intercede(in teor SEED) vt. 1. to interfere to help work out an agreement; to
mediate; 2. to step in to prevent something from happening
- Bob’s mom intercededto work out an agreement between him and his
brother over which TV show to watch. - The police intercededto keep a gang war from erupting.
[-d, interceding] [Syn. mediate]
interpolate(in TOER puh layt) vt.1. to stick something in amongst others
(especially one or more words into a text); 2. to estimate an intermediate value in a
table by taking an average of the surrounding values - One must only interpolatea few no’s into a text to totally change its meaning.
- To find the value of the sine of 60.5°, interpolatefrom the sines of 60° and 61°.
[-d, interpolating] [Syn. edit]
intractable(in TRAK tuh bl) adj. 1. difficult to manage; unruly; stubborn;
- difficult to manipulate, treat, or cure
- David’s cowlick was completely intractable,and no hair tonic or mousse
seemed able to help. - The new infection was intractable,resisting most known antibiotics.
[intractably adv.] [Syn. unruly]
intransigent(in TRAN si jint) adj. 1. unreconcilable; 2. refusing to compromise;
uncompromising —n.a person who is uncompromising - The governor was intransigentin his position against having broccoli as the
state vegetable. - The swimming coach was intransigentin his insistence on everyone doing
20 laps in the pool before calling it a day. - When it came to doing homework before playing after school, Loren’s
mother was an intransigent.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. uncompromising]
intricate(IN trik it) adj. puzzling because of complicated structure or directions;
difficult to follow or understand - The instructions for assembling the model airplane were extremely intricate.
- The intricategingerbread work on the exterior gives a very distinctive char-
acter to Victorian-style houses. - For the beginner, the Japanese game of Go seems simple when, in fact, it is
a very intricategame.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. complex]
introspective(in troh SPEK tiv) adj. looking within one’s self and analyzing
one’s inner thoughts and feelings - Before one commits to a lifetime of doing anything, it is important to be
introspectiveand know one’s own feelings. - An introspectiveexamination never hurt anybody.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. meditative]
300 Essential Vocabulary