College Freshman Composition Vocabulary List 1
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Adjunct
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Added or connected in a subordinate capacity; attached to a faculty or staff in an auxiliary capacity (adj.); something added to something else as helpful or useful but not essential; an assistant or helper; a valuable quality or characteristic (noun)
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Bellweather
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(Noun) The male sheep that leads the flock to the slaughterhouse; a leader, as in a desperate or violent undertaking; an indicator of trends
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Caterwaul
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A harsh or noisy cry; a racket (noun); To howl or screech like a cat; to quarrel (verb)
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Chimerical
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(Adj.) Absurd; wildly fantastic; impossible
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Effete
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(Adj.) Lacking in wholesome vigor or energy; worn out or exhausted; sterile or unable to produce; out of date
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Fait accompli
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(Noun) An accomplished and presumably irreversible deed, fact, or action
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Hidebound
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(Adj.) Narrow-minded and rigid, especially in opinions or prejudices; stubbornly and unthinkingly conservative
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Hierarchy
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(Noun) Any system of things or people arranged or graded one above another in order of rank, wealth, or class, etc.
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Laissez-faire
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(Adj.) A philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference, especially with individual freedom of choice and action.
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Liturgy
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(Noun) A religious service or rite; the form of a ritual or other act of public worship
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Morass
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(Noun) A patch of low, soft, wet ground; a swamp; a confusing situation in which one is entrapped, as in quicksand
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Noisome
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(Adjective) Offensive or disgusting; foul-smelling; harmful or injurious
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Oblivious
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(Adj.) Forgetful, unaware
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Poltroon
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(Noun) A base coward
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Proselyte
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(Noun) A convert; a disciple
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Quasi
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(Adj.) Resembling but not actually being; seemingly but not actually or completely
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Raillery
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(Noun) Good-humored ridicule; teasing
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Ribald
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(Adj.) Irreverently mocking; coarse, vulgar, or indecent in language
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Supine
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(Adj.) Lying flat on one's back; listless or lethargic; apathetic or passive.
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Vignette
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(Noun) A short description or sketch; a picture or illustration with edges that gradually shade off; a decorative design on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter.
