinewy someone that shows toughness

Example: Lee is known to be sinewy.

7.

Solicitous careful

Example: She is solicitous of her reputation.

8.

Bayou a swamp or a stagnant body of water

Example: The bayou is scary at night.

9.

Oeuvre a work of art

Example: The works of Nadine are oeuvre.

10. Deck trash or junk
Example: He would be giving away deck of prizes instead of the good stuff they did for years.
11. Obnoxious extremely unpleasant
Example: He was an especially obnoxious and detestable specimen of man.
12. Facetious treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor
Example: Robbies joke about Heathers picture was just him being facetious.
13. Congealed frozen
Example: The ship sinks in the middle of Atlantic and made everything and everyone congealed.
14. Livid furiously angry
Example: James is livid about the partial results of the online voting.
15. Poignant neat, eloquent, applicable, relevant

Example: A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.
16. Myriad a countless number or multitudes
Example: Earth hosts a myriad of animals.
17. Dank to moisten
Example: Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire.
18. Disdain a feeling of contempt or scorn
Example: the cat viewed the cheap supermarket cat food with disdain and stalked away.
19. Neurotic overly anxious
Example: He is getting neurotic about time-keeping.
20. Transient remaining for only a brief time
Example: Drugs gave him a transient pleasure.
21. Retrospect consideration of past times
Example: The chief officer gave retrospect to Carl after violating some rules.
22. Fretted having frets or decorated with fretwork
Example: The dulcimer and sitar are fretted instruments.
23. Quell to suppress
Example: She always smiles to quell the grief she feels inside.
24. Regale a feast
Example: During her birthday, they regale her with gifts.
25. Gales to sing or charm or enchant
Example: Because the guests are late, the emcee galled them for about 30 minutes.
26. Tottered (totter) an unsteady movement
Example: The baby tottered from the table to the chair.
27. Scrapes (scrape) to draw an object especially a sharp or angular one, along while exerting
pressure
Example: Her fingernails scraped across the blackboard, making a shrill sound.
28. Dolt a stupid person
Example: Sam called Bret a dolt.
29. Fringes (fringe) a decorative border
Example: The picture frame has fringes.

30. Blas unimpressed or casual

Example: Teacher Anne was blas of her students output.
31. Jaded worn out
Example: She decided to buy a new pair of shoes because the old ones are jaded.
32. Snotty bad mood
Example: They choose to work silently after noticing that their team leader is snotty.
33. Tad a small amount
Example: Could you lean the picture to the left just a tad more?
34. Beau a male escort
Example: Nadine explored Cebu with her beau.
35. Shtick a characteristic trait
Example: The interviewer was impressed with her shtick.
36. Prude a person who tries to be excessively proper
Example: She is so prude that sometimes it becomes annoying.
37. Quaint unusual
Example: Things are quaint these past few days.
38. Mauve a bright purple synthetic dye
Example: She dyes her hair with mauve.
39. Lax a salmon
Example: She prepared lax for their family dinner.
40. Midair a collision between two or more aerospace vehicles in flight
Example: The midair caused some delay of international flights.
41. Flunked (flunk) to fail a class
Example: He flunked math, again.
42. Deveining (devein) to remove the veins from
Example: She was asked to devein the shrimps.
43. Agnostic a person who holds to a form of agnosticism; the view that God exist
Example: His agnostic viewpoint is summarized in his book.
44. Remorse a feeling of regret or sadness

Example: She feels remorse after turning down Christians proposal.

45. Mortification a sensation of extreme shame or embarrassment
Example: The drug pusher had undergone mortification after they were named in public.
46. Heinous totally guilty
Example: I hope they catch the person responsible for that heinous crime.
47. Peccadillo a small flaw or sin
Example: She was notice because of the peccadillo she committed.
48. Flabbergasted (flabbergast) to overwhelm with bewilderment
Example: He was flabbergasted to find that his work had been done for him before he began.
49. Ineptly in an incompetent manner
Example: She did her report ineptly.
50. Altruism selflessness
Example: He believes that altruism makes a person a saint.
51. Fatuous obnoxiously stupid
Example: To compare the intelligence levels of men and women is itself fatuous.
52. Sanguine anticipating the best; optimistic
Example: Upon the near deadline she chooses to be sanguine.
53. Tedious boring
Example: The book I thought was exciting is actually tedious.
54. Balm any soothing oil or lotion
Example: There is a balm in Gilead.
55. Grungy dirty
Example: They ignored the old man because he was grungy.
56. Sparse having widely spaced intervals
Example: The teacher made sure that the students were sparse during their exam.
57. Sleazy marked by low quality
Example: Their brand was sleazy.
58. Din a loud noise
Example: She was welcomed by a din when she entered the party.
59. Droning a dull humming

Example: His droning made the baby cry.

60. Shag a type of rough carpet pile
Example: She removed the shag in their living room.
61. Solace comfort or consolation in a time of distress
Example: You cannot put a monetary value on emotional solace.
62. Drawl to drag on slowly and heavily
Example: After committing the crime, he drawls the corpse to the forest.
63. Obscene lustful
Example: Alexis found the TV show obscene.
64. Voyeur a person who drives sexual pleasure from secretly observing other people
Example: She is labeled as a voyeur in their block.
65. Raggedness (raggedy) torn or tattered
Example: Her design was rejected because of too much raggedness.
66. Riled (rile) to make angry
Example: Money problems rile the unpaid workers.
67. Incongruous not similar or not matching
Example: 20 and 25 are incongruous with respect to 4.
68. Peevishly (peevish) constant complaining
Example: Emma was so peevish that everyone hated her.
69. Schlep- (schlep) to carry or drag
Example: He Schlep the lady after she collapsed in front of him.
70. Morose imperfectly illuminated or gloomy or dim
Example: He liked his room to be morose.
71. Beveled (bevel) an edge that is canted
Example: He decides to bevel his chair for design.
72. Trite worn out
Example: She threw her clothes because she worn it out.
73. Brogue a strong dialectal accent
Example: British speak in Brogue.

74. Lofts (loft) an attic or similar space as storage

Example: She calls her room a loft.
75. Dunce weak in intellect ( a person)
Example: She is so dunce that she failed her math subject four times.
76. Cynicism a distrustful attitude
Example: Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.
77. Candor the state of being sincere and open in speech
Example: She was so candor while speaking in the wake of her father.
78. Bleary tired
Example: His mother noticed that he is bleary after his basketball training.
79. Ennui a gripping lack of energy caused by boredom
Example: She was ennui after doing nothing the whole day.
80. Undiluted not mixed with other substances
Example: The water in pale was undiluted.
81. Gallivanting (gallivant) to roam about for pleasure without any definite plan
Example: What he wanted her to do was to gallivant all day long.
82. Animosities (animosity) violent hatred leading to active opposition
Example: Quennie has animosity with the majority group.
83. Amiss wrong, faulty, improper
Example: He suspected that something was amiss.
84. Bereft (bereave) to deprive by or as if by violence, rob
Example: She was bereft after she went to the bank.
85. Flouncing (flounce) to move in an exaggerated bouncy manner
Example: She was flouncing the whole time to get the attentions of her father.
86. Linty (lint) a fine material made by scraping cotton or linen cloth
Example: Her jacket was made of lint.
87. Grope to feel with or to handle
Example: They grope each other the whole night.
88. Aptly in an suitable manner

Example: She aptly walks in the red carpet during the awards night.
89. Raucous harsh and rough-sounding
Example: At night, raucous sounds come from the swamp.
90. Hippie someone who dresses in a hippie style
Example: Her hippie style makes her younger.
91. Corduroy a heavy fabric usually made of cotton
Example: Their bed sheet is made of corduroy.
92. Feeble deficient in physical strength
Example: Though she appeared old and feeble, she could still throw a ball.
93. Lumpectomy the surgical removal of a tumor or cyst from a breast
Example: Isabel has to undergo lumpectomy to survive cancer.
94. Puttering (putter) to be active but not excessively busy
Example: She pretends to be putter to avoid errands.
95. Hauled (haul) to carry something
Example: I began hauling all the woods used in the house and shops.
96. Mollifying (mollify) to ease a burden
Example: To mollify she party all night.
97. Shrubbery a planting of shrubs
Example: His garden is shrubbery.
98. Cognac a brandy distilled from white wine
Example: Major manufacturers add a small portion of caramel to color their cognacs.
99. Thrive to grow or increase structure
Example: Since expanding in June, the business has really thrived.
100.

Ambivalent simultaneously experiencing

Example: It led to certain ambivalence in their attitudes toward the organized labor movement, despite
their commitment to greater economic equality.