Week 7 Flashcards
clamber
(verb)
CLAM-ber
Definition: Climb awkwardly or with difficulty, scramble
Usage: The hiker had spent the last hour plodding lethargically up the side of the
mountain, but when she caught sight of the summit, she excitedly began to clamber
up even the steepest inclines.
More Info: Clamber comes from the same root as climb. Don’t confuse it with
clamor, which means “noisy shouting or protest.”
cloying
(adj)
CLOY-ing
Definition: Disgustingly or distastefully sweet
Usage: I do like visiting our grandmother, but I can’t stand those cloying movies
she watches—last time it was some heart-tugging story where an orphan saves a
suffering pony. / I do like cake, but I find that honey-covered angel food cake
positively cloying.
Related Words: Treacly and Saccharine are synonyms. Maudlin means “overly
tearful and sentimental,” and might also possibly describe the orphan/pony movie
described above.
coagulate
coagulate
(verb)
coh-AGG-yoo-layt
Definition: Cause a liquid to become solid or semisolid
Usage: Hemophilia is a medical condition in which the blood doesn’t coagulate,
meaning that a hemophiliac can easily bleed to death from a small wound. / When
making jam, use pectin to get the fruit to coagulate.
Related Words: Curdle also means “go from liquid to solid” but tends to be used to
describe milk spoiling, or metaphorically, as in “Her scream made my blood
curdle.” Clot has the same definition as well, and often describes blood (a blood
clot in an artery can cause a heart attack). Some desserts involve clotted cream.
coda
(noun)
COH-duh
Definition: Final part of a musical composition; an ending, esp. one that sums up
what has come before
Usage: “You play this middle section twice, then move to the coda,” the music
teacher explained to the child. “The coda always comes last.” / Dropping my purse
in a mud puddle right outside my own front door was a fine coda to a horrible
evening.
Related Words: Recapitulation (summary or the act of summing up), Précis
(summary or abstract)
More Info: Coda comes from the Latin “cauda,” meaning “tail.” (A caudate animal
has a tail and an acaudate animal lacks one.)
coffer
(noun)
COFF-er
Definition: Chest for storing valuables; financial resources, a treasury
Usage: The dishonest employee called it “dipping into the company coffers,” but
the arresting officer called it “embezzlement.” / Rather than rent a safety-deposit
box, I keep my priceless antique coins in a coffer here at home.
Related Words: A strongbox is also a chest for storing valuables.
More Info: Coffer comes from the same root as “coffin,” another type of box.
When used metaphorically, coffers is generally used in the plural.
collude
(verb)
cuh-LOOD
Also collusion (noun)
Definition: Conspire; cooperate for illegal or fraudulent purposes
Usage: After two competing software companies doubled their prices on the same
day, leaving consumers no lower-priced alternative, the federal government
investigated the companies for collusion.
Related Words: Cabal (a conspiratorial group)
compendium
(noun)
cuhm-PEN-dee-um
Also compendious (adj)
Definition: Concise but complete summary; a list or collection
Usage: I could hardly bring my whole collection of poetry books on vacation, so
instead, I brought a lightweight poetry compendium containing a few selections
each from thirty or so poets thought to represent various styles and eras. / This
movie review is unusually compendious—although a scant 500 words, it tells
every single thing that happens in the entire film.
Related Words: Digest (a periodical containing shortened versions of works
published elsewhere), Recapitulation (summary or the act of summing up), Précis
(summary or abstract)
complaisant
(adj)
cuhm-PLAY-sent
Definition: Eager to please; cheerfully complying
Usage: Coming from a more uptight corporate background, Chris found the soup
kitchen volunteers remarkably complaisant—when he asked the greeters to sweep
the floor and the cooks to wash dishes, everyone happily moved to their new
positions.
More Info: Don’t confuse complaisant with complacent, which means “smug, self-
satisfied.”
confound
(verb)
cuhn-FOUND
Definition: Confuse, frustrate; mix up or make worse
Usage: He was positively confounded by a map that seemed to show “East
Bethlehem” as being to the west of “West Bethlehem.” / He was already a little
flummoxed in regards to differential equations, but reading an incorrectly-edited
Wikipedia page on the topic only confounded the problem.
Related Words: Baffled, Flummoxed, and Nonplussed are all words for “confused.”
connote
(verb)
cuh-NOTE
Also connotation (adj)
Definition: Suggest or imply in addition to the precise, literal meaning
Usage: The word “titanic” simply means large or majestic, but because of the
word’s association with the sunken ship, “titanic” has a negative connotation to
many people.
Related Words: Evoke (call forth, esp. of feelings or imagination)
More Info: A denotation is the literal meaning of a word; a connotation is the
feeling that accompanies that word.
censure
(noun, verb)
SEN-sher
Definition: Strong disapproval or official reprimand (noun); to issue such disapproval or reprimand
(verb)
Usage: The Senator was censured by the Senate for campaign fund improprieties—in fact, he narrowly
avoided being expelled from office.
Related Words: Don’t confuse censure with censor (to delete objectionable portions of a work).
More Info: In 1834, Andrew Jackson became the only U.S. President to ever be censured by the Senate.
Since 1789, nine Senators have been censured; this act of formal disapproval does not remove them from
office.
chauvinism
(noun)
SHOW-vin-izm
Also chauvinist (noun), chauvinistic (adj)
Definition: Fanatical patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory; undue or biased devotion to any
group, cause, etc.
Usage: He’s such a chauvinist that he denies that any other nation could be better than ours at anything —he insists our wine is better than France’s, our ski slopes are better than Norway’s, and even that we
grow more rice than China! Absurd.
Related Words: Bigot (obstinately prejudiced person), Xenophobia (fear of foreigners), Jingoism (extreme
chauvinism plus warlike foreign policy)
More Info: Don’t confuse chauvinism with sexism—a “male chauvinist” is just one kind. The original
chauvinist was Nicholas Chauvin, a possibly fictional soldier wounded 17 times while serving in
Napoleon’s army (he really loved Napoleon).
chronological
(adj)
KRAH-noh-LODGE-ick-ull
Definition: Arranged in or relating to time order
Usage: Joey, I’m afraid you’ve done the assignment wrong—the point of making a timeline is to put the
information in chronological order. You’ve made an alphabetical-order-line instead!
More Info: The root “chron,” for “time,” also occurs in chronicle (a historical account in time order),
chronic (ongoing, usually of an illness), and anachronism (thing out of its own time period). Chronometer
is just a fancy word for clock.
clamor
(verb)
CLAM-er
Definition: Noisy uproar or protest, as from a crowd; a loud, continuous noise
Usage: As soon as a scent of scandal emerged, the press was clamoring for details. / The mayor couldn’t
even make herself heard over the clamor of the protestors.
Related Words: Hubbub (loud noise, confusion), Cacophany (harsh, discordant, or meaningless mixture of
sounds), Din (loud, confused noise), Dissonance (cacophony, harsh, inharmonious sound)
More Info: Don’t confuse with clamber, which means to climb awkwardly or scramble. Clamor comes
from an Anglo-French root meaning “cry out,” a root that also gives us claim.
clinch
(verb)
KLIN-ch
Definition: Make final or settle conclusively; to fasten or hold together
Usage: When their best player was benched, the team fell behind, but once he was allowed back in the
game, the team was able to clinch the win. / These two pieces have been clinched together with a clamp
while the glue dries.
More Info: In sports, to clinch a championship is to gain so great a lead that it is impossible not to win. To
clinch a contract is to lock it down. To clinch a nail is to flatten the part that sticks out—that is, to finish
your work.
coalesce
(verb)
coh-uh-LESS
Definition: Come together, unite; fuse together
Usage: While at first everyone on the team was jockeying for power and recognition, eventually, the group
coalesced and everyone was happy to share credit for a job well-done. / East and West Germany
coalesced into a single country in 1990.
Related Words: Agglomerate (collect into a mass), Aggregate (gather together), Consolidate (unite,
combine, firm up—you can consolidate loans or consolidate power)
More Info: A coalition is a group that has coalesced (at least in theory).
cogent
(adj)
COH-gent
Definition: Very convincing, logical
Usage: Studying logic is an excellent way to improve at formulating cogent arguments. / Nurses who
work in the Alzheimer’s ward must develop skills for communicating with people who are often not
cogent.
More Info: Cogent comes from two roots meaning “together” and “drive”—a cogent argument allows you
to “drive” your listener to your conclusion. The resemblance of cogent to cognition, cognitive, cogitation,
and excogitate—words about thinking—is merely a coincidence, but a helpful one.
commensurate
(adj)
cuh-MEN-sher-it
Definition: The same in size, extent, etc., equivalent; proportional
Usage: According to the course catalog, you may take Advanced Japanese following Japanese III or
commensurate experience with the language.
Related Words: Tantamount (equivalent, as in “What he did is tantamount to murder.”)
More Info: The Latin “mensuratus” means “measure”—so commensurate means “measure together.”
complacent
(adj)
cuhm-PLAY-sent
Definition: Self-satisfied, smug; overly content (and therefore lazy, neglectful, or some other bad quality)
Usage: The coach gave a pep talk: “I know we’ve never won a championship before, but we do have an
advantage over the six-time state champions we’re about to play—they have grown complacent with
their success, and now they just assume they’ll win without having to sweat.”
More Info: Don’t confuse complacent with complaisant, which means “eager to please.”
complementary
(adj)
cahm-pleh-MENT-uh-ree
Definition: Completing; fitting together well; filling mutual needs
Usage: “That scarf really complements your outfit,” said Elle. “Thanks for the compliment,” said Danica.
/ The couple had complementary personalities—when Mark got overwhelmed with the details, Lee took
care of everything, and when Lee got too introspective, Mark cheered him up with an insatiable zest for
life.
More Info: Complementary angles (for instance, 35° and 55°) add to 90 degrees.
