100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

By Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries

What should the vocabulary of a well-rounded high school graduate be like? These 100 words provide the starting point in answering that question. The list is representative of the words that serious students will encounter in their coursework and will come to use as adults, whether in conversation or while reading the daily newspaper. Each word is fully defined and shown in context with example sentences from well-known authors. 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know is a must-have for every grad, perfect for building vocabulary, quizzing friends and family — and just having fun.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9780547350233

Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries

THE EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARIES are a team of professional lexicographers with advanced degrees in various scholarly fields. The editors familiarize themselves with the vocabulary in specific subject areas, collect materials on new developments and usage, and work with expert consultants to ensure that their publications are accurate and up-to-date.

Book preview

title page

Contents

---

Title Page

Contents

Copyright

Editorial Staff

Preface

Guide to the Dictionary

Pronunciation Guide

Pronunciation Key

One Hundred Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

Exercises to Further Improve and Enrich Your Vocabulary

THE 100 WORDS® is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Copyright © 2003 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to Reference Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116.

Visit our websites: hmhco.com and ahdictionary.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-544-78989-0

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PRINT EDITION AS FOLLOWS:

100 words every high school graduate should know / from the editors of the American heritage dictionaries.

p. cm.

Based on the 4th ed. of the American Heritage college dictionary.

ISBN 0-618-37412-4

1. Vocabulary. I. Title: One hundred words every high school graduate should know. II. American Heritage college dictionary.

PE1449.A145       2003       428.1—dc21       2003040668

Cover design by Christopher Moisan ® Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

eISBN 978-0-547-35023-3

v1.0916

EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE

American Heritage® Dictionaries

MARGERY S. BERUBE, Vice President, Publisher of Dictionaries

JOSEPH P. PICKETT, Vice President, Executive Editor

DAVID R. PRITCHARD, Editorial Project Director

STEVEN R. KLEINEDLER, Senior Editor

BENJAMIN W. FORTSON, IV, Senior Lexicographer

HANNA SCHONTHAL, Editor

VALI TAMM, Editor

MATTHEW HEIDENRY, Associate Editor

KIRSTEN PATEY, Associate Editor

UCHENNA C. IKONNé, Assistant Editor

Preface

The editors of the American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, originally developed the 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know to highlight the importance of owning and using a dictionary. We provided journalists and radio announcers across the United States with this list, and it quickly became the topic of many articles and broadcasts. The list was a hit, and the phenomenal response from the public pleasantly surprised us. Visitors to our website, www.ahdictionary.com, viewed this list over 200,000 times. We were also often asked if the list was available in book form, and this book was published in response to those requests.

The editorial staff found the development of the list to be an engaging and entertaining task. In addition to carefully choosing a well-balanced mix of terms from A to Z, we balanced straightforward vocabulary entries, such as bellicose, loquacious, and vehement, with words chosen directly from the disciplines of learning, such as parabola and hypotenuse from mathematics, gerrymander and enfranchise from civics, and photosynthesis and hemoglobin from biology. As a result, students often have an easier time with the list than adults, especially if they’ve been paying attention in their classes!

Still, we intentionally crafted this list to present a challenge to students and adults. Reporters and commentators, especially those who are also parents, have been pleased to find a way to get children and teenagers interested in building a more sophisticated vocabulary—while finding themselves learning as well. We have been delighted by the positive response, and we are encouraged by the fact that people are taking a closer look at literacy and vocabulary building as an integral part of using dictionaries. We’ve set the bar high, and people are responding enthusiastically to the challenge.

The following entries are based on material from our American Heritage Dictionary series and are presented in an expanded layout that is easy to read. We’ve added quotations and example sentences to provide greater context for many definitions. To encourage study skills,

Reviews for 100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know

[theoclarke · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A cute gift better executed as an internet meme or a web page.