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Unit 1: Vocabulary from Readings 3

This list covers "Soldier home after losing his leg in Afghanistan," "Where I Find My Heroes," and White House Funeral Sermon for Abraham Lincoln.
21 words 136 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
    He had shrapnel sticking out of his eyeballs, face and arms.
  2. grueling
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    After grueling training in the hot Georgia sun, he landed a spot in the Army’s 101st Airborne Pathfinder Division, an elite infantry unit, and was sent to Afghanistan in February 2010 to work on personnel recovery missions.
  3. elite
    selected as the best
    After grueling training in the hot Georgia sun, he landed a spot in the Army’s 101st Airborne Pathfinder Division, an elite infantry unit, and was sent to Afghanistan in February 2010 to work on personnel recovery missions.
  4. rigorous
    strict; allowing no deviation from a standard
    The rehabilitation was rigorous and I pushed it, building back my muscles and learning to use the prosthetic leg.
  5. complacent
    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
    But they never told me I was doing a good job for fear that I might get complacent.
  6. short shrift
    brief and inattentive attention or treatment
    Women—with the exception of Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, and Joan of Arc—got short shrift. Most history was oriented toward male heroes.
  7. debunk
    expose while ridiculing
    The simple acts of heroism are often overlooked—that’s very clear to me not only in war but in peace. I’m not debunking all of history...
  8. paraplegic
    suffering total immobilization of the lower half of the body
    I came into contact with it when I worked with Ron Kovic, the paraplegic Vietnam vet, on Born on the Fourth of July.
  9. herald
    praise vociferously
    So there you go—heroes are everyday, common people. Most of what they do goes unheralded, unappreciated.
  10. corruption
    moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
    We have a lot of corruption in our society.
  11. strive
    attempt by employing effort
    And we must allow our young generation to strive for virtue, instead of ridiculing it.
  12. ridicule
    subject to laughter or mockery
    And we must allow our young generation to strive for virtue, instead of ridiculing it.
  13. ardent
    characterized by intense emotion
    He is dead; but the cause he so ardently loved, so ably, patiently, faithfully represented and defended—not for himself only, not for us only, but for all people in all their coming generations, till time shall be no more—that cause survives his fall, and will survive it.
  14. athwart
    across, especially at an oblique angle
    The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day athwart the gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of God’s united providences is telling us that, though the friends of Liberty die, Liberty itself is immortal.
  15. providence
    the guardianship and control exercised by a deity
    The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day athwart the gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of God’s united providences is telling us that, though the friends of Liberty die, Liberty itself is immortal.
  16. immortal
    not subject to death
    The light of its brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day athwart the gloom occasioned by his death, and the language of God’s united providences is telling us that, though the friends of Liberty die, Liberty itself is immortal.
  17. quench
    suppress or crush completely
    There is no assassin strong enough and no weapon deadly enough to quench its inextinguishable life, or arrest its onward march to the conquest and empire of the world.
  18. consecrated
    solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high purpose
    But that grave will be a precious and a consecrated spot.
  19. repair
    move, travel, or proceed toward some place
    The friends of Liberty and of the Union will repair to it in years and ages to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed, and, gathering from his very ashes, and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues, fresh incentives to patriotism, they will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country and their God.
  20. incentive
    a positive motivational influence
    The friends of Liberty and of the Union will repair to it in years and ages to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed, and, gathering from his very ashes, and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues, fresh incentives to patriotism, they will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country and their God.
  21. fidelity
    the quality of being faithful
    The friends of Liberty and of the Union will repair to it in years and ages to come, to pronounce the memory of its occupant blessed, and, gathering from his very ashes, and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues, fresh incentives to patriotism, they will there renew their vows of fidelity to their country and their God.
Created on Fri Nov 12 13:20:08 EST 2021 (updated Wed Dec 01 08:28:19 EST 2021)

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