Vocab

inexorable

When a person is inexorable, they're stubborn. When a thing or process is inexorable, it can't be stopped. This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter what. You can also say that a process, like the progress of a deadly illness, is inexorable because it can't be stopped. A speeding train with no brakes is inexorable; it's not stopping till it crashes. When you see the word inexorable, think "No one's stopping that."

palpable

When something is palpable, you can touch or handle it, even though the word is often used to describe things that usually can't be handled or touched, such as emotions or sensations. You probably won't see palpable used to describe, say, an egg or a doorknob or a motorcycle. Palpable is usually reserved for situations in which something invisible becomes so intense that it feels as though it has substance or weight. When the towers came down, the sense of sadness was so great, it was palpable.

preside

When you preside over something, you're acting as the leader or president. The captain of a club presides over the meetings. Whether your title is President or not, when you preside, you're acting as a president or another kind of leader. A judge presides over a courtroom. The owner of a business presides over staff meetings. If you work in an office, your boss presides over the office. Presiding can mean ruling or just supervising something. If you preside over something, you're in charge of it.

contrarian

a person who thinks differently from other people; a person who does the opposite of what is expected

anchorite

a religious recluse Origin late Middle English: from medieval Latin anchorita [ecclesiastical Latin anchoreta ], from ecclesiastical Greek anakhōrētēs, from anakhōrein 'retire,' from ana- 'back' + khōra, khōr- 'a place.'

inextricable

A chain that is very badly knotted and cannot be unraveled is inextricable. You cannot disentangle it. Inextricable comes from the Latin prefix in- meaning "not" and extricaremeaning "unravel." Something that is inextricable cannot be unraveled. This isn't just limited to objects. Memories from childhood can sometimes be inextricable from other associations — so bound up that it is hard to separate one from the other.

crucible

A crucible is a melting pot used for extremely hot chemical reactions — the crucible needs to be melt-proof. Literally, a crucible is a vessel used for very hot processes, like fusing metals. Another meaning of the word is a very significant and difficult trial or test. Scaling Mt. Everest with your legs tied together would be a crucible, as would swimming the English Channel blindfolded. Whether or not to have children is a crucible for many people. The title of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible is an example of this meaning.

amiable

A friendly, pleasant person could be described as amiable. Airline flight attendants tend to be amiable. The people monitoring the school's cafeteria? Maybe not. Choose Your Words amicable / amiable Amicable refers to a friendliness or goodwill between people or groups. Amiable refers to one person's friendly disposition. A group might have an amicablemeeting, because the people there are amiable. Continue reading... An amiable person is good-natured and easy to get along with. Add one letter and you get amicable, a word with a common ancestor (Latin amicabilis) and a similar meaning. But while amiable refers to friendly people, amicable refers to friendly relations between them; two amiable people who no longer want to be married to one another might have an amicable divorce.

moniker

A moniker is a nickname. Basketball player Charles Barkley had the moniker "The Round Mound of Rebound." A moniker is a nickname or pet name for a person. People who are dating or friends often have monikers like "Sweetie" and "Schmoopie." Some monikers are shortened versions of your name, like "Ed" or "Eddie" for "Edward." Athletes and other famous people have many monikers. There was a very large football player for the Chicago Bears (William Perry) whose moniker was "The Refrigerator." That's a lot nicer moniker than "Ivan the Terrible."

retinue

A retinue is a group of people that accompany an important person. If you're a king or queen, you can think of a retinue as your royal crew or posse. Retinue shares a root with retain. This fact can help you remember the word. If you hire someone to help you out while you travel, you are retaining their services. When their services are retained, they become part of your retinue. The Secret Service could be thought of as the U.S. President's retinue. Another example: A celebrity's retinue might include a hair dresser, a personal assistant, and a toy poodle.

distend

A soda and pizza binge might make your stomach distend, meaning your stomach will swell as a result of pressure from the inside. If you've ever eaten too much food it won't surprise you to learn that the verb distend traces back to the Latin words dis-, meaning "apart," andtendere, meaning "to stretch." Your stomach will certainly feel stretched out if you do something — like overeat — that causes it to distend. The word distend often applies to stomachs — a pregnancy would also cause a stomach to distend — but it can also refer to anything that is stretched out as a result of internal pressure.

antecedent

An antecedent is a thing that comes before something else. You might think rap music has no historical antecedent, but earlier forms of African-American spoken verse go back for centuries. In logic, mathematics, and grammar, the word antecedent (from Latinante-, "before" + cedere, "to yield") has the meaning "the first part of a statement." More generally, it means "something that came before, and perhaps caused, something else." The word is also an adjective: a lawyer or judge might talk about the "antecedent events" leading up to someone committing a crime.

Antipathy

An antipathy is a deep-seated dislike of something or someone. Usually it's a condition that is long-term, innate, and pretty unlikely to change — like your antipathy for the Red Sox. If you look at the Greek roots of this word — anti- ("against") and pathos("feeling") — you can see that antipathy is a feeling against someone or something. In general, antipathies are feelings that are kept at least somewhat under wraps and are not out in the open.

interim

An interim is a period of time between one event and another. If a teacher leaves mid-year, there might be an interimteacher, one who takes over the class until a permanent replacement is hired. Interim is a Latin adverb meaning "in the meantime." The first part, intermeans "between." Interim is the time between, and you can use it as a fancy way of referring to a time you squeeze something in. Maybe you get ice cream during the interim between school and piano lessons. This word is often used in official contexts — for example, after the CEO of a company steps down, an interim CEO might serve while a formal job search is conducted.

concentric

Concentric describes something, like circles, that have a common center. Concentric is from the Latin word concentricus, from com ("together") pluscentrum ("center" or "circle"). So, concentric things have a center in common. If you play darts, you aim for the smallest red dot of those colorful concentric circles. Although it's usually used to describe circles, ideas can also be concentric if they have a common point, such as when your dreams revolve around a concentric theme of flying. The opposite word is eccentric ("not having a common center") like that oddball neighbor you have nothing in common with.

conflate

Conflate is a more formal way to say "mix together." You probably wouldn't say you conflated the ingredients for a cake, but if you blended two different stories together to make a new one, conflate would work. The verb conflate comes to us from the Latin word conflare, which literally means "to blow together." So think of using this word when you want to talk about two things getting thrown together and combined. Things that have been conflated often seem mixed up or confused, as when you conflate two different ideas, taking parts of one and parts of another to build your own Frankenstein version of things.

cerebral

If you are a cerebral person, no one would ever call you a drama queen. You make decisions using your intelligence and cold, hard facts, instead of your emotions. The word cerebral gets its meaning from cerebrum, which is Latin for brain. Cerebral people use their brains instead of their hearts. The cerebrum is a particular section of the brain, and anything related to that part is also cerebral, like in medicine. A cerebral hemorrhage, for example, means a hemorrhage has occurred in the brain — a phrase you'd never want to hear coming from a doctor.

prognosis

If you come down with an illness, you might ask your doctor what your prognosis is. A prognosis is a prediction about the course of a disease. Prognosis comes from the Greek pro- "before" and gnosis "knowledge." It means to know beforehand, but keep in mind that it is only a probable outcome and not a sure thing. Financial analysts frequently change their prognosis of the economy as they hear each piece of good or bad economic news. And if the weather prognosis is sunny and dry, but you see dark clouds forming, you would be wise to pack an umbrella.

indiscriminate

Nuclear bombs are indiscriminate, as are earthquakes. They affect everyone in their path rather than picking or choosing. When something is indiscriminate, it makes no fine distinctions. A dog who eats everything could be said to have indiscriminate taste. If you walk into a store and buy the first pair of pants in your size, no matter what they look like, you are an indiscriminate shopper. Usually though, you'll hear the word used to describe violent acts or natural events because these things do not have a specific target. They affect all people without considering the differences in their lives.

portend

Portend means to show a sign that something calamitous is about to happen. The teetering, tottering, pile of fine china piled up after the dinner party portends an imminent crash of broken plates and dishes. Portend is a verb warning of omens, or bad signs. Dark clouds rumbling in over a county fair in Kansas portend the thunderstorm and even tornado that is likely to ruin the festivities. Portend is a helpful way for authors to foreshadow dark events ahead in their stories.

Risible

Risible is a fun word to say (it rhymes with visible), but it's not used all that much, maybe because it's a little formal. If you started saying the word risible all the time, that itself might be a little bit risible. Fun — and less stuffy — synonyms include amusing, comic, comical, funny,laughable, and mirthful.

in extremis

Someone in extremis is in a desperate state, or a terrible situation — even near death. Society has made a habit of recording the final words of people in extremis — like when the dying Kane muttered "Rosebud" in "Citizen Kane." You could say that the patients in a hospital's intensive care unit are mostly in extremis, or that when soldiers find themselves surrounded by the enemy army, they are all in extremis. This Latin phrase often means "at the point of death," and also "in an extreme situation." Literally, in extremis is "in the farthest reaches."

Cavalier

Someone who is cavalier has a dismissive attitude and regards other people as inferior. If you think you know more than your teacher and never bother doing homework, your parents might complain that you are cavalier about your studies. The word cavalier dates from mid-16th-century French, from the Latincaballus, meaning "horse." If you have a cavalier attitude, you look down on other people — as if you are sitting on a very tall horse and other people are sitting down there on the ground.

incessant

Something incessant continues without interruption. When you're on a cross-country flight, it's tough to tolerate the incessant crying of a baby. In Latin, cessare means "to stop," so when you add the negative prefix in-, you get a word meaning "never stopping." A near synonym is continual, but something incessant is more relentless; ceaseless is a closer synonym. It's rare to find incessant used in a positive way. Even incessant sunshine would grow boring.

Aegis

To be under the aegis of an organization is to be sponsored or protected by them. For instance, you were under the aegis of the Peace Corps when you were living in Swaziland. The noun aegis comes from the Greek word Aigis, which was the name of Zeus's shield. That's Zeus, the most powerful Greek god, who probably had a pretty tough shield, even though it was made of goatskin. To say that something or someone is under the aegis of another is basically saying that they have the strength of Zeus on their side. Or, at least, whoever is protecting them will be as Zeus-like as possible in their support.

Truncate

Truncated is an adjective that means "cut short," like a truncated picnic, caused by the sudden downpour. The word comes from the root truncate, which is of Latin origin, and means "cut off." When an object is truncated, its end or point is cut off, like a truncated arrow that is safe for kids to play with. Truncated can also refer to something that ends earlier than planned — everyone was angry at the truncated concert until they learned that the singer had broken his leg when he fell on stage.

exorbitant

Use the adjective exorbitant when you want to describe something that is really just too much! You'll often hear people griping about exorbitant bank fees or exorbitant interest rates. The adjective exorbitant was originally a legal term to describe a case that was outside the bounds of the law. It comes from the Latin roots — the prefix ex, meaning "out of," and orbita, meaning "wheel track." You can see how the word now has come to be described as something that has gone way off the beaten track, especially in terms of price and value.

Vaccilate

Vacillate means to waver back and forth, unable to decide. You might vacillate between ordering waffles and pancakes at your favorite diner — it's hard to pick just one when both are so tasty! Something that vacillates sways or fluctuates, often quite unsteadily. So use this verb to describe the staggering motions of a person who has had too much to drink, as well as the opinions of someone who can't make up her mind. Synonyms include vibrate, hesitate, and waver. A wise Ethiopian proverb advises, "Do not vacillate or you will be left in between doing something, having something, and being nothing."

voluble

Voluble describes someone who talks a lot, like your aunt who can't stop telling you to cut your hair or a political candidate who makes twenty speeches on the day before the election. Have you ever found it especially hard to interrupt someone who talks a lot when he or she gets on a roll? If so, it won't surprise you that the adjective voluble traces back to the Latin word volvere, meaning "to roll." The word voluble describes talking continuously, fluently, at great length, in a steady flow. You'll know it when you meet voluble talkers: they just keep rolling on and on.

impetuous

acting or done quickly and without thought or care Someone impetuous acts too hastily or carelessly. Hotheaded, impulsive folks are impetuous. If you're a careful person who thinks everything through and doesn't act rashly, then you're not very impetuous. Impetuous has to do with doing things on the spur of the moment — and not good things. Being impetuous usually goes along with being impatient and easily angered. If you're impetuous, you act quickly and thoughtlessly when you should just take a deep breath, relax, and think about the best thing to do.

fecundate

fertilize, make fruitful

irrevocable

incapable of being changed or called back If you're on a diet but eat one tiny piece of chocolate, it might start an irrevocableslide into bad eating. Describe something as irrevocable if it cannot be undone or taken back. If you break down irrevocable, you wind up with ir "not," re "back" andvocable from the Latin vocare "to call." So if something is irrevocable, you cannot call it back — it is permanent. You must fulfill an irrevocable promise and live with an irrevocable decision. A law is irrevocable if it states within the law that it cannot be nullified. Now that's final!