7 • Lesson 3 Word List

(v) 1. To warn.
Rescue workers admonished us to stay away from the flooding river.

2. To criticize gently.
The coach admonished me for missing practice.

admonition (n) A warning.
We remembered our parents? admonition to stay close to shore while swimming.

(adj) Struck with horror; shocked.
We were aghast at what the storm had done to the neighborhood.

(v) To destroy completely; to reduce to utter ruin.
General Custer?s army of over two hundred men was annihilated at the battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

benefactor

(n) A person who provides help, especially by giving money.
People who donated more than $100 were listed as benefactors of the library.

bestow

(v) To give as an honor; to present as a gift.
An Academy Award is the highest honor Hollywood can bestow on a film.

devious

(adj) 1. Having many twists and turns; winding.
The climbers followed a devious route up the mountain.

2. Sneaky; not frank or honest.
This devious scheme was intended to take advantage of vulnerable people.

devoid*

(adj) Lacking; empty; entirely without.
Although he had experienced great misfortune, he was devoid of bitterness.

heed

(v) To pay attention to.
I hope you will heed my advice.

(n) Attention; notice.
Pay heed to the teacher?s instructions before you begin the test.

heedful (adj) Paying careful attention.
Heedful of the fog, my uncle drove slowly.

heedless (adj) Failing to pay proper attention.
They went ahead with their plans, heedless of our objections.

mortal

(n) A human being, especially as contrasted with a god.
Achilles, a hero in Greek mythology, had a goddess for a mother and a mortal for a father.

(adj) 1. Of or relating to human beings.
Being mortal, he accepted the fact that one day he would die.

2. Causing death; fatal.
Caesar received a mortal wound delivered by his friend Brutus.

3. Very severe.
My friend wouldn?t go into the reptile house because he has a mortal fear of snakes.

muse

(v) To think about in a quiet, careful way.
Mother mused over whether to sell the house.

pioneer

(n) A person who goes before others and opens the way for them to follow.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two nineteenth-century women, were pioneers in the women?s rights movement.

(v) To open the way for others.
Langston Hughes pioneered jazz poetry.

plague

(n) 1. A deadly disease that spreads rapidly from person to person.
Those Londoners who could afford it fled to the country to escape the great plague of 1665.

2. Anything that causes destruction or suffering.
A plague of locusts destroyed the crop.

(v) To cause suffering or distress.
After the tryouts, I was plagued by doubts that I would make the varsity team.

subside

(v) 1. To sink to a lower level.
After the rain stopped, the floodwaters gradually subsided.

2. To become quieter or less active.
The baby?s sobs gradually subsided.

unwitting

(adj) Not done on purpose; unintended.
I tried to ignore the unwitting insult, but his comment hurt me just the same.

wrath

(n) Forceful anger; fury.
When I saw the girl being bullied, I was filled with wrath.

wrathful (adj) Very angry.
In Homer?s story of the Trojan War, a wrathful Achilles seeks revenge on the killer of his friend Patroclus.