Essential Twelfth Grade Vocabulary: List 3

It's not a penalty assessed by any code or standard of fairness; it's arbitrary. Washington Post (Aug 1, 2021)

Now, however, it is so common as to be banal. The Guardian (Mar 6, 2021)

But because the gods were capricious, you could not be sure what they would do. Cosmos

I recounted the attack, sticking to the facts and avoiding conjecture. We Are the Ants

She wore her decorous dresses to morning mass, and around her neck displayed the short single strand of pearls she had received on her fifteenth birthday. Dreaming in Cuban

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Britain was embroiled in a confrontation with Iceland that became known as the “cod wars.” New York Times (May 6, 2021)

The idea for national portrait galleries stemmed from a Victorian notion of self-improvement: the paintings of the great and the good, displayed for the edification of the general populace. New York Times (Dec 17, 2011)

If these basic principles can be misinterpreted, it shouldn’t be surprising that more esoteric mathematics can be, too. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

Rémy takes his place outside the doors, and I close my eyes to drift in and out of a fitful sleep. The Belles

She also had ridiculous, garish makeup caked on her face, and an elaborate, upswept hairdo. The Serpent King