impious: (adj.) sinful; bad; immoral. The parishioner
impiously asked for seconds while taking communion.
implacable: (adj.) pitiless; cruel; hardhearted. He
hadn’t realized how implacable she was until she openly laughed when he asked her out on a date.
importunate: (adj.) persistant; unrelenting; demanding. Don't
be so importunate, dear. I can see that the house is on fire, but it can wait until I get off the phone.
importune: (verb) to just keep asking and asking and asking
when you know already that the answer is “No” and it’s always going to be “No.” He importuned
her for a date, but she considered him rather smarmy, and wished instead that he would step in front of a bus.
imprecation: (noun)
execration; oath; insult; a dirty word. You, sir, have been warned! One more imprecation from you and I will be
forced to whoop your skinny ass.
impresario: (noun) manager; producer; agent; entrepreneur. Oh, now! "Bully"
is such a negative term. We prefer to think of little Timmy as an impresario utilizing the investment opportunity inherent
in the other children's lunch money.
imprimatur: (noun) (pronounced: im-pre-ma-ter) an official license from the Roman Catholic
church to print something of religious matter; a guarantee that something is good. You may take my daughter out, but
only with your imprimatur that you will bring her home by midnight, and that she will not be a vampire when you do.
improbity: (noun) lack of honesty and moral integrity. The
Senator has never denied his improbity. It was part of his platform. Just because you never bothered to look it
up until now should be your problem, not his.
impugn: (verb) censure; accuse; tattle on. Do not impugn
my good name, sir, by implying I had anything to do with the Jell-O incident.
imputation: (noun) an accusation; a charge; a citation. Sir! Do not
impugn my good character with your baseless imputations.
inanition: (noun) (pronounced: in-ah-nish-shon) starvation;
lack of vigor; lethargy. My inanition is to blame for my lack of ambition.
inanity: (noun) silliness; frivolousness; stupidity. If
you continue with your inanity, sir, you will leave me no choice but to have you impugned!
inauspicious: (adj.)
unpromising; not conducive to success. The president's chances of re-election are increasingly inauspicious.
incantatory: (adj.) producing an effect like an incantation; dreamlike.
The sounds of the carolers were incantatory, making us long for those simpler times that in reality never existed.
incarnadine: (noun) a bright red or pinkish colour. When she
realized the back of her dress had been tucked down her underwear all afternoon, Louise turned incarnadine.
incense: (verb) to perfume with incense; to make extremely angry.
The priest was incensed that the rectory had been incensed.
incitamentum: incentive; inducement; stimulus. The president hoped
that taxing shadows would be an incitamentum for the economy, or at least get everybody outside more often.
incommode: (verb) to inconvenience someone. With the commode locked, we were all incommoded.
incommodious: (adj.) causing inconvenience or discomfort. The
constant delays were incommodious, to say the least.
incorrigible: (adj.) persistent; irremediable; inveterate.
He thought he was just being incorrigible by constantly following her everywhere she went. However, she thought
he was a creepy stalker and had him arrested.
incredulous: (adj.) skeptical; doubtful; dubious. After the young man murdered his parents,
his incredulous defense was asking for the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.
incubus: (noun) a male demon who
has sex with sleeping women; a nightmare; a cause of distress or anxiety; a band. I don't know if that's an incubus or succubus, and I'm not going to be the first to look
under its tail.
inculcate: (verb) instill; beat; pound; say over and over and over
again. The teacher inculcated her class with English grammar, but they were reticent to show any progress, even when
threatened with punitive reprisals.
indefatigable: (adj.) untiring or ceaseless in efforts, as
in: She was indefatigable in her efforts to burgle the home until she got her comeuppance.
indefeasible: (adj.) not capable of being overthrown, overrun, or undone;
not be annulled or made void; not forfeitable. We have the indefeasible right to be stupid; it's unfortunate so many
people insist on using that right.
indelible: (adj.) lasting; permanent. She left an indelible
mark on my heart, like tire tracks on a ‘possom.
indiscretion: (noun) carelessness; injudiciousness; imprudence. At
what point does an indiscretion become a lie?
indices: (plural noun; pronounced en-duh-sees) plural of index,
and if you don’t know what an index is, that’s one you can look up for yourself. Bob liked to show all his
dates his collection of indices, never once ascribing why he never had second dates.
indubitably: (adv.) unquestionably; absolutely.
When she coyly asked him to come up for a drink, he answered, “Indubitably!”
ineffable: (adj.) too great or extreme to be expressed or described
in words; not to be uttered. Why do we call it the "F" word? Because it's ineffable, that's why.
ineradicable: (adj.) ineffacable; impossible to remove; permanent.
The stains in the carpet were not ineradicable, but the folly that led to their being there was.
inessentiality: (noun) the quality or state of being inessential.
We were notified of our inessentiality when we were given our pink slips.
inexecrable: (adj.) thoroughly execrable;
deserving of being cursed or execrated.
Because you are such a thoroughly evil person, we have but no choice than to call you "inexecrable."
inexorable: (adj.) (pronounced: in-ex-er-able) impossible to stop or prevent. It was inexorable
that Marge was going to leave Brent after the whole "Misty" thing.
inexplicable: (adj.) incapable of being explained or accounted
for. Larry inexplicably showed up at the party, still wearing half of the horse costume, but unwilling to explain where
Carl might be.
inextricable: (adj.) impossible to escape from. At first
Kevin was amazed at how quickly Carla wanted to move in, and he let her, only to find that he was now in an inextricable situation.
in
flagrante delicto: (noun) (pronounced: in fla-gran-tee dee-lick-toe
– it's Portuguese) in the very act of doing something you shouldn't be; caught in the act of having sex with someone
who isn't your partner. Well, yes, dear. I was having sex with the neighbor, but I prefer to call it in flagrante
delicto. It sounds more salacious that way, don't you think?
infundibuliform: (adj.) having the shape of a funnel or a cone.
Would look like your ice cream in a bowl, or would you rather have it in an infundibuliform edible substance?
ingenue: (noun) a naive, or innocent young girl, especially in
a film or play. We all thought she was doomed as an ingenue, until she pulled out her gun and blew the zombies away.
You go, girl!
inherent: (adj.) existing in someone or something as a permanent
and inseparable element, quality, or attribute. The school district was doomed to fail because their entire idea of
what it means to be educated was inherently flawed.
inimical: (adj.) (pronounced: in-im-ah-cal) tending
to obstruct or harm; unfriendly; hostile. Her inimical comments quickly made Norm realize he was on yet another hopeless
date.
iniquitous: (adj.) nefarious . Her iniquity caused the
workers to rise up in revolt, so she had them all taken out back and shot, which really surprised nobody, because, after all,
she was nefarious.
innocuous: (adj.) inoffensive; innocent; harmless; bland.
As a date, she was innocuous at best.
innumerate: (adj.) without a basic knowledge of mathematics or numbers;
the equivalent of being illiterate, except with numbers. I'm innumerate, which means I don't have a clue when it comes
to numbers, but I compensate for it with a good vocabulary.
insalubrious: (adj.) seedy; harmful; unwholesome; unhealthy.
The insalubrious diner had penicillin on the menu.
insectary: (noun) a place for raising or keeping living insects.
I don't think calling our kitchen an insectary changes a thing.
insensate: (adj.) lacking physical sensation; lacking sympathy or
compassion; unfeeling. I was always gruntled with my wife, and I thought the feeling was mutual, but lately I've gotten
this feeling that she's become insensate, especially when she tries to run me over with the car.
insidious: (adj.) subtle, but nasty; intended to entrap or
beguile. The insidious law was passed with raucous cheering from both parties, who continued to cheer right up to the
point where they realized they were all being led outside to be shot, which was what they all had cheerfully agreed on.
insipid: (adj.) characterless; dull; wishy-washy. Her
insipid performance ruined the entire play.
insouciant: (adj.) indifferent; showing a casual lack of concern.
The judge's insouciant attitude let us know that an appeal would be useless.
instantiation: (noun) the representation of something with a concrete
example; in logic, the valid inference of an instance from a universally quantified statement, such as all cats meow, so Cleo
is a cat because she meows. The previous instantiation is not a very good one, since other animals than cats can meow,
such as mockingbirds and me.
instar: (noun) a developmental stage between moults in arthropods (bugs) until sexual maturity
is reached. As long as you're an instar, you will do as your told. Now go back to your cocoon and pupate some
more, and don't come back out until you have wings. Shee, larvae these days!
instill: (verb) to introduce gradually; to put in place.
The warden instilled fear in the inmates.
insularity: (noun) ignorance of lack of concern about people or other
cultures other than your own. The reporter showed her insularity when she was relieved that no Americans were killed
in the plane crash, although 742 humans died.
insuperable: (adj.) insurmountable; impossible; unbeatable.
Aye! Her temperament is insuperable. Never mind your assiduities. Your galligaskins are staying on tonight.
integument: (noun) (pronounced: in-tay-ga-ment) a tough outer
protective layer, especially that of a plant or an animal. If you're going to work in this business, you're going to
need an integument. They sell them downstairs.
intemperate: (adj.) immoderate; extreme; hotheaded. It wasn’t just her intemperance,
but who she brought home from the bars every evening, that caused him to question her commitment to their relationship.
inter
alia: (adv.) (pronounced:
inter ay-lee-ah) among other things. And thus, inter alia, I now profess my supreme devotion to you.
interlocuter: (noun) (pronounced: inter-lock-cue-ter) someone
who takes part in a conversation. Technically, my dear, you can only be an interlocuter if you actually give someone
else a chance to speak.
interminable: (adj.) (pronounced: in-term-na-bul) wearisomely protracted; having no foreseeable
end. What with faculty meetings, parent/teacher conferences, after school events, and the endless grading of papers,
being a classroom teacher is an interminable profession.
internecine: (adj.) (pronounced: inter-ness-seen)
destructive to both sides in a conflict; conflict within a group or relationship. Unfortunately, Mr. Dowd, the CEO of
Internecine Relationships, could not be here today, but he sends word that he "hates you all" and "hopes you
die, the sooner the better."
interoperability: (noun) the ability of a system (such as with weapons)
to work with or use the parts or equipment of another system. When Larry's peas wouldn't fit into Carl's peashooter,
they realized they had a problem with interoperability.
interpolate: (verb) (pronounced: in-ter-po-late) to insert something of a different nature
into something else; to put square pegs in round holes; to alter a text by sticking in things that shouldn't be there.
The thing is Larry, you just can't interpolate a dog show with a cat.
intestate: (adj.) (pronounced: in-tess-tate) unrepresented; unheard; voiceless; dying
without leaving a will. How can you call the masses intestate? They have Twitter!
intuit: (verb) to feel; to perceive; to discern; to understand.
After finding his wife in bed, naked, with another man, Maxwell was able to intuit that she was having an affair.
invective: (noun) insulting, abusive, or extremely critical language;
vituperation. Constructive criticism... invectiveness... what's the difference, you blithering moron.
inveigh: (verb) to protest; to complain; to fulminate; to rail, especially with great hostility.
The more hostile the president became toward the press, the more the press inveighed against the president... like that should've
been seen as a surprise.
inveigle: (verb) to hoodwink; dupe; deceive; double cross; to sell
used cars. Bob tried to inveigle his way into the girls’ dorm, but even with a dress on, his full beard gave him
away.
inveteracy: (adj.) the quality, or state of being obstinate or persistent;
tenacity. Larry and me? It was his inveteracy that led to our being married, and now it's my inveteracy that won't
let him have a divorce.
invidious: (adj.) odious; unenviable; offensive. The young man’s
dilatoriness left the others at an invidious verge.
invigilate: (verb) to supervise others while they are taking an exam.
After invigilating and being invigilated all morning, both the teacher and the students were ready for a break.
ipso facto: (adv.) as a result; therefore; hence. The chicken
was in the road; ipso facto, we're having chicken for supper tonight.
irascible: (adj.) irritable; touchy; grumpy; petulant. Let’s
see... there’s Sneezy, Wheezy, Sleazy, Gropey, Mopey, Dopey, and Irascible. That’s all seven of the Dwarves.
ironize: (verb) (pronounced: i-ron-eyes) to use irony.
If you are being ironic, then you are ironizing. It's that simply.
irrepressible: (adj.) not able to be restrained; uncontrollable. Larry had an irrepressible urge
to scream every time Nancy corrected his vocabulary.
-ish:
(suffix) more or less. We'll be there at five-ish.
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