• Their attack against us was gratuitous; we had never done any­

thing to offend them. Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #45

Gratuitous is often misunderstood be cause it is con fused with gra­

tu ity. A gratuity is a tip, like the one you leave in a res tau rant. Match each word in the first column with its definition in the
A gratuity is a nice thing. Gra tu itous, however, is not nice. Don’t second column. Check your answers in the back of the book.
confuse these words.

GRAVITY (GRAV uh tee) n seriousness 1. futile a. chatty

• The anchorman’s nervous giggling was entirely in ap pro pri ate, 2. garrulous b. surplus
giv en the gravity of the situation. 3. gauche c. cunning
• No one realized the gravity of Myron’s drug addiction until it 4. genre d. unjustified
was much too late to help him. 5. genteel e. seriousness
Gravity is the force that makes apples fall down instead of up, and 6. gesticulate f. make gestures
also a different sort of weightiness. 7. glut g. hopeless
At the heart of the word gravity is the word grave, which means 8. grandiloquent h. refined
serious. 9. grandiose i. sociable
10. gratuitous j. pompous
GREGARIOUS (gruh GAR ee us) adj sociable; enjoying the com pa ny of
11. gravity k. absurdly exaggerated
others
• Dirk was too gregarious to enjoy the fifty years he spent in sol­ 12. gregarious l. type of art
i tary con fine ment. 13. guile m. awkward
• Kyle wasn’t very gregarious; she went to the party, but she spent
most of her time hiding in the closet.
In biology, gregarious is used to de scribe animals that live in groups.
Bees, which live together in large colonies, are said to be gregarious
insects.
H
HACKNEYED (HAK need) adj overused; trite; stale
• Michael’s book was full of clichés and hackneyed phrases.
GUILE (gyle) n cunning; duplicity; art ful ness • The intelligent design issue had been discussed so much as to
• José used guile, not intelligence, to win the spelling bee; he be come hackneyed.
cheat ed.
“As cold as ice” is a hackneyed expression.
• Stuart was shocked by the guile of the automobile me chan ic,
who had poked a hole in his radiator and then told him that it HAPLESS (HAP lis) adj unlucky
had sprung a leak. • Joe’s h apless search for fun led him from one disappointment
To be guileless is to be innocent or naive. Guileless and artless are to another.
syn onyms. • Alex led a hapless existence that made all his friends’ lives seem
The word beguile also means to deceive, but in a charm ing and fortunate by comparison.
not always bad way.
• Clarence found Mary’s beauty so beguiling that he did any thing HARBINGER (HAR bin jur) n a forerunner; a signal of
she asked of him. Warm weather is the harbinger of spring.
• A cloud of bad breath and body odor, which preceded him by
several yards everywhere he went, was Harold’s harbinger.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

THE WORDS 141 142 WORD SMART

HEDONISM (HEED uh niz um) n the pursuit of pleasure as a way of life
A hedonist practices hedonism twenty-four hours a day.
• Yoshi’s life of hedonism came to an end when his lottery win­
nings ran out; his massaging armchair and wide-screen TV
were repos sessed, he had to eat macaroni and cheese instead
of champagne and lobster, and he could no longer pay to have
Victoria’s Secret models fan him with palm fronds and feed him
grapes.
HEGEMONY (hi JEM uh nee) n leadership, especially of one nation over
an oth er
• America once held an unchallenged nuclear hegemony.
• Japan and Germany vie for hegemony in the foreign-car
market.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.
HERESY (HER uh see) n any belief that is strongly opposed to es tab lished
beliefs
Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting that the sun did not
revolve around Earth. He was almost convicted of being a heretic
(HER uh tik), but he recant ed his heretical (huh RET i kul) view.
HERMETIC (hur MET ik) adj impervious to external influence; airtight
• The president led a hermetic existence in the White House, as his
advisers attempted to seal him off from the outside world.
• The old men felt vulnerable and unwanted outside the her met ic
security of their club.
• The poisonous substance was sealed hermetically inside a glass
cyl in der.
HEYDAY (HAY day) n golden age; prime
• In his heyday, Vernon was a world-class athlete; today he’s just
Vernon.
• The heyday of the British Navy ended a long, long time ago.
HIATUS (hye AY tus) n a break or interruption, often from work
• Spencer looked forward to spring break as a welcome hiatus
from the rigors of campus parties.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.
HIERARCHY (HYE uh rahr kee) n an organization based on rank or de gree;
pecking order
• Kendra was very low in the State Department hierarchy. In fact,
her phone number wasn’t even listed in the State De part ment
di rec to ry.
THE WORDS 143
• There appeared to be no hierarchy in the newly dis cov ered tribe;
there were no leaders and, for that matter, no followers.
The adjective is hierarchical (hye uh RAHRK i kul).
HISTRIONIC (his tree AHN ik) adj overly dramatic; theatrical
• Adele’s histrionic request for a raise embarrassed everyone
in the office. She gesticulated wildly, jumped up and down,
pulled out hand fuls of hair, threw herself to the ground, and
groaned in agony.
• The chairman’s histrionic presentation persuaded no one.
• The young actor ’s h is tri on ics made everyone in the audience
squirm.
Histrionic behavior is referred to as histrionics.
HOMILY (HAHM uh lee) n a sermon
• The football coach often began practice with a lengthy homily
on the virtues of clean living.
HOMOGENEOUS (hoh muh JEE nee us) adj uniform; made entirely of
one thing
• The kindergarten class was extremely homogeneous: All the chil­
dren had blond hair, blue eyes, red shoes, and the same last
name.
Homogenized (huh MAHJ uh nyzed) milk is milk in which the
cream, which usually floats on top, has been permanently mixed
with the rest of the milk. (Skim milk is milk from which the layer
of cream has been skimmed off.) When milk is ho mog e nized, it be­
comes a ho mo ge neous sub stance—that is, it’s the same through out,
or uniform.
To be heterogeneous (het ur uh JEE nee us) is to be mixed or
varied.
• On Hal low een the children amassed a heterogeneous col lec tion
of candy, chew ing gum, popcorn, and cookies.
The nouns are homogeneity (hoh muh juh NEE uh tee) and het ero g-
e ne ity (het uh roh juh NEE uh tee), respectively.
HUSBANDRY (HUZ bun dree) n thrifty management of re sourc es; live­
stock farming
Husbandry is the practice of con serv ing money or resources. To
hus band is to economize.
• Everyone husbanded oil and elec tric i ty dur ing the energy crisis
of the 1970s.
144 WORD SMART
 I
HYPERBOLE (hye PUR buh lee) n an exaggeration used as a figure of
speech; ex ag ger a tion
• When Joe said, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” he was
using hyperbole to convey the extent of his hunger. ICONOCLAST (eye KAHN uh klast) n one who at tacks pop u lar beliefs or
in sti tu tions
• The candidate was guilty of hy per bo le; all the facts in his speech
Iconoclast comes from Greek words meaning image break er. The
were exaggerated.
original iconoclasts were opponents of the use of icons, or sa cred
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word. im ag es, in certain Christian churches. Today the word is used to
refer to someone who attacks popular figures and ideas—a person
HYPOTHETICAL (hye puh THET uh kul) adj uncertain; unproven
to whom “nothing is sacred.”
• There were several hypothetical explanations for the strange
• The popular columnist was an inveterate iconoclast, avidly at­
phe nom e non, but no one could say for certain what had caused
tack ing public figures no matter what their party affiliations.
it.
• To study and go to class is to be an iconoclast on that cam pus,
A hypothetical explanation is a hypothesis (hye PAHTH uh sis), the
which has a reputation for being the biggest party school in the
plural of which is hypotheses (hye PAHTH uh seez).
country if not the world.
• Herbert’s i conoclastic (eye kahn uh KLAS tik) views were not
Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #46 pop u lar with the older mem bers of the board.
Match each word in the first column with its definition in the IDEOLOGY (eye dee AHL uh jee) n a system of social or political ideas
second column. Check your answers in the back of the book. Conservatism and liberalism are competing ide ol o gies.
• The candidate never managed to communicate his ideology to
1. hackneyed a. leadership the voters, so few people were able to grasp what he stood
2. hapless b. uniform for.
3. harbinger c. airtight • The senator ’s tax proposal had more to do with ide ol o gy than
4. hedonism d. forerunner with common sense; his plan, though consistent with his prin­
5. hegemony e. pecking order ci ples, was clearly impractical.
6. heresy f. overused, trite A dogmatic person attached to an ideology is an ideologue (EYE dee
7. hermetic g. exaggeration uh lawg). An ideo logue is doctrinaire.
8. heyday h. golden age Ideology is sometimes pronounced “ID ee ahl uh jee.”
9. hiatus i. varied
IDIOSYNCRASY (id ee oh SINK ruh see) n a peculiarity; an ec cen tric i ty
10. hierarchy j. unlucky
• Eating green beans drenched in ketchup for breakfast was one
11. histrionic k. uncertain; unproven
of Jordana’s idiosyncrasies.
12. homily l. overly dramatic
• The doctor ’s interest was aroused by an idiosyncrasy in Bill’s
13. homogeneous m. break
skull: There seemed to be a coin slot in the back of his head.
14. heterogeneous n. sermon
15. husbandry o. thrifty management of A person who has an idiosyncrasy is said to be idiosyncratic
(id ee oh sin KRAT ik).
16. hyperbole resources
• Tara’s driving was somewhat id io syn crat ic; she some times
17. hypothetical p. lifelong pur suit of plea sure
seemed to prefer the sidewalk to the street.
q. strongly contrary be lief
IDYLLIC (eye DIL ik) adj charming in a rustic way; naturally peaceful
• They built their house on an idyllic spot. There was a bab bling
brook in back and an unbroken view of wooded hills in front.

THE WORDS 145 146 WORD SMART

 • Our vacation in the country was idyllic; we went for long
walks down winding dirt roads and didn’t see a news pa per
all week.
An idyllic time or place could also be called an idyll (EYE dul).
IGNOMINY (IG nuh min ee) n deep disgrace
• After the big scandal, the formerly high-flying in vest ment
bank er fell into a life of shame and ignominy.
• The i gnominy of losing the spelling bee was too much for Ar­
nold, who decided to give up spelling altogether.
Something that is deeply disgraceful is ignominious (ig nuh MIN
ee us).
• Lola’s plagiarizing of Nabokov’s work was an ignominious act
that got her suspended from school for two days.
Note carefully the pronunciation of both parts of speech.
ILLICIT (i LIS it) adj illegal; not permitted
Criminals engage in illicit activities.
Don’t confuse this word with elicit, listed previously.
• The police in ter viewed hun dreds of witnesses, trying to elicit
clues that might help them stop an illicit business.
IMMIGRATE (IM i grayt) v to move permanently to a new country
It’s easy to confuse this word with emigrate. To avoid this, just re­
member that emigrate means exit, and immigrate means come in.
• Edwin immigrated to Canada, thinking the move would give his
two-year-old daughter a better shot at attending the University
of Toronto preschool.
The noun form of the word is immigration.
IMMINENT (IM uh nunt) adj just about to happen
• The pink glow in the east made it clear that sunrise was
im mi nent.
• Patrice had a strange feeling that disaster was imminent, then
the jumbo jet crashed into her garage.
Don’t confuse this word with eminent, listed previously.
IMMUTABLE (i MYOO tuh bul) adj unchangeable
• Jerry’s mother had only one immutable rule: no dancing on the
dinner table.
• The statue of the former principal looked down on the stu dents
with an immutable scowl.
Something that is changeable is said to be mutable.
THE WORDS 147
• The m u ta ble shoreline shifted continually as the tides moved
sand first in one di rec tion and then in another.
• Sonrisa’s moods were m utable; one minute she was kind and
gen tle; the next minute she was screaming with anger.
Both immutable and mutable are based on a Latin root mean ing
change. So are mutation and mutant.
IMPARTIAL (im PAHR shul) adj fair; not favoring one side or the oth er;
un bi ased
• Jurors are supposed to be impartial rather than par tial; they
aren’t sup posed to make up their minds until they’ve heard all
the ev i dence.
• Beverly tried to be an impartial judge at the beauty contest, but
in the end she couldn’t help selecting her own daughter to be
the new Pork Queen.
The noun is impartiality (im pahr shee AL uh tee).
IMPECCABLE (im PEK uh bul) adj flawless; entirely without sin
• The children’s behavior was impeccable; they didn’t pour dye
into the swimming pool.
• Hal’s clothes were always impeccable; even the wrin kles were
per fect ly creased.
By the way, peccable means liable to sin. And while we’re at it, a
peccadillo is a minor sin.
IMPERIAL (im PEER ee ul) adj like an emperor or an empire
Imperial, emperor, and empire are all derived from the same root.
England’s imperial days are over, now that the British Em pire has
broken apart.
• The palace was decorated with imperial splendor.
• George’s imperial manner was inappropriate since he was noth­
ing more exalted than the local dogcatcher.
A similar word is imperious (im PEER ee us), which means bossy
and, usu al ly, arrogant.
• The director ’s imperious style rubbed ev ery one the wrong way;
he always seemed to be giving orders, and he never listened to
what anyone said.
148 WORD SMART
 IMPOTENT (IM puh tunt) adj powerless; helpless; unable to perform
Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #47
sex u al in ter course
Impotent means not potent—not powerful.
Match each word in the first column with its definition in the • Joe and Olga made a few impotent efforts to turn aside the
second column. Check your answers in the back of the book. steam roll er, but it squished their vegetable garden anyway.
• We felt i mpotent in the face of their overpowering op po si tion
1. iconoclast a. peculiarity to our plan.
2. ideology b. naturally peaceful Omnipotent (ahm NIP uh tunt) means all powerful. After winning a
3. idiosyncrasy c. like an emperor dozen games in a row, the football team began to feel omnipotent.
4. idyllic d. flawless Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.
5. ignominy e. attacker of popular beliefs IMPUGN (im PYOON) v to attack, especially to attack the truth or in teg ri ty
6. illicit f. just about to happen of some thing
7. imminent g. fair • The critic i mpugned the originality of Jacob’s novel, claim ing
8. immutable h. system of social ideas that long stretches of it had been lifted from the work of some­
9. impartial i. bossy one else.
10. impeccable j. deep disgrace • Fred said I was impugning his honesty when I called him a
11. imperial k. unchangeable dirty liar, but I told him he had no honesty to impugn. This just
12. imperious l. illegal seemed to make him angrier.

INANE (i NAYN) adj silly; senseless

IMPERVIOUS (im PUR vee us) adj not allowing anything to pass through;
im pen e tra ble
• A raincoat, if it is any good, is impervious to water. It is made
of an impervious material.
• David was i mpervious to criticism—he did what he wanted to
do no matter what anyone said.
• Their plan to make an indoor swimming pool by flooding their
base ment was inane.
• Mel made a few inane comments about the im por tance of chew­
ing only on the left side of one’s mouth, and then he passed
out beneath the table.
Something that is inane is an inanity (i NAN i tee).

IMPETUOUS (im PECH oo wus) adj impulsive; extremely im pa tient
• Impetuous Dick always seemed to be running off to buy a new
car, even if he had just bought one the day before.
• Samantha was so impetuous that she never took more than a few
seconds to make up her mind.
IMPLEMENT (IM pluh munt) v to carry out
• Leo developed a plan for shortening the grass in his yard, but
he was unable to implement it because he didn’t have a lawn
mower.
• The government was better at creating new laws than at im ple ­
ment ing them.
INAUGURATE (in AW gyuh rayt) v to begin officially; to induct for mal ly
into office
• The mayor inaugurated the new no-smoking policy and then
cel e brat ed by lighting up a big cigar.
• The team’s loss inaugurated an era of defeat that lasted for sev­
er al years.
To inaugurate a United States president is to make him take the oath
of office and then give him the keys to the White House.

THE WORDS 149 150 WORD SMART

 INCIPIENT (in SIP ee unt) adj beginning; emerging
Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #48 • Sitting in class, Henrietta detected an incipient tingle of bore­
dom that told her she would soon be asleep.
Match each word in the first column with its definition in the • Support for the plan was incipient, and the planners hoped it
second column. Check your answers in the back of the book. would soon grow and spread.
The inception of something is its start or formal beginning.
1. impervious a. begin officially
2. impetuous b. carry out INCISIVE (in SYE siv) adj cutting right to the heart of the matter
3. implement c. powerless When a surgeon cuts into you, he or she makes an incision. To be
incisive is to be as sharp as a scalpel in a figurative sense.
4. impotent d. impenetrable
• After hours of debate, Louis offered a few incisive com ments
5. impugn e. silly that made it immediately clear to everyone how dumb the
6. inane f. attack the truth of original idea had been.
7. inaugurate g. impulsive
• Lloyd’s essays were always incisive; he never wasted any words,
and his reasoning was sharp and persuasive.
INCANDESCENT (in kun DES unt) adj brilliant; giving off heat or light
An incandescent light bulb is one containing a wire or fil a ment that INCONGRUOUS (in KAHN groo us) adj not harmonious; not con sis tent;
gives off light when it is heated. An incandescent person is one who not ap pro pri ate; not fitting in
gives off light or energy in a figurative sense. • The ultramodern kitchen seemed incongruous in the restored
• Jan’s ideas were so incandescent that simply being near her eigh teenth-century farmhouse. It was an incongruity (in kun
made you feel as though you understood the subject for the GROO uh tee).
first time. • Bill’s membership in the motorcycle gang was in con gru ous
with his mild personality and his career as a man age ment
INCANTATION (in kan TAY shun) n a chant; the repetition of state ments con sult ant.
or phras es in a way reminiscent of a chant
• Much to our delight, the wizard’s incantation even tu al ly caused INCORRIGIBLE (in KOR uh juh bul) adj incapable of being re formed
the small stone to turn into a sleek black BMW. • The convict was an incorrigible criminal; as soon as he got out of
• The students quickly became deaf to the principal’s in can ta tions prison, he said, he was going to rob another doughnut store.
about the importance of school spirit. • Bill is incorrigible—he eats three bags of potato chips every
day even though he knows that eating two would be better for
INCENSE (in SENS) v to make very angry him.
• Jeremy was incensed when I told him that even though he was • The ever-cheerful Annie is an incorrigible optimist.
stupid and loathsome, he would always be my best friend.
Think of incorrigible as incorrectable. The word corrigible is rare ly
• My comment about the lovely painting of a tree in censed the seen or used these days.
artist, who said it was actually a portrait of his mother.
INCREMENT (IN cruh munt) n an increase; one in a series of in creas es
INCESSANT (in SES unt) adj unceasing • Bernard received a small increment in his salary each year, even
• I will go deaf and lose my mind if your children don’t stop the though he did less and less work with every day that passed.
incessant bickering. • This year ’s fund-raising total represented an in cre ment of 1
• The noise from the city street was incessant; there always percent over last year ’s. This year ’s total rep resent ed an in cre ­
seemed to be a fire engine or a police car screaming by. men tal change from last year ’s.
A cessation is a ceasing. • Doug built up his savings account incrementally, one dol lar at
a time.

THE WORDS 151 152 WORD SMART

INDIFFERENT (in DIF ur unt) adj not caring one way or the other; ap a ­
thet ic; me di o cre
• Pedro was indifferent about politics; he didn’t care who was
elect ed to office so long as no one passed a law against Mon day
night football.
• Henry’s i ndifference was extremely annoying to Melissa, who
loved to argue but found it difficult to do so with people who
had no opin ions.
• We planted a big garden but the results were in dif ferent; only
about half of the flowers came up.
• The painter did an indifferent job, but it was good enough for
Susan, who was indifferent about painting.
INDIGENT (IN di junt) adj poor
• The indigent family had little to eat, nothing to spend, and
vir tu al ly nothing to wear.
• Rusty had once been a lawyer but now was indigent; he spent
most of his time sleeping on a bench in the park.
Don’t confuse this word with indigenous, listed above.
INDIGNANT (in DIG nunt) adj angry, especially as a result of some thing
unjust or unworthy; insulted
• Ted became i ndignant when the policewoman accused him of
steal ing the nuclear weapon.
• Isabel was indignant when we told her all the nasty things that
Blake had said about her over the public address system.

Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #49 INDOLENT (IN duh lunt) adj lazy

• The indolent teenagers slept late, moped around, and never
Match each word in the first column with its definition in the looked for summer jobs.
second column. Check your answers in the back of the book. • Inheriting a lot of money enabled Rodney to do what he loved
most: pursue a life of indolence.
1. incandescent a. increase
2. incantation b. make very angry INDULGENT (in DUL junt) adj lenient; yielding to desire
3. incense c. beginning • The nice mom was indulgent of her children, letting them have
4. incessant d. chant all the candy, cookies, and ice cream that they wanted, even for
5. incipient e. not harmonious break fast.
6. incisive f. incapable of being reformed • Our indulgent teacher never punished us for not turning in our
7. incongruous g. not caring; mediocre home work. She didn’t want us to turn into as cet ic grinds.
8. incorrigible h. cutting right to the heart Someone who is self-indulgent yields to his or her every desire.
9. increment i. unceasing
INEFFABLE (in EF uh bul) adj incapable of being expressed or described
10. indifferent j. brilliant
• The simple beauty of nature is often so ineffable that it brings
tears to our eyes.
INDIGENOUS (in DIJ uh nus) adj native; originating in that area The word effable—expressible—is rarely used.
• Fast-food restaurants are indigenous to America, where they
INEPT (in EPT) adj clumsy; incompetent; gauche
were in vent ed.
• Joshua is an inept dancer; he is as likely to stomp on his part­
• The grocer said the corn had been locally grown, but it didn’t ner ’s foot as he is to step on it.
appear to be in dig e nous.
• Julia’s inept attempt at humor drew only groans from the
• The botanist said that the small cactus was in dig e nous but that au di ence.
the large one had been introduced to the region by Span ish
To be inept is to be characterized by ineptitude, which is the op po site
explorers.
of aptitude.

THE WORDS 153 154 WORD SMART

 • The woodworking class’s ineptitude was both broad and deep; INFATUATED (in FACH oo ay tid) adj foolish; foolishly pas sion ate or at­
there was little that they were able to do, and nothing that they tract ed; made fool ish; foolishly in love
were able to do well. To be infatuated is to be fatuous or foolish.
The opposite of inept is adept (uh DEPT). Adept and adroit are • I was so in fat u at ed with Polly that I drooled and gurgled when­
synonyms. ev er she was near.
• The i nfatuated candidate thought so highly of himself that he
INERT (in URT) adj inactive; sluggish; not reacting chem i cal ly had the ceiling of his bedroom covered with his campaign
• The baseball team seemed strangely inert; it was as though they posters.
had lost the will not only to win but also to play.
• My ride in Boris’s racing car infatuated me; I knew im me di ate ly
• Having colds made the children inert and reluctant to get out that I would have to have a racing car, too.
of bed.
• Helium is an inert gas: It doesn’t burn, it doesn’t explode, and Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #50
it doesn’t kill you if you inhale it.
To be inert is to be characterized by inertia. As it is most com mon ly Match each word in the first column with its definition in the
used, inertia means lack of get-up-and-go, or an inability or un will ­ second column. Check your answers in the back of the book.
ing ness to move.
In physics, inertia refers to an object’s tendency to continue do ing 1. indigenous a. native
what it’s doing (either mov ing or staying still) unless it’s acted on 2. indigent b. inactive
by some thing else. 3. indignant c. lazy
INEXORABLE (in EK sur uh bul) adj relentless; inevitable; un avoid able 4. indolent d. foolish
• The inexorable waves pounded the shore, as they have al ways 5. indulgent e. shamefully wicked
pound ed it and as they always will pound it. 6. ineffable f. poor
• Eliot drove his father ’s car slowly but inexorably through the 7. inept g. relentless
gro cery store, wrecking aisle after aisle despite the man ag er ’s 8. inert h. angry
an guished plead ing. 9. inexorable i. clumsy
• Inexorable death finds everyone sooner or later. 10. infamous j. lenient
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word. 11. infatuated k. inexpressible

INFAMOUS (IN fuh mus) adj shamefully wicked; having an extremely bad
rep u ta tion; disgraceful
Be careful with the pronunciation of this word.
To be infamous is to be famous for being evil or bad. An infamous
cheater is one whose cheating is well known.
• Deep within the prison was the infamous torture chamber,
where hooded guards tickled their prisoners with feathers
until they con fessed.
Infamy is the state of being infamous.
• The former Nazi lived the rest of his life in infamy after the
court con vict ed him of war crimes and atrocities.
• President Roosevelt said that the date of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor would “live in infamy.”
INFER (in FUR) v to conclude; to deduce
• Raizel said she loved the brownies, but I inferred from the size
of the piece left on her plate that she had actually de spised
them.
• She hadn’t heard the score, but the silence in the locker room
led her to infer that we had lost.
Infer is often confused with imply. To imply something is to hint at
it, suggest it, or state it indirectly. To infer something is to figure
out what it is without being told directly.
An inference is a deduction or conclusion.

THE WORDS 155 156 WORD SMART

INFINITESIMAL (in fin uh TES uh mul) adj very, very, very small; infinitely • There’s nothing i nnate about good manners; all chil dren have
small to be taught to say, “Please,” and, “Thank you.”
Infinitesimal does not mean huge, as some people in cor rect ly be­
lieve. INNOCUOUS (i NAHK yoo us) adj harmless; banal
• An i nfinitesimal bug of some kind crawled into Heath er ’s ear Innocuous is closely related, in both origin and meaning, to in­
and bit her in a place she couldn’t scratch. no cent.
• The speaker ’s voice was loud but his words were in noc u ous;
• Our chances of winning were infinitesimal, but we played our
there was nothing to get excited about.
hearts out anyway.
• Meredith took offense at Bruce’s innocuous com ment about the
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.
salt i ness of her soup.
INGENUOUS (in JEN yoo us) adj frank; without deception; simple; artless;
charm ing ly naive INORDINATE (in OR duh nit) adj excessive; unreasonable
• A young child is ingenuous. He doesn’t know much about the • The math teacher paid an inordinate amount of attention to the
ways of the world, and certainly not enough to deceive any­ grammar rather than algebra.
one. • The limousine was inordinately large, even for a lim ou sine;
• An ingenue (AHN ji noo) is a somewhat naive young wom an, there was room for more than a dozen passengers.
es pe cial ly a movie actress or character. • Romeo’s love for Juliet was perhaps a bit inordinate, given the
Disingenuous means crafty or artful. out come of their re la tion ship.
• The movie producer was be ing disingenuous when he said, “I
INSATIABLE (in SAY shuh bul) adj hard or impossible to satisfy; greedy;
don’t care about making money on this movie. I just want every
av a ri cious
man, wom an, and child in the country to see it.”
• Peter had an insatiable appetite for chocolate macadamia ice
cream; he could never get enough. Not even a gallon of choc­
INHERENT (in HAIR unt) adj part of the essential nature of some thing;
o late macadamia was enough to sate (sayt) or satiate (SAY shee
in trin sic
ayt) his craving.
Wetness is an inherent quality of water. (You could also say that
wetness is inherent in water.) • Peter ’s ad dic tion never reached satiety (suh TYE uh tee or SAY
• There is an inherent strength in steel that card board lacks. she uh tee).
• The man’s inherent fatness, jolliness, and beardedness made it Note carefully the pronunciation of these words.
easy for him to play the part of Santa Claus.
Note carefully the pronunciation of this word. Q•U•I•C•K • Q•U•I•Z #51
INJUNCTION (in JUNGK shun) n a command or order, es pe cial ly a court Match each word in the first column with its definition in the
order second column. Check your answers in the back of the book.
• Wendy’s neighbors got a court injunction prohibiting her from
play ing her radio. 1. infer a. hard or impossible to satisfy
• Herbert, lighting up, disobeyed his doctor ’s in junc tion to stop 2. imply b. part of the nature of
smok ing. 3. infinitesimal c. hint at
4. ingenuous d. artless
INNATE (i NAYT) adj existing since birth; inborn; inherent 5. inherent e. inborn
• Joseph’s kindness was innate; it was part of his natural character. 6. injunction f. conclude
• Bill has an apparently innate ability to throw a foot ball. You just 7. innate g. excessive
can’t teach someone to throw a ball as well as he can. 8. innocuous h. harmless
9. inordinate i. infinitely small
10. insatiable j. court order

THE WORDS 157 158 WORD SMART