The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know."The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."
The following is the entire list of 100 words:
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 |
4 comments:
Recently I found myself thinking about hegemony. Then I thought about hegemonkey. Haven't quite figured out where those thoughts might lead, but I didn't know either word when I graduated.
There are several on the list that I wouldn't have any idea of the meaning when I graduated.
Age and the library card that I use frequently changed that. The girl said in English class this year the teacher asked who went to the library regularly. There were quite a few who had never been to the library in their life. Somehow that thought makes me sad.
Sad indeed. Nothing engages and exercises our imaginations like stories, whether read or heard. "Movies" seem to work in and on different parts of the brain, where imagination is at best a secondary player. Sensation doesn't equal (or necessarily trigger) imagination.
Something important is lost when reading is ignored or worse, discouraged.
I also posted the 100 words on my blog: http://bonniesbooks.blog
spot.com/2007/05/100-words.html
(Take out any spaces.) My readers are using the words in sentences. You are invited to visit and use some of the words that have not yet found sentences.
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