Vocabulary Grade 10 — Set 1: Meanings flashcards
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The 100 most common of the 300 Grade 10 words, from hence and faculty to precedent and suffrage: pronunciation, a plain definition and three example sentences, the most common use first.
Learn deck · part of Vocabulary Level 5 · Grade 10 · written against: Our own grade placement (VOCABULARY-PLAN.md): word frequency (wordfreq, CC BY-SA 4.0) and editorial review; no publisher's grade or word list is reproduced. Updated 2026-10-10.
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self-serving (adj.) · self-SUR-vingaimed mostly at helping yourself, with others often paying the priceCharacter & Behavior
The mayor's self-serving plan helped his own business more than the town.
Coach Ruiz saw through Dev's self-serving excuse that blamed every teammate but himself.
Psychologists call taking credit for wins but not losses a self-serving bias.
Watch out: not "self-service," which means doing a task yourself, like pumping your own gas. -
conviction (n.) · kuhn-VIK-shuhnsomething you believe deeply and will not easily give up, or complete sureness; a guilty verdict in a criminal caseFeelings & Attitudes
Maya spoke with such conviction that the whole class believed her plan would work.
Mr. Hale held a deep conviction that every student could learn algebra.
New DNA evidence overturned his conviction for a robbery he did not commit.
Don't confuse with: convection, heat carried by moving currents in a liquid or gas. -
hence (adv.) · HENSthat is why, and so; from now (in time)Thinking & Knowing
The bridge is closed for repairs, hence the long detour through Millbrook.
The plant gets little sunlight and hence grows slowly.
The time capsule will be opened fifty years hence.
Watch out: hence is formal and often followed by a noun phrase with no verb, as in "hence the delay." -
precedent (n.) · PRES-uh-duhnta past ruling or action that later ones can follow or point to; a past event like the present oneSpeaking & Arguing
If we let one class skip the quiz, it sets a precedent for everyone.
Snow in late May? The town's weather records have no precedent for it.
The lawyer pointed to a 1954 precedent that backed up her client.
Don't confuse with: precedence, meaning priority: safety takes precedence over speed. -
feat (n.) · FEETan impressive thing someone pulls off, the kind only unusual talent, grit or daring makes possibleActions & Effort
Building a working robot was no small feat for a team of three beginners.
The firefighters' rescue of twelve people from the flood was a feat of courage.
Climbing all 46 peaks in one summer was an amazing feat for Jada.
Don't confuse with: feet, its sound-alike; the idiom is "no small feat," never "no small feet." -
compound (v.) · kahm-POWNDto add to a difficulty so that it grows more serious; to blend substances or pieces into a single mixtureChange & Growth
Arguing with the referee only compounded the team's problems.
A late frost, compounded by weeks of drought, ruined the orchard's peach crop.
The pharmacist compounded the medicine by mixing two powders into a cream.
Watch out: the noun, a mixture or a fenced group of buildings, is stressed KAHM-pownd. -
stark (adj.) · STARKso sharp and plain that it cannot be overlooked; bare and harsh-looking; completeSize & Amount
Side by side, the bright new gym and crumbling school show a stark difference.
The empty shelves were a stark reminder of how hard the winter had been.
The desert looked stark under the noon sun, with not a single tree. -
well-founded (adj.) · WEL-FOWN-didwith a firm foundation of evidence or sound reasoningQuality & Judgment
Lena's fears about the storm proved well-founded when the river flooded Main Street.
Without a well-founded argument, the debate team had little chance of winning.
The school board said the parents' complaints were well-founded and changed the bus route.
Watch out: the opposite is "unfounded": an unfounded rumor has no evidence behind it. -
municipal (adj.) · myuu-NIS-uh-puhlhaving to do with a town or city, its elected leaders, or the services it runsSociety & Power
Voters will choose a new mayor in next month's municipal election.
The municipal pool opens on Memorial Day and closes after Labor Day.
Hector's mother works for the municipal water department, testing samples every morning.
Root: Latin municipalis, "of a municipality," ultimately from munus, "duty, service," + capere, "to take." -
terminal (adj.) · TUR-muh-nuhl(of an illness) past all hope of cure, so the patient is expected to die; coming at the very endNature & Time
The family cared for Grandpa Leo at home during his terminal illness.
Once the railroad moved away, the old mill town began a slow, terminal decline.
A falling skydiver soon reaches terminal velocity, a steady top speed.
Watch out: the noun names a station, the first or last stop on a trip, like an airport terminal.
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Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and sense order checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary and the frequency-ordered Oxford, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
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