DATE	WORD	PRONUNCIATION	PART OF SPEECH	DEFINITION	SYNONYM	SAMPLE SENTENCE
5/1/07	Oblivious	ub BLIV ee ys	Adjective	Unaware; Forgetting	Unconscious  Unmindful	The customers at the bank were oblivious to the robbery that was taking place.
5/2/07	Indifferent	in DIF ur unt	Adjective	Without care or interest; favoring neither side; only average	Uncaring Mediocre	The politician was seen to be indifferent to the working class citizens. The service at the restaurant was indifferent at best.
5/3/07	Apathy	AP uh thee	Noun	Lack of interest or feeling	Indifference Lethargy Laziness Ennui	The members of the student council accused the senior class of apathy because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big annual fundraiser.
5/4/07	Obscure	ub SKYOOR	Adjective	Unknown; Hard to understand; Dark	Little Known Incomprehensible	The comedy nightclub was filled with obscure comedians who stole one another's jokes and seldom got any laughs. Some contemporary poets apparently believe that the only way to be great is to be obscure. The features of the forest grew obscure as night fell.
5/7/07	Discriminate	dih SKRIM un nayt	Verb	To notice or point out the difference between two or more things; To discern; To differentiate	To distinguish      To separate                   To single out	A person with a refined aesthetic sense is able to discriminate subtle differences where a less observant person would see nothing. It is unfair and illegal to discriminate between people of different races in selling a house.
5/8/07	Innovate	in NO vayt	Verb	To try out new ideas;  To introduce a new way of doing something or a new device		The American company's ability to innovate allowed them to compete in world markets.
5/9/07	Relevant	REL uh vent		Connected;   Having social significance	Pertinent Applicable Germane	Students will be more successful if they understand how school is relevant to their lives.
5/10/07	Candid	KAN did	Adjective	Honest; Photographed or filmed informally	Frank                                      Open                                   Honest	Most of the fans had hoped for a candid explanation from Rafero Palmeiro about his suspension for steroid use.
5/11/07	Disdain	dis DAYN	Noun / Verb	Arrogant scorn;  Contempt	Derision Condescension Disregard	The millionaire looked upon the poor workers with evident disdain. The millionaire could be said to have disdained those workers.
5/14/07	Abstract	AB strakt	Adjective	Theoretical   Impersonal	Conceptual Intangible	He like oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated.
5/15/07	Temperate	TEM pur it	Adjective	Mild  Moderate   Restrained	Clement Reasonable Self-controlled	Our climate is temperate during the spring and fall, but very nearly unbearable during the summer and winter. The teacher's temperate personality lent a feeling of calm and control to the kindergarten class.
5/16/07	Inevitable	in EV ih tuh bul	Adjective	Unavoidable  Something certain	Predictable Expected Predestined Inescapable	Since the leaders can't agree, more fighting is inevitable. One day the inevitable happened and I got a speeding ticket.
5/17/07	Diverse	dih VURS	Adjective	Consisting of different things; Differing from each other	Varied Sundry Dissimilar Distinct	The students in the high school came from extremely diverse backgrounds. I never realized that the terrain in Africa was so diverse.
5/18/07	Benevolent	beh NEV uh lunt	Adjective	Generous; kind  Doing good deeds	Compassionate Charitable Munificent	Giving money to the poor is a benevolent act. The United Way, like any charity is a benevolent organization.
5/21/07	Venerate	ven uh RAYT	Verb	To hold in high esteem	Revere Worship Adore Esteem	Bo venerates all the great athletes who have been part of the Georgia Bulldog football program.
	REVIEW CLUSTER WORDS
DATE	WORD	PRONUNCIATION	PART OF SPEECH	DEFINITION	SYNONYM	SAMPLE SENTENCE
5/22/07	Covert Furtive Surreptitiously	KOH vurt also KUV urt FUR tiv sur up TISH us lee	Adjective Adverb Adverb	Secret; secretly	Clandestine Hidden	A covert military operation is one that the public knows nothing about. The burglar furtively made his way past the sleeping guard. The dinner guest surreptitiously slipped a few silver spoons into his jacket as he was leaving the dining room.
5/23/07	Elusive Evanescent Ephemeral	ih LOO siv ev uh NES unt ih FEM ur al	Adjective	Brief, short-lived, lacking permanence	Fleeting Vanishing Transient Temporary	The elusive criminal was next to impossible for the police to catch. Youth and flowers are both ephemeral. They are gone before you know it. Meteors are evanescent; they last so briefly that it is hard to tell whether one has actually appeared.
5/24/07	Allay Assuage Mitigate Mollify	uh LAY uh SWAYJ MIT uh gayt MAHL uh fye	Verb	To relieve, or to lessen	To dispel To calm	The Secretary of State tried to allay the concerns of the new Iraqi government. The teacher tried to assuage the new student's fears. The sense of imminent disaster was mitigated by the guide's calm behavior and easy smile. The baby-sitter was unable to mollify the cranky child, who cried all night.
5/25/07	Trite Banal Hackneyed Cliché Platitude Prosaic	TRYTE buh NAL klee SHAY PLAT uh tood proj ZAY ik	Adjective                                                     Adjective                                      Adjective                                    Noun                         Noun            Adjective	Commonplace	Overused                                           Cliched                                              Trite	The movie's dialogue is trite and uninspired. Amanda thought that the dinner conversation was banal and she had a hard time paying attention. Michael's book was full of cliches and hackneyed phrases. A writer who uses a lot of cliches is usually not interesting to read because there is nothing new about his observations he little boy's ambitions were all prosaic; he said he wanted to be an accountant, an auditor or a claims adjuster.
5/29/07	Reprimand Reprove Reproach Admonish Censure	REP prih mand ri PROOV ri PROHCH ad MAHN  ish SEN shur	Verb	To scold	To Chastise To Censure To Criticize To Chide To Reprimand	The Student Government Association was reprimanded by the Principal for its actions. My wife reproved me for leaving my dirty dish in the sink. My doctor reproached me for gaining twenty pounds after he had advised me to lose fifteen. The boy's mother admonished them not to eat the pie she had just baked.  When they did so anyway, she admonished them for doing it. The Senate sometimes censures senators for breaking laws or engaging in behavior unbecoming to an elected official.
5/30/07	Lethargic Languid Indolent Torpid Wan Phlegmatic Enervated	luh THAR jik LANG gwid IN duh lunt TOR pid WAN FLEG ma tick EN er vayt	Adjective	Lacking energy, brightness or excitement	Sluggish Lazy Unenergetic Listless Inactive Unexcitable	The lethargic teenagers took all summer to paint the Henderson's garage. The child seemed so languid that his father thought he was sick. The indolent teenagers slept late; moped around, and never looked for summer jobs. After the Thanksgiving dinner, everyone in the family was feeling torpid for many hours. Angela looked wan and tired. The astronomer thought that the star appeared wan in comparison to the others. Though usually phlegmatic, John was beginning to become agitated. Feeling both enervated and threatened, the tourists refused to continue on their journey.
5/31/07	Precipitate Impetuous Impulsive	pre SIP ih tate im PET you us im PUL siv	Verb   Adjective    Adjective	To bring about in hasty manner  Hasty	Sudden Impulsive Unthinking	For some reason the customer was trying to precipitate an argument with the store's owner. Ben's resignation was an impetuous act; he did it without thinking and he soon regretted it. Children often display impulsive behavior.
Root Family of the Month
THE IN / IM FAMILY				NOT / WITHOUT	Inactive    Indifferent Immutable     Impartial                Impious             Inauspicious            Incorporeal             Incorrigible                      Indefatigable