100 words you should know meme

The editors of American Heritage dictionaries have come up with a list of 100 words every high school graduate should know.

Here's what they say about it-

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."

So, I thought I'd take a look at the list and bold the ones that I actually know the meaning for, and if y'all want to join the fun, post the list in your blog/LJ/whatever, and leave me a comment here so we can compare! ;)

Some words I know I should know (and could probably pull off using them in a sentance and be right 50% of the time!)...but I'm not marking them if I don't already know the definition. But, I WILL go look some of them up and try to use them in conversation...so beware!

(click below for list!)


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

Dang! I just can't place ziggurat...sems like I should know that one! (off to Google to look it up!)

So, if I count it right, I got 80. I guess Aaryk HAS been a good influence on me! ;) So how'd YOU do?!

Tags-Meme