The American Heritage Dictionary has just come out with a list of "100 Words That All High School Graduate — And Their Parents — Should Know".
I think I know most of these words, but some of them — well, if I were to ever use those words, or even know them, I’d end up in the Nerd Hall of Fame. I mean, "impeach", "paradigm", "epiphany", "soliloquy" and "hubris" (to name a few) are all fine words. But c’mon — "quotidian"? "abstemious"? "moiety"?
Anyway, here’s the list. How many do you know?
|
abjure
abrogate abstemious acumen antebellum auspicious belie bellicose bowdlerize chicanery chromosome churlish circumlocution circumnavigate deciduous deleterious diffident enervate enfranchise epiphany equinox euro evanescent expurgate facetious fatuous feckless fiduciary filibuster gamete gauche gerrymander hegemony hemoglobin homogeneous hubris hypotenuse impeach incognito incontrovertible inculcate infrastructure interpolate irony jejune kinetic kowtow laissez faire lexicon loquacious |
lugubrious
metamorphosis mitosis moiety nanotechnology nihilism nomenclature nonsectarian notarize obsequious oligarchy omnipotent orthography oxidize parabola paradigm parameter pecuniary photosynthesis plagiarize plasma polymer precipitous quasar quotidian recapitulate reciprocal reparation respiration sanguine soliloquy subjugate suffragist supercilious tautology taxonomy tectonic tempestuous thermodynamics totalitarian unctuous usurp vacuous vehement vortex winnow wrought xenophobe yeoman ziggurat |