Vocabulary Grade 12 — Set 1: Meanings flashcards
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The 100 most common of the 300 Grade 12 words, from magistrate and tract to insular and juncture: pronunciation, a precise definition and three example sentences, the most common use first.
Learn deck · part of Vocabulary Level 7 · Grade 12 · 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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cavalier (adj.) · kav-uh-LEERfar too casual about serious matters, brushing aside what others might feelCharacter & Behavior
The company took a cavalier attitude toward its customers' private data.
Coach Lin warned that the team had grown cavalier about stretching before games.
Inspectors faulted the city's cavalier handling of its water-testing records.
Origin: a cavalier was once a horseman or knight; the word goes back to Latin caballus, "horse." -
disdain (n., v.) · dis-DAYNfeeling too far above a person or thing to grant it any respect; to sneer at and look down onFeelings & Attitudes
She looked at the soggy cafeteria pizza with obvious disdain.
The critic made no secret of his disdain for reality television.
Some painters of the 1800s disdained photography as mere mechanical copying. -
privy (adj.) · PRIV-eehaving inside knowledge of something kept secret from most peopleThinking & Knowing
Only a few senior engineers were privy to the launch date.
We weren't privy to the judges' discussion, only their final scores.
Her diary makes readers privy to the young queen's private fears.
Watch out: as a noun, a privy is an outhouse, an outdoor toilet. -
tract (n.) · TRAKTland, often a large stretch; a chain of body organs; a booklet urging readers toward a political or religious viewSpeaking & Arguing
The family gave a wooded tract along the river to the state park.
Fiber helps keep the digestive tract healthy.
Thomas Paine's Common Sense was a fiery tract urging independence from Britain. -
ply (v.) · PLIGHto work steadily at a trade; to travel a route regularly; to keep supplying someone with food or questionsActions & Effort
Street vendors ply their trade outside the ballpark on game days.
Ferries ply the route between the islands every hour.
Reporters plied the coach with questions after the upset.
Watch out: as a noun, ply means a layer or strand, as in two-ply tissue. -
exodus (n.) · EK-suh-duhsa large outflow of people from a place, often all within a short spanChange & Growth
The factory closing triggered an exodus of young families from the town.
Every Friday at five there's an exodus from downtown offices.
The Great Migration was an exodus of Black Americans from the rural South.
Origin: Greek exodos, literally "road out," from hodos, "road"; Exodus is the Bible's second book. -
stint (n., v.) · STINTa stretch of time someone serves in a job or spends on an activity; to skimp, giving too littleSize & Amount
Grandpa loves telling stories about his stint as a lighthouse keeper.
At the school fair, each parent works a two-hour stint at the ticket booth.
The organizers didn't stint on food for the volunteers. -
derivative (adj.) · dih-RIV-uh-tivimitating earlier work so closely that it feels unoriginal; based on or coming from something elseQuality & Judgment
Critics found the band's second album dull and derivative.
The plot is so derivative that you can guess every twist.
Under copyright law, a film adapted from a novel counts as a derivative work.
Watch out: as a noun, a derivative can be a rate of change in calculus or a financial contract. -
magistrate (n.) · MAJ-uh-strayta judge who handles minor cases and early hearings; an official who governs and enforces the lawSociety & Power
The magistrate set bail and scheduled a hearing for next week.
Traffic cases in the county go before a magistrate.
In ancient Rome, consuls were the highest elected magistrates. -
dissolution (n.) · dis-uh-LOO-shuhnofficially shutting down an organization or ending a partnership or agreement; the dissolving or breaking apart of somethingNature & Time
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 created fifteen independent countries.
The partners agreed to the dissolution of their law firm.
The dissolution of salt in water is faster when the water is warm.
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Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
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.
- Grade placement is our own, from wordfreq frequency data (CC BY-SA 4.0) and editorial review; no publisher's grade or word list is reproduced.
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