accumulate(uh KYOOM yoo LAYT) vt. to pile up; gather; form a heap- Over years of saving regularly, wealth accumulates.
- Dirty laundry accumulateson the floor of any boy’s room.
- In the autumn, leaves accumulateon the lawn in the temperate climate
regions.
[-d, accumulating] [Syn. heap]
adjunct(AD junkt) n. 1. an addition; something secondary in importance; 2. a
person who is a helper of another —adj.an assistant, such as an adjunct teacher,
counselor, and so on - A police officer usually carries a second gun as an adjunctto his service
weapon. - A pointer can be a useful adjunctat most slide shows.
- An adjunctteacher is often found in a primary school classroom in addi-
tion to the classroom teacher.
adrenaline(uh DREN uh lin) n. first appeared as a trademarked name coined
by chemist J. Takamine, who isolated it in 1901; now the nontechnical name for
epinephrine, a hormone produced by the inner cortex of the adrenal glands - Adrenalinecauses the body’s functions to temporarily speed up.
- The body is stimulated to produce adrenalinein response to perceived
emergency situations.
adroit(uh DROYT) adj. skillful either mentally or physically; clever; expert at - Andy had become quite an adroitchess player by the time he was 17.
- Gino was extremely adroitwith a wheelbarrow full of wet concrete.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. dextrous]
adulterate(uh DUHL toer AYT) vt. to make impure; water down; to make
inferior - Cream is adulteratedwith milk to make half-and-half.
- Teachers often adulteratetheir criticism of pupils’ work so as not to over-
whelm them. - Legislation can be so adulteratedby amendments that it does not do what
it was originally intended to accomplish.
[-d, adulterating] [Syn. dilute]
244 Essential Vocabulary