VOCABULARY LIST 5

• Obsequious:  obedient; dutiful.
• Before he left the room to make dinner, the servant bid his master farewell with an obsequious bow. 
• Beatitude:  supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.
• Mr. Scrooge realized that the ghosts of Christmas granted him his beatitude by giving him a second chance to live a grateful life.
• Bete noire:  a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads.
• After what she had done to my family, she became the bete noire to my life, and I cannot stand being anywhere near her.
• Bode:  to announce beforehand; predict.
• The winds by the sea bode troubling weather for the sailors.
• Dank:  unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly.
• The dark, dank cellar made me very cold and uncomfortable.
• Ecumenical:  general; universal;  interreligious or interdenominational.
• The ecumenical movement for democracy welcomed citizens of all colors to join.
• Fervid: heated or vehement in spirit, enthusiasm, etc. 
• The fervid preacher managed to fill the auditorium with his booming voice, and his excitement for Christ excited the audience.
• Fetid:  having an offensive odor; stinking.
• The horrifying smell came from the fetid pool of chemical waste produced by the nuclear plantation.
• Gargantuan:  gigantic; enormous; colossal.
• The gargantuan statue towered over the passersby.
• Heyday: the stage or period of greatest vigor, strength, success, etc.; prime; high spirits.
• Nobody could match the heyday of the mighty hero who displayed his greatest strength only in the face of danger.
• Incubus:  something that weighs upon or oppresses one like a nightmare.
• When his flashlight flickered and failed, the young adventurer froze as the incubus of darkness immersed him.
• Infrastructure:  the basic, underlying framework or features of a system or organization.
• The business was pieced together with great infrastructure.
• Inveigle:  to entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements (usually followed by into.)
• The delinquent inveigled him into sneaking out of the house.
• Kudos:  honor; glory; acclaim.
• The pianist received kudos from everyone for an outstanding performance.
• Lagniappe:  a gratuity or tip; an unexpected or indirect benefit.
• She was fortunate to be granted such a lagniappe from her appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
• Prolix:  extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy.
• Sometimes our principal makes a prolix announcement that seemingly drags on for hours at a time.
• Protégé: a person under the patronage, protection, or care of someone interested in his or her career or welfare.
• The statesman introduced me to his protégé who would succeed him after his retirement.
• Prototype:  the original or model on which something is based or formed.
• The Model T, manufactured by Henry Ford, served as the prototype for automobiles.
• Sycophant:  a self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite.
• He will always be remembered for being the weird, obnoxious sycophant who always followed you around and agreed with you.
• Tautology:  needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness.
• The math teacher's repetitive lecture became a sort of tautology that he used for teaching until his students basically learned to accept the fact that they would fail math that year.
• Truckle:  to submit or yield obsequiously or tamely (usually followed by to.)
• The team truckled to their coach's authority and played harder as he had commanded them to.