Something that is deeply disgraceful is ignominious (ig nuh MIN ee us):
- Lola’s plagiarizing of Nabokov’s work was an ignominious act that got her suspended
from school for two days.
IMPUGN (im PYOON) v to attack, especially to attack the truth or integrity of something
- The critic impugned the originality of Jacob’s novel, claiming that long stretches of it had
been lifted from the work of someone else. - Fred said I was impugning his honesty when I called him a dirty liar, but I told him he had
no honesty to impugn. This just seemed to make him angrier.
IMPUNITY (im PYOO nuh tee) n freedom from punishment or harm
- All students were expected to follow the rules with the exception of the headmaster’s
son, who was treated with impunity; no matter how many rules he broke, he never got
detention.
INDICT (in DYTE) v to charge with a crime; to accuse of wrongdoing
- After a five-day water fight, the entire freshman dorm was indicted on a charge of
damaging property. - The mob boss had been indicted many times, but he had never been convicted because
his high-priced lawyers had always been able to talk circles around the district attorney.
An act of indicting is an indictment.
- The broken fishbowl and missing fish were a clear indictment of the cat.
INDIGNANT (in DIG nunt) adj angry, especially as a result of something unjust or unworthy;
insulted
- Ted became indignant when the policewoman accused him of stealing the nuclear
weapon. - Isabel was indignant when we told her all the nasty things that Blake had said about her
over the public address system.
INTRACTABLE (in TRAK tuh bul) adj uncontrollable; stubborn; disobedient
- Lavanya was intractable in her opposition to pay increases for the library employees; she
swore she would never vote to give them a raise. - The disease was intractable. None of the dozens of medicines the doctor tried had the
slightest effect on it.
The opposite of intractable is tractable.
LUCID (LOO sid) adj clear; easy to understand
- The professor’s explanation of the theory of relativity was so astonishingly lucid that even
I could understand it.