9th Grade Vocabulary List

Week 1

Abridge – to shorten

Abstemious – sparing in the use of food or drink

Abhor – to loathe or detest

Aesthetic – pertaining to beauty

Ambiguous – unclear, having more than one meaning

Amorphous – having no shape

Apathy – lack of interest or caring

Conflagration – widespread fire

Conventional – traditional, mundane, ordinary

Detrimental – causing damage or harm

Week 2

Deliberate – adj. Intentional, well thought out

       v. to consider carefully

Diversity – the state of being different or having different

     elements

Elusive – cleverly avoiding or escaping

Erratic – unpredictably eccentric

Esoteric – known only by a select few

Exacerbate – to make worse

Exemplary – serving as an example, commendable

Extraneous – not pertinent or relevant

Hiatus – a break or lapse in continuity

Hoard – to accumulate or stash away

Week 3

Implausible – not possible,
not imaginable

Impudence – bold disrespect
or rudeness

Incorrigible - not capable
of being reformed

Indomitable – unable to be
subdued or overcome

Ingenuity – cleverness, originality

Innate – existing in a person
since birth; part of the character

of
something

Innocuous – causing or intending
little or no harm

Lampoon – sharp satire

Levity – lightness; lacking
seriousness

Lurid – gruesome, melodramatic,
shocking

Week 4

Mediocrity – ordinariness,
lack of distinction

Miser – one who saves greedily

Mitigate – to make less severe

Morose – gloomy; ill-tempered

Mundane – ordinary or commonplace

Obliterate – to wipe out,
remove all traces

Parochial – having narrow
scope

Paucity – small amount or
number

Penchant – a strong taste
or liking

Precarious – unstable, insecure

Week 5

Premonition – a feeling that
something is about to happen

Prodigal – wasteful

Promontory – a high point
of land projecting into the sea

Quibble – v. to make a minor
objection

14. a small objection

Rectify – to fix, correct

Reminiscence – a story of
past experiences

Repertoire – supply of songs,
stories, skills or devices

Reticent – untalkative, shy,
reluctant to speak

Satiate – to satisfy fully

Slothful – lazy

Week 6

Solidarity – fellowship between
members of a group

Spendthrift – a person who
spends money wastefully

Stoic – not affected by passion
or feeling

Succinct – brief, concise

Succumb – to give way to
superior force

Superfluous – unnecessary

Taciturn – being of few words

Tantamount – equivalent in
effect or meaning

Tirade – a long, harsh, often
abusive speech

Torpid – without energy,
sluggish

Week 7

Transcendent – going beyond
known limits

Trite – overused, lacking
freshness

Vociferous – loud

Whimsical – eccentric; unpredictable

Wily – artful, cunning, deceitful,
shy

Cynicism – the belief that
all human action is motivated by

selfishness

Exploit – to take advantage
of; to use selfishly

Indelible – incapable of
being erased

Infallible – unable to be
proven wrong

Inferred – concluded by reasoning

Week 8

Injurious – causing damage
or loss

Jargon – words used by people
in a particular field of work

Lamentation – an expression
of sorrow or deep regret

Lofty – having great height
or a stately manner

Magnate – a person of great
influence in a particular field

Methodical – orderly, having
a set system

Meticulous – very careful,
attentive to details

Monotonous – boring; unvarying
in tone or content

Mosaic – picture made of
really small pieces of glass

Negate – to destroy the validity
of something

Week 9

Obscure – not known; difficult to understand

Objective – not affected by personal feelings

Opaque – not transparent; hard to understand

Paradox – something that seems to contradict itself

Pastiche – piece of music or writing or art that

combines several different styles

Patent – obvious; readily visible

Phenomena – occurrences, facts, or observable

circumstances

Philanthropist – someone who gives to worth causes

Pious – having reverence for a god

Plateau – a condition of neither growth nor decline

Week 10

Preclude – to make impossible

Predecessor – a person who
precedes another in an

office
or position

Presumptuous – bold to the
point of rudeness

Prevailing – generally accepted,
having superior power

Prevalent – in general use
or acceptance

Prominent – standing out,
important

Provincial – having a narrow
scope

Provoke – anger, arouse,
bring to action

Purgation – the process of
getting rid of impurities

Quarry – a large open pit
from which stone is cut

Week 11

Raconteur – skilled storyteller

Rebuttal – reply to a criticism

Recluse – someone who lives
in seclusion

Reconcile – to settle a problem

Redundant – characterized
by unnecessary repetition of

words
or ideas

Reiteration – saying or doing
something repeatedly

Renounce – to give up or
put aside

Replete – gorged with food,
satiated

Repudiate – to cast off or
disown; to refuse to acknowledge

Residual – describing the
part that is left over

Week 12

Resolute – strongly determined

Retort – v. to reply sharply;
n. a sharp reply

Revere – to regard with awe

Sanction – v. to give permission;
n. a coercive measure

designed
to make a person or persons comply

Sect – a subgroup of a religion;
faction

Sentinel – a guard, watchman

Week 13

Strident – harsh, grating

Stylized – in a particular
style, often an unrealistic one

Stupefy – to make less alert

Subordinate – placed in a
lower order or rank

Subtle – hardly noticeable

Sullen – sad, sulky

Superficial – near the surface,
slight

Suppleness – ability to bend
easily; limberness

Swindle – to cheat out of
money or property

Synthesis – the combining
of separate parts to form a whole

Week 14

Tacit - implied, not stated
outright

Tactful – saying or doing
the proper thing

Taint – to affect with something
harmful; contaminate

Taper – gradually decrease,
grow smaller at one end; dwindle

Temper – to moderate; to
make less extreme

Tenet – idea or belief

Terrestrial – having to do
with the earth

Theologian – one who studies
religion

Theoretical – not proven
true; existing only as an idea

Thesis – unproven theory;
long research paper

Week 15

Tract – a piece of land

Tranquility – calmness, peacefulness

Truant – someone who cuts
school or neglects his or her duties

Truncate – to shorten by
cutting off

Tumultuous – characterized
by noisy uproar

Unbiased – without prejudice

Ubiquitous – being everywhere
at the same time

Unanimity – complete agreement

Undermine – to injure or
destroy underhandedly

Unethical – having bad moral
principles