The obsequious student was often called a teacher's pet by her peers.
beatitude: (noun) a state of perfect happiness or blessedness; a blessing.
I experience true beatitude when I'm on stage performing.
bete noire: (noun) someone or something than one especially dislikes, dreads, or avoids.
After everyone had paired up, he was left alone and you could tell that he was the bete noire of the group.
bode: (verb) to be an omen of; to indicate by signs.
The teacher walked into the room with a smile that bode good news.
dank: (adj.) unpleasantly damp or wet.
I hated going into his room because it had such a dank atmosphere.
ecumenical: (adj.) worldwide or universal in influence or application.
Congress was finally able to make an ecumenical decision that mitigated the situation.
fervid: (adj.) burning with enthusiasm or zeal; extremely heated.
The fervid way that she spoke made her speech interesting even though it was about a boring topic.
fetid: (adj.) having an unpleasant or offensive odor.
I walked into the abandoned house and the fetid air confirmed my suspicions that no one had been in there for years.
gargantuan: (adj.) of immense size, volume, or capacity; enormous, prodigious.
I was astonished by the gargantuan supply of paintings in the artist's studio.
heyday: (noun) the period of greatest power, vigor, success, or influence; the prime years.
It's clear that she's in the heyday of her career, and she is loving every second of it.
incubus: (noun) a demon or evil spirit supposed to haunt human beings in their bedrooms at night; anything that oppresses or weighs upon one, like a nightmare.
I felt an incubus like presence in my room after we moved into a new house.
infrastructure: (noun) a basic foundation or framework; a system of public works; the resources and facilities required for an activity; permanent military installations.
The infrastructure of the city was falling apart so the townspeople called the city council to action.
inveigle: (verb) to entice, lure, or snare by flattery or artful inducements; to obtain or acquire by artifice.
She inveigled me to come to lunch with her after she offered to buy.
kudos: (noun) the acclaim, prestige, or renown that comes as a result of some action or achievement.
He deserved all the kudos he got after scoring the winning goal of the CIF game.
lagniappe: (noun) an extra or unexpected gift or gratuity.
The store gave all of its customers a lagniappe to encourage their loyalty.
prolix: (adj.) long-winded and wordy; tending to speak or write in such a way.
She has given me a prolix description of her life so many times that I might go crazy if I have to hear it one more time.
protege: (noun) someone whose welfare, training, or career is under the patronage of an influential person; someone under the jurisdiction of a foreign country or government.
She got a sports scholarship and became a protege of one of the school's top players.
prototype: (noun) an original pattern or model; a primitive or ancestral form.
The prototype of pointe shoes was created in France hundreds of years ago.
sycophant: (noun) someone who attempts to win favors or advance him or herself by flattery or servile behavior; a slanderer, defamer.
The sycophant annoyed everyone around her and seemed very fake.
tautology: (noun) needless repetition of an idea by using different but equivalent words; a redundancy.
The teacher's lecture was filled with endless tautology and I fell asleep.
truckle: (verb) to yield or submit tamely or submissively.
She eventually truckled to the will of her parents and chose a college close to home.
The critics rewarded her with accolade after her stunning performance.
acerbity: (noun) sourness or bitterness of taste; harshness or severity of manner or expression.
Having conversations filled with acerbity will not make you any friends.
attrition: (noun) the process of wearing down by friction or gradual impairment.
Attrition caused the army to finally surrender once and for all.
bromide: (noun) a trite or commonplace remark; a tiresome or boring person; a sedative.
He is such a bromide that I can't even recall one comment he made today.
chauvinist: (adj.) extravagantly patriotic; blindly devoted to a cause; or (noun) a person like that.
He is an extreme chauvinist and nothing you say will sway his opinion.
chronic: (adj.) continuing over a long period of time or recurring often.
The chronic pain in my leg is getting hard to deal with.
expound: (verb) to explain in detail.
I listened to him expound upon details of a game that I didn't really care about.
factionalism: (noun) party strife and intrigue.
Factionalism in the company made workdays very unpleasant and unproductive.
immaculate: (adj.) spotless; without blemish or fault.
What I thought was immaculate my mom thought was filthy.
imprecation: (noun) a curse; the act of cursing.
I try to keep my imprecations to myself while driving but sometimes it's hard to keep it contained when people drive with distractions.
ineluctable: (adj.) not able to be avoided, changed, or overcome.
Death is an ineluctable part of life, so why fear it?
mercurial: (adj.) characterized by rapid and unpredictable changes of mood; fickle or inconstant.
Her mercurial attitude was so annoying; one second she was happy and the next she was extremely angry.
palliate: (verb) to make less serious or severe by glossing over; to relieve without actually curing, mitigate.
Merely palliating the problem will not make it go away for ever.
protocol: (noun) customs and regulations dealing with official behavior and etiquette; a type of international agreement; an official account or record.
The protocol stated a very low tolerance for being late to rehearsal.
resplendent: (adj.) shining or gleaming brilliantly; splendid or magnificent.
When I imagine knights, I imagine men riding on horses, clad in resplendent armor.
stigmatize: (verb) to brand or mark as in some way discreditable, disgraceful, or ignominious.
We should all make an effort not to stigmatize others, that way high school will be a much better place.
sub rosa: (adv.) in secret; confidentially; privately.
The party was supposed to kept sub rosa but word somehow got out to the entire school.
vainglory: (noun) excessive pride in and boastfulness about one's own accomplishments or qualities; a vain show or display.
She was no doubt a good player but her vainglory was definitely a turn off.
vestige: (noun) a trace or visible evidence of something that once existed but is now lost or vanished.
The temple ruins are the last vestiges of a once prosperous empire.
volition: (noun) the power to choose, will, or decide; the act of choosing, willing, or deciding.
I decided to choose my own path in life and pursue a career of my own volition.
