Vocabulary List #7

When you're complicit, you're guilty of being involved in some underhanded or illegal activity. If you see your brother steal the neighbor's cat and don't say anything, you're complicit in a catnapping!

Something that is egregious stands out, but not in a good way — it means "really bad or offensive." If you make an egregious error during a championship soccer match, your coach might bench you for the rest of the game.

Someone who has savvy is pretty clever about something like a trade or profession. To be savvy is to be shrewd and perceptive.

To yearn for something is to really, really want it. You might yearn for freedom or you might yearn for a perfect taco. Usually, you yearn for something or someone you can't easily get.

Anyone highly regarded or prominent is eminent. Eminent people are very successful at their jobs. If you’ve heard of Frank Lloyd Wright, it’s probably because he’s an eminent architect.

The verb evoke most commonly means to bring a feeling, memory, or picture into the mind. When you visit your old elementary school, the smells, sounds, and colors there can evoke memories from the past.

Similarly, a certain reaction can be evoked by words or actions, as in "His comments evoked anger in the community." 

If you can't decide how you feel about something, declare yourself ambivalent about it.

Ambivalence often arises from caring very little either way. You might feel ambivalent about your lunch options if you have to choose between a murky stew and flavorless tofu.

To encroach is to overstep your bounds, to take over space or rights that belong to another, like your brother whose mess always encroaches on your side of the room you share.

If others slowly take over what belongs to you, they encroach, like people who encroach on your personal space at a crowded concert, or someone whose questions get more and more personal, which encroaches on your privacy.

Candor usually means the quality of being open, honest, and sincere. If someone tells you they think you're boring, you might reply with, "While I appreciate your candor, I don't think we need to be friends anymore."

An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually, it's a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for a certain team that you detest.