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.