Vocabulary List #1

Expository  - intended to explain or describe
The students want to develop their creative and expository writing skills.
Composition - the act of putting together or making up by combining parts or ingredients
The Neighbors were curious about the composition of Lluvia's famous brownies.
Assuage - making something unpleasant less intense
The only way to assuage his pain was by icing his sprained  ankle.
Decadence - moral or cultural decline especially after a peak of achievement
Decadence is wild spending spree with credit cards when job security is very low.
Hackneyed - lacking significance through having been overused
The phrase " I have a right to my own opinion" is a very hackneyed way to end an argument
Coalition - an alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states
The armies of the north formed a coalition to help defeat the southern aggressors.
Transcend - be or go beyond the range of limits
The underlying message of the film is that love transcends everything else
 Meritorious - deserving reward or praise
The family decided to give the meritorious boy a reward for returning their lost dog.
Lurid - very vivid in color especially so as to create a very unpleasantly or unnatural effect
The reporter wrote a lurid article about the gruesome murder.
Petulant - childishly sulky or bad-tempered
The child had a petulant reaction when his parents refused to buy him the new toy.