Magoosh-vocabulary
Chauvinist
A chauvinist is someone who blindly and enthusiastically believes in the superiority of his cause or people. If you grew up in New York and refuse to eat at any pizzeria beyond a five-mile radius of the Empire State Building, you could be described as a New York pizza chauvinist.,The word chauvinist comes from Nicholas Chauvin, a French soldier أ¢آ€آ" probably fictional أ¢آ€آ" who was so devoted to Napoleon that he continued to zealously support the emperor even after Napoleon rejected him. The put-down أ¢آ€آœmale chauvinist pigأ¢آ€آ describes a man who believes that women are not as intelligent or worthy of respect as men. Often when we hear the word chauvinist, we think of arrogant men.
Contentious
A contentious issue is one that people are likely to argue about, and a contentious person is someone who likes to argue or fight.,Some issues أ¢آ€آ" like abortion, the death penalty, and gun control أ¢آ€آ" are very controversial. They're also contentious, because people tend to argue about them, and the arguments will probably go on forever. Contentious issues get people angry and in a fighting mood. On the other hand, some people always seem to be in a fighting mood, no matter what the issue is. People like that are contentious too.
Fleece
A fleece is a sheep's coat. Or a goat's. Or a yak's. A person's coat can be called a fleece, too, if it comes from a sheep or goat or a yak or even if it just looks like it did.,You can also use fleece in an informal way to mean cheating someone. Remember how Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow? Well, it was such a nice, clean fleece that Mary tricked the lamb into trusting her, then robbed him of his fleece and turned it into a bomber jacket and a pair of boots. She totally fleeced him!
Hedge
A hedge is a living fence made of closely planted bushes, which, as they grow and get trimmed and shaped, form a wall of green.,Hedge can also be used as a verb. If you someone asks you a question and you hedge, you're avoiding a straight answer. If you hedge your bets, you're trying to minimize risk or loss أ¢آ€آ" that is, you're trying to cover yourself no matter what happens. If you're not sure, for instance, what your boss's political views are, you can hedge your bets by not revealing yours.
Malapropism
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 أƒآ 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.\
Melee
A melee is a noisy free-for-all or rowdy fight أ¢آ€آ" a no holds barred, battle royal, if you will. It's what pro wrestlers engage in every night, and shoppers endure at the toy store every holiday season.,If you think melee sounds like a fancy French way to say \crazy bar brawl,\ you're right: It comes from the French mأƒآھlأƒآ©e which means \confused fight or mixture.أ¢آ€آ What makes a melee different than any other fight is that element of chaos or confusion أ¢آ€آ" so don't jump into a brewing melee unless you're really ready to bring the ruckus.
Misanthrope
A misanthrope is a person who hates or mistrusts other people. Your great aunt Edna who lashes out at anyone who approaches, convinced they'll steal the jewelry she keeps in her handbag on her lap? A misanthrope indeed.,This is a formal word, derived from Greek misanthrأ...آچpos \hating mankind,\ from misein \to hate\ plus anthrأ...آچpos \a man.\ From the same root, we get the English word anthropology \the study of humans.\ If you make a statement or do something that is particularly hostile or untrusting, you can call that misanthropic.
Moment
A moment is a particular point in time. Some moments you remember forever: like the moment you earned your driver's license or the moment you learned that you passed Organic Chemistry.,A moment is a short, but unspecified, amount of time. At Thanksgiving, you are supposed to take a moment to be grateful for friends and family. Or maybe you have been asked to observe a \moment of silence\ for a national tragedy. Moment can also mean \importance.\ If you say something is \of little moment,\ then you are saying it doesn't matter.
Pariah
A pariah is someone that has been soundly rejected by their community. Your constant gossiping might make you a pariah on campus.,Pariah takes its name from a tribe in Southeast India. The pariahs were drummers, sorcerers, and servants who became untouchables in Indian society because of the unsanitary jobs they did. Pariah maintains this sense of untouchableness. Pariahs are not just unliked, they are avoided at all costs. Imagine how a once popular restaurant could gain pariah status if it fails health inspections three times in a row.
Parvenu
A parvenu is an upstart, somebody who's suddenly rich but doesn't fit into his new social status. If you're a parvenu, people might also describe you as \nouveau-riche\ or an \arriviste.\ Maybe it's not quite so insulting in French.,The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom from the 1960s, featured the Clampetts, classic parvenus, who struck oil on their backwoods West Virginia swampland. They arrive at their mansion in Beverly Hills, dressed in overalls, in their pick-up truck, with their shabby furniture strapped on top. As parvenus, they donأ¢آ€آ™t fit in أ¢آ€آ" to say the least. Parvenu is from French, and it's the past participle of parvenir, \arrived.\
Quisling
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.
Sedulous
A sedulous person is someone who works hard and doesn't give up easily. If you make repeated and sedulous attempts to fix a leaky pipe and it only makes things worse, it might be time to go online and find the number of a plumber.,There are a couple of words that basically mean the same thing as sedulous but are a little more common, namely assiduous, painstaking, and diligent. Like sedulous, all of these adjectives can be turned into adverbs by adding the suffix ly: \He assiduously tried to fix the pipe, but to no avail.\
Virago
A virago is a loud, bossy woman, like your next door neighbor who is always yelling at kids to get off her lawn.,You can use the noun virago when you're describing a particularly mean and scolding woman. It's not a compliment to call someone a virago, although its origins are much nobler than the shrewish, screechy character it implies today. Originally, a virago was a brave or heroic woman. The root of virago is the Latin word for \man,\ vir. In other words, a virago used to mean a woman who seemed manly or virile.
Arch
An arch is a shape that resembles an upside down \U.\ You may find this shape in a carefully tweezed eyebrow or in the famous golden pair that make you hunger for a Big Mac.,In architecture, an arch is an opening that is often found supporting the weight of a something above it أ¢آ€آ" like a bridge or a wall. In downtown St. Louis, you can visit the Gateway Arch أ¢آ€آ" a freestanding catenary arch that is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide. As a verb, arch means to make an arch-like shape. \She stretched her back by arching it into a backbend.\ As an adjective, arch can describe something mischievous or sly: \He teased his friend with an arch comment about his shyness around girls.\
Imbroglio
An imbroglio is a complicated or confusing personal situation. To rephrase the J. Geils band song, \Love Stinks,\ if you love her and she loves him and he loves somebody else, you've got quite an imbroglio.,Although an imbroglio is a tangled situation or a messy complicated misunderstanding, its history is just the opposite, clear as a bell. Imbroglio is just a borrowed word from Italian meaning \entanglement.\ If something embarrassing happens at a public event, such as a mishap during the musical performances at the Super Bowl, it is sometimes called an imbroglio.
Iconoclast
Are you always challenging the establishment? Or provoking popular thought by attacking traditions and institutions? Then you're definitely an iconoclast.,To be called an iconoclast today is usually kind of cool أ¢آ€آ" they're rugged individualists, bold thinkers who don't give a hoot what tradition calls for. But back in medieval Greece, the iconoclasts had a more thuggish reputation. Stemming from the Greek words eikon, meaning \image,\ and klastes, meaning \breaker,\ an iconoclast was someone who destroyed religious sculptures and paintings.
Choleric
Are you easy to tick off? Known to have a short fuse? Then, you could be described as choleric. Don't worry it's not a disease related to cholera. Choleric just means you're testy and irritable.,Before the advent of modern medicine, most folks believed that health and disease were the result of the balance of \humors\ in the body. If you were quick to anger, you were thought to have too much choler in your system. You were called choleric. W. C. Fields, Richard Nixon, and Ebinezer Scrooge are just a few people famous for being choleric, easy to tick off.
Benighted
Being called benighted is much like being called naive. It means lacking in knowledge or understandingأ¢آ€آ"the kind you might have if you were older or more sophisticated.,Although it sounds a lot like \being knighted\, benighted has nothing to do with knights and, in fact, includes the word \night\ (as in the opposite of day) and not \knight\ (as in \of the Round Table\). One way to remember what benighted means is to think of a person \being nighted\ or, put into the dark. A benighted person is in the dark about things: they don't know because they can't see. The Dark Ages are thought to have been a benighted time, full of primitive ideas.
Involved
Being involved means being a part of something or associated with it. If you volunteer on a team to clean up the playground, you're involved in making it a safer and more fun place for kids to play.,Involved is an adjective with many different uses. It can describe something difficult or complicated, as in \really involved instructions for putting together a plane model,\ or it describes relationships and partnerships, like when youأ¢آ€آ™re involved with someone in a serious dating relationship or are involved in helping out as a tutor after school. You can be involved in more negative situations, too, as when a country is involved in spying on another or a group is involved in plotting a crime.
Check
Check: Small word, loads of different meanings. One of the most common is \to inspect or verify.\ You might check the oven to see if your cookies are done.,A few of the many meanings of check: As a noun: the act of restraining power or action a pattern of squares resembling a checkerboard a restaurant bill a financial instrument payable to the named bearer (from your checkbook) a mark indicating that something's been noted or finished. As a verb: to crack on the surface to slow or delay growth to obstruct your hockey opponent to hand over for inventory and safekeeping, especially baggage on a plane.
Expansive
Expansive is all about being able to grow or get larger. An expansive piece of land is large, an expansive mind is one that is always thinking of the big picture, an expansive vocabulary is one that holds lots of words.,Warning: don't confuse expansive, \large,\ with expensive, \high priced.\ They differ by only one letter but mean very different things. A Big Mac may contain what McDonald's advertizes as an expansive all-beef patty, but it isn't expensive food.
Parochial
If an issue or a matter is parochial, it is trivial or only concerns a local area. Likewise, a person with a parochial mentality is narrow-minded, or not open to new ideas.,Parochial comes to English from Greek through Latin with the meaning \of a parish.\ As a parochial school is a school that is affiliated with a particular church, the connection is easy to see. In general though, parochial refers to a narrow or limited point of view أ¢آ€آ" that is, an outlook that extends no further than the limits of the parish. You may feel that there is no room in your life for the parochial attitudes of the older generation. Let's hope you remain open-minded as you age!
Bilious
If an unpleasant meal has left you feeling grumpy and looking green, you're bilious in several senses of the word. This adjective can mean both \troubled by indigestion\ and \irritable,\ and it can also be used to suggest a sickly green shade.,The wonderfully descriptive word bilious comes from the root bile, which is a foul green fluid made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder أ¢آ€آ" a fact that helps us picture something described as bilious as being really foul. Because of the connection with bile, we often refer to something that's an ugly shade of green as being bilious. Of course, the word can also be more kindly applied to someone who has a liver or gall bladder disorder.
Sartorial
If it's the day before a big event and you have no idea what to wear and nothing in your closet is going to cut it, you are facing a sartorial dilemma أ¢آ€آ" one that pertains to clothing, fashion or dressing.,Sartorial comes from the Modern Latin word sartor which means \tailor,\ literally \one who patches and mends.\ In English the adjectives sartorial and sartorially are used to refer to any matter pertaining to the consideration of clothing or fashion. The root word sartor has also made its way into the field of biology. The sartorius أ¢آ€آ" a muscle in the leg and the longest muscle in the human body أ¢آ€آ" gets its name because it is used when crossing the legs, also known as the أ¢آ€آœtailor's position.\
Retiring
If you are a retiring person, you avoid being at the center of attention. You can often be found in the library and other quiet places, and if someone compliments you, you're likely to blush and change the subject.,If you call someone retiring, it isn't necessarily clear whether you mean it as a compliment or something closer to a put-down. Usually, the word is used to describe someone who is shy or modest to a fault. But it can also be used to suggest that someone isn't arrogant, which is usually a good thing. And, of course, retiring can also refer to someone who stepped down from their last job and doesn't intend to work anymore.
Ambivalent
If you can't decide how you feel about something, declare yourself ambivalent about it.,Ambivalent means \having mixed feelings about something.\ A Swiss psychologist named Eugen Bleuler coined the German word Ambivalenz in the early twentieth century, and it was soon imported into English. Bleuler combined the Latin prefix ambi-, meaning \both,\ with valentia, \strength.\ So etymologically speaking, if you're ambivalent you're being pulled by two equally strong things أ¢آ€آ" but in practice, ambivalence often arises from caring very little either way. You might feel ambivalent about your lunch options if you have to choose between a murky stew and flavorless tofu.
Sanguine
If you're sanguine about a situation, that means you're optimistic that everything's going to work out fine.,Sanguine is from Latin sanguis \blood\ and originally meant \bloody\ أ¢آ€آ" in medieval medicine it described someone whose ruddy complexion was a sign of an optimistic outlook. That was back when people thought that \bodily humors\ like blood were responsible for your attitudes. Now that we no longer believe in humors, sanguine has settled down as a fancy way to say someone is cheerfully confident. Experts are frequently described as feeling sanguine about a political or economic situation أ¢آ€آ" or not sanguine, if they think we're going to hell in a handbasket.
Tender
If you're tender, it means you're fragile, sensitive, easily bruised or gentle. Young, easily cut beef and a sentimental heart can both be called tender.,The many meanings attributed to tender developed over time. In the early 13th century, the word meant soft or easily injured. About a hundred years later, its meaning expanded to include kind and loving. Skip forward another century, and tender could also imply a lack of maturity.
Apostasy
If your lifelong Republican-voting grandfather suddenly decides to register as a Democrat, some of his conservative friends may consider his change in politics to be apostasy, or rejecting what has been a strong belief and adopting a new one.,When you abandon a set of beliefs, especially when they're religious beliefs, you can be accused of apostasy, which in some countries is actually illegal. It's taken seriously by many churches, since the rejection of a church's ideas can be seen as a criticism of the entire organization. Over time, the meaning of apostasy has grown to include non-religious examples, like your grandfather's political switch.
Demur
If your mother asks you to clean your room and you refuse, you demur. And if your friend invites you to the Death Metal Forever concert but you hesitate, you demur. Whether you object, politely disagree, or hesitate, you demur.,If Aunt Tilly offers to knit you a sweater, you might politely demur, being reluctant to accept. When she describes the bunnies she plans for the sweater, you would want to strongly demur, explaining that you are moving to Texas next week and will no longer need sweaters. And if you find yourself the defendant in a civil suit, you might file a demurrer, objecting to the plaintiffأ¢آ€آ™s complaint. When you file that demurrer, you also demur.
Imbibe
Imbibe is a fancy word for \drink.\ If you need to imbibe ten cups of coffee just to get out of the house, you might have a caffeine problem.,Although the verb imbibe means to take in liquids of any sort, if you don't specify the liquid, people are likely to infer you mean an alcoholic beverage. You can also use it figuratively. If you have imbibed every detail about every battle of the U.S. Civil War, you must find the subject interesting.
Intimate
Intimate means being close. A small restaurant is called intimate because you're sitting close to the other people, and your best friends are considered your intimate friends.,This adjective can mean very friendly, or very personal or private. The original spelling was intime, from French, from Latin intimus \innermost,\ from intus \within.\ The related verb intimate means to hint or suggest. Intimate is also a noun meaning a close friend or associate. And when you get intimate with someone, it can mean that you're sexually involved.
Kowtow
Kowtow, which describes the act of kneeling and touching oneأ¢آ€آ™s head to the ground to show respect, used to be a custom in Chinese culture. Now it refers to acting like you're doing that, whether you actually bow or not.,Kowtow is derived from the Chinese word kأ¢آ€آ™o-tأ¢آ€آ™ou, which literally means أ¢آ€آœknock the head.أ¢آ€آ As a verb, kowtow has the sense of أ¢آ€آœsucking upأ¢آ€آ or \flattering.\ Maybe youأ¢آ€آ™re wondering when it would be appropriate to kowtow. The answer? When you want to worship, show respect, gain favor, or flatter. You might need to kowtow to your teacher if you failed a test, but if you kowtow to all your neighbor's requests, you might wind up mowing his lawn all summer.
Laconic
Laconic is an adjective that describes a style of speaking or writing that uses only a few words, often to express complex thoughts and ideas. A more laconic way to write that last sentence might be this: laconic means brief.,Thereأ¢آ€آ™s a friend of yours who doesnأ¢آ€آ™t talk very much, and when he does, he says maybe three words and then becomes quiet again. You could describe that friend as laconic. The word comes from Laconia, a region in ancient Greece where the local Spartan rulers gave very short speeches. Being laconic can be bad when it sounds rude to be so brief, but it can be good if youأ¢آ€آ™re in a rush to get somewhere.
Maintain
Maintain means to keep the sameأ¢آ€آ"أ¢آ€آ"keep steady, keep up, or keep going. Sure, you can ride your bike super fast on a flat surface, but it can be hard to maintain that speed, or keep the same speed, going up a hill.,When you maintain a strict study schedule, you stick to it. When you maintain your car in good working order, you take good care of it. If you maintain records of your business activity, it means you make notes of your sales and expenses. If a teacher maintains order in the classroom, she never lets disruptions get out of hand. If you maintain your family, you keep them in food, shelter and clothing. If you maintain that eating animals is cruel, you keep that position.
Qualify
Make sure you know the context when using the word qualify. In one sense, it means to be right for, to measure up. In another sense, though, qualify means to change something slightly, to limit it or add a condition to it.,If you want to qualify for your driver's license, remember not to drive through that final stop sign without stopping. I guarantee you that if you don't stop you will not qualify. You don't just get your Eagle Badge. You have to qualify for itأ¢آ€آ"there's a lot to do before you get it. The word might be used in its other sense like this: If you plan to get married, keep your vows simple: say \I do.\ Don't qualify them by saying something like \I do...except sometimes, when I don't.\ If you have to qualify your wedding vows, don't get married.
Saturnine
Medieval alchemists ascribed to the planet Saturn a gloomy and slow character. When people are called saturnine, it means they are like the planetأ¢آ€آ"أ¢آ€آ"gloomy, mean, scowling. Not exactly the life of the party.,Saturnine is a word you don't hear often nowadays, though you probably know people with saturnine dispositions. The ultimate saturnine character in literature is Heathcliffأ¢آ€آ"أ¢آ€آ"and for clarification's sake, that would be the brooding, bitter, obsessed hero of \Wuthering Heights,\ not the lovably pudgy cat of comic-strip fame.
Curmudgeon
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 أ¢آ€آœevil heart,أ¢آ€آ but that theory has been long discarded. Don't worry though, youأ¢آ€آ™ll know a curmudgeon when you see one: Heأ¢آ€آ™ll be ill-tempered and miserly, eager to shake his fist and spout disagreeable opinions.
Profuse
Profuse is a word for a lot of something or even way too much أ¢آ€آ" a profuse rainfall is a serious amount of rain.,This word has to do with extravagance or abundance. If you're bleeding profusely, you're bleeding a lot. If you lavish profuse gifts on your pet, you might have too much money on your hands. When you give someone profuse praise, you're probably laying it on a little thick. If youأ¢آ€آ™re a farmer and your crops are profuse, thatأ¢آ€آ™s great because you have a lot of crops. Anything profuse is happening in great amounts.
Prosaic
Prosaic means ordinary or dull. Most of us lead a prosaic everyday life, sometimes interrupted by some drama or crisis.,This adjective is from Latin prosa \prose,\ which is ordinary writing intended to communicate ideas and information. Prose is often contrasted with poetry, which usually has a more imaginative and original style.
Pugnacious
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 thugأ¢آ€آ"أ¢آ€آ"always ready to use his fists to settle arguments, and he has the strength to do so. Thatأ¢آ€آ™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.
Lagniappe
Say you buy a dozen doughnuts and the baker throws an extra cruller in your box. You've just been given a lagniappe, or a small gift from a merchant to a customer.,The word lagniappe tells a fascinating American story. Spanish speakers in the New World took a word from the indigenous Quechua language to make la أƒآ±apa, meaning \the gift.\ Then in New Orleans, where Spanish and French mixed freely, la أƒآ±apa got Frenchified into lagniappe. In Louisiana it's still used to refer to a bonus from a friendly merchant when you buy something. You could also call any nice little extra a lagniappe.
Gerrymander
Some politicians change the boundaries of their voting districts in order to benefit themselves or their political party. To manipulate the boundaries like this أ¢آ€آ" often viewed as unfair أ¢آ€آ" is to gerrymander.,The verb gerrymander first appeared in 1812 when Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry redrew district boundaries, hoping it would help his party in an upcoming senate election. Then somebody noticed that the new district looked like a salamander, so they combined Gerry and -mander to create the new word gerrymander. And then a newspaper printed a cartoon with a giant salamander making fun of Gerry, which is what happens to politicians who donأ¢آ€آ™t behave.
Pollyannaish
Someone who is unfailingly cheerful أ¢آ€آ" no matter what أ¢آ€آ" can be described as pollyannaish. If your friend tells you some terribly bad news, it would be pollyannaish to say, \Yes, but it's such a beautiful day!\,While the adjective pollyannaish describes an optimistic outlook and a determined cheeriness, it also implies that this attitude is taken too far. When you put a positive spin on everything, even things that call for sadness or discouragement, you're being pollyannaish. The word comes from a 1913 children's book by Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna, about a young girl who tries to find something positive in every situation أ¢آ€آ" a trick she calls \the Glad Game.\
Scintillating
Something scintillating is flashing briefly and sharply with light. Scintillating conversations are smart and captivating.,To be scintillating is to be sharp. Things that are scintillating are exciting: they grab your attention with sparkles, flashes of light, or sheer brilliance. Most often, we talk about scintillating conversations and speakers. If you say someone is scintillating, then they are clever أ¢آ€آ" people want to listen to them. This is a word often used sarcastically. If someone is boring, you might say \Well, that was scintillating,\ while rolling your eyes.
Fell
Something that has been felled has been brought down, like a tree that has been felled by a powerful storm.,The word fell wears many hats in addition to being the past tense of fall. As a noun, a fell can be a stitching on the hem of a piece of clothing like pants, or an animal skin that has the fur intact. In Shakespeareأ¢آ€آ™s Macbeth, the character MacDuff is stricken when he learns that his family has been killed أ¢آ€آœin one fell swoop.أ¢آ€آ Here the adjective fell means \vicious and cruel.\
Bleak
Something that is bleak is gloomy and depressing. If it's raining and dark, you might describe the night as bleak. If you have looked for work and no one will hire you, you could describe your prospects as bleak.,If you and the ten people sharing your lifeboat have been adrift for ten days and are down to your last cracker, your situation is bleak. A near synonym is dismal. Bleak is from Middle English bleik, from Old Norse bleikr \white, pale.\ This word is related to the English word bleach.
Egregious
Something that is egregious stands out, but not in a good way أ¢آ€آ" it means \really bad or offensive,\ like a tattoo on a man misspelling his girlfriend's name.,\My massage therapist gave me bruises,\ someone complained recently on Twitter, asking, \When does it cease to be deep tissue massage therapy and become egregious and unabashed manhandling?\ An egregious error is hardly forgivable. Some synonyms are shocking, appalling, and intolerable. The word has made a 180-degree turn from its original sense in Latin, when it meant \exceptionally good.\ Word historians have speculated that the negative usage was originally meant to be ironic, but it is the only sense that has survived. Be careful not to use it to mean \outstanding,\ since no one wants to be called egregious.
Anathema
Something that one absolutely and positively cannot stand is anathema. Garlic is anathema to vampires (ditto for stakes and daylight). So is kryptonite to Superman or a silver bullet to a werewolf.,Originally the term anathema comes from the Catholic practice of denouncing a particular individual or idea that was antithetical to the Catholic Church. If done to a person, it excommunicated them, meaning they could no longer partake in the church's sacraments (with presumably pretty poor consequences for the soul.) That's a lot worse than kryptonite.
Becoming
Something that's becoming is charming, or looks good. It's a compliment أ¢آ€آ" or a sales tactic أ¢آ€آ" if a salesperson gushes, \That dress is so becoming on you!\,Clothing that's becoming is well-suited to the person wearing it, flattering him and making him look great. You can also use the adjective to mean \appropriate,\ as when a stern kindergarten teacher scolds, \That behavior is not becoming, boys.\ In the 13th century, something becoming was \fitting,\ and by the 1560s it also meant \looking good.\ The opposite of becoming is unbecoming.
Stem
Sometimes stem means to originate other times it means to stop something at its source. You stem the flow of a river, but you can also observe that a riverأ¢آ€آ™s flow stems from a spring.,To remember stemأ¢آ€آ™s meaning think of the stem of a plantأ¢آ€آ"أ¢آ€آ"itأ¢آ€آ™s where a plant begins but also where you pluck it from the ground. Once teachers realized that the studentsأ¢آ€آ™ anger stemmed from the overload of homework, they stemmed the rebellionأ¢آ€آ™s tide.
Candid
Straightforward and truthful talk might be described with the adjective candid. If you're too candid in your personal blog, a future employer might discover your penchant for nude skydiving.,A serious-minded politician might suggest engaging in a \candid discussion\ about a complicated topic like health care or the environment, because candid means \open\ or \frank.\ Remember that TV show Candid Camera? It was called that because its hidden cameras supposedly showed a candid view of reality. In photography, candid has become a noun meaning \an unposed photo.\ The word comes from Latin candidus, meaning \white,\ which was later extended to mean \pure.\ Candid talk provides the pure, unvarnished truth.
Erratic
The adjective erratic describes things that are unpredictable, unusual, and that deviate from the norm. An erratic quarterback might completely confuse his receivers waiting for a pass.,Like its linguistic relative, error, the adjective erratic means \deviating from the norm,\ or \wrong.\ It also implies behavior or qualities that are unpredictable or odd. The word comes from the Latin verb errare, or \to wander\ off course. In the field of geology, a rock that is erratic is unlike others in its environment because it has been transported by glacial activity. Likewise, someone driving a car that veers out of its lane is said to be driving erratically.
Picayune
The adjective picayune refers to those things that are so small, trivial, and unimportant that they're not worth getting into. Why focus on the picayune details, when it's the larger ideas that are the real problem?,There are several newspapers in America called the Picayune, because they see it as their job to comb through even the minor details of the story to get to the truth. Hear the word \picky\ in picayune (though they're not related)? That's one way to remember it. A picky person is picayune. Airline disaster investigators spend their lives rummaging through the debris, knowing that it might be the most picayune detail that leads them to understand the cause of a crash.
Checkered
The author who sells a million copies of her first book, four of the second, wins a prize for the third and dies at the ceremony has had a checkered career: it's got bright spots and dark ones, like a checkerboard.,Checkered is a funny word it can be used to describe the red and white pattern on a classic tablecloth or the up's and down's of someone's past. You could describe the flag that's waved at a Nascar event as checkered. And if the winning Nascar driver used to work at a car wash, you could say he has had a checkered career.
Start
The beginning of something is the start. The start of the movie may have been a little slow, but by the end you were on the edge of your seat.,As a verb, start means to begin an activity or event. Some people turn to the last page of a book before they even start it, so they'll be prepared for the ending. Start can also mean to move suddenly in surprise or alarm, or to startle. This is actually the original meaning of the word start, which comes from the Old English word styrtan, meaning to caper or to leap up.
Sanctimonious
The sanctimonious person sounds like a hypocrite when he preaches to a friend about the evils of drugs, while he drinks one beer after another.,Sanctimonious is a twist on the words sanctity and sacred, which mean holy or religious. A sanctimonious person might think he's holy, but their attitude comes across more like \holier-than-thou.\ Though sanctimonious people might try to act like saints, their actions are far from pure or holy, which just makes them sound like hypocrites.
Disparate
The trunk of some people's cars may contain items as disparate as old clothes, rotting food, and possibly a missing relative. Disparate things are very different from each other.,Near synonyms are unequal and dissimilar. The adjective disparate is from Latin disparأ„آپtus, from disparأ„آپre \to separate, divide,\ from the prefix dis- \apart\ plus parأ„آپre \to prepare.\ Disparate in the sense of \very different\ probably developed by association with the Latin adjective dispar \unequal, different.\
Galvanize
The verb galvanize refers to stimulating muscles with an electrical current, and is also used to suggest stimulating someone into action.,The word galvanize was coined to honor the 18th Century scientist Luigi Galvani, who found that a spark could make a frog's legs move. This discovery led to further studies in bioelectrogenesis, or what Galvani called \animal electricity,\ and became the basis for the Mary Shelley book Frankenstein, in which a mad scientists attempts to use electricity to galvanize a monster to life. Nowadays, people use this term much more figuratively, like when they describe galvanizing a political movement or even a sports team into action.
Wax
The verb wax is most often found in the company of its opposite, \wane.\ To wax is to grow larger or increase, whereas wane means to grow smaller or decrease.,As the moon grows towards fullness, it waxes. It wanes, or diminishes in size, as the new moon approaches. This is the most common context for the verb wax, but it is also used to describe other phenomena that grow or increase, particularly those that are cyclical. Figuratively, if you wax eloquent, lyrical or poetic about something, you talk about it at great length and with growing enthusiasm. The noun wax refers to chemical compounds that can be shaped and molded, for example into candles, when warm.
Paucity
The word paucity means not enough of something. If you've got a paucity of good cheer, for example, you'd better cheer up!,One good way to remember the meaning of paucity is that it's a bit like pauper, as in The Prince and the Pauper. The prince had too much money, and the pauper had a paucity. There are a lot of words that mean \little\ or \small,\ but paucity is used when you mean specifically \not enough\ or \too little.\ People in LA don't understand how New Yorkers can live with such a paucity of space. For what New Yorkers pay for a tiny apartment, Angelenos get a house and a yard.
Reprobate
There's no way around it, a reprobate is a bad egg. The black sheep of the family, missing a moral compass أ¢آ€آ" a reprobate's been called everything from a deviant to an evildoer to a scoundrel.,Selfish, depraved, disreputable, a reprobate is not known for his inner goodness. In fact, reprobates were once considered \rejected by God,\ the meaning of the noun in the 1500s. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, a reprobate was a popular literary character, sometimes amusing, as noted in Henry James' Daisy Miller, \What a clever little reprobate she was, and how smartly she played an injured innocence!\
Beg
To beg is to ask for something in an earnest, pleading way. You might beg your roommates to be quiet if you're desperately trying to get some sleep.,You can beg your parents to let you go to a concert with your friends, and you can beg your sister for forgiveness after you inadvertently hurt her feelings. In either case, you are imploring, asking sincerely for something you want. Many dogs are skilled at this, and will beg by sitting beside you while you eat, looking adorable. Another way to beg is to ask for desperately needed charity أ¢آ€آ" to solicit money or food from strangers.
Desecrate
To desecrate means to treat a sacred place or thing with violent disrespect. The news sometimes reports on vandals who have desecrated tombstones or places of worship.,The word consecrate from the Latin consecrare means \to make sacred.\ Substituting the prefix con- with de- reverses the meaning. When preparing for a foreign occupation, the military instructs troops not to desecrate sacred sites and risk offending the local population. You can also desecrate someone's memory if you spread malicious lies about him after his death.
Enervate
To enervate is to weaken, wear down, or even bum out. A three-hour lecture on the history of socks might thrill someone, it would enervate most people. So would a too-long soak in a hot tub. With your parents.,Trace enervate back far enough and you'll discover that it comes from the Latin enervare which means basically أ¢آ€آœto cut the sinewأ¢آ€آ or أ¢آ€آœto cause to be cut from the muscle.أ¢آ€آ That would certainly weaken someone. These days, thereأ¢آ€آ™s no need for violence. To enervate someone is to sap their energy, like by reading your ex all the love letters your new sweetheart wrote you. When something enervates you, it does more than get on your nerves it brings you down.
Inundate
To inundate means to quickly fill up or overwhelm, just like a flood. Your bathroom could be inundated with water if the pipes burst, and hopefully your inbox is inundated with nice emails on your birthday.,Commonly used to refer to a deluge of water, inundate can also refer to an overflow of something less tangible, like information. Right before the holidays, toy stores are often inundated with eager parents scrambling to get the latest action figures and video games. Attempt to read the entire dictionary in one sitting and you'll inundate your mind with vocabulary. But you probably won't remember any of it tomorrow.
Powwow
To powwow or have a powwow is to have a quick meeting. People powwow when they need to discuss something.,Originally, powwow was a Native American term for a type of meeting or council. The term has since become a more general term for meetings and conferences, especially brief ones. Football players in a huddle are having a powwow. Two police officers may powwow before approaching a suspect. Anytime there's something to discuss and debate, you might need to powwow. At the end of a powwow, you should come to some kind of decision.
Quixotic
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.
Auspicious
Use the adjective auspicious for a favorable situation or set of conditions. If you start a marathon by falling flat on your face, that's not an auspicious start.,If something seems likely to bring success أ¢آ€آ" either because it creates favorable conditions or you just consider it a lucky sign أ¢آ€آ" label it auspicious. The word is related to auspice, \a divine omen,\ an old word with a colorful history. In Latin, an auspex was a person who observed the flight of birds to predict things about the future. Luckily, you no longer have to be a bird-watching fortune-teller to guess whether something is auspicious or not.
Jejune
Use the adjective jejune to describe something that is uninteresting or insignificant. Many people claim to find celebrity gossip jejune, but ask them about a recent movie star scandal and chances are they know all about it.,Jejune can also describe something thatأ¢آ€آ™s immature or simplistic. All that actress could say about her latest movie was that it was أ¢آ€آœSuper funأ¢آ€آ? Thatأ¢آ€آ™s a pretty jejune comment. Basically jejune means lacking substance. It originally comes from the Latin word jejunus, which means أ¢آ€آœfasting,أ¢آ€آ so when something is jejune, itأ¢آ€آ™s figuratively empty أ¢آ€آ" devoid of intellectual nourishment.
Pyrrhic
Use the adjective pyrrhic to describe a victory that is won, but at too great a cost. In this use as an adjective, the word is often capitalized.,The word pyrrhic comes from the Greek general, Pyrrhus, who defeated the Romans at the Battle of Asculum but lost so many troops that he couldn't defeat Rome itself. If you are the winner in an argument with your brother, but the fight ends up ruining your relationship with him, it's a Pyrrhic victory. An ancient Greek war dance is also called a pyrrhic.
Veracity
Veracity sounds like some kind of disease you don't want to catch, but in fact, it means truthfulness. If you question the veracity of a statement or story, you wonder whether it is truthful or accurate.,Veracity is linked to the adjective veracious or \truthful.\ But don't confuse veracious with voracious. A voracious person eats very large amounts of food. If you were veracious, or \truthful,\ you'd tell them they look fat.
Contrite
We are sorry to inform you that the adjective contrite means to feel regret, remorse, or even guilt.,Someone who feels remorse or guilt is contrite and in addition to feeling sorry, part of the definition includes wanting to atone for having done something wrong. The word comes from the Latin roots com- meaning \together\ and terere which means \to rub.\ It's also related to the Latin word conterere and is defined as \to bruise.\ In the field of theology being contrite is \being remorseful for past sin and resolved to avoid future sin.\
Protean
When Picasso is described as a protean genius, it means that not only was he brilliant, but he changed the way he worked many times. Protean means able to change shape.,Proteus was a Greek god who could tell the future, but when he was asked a question he didn't want to answer, he would change shapes. With someone or something protean, you get all the power of shape-shifting, plus some of the menace of a god you cannot control.
Junta
When a government is overthrown, the coalition or group that forms and takes control is called a junta. If the military has seized control, as so often happens, then the group is called a military junta.,Junta is pronounced with an initial h sound, which gives you a clue to its origins. Itأ¢آ€آ™s from the Spanish junta, for a military or political group ruling the country after it has been taken over. Spanish got junta from the Latin jungere, to join. Remember, all the players in the junta must join together to overthrow the government.
Schadenfreude
When another person's bad luck secretly makes you feel good, that's Schadenfreude. Your brother's rejection from a college that also rejected you might give you a twinge of Schadenfreude.,If you're fired from your difficult job, no one can blame you for a bit of Schadenfreude as you watch your replacement struggle with your old tasks. This German word perfectly captures that satisfied feeling everyone gets at times when someone else runs into misfortune. In German, Schadenfreude literally means \damage-joy,\ and it's always spelled with a capital S. The word came into English use in the 1920's, and you can spell it with a small s if you prefer.
Amuck
When things go amuck, they are wildly out of control. Someone running amuck is showing no self-control.,This is a word that has to do with chaos and disorder. A riot is an example of people running amuck. In a cafeteria, if people are yelling and throwing food, they are going amuck. This word applies to times when control has been lost: people are showing no self-control, and the situation is out of hand. Sometimes, going amuck is positive, though. If a football player scores five touchdowns in a game, you could say he's running amuck.
Equivocate
When you are unwilling to make a decision and almost intentionally go back and forth between two choices, you are equivocating. When politicians equivocate, they are often afraid of upsetting, and thus alienating, voters with their decisions.,A key part of equivocate is the root vocate which come from the Latin vocare or \voice.\ When you give your voice to two opposing views in order to mislead or keep your options open, you're equivocating. Think of the expression, to talk out of both sides of your mouth. If you want to go to a party and your parents keep saying \maybe, it depends,\ tell them to stop equivocating and give you a straight answer.
Flush
When you empty something out with a liquid, you flush it. You might also be flush with cash, meaning you have a lot of it. Just don't flush that cash down the toilet!,Your face can flush, and the sky can flush at sunset when it glows with shades of pink. You can also use flush as an adjective to mean \lined up\ or \level,\ like when you hang a medicine cabinet in your bathroom, making sure it's flush against the wall. Yet another meaning of a flush is a peak or boom أ¢آ€آ" a professional poker player might describe her period of winning game after game as a flush.
Maudlin
You can use maudlin to describe something that brings tears to your eyes, or makes you feel very emotional. Tearjerkers like \Forrest Gump\ and \Titanic\ can be described as maudlin.,Maudlin was a form of the name Mary Magdalene, a character from the Bible represented in paintings as a weeping sinner asking forgiveness from Jesus. Maudlin is often paired with sentimental, or even schlocky, to describe cry-fests, as in \I can't watch another second of that overly-sentimental, maudlin soap opera. Turn that schlock off.\
Mesmerize
You meet someone and you canأ¢آ€آ™t take your eyes off them, like you are connected by an invisible cord and canأ¢آ€آ™t break free. Those kinds of people have the power to mesmerize, holding your attention like youأ¢آ€آ™re under hypnosis.,The word mesmerize comes from the last name of 18th century German physician Franz Mesmer, who believed that all people and objects are pulled together by a strong magnetic force, later called mesmerism. If you ever start to feel mesmerized, maybe itأ¢آ€آ™s because you find someone fascinating, or maybe youأ¢آ€آ™ve been hypnotized by a magician. Hard to tell from here.
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist is the spirit or essence of a particular time. In the 1920s, flappers and speakeasies contributed to that era's Zeitgeist.,Zeitgeist is a word that comes straight from German أ¢آ€آ" zeit means \time\ and geist means spirit, and the \spirit of the time\ is what's going on culturally, religiously, or intellectually during a certain period. Think about how something like Woodstock symbolized the 1960s: Woodstock was part of the Zeitgeist of the 1960s. Whatever seems particular to or symbolic of a certain time is likely part of its Zeitgeist.
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