Marion Avila

Interdisciplinary English
Accrue

January 6, 2016
Vocabulary Mini Project

- To accumulate or have due after a period of time.

- Having persuaded Sergius to appoint him papal missus, Benedict had skillfully
used that position to accrue the authority of the papal office for himself. (247)
- Ex: Company CEOs accrue a lot of money and support from their workers after
gaining their position.
Blasphemy
- The act of insulting or a lack of reverence for God or a divine figure.
- "Mark it, my lord Count, this is blasphemy!" (160)
- Ex: It is believed that when Moses committed blasphemy in the desert by
doubting the Lords deeds, he was denied entry into the promised land.
Disposition
- The final arrangement of the dead.
- Side by side they walked to the wagons. Then Gerold left to consult with the
chaplain about the disposition of the body. (117)
- Ex: When bodies require disposition, they most commonly are cremated, buried,
or stored in aboveground tombs.
Extricate
- To free or remove oneself from an entanglement or difficult situation.
- Struggling to extricate herself from the crush of bodies, she crawled sideways
until she reached an open area. (151)
- Ex: It is very hard to extricate yourself from a crowd of people at a concert or
another public place because of how chaotic and wild it is.
Grotesquely
- In a comically or repulsively ugly or distorted manner.
- Her lengthened shadow spilled across the moonlit earth, grotesquely huge.
(148)
- Ex: Fairy tale villains and monsters most often have appearances that are
disfigured
grotesquely so that they are as ugly on the outside as they are on
the inside.
Holocaust
- A situation in which many people are killed and many things are destroyed
especially by fire.
- Joan's heart twisted within her; surely nothing living could have survived this
holocaust. (331)
- Ex: The punishment of Germany for the occurrence of the Holocaust took the
Germans many years to complete and recover from.
Interstice
- A small space that lies between things.
- There was an interstice just big enough to squeeze through. (152)
- Ex: Sunlight could be let into the windowless room through the interstice between
the door and the door frame.
Obsequiousness - Eagerness to help or obey someone important.
- Immediately, two of Richild's retainers appeared alongside. With elaborate
obsequiousness, they helped Joan from the cart. (149)

- It is preferred in restaurants to have a waiter or waitress who possesses

obsequiousness and is subservient.
Ostentatiously - In a pretentious or showy way that is designed to impress people or a person.
- Hunald, a big, florid-faced man, dressed ostentatiously in scarlet linen, stepped
forward to deny the charge. (160)
- Ex: When girls are participating in a concert, they ensure that they dress and fix
their hair and makeup ostentatiously.
Savagery
- An act of extreme cruelty or violence.
- But it wasn't the savagery of the beating that caused people to talk. Such things
were common enough. (61)
- Ex: When English settlers came to America, they considered the rituals and
customs of the Native Americans to be acts of savagery.