17th July Flashcards
extenuating
The adjective extenuating is unusual because it’s almost always used with the word circumstances.
The phrase extenuating circumstances describes the specific reasons that excuse or justify someone’s actions.
Results were expected by midnight, and as per tradition, barring any extenuating circumstances, the new prime minister should be sworn in by midday Thursday.
The school also is providing on-campus housing for a limited number of students with “extenuating personal or academic circumstances.”
melee
A wild confusing fight or struggle.
It contains that element of chaos or confusion — so don’t jump into a brewing melee unless you’re really ready to bring the ruckus.
She said she spoke to people on Sunday whose relatives were injured in the melee.
There was a late melee, with most of the players and the benches involved too - with Leicester’s Ricardo Pereira and unused substitute Daniel Amartey booked.
animosity
Animosity is hatred, intense hostility
China analysts said the unusual outpouring of support highlights the deep animosity in China for the CCP.
The State Department official said that the animosity between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority “presents a significant challenge” in getting aid to people in Gaza.
pittance
A pittance is a tiny payment or small reimbursement for work — generally an amount that’s inadequate.
The agencies are now financing nearly two dozen studies, though backers of the research say the money is a pittance compared to the breadth of the problem.
The payments end up being a pittance for higher-income, fully employed households, yet insufficient for the households that suffered large income losses.
paucity
There are a lot of words that mean “little” or “small,” but paucity is used when you mean specifically “not enough” or “too little.”
There is a “paucity of jobs” hiring today that require menial skills, since most such jobs have either been automated or outsourced.
People in Los Angeles don’t understand how New Yorkers can live with such a paucity of space. For what New Yorkers pay for a tiny apartment, Angelenos get a house and a yard.
Remember : The salary paid by the restaurant is in pittance, which is causing the paucity in the family.
sanctimonious
The sanctimonious person sounds like a hypocrite when he preaches to a friend about the evils of drugs, while he drinks one beer after another.
A sanctimonious person might think he’s holy, but their attitude comes across more like “holier-than-thou.”
Though sanctimonious people might try to act like saints, their actions are far from pure or holy, which just makes them sound like hypocrites.
vicarious
Felt or undergone as if one were taking part in the experience or feelings of another.
A study by French scientists found that “vicarious defeats experienced by fans when their favorite football team loses lead them to consume less healthy food.
Compassion fatigue, sometimes called vicarious traumatization, manifests itself in many forms, Blough said, including anxiety, sleep problems, nightmares or flashbacks, substance abuse and even thoughts of suicide.
pugnacious
If you’re pugnacious, you might find it hard to make friends. On the other hand, you might be a very successful professional boxer one day.
When two candidates face off in a debate during a close election, one or the other might be pugnacious. He looks to pick a fight with his opponent and is willing to say almost anything, no matter how outrageous, to make his opponent look bad.
Saurabh Sharma, American Moment’s president, credits Trump for creating an ideological shift in the GOP, saying the credibility he earned as a pugnacious candidate allowed him to break with traditional Republican positions
sanguine
If you’re sanguine about a situation, that means you’re optimistic that everything’s going to work out fine.
Cheerful, optimistic
With the prospect of having to learn 3000 words during the course of the summer, Paul was anything but sanguine.
Students aren’t very sanguine about their prospects and what college might be doing to improve them, either.
Many residents spoke in sanguine terms of resilience and defiance, saying that showing weakness and fear would hand a victory to the enemy.
unconscionable
Something that is almost unimaginably unacceptable is unconscionable. Think of it as being something that no reasonable person would even think of doing or saying — something unbelievable, outrageous, and often horrible.
“Representative Thompson’s false allegation of racism to deflect from his own egregious behavior is unconscionable and completely unjustifiable,” said St. Paul Police Federation President Mark Ross in a statement.
President Biden on Tuesday tore into Republican-led state legislatures, blasting their voting law proposals as unconscionable and undemocratic as the president faces increasing pressure from Democratic lawmakers and activists to push back against the measures.
ferret
The verb to ferret means to act like a ferret: to dig for something until you find it.
Ferrets are great at digging, so it’s no surprise that we acknowledge their skills when we make the verb ferret, which almost always comes attached to the preposition “out.”
Ever the resourceful lexicographer, Fenton was abke to ferret out the word origin of highly obscured words.
scintillating
Something scintillating is flashing briefly and sharply with light. Scintillating conversations are smart and captivating.
To be scintillating is to be sharp. Things that are scintillating are exciting: they grab your attention with sparkles, flashes of light, or sheer brilliance. Most often, we talk about scintillating conversations and speakers.
It is, however, rare that a justice’s opinion concurring in a unanimous ruling is more intellectually scintillating and potentially portentous than the ruling itself.
Richard Feynman was renowned for this scintillating lectures.
Erudite people have scintillating conversations which edifice a lot people’s curiosity.
chauvinist
A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people.
The put-down “male chauvinist pig” describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men.
Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men.
“I’m not a male chauvinist. I’m in favor of the rights of women,” he said, pledging never to repress the free assembly of protesters.
exhort
French roots for the word exhort mean “thoroughly encourage,” so to exhort is to fill up with encouragement!
Some synonyms for exhort include stimulate, excite, and urge on. Words and shouts can exhort, and this is especially true when the recipient of those chants fears coming up short with an effort.
Mr. Hancock was a fixture at Downing Street news conferences, often exhorting the public to abide by lockdowns and other restrictions to try to curb the spread of the virus.
That evening, Mr. Newsom attended a birthday dinner for a lobbyist friend at an exclusive wine country restaurant after exhorting Californians to stay at home to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
cogent
When you make a cogent argument, it means your argument is clear and persuasive
When you hear a cogent argument, you are probably construed about the issue.
You could cogently argue that parks contribute to civic happiness by providing space for exercise, community, and encounters with nature.
