Capital High School
May Word of the Day

5/1 ecosystem (EK oh sis tum) adj. a community of living things, together with environment
A pond is an interesting ecosystem to study since it contains plants, fish, and microorganisms.

5/2 sanguine (SANG gwin) adj. cheerful, confident, optimistic
Jim is the most sanguine person I know; he always seems to make everyone laugh.

5/5 anecdote (AN ik doht) n. a short, humorous story
The speaker used many personal anecdotes and made the audience laugh.

5/6 plausible (PLAW suh bul) adj. convincing; feasible; believable; credible
The jurors found the evidence plausible and returned a verdict of not guilty.

5/7 brusque (brusk) adj. quick and rude in manner or speech; impolitely abrupt; curt
A brusque welcome greeted his late night return from a party.

5/8 sever (SEV ur) v. to cut off; separate; divide
After the saw severed the man’s finger, doctors were able to reattach it.

5/9 mores (MAWR ayz) n. customary cultural standards; moral attitudes, manners, habits
The problem with older generations is that their mores are outdated for us.

5/12 archaic (ahr KAY ik) adj. ancient; outdated
Computers have made typewriters archaic; hardly anyone uses them.

5/14 revelation ( rev eh LAY shun) n. something revealed, insight, exposure, prophecy.
The star’s autobiography contains many shocking revelations.

5/15 impromptu (im PRAHMP too) adj. done or said without earlier planning or preparation, spontaneous or improvised
Tanya did very well on a moment’s notice, giving an impromptu performance at the piano.

5/16 aesthetic ( es THET ik) adj. having to do with artistic beauty
Japanese rock gardens demonstrate aesthetic values typical to a Far Eastern culture.

5/19 incompatible ( in kum PAT ah bul) adj. incapable of associating or blending, inharmonious.
Many high school couples are incompatible, yet they stay together.

5/20 emaciate ( i MAY see ayt) v. to make extremely thin, usually by starvation or disease
Joan emaciated herself by losing so much weight on her crash diet.

5/21 quaff (kwaf) v. to drink heartily
After football practice, I quaffed a whole gallon of water.

5/22 solace (SAHL is) n. help and comfort when one is feeling sad or worried , consolation, cheer
When Mark is troubled, he finds solace in a good book and hot bath.

5/23 unctuous (UNK choo us) adj. affected, excessively smooth, suave, mug, oily
Joseph’s personality was unctuous, and we always felt like he was selling snake oil.

5/27 antipathy (an TIP uh THEE) n. natural basic dislike, aversion
Dr. Howell’s antipathy toward students who cheat on tests is well known.

5/28 gaffe (gaf) n. embarrassing mistake, crude social error, blunder, a faux pas
His failure to turn in his paper caused him to suffer from a giant gaffe!

5/29 pious (PI us) adj. devout or virtuous, holy
The nuns lived a pious life in the convent.

5/30 expedient (ik SPEE dee unt) adj. giving an immediate advantage, practical
The teacher thought it expedient to solve the misunderstanding before it became a fist-fight.