VOCABULARY #2

accoutrements: (noun) accessory items of clothing or equipment; a soldier's equipment, excluding weapons and clothing.
The route of the army's retreat was littered with the discarded accoutrements of war.

apogee: (noun) the point in the orbit of a heavenly body or satellite farthest from the earth; the farthest or highest point.
The way that she captivated her audience last night was stunning, in fact the performance is sure to be the apogee of her career.

apropos: (adj.) appropriate, opportune; (adv.) relevantly; at the right time; speaking of.
I assumed that money would be an apropos gift for him since he would be attending college in the fall.

bicker: (verb) to engage in a petty or peevish dispute; to move or run rapidly; to rush, hurry.
With my niece and nephew constantly bickering over the most trivial things, I am never able to fully concentrate on my homework.

coalesce: (verb) to blend together or fuse so as to form one body or substance.
The residents of the city coalesced into a strong group, urging the city to pay more attention to the health of the environment.

contretemps: (noun) an inopportune occurrence; an embarrassing mishap.
It seems like every high school student makes a minor contretemps into a major adversity.

convolution: (noun) a rolling or coiling together; twisting together.
Undoing the convoluted wire was nearly impossible.

cull: (verb) to pick out or select; to gather or collect.
He culled only the best people for the show.

disparate: (adj.) completely distinct or different; dissimilar.
The way she behaves at school is quite disparate from how she acts at home.

dogmatic: (adj.) certain of the truth of one's own ideas; inclined to state opinions as if they were facts; asserting opinions in an arrogant manner.
A dogmatic president probably won't be a very popular one since he/she would be unwilling to listen to the opinions of the people.

licentious: (adj.) morally or sexually unrestrained; having no regard for accepted rules or laws.
My licentious cousin was recently kicked out of his house because his parents couldn't handle him anymore.

mete: (verb) to distribute or apportion by measure; to allot.
You are not her mother, therefore it is not your job to mete out punishment.

noxious: (adj.) harmful to physical health or morals.
Ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is noxious to your life.

polemic: (noun) an aggressive attack on a specific opinion or doctrine.
The politician issued a harsh polemic against the man running against him.

populous: (adj.) full of people; densely populated; filled to capacity.
For occupying such a large area, the city wasn't very populous.

probity: (noun) complete honesty; total integrity.
It was scary talking to the police, but he complied with complete probity.

repartee: (noun) a swift, witty reply; skill in making witty replies or conversations.
The two conversed with such repartee that I could easily listen to them for hours on end.

supervene: (verb) to take place or occur as something additional or unexpected; to follow immediately after.
After the show was over, an encore supervened to the crowd's delight.

truncate: (verb) to shorten by cutting off.
Unfortunately, I had to truncate my essay to fit it all onto one page.

unimpeachable: (adj.) beyond doubt or reproach; unquestionable.
After we saw the security footage, it was unimpeachable that he was innocent.