Vocabulary #2

accoutrements - additional items of dress or equipment, or other items carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity
Ex- The new system will provide the country with all the communications accoutrements of a more developed economy.
apogee - the highest point; a final climactic stage
Ex-  The White House is considered the apogee of American achievement.
apropos - adj. of an appropriate or pertinent nature; adv. by the way; at an opportune time
Ex- For alphabetical and even musical clichés it's apropos.
bicker - noun a quarrel about petty points; verb argue over petty things
Ex- Whenever the phone rings, they bicker over who's going to answer it.
coalesce - verb fuse or cause to grow together; mix together different elements
Ex- The puddles has coalesced into shallow streams.
contretemps - noun an unexpected and unfortunate occurence
Ex- The hotel had to deal with more than one contretemps before the end of the night.
convolution - noun the action of coiling or twisting or winding together; a convex fold or elevation in the surface of the brain; the shape of something rotating rapidly
Ex- The crosses were adorned with elaborate convolutions.
cull - noun the person or thing that is rejected or set aside as inferior in quality; verb remove something that has been rejected;look for and gather
Ex- The anecdotes are culled from Greek and Roman history.
disparate - adj. including markedly dissimilar elements; fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind
Ex- They inhabit disparate worlds of thought.
dogmatic - adj. characterized by assertion of unproved or unprovable principles; relating to or involving dogma; of or pertaining to or characteristic of a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
Ex- He gave his opinion without trying to be dogmatic.
licentious - adj. lacking moral discipline; especially sexually unrestrained
Ex- Tom is licentious and has no regard for mortality toward the law.
mete - to distribute equally
Ex- He denounced the maltreatment meted out to minorities.
noxious - adj. injurious to physical or mental health
Ex- They were overcome by the noxious fumes.
polemic - adj. of or involving dispute or controversy; noun a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma); a writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology)
Ex- Brittany was surprised by John's polemic against the cultural realtivism of the sixties.
populous - adj. densely populated
Ex- Jenny was tired of the traffic on the populous island.
probity - noun complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
Ex- The committee feels that he has demonstrated little probity in this matter.
repartee - noun adroitness and cleverness in reply
Ex- His agile mind, quick wit and ready repartee made him something of a favorite to the media.
supervene - verb take place as an additional or unexpected development
Ex- Any plan that is made is liable to be disrupted by superveneing events.
truncate - adj. terminating abruptly by having or as if having an end or point cut off; verb make shorter as if by cutting off; approximate by ignoring all terms beyond a chosen one; replace a corner by a plane
Ex- Time didn't allow him to read the entire novel, so he simply presented a truncated version.
unimpeachable - adj. beyond doubt or reproach; completely acceptable; not open to exception or reproach; free of guilt; not subject to blame
Ex- The police questioned the unimpeachable witness because more details about the crime could be uncovered.