VOCABULARY UNIT 11

BREVITY

• Shortness
• Syn: Terseness, pithiness
• Ant: verbosity, long-windedness, prolixity
• The brevity of Rudy's life is depressing.

COMPORT

• To conduct or bear oneself, behave; to be in agreement.
• Syn: Agree, concur
• Liesel and Rudy comport on the idea that it is good to steal the apples from the farm.

CONSICE

• Expressing a lot in few words
• Syn: brief, terse, to the point
• Ant: wordy, verbose, lengthy
• When narrating, Death can be very concise, especially when he/she/it uses colors.

DEMURE

• Sober or serious in manner, modest
• Syn: shy, sedated, seemly
• Ant: forward, assertive, immodest
• Despite her demure appearance, Liesel is a very good soccer player.

DEPRECIATION

• A lessening value
• Syn: cheapening, lowering
• Ant: fix up, enhance
• Rosa's laundry service started depreciated, angering her.

DETERIORATE

• To lower in quality or value; to wear away
• Syn: cheapening, lowering
• Ant: increase, enhancement
• Max's health depreciated when he went into hiding.

DIVULGE

• To tell, reveal; to make public
• Syn: Disclose, impart, "leak"
• Ant: hide, conceal, cover up
• Liesel divulged to Hans that she hated Hitler, and Hans slapped her.

ENLIGHTENED

• Free from ignorance and false ideas; possessing sound
• Syn: knowing, aware
• Ant: ignorant, unaware, untaught
• When Hans enlightened Liesel on how to read, it made her happy.

FORESTALL

• To prevent by acting first
• Syn: hinder, thwart, preclude
• Ant: welcome, accept, allow
• The Jews are forestalled in Nazi Germany.

GARBLE

• To distort in such a way as to make you unintelligible.
• Syn: jumble, confuse, misrepresent
• Ant: elucidate, articulate
• Liesel knows how easy it is to garble words when reading out loud.

PROPONENT

• One who puts forward a proposal; one who believes in a cause.
• Syn: supporter, advocate
• Ant: opponent, critic
• Rudy is a proponent of getting a kiss from Liesel.

QUAVER

• To shake, to tremble, to trill
• Syn: vibrate, shiver, quake
• Liesel's voice quavered when she had to read in front of her whole class.

RECOIL

• To spring back, shrink
• Syn: flinch
• Ant: advance, proceed
• Liesel recoiled when Hans slapped her.

RECOUP

• To make up for
• Syn: recover
• Ant: lose, default
• After being beat up by Liesel, the boy had to recoup.

REEK

• An unpleasant smell.
• Syn: stench
• Ant: perfume
• Liesel reeked when she first came to the Hubermans because she wouldn't take a bath.

RELENTLESS

• Harsh, without pity
• Syn: merciless, persistent
• Ant: merciful, indulgent
• Rosa is relentless with her beatings of Liesel with the wooden spoon.

RIVULET

• A small stream
• Syn: creek, rill
• Rudy and Liesel ate their stolen apples by a rivulet.

SQUANDER

• To spend foolishly, waste
• Syn: misspend, dissipate
• Ant: save, econimize
• Liesel squandered Rosa's money to pay for stamps.

STACCATO

• Detached or disconnected
• Syn: abrupt
• Ant: save, econimize
• On his accordion, Hans can play staccato notes.

STATUTE

• A law
• Syn: Rule, enactment
• It is a statute to say "Hiel Hitler" when walking into Frau Diller's shop.