fitfully (adj) – irregular intervals
• The wind howled fitfully.
• The sporadic raindrops fell fitfully.
• The drunk driver swerved along the road fitfully.

guesswork (noun) – process of guessing
• The way we learn english in China is pure guesswork.
• We use guesswork to find our candidates.
• America has been using guesswork to find its spies.

distaste (noun) – mild dislike
• I regard my mother with distaste.
• They eye me up and down with distaste.
• There is a certain amount of distaste in her voice

succumb (verb) – failed to resist pressure; to accept defeat.
• The soldiers succumbed to their injuries.
• After so many deaths, we succumbed.
• The Titanic succumbed to the freezing ocean.

procure (verb) – obtain something carefully and with much effort.
• I managed to procure the secret from her.
• We managed to procure some edible food from the dumpster.
• Have you procured the documents?

actuate (verb) – cause to take action; motivate; put into motion.
• My dislike for America was actuated by political zealots.
• A high performing athlete is actuated by good warmups.
• The sudden heavy rain actuates the crowd to disperse.

shirk (verb) – neglect a duty.
• The massage therapist shirked when she saw her client.
• I shirked the cleanup because the environment was too dangerous.
• She shirks her agreement because he was just too creepy.

incongruous (adj) – out of harmony with its surrounding; out of place
• I felt incongruous on my first day in an American school.
• The bottles of soda looked incongruous sitting there on the gym floor.
• My black girlfriend and I were incongruous in American’s dating scene.

convolute (verb) – make something difficult to follow.
• The US government convolutes her people’s wishes.
• The remnants of the crash convolutes the investigation.
• Their selfish ways convolute our team work.

innumerable (adj) – too many to count
• They are indifferent to the innumerable sufferings of children.
• The amount of problems that Andy has is innumerable.
• The innumerable army surges forward.

pugnacious (adj) – eager to argue/fight
• Those brats are pugancious.
• The most pugnacious countries in the world has the most insecure citizens.
• When I’m hungry, I become pugancious.

sordid (adj) – involving immoral actions and motives
• I ignore their sordid explanations.
• The overcrowded slums are sordid.
• The sordid affairs of Israel’s president should be investigated.

eccentric (adj) – odd; unconventional
• You have very eccentric behavior.
• The girl behind the tree is eccentric.
• The eccentric teacher takes a nap.

sanguine (adj) – optimistic in the face of a bad situation.
• I am sanguine about my test scores.
• I have a sanguine view on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
• Young people always have sanguine opinions on love.