Interesting Words

Ngo N. (Vietnam)
48 words 0 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. chiasmus
    inversion in the second of two parallel phrases
  2. duty period
    the time period during which you are at work
  3. acacia
    any of various spiny trees or shrubs
  4. glossolalia
    repetitive nonmeaningful speech
  5. koan
    a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution
  6. maharajah
    a great raja
  7. nictate
    briefly shut the eyes
  8. nudnik
    (Yiddish) someone who is a boring pest
  9. sesquipedalian
    a very long word (a foot and a half long)
  10. snakebite
    a bite from a snake, usually venomous
  11. susurration
    an indistinct sound, as of whispering or rustling
  12. syzygy
    the straight line configuration of three celestial bodies
  13. ullage
    the amount that a container lacks of being full
  14. umlaut
    a diacritical mark (two dots) placed over a vowel in German
  15. wassail
    a punch made of sweetened ale or wine heated with spices and roasted apples; especially at Christmas
  16. litotes
    understatement for rhetorical effect
  17. Gogh
    Dutch Post-impressionist painter noted for his use of color
  18. enfranchise
    grant freedom to, as from slavery or servitude
  19. quasar
    a starlike object that may send out radio waves
  20. participle
    a form of the verb used as an adjective
  21. phloem
    plant tissue that conducts synthesized food substances
  22. xylem
    plant tissue that conducts water and dissolved nutrients
  23. kitsch
    excessively gaudy or sentimental art
  24. mantra
    a sacred utterance or poetic hymn in Vedism
  25. fait accompli
    an irreversible accomplishment
  26. nouveau-riche
    characteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this new position
  27. red herring
    something intended to distract attention from the main issue
  28. Svengali
    someone (usually maleficent) who tries to persuade or force another person to do his bidding
  29. white elephant
    an unwanted possession that is hard to get rid of or to maintain
  30. alga
    primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves
  31. archaean
    of or relating to the earliest known rocks formed during the Precambrian Eon
  32. artesian well
    a well drilled through impermeable strata into strata that receive water from a higher altitude so there is pressure to force the water to flow upward
  33. Bering
    Danish explorer who explored the northern Pacific Ocean for the Russians and discovered the Bering Strait (1681-1741)
  34. metrification
    the act of changing from imperial units of measurement to metric units: meters, grams, seconds
  35. histone
    a simple protein containing mainly basic amino acids
  36. rubber bullet
    a bullet made of hard rubber
  37. kwashiorkor
    severe malnutrition in children resulting from a diet excessively high in carbohydrates and low in protein
  38. monotreme
    the most primitive mammals comprising the only extant members of the subclass Prototheria
  39. Munchausen syndrome
    syndrome consisting of feigning acute and dramatic illness for which no clinical evidence is ever found
  40. pahoehoe
    freely flowing lava
  41. prion
    an infectious protein particle lacking DNA or RNA
  42. roentgen ray
    electromagnetic radiation of short wavelength produced when high-speed electrons strike a solid target
  43. teratogen
    any agent that interferes with normal embryonic development: alcohol or thalidomide or X-rays or rubella are examples
  44. hominian
    characterizing the family Hominidae, which includes Homo sapiens as well as extinct species of manlike creatures
  45. hypha
    any of the threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus
  46. krill
    small shrimp-like crustaceans
  47. stipendiary
    receiving or eligible for compensation
  48. xerophyte
    plant adapted for life with a limited supply of water
Created on Wed Aug 27 15:38:06 EDT 2008

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.