DATE	WORD	PRONUNCIATION	PART OF SPEECH	DEFINITION	SYNONYM	SAMPLE SENTENCE
9/1/06	Reticent	RET uh sunt	Adjective	Restrained or reserved in style; Inclined to remain silent	Quiet  Unforthcoming Taciturn	Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall provides an example of someone who was reticent to discuss his personal feelings.  Marshall was an outspoken and very public champion of civil rights but in private he was reserved and even reticent.
9/5/06	Partisan	PAHR tuh zun	Noun	A strong supporter; Partial to a cause and thus biased	Proponent   Follower Adherent	The 19th century crusade for women's rights was led by partisans such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a highly partisan critique of President Bush and the Iraq war.
9/6/06	Chicanery	shi  KAYN uh ree	Noun	Trickery especially by the clever manipulation of language	Cheating Deception Fraud	In her book, Century of Dishonor, Helen Hunt Jackson chronicled the sorry record of government ruthlessness and chicanery in dealing with the Indians.
9/7/06	Intemperate	in TEM per ut	Adjective	Lacking restraint; Excessive	Immoderate  Imbalanced Extreme	Intemperate habits such as smoking, drinking and over-eating are inimical (harmful) to good health.
9/8/06	Diminutive	dih MIN yuh tiv	Adjective	Very small; Tiny	Little Miniscule	The Munchkins ("Wizard of OZ"), Mini-Me ("Austin Powers") and the Oompa-Loompas ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") were all diminutive people.  The Red Cross was launched in 1881, with the dynamic and diminutive five-foot tall Clara Barton at the helm.
9/11/06	Mercurial	mur KYOOR ee ul	Adjective	Very changeable; emotionally unpredictable	Capricious Impulsive Unpredictable	The Framers of the Constitution created the electoral college because they believed that the common people were mercurial and thus prone to constantly shifting moods and passions.  Mercurial Helen was crying one minute, laughing the next.  The actress was famous for her mercurial nature.
9/13/06	Eclectic	ih KLEK tik	Adjective	Choosing a variety of sources	Assorted               Diverse	A person with eclectic taste in music would like Beethoven, Kelly Clarkson, Usher, Green Day, 50 Cent and Shania Twain.  The eclectic menu included dishes from many different countries.
9/14/06	Flotsam	FLOT sum	Noun	Floating wreckage; Debris; Castoffs	Refuse Driftwood Jetsam Wreckage	Nativists supported immigration quotas because they viewed the new immigrants as little better that human flotsam who would bring the decline of the Anglo-Saxon civilization.
9/18/06	Benign	bih NYNE	Adjective	Harmless; Favorable; A kind and gentle disposition	Benevolent Caring	Contrary to popular belief, many parasites are actually benign organisms that do not harm the host plant.    In the Wizard of Oz, Glinda was a benign or kindly witch who helped Dorothy.
9/19/06	Stringent	STRIN junt	Adjective	Strict; Rigorous	Severe  Stern  Harsh	After reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, President Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.  It decreed that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to stringent federal inspections.
9/20/06	Foster	FAWS ter	Verb	Encourage; Promote	Further Advance Cultivate  Nurture	In an attempt to foster a renewed sense of democracy, Progressive reformers exhorted (encouraged) Congress and the state legislatures to support Constitutional amendments calling for the direct election of Senators and granting women suffrage.
9/21/06	Amalgam	uh MAL gun	Noun	A mixture; Blend; Combination of different elements	Mix Blend Fusion	The super spider in "Spider Man I" was an amalgam of the traits of 20 different spiders.  Rap star Ludacris' name is actually an amalgam; he combined his birth name Cris and his radio handle Luda to coin the new name - Ludacris.
9/22/06	Ungainly	un GAIN lee	Adjective	Ungraceful                      Clumsy                        Awkward	Lumbering Ungraceful	The walrus is ungainly on land but quite graceful in the water.  In  "The Princess Diaries" Mia was a bright but terribly ungainly teenager whose goal in life was to survive each school day with a minimum of attention and embarrassment.
DATE	WORD	PRONUNCIATION	PART OF SPEECH	DEFINITION	SYNONYM	SAMPLE SENTENCE
9/25/06	Obdurate	AHB duh rit	Adjective	Very Stubborn; Unyielding; Inflexible	Obstinate Adamant Unyielding	Obdurate abolitionists and equally obdurate Southern "fire-eaters" refused to compromise and this inflaming passions which helped ignite the Civil War.
9/26/06	Ornate	ohr NAYT	Adjective	Elaborate; Lavish; Highly decorated; Baroque; Embellished; Not austere	Complex             Flamboyant                    Complicated	Built by Louis XIV the Versailles Palace was one of the most ornate palaces in the world.
9/27/06	Pragmatic	prag MAT ik	Adjective	Practical; Realistic; Eager to get things done in an effective way	Sensible   No-nonsense	A  pragmatic person is guided by facts and known realities.  Your pragmatic goal in taking either the ACT or the SAT is to obtain the score that you will need to get into your top choice college.
9/28/06	Subtle	SUT ul	Adjective	So slight as to be hard to notice; Hard to distinguish	Understated  Clever	There is a big difference between a drastic change that most people will oppose and a subtle change that most people will barely notice.  In Star Wars, the Jedi Knights must learn to understand the subtleties of The Force.
9/29/06	Succinct	suk SINGKT	Adjective	Very brief; Concise; To the point; Not verbose or wordy	Brief  Pithy Laconic	When the bus driver demanded that Rosa Parks give up her seat, she firmly and succinctly said "no".  Ms. Parks succinct answer helped launch the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Root Family of the Month
THE BIG "A" FAMILY				NO                                                          NOT                                    WITHOUT  LACKING	Amorphous                       Anarchy                    Anomaly                      Atheist                          Amoral                     Atypical	Without Shape                                                                                                             Without Order or government                                                                                                                   Not Normal or regular                                                                                                                                                                                         Without a belief in God                                                                                                                             Without Morals                                                                                                                                                     Not normal