Vocabulary Boosters

Use these 20 vocabulary words from Chasing Vermeer for your weekly list, daily word study, or spelling exercises.

1. absentminded (ab-sunt mine-duhd)
adjective
Absent means “not present.” If you’re absent-minded, you’re forgetful and do not think about what you’re doing.

2. anonymous (uh-non-uh-muhss)
adjective
Written, done, or given by a person whose name is not known or made public, as in an anonymous letter

3. attribute (uh-trib-yoot)
verb
When you attribute something to someone, you give credit for it. The author attributed her success to her 9th grade English teacher.

4. blackmail (blak-mayl)
noun
The crime of threatening to reveal a secret about someone unless the person pays a sum of money or grants a favor

5. coincidence (koh-in-si-duhnss)
noun
A chance happening or meeting

6. curator (kyoo-ray-tur or kyoo-ray-tur)
noun
The person in charge of a museum or art gallery

7. embroider (em-broi-dur)
verb
To sew a picture or a design onto cloth

8. forge (forj)
verb
To make illegal copies of paintings, money, etc.

9. gullible (guhl-uh-buhl)
adjective
If you’re gullible, you believe anything you’re told and you’re easily tricked.

10. incompetent (in-kom-puh-tuhnt)
adjective
If someone is incompetent at something, he cannot do it well or effectively.

11. inexplicable (in-ek-splik-uh-buhl)
adjective
If something is inexplicable, it cannot be explained. It is inexplicable how that huge crater was formed.

12. justice (juhss-tiss)
noun
Fair and impartial behavior or treatment

13. luminous (loo-muh-nuhss)
adjective
Shining or glowing, as in a luminous campfire

14. mediocre (me-dee-oh-kur)
adjective
Of average or less than average quality

15. murmur (mur-mur)
verb
1. To talk very quietly.
2. To make a quiet, low, continuous sound. The wind murmured in the trees.

16. premises (prem-uh-siss)
noun, plural
Land and the buildings on it. A burglar was seen entering the premises.

17. reproduction (ree-pruh-duhk-shuhn)
noun
A copy of something

18. senile (see-nile or sen-ile)
adjective
Weak in mind and body because of old age

19. sinister (sin-uh-stur)
adjective
Seeming evil and threatening. I get chills whenever I hear his sinister laugh.

20. turret (tur-it)
noun
A round tower in a building, usually on a corner. Many castles have turrets.