Mettle
(noun) - a person’s ability to cope well with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way; backbone; fortitude; grit.
Sentence - The gymnast showed her mettle when she finished her painstaking routine on a broken ankle.
*don’t confuse it with meddle, which means to interfere
debacle
(noun) - a sudden and calamitous failure; a fiasco, catastrophe; disaster; mess; ruin; downfall.
Sentence - The family was crestfallen when their vacation plans turned into a debacle, after a snowstorm hit and trapped everyone in the airport for several days.
castigate
(verb) - to reprimand (someone) severely, usually with the intention or correcting wrongdoing; to chide; admonish; chastise; censure; upbraid.
Sentence - Busby’s mother castigated him for his ineptness in forgetting to pick up his sister from school.
amalgam
(noun) - a mixing or blending of different things; an alloy (in chemistry).
Sentence - For Kerry's art project, she culled an amalgam of materials, such as paints and fabrics, found in her garage.
cumbersome
(adjective) - large or heavy and therefore difficult to carry or use; slow or complicated and therefore inefficient; unwieldy; unmanageable; burdensome.
Sentence - During the school year, my backpack becomes quite heavy and cumbersome with the myriad of papers I have to grade.
quell
(verb) - to put end to a rebellion or other disorder, typically by force; to subdue or silence someone; to suppress an unpleasant feeling; to ally; to assuage; to squash.
Sentence - The police quelled the angry contingent of protesters marching towards city hall enmasse.
vague
(adjective) - of uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character of meaning; ambiguous; hazy; sketchy
Sentence - When explaining the plays, my coach was always lucid and never vague, so we all were cognizant of what we had to do.
impervious
(adjective) - not capable of being affected or disturbed, damaged or harmed; not allowing entrance or passage; impenetrable, impermeable.
Sentence - Although superman was endowed with great strength, he was not impervious to kryptonite.
penultimate
(adjective) - next to last; last but one in a series of things
Sentence - Alphabetically; the much lionized george washington penultimate president of the United states.
jargon
(noun) - special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.
Sentence - Doctors usually avoid medical jargon so that their patients understand clearly and concisely what they are talking about.