Grade 11-12: Vocabulary Lesson for Friday, Week 4

Word List 4

1. auspicious: attended by favorable circumstances; marked by success; prosperous
2. epiphany: a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something; a sudden intuitive realization
3. usurp: to seize and hold by force without legal authority; to take over or occupy without right
4. reciprocal: performed, experienced, or felt by both sides; interchanged, given or owed to each other
5. vortex: a spiral motion of fluid within a limited area; a place or situation drawing into its center all that surrounds it
6. tempestuous: relating to, or resembling a tempest; tumultuous; stormy
7. bellicose: warlike or hostile in manner or temperament

Friday Activities

1. On week one, we suggested you create an account on Study Stack. Click the link to go to Study Stack. Log into your account. You will see the stack you created last week. Click on the "edit" button to the right of that stack. Click on the "Data" tab. Write your words on the left and the definitions on the right. If you run out of blank areas, click on the Save Changes button. Use the scroll down bar on the right to see the blank line at the bottom of t
2. Create your own book with your vocabulary words. Before you start, create an account. Read the instructions on how to use the site. Write a vocabulary word on each page and illustrate it if you wish. You can also add audio that you have recorded on your home computer. Save your book and let your friends and parents hear your work.
3. Create your own stacks of flashcards using this site. Register for free, then create your note cards. Type in your vocabulary words and then the definition.

Other Help

If you need more information on your words, click on the link to use a on-line dictionary.

Use the daily activities to help you remember words that you learn each week. It is much easier to remember what the words mean if you do something with them and use them frequently in talking with your parents, family and friends.

Sample sentences:

On Friday the thirteenth I was born into a poor family; hardly an auspicious beginning to life.
Hoping to provide an auspicious beginning to life, my uncle named his son Rich Man.

Seconds before the buzzer on Jeopardy the answer popped into my mind like an epiphany.
A chance encounter with a homeless man provided an epiphany that guided the founder of Meals on Wheels.

The dictator executed anyone who attempted to usurp his power.
The gang leader's greatest fear was that one of his assistants would usurp his position.

In reciprocal link agreements web sites provide links to each other on their sites.
As a change of pace the local pizza restaurant has a reciprocal agreement with a fried chicken restaurant; each providing lunch for the other's employees.

The tornado's vortex became a swirling mass filled with many loose objects.
The whirlpool's vortex pulled the tiny boat in ever tightening spirals.

The diva's tempestuous behavior kept everyone on the set on edge.
I was glad to be safely on land after flying through the swirling, tempestuous sky above Tampa.

The bellicose nature of General Hamid made diplomacy extremely difficult.
Although he was an excellent skater, the bellicose nature of the hockey player kept him in the penalty box for much of the last period.

 
 

For more vocabulary, reading and other language arts resources, please visit our interactive skillbuilders.