Week 6

-a branch that flows into the main stream ( another meaning )

primary meaning:- wealthy person, rich person

Use affluent to describe wealthy people or areas.

If something is feasible, then you can do it without too much difficulty.

If you can make out, pick out, or distinguish something, you can discern it. This is a word for recognizing and perceiving things.
Discerning has to do with being able to see or hear something. In a loud room, it can be hard to discern one person's voice. If there's not much light, you'll have trouble discerning the words on a page well enough to read. If you have sloppy handwriting, then it's hard to discern what you wrote.

-Witty ( quick )remark
-a venture off the beaten path
-a military action in which besieged troops burst forth from their position

Consternation is a noun that can stop you in your tracks because it means "a sudden, alarming amazement or dread that results in utter confusion; dismay."

If you have a sense of consternation you have become afraid, disoriented, or completely befuddled.

Like the nightmare about the class you forgot to go to in high school and now you have to take the final exam!

-appearing or developing early

That high school hoops phenom who plays like an NBA pro? The sixth grader who's already asking questions about organic chemistry? They're both precocious — meaning they're way beyond their years in skill or knowledge.

Perfunctory means done as part of a routine or duty. If you give someone a gift and they look at it like it's roadkill and say nothing about it but a perfunctory "thank you," you might not be giving them another one anytime soon.

when we say hello and how are you, it's usually done out of habit.

Chagrin is a noun that represents an emotion or feeling and it's an uncomfortable one. If you feel chagrin it means that you are embarrassed or distressed as a result of a failure.

-marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
-resistant to guidance or discipline

Something perverse, or improper, doesn't have a whole lot of good things going for it, even if it brings a few laughs.

The verb deride means to show a low opinion of someone or something. The jerk would deride the other kids on the bus by calling them names or pulling their hair until the driver decided to de-ride him by kicking him off the bus.

Criticizing something with words is a common way to deride, and politicians often deride each other in their speeches during election campaigns.

If you haven't got anything nice to say, then it's time to disparage someone. It means to belittle or degrade a person or idea.
Disparage is a specific way to describe a certain kind of insult, the kind that secures the insulter's place as superior. It often refers to an opinion or criticism lobbed in print or via word of mouth, not necessarily an act done to someone's face. If someone or something is being disparaged, you will often find a competing interest in the wings.

Use the word laudable to describe something that deserves praise or admiration, like your laudable efforts to start a recycling program at your school.
verb laud, meaning praise or acclaim,
followed by the suffix -able, which is a tip-off that this word is an adjective.
So laudable describes things that are worthy of praise, such as a laudable effort to end poverty, and it can also describe admirable ideas or beliefs, such as a laudable compassion for others.

A fiasco is a disaster. It's not a natural disaster — like an earthquake or a volcano; a fiasco is usually the result of human failure.

To masticate is to chew your food or to bite and grind stuff with your teeth.

While humans use their teeth, primarily molars, to masticate their food, some animals have evolved other ways to do this. Some masticate by crushing food between hard plates on the top and bottom of their mouths, and others masticate by using a spiny tongue to break down their food

If you eschew something, you deliberately avoid it. If you live the bohemian life in the city, then most likely you eschew the suburbs.

A dieter might eschew a chocolate sundae, not because he doesn’t like it, but because he’s afraid of what it will do to his waistline.

-overcome or allay
Meaning to suppress or overcome, quell is what you have to do with nerves before a big test and fears before going skydiving.

When it first came into existence, the verb quell actually meant “to murder.” That's a big more serious than our modern definition, but you can use that old definition to help you imagine offing your worries or putting a permanent end to criticism. These days quell is often used to mean "pacify," as in the police quelling an angry mob or a mom quelling

Voluble describes someone who talks a lot, like your aunt who can’t stop telling you to cut your hair or a political candidate who makes twenty speeches on the day before the election.

The word voluble describes talking continuously, fluently, at great length, in a steady flow. You’ll know it when you meet voluble talkers: they just keep rolling on and on.

A confidant is the person you tell your secrets to. Your confidant has all the dirt on you, so don't forget her birthday or she might start talking.

The President has lots of confidants in his inner circle who not only know all about secret government issues, but also give their opinions about what actions he should take. Make sure to spell the word with the ant ending, because confident means something else. Think of confiding in your aunt, your confidANT.

The word obsolescence is the noun form of the more common obsolete, meaning "something no longer used."

Fashion trends come and go, and often return after a time. But gimmicky fads quickly fall into obsolescence, losing appeal and falling out of sight — do you know anyone who still has a pet rock?

Your phone or your car may be designed for obsolescence, meaning they are meant to stop working or go out of style so you'll buy a newer model.

"The four stages of man are infancy, childhood, adoles

Choose the adjective dubious for something you have doubts about or you suspect is not true. That bridge you just "bought" might be of dubious value.

Dubious stems from Latin dubiosus "doubtful" or "uncertain" and contains the Latin root duo in this case meaning "of two minds." This is apparent in that dubious generally describes something that appears one way but is truly another. A dubious claim is probably not true, whereas a dubious website or character is of questionable quality