Last 500 only Flashcards
Quisling
Quisling
traitor
A quisling is a traitor, especially one who collaborates with an enemy occupying force for personal gain.
The term arose because in World War II, Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician, volunteered to help the occupying Nazis rule Norway for Germany. Quisling was tried for treason and executed at the end of the war, and his name became synonymous with traitor and collaborator. The word quisling is not commonly used in the United States, however, probably because the American term for a traitor is “Benedict Arnold,” the name of a Revolutionary War turncoat.
Corroborate
Corroborate
give supporting evidence [corroboration (n)]
To corroborate is to back someone else’s story. If you swear to your teacher that you didn’t throw the spitball, and your friends corroborate your story by promising that you were concentrating on math homework, she might actually believe you.
For example, a witness in court corroborates the testimony of others, and further experimentation can corroborate a scientific theory. Near synonyms are substantiate and confirm. Corroborate, originally meaning “to support or strengthen,” was borrowed from Latin corrōborāre, formed from the prefix cor- “completely” plus rōborāre “to strengthen” (from rōbur “strength”).
Serration
Serration
jagged edge
Faddish
Faddish
whimsical; following a fashion
Something that’s faddish is in style, often for a brief length of time.
Flapper dresses and bobbed hair were faddish in the 1920’s, and long hair and bell bottoms were faddish in the 1960’s and 70’s. Among elementary school kids, it was faddish in the early 2000’s to collect and trade Pokemon cards. The adjective faddish comes from the word fad, which was coined in the 1880’s, either from fiddle-faddle or from the Latin word for “stupid,” fatuus.
Eddy
Eddy
circular current
Dross
Dross
something worthless; impurities left after refining
Things that are a total loss — really worthless or damaging — are dross. You could call that gunk between your teeth that comes out when you floss, dross. No one wants it, and it’s harmful if it stays.
While dross is a noun for stuff that’s physically left over or useless, like the nonmetallic stuff left when metal gets refined, it’s also used for people and forms of art. A really bad movie can be called dross, and a low or despicable person can be dross. Debris, or trash, is another form of dross. “Searching the backyard for unexploded fireworks — the dross of Chinese New Year celebrations — was a tradition for the kids and a safeguard for the dogs.”
Papyrus
Papyrus
material used for writing on before paper was invented
The word “paper” comes from papyrus, which is “the paper plant, or paper made from it.” When the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans wanted to jot something down, they used papyrus.
Papyrus plants used to grow all over the Nile Delta in Egypt, which is why it was so popular with the King Tut set. They used it to make everything from mattresses to sandals, but papyrus is mostly famous as the thick paper ancient Egyptians wrote important documents on, like, say, a note from Cleopatra. It also refers to the paper itself, like the recently discovered papyrus of Cleopatra, on which she wrote “make it happen.” Yes ma’am.
Rarefy
Rarefy
make less dense [rarefaction (n)]
Coterie
Coterie
clique; small group with common interests
Have you noticed how so many of the best TV shows concentrate on a group of friends who seem to mesh together perfectly, to the exclusion of all others? This, then, is a coterie, an exclusive group with common interests.
The modern spelling and meaning of coterie developed in the 18th century from a French word rooted in the feudal system. When the farmers working the land of a feudal lord established an organization, they were called cotiers, or “tenants of a cote” (think “cottage”), and that idea of a select group led to the word coterie. There’s just something so French about the idea of exclusivity, isn’t there?
Neophyte
Neophyte
new convert; tyro
“Look at the little freshies,” said the football team captain to his friends. “Little neophytes come to learn how the big boys play….Let’s get ‘em!”
Neo- means new, and -phyte is from the Greek phuton “plant”––like a baby plant, a neophyte is someone who is new to an activity. A political neophyte is someone who has just been elected and comes to Washington D.C. not understanding how the game of politics is played. A Frisbee neophyte is someone who has just thrown the disc for the first time.
Disinter
Disinter
dig up [opposite?inter?= bury]
To “inter” a body is to bury it or place it in a mausoleum, so to disinter someone is to take the body out again — usually to find out how they died, to make sure it’s really who we think it is, or to move the body to a new burial site.
You might think you got away with murder, but once they disinter the body, the medical examiners will find out that the guy was a victim of your evil plot. A vampire sleeps all day in his own coffin and then disinters himself at night to go in search of blood. One way to remember the meaning of disinter is to think of “dis-entering” a body. When someone dies, their body is “entered” into the grave. If the body is removed, it’s being “dis-entered,” in a sense. But disinter is spelled — and pronounced — differently (diss-in-TUR), of course.
Carrion
Carrion
dead flesh; carcasses
The noun carrion refers to the dead and rotting flesh of an animal. Ever seen a dead opossum or cat in the road? You can call that road kill carrion.
The word carrion comes from a Latin word caro, which means “meat,” but carrion is usually considered unfit for human consumption. Birds of prey and other opportunistic animals will often have carrion as part of their diet, however. Sometimes the word carrion is used a little more metaphorically: “The soldiers were unable to retrieve the bodies of their fallen brothers, so they were left on the field of battle like so much carrion.”
Comeliness
Comeliness
beauty; prettiness [comely (a)]
Analogue
Analogue
- something similar; 2. output proportional to input (engineering)
Think of analogue as referring to something parallel or comparable to something else. For example, a lobster’s claw might be considered an analogue to the human hand, as both have similar functions of grabbing and holding. Keep your claws to yourself!
The word analogue (also spelled analog) comes from the Greek ana, meaning “up to,” and logos, meaning, among other things, “ratio” and “proportion.” In 1946, it entered computer language as an adjective to describe a type of signal that is continuous in amplitude. It has since been largely replaced by a digital signal. Analogues are often used in college entrance exams, i.e., “a is to b as c is to d.”
Waffle
Waffle
talk nonsense
You might think of a waffle as a grid-patterned pancake-like food that’s tasty with syrup, and you’d be right. But the word is also a verb that means to avoid making a definitive decision.
The verb waffle seems to have its origins in the 1690s as the word waff, “to yelp,” possibly in imitation of the yelping of dogs. The word soon came to mean “to talk foolishly” and then eventually “to vacillate, to change.” The food term waffle, as part of “waffle iron,” appeared in 1794, a descendant of the Dutch word wafel, which comes from the same Germanic source as weave: it’s easy to see the waffle pattern as similar to a woven fabric.
Verisimilar
Verisimilar
true to life; giving the appearance of reality
The adjective verisimilar describes something appears to be true or real, but may not be. If you want to impress your friends, remark on the verisimilar portrait of lost love in that foreign film you all went to see.
Verisimilar comes from Latin. You’ll notice the word similar at the end, which means “like.” Veri- comes from the word veritas, meaning “truth.” Something that is verisimilar is “like true,” but is not necessarily actually true. A painting of your uncle Marvin, for example, might be so good that it’s verisimilar, in that it almost looks like Uncle Marvin is standing right there — but he isn’t.
Perennial
Perennial
long-lasting
- Perennial* typically describes things that are permanent, constant, or repeated. If you fight with your parents every year over whether they really must invite your annoying cousins for Thanksgiving, you could call that a perennial conflict.
- Perennial* typically describes things that are permanent, constant, or repeated: a perennial conflict. A perennial plant (also called a perennial) lasts more than two years because it produces flowers and seeds from the same root structure every year. Perennial is from Latin perennis, from the prefix per- “through” plus annus “year.” Latin annus is also the source of our English word annual. An annual plant lives only one year or season.
Feckless
Feckless
feeble; helpless; lacking in initiative
If a newspaper editorial describes a politician as feckless, you might wonder, “What is feck, and why doesn’t he have any?” In fact, the columnist is accusing the politician of being irresponsible and incompetent.
Did you know that most varieties of English are in fact “feck“-less? They don’t contain a word feck, only the negative counterpart feckless. The “feck” in feckless began as a short form of effect used in the Scots dialect. So feckless essentially means “ineffective,” but is also used to describe someone who is irresponsible, incompetent, inept, or without purpose in life.
Gregariousness
Gregariousness
sociability; liking for crowds [gregarious (a)]
Blandishment
Blandishment
words used to coax or flatter [blandish (v)]
When you hear a blandishment come your way, you may feel flattered, as that’s what a blandisher intends to do. However, beware because that flattery may come with the underlying intention of persuading you to do something!
The noun blandishment is related to the old-fashioned verb blandish meaning “to coax with flattery, or kind words.” A blandishment is often teasing in tone, and the intention to persuade is usually thinly veiled. Your brother may use a blandishment or two to get you to do his chores, and you’re going to know exactly what he’s after. But the saying “You get more flies with honey” just might hold true if you find yourself taking out the trash when it’s not your turn.
Erudition
Erudition
learning; scholarly knowledge [erudite (a)]
If you’ve read shelves of thick books, people might describe you as a person of erudition. You might find erudition to be its own reward, but if you can make a career of it, even better!
The Latin root of erudition is the verb erudire which means “to teach or train.” By showing erudition, you show that you’ve learned a lot. If you write with erudition, your readers will know that you are a serious scholar, as long as you’re not too far over their heads.
Sinistral
Sinistral
left-handed (or counterclockwise) [dextral?- right handed]
Volubility
Volubility
excessive talkativeness [voluble (a)]
Prolixity
Prolixity
wordiness [prolix (a)]
If someone likes to talk but they’re really boring, they’ve got prolixity. It’s not something to be proud of.
Prolixity means about the same thing as long-windedness. If someone is yammering on and on and on — that’s an example of prolixity. Part of prolixity seems good: we’d all like to be able to put words together easily. On the other hand, none of us want to be boring. That’s a major downside to prolixity. Prolixity is similar to “wordiness” — using too many words, or too many long words — when a few would get the job done.
Imperturbability
Imperturbability
quality of being calm and not easily disturbed [imperturbable (a)]
Figurehead
Figurehead
symbol of power; nominal leader
Asperity
Asperity
using harsh or critical tone
Asperity is the harsh tone or behavior people exhibit when they’re angry, impatient, or just miserable. When your supervisor’s “Late again!” greeting causes your entire future to pass before your eyes, he is speaking with asperity.
The harshness that asperity implies can also apply to conditions, like “the asperities of life in a bomb shelter.” Or even more literally to surfaces, like “the asperity of an unfinished edge.” But, most often, you will see asperity used in reference to grumpy human beings.
Scabbard
Scabbard
cover for a sword
A scabbard is a sheath for a sword, dagger, or other type of knife. Some cooks wear their French knives in a scabbard so they’ll be ready to chop no matter where they are in the kitchen.
You’ve probably seen a scabbard in an older movie. The hero sheaths his sword in a long wooden, metal or leather scabbard hanging from his belt. The origins of the word, however, are not that manly. Scabbard comes from an old Germanic compound meaning “blade protector.”
Enlist
Enlist
- sign up for the army; 2. obtain
To enlist is to voluntarily join the military. You may have seen television commercials or posters encouraging people to enlist.
There are various ways people end up in the military. Sometimes there’s a draft, which selects people whether they want to go or not. Sometimes people enlist, which means they sign up on their own. Enlisting also refers to recruiting or hiring people for some purpose or organization. If you are moving, you might try to enlist your friends to help — good luck with that.
Sate
Sate
satisfy
Sometimes you’re so hungry you feel like you could eat a ten-course meal. Other times it takes just a small salad to sate your appetite, or to satisfy your hunger.
The verb sate comes from the Old English sadian, “to satiate,” and can be applied to any situation regarding the satisfaction of a need or an appetite. If you have been craving something sweet, your craving might be sated by a bag of jellybeans. However, if it seems like you can never get enough jellybeans, your appetite for sweets might be described as insatiable, a word used to describe a person or entity whose appetites — literally or figuratively — are impossible to satisfy.
Cataclysmic
Cataclysmic
violently disruptive [cataclysm (n)]
Something that’s cataclysmic is violently destructive. The word often refers to natural disasters, like a cataclysmic earthquake, but cataclysmic can describe other events as well as long as they’re bad enough, like the cataclysmic failure you had making meatloaf.
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, landslide . . . These natural disasters are often described as cataclysmic when they cause great devastation. Cataclysmic isn’t just for describing natural disasters — personal disasters can be called cataclysmic as well if you want to emphasize just how badly something turned out. If your meatloaf is just so-so, it’s not so disastrous. But if it’s so spectacularly bad that no one can eat it? That’s a cataclysmic failure.
Amortize
Amortize
pay off a debt in installments
Impugned
Impugned
challenged; called into question
To impugn means to call into question or attack as wrong. If your usually grumpy brother is suddenly nice and sweet, you’ll impugn his motives if you’re smart — he probably just wants something from you.
The root of impugn is the Latin pugnare which means “to fight,” so when you impugn, you are fighting or attacking, but by saying that something is false or wrong. If a candidate has a record that cannot be impugned, his or her opponent might go for a character attack. If you take pride in your work, you will be especially insulted if someone impugns your professionalism or integrity.
Virtuosity
Virtuosity
“skill, expertise [virtuoso (n); virtuosi (n.pl)]”
Use the noun virtuosity to describe an impressive skill, such as a classical musician’s virtuosity at playing the cello.
Lots of people have talents, but only a select few, called virtuosos, have the superior quality of virtuosity. A piano virtuoso, for example, is able to play and improvise at the highest level possible. People can also display virtuosity in speaking, in writing computer code, in cooking, or in other skills. In the late fifteenth century, virtuosity specifically meant “manly qualities,” from the Latin root virtutem, “manliness, valor, or excellence.”
Hawser
Hawser
thick rope or cable
Caprices
Caprices
whimsies; fancies
On a whim, he sold everything and left the city for the beautiful wilderness of Alaska, but his act of caprice felt a lot less whimsical when he realized how freezing cold Alaska is.
The word caprice has its roots in the French for “whim,” which comes from the Italian word capriccio for “fright” or “sudden start.” A caprice can be just a fun impulsive act, but it also can be something done on a quick whim, without thinking it through or preparing for the change in direction. Having a sudden liking, or caprice, for someone or something can be short-lived too.
Resilience
Resilience
resistance; ability to spring back [resilience (a)]
Truly, your resilience, or ability to bounce back, is not just admirable, but foolhardy, some might say; who else could have survived an attack by a rabid toucan and then gone on to become a world-renowned bird breeder?
The noun resilience stems from the Latin resiliens “to rebound, recoil.” As a character trait, resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances or illness. Runners who fall during a marathon only to pop back up and dash through the finish line show some serious resilience. Or Silly Putty that can stretch and stretch without breaking, and then come back to rest inside its egg-shaped carrying case — that’s resilience, or elasticity, for you.
Moralistic
Moralistic
concerned with morals [moralize (v)]
Dispatch
Dispatch
- send?(v); 2. speed; celerity?(n)
Anything that needs to be mailed, sent off, or quickly shipped needs to be dispatched. Letters, official reports, teams of police — if it has somewhere to be, you can dispatch it to get there.
Sometimes spelled despatch, this word was first used in the early 1500s as a verb meaning “to send off in a hurry.” These days we get hurried dispatches in noun and verb form, from journalists sending in their war zone stories to emergency squads getting dispatched to the scene of an accident. And in its most sinister sense, dispatch means to kill off without delay.
Extirpate
Extirpate
wipe out totally
The verb extirpate originally literally meant “to weed out by the roots.” Now you’d use it when you want to get rid of something completely as if pulling it up by the root.
Use the verb extirpate when you mean to destroy completely or get rid of completely. You can try to extirpate all the bedbugs that came home with you from your vacation, but you will probably be afraid that some resisted the exterminator to munch on you later.
Resolve
Resolve
firmness?(n)
To resolve is to settle or make a decision about something — often formal. A college’s board of directors might resolve to recruit more minority students. As a noun, resolve refers to a strong determination to do something.
If you make a New Year’s resolution to exercise every day, you’ll need plenty of resolve to stick with your program. The verb descends from Middle English resolven “to dissolve,” from Latin resolvere “to untie.” In English, the obsolete sense of “to dissolve” can be seen in this line from Shakespeare: “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.”
Probity
Probity
uprightness; honesty
Though probity sounds like what you might do with a sharp stick, it actually means being morally and ethically above reproach, having integrity.
If you show fiscal probity, it means you are responsible and ethical with your money. The story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree and refusing to lie about it is a story of probity. The story was first told by a pastor, who may have made the whole thing up according today’s scholars, possibly to sell books –– no act of probity.
List
List
- to lean to one side; 2. to write in order
To make a list is to put things in order or to name them, like a grocery list or a wish list. Listing is also leaning over, creating a slant called a list.
List can also be a verb used to describe what you do when you make a list. You could list all the state capitals, people’s names, your favorite movies, or pretty much anything. Listing can be done numerically, alphabetically, or randomly. Also, a line or surface that leans or tilts has a list, like a sagging bookcase that’s overloaded. To lean in this way is to list: the Leaning Tower of Pisa is listing.
Pluck
Pluck
courage
To pluck is to pick or pull a single item out of many, like a flower or a hair. As a noun, pluck is energy or enthusiasm, even when things are looking grim.
Don’t pluck only the best cherries off the tree: that’s cherry-picking! Before you cook a goose, you need to pluck its feathers. If it looks like your goose is cooked, however, then show some pluck, and figure out a way to save yourself. Some characters who are famous for showing pluck include the Artful Dodger, Little Orphan Annie, and Benji the dog. They all kept their chins up and kept on trying, even when things looked really dark.
Rebus
Rebus
puzzle in which pictures give clues
A rebus is a puzzle that uses symbols or pictures to represent the sounds of words. A picture of an eye, a heart, and a ewe might be used to say “I love you.” Isn’t that sweet?
A rebus uses pictures and symbols to convey a message in what may be considered a fun code. The letters ICU might be used to stand for the sentence “I see you.” The word rebus could be depicted with the letters RE followed by a picture of a school bus. Some children’s books use rebuses as a way of introducing kids to the reading process, but rebuses can also be quite challenging, even for the adult mind.
Discrete
Discrete
separate; discontinuous (not to be confused with?discreet?- prudent; diplomatic]
Discrete means separate or divided. A discrete unit is a separate part of something larger. A room is a discrete space within a house, just as the transmission is a discrete part of a car engine.
If something is discrete, it has its own space. An ice cube comes from an ice tray, but it has its own discrete compartment. A student government might have discrete committees for different projects. Don’t confuse discrete with its close cousin discreet, which means “appropriately private.” Billionaire Bruce Wayne, for example, is very discreet about his secret life as Batman. You could say Batman is a discrete, or separate, part of Bruce Wayne’s identity. Anything distinct and separated is discrete.
Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon
grumpy person
Old, cranky, and more than a little stubborn, a curmudgeon is the crusty grey haired neighbor who refuses to hand out candy at Halloween and shoos away holiday carolers with a “bah humbug!”
As fickle and stubborn as the type of person it describes, curmudgeon comes to us without a history, its origins undisclosed. It was originally believed to have come from coeur mechant, the French phrase for “evil heart,” but that theory has been long discarded. Don’t worry though, you’ll know a curmudgeon when you see one: He’ll be ill-tempered and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable opinions.
Endow
Endow
give gift; provide with money etc.
To endow is to furnish, but not with furniture. If you’ve been endowed with something, it means you’ve been given a gift — most likely a gift that can’t be returned or exchanged, like a sense of humor or athletic ability or trust.
We usually use endow to refer to an ability or a quality, but you can endow someone with money, too. Endow is related to the word dowry, which is a gift that a man -– or sometimes a woman -– receives from his or her fiancé’s family before the wedding. The practice of giving dowries has fallen out of fashion in most Western countries, but there are still many parts of the world where it’s common for the bride’s family to provide the groom with an endowment of land and livestock.
Engendering
Engendering
causing; bringing into being [engender (v)]
Engender is a fancy way of saying “to make happen,” like when you engender the spirit of teamwork and cooperation by encouraging others and doing your share of the group’s work.
The verb engender has nothing to do with being male or female, though originally, it did mean “beget, procreate.” Today, engender means “to produce or bring about.” When students come to class prepared, meaning they’ve read their assignment, this engenders better class discussions, just as mutual trust and the desire to help each other engenders a meaningful friendship.
Trilogy
Trilogy
set of three (literary works etc.);?tetralogy?= set of four
If you’ve just started a trilogy of books, you’ll be reading for a while. A trilogy is something that has three parts, so you’ll have three books to read.
You can see the tri-, meaning “three,” in trilogy. The word originates from the Greek word trilogia, meaning “series of three related tragedies performed at Athens at the festival of Dionysus.” Today, you can use trilogy to describe three of anything, such as a trilogy of movies that has the same characters, settings, and themes.
Avaricious
Avaricious
greedy for money
Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining wealth. The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute.
The Latin verb avēre, meaning “to crave” provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as “greedy or covetous.” The adjective is applied to anyone who “craves” great wealth, and suggests that desire for personal gain is an overriding influence in the avaricious person’s life. The widespread quality of this selfishness was cleverly noted by Voltaire, who wrote, “Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.”
Minatory
Minatory
threatening
- Minatory* means threatening. When you petition the school for higher academic standards––i.e. harder grading from teachers––you may receive some minatory looks, or even hate note, from the kids in your school.
- Minatory* derives from the Latin menatorius, “menace,” and has nothing at all to do with the Greek legends of the Minotaur. But think of the Minotaur anyway––it was half-man, half-bull, lived inside a labyrinth, and could only be appeased if it was being sent young women to devour. If that’s not threatening, or minatory, behavior, nothing is.
Plaintive
Plaintive
sad; mournful
Plaintive is an adjective for describing someone or something with a pleading, sorrowful, desperate tone. If you have ever heard the plaintive howl of a wolf, then you know what we are getting at here.
A plaint, as in complaint, is an expression of sorrow or grief. This word has also been bent a little at the ends to become plaintiff, or complainant—the sufferer—in a lawsuit. So, whether you are hearing a plaintive tone in a courtroom, at a funeral, or in the wild (as in an animal’s plaintive howl), you can be assured that someone or something desires something desperately.
Toy
Toy
to play with
Impropriety
Impropriety
inappropriate behavior
When the boss’ wife shows up at a formal dinner party and proceeds to stuff her purse full of hors d’oeuvres, no one dares to mention her impropriety above a whisper, especially to the boss.
Impropriety is a violation of a rule of behavior, manners, or etiquette. So while it is fitting and proper to wear a bikini top and a sarong to the beach, to do so at church would be considered an impropriety. Some find a bit of impropriety charming. Somerset Maugham went so far as to say, “Impropriety is the soul of wit.”
Quixotic
Quixotic
impractically idealistic
Use quixotic for someone or something that is romantic and unrealistic, or possessed by almost impossible hopes. Your quixotic task is easy to understand, if difficult to achieve: establish world peace.
What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel “Don Quixote,” whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily.
Somatic
Somatic
concerned with the body
- Somatic* is a fancy word that just means dealing with the body. You may be tired of hearing your great-grandfather’s somatic complaints, but give him a break - his body has been working for 80 years!
- Soma* means body in Latin, so somatic means of the body and is most often used in connection with one’s health. You may be more familiar with the related word, psychosomatic, which describes a physical condition or illness caused by the mind rather than a virus or a sprain. If you don’t want to go to school so much that you begin to feel sick, that is psychosomatic. But sometimes, your somatic symptoms mean you really do have a cold!
Personification
Personification
- represent something as a person; 2. a concrete example of
* Personification* means “giving humans qualities to an abstract idea,” as in a movie villain who is the personification of evil.
You can use the noun personification in two ways. In the first, a person who is known for a certain quality, like wisdom, is said to represent that quality in a way any can understand, like a patient, generous person who is the personification of kindness. On the other hand, personification can give human qualities to something that isn’t human. For example, you might say, “The sea is angry,” assigning it a human emotion.
Intangible
Intangible
cannot be touched; abstract [intangibility (n)]
You can’t touch this word — it is intangible. You can grasp the meaning of the word in your head, but you can’t close your hands around it; you’ll just put fingerprints on your monitor.
The Latin verb tangere means “to touch,” and the 16th-century English word tangible comes from it. Something intangible can’t be touched physically, but most of the time it is understandable or even felt in the heart. Sadness can’t be picked up and thrown in the garbage can because it is intangible, but you can throw away the tissues wet with tears. Laughing is intangible too, but you can hold onto movies, pets, and friends that make you laugh.
Forbearing
Forbearing
tolerant [forbear (v); forbearance (n)]
Lumber
Lumber
- walk in an ungainly way; 2. timber (wood)
Do you move clumsily, heavily and slowly, without a shred of grace? Then it sounds like you might lumber. Sorry to hear that.
Lots of other words and phrases are associated with our friend lumber. Particularly large or tall people are almost inevitably said to lumber, as the common phrase “lumbering giant,” attests. You never hear of a tip-toeing giant, but some of them must. Lumberjack, meaning someone who cuts down trees, is another. Often lumber, in the sense of planks of wood, is interchangeable with the word timber.
Froward
Froward
stubborn; wayward; disobedient
Foreshadowed
Foreshadowed
indicated a future event [foreshadow (v)]
To foreshadow is to predict something or to give a hint of what is to come. If you could take a stereo apart and put it back together at age five, it can foreshadow a successful career in electronics.
The verb foreshadow is often defined as “warning” or has a suggestion of something bad to come, though sometimes it’s more neutral or shows examples of both good and bad predictions. Dark gray clouds foreshadow a thunderstorm, just as spring showers foreshadow May flowers. What is foreshadowed doesn’t always happen, though. A story might not foreshadow a happily-ever-after ending, but then it takes an unexpected twist, and the villain turns out to be a hero.
Feint
Feint
pretended attack; a move intended to deceive
Did you ever tell your parents you were going off to school, grabbed your book bag, and headed out the door… only to spend the rest of the day hanging out with your friends? Well, that was a feint, a super sneaky move designed to fool someone.
Although military and political tactics are big on feints, their most common use is probably in sports — particularly boxing, where opponents are continually trying to fake each other out. As in Dundee’s account of an Ali-Frazier match: “Ali feinted with a jab, and Frazier threw one of his own, missing.” Not to be confused with faint, meaning “weak or feeble.” However, a feint can be deliberately faint, as Ali knew and Frazier found out when the real right hook made contact.
Libertine
Libertine
dissolute person; prodigal
If you drink a lot, eat a lot, and live a wild and unrestrained life, you might be called a libertine.
A libertine is someone who lives life unencumbered by morals. Although it can be use neutrally, often if someone calls you libertine, they disapprove of your lack of morality. The city of New Orleans, where the drinking age is 18 and prostitution is legal, might be called a libertine city. While not all of the people who live there are libertines, they tend to have libertine attitudes and views, and do not mind when tourists spend their money on libertine activity.
Arduous
Arduous
hard
Use the adjective, arduous, to describe an activity that takes a lot of effort. Writing all those college essays and filling out the applications is an arduous process!
Arduous was first used in English to mean “steep” or “difficult to climb.” If you’re an outdoorsman, hiking up a mountain is a lot of fun, but if you’re a couch potato, it’s an arduous trek. Today, the word can be used figuratively for something that is difficult or takes a lot of work. If you spend an arduous week studying for your final exams, you’ll do well because you’ve worked really hard!
Allure
Allure
- attraction?(n); 2. to attract?(v)
If you find yourself making eyes at that stranger across the coffee shop, chances are there is an allure about him or her — something mysteriously, powerfully attractive and tempting.
You’ve probably noticed that allure contains lure, from the German word luder meaning “bait.” A well-made lure is so alluring to a fish that it won’t notice the hook. First used in the 15th century, this word has even landed its own fashion magazine — “Allure,” which tries to tempt people to buy it by putting powerfully attractive people on the cover and hoping you’ll believe that if you buy it, you’ll have some allure as well.
Acolyte
Acolyte
disciple; follower or attendant
A person who helps with religious services is an acolyte. An acolyte is also a fan or follower of the famous, so you can find an acolyte in church or at a concert.
Acolyte goes back to the Greek root akolouthos, meaning “follower,” and it came into English in the 14th century. While an acolyte often serves in an earned and admired role within a religious ceremony, a second definition is “fan.” Acolytes of movie star or pro athletes closely follow their careers — and with great admiration — and would love to be just like their heroes.
Slake
Slake
quench; satisfy
When you slake something, such as a desire or a thirst, you satisfy it. A big glass of lemonade on a hot summer day will slake your thirst.
The word slake traces back to the Old English word slacian, meaning to “become less eager.” If you slake something, like thirst, you become less eager to drink. In other words, you are less thirsty. Like satisfy and quench, close relatives of slake in meaning, the word is used to indicate that a craving is made less intense by getting whatever it is that you crave.
Dormancy
Dormancy
state of inactivity
Plaque
Plaque
- surface deposit on teeth or in artery etc.; 2. decorative plate or sign
A plaque is a sign that memorializes a person or event, such as the plaque on a building noting the person it’s named after or the year it was built.
Plaque comes from the French word for “plate,” meaning not a dinner plate, but a little brass or tin plate that can be mounted on a wall. If you take a tour of Civil War battlefields, you’ll find that historical societies often use plaques to commemorate soldiers or particular events. Plaque is also a hard buildup in the body, like the plaque on your teeth that the dentist likes to scrape off.
Presage
Presage
forewarn of; indicate
A presage is a sign that something bad is about to happen, like when you get that queasy feeling in your stomach because your mom found out you skipped band practice to go to the movies.
Presage, pronounced “PREH-sige,” can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, presage is a warning or omen of bad things to come, like a strange quiet and stillness in the air, presage to the coming tornado. As a verb, presage means “making a prediction or giving a warning of what’s to come,” like a terrible end-of-season football game’s outcome game that presaged the struggles the team faced the next season.
Arresting
Arresting
attracting attention; striking
Something arresting commands your attention. It’s stunning, and you can’t turn away.
When the police arrest someone, they capture them. Likewise, when something is arresting, it captures your attention because it is so sensational. An arresting sight — like the Grand Canyon — makes you want to keep looking at it for hours. An arresting song is one you always want to hear. An arresting story is captivating and engrossing. Something arresting is not only entertaining; it’s mesmerizing.
Toady
Toady
sycophant; flatterer
You can call the kid who is always really nice to the teacher in hopes of getting a good grade a brown-noser or, if you want to sound clever, a toady.
The word toady has a gross, yet engaging history. Back when medicine was more trickery than science, traveling medicine men would come to a town. Their assistant would eat a toad (you read that right) that was assumed poisonous so that the medicine man could “heal” him. Who would want that job, right? So toad-eater, later shortened to toady, came to mean a person who would do anything to please his boss.
Hegemony
Hegemony
political domination; complete authority
- Hegemony* is political or cultural dominance or authority over others. The hegemony of the popular kids over the other students means that they determine what is and is not cool.
- Hegemony* comes from the Greek hegemon “leader.” Wealthy lender nations hoping to determine political outcomes and trade decisions have established hegemony over the debtor nations they lend to. As well as the dominance of one group or nation over others, hegemony is also the term for the leading group or nation itself. During the American Revolution, colonists fought to throw off the British hegemony.
Coda
Coda
piece of music at the end of a musical work; finale; final part of document
A coda is a concluding segment of a piece of music, a dance, or a statement. It’s usually short and adds a final embellishment beyond a natural ending point. Like this.
Coda comes from the Italian word couda, and it’s good to think of it as a tail tacked onto something that in and of itself is already a whole. If you tell a story about your crazy experience getting lost in the country and sleeping at a farmer’s house, you might add, as a coda, that the farmer ended up visiting you too, a year later.
Emboss
Emboss
decorate with a raised design
- Emboss* means to carve with a design. A silver tray might be embossed with your initials and wedding date. You might give your teacher a plaque with “World’s Best Teacher” embossed under their name.
- Embossing* and engraving have similar effects––a raised surface. But embossing pushes the paper or metal up, working from behind, while engraving actually cuts into the surface, cutting away a bit of the media as it makes its mark.
Epigram
Epigram
short, witty saying
An epigram is a short, clever remark. One of Oscar Wilde’s many memorable epigrams is “I can resist everything but temptation.”
Epigram comes from the Latin word epigramma, which means “an inscription.” If you’ve ever seen an inscription on, say, the back of a watch, you know the writing has to be brief. It won’t surprise you, then, that epigrams are very short poems, sayings, or famous quotations, like Benjamin Franklin’s “Little strokes fell great oaks,” a memorable reminder to keep working toward big goals or to pay attention to little details, the opposite of an epigram from our era: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Boor
Boor
ill-mannered person [boorish (a)]
A boor is a crude, rude person. Boors lack sophistication and manners.
Boors are worse than boring; they’re offensive and repulsive. To be a boor is to be an obnoxious, unsophisticated oaf. A boor would swear in church. A boor would talk too loudly on the train. A boor would get too drunk at a wedding reception. Boors lack manners and taste. When a boor is around, other people want to leave. If you have self-control and culture, you’ll never be accused of being a boor.
Undercutting
Undercutting
offering a lower price; undermining
Purist
Purist
conservative; one who insists on correct forms of language etc.
A purist is a person who insists on following certain rules exactly — to the letter. If you’re a language purist, it upsets you to hear someone using bad grammar.
Most purists are fans of tradition and traditional rules, always sticking to those rules themselves and often instructing other people to do the same. To be a purist is to be a kind of perfectionist — a baking purist might feel that cookies made without a certain brand of chocolate chips are vastly inferior, for example. The noun purist originally referred specifically to language use, and it comes from the Latin purus, “clean, clear, or unmixed.”
Boycott
Boycott
refuse to have dealings with
To boycott means to stop buying or using the goods or services of a certain company or country as a protest; the noun boycott is the protest itself.
This noun comes from the name of Charles C. Boycott, an English land agent in 19th century Ireland who refused to reduce rents for his tenant farmers. As a result, the local residents did not want to have any dealings with him. Boycotts are an effective way to use your spending dollars to affect change.
Culpability
Culpability
guilt [culpable?= blameworthy]
- Culpability* is a state of guilt or responsibility. A lot of lawsuits are about who has culpability for something that went wrong.
- Culpability* is a fancy-sounding word, but it’s a simple concept: guilt. You have culpability if you’re responsible for something, usually something bad. If you left the door open and your house was robbed, you have some culpability (not as much as the robber, though). If a store owner doesn’t salt the ice on the sidewalk and you slip, he has some culpability if you get injured. Figuring out culpability is about figuring out who’s to blame.
Assay
Assay
- try; 2. assess purity
An assay is a breakdown of a material, examining the individual parts that make up the whole. When you assay a situation, you look at all the elements that created the problem in order to come up with a solution.
The word assay comes from the French word essai, which means “trial,” an appropriate sense for a word that means to examine for analysis. As a noun, assay means a test or appraisal to determine the components of a substance or object. As a verb, it refers to the act of analyzing, or of conducting that test. It is usually used in chemistry-related fields like metallurgy and pharmaceuticals, but you can also assay a poem.
Iniquitous
Iniquitous
evil; unjust [iniquity (n)]
Something that is iniquitous is extremely immoral or wicked, such as an iniquitous political regime that assassinates its enemies.
Use the adjective iniquitous to describe something that is truly bad, morally wrong, extremely wicked, or completely unfair. It’s a strong word — don’t use it lightly. If you go see a movie that’s boring and too long, for example, it’s just a bad movie. But a movie that encourages people to take violent action against a minority group? That’s iniquitous because the movie’s message is grossly immoral.
Quibble
Quibble
1.?(v)?to argue about minor matters; to play on words when finding fault; 2.?(n)?a minor verbal point in an argument
A quibble is a small argument or fight. As a verb, it means to pick a mini-fight over something that doesn’t really matter. “Let’s not quibble over price,” people will say, usually when they plan to gouge you.
It’s better to watch figure skating with the sound off, rather than listening to the announcers quibble over a not-fully-rotated knee or the slightly diminished altitude of a jump. Sometimes a quibble between neighbors over two feet of property can escalate into a major feud.
Epaulet
Epaulet
shoulder decoration
An epaulet is a decoration that is attached to the shoulders of a uniform. If you are a guard at Buckingham Palace, you have pretty nice epaulets on your uniform, but they aren’t as amazing as that hat.
The noun epaulet comes from the Late Latin meaning of spatula, “shoulder blade.” Any fancy extras attached on the exterior shoulders of a garment can be called an epaulet. Epaulets often have gold braided embroidery. Or stars. Some have fringe. The epaulets on the uniforms of airline pilots have four rows of braids, which distinguishes them as a higher rank than co-pilots, who wear three braids.
Esoterica
Esoterica
obscure details
Vicissitude
Vicissitude
unexpected change in fortune or circumstances
When you talk of the vicissitudes of life, you’re referring to the difficult times that we all go through: sickness, job loss, and other unwelcome episodes. No one can escape the vicissitudes of life.
While vicissitude comes from the Latin vicis, which means “change” and technically can mean a change of any kind, you’ll find that vicissitude is almost always used to talk about an unfortunate event or circumstance. Losing a pet, crashing the car, being called in for jury duty: these are examples of vicissitudes — chapters in one’s life that one would rather avoid but must get through. Some lives have more vicissitudes than others, to be sure, but no life is without events that test and challenge us.
Repine
Repine
fret; be discontented
The verb repine describes expressing gloom or discontent. Brooding, fretful, and sad — these are the traits of people who repine at their circumstances in life.
Early American poet Anne Bradstreet used repine in her well-known poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th 1666,” describing how the speaker got over the loss: “And when I could no longer look, / I blest His grace that gave and took, / That laid my goods now in the dust. / Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just. / It was his own; it was not mine. / Far be it that I should repine.”
Discernment
Discernment
judgment; perceptiveness
Discernment is the ability to make a smart judgment about something. If you’re voting for Student Council President, you need to use discernment to pick the best candidate.
The noun discernment describes a wise way of judging between things, or a particularly perceptive way of seeing things. If you can understand something that’s somewhat hidden or obscure — if you figure out the themes of a confusing movie, for example — you’re using discernment. It comes from the Latin word discernere, meaning “separate.” Discernment separates what’s important or true from what’s not.
Proliferate
Proliferate
grow and spread [proliferation (n)]
When something proliferates, it’s growing, spreading or multiplying really quickly. Bunny rabbits have a habit of proliferating, as do dandelions in untended gardens and funny YouTube videos on the internet.
Proliferate was originally a biological term used to describe the growth of cells and producing offspring. It wasn’t until 1961 that we started to use proliferate more generally to talk about everything from the spread of nuclear weapons to the wide growth of Walmart. Other similar words include expand, reproduce, snowball, and spawn.
Foppish
Foppish
behaving or dressing like a dandy; excessively concerned with fashion
A man who is constantly checking out his outfit in the mirror might be foppish, or someone who loves dressing up in fancy clothes.
For some reason, foppish is almost always used to describe men (not women), and that’s why the word might make you think of an elegant suit, vest, and tie, and probably some over-the-top details like a flower in a buttonhole and a polka-dotted handkerchief. The word foppish also implies that this guy probably thinks he looks pretty good.
Abscission
Abscission
cutting; process causing leaves to fall off
When an apple ripens and then falls off a tree, it’s called an abscission. It means the cutting off or removal of something, like an unsightly mole on the chin.
You can remember that abscission is all about cutting when you see how close it looks to the word scissors. If you are a public speaker who habitually cuts yourself off, your speeches may suffer from abscission. If you’re wounded in the leg in battle and gangrene sets in, you will be faced with the abscission of a limb. Layoffs at work are the abscission of workers.
Saw
Saw
- tool for cutting; 2. wise saying
A saw is a tool that’s used to cut wood. It can be a hand tool or a power tool, and it usually has either a blade or a disk with a jagged cutting edge.
The verb saw means to cut through wood or another material using a saw or other tool. If you are going to build a bookcase, you have to saw the wood into the proper lengths. It’s a good idea to measure it twice so you only have to saw it once. When you’re faced with a tough piece of meat, you might have to saw at it just to cut off a bite.
Recondite
Recondite
obscure
It’s rather difficult to penetrate the meaning of recondite. Fitting, because it’s an adjective that basically means hard for the average mind to understand.
If it’s really hard to comprehend, then it’s safe to say it’s recondite. In the same family as “abstruse,” “esoteric” and “totally deep, man,” recondite is a very serious word that you could use to describe obscure philosophy books, high level mathematical theory, and the series finale of The Sopranos — you know, things that make your brain hurt.
Damp
Damp
(used of vibration) reduce in extent
Aver
Aver
affirm
To aver is to declare something is true or to state. This verb has a serious tone, so you might aver something on a witness stand or you might aver that you won’t back down to a challenge.
The verb aver comes to English via the Latin root words ad, meaning “to,” and verus, meaning “true.” The word can have the sense of formally declaring something is true, but it can also mean to report positively: “The grandmother averred that her granddaughter would make a fine veterinarian because of her love and caring for animals.”
Fervid
Fervid
passionate
Fervid can be used to describe something that is physically hot such as “a fervid day in August,” but it is more often used to describe heated emotions like anger, love, or desire.
When passions and emotions run wild, you should expect to hear some fervid language thrown about. The adjective fervid comes from the Latin fervidus which means “glowing, burning, or boiling.” It is often used like the word fiery. You might hear a politician deliver a “fervid speech” if he or she is particularly worked up over an issue.
Stinting
Stinting
holding back; limiting the supply (of supplies/money etc.) [stint (v)]
Lacuna
Lacuna
gap; missing part [plural =?lacunae]
A lacuna is a gap or missing part. If you complain that there’s a major lacuna in the bake sale, the lack of brownies is probably to blame.
The noun lacuna means an empty space or a hole where something should be. It’s used a lot to talk about missing parts of books or manuscripts, either because lost pages have created a lacuna, or because censors have blacked out or removed parts of them. In the study of anatomy, a lacuna is a hollowed-out place or a cavity within a bone. In Latin, lacuna means “pit or hole,” and its plural is lacunae.
Importune
Importune
beg; solicit [importunate (a)]
Sure, to importune is to beg, but use it only when you’re talking about going beyond mere begging into more urgent territory. The woman importuned the judge to release her innocent brother from jail.
The original Latin term actually meant something closer “to bother.” Bear that in mind when you’re deciding whether to use importune, because that’s the kind of begging you’d want to be talking about when you do. Imagine needing something so badly that you cannot stop asking for it: then you might importune someone to get it. After a year of being importuned, dad let me have the car.
Sinecure
Sinecure
job which pays salary but requiring little effort
If you have a cushy job — one that pays, but involves minimal work — then you have a sinecure. “Because he was the brother of the CEO, he was offered a sinecure in the company: he showed up each day and collected a pay check, but others actually did his work.”
The noun sinecure comes from the Latin root words sine cura meaning “without care.” It originally was used to describe a church position that did not include caring for the souls of parishioners, but that meaning is considered archaic now. The word is now usually associated with political appointments.
Muse
Muse
- think; meditate?(v); 2. a source of inspiration?(n)?[in mythology, a goddess who gives inspiration]
Impugn
Impugn
challenge; question someone?s honor etc.
To impugn means to call into question or attack as wrong. If your usually grumpy brother is suddenly nice and sweet, you’ll impugn his motives if you’re smart — he probably just wants something from you.
The root of impugn is the Latin pugnare which means “to fight,” so when you impugn, you are fighting or attacking, but by saying that something is false or wrong. If a candidate has a record that cannot be impugned, his or her opponent might go for a character attack. If you take pride in your work, you will be especially insulted if someone impugns your professionalism or integrity.
Disabuse
Disabuse
make someone aware of an error in thinking
- Disabuse* means to free someone of a belief that is not true. Many teachers of health find that when they teach, they spend as much energy disabusing kids of false beliefs as they do giving them the facts.
- Disabuse* is often connected to the word notion or idea. In singing lessons, you must disabuse young singers of the idea that they can sing better by singing louder. In the first year of college, many people are disabused of the idea that they way they are is “normal,” by meeting so many people who represent other ways to be.
Intemperate
Intemperate
excessive; immoderate [intemperance (n)]
If a climate is intemperate, its temperatures might be extreme. If a person is intemperate, his moods might be extreme. Being intemperate is all about avoiding moderation.
Intemperate is a combination of the prefix in- meaning “not” and the Latin temperantia meaning “moderation.” When you are intemperate, you are not doing things in moderation; you lack self-control. It’s often a word used when describing the tendency someone has to indulge excessively in liquor. An alcoholic is intemperate — overindulging and depending on alcohol.
Denigrate
Denigrate
decry; criticize; belittle
To denigrate is to say bad things — true or false — about a person or thing. Your reputation as a math whiz might be hurt if your jealous classmate manages to denigrate you, even though the accusations are unfounded.
The verb denigrate comes from the Latin word denigrare, which means “to blacken.” To sully or defame someone’s reputation, or to spread negative or hurtful information about a company or a situation, is to denigrate it. Your neighbors may denigrate your proposal for mandatory recycling in an attempt to stop your plan. Denigrate can also mean that you’re making something seem less important, like when your brother tries to denigrate your athletic achievements.
Manipulative
Manipulative
scheming
A manipulative person uses passive, sneaky strategies to get what they want, such as saying “Aren’t you lucky to have all that chocolate!” when what they really want is for you to offer them one.
Manipulative comes from the Latin word manus for “hand,” and originally the English words that sprang from it like manipulate and manipulation referred to skill in physically handling objects by hand. The psychological sense we now associate with manipulative came much later on, but as anyone who has been successfully manipulated well knows, it often feels like you’ve been brilliantly manhandled.
Equivocation
Equivocation
“speaking ambiguously [equivocate (v), equivocal (a)]”
If your boss asks you where all the merchandise went and you say, “someone took it,” omitting that the “someone” in question is you, that’s equivocation: using ambiguous language to hide the truth.
Equivocation comes from the Latin for “equal” and “naming,” and in equivocation, you use a word that could have a few different meanings, all technically equal, in order to mask what you really mean. It’s a great way to not-quite lie, but still avoid taking the blame for something you did, which is why equivocation is never a good thing. You may recognize this kind of speech from watching (some) politicians on TV.
Enigmatic
Enigmatic
puzzling [enigma (n)]
Something that’s enigmatic is tough to figure out. It’s puzzling and even mysterious, like those weird secret college societies, Mona Lisa’s smile or the New York Times crossword.
It’s no mystery where the adjective enigmatic comes from: It’s rooted in the Greek word for riddle. Something that’s enigmatic is obscure, unclear and not an easy nut to crack. Translating the Rosetta Stone, with its ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and mysterious foreign writings, was certainly an enigmatic challenge for the archaeologists that found it.
Accretion
Accretion
accumulation of matter; growth produced by adding from the outside
The process of increasing can be called accretion. Although you may say that stalactites “grow” from the ceilings of caves, they actually form from an accretion of limestone and other minerals.
So what’s the difference between an addition and an accretion? Addition implies adding to something that already exists, such as an addition to the cast (when a new actor joins an existing show). The noun accretion, on the other hand, implies an accumulation that causes increase, such as “an accretion of frost on the windows” or “an accretion of plaque on your teeth.” The latter, of course, is why the dentist always begs you to floss and brush.
Pedagogy
Pedagogy
science of education; teaching
- Pedagogy* is another word for education, the profession and science of teaching.
- Pedagogy* and pedagogue come from the Greek paidos “boy, child” plus agogos “leader.” Pedagogy refers to the teaching profession as well as the science of education, for example as a college subject. This might be one reason that the word, pedagogue, is often used for a teacher who is overly interested in rules and details, hence the science of teaching, rather than actually getting through to his or her students.
Eschew
Eschew
shun; avoid
If you eschew something, you deliberately avoid it. If you live the bohemian life in the city, then most likely you eschew the suburbs.
Eschew comes from a word meaning dread, or shun. So to eschew something isn’t simply to avoid it, the way you would avoid walking in a puddle––it’s stronger than that. You eschew things that you find morally or aesthetically wrong, or that you have chosen to find wrong. A dieter might eschew a chocolate sundae, not because he doesn’t like it, but because he’s afraid of what it will do to his waistline.
Compromised
Compromised
- damaged or put in doubt (esp. of reputation); 2. reached an agreement by giving up part of a claim
A compromise is a way of settling differences by everybody making concessions. If you want to stay out until 10 and your friend wants to stay out until midnight, 11 is a good compromise.
Compromise comes from the Latin compromissum, which means “mutual promise.” It can be a noun or a verb. If you compromise with your lab partner over how to analyze the experimental data, you find the middle ground between your two ideas. Compromise can also mean to erode or diminish. If you never repair your brakes, you will compromise the safety of the car. If you cheat, you compromise your integrity.
Abysmal
Abysmal
very deep; very bad
If you want to say something is really, really bad — then call it abysmal. If one person shows up to your party, well then that is an abysmal turnout. The 1958 Ford Edsel? An abysmal failure.
When someone describes the hole you just dug as abysmal, you may not know whether to take it as positive or negative feedback. That’s because starting in the 1650s, abysmal simply meant “resembling an abyss in depth.” By that definition you’ve just received a compliment on your deep digging skills. But since the early twentieth century, abysmal has been more commonly used to identify something as “extremely bad.” So it’s more likely that your hole has just been insulted.
Demagogue
Demagogue
mob leader (who appeals to base instincts) [demagogy/demagoguery (n)]
A demagogue is someone who becomes a leader largely because of skills as a speaker or who appeals to emotions and prejudices.
Though the Greek root for demagogue literally means “a leader of the people,” the word has for centuries had a negative connotation: it actually means a leader who has manipulated the emotions and prejudices of the rabble. The reason for the negative connotation is that in ancient Athens, “the people” were considered to be an uncivilized mob. Two of the most famous historical demagogues are said to be Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.
Cornucopia
Cornucopia
symbol (horn filled with fruit etc.) denoting natural abundance
A grocery store with a large selection of fruits and vegetables could be said to have a cornucopia of produce. A cornucopia is a lot of good stuff.
Around Thanksgiving in the United States, you’ll often see cornucopias or horn-shaped baskets filled with fruit and other goodies as centerpieces. Originally, a cornucopia was a goat’s horn filled with corn and fruit to symbolize plenty. Nowadays, a cornucopia is probably made of some kind of plaster or wicker, but it still symbolizes the same thing — a good harvest season.
Nostrum
Nostrum
remedy
Though you try many medicines that claim to cure your cold, none of them work. They turn out to be nostrums, or ineffective drugs.
Nostrum refers to a cure-all, a drug, or a medicine that is ineffectual. Before drugs were regulated by the government, there were many nostrums sold to the public. “Snake oil” is one of the most well-known. Said to cure any ailment from achy joints to hair loss, snake oil concoctions could contain a number of ingredients — including camphor, red pepper, and turpentine.
Balm
Balm
soothing ointment or anything soothing [balmy (a)]
If your lips are cracked and dry, lip balm will make them feel better. A balm is a soothing substance with a consistency somewhere between solid and liquid.
The ointment-like consistency is part of what the word balm means. It comes down from the word, balsam, which is a gummy substance that comes from trees. You can use the word metaphorically too. If your mother’s cooking always makes you feel better no matter how bad things get, you can say her home cooking has been a balm for you in trying times.
Prominent
Prominent
- eminent; 2. protruding; 3. obvious
If you’re looking for an adjective that means “sticking out above the rest; famous,” consider prominent. A prominent person might be the big cheese, the head honcho, the top dog — not just any Joe Schmo.
A prominence is anything that juts out, like a bone or a mountain ridge. Prominent, then, means “sticking out” either in a literal sense (“a prominent nose”) or a figurative one (“a prominent figure in the industry”). The metaphorical sense of “famous” is the most common one today, though references to the “prominent posterior” of Jennifer Lopez might fit both definitions.
Decimated
Decimated
kill or destroy a large part of (originally one tenth)
If something is drastically reduced or killed, especially in number, you can say it was decimated. “The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico decimated the wildlife along the coast.”
The verb decimate originally referred to a form of capital punishment for Roman troops. If there was a rebellion, one out of every ten men (thus the dec in decimate) was put to death. So the word’s first expanded usage was to mean a ten percent reduction or a ten percent tax. Modern usage gives the word decimate its “drastically reduced” meaning, but the verb can also be used to mean “to wipe out” or “to eliminate.”
Synapse
Synapse
junction between two nerve cells
A synapse is the tiny gap across which a nerve cell, or neuron, can send an impulse to another neuron. When all your synapses are firing, you’re focused and your mind feels electric.
Synapse is not an old word. It was coined in an 1897 physiology textbook, from the Greek sun- “together” + haptein “join” — it’s the space across which nerve cells can “join together” to communicate from one cell to the next or from a neuron to a muscle. When a chemical or electrical impulse makes that tiny leap across one of your synapses, which you have throughout your nervous system, your body can do what your brain tells it to do.
Quell
Quell
suppress
Meaning to suppress or overcome, quell is what you have to do with nerves before a big test and fears before going skydiving.
When it first came into existence, the verb quell actually meant “to murder.” That’s a big more serious than our modern definition, but you can use that old definition to help you imagine offing your worries or putting a permanent end to criticism. These days quell is often used to mean “pacify,” as in the police quelling an angry mob or a mom quelling a kid’s temper tantrum.
Prudence
Prudence
caution; wisdom
Use the noun prudence to describe sensible decisions about everyday life, like the prudence of people who spend their money wisely, saving as much as they can.
Prudence can also describe the skill of side-stepping trouble or embarrassment, like having the prudence to avoid risks or the prudence to prepare for the unexpected, like packing a change of clothes in case the weather changes or your dinner reservations turn out to be at a fancy restaurant. Prudence comes from the Latin word prudentia, which means “foresight, sagacity.”
Vituperate
Vituperate
attack bitterly
To viturperate is to speak or write in an extremely negative way about someone.
Just as vituperation consists of negative, explosive, malicious outbursts, to vituperate is to communicate in this way. Negative political ads vituperate against opponents. When you insult someone and swear at them, you vituperate. People with a short temper tend to vituperate often — it’s similar to railing, vilifying, and reviling. The root word is the Latin vituperationem, “blame or censuring,” from vitium, “fault or defect.”
Secure
Secure
- to fix firmly; 2. to obtain
* Secure* means safe, protected. Your money is secure in a bank. Supportive friends and family make you feel secure.
Secure can also be used as a verb. You secure the sails before you take out the sailboat, which means you tie them down. If you secure someone a ticket to a popular Broadway play, you’ve found them a hard-to-find seat. On an airplane, you’re told that in the event you need an oxygen mask, you should secure yours — get it in place — before helping someone else. Almost all meanings contain the idea of safety: making sure things are right.
Nadir
Nadir
lowest point
If a highly forgetful person loses his phone, his wallet, and then his car keys in separate instances all in one day, you could say that he has reached an organizational nadir. This means “lowest point.”
This was originally strictly an astronomical term and is the opposite of the word zenith, which is the part of the sky located directly above a person’s head or, “high point.” In fact, nadir is derived from the Arabic nazir, which means “opposite to.” It is still used in astronomy to indicate the part of the celestial sphere located directly below an observer, but also more generally to describe the worst point of someone’s life or career.
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
examination or survey conducted in advance [reconnoiter (v)]
- Reconnaissance* is checking out a situation before taking action. Often it’s used as a military term, but you could also do reconnaissance on a new employee before you hire her, or a resort before you take a vacation.
- Reconnaissance* is a noun, and it technically means “the act of reconnoitering.” Whoa. Never heard that word before? Reconnoitering is just a fancy way of saying that you’re checking something out — sometimes in a sneaky way. If you like a girl in your Spanish class, you might ask a friend to do some reconnaissance to find out what she’s like. The word comes from the French reconnaître, which means “recognize.”
Gall
Gall
- bitterness (bad feeling); 2. confidence; 3. abnormal growth on a plant
* Gall* describes something irritating, like someone very rude. If you barge into a bakery and cut in front of a sweet old lady, then you have gall.
If someone has gall, they’re irritating. In fact, as a verb, gall means “to irritate” like new tight jeans that gall your thighs. Gall is “bile,” too, like what’s in a gall bladder. Back in the days of Hippocrates, if the four humors of the body were out of whack, it affected your spirits. If you had too much bile, or gall, then you’d be aggressive or depressed. It’s also a noun for “deep feeling of ill will.”
Extirpation
Extirpation
wiping out; complete destruction [extirpate (v)]
Use the noun extirpation to describe the wiping out or elimination of some specific thing. If your summer project is the extirpation of the dandelions in your yard, you intend to pull up every last one.
If a bird species is forced into extinction by a logging company cutting down trees in the rain forest, that activity can be said to have caused the birds’ extirpation. The word is even more often used to talk about the deliberate removal of something, like one army’s extirpation of every enemy soldier. The Latin root word, extirpationem, means “root out.”
Levee
Levee
- raised bank of a river; 2. morning reception held by a monarch
A levee is an embankment, like a dam, constructed to prevent the overflow of a body of water. It can also mean a formal reception. How do these two words relate? Read on…
In French, lever means to lift and se lever means to rise, literally “lift yourself.” When the king rose from his bed and received visitors, that was a levee. When you raise up dirt or other materials to build a dam or levee, that’s also a levee. Now, official levees don’t involve kings––but you might hear of “a governor’s levee at the state capital.” And levee can be used as a verb, meaning to make an embankment, or shore up.
Noisome
Noisome
disgusting
If you accidentally leave half a sandwich under your bed for a few days, cover your nose while you sleep because it will probably become quite noisome. This is a fancy way of saying that it will stink.
Despite that first syllable, this adjective doesn’t have root origins in the word noise, but is related to the word annoy. Noisome can refer to anything unpleasant or anything that makes you nauseous. However, it is most often used to describe bad smells. So spray some air freshener, open the windows, and clean out under your bed!
Inerrancy
Inerrancy
infallibility; inability to make mistakes [inerrant (a)]
Something that has inerrancy is completely accurate and cannot be wrong. Many Christians believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.
You’re most likely to come across the noun inerrancy in a religious context. It usually describes Christian religious writing — particularly the Bible — and the word of God. People who believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible are most likely to emphasize its inerrancy. In other words, they think that everything in the Bible is the literal truth. Inerrancy comes from inerrant, which originally referred to stars in the sky, and which is rooted in inerrantem, “not wandering” in Latin.
Untoward
Untoward
unexpected
The adjective untoward describes something offensive or inappropriate, like the rumors of untoward behavior that can shatter a Hollywood icon’s reputation.
Untoward also describes things that are not good for you, such as untoward advice from someone your parents always said was a bad influence. Think about what you do when you move toward something: you get closer to it. Suppose you’re moving toward a goal. You are, as they say, “on the right path.” But when you add the prefix un- you reverse that, and you’re no longer on the path to that goal — you’re untoward.
Posture
Posture
to put on an act
Posture is the way you position your body or arrange your limbs. So stand up straight, put your shoulders back, and lift that chin up.
Ballerinas have an elegant, graceful posture, and soldiers tend to display a rigid, strong posture. If you sit hunched over your desk every day you’ll end up with terrible posture. This noun describes the way you carry yourself, but can also describe a certain body position you take, like the different postures in yoga. If you’re accused of posturing though, that’s a different story — that means you’re behaving unnaturally to impress someone.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole
exaggeration [hyperbolic (a)]
Praising your favorite sports team is one thing, but if you call the team the most incredible group of humans ever to walk the earth, then you’re going overboard and indulging in hyperbole.
The hyper- in hyperbole means “beyond,” so it’s a good sign that the word has to do with going above and beyond what’s necessary. Someone who gets hyperactive about something and ends up hyperventilating (breathing too hard) might be prone to the exaggerated style of speaking known as hyperbole. If you find yourself talking about the absolutely best (or worst) thing of all time, it’s time to take it down a notch and cut down on the hyperbole.
Peer
Peer
- an equal; 2. to stare at; 3. nobleman
A peer is someone at your own level. If you are a 10th grader, other high school students are your peers.
Peer comes from the Latin par which means equal. When you are on par with someone, you are their peer. If kids your age are pressuring you to do something you don’t want to do, that’s peer pressure. In the sport of basketball, Michael Jordan was without peer, no one could equal his talent. When he switched to baseball, he found himself to be among peers again.
Expiate
Expiate
atone; make amends for
In the fairy tale, the baker must expiate his father’s sins by bringing the witch three ingredients for a magic potion: a cow, a cape and a slipper. Expiate means to make amends or atone for a wrong you or someone else has committed.
After the incident on the hill, a mortified Jill expiated her guilt by buying Jack a brand new crown. The shiny new crown served as compensation, or expiation, for the broken one. That it cost her so dearly made the expiatory gesture especially meaningful to poor Jack.
Purchase
Purchase
- grip; 2. buy
When you purchase a pair of shoes, you buy them. If you want to gain purchase, or favor, with new friends, you might tell them about your recent purchase of chocolate, and offer to share.
Purchase can refer to the act of buying or the thing you bought. In 1803, the United States paid France approximately $15,000,000 for 800,000 acres of land which was called Louisiana, in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. In this transaction, the purchase nearly doubled the size of the U.S. –– the territory purchased comprises about 23 percent of current US land.
Churlishness
Churlishness
rudeness; ill-mannered behavior
Sinewy
Sinewy
vigorous; having well-developed muscles [a?sinew?is a tendon]
Something muscular, with a tight and stretched toughness, is sinewy. Tennis players’ lean arms have a sinewy beauty, all the muscles showing as they hit their smoking serves.
A sinew is a tendon that attaches muscles to bones, and something sinewy has a lot of sinew or shows a lot of built-up tissues. If you’re a carpenter or a piano player, you probably have well-exercised, sinewy hands and fingers. Lines in nature, such as tree limbs and roots, can be sinewy too. Being sinewy is attractive when it’s in good health, but it can also make you look too stretched or thin, even scrawny. Tough meat can be sinewy and unchewable.
Veracious
Veracious
true [veracity (n)]
Someone who is veracious speaks the truth — like your brutally honest friend who always lets you know what she thinks about your outfits, your hairstyle, your lasagna recipe, and your taste in movies.
Think of a veracious person as someone who is like a witness under oath in a court of law, someone who speaks “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Don’t ask a question of a veracious friend unless you really want to know the answer. The adjective veracious can be applied not just to people but also to things that are true or accurate, such as “a veracious story” or “a veracious statement.”
Malapropism
Malapropism
use of similar sounding but incorrect word
A malapropism occurs when you say one word but you mean another, like instead of saying a certain restaurant is prosperous, you say it is preposterous. As you can tell, malapropisms are often humorous, though sometimes the joke is on the speaker.
The word malapropism, pronounced “mah-luh-PRAH-pih-zum,” comes from the French phrase mal à propos, which means “ill-suited.” Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan must have been thinking of the French phrase when he created his character Mrs. Malaprop, who made audiences howl with laughter when she used the wrong word. Examples include saying “allegory” instead of “alligator,” and “illiterate him from your memory” instead of “obliterate.”
Limerick
Limerick
short amusing poem
Latent
Latent
hidden; real but undeveloped
Latent is an adjective that you use to describe something that is capable of becoming active or at hand, though it is not currently so.
The adjective latent is a tricky word to define because it refers to something there but not there. That is, latent means something that is capable of becoming active or at hand but has not yet achieved that state. The word arrived in Middle English from the Latin word latēre which means “to lie hidden.” It can have somewhat negative connotations because it is often used in a medical context, as in a latent illness or infection, but it can also mean good things, such as someone discovering they have latent talents or capabilities.
Amalgamate
Amalgamate
join; consolidate [amalgamation (n)]
To amalgamate is to combine different things to create something new. Institutions — such as banks, schools, or hospitals — often join forces and amalgamate with one other. But other things — like musical genres — get amalgamated as well.
The verb amalgamate original referred specifically to the mixture of metals, now however, it refers to any mixing or blending. A school board might decide to amalgamate two schools into one school due to a decrease in the student population, but amalgamating their mascots would be impossible.
Millinery
Millinery
hats and hat-making
Apposite
Apposite
fitting; suitable
Something apposite is fitting or relevant. It is apposite that radio stations play Christmas carols on Christmas Eve, and that your tax accountant takes vacation after April 15th. It all makes sense.
The adjective apposite is derived from the Latin terms appositus and apponere. Ponere means to place, and thus apponere is “well-placed or well-put.” Don’t confuse apposite with opposite; they have almost opposite meanings!
Approbation
Approbation
approval [opp. disapprobation]
Approbation is an official, important-sounding, and somewhat old-fashioned word for approval or praise. A princess, for example, might only consider marrying a prince that is met with her father’s, the King’s, approbation.
How is it possible that approbation means approval when probation is a form of being in trouble in school? Remember that probation is a testing period, to see if you can be good. Approbation means it’s all good. Or you can remember this rhyme: “Filled with approbation, the audience gave a standing ovation.”
Malevolent
Malevolent
having evil intentions [malevolence(n)]
If someone is malevolent, they wish evil on others. If you find yourself approaching someone with a malevolent look in her eye, best to run the other way.
Malevolent comes from the Latin word malevolens, which means “ill-disposed, spiteful”; its opposite is benevolent, which means “wishing good things for others.” A malevolent person might display satisfaction at someone else’s problems. But it’s not only individuals who can be malevolent. If you think that television violence influences viewers to violence, you see television as a malevolent force. The stress is on the second syllable: muh-LEV-uh-lent.
Roster
Roster
list of names
If you see your name on the roster of players for the new softball team, then congratulations! Better start practicing, because you’re on the list of players who made the team.
The word roster originally meant a list of the names, duties, and schedule of members of the military. That meaning is still in use, but today, a roster is more likely to be a list of players on your favorite team, a list of artists whose artwork appears regularly in a certain gallery, or a list of participants, such as an airline that posts its roster of flight crew members for the red-eye to Phoenix.
Plausibility
Plausibility
believability [plausible (a)]
Something’s plausibility is how likely it is to be true. You might, for example, question the plausibility of your brother’s story about seeing a UFO land in the back yard.
The noun plausibility means “likelihood” or “believability.” You’re most likely to come across the word in a negative or questioning context, as when someone doubts the plausibility of an action movie’s plot or questions the plausibility of a debater’s claims and arguments. If you aren’t sure you believe something, you’ll question its plausibility. The Latin root is plausibilis, “deserving applause or acceptable.”
Admonitory
Admonitory
scolding [admonition (n)]
Something that’s admonitory is meant to correct or scold. If you’re caught throwing paper airplanes in class, your teacher will probably give you an admonitory lecture.
Use the adjective admonitory to describe something that’s done in a warning or reproachful way. When kids are loud in the library, the librarian might shush them in an admonitory way. If your piano teacher always finds fault with your playing, she is consistently admonitory. The root of admonitory is the verb admonish, which means “to scold or reprimand.” The Latin origin of both is admonere, “remind or suggest,” but also “warn or urge.”
Rekindle
Rekindle
relight; revive
Use the verb rekindle when you’re trying to get something started again, like a fire or a romance.
If your campfire goes out while you’re getting the marshmallows out of your tent, you’ll want to rekindle it. Likewise, if you’ve lost touch with a childhood friend, you might try to rekindle your relationship when you meet again as adults. Re means “again,” and kindle means “start a fire,” probably from the Old Norse kynda, “to light a fire.” Rekindle has been used in the figurative sense from around 1300.
Calibrate
Calibrate
mark an accurate scale on a device
The word calibrate means making precise measurement. For example, you might want to calibrate your bathroom scale now and then to be sure it’s adjusted for exact weight. Or calibrate it to read five pounds light. We won’t tell.
To find the origin of calibrate, we must look at its root, caliber, which appeared in the late 15th Century Middle French as calibre, meaning “a degree of importance.” Linguists trace that word to an Arabic beginning, the word qalib, which referred to a mold for making bullets. That meaning seems to have carried over to our word, the verb calibrate, which first meant to measure the range of a projectile such as a bullet or shell.
Canonical
Canonical
orthodox [canon (n) = set of accepted works]
If something’s canonical, it follows a principle or rule, usually in a religious or church-related situation. It is also used in mathematics, music and can refer to something reduced to its most basic form.
The word canonical is from the root canon, with both evolving from the Latin cononicus, or “according to rule,” a meaning applied to religion during the Middle Ages. However, the definition of “rules” also applies in other areas as well. In mathematics, the word is used to describe an equation reduced to its most basic form. In canonical music, a melody line is repeated at intervals throughout a piece. Perhaps the most familiar of these is Pachebel’s “Canon in D.”
Chorales
Chorales
simple hymns
A chorale is the melody of a Christian hymn, or religious song. You’re most likely to hear a chorale in a church.
You can use the noun chorale to talk about a church song, or more specifically, the tune which the voices sing. Most chorales are sung in harmony, blending higher and lower voices, and are fairly simple melodies that are relatively easy to sing along with. The word comes from the German Choralgesang, “choral song,” with its Latin root of cantus choralis, “song belonging to a choir.”
Halcyon
Halcyon
peaceful and happy; calm (esp. of summer weather)
Don
Don
put on (esp. of clothes)
Umbrage
Umbrage
- shadow; 2. offence; sense of injury
When someone takes umbrage at something, they find it offensive, and it probably makes them angry.
Umbrage comes from the same source as umbrella, the Latin umbra, “shade, shadow.” The umbrella was invented to keep you in shade, and when you take umbrage at something, you’re casting a shadow over the person or thing responsible for the offense. I take umbrage at the suggestion that I’m not a nice person: it’s offensive and infuriating. After having devoted my life to helping animals, I might take umbrage at the notion that I’ve been doing it for publicity purposes: I resent the idea that it was for any other reason than my love of animals.
Diaphanous
Diaphanous
transparent; thin and delicate
If a dress is so see-through that light shines through it revealing the goods beneath, it’s diaphanous. Also known as “sheer,” “transparent,” or just plain “sexy,” but diaphanous is so much classier.
If you want a classic example of diaphanous clothing check out all those nineteenth century Romantic paintings of voluptuous Goddesses clad in clearly insufficient lightweight gowns flouncing around in the middle of forests at night or storm-tossed fields. Those gowns are diaphanous all right, but because it’s a classical allusion there’s obviously nothing naughty about it. From the ancient Greek word diaphanes, meaning “transparent” — a style the Greeks were much in favor of.
Puissance
Puissance
power
- Puissance* is the power to influence what other people do or believe. A celebrity who is extremely popular with teens has puissance to help end problems like bullying just by talking about it in interviews.
- Puissance* is a French word that describes being powerful. When you have a strong influence over someone, you have puissance, which is pronounced “PYOO-uh-sens.” It’s an uncommon but poetic way to describe power, especially the power to convince someone to do something, like an older sibling’s puissance. Another meaning of puissance is a show jumping horse’s ability to jump large hurdles.
Agog
Agog
amazed; wide-eyed with enthusiasm
The word agog means with great excitement and interest. When you’re falling over yourself with excitement and curiosity to see who’s coming up the red carpet next, you’re agog about celebrities.
At Christmas time, you are probably agog to see what’s in all the beautiful presents. An easy way to remember what agog means is to think of it as goggle-eyed, which it sounds a bit like. When you’re agog, you’re goggle-eyed with excitement about something, whatever that happens to be. In truth, the word has nothing to do with goggle-eyes, but instead relates to the Middle French word en gogues which means “full of mirth, good humor, and joyfulness.”
Gambit
Gambit
opening move; transaction
A gambit is a strategic move, often in chess but also in politics or business, where a player sacrifices something up front for future gain.
The noun gambit comes from an Italian word, gambetto, which means “tripping up.” When you make an opening move, offer something, or start a conversation with something that seems self-sacrificing but is really a ploy for greater advantage in the long run, that’s a gambit. In chess, a gambit is when you sacrifice a pawn early for better positioning, but when you offer to drive the morning carpool that’s might be a gambit to get the afternoon shift off.
Precipitate
Precipitate
- hurried?(a); 2. insoluble product of a reaction in chemistry(n), 3. to instigate or speed up an action?(v)
* Precipitate* usually means “bringing something on” or “making it happen” — and not always in a good way. An unpopular verdict might “precipitate violence” or one false step at the Grand Canyon could precipitate you down into the gorge.
* Precipitate*, as a verb, can also mean specifically, “to fall from clouds,” such as rain, snow, or other forms of precipitation. When used as an adjective, precipitate means “hasty” or “acting suddenly.” If you decide to throw your class project in a trash masher just because someone in your class had a similar idea, then your actions might be described as precipitate. Or if you do that sort of thing regularly, you may be a precipitate person.
Occluded
Occluded
obscured; blocked
Lassitude
Lassitude
lack of energy; weariness
If you are feeling lassitude, you’re weary and just can’t be bothered. Couch potatoes make lassitude into an art form.
Lassitude might sound like latitude, but the two words don’t mean the same thing. Latitude describes the distance of a particular location from the equator. Lassitude is the weariness you’d experience after attempting to run a marathon around the equator. Lassitude can also describe a lack of interest, like deciding you’d rather lie on your couch rather than run that marathon along the equator.
Nugatory
Nugatory
of minor significance; futile
Something nugatory has no real value; it’s worthless. All your excuses for why you didn’t turn the bath tap off when you left the apartment are nugatory; they don’t change the fact that the tub overflowed and leaked into the apartment below.
An adjective meaning “trifling, of no value,” nugatory comes from the Latin nugatorius “worthless, futile,” which in turn came from the also Latin nugatory — “jester, trifle.” It’s a word you probably don’t hear too often, but it’s a fun and descriptive one to use. Describe something with no force or importance as nugatory. “Whether this rug is red or green is nugatory to someone who is colorblind.”
Evanescent
Evanescent
short-lived [evanescence (n)]
A beautiful sunset, a rainbow, a wonderful dream right before your alarm clock goes off — all of these could be described as evanescent, which means “fleeting” or “temporary.”
Evanescent comes from the Latin ex, meaning “out of,” and vanescere, meaning “to vanish.” When pronouncing this word, emphasize the third syllable and note that the c is silent. You might want to practice saying evanescent a few times right now; if you stumble over pronunciation when you need this word the most, whatever you’re describing — be it a shooting star or a whiff of fragrant perfume — will be gone.
Travesty
Travesty
parody; ridiculous error
A travesty is a cheap mockery, usually of something or someone serious, such as a travesty of justice.
A travesty is a silly imitation, like a tall young man dressed up like a little old lady. Travesty and transvestite both come from French travesti meaning “dressed in disguise,” so it helps to remember the definition of travesty by thinking of that football player in drag. A travesty can be more than that, though. A travesty of justice, for example, is a court case that makes a mockery of the system, or so you might think if the verdict isn’t in your favor. There are lots of examples in literature: the book Don Quixote is a travesty of Medieval Romance.
Sullied
Sullied
made dirty or impure [opposite?unsullied; sully (v)]
To sully is to attack someone’s good name and to try to ruin his reputation. If you spread false rumors that there’s chicken stock in the vegetarian entree at Joe’s Diner, you would sully Joe’s good reputation.
Sully can also mean to tarnish or make spotty. It’s easy to remember this meaning when you know that sully comes from the Middle French word souiller, meaning, “make dirty.” For example, dripping chocolate sauce onto the table will sully your mother’s new white tablecloth. Another meaning of sully is to corrupt or cast suspicion on. If an automaker recalls millions of vehicles due to safety problems, it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence — in fact, it may sully their brand.
Debilitating
Debilitating
weakening [debilitate (v)]
Something that’s debilitating seriously affects someone or something’s strength or ability to carry on with regular activities, like a debilitating illness.
Debilitating comes from the Latin word debilis, meaning “weak.” That’s why you’ll often see the adjective used to describe illness. After all, serious diseases weaken the body. Other things that can be debilitating are those that can stop you from reaching a goal, like a debilitating snow storm that forces you to stay home, or debilitating shyness that keeps you from reaching out to the people you want to meet.
Effrontery
Effrontery
daring; audacity (has a negative connotation)
If you rudely behave as if you have a right to something that you have no right to, you’re committing effrontery. When a couple stroll into a crowded restaurant, demand the best table, and threaten the staff unless they’re seated right away, that’s effrontery.
People have been guilty of outrageously self-centered behavior at least since 1715, when effrontery was coined. Tracing to the French word effronté, meaning “shameless,” the word effrontery is also connected to brazen, which means “of brass,” and describes someone so accustomed to effrontery that he’s hardened to it and has no concern for the harm done to others.
Tarnished
Tarnished
made dull; spoil (reputation)
To tarnish is to become dull or discolored. Silver tends to tarnish easily, which is why your mother is always having you polish the family silver.
As a noun, a tarnish is the dull layer of corrosion that sometimes forms on metal items, usually the result of the metal reacting to oxygen in the air. Metals are most likely to tarnish, but so can anything that once felt sparkly and bright but has lost its luster — even you. If the new kid just beat you in chess, your reputation as the best chess player in your class has started to tarnish. Better not lose again!
Cognitive
Cognitive
concerned with thinking or perceiving [cognition (n)]
If it’s related to thinking, it’s considered cognitive. Anxious parents might defend using flashcards with toddlers as “nurturing their cognitive development.”
The adjective, cognitive, comes from the Latin cognoscere “to get to know” and refers to the ability of the brain to think and reason as opposed to feel. A child’s cognitive development is the growth in his or her ability to think and solve problems. Many English words that involve knowing and knowledge have cogn- in them such as cognizant “aware of” and recognize “to know someone in the present because you knew them from the past.”
Gist
Gist
essence; main point
When you need a quick summary of the essentials, rather than the whole story or a thorough explanation, you’re looking for the gist.
The word gist has had a variety of meanings in English, but most of them have become obsolete. The surviving sense of the word entered the language by way of the law: The gist of any legal action is the factor on which the action depends — that is, an alleged assault might be the gist of an indictment. The meaning of gist has evolved, though, and now it can be used to describe the core component of any matter, as in, “He watched the trailer, but he still didn’t get the gist of the movie.” Or, “She was having trouble writing a headline that conveyed the gist of her article.”
Teetotalism
Teetotalism
total abstinence from alcohol
Teetotalism is a noun, meaning staying away from alcohol. If you see someone drinking a soda at a bar, they might practice teetotalism or they might just be planning to drive themselves home.
Since drinking alcohol is generally an accepted practice now, the word teetotalism has fallen out of common use. You might think the groups promoting teetotalism in the United States in the 1920s succeeded when laws were passed prohibiting alcohol (effective from 1920 to 1933). However, you would be wrong, because with the Prohibition era came underground bars and homemade moonshine.
Gainsay
Gainsay
contradict
- Gainsay*, a verb, means “contradict” or “speak out against.” When you challenge authority, you gainsay, as in teachers don’t like it when unruly students gainsay them.
- Gainsay* comes from an Old English word that means “contradict” or “say against,” as in, no one dared gainsay the principal, who is well-known for giving detention to students who so much as frown at him. If you know someone who constantly corrects others, tells them that they’re wrong, and says, “That’s not true,” more than anyone else, you have first-hand experience with the art of the gainsay.
Falters
Falters
hesitates
Falter means to hesitate, stumble, or waver, and everything from faith to voices can do it. So if you want to keep your bride or groom happy, it’s best not to falter when it’s your turn to say “I do.”
Experts may falter if you ask them where falter came from, because the origins are pretty unclear. But everyone agrees on the current meaning: someone who falters is unsteady, wobbly, or unsure. You might falter while reciting a poem if you forget some of the lines, or falter crossing a rickety rope bridge when fear gets the most of you. But you certainly won’t falter when someone asks you the meaning of this word.
Deferential
Deferential
showing respect [deference (n); defer (v)]
When a young person shows respect and obedience to an older person, they’re being deferential to the elder’s wisdom and experience.
To be obedient, courteous, or dutiful are all ways of being deferential. Bowing low to the Queen is a deferential act when visiting Buckingham Palace. On sports teams, rookies are usually deferential to the veterans and star players, while all players should be deferential to the coach. All employees are expected to be at least a little deferential to their bosses. Being deferential shows respect, but also means “I know my place, and it’s lower than yours.”
Labile
Labile
changing rapidly; unstable
Labile is an adjective used to describe something that is easily or frequently changed. Radioactive elements, such as uranium or plutonium, are labile. It is this lability that makes them unstable and dangerous.
From the Latin verb lābī, “to slide or slip,” labile is often found in a technical context, especially in science, to refer to some sort of instability. For example, in chemistry, a compound that can be easily broken down by heat is called labile. The term can also be used in psychology to describe someone who is emotionally unstable.
Fulminate
Fulminate
- attack loudly in words; denounce thunderously; 2. explode noisily
Watch a bomb fulminate or explode and hope you’re under safe cover. Have your parents fulminate or blow up at you for coming home past curfew and hope you’re not grounded for too long.
The word fulminate is made up of the Latin root fulmen meaning “lightning flash.” Look up at the sky during a violent thunderstorm and chances are you’ll catch thunder and lightning fulminate or explode loudly and violently overhead. But you needn’t look to the sky alone for this kind of intensity. If you find yourself in a room with passionate Republicans and Democrats debating, you might see them fulminate or severely rail against each other’s beliefs.
Throwback
Throwback
“exhibiting primitive, or ancestral, traits”
Cumbersome
Cumbersome
bulky; difficult to carry [encumber?= to burden]
You have to wrestle a bit with the longish word cumbersome; it’s cumbersome, or kind of long and clumsy, to tumble out in a sentence. It’s hard to use it gracefully.
A “cumber” is something that slows you down, and though the words aren’t related, “lumber” includes big pieces of heavy wood, which might slow down the person carrying them. Moving lumber is cumbersome, because it’s a heavy and awkward job. Getting your laundry down the stairs or putting a Rottweiler in the bathtub can be cumbersome too.
Plumb
Plumb
measure depth of?(v); exact?(a. slang)
To plumb a body of water, you measure its depth. To plumb a house, you connect all of its pipes. To make carpentry plumb, you get it exactly vertical.
Originally, the verb plumb only meant “to measure the depth of water.” These days, if you “plumb the depths” of something, you go in deep for knowledge and experience: your Heidegger seminar may plumb the depths of German Existentialism like Jacques Cousteau plumbed the depths of the ocean.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
branch of science concerned with things as they are perceived; not directly derived from theory
Penchant
Penchant
inclination; leaning; tendency; predilection
A penchant is a strong preference or tendency. If you have a penchant for pizza, you either eat it daily, or wish you did.
Penchant borrows from French, in which penchant literally means inclined. It goes back to the Latin pendere, for hanging, which is also the source of pendant. In both French and English, speakers have long used the idea of inclination metaphorically: a hillside can be inclined in one direction or another, and so can a person’s thoughts. But in English, penchant is only for desires.
Arboreal
Arboreal
living in trees; concerned with trees
If it has to do with trees, you can call it arboreal. Monkeys that live in trees are arboreal. The rings of a tree are an indication of arboreal age.
The word arboreal comes from the Latin arboreus, which means “pertaining to trees.” It’s a word that refers not just to animals that live in trees, but also to anything that resembles the branching form of a tree — like a chandelier or a family geology drawn out. It even can be used to describe, as its Latin root suggests, something pertaining to trees. A Christmas tree shop is an arboreal wonderland. There are trees everywhere!
Parenthesis
Parenthesis
remarks deviating from the main point [parentheses?are round brackets in punctuation]
A parenthesis is a tall, curvy punctuation mark used to set off material that isn’t fundamental to the main topic, like an afterthought or an aside (or a funny joke).
Parenthesis marks come in pairs: the plural is spelled “parentheses.” Parentheses look like this: ( ). When you use parentheses to set off material in a sentence, you say that the material is “in parenthesis.” Put something in parentheses if it’s a comment, an afterthought, or additional information that is possibly interesting but not essential to the subject. You can also describe something as a parenthesis, like a digressive story about horses in the middle of a political speech.
Epistemology
Epistemology
theory of knowledge
Epistemology is the study of knowledge: what we know, how we know it, how we know we know it, and how to keep track of it without driving ourselves crazy.
You might be wondering if epistemology is just a hobby for people who know too much for their own good, but epistemology has a lot of uses. The study of knowledge leads to the study of learning, which leads to better methods of teaching. The study of knowledge helps us understand our cultural differences, which helps us all get along. Probably the coolest use of epistemology, though, is artificial intelligence: teaching computers how to learn.
Meretricious
Meretricious
falsely attractive; tawdry
Have you ever heard the phrase “fake it until you make it”? That is advice that encourages you to be meretricious, pretending to be something you aren’t, like the meretricious flaunting of gigantic fake diamond earrings, pretending they are real — and that you can afford them.
To correctly pronounce meretricious, accent the third syllable: “mer-uh-TRISH-us.” Don’t mistake something that is meretricious for having merit. In fact, it is just the opposite. From an expensive restaurant that looks expensively furnished but when the lights are turned up, you can see that “leather” chairs are just cheap vinyl or a woman who pretends her counterfeit handbags are designer originals, meretricious actions are meant to deceive.
Stanch
Stanch
to stop
Use the verb stanch to describe stopping a liquid from spreading, like a bandage that stanches bleeding or thick towels that stanch the flow of water across the kitchen floor when you drop a full glass of water.
The vowel sound in stanch most frequently sounds like on: “stonch.” Stanch can also be pronounced to rhyme with branch. Though it’s a verb mostly commonly associated with keeping blood from flowing from a wound, the origin is likely the Latin word stagnum, meaning “pond, pool.” This word is related to stagnate, describing water that has no movement.
Satiate
Satiate
satisfy; fill completely [satiable (a); satiation (n)]
If you just can’t get enough popcorn, even the jumbo tub at the movie theater may not be enough to satiate, or satisfy, your desire.
Satiate is often used in situations in which a thirst, craving, or need is satisfied. However, when satiate is used to describe eating, it can take on a more negative, or even disgusted, tone. If you comment that the diners at the world’s largest all-you-can eat buffet were satiated, you might not mean that they were merely satisfied. You could be implying that they’ve been gluttons, and that they are now overstuffed with fried chicken wings and mac and cheese.
Indicted
Indicted
accused (of crime)
If you accuse someone of committing an offense, you indict them. A book that indicts the entire education system might lay out all the reasons that schools are failing kids.
In a legal sense, the verb indict means to bring formal charges against someone, especially in a court of law, as in a federal grand jury. The grand jury indicted, the man on 12 counts of murder. Although it’s true the boy had stolen cookies from the cookie jar in the past, that is no reason to indict him out of hand in the present case. There were no witnesses and the crumb evidence would suggest someone else committed the crime.
Gerontocracy
Gerontocracy
government by the aged
A gerontocracy is a society governed by old people. Think: tribes where elders are esteemed for the perspective and wisdom they have acquired in long years on the planet.
If your grandparents moved into your house and started telling everyone what to do, you might be outraged. Daily Metumucil doses for everyone! No loud music or reading of novels written after the First World War! A good thing then, that we live in a culture that worships youth––we’re unlikely to be ruled by a gerontocracy.
Facetious
Facetious
not intended to be taken seriously
Someone who is facetious is only joking: “I was being facetious when I told my mother I want Brussels sprouts with every meal, but she took me seriously!”
Facetious is a useful word to describe something that’s humorous, or meant to be humorous. If a joke falls flat, then you can back off from it by saying you’re only being facetious. There are limits to this use of the word: if you stage an elaborate prank on your friend, making him run out into the street in his underwear because he thinks his house is on fire, calling the joke facetious will probably earn you a punch in the face.
Predilection
Predilection
leaning; interest; talent
A predilection is a preference for or bias toward something. If you have a predilection for wool clothing, you should take up knitting.
Predilection is based on the Latin verb praediligere, or to choose in advance, which breaks down to prae, in advance, and diligere, select. We often use predilection for tendencies that people seem to have been born with, also called predispositions. If you’re a night owl, you probably have a predilection for cities, while morning people tend to prefer the country.
Arson
Arson
“deliberate, criminal starting of fires”
If you deliberately light logs on fire to roast marshmallows, you have camping skills. If you deliberately set your whole house on fire to collect the insurance money, you’ve committed arson.
The noun arson comes from the Latin word ardere, meaning “to burn.” Arson is the act of setting something on fire for a nefarious purpose, and it is, of course, illegal. If you live in a wildfire risk area, you know that sometimes wildfires are caused by natural causes like lightening, sometimes they’re caused accidentally by carelessness, and sadly they’re sometimes caused by a deliberate act of arson.
Pugnacious
Pugnacious
“aggressive, ready to fight [pugnacity (n)]”
Pugnacious means ready for a fight. If you’re a first year teacher, you probably don’t know how to deal with the pugnacious kids in every class. Learn some discipline or they’ll end up fighting you, or each other.
Your brother is a pugnacious thug––always ready to use his fists to settle arguments, and he has the strength to do so. That’s the literal sense of pugnacious. You can use pugnacious figuratively, too. 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.
