100 Words That All High School Graduates — And Their Parents — Should Know

[dpnice]

Hah! But the article is from Boston! And it's the "American Heritage" dictionary, not "British Heritage"!

Take that, you"RE" people!

[I hate the spelling issues between Brits and Americans; when will they learn to spell right? ]

RG

[Oh, yeah: NOTE THE SMILEY!]

.....when will they learn to spell correctly? Some things are just too irresistable.

 

[frankfrank]

However, "hemoglobin" is spelled correctly; more pedantically, it's the correct American spelling, which is the intended audience...

Gerrymander, which somebody mentioned above, is a quintessentially American word. Though the tactic is used in regional elections the world over (ones in which the artificially-created district does not correlate to established geographical divisions such as counties or shires, states or provinces, prefectures or cantons, etc.), I've never heard the word used outside the U.S., not even in Canada. The tactic was named after some long-ago political whose district was indeed mapped in an unusual and illogical way.

Shouldn't quintessential be on the list?

Impeach is a word which isn't used often enough in the U.S.!!

 

[neruda]

My
I feel sort of inadequate
And its not my small penis niether

 

[BlueD]

my parents know 0/100 words (an exception might be euro? I will ask them next time ) because "they are no English"

 

[justgofaster]

Not to be tempestuous, but posting vacuous lists like this is just supercilious. Only lugubrious people would subjugate obsequious tautology like this in such a feckless manner!

I won't kowtow to any gamete who would expurgate abstemious hubris from the lexicon of ideas - that would be gauche! If you want to enfranchise such fatuousness, inculcate it into a nihilistic moiety. Only then can you abjure nonsectarian orthography into a pecuniary polymer.

 

[kevbo]

I know most of them, but I probably couldn't give a text book definiton...

 

[gsdx]

The editors expect them to know those words when a lot of them don't even know the difference between 'know' and 'no'?

 

[rareboy]

It is ineluctable that whenever some people don't know all the words in a list, the list is 'utter bollocks'

Not to be tempestuous, but posting vacuous lists like this is just supercilious. Only lugubrious people would subjugate obsequious tautology like this in such a feckless manner!

I won't kowtow to any gamete who would expurgate abstemious hubris from the lexicon of ideas - that would be gauche! If you want to enfranchise such fatuousness, inculcate it into a nihilistic moiety. Only then can you abjure nonsectarian orthography into a pecuniary polymer.

While I think there are many more interesting and relevant words for high school students to have in their vocabulary arsenal, I'd want to set students the task of using all of them in a 1500 word piece of fiction. The results would be hilarious...as the condensed version above demonstrates in a somewhat wobbly attempt, and a lot of functionally illiterate, badly educated children would likely learn that the English language is infinitely richer and more interesting when it isn't reduced to text message contractions and the single most used word, 'me'.

 

[darcey]

As my senior year english (american) teacher said, "Ones spoken vocabulary is greater than ones written vocabulary". I've used many of these words, but doubt that I've done so while writing. And GAMETE & MOIETY are two that I'd not come across before. However, Abhor & Eschew are two which may be used quite often by almost anyone.

 

[Berbenli]

Wow! I surprisingly know most of those

 

[robbieadam]

abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
euro
evanescent
expurgate
facetious
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissez faire
lexicon
loquacious
lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
oxidize
parabola
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
usurp
vacuous
vehement
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat

Out of 100, I only know the meaning of 26.

I haven't even heard of some of those words.

 

[Berbenli]

Not even sanguine or usurp?

 

[floorrunner]

I think the whole point of this list is for people to enrich their vocabulary and not necessarily with these words.

 

[thiskidd24]

wow.. ive heard of or used to know the def. of about half of them, but i still know only about half of that.. interesting list though, even though i doubt half of high school grads know these.. the math ones are simple but i dont know why it would be beneficial for grads to know them? and about half of them i wouldnt even know if i havent taken 3 years of biology!

 

[cocktales]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm,

So that NO-one can say that JUBBERS are NOT intelligent, or try to be.....

Here's the definition of the 100 words that ALL high school graduates should know:

abjure - to renounce, repudiate
abrogate - to abolish by formal or official means
abstemious - paring or moderate in eating and drinking
acumen - shrewdness
antebellum - before the war, esp. the Civil War
auspicious - promising success
belie - contradict
bellicose - aggressively hostile (haven't seen that word since reading DPRK's news wire)
bowdlerize - to censor passages in a written work
chicanery - trickery by quibbling or sophistry
chromosome - bodies that carry genes
churlish - boorish; rude
circumlocution - roundabout way of speaking
circumnavigate - to navigate a circuit, go around
deciduous - transitory
deleterious - harmful
diffident - reserved in manner
enervate - to destroy vigor
enfranchise - to endow with rights
epiphany - a revelation or sudden perception
equinox - astronomical start of autumn and spring
euro - new European currency
evanescent - vanishing; fading away
expurgate - to purge of moral offensiveness
facetious - lacking serious intent
fatuous - foolish
feckless - incompetent
fiduciary - trustee or relating to a trustee
filibuster - impeding legislation by monopolizing the floor
gamete - a mature reproductive cell (sperm or egg)
gauche - lacking social grace
gerrymander - to finagle election districts to give a political party an advantage
hegemony - society that seeks to exert dominance
hemoglobin - oxygen carrying part of blood
homogeneous - containing the same quality or property everywhere
hubris - excessive pride
hypotenuse - side of right triange opposite right angle
impeach - to accuse
incognito - concealed identity
incontrovertible - indisputable
inculcate - to teach persistently
infrastructure - underlying framework
interpolate - to estimate/insert between two points
irony - meaning contradictory to that expressed
jejune - juvenile/dull
kinetic - of motion
kowtow - to show deference
laissez faire - noninterference (esp of govt)
lexicon - dictionary
loquacious - chatty
lugubrious - mournful
metamorphosis - complete change of form
mitosis - normal cell division
moiety - half, or indefinite share
nanotechnology - nanometer-scale technology
nihilism - anarchy or denial of any real existence
nomenclature - system of names
nonsectarian - no specific religious affiliation
notarize - to legally witness and certify
obsequious - complete deference
oligarchy - government by the few
omnipotent - infinite power
orthography - correct writing and spelling
oxidize - to combine oxygen or remove electrons
parabola - pattern formed by intersection of plane parallel with a cone
paradigm - a model or set of forms
parameter - a constant or variable
pecuniary - pertaining to money
photosynthesis - producing organic materials using light
plagiarize - to steal another's thoughts and words
plasma - ionized gas, liquid part of blood without suspended elements
polymer - using smaller molecules to build a complex molecular compound
precipitous - extremely steep
quasar - hyper-distant, hyper-old primordial soup of galaxies
quotidian - recurring daily, customary
recapitulate - summarize
reciprocal - mutual, or 1 divided by a number
reparation - amends
respiration - process of providing oxygent to tissues
sanguine - hopeful
soliloquy - talking as if alone
subjugate - enslave
suffragist - one who advocates giving a right to vote
supercilious - contemptuous
tautology - needless repetition
taxonomy - science of classification
tectonic - of construction, of earth's crust
tempestuous - turbulent
thermodynamics - of heat and energy
totalitarian - authoritarian, no tolerance
unctuous - excessive piousness, oily
usurp - to use or serve wrongfully
vacuous - without contents
vehement - zealous
vortex - a whirling mass
winnow - to separate impurities
wrought - that which has been worked on
xenophobe - fearing outsiders
yeoman - clerical naval officer, farmer owning own land
ziggurat - pyramidal Sumerian temple

Hope this helps! lol

 

[star-warrior]

gerrymander - to finagle election districts to give a political party an advantage

Lol, you need a definition for finangle - a definition which requires another definition of one of the words it defines is clearly not an easily understood definition.

 

[S60Turbo]

Dialectic materialism

 

[nitish]

BOSTON, MA — The editors of the American Heritage® dictionaries have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend every high school graduate should know.

"The words we suggest," says senior editor Steven Kleinedler, "are not meant to be exhaustive but are a benchmark against which graduates and their parents can measure themselves. If you are able to use these words correctly, you are likely to have a superior command of the language."

The following is the entire list of 100 words:

abjure
abrogate
abstemious
acumen
antebellum
auspicious
belie
bellicose
bowdlerize
chicanery
chromosome
churlish
circumlocution
circumnavigate
deciduous
deleterious
diffident
enervate
enfranchise
epiphany
equinox
euro
evanescent
expurgate
facetious
fatuous
feckless
fiduciary
filibuster
gamete
gauche
gerrymander
hegemony
hemoglobin
homogeneous
hubris
hypotenuse
impeach
incognito
incontrovertible
inculcate
infrastructure
interpolate
irony
jejune
kinetic
kowtow
laissez faire
lexicon
loquacious

lugubrious
metamorphosis
mitosis
moiety
nanotechnology
nihilism
nomenclature
nonsectarian
notarize
obsequious
oligarchy
omnipotent
orthography
oxidize
parabola
paradigm
parameter
pecuniary
photosynthesis
plagiarize
plasma
polymer
precipitous
quasar
quotidian
recapitulate
reciprocal
reparation
respiration
sanguine
soliloquy
subjugate
suffragist
supercilious
tautology
taxonomy
tectonic
tempestuous
thermodynamics
totalitarian
unctuous
usurp
vacuous
vehement
vortex
winnow
wrought
xenophobe
yeoman
ziggurat

I am not as bad as i thought.
I know 62....that's a D- right?


Although this list is bullshit, it's not all bad. And i think you guys are criticizing the wrong words. Knowing Ziggurat means you've had the pleasure to study Persian history. Knowing those scientific/mathematical terms means you paid attention in your math and science classes. Knowing words like irony indicates that you have a grasp of plot devices, and knowing concepts like nihilism indicates you have a know your literature, philosophy, and or history. These words are random sure, but i have a feeling the authors picked them to cover a wide area of study. Knowing all of them is not really the point, but knowing the fields they represent is probably the point. Practically every field of study in high school is represented in this list.

 

[Toddxxx]

Lets hope they also know condom and STD.

 

[frankfrank]

the English language is infinitely richer and more interesting when it isn't reduced to text message contractions and the single most used word, 'me'.

I thought that, for some people, the most-commonly-used word is FUCK in its various forms?

Also, isn't "I" more common than ME? ;-)