100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know [moiety???]

Houghton Mifflin ^

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

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

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

One dictionary's editors' opinion. I'm sure there could be lengthy debates about why some words are on the list and some aren't. Most of all, this list looks like nothing more than fodder for PhD dissertations that few will ever read (no offense intended if you wrote one of them).

So... How many of these words can you use in a coherent sentence?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

When someone presents you with a list of 100 words that everyone should know, it's a sure bet that none of the words on the list will be words that he doesn't know.

For the record, I'm familiar with all those words, and use them quite often.

[crazyhorse691]

euro

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What? Not peso, yen, or the chinese thing?

[Buddy B]

Dictionary.com

Here...

[DaGman]

This will be an interesting thread.

[NittanyLion]

So... How many of these words can you use in a coherent sentence?

How's this:

Hillary Clinton's hubris would not allow her to suppress her totalitarian instincts to usurp the Constitution and subjugate Americans to her feckless demands, thus leading to her rapid impeachment.

[chilepepper]

hey, i knew kowtow - that when youze pull the cow out of the mud with the tractor!

[bboop]

Oooooh, go Nittany.

[ConservativeStatement]

Add: Whitewater.

[ClearCase_guy]

I shall abjure any churlish bowdlerization of this list. Indeed, I would find it lugubrious to engage in chicanery in any fatuous or feckless attempt to kowtow to a particular lexicon and plagiarize therefrom.

[Buddy B]

Moiety

[Snickersnee]

“Moiety”? I first saw that word in law school and haven’t seen it since!

[Professional Engineer]

What? Not peso, yen, or the chinese thing?

It's called Juan.

[DaGman]

For Firefox users: Here's a handy little extension I use called Dictionary Lookup. Download this, restart FF then right click on a word and select "Define..." to get the dictionary definition.

[crazyhorse691]

moiety

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Who was Sherlock Holmes greatest villain?
I just love free association...

[Rezod21]

why am I not surprised “Impeach” is in there.

[americanophile]

What a prodigious list of archaic nomenclature.

[Harpo Speaks]

The only one I didn’t now was...

...moiety!

And I refuse to look it up untl I see it in a sentence somewhere. I’m not convinced I need to know it...unless, perhaps, I happend to be discussing the risible formularies of Moe Howard.

[neodad]

subjugate

I'm sure that one is on CAIR's version.

[Buddy B]

Why: ziggurat ?????