#38 emulate ~ ephemeral Flashcards
emulate
/ˈɛmyəˌleɪt/
v. to strive to equal or excel, usually through imitation
- To emulate someone is to try to be just as good as, or better than, him or her.
- The American company emulated its successful Japanese competitor but never quite managed to do as well.
- Little Joey imitated his athletic older brother in the hope of one day emulating his success.
- I got ahead by emulating those who had succeeded before me.
encroach
/ɛnˈkroʊtʃ/
v. to make gradual or stealthy inroads into; to trespass
- As the city grew, it encroached on the countryside surrounding it.
- With an encroaching sense of dread, I slowly pushed open the blood-spattered door.
- My neighbor encroached on my yard by building his new stockade fence a few feet on my side of the property line.
endemic
/ɛnˈdɛmɪk/
adj. native; restricted to a particular region or era; indigenous
- You won’t find that kind of tree in California; it’s endemic to our part of the country.
- That peculiar strain of influenza was endemic to a small community in South Carolina; there were no cases anywhere else.
- The writer Tom Wolfe coined the term “Me Decade” to describe the egocentricity endemic in the 1970s.
enervate
/ˈɛnərˌveɪt/
v. to reduce the strength or energy of, esp. to do so gradually
- Sander felt enervated by his long ordeal and couldn’t make himself get out of bed.
- Clinging to a flagpole for a month without food or water enervated me, and one day I fell asleep and ended up on the ground.
- Life itself seemed to enervate the old man. He grew weaker and paler with every breath he drew.
enfranchise
/ɛnˈfræntʃaɪz/
v. to grant the privileges of citizenship, esp. the right to vote
- In the United States, citizens are enfranchised on their eighteenth birthdays. American women were not enfranchised until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which gave them the right to vote.
disfranchise
/dɪsˈfræntʃaɪz/
v. to take away the privileges of citizenship or to take away the right to vote
- One of the goals of the reform candidate was to disfranchise the bodies at the cemetery, which has somehow managed to vote for the crooked mayor.
engender
/ɛnˈdʒɛndər/
v. to bring into existence; to create; to cause
- My winning lottery ticket engendered a great deal of envy among my co-workers; they all wished that they had won.
- Smiles engender smiles.
- The bitter lieutenant engendered discontent among his troops.
enigma
/əˈnɪgmə/
n. a mystery
- Ben is an enigma; he never does any homework but he always gets good grades.
- The wizard spoke in riddles and enigmas, and no one could understand what he was saying.
An enigma is enigmatic.
- Ben’s good grades were enigmatic. So was the wizard’s speech.
enormity
/ɪˈnɔrmɪti/
n. extreme evil; a hideous offense; immensity
- Hitler’s soldiers stormed through the village, committing one enormity after another.
ephemeral
/ɪˈfɛmərəl/
adj. lasting a very short time
Ephemeral comes from the Greek and means lasting a single day. The word is usually used more loosely to mean lasting a short time.
Youth and flowers are both ephemeral. They’re gone before you know it.
Some friendships are ephemeral.
- The trend on those used tires will probably turn out to be ephemeral.
