Vocabulary (New)

tirade

tirade (noun) tie-RAYD Definition: Bitter, abusive criticism or verbal attack Usage: I hate that television show where that commentator goes on angry tirades about all the liberal conspiracies taking over America. Even my conservative friends find his ranting embarrassing. Related Words: Diatribe, Tirade, Harangue, and Fulmination are all words for bitter, angry speeches or attacks.

affable

affable (adj) AFF-uh-bull Also affability (noun) Definition: Warm and friendly, pleasant, approachable Usage: The professional wrestler played at belligerence in the ring, but in real life, he was quite an affable fellow—sociable, easy-going, and always ready to lend a hand. Related Words: Amiable, Cordial, and Genial are synonyms. More Info: The opposite of affable could be standoffish, discourteous, or distant.

apathy

apathy (noun) APP-uh-thee Also apathetic (adj) Definition: Not caring; absence of feeling; lack of interest or concern Usage: Many parents of teenagers are concerned by their indolent teens' apathy about the future. Few teens are totally apathetic, however—many get quite excited about video games, flirting, or trips to the mall. Related Words: Indifferent (apathetic or impartial), Lukewarm (moderately warm; having little enthusiasm) More Info: Don't confuse apathy with antipathy, which means "deep dislike, aversion, or repugnance."

coalesce

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).

feasible

feasible (adj) FEE-zih-bull Definition: Possible; logical or likely; suitable Usage: Your plan to promote our product launch with a parade is just not feasible—we don't have the money or enough time to get the permits. Related Words: Plausible (credible, having the appearance of truth), Viable (able to live or develop; capable of success, practicable, workable) More Info: Feasible shares a root ("do, make") with factory, factitious, and laissez-faire.

futile

futile (adj) FYOO-tull or FYOO-tile Definition: Producing no useful result, ineffective; trivial or unimportant Usage: She spent months trying to coax Fluffy to fetch and sit, but it was futile —cats just can't be trained to perform tricks. Related Words: Bootless (useless), Otiose (lazy, idle; ineffective or useless) More Info: Futile comes from a Latin word for "pouring out easily," as in a water jug that is full of unfortunate cracks or holes.

ingrained

ingrained (adj) in-GRAY-nd Definition: Deep-rooted, forming part of the very essence; worked into the fiber Usage: Religious observance had been ingrained in him since birth; he could not remember a time when he didn't pray five times a day. Related Words: Inculcate (teach persistently, implant [an idea] in a person) More Info: The "grain" root is related to using plant parts for dye; something ingrained is suffused into the very fiber, like dye.

landmark

landmark (noun, adj) LAND-mark Definition: Object (such as a building) that stands out and can be used to navigate by; a very important place, event, etc. Usage: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark in the battle for equality. / In Lebanon, many roads are unmarked, and people navigate by landmarks—for instance, "third house down from the water tower." Related Words: A watershed is literally a division between two water drainage areas; a watershed or watershed moment is the point of a very important decision or shift.

mores

mores (noun) MORE-ayz Definition: Customs, manners, or morals of a particular group Usage: An American in Saudi Arabia should study the culture beforehand so as to avoid violating deeply conservative cultural mores. Related Words: Ethos (the character, personality, or moral values specific to a person, group, time period, etc.) More Info: Pronounce this word as two syllables (rhymes with "more ways").

permeate

permeate (verb) PER-mee-ayt Definition: Spread or penetrate throughout Usage: Under the Emperor Constantine, Christianity began to permeate every sector of public life. Related Words: Pervade is a synonym. Both words use the root "per" for "through."

pervasive

pervasive (adj) per-VAY-siv Definition: Tending to spread throughout Usage: Poverty is pervasive in our school system; 65% of students receive free or reduced-price lunch. Related Words: Omnipresent and ubiquitous mean existing everywhere.

pith

pith (noun) PITH Definition: Core, essence; significance or weight Usage: I can only stay at this meeting for a minute—can you get to the pith of the issue now, and discuss the details after I leave? / This presentation has no pith—there's no central point and nothing I didn't already know. Related Words: Gist means main idea. To distill is to purify (as water) or extract the essential elements of (as an idea). More Info: Pith is also the central part of a plant stem, feather, or hair. To pith cattle is to kill it by severing the spinal cord—that is, the central part. A pith helmet (worn in battle) is so called because it was originally made from the pith of the Bengal spongewood tree.

placate

placate (verb) PLAY-cayt Definition: Satisfy or calm down (an angry or dissatisfied person), esp. by conciliatory gestures Usage: "It's an interesting business model," said the flower shop owner. "Outside of Valentine's Day, our average customer uses our product to placate an angry partner." Related Words: Appease, Mollify, Conciliate, and Assuage are near-synonyms. Implacable means "not able to be placated." More Info: "Conciliatory gestures" (as in the definition above) could mean giving in, lowering oneself, compromising one's principles, offering gifts or rebates, etc.

placid

placid (adj) PLASS-id Definition: Peaceful, calm, tranquil Usage: Famed Spanish tenor Placido Domingo has an unusual name—literally, "Peaceful Sunday." It's certainly not a coincidence that Placido looks so much like placid. Related Words: Quiescent (quiet, still) More Info: The movie Lake Placid is about a lake containing a man-eating crocodile, which is really NOT placid. Lake Placid is a real place in New York, though, and seems to have been named with much the same thought in mind as the Pacific Ocean (pacific also means peaceful).

plastic

plastic (adj) PLASS-tick Definition: Able to be shaped or formed; easily influenced Usage: A young child's mind is quite plastic, and exposure to violent movies and video games can have a much greater effect on children than they typically do on adults. Related Words: Tractable, pliable, and malleable can also mean physically bendable, or metaphorically bendable, as in "easily influenced or shaped by others." Mutable means changeable. More Info: The word plastic is much older than the substance we call "plastic." Plastic surgery is so called because it reshapes parts of the body, not because the substance plastic is involved.

prohibitive

prohibitive (adj) proh-HIBB-it-iv Definition: Tending to forbid something, or serving to prevent something Usage: I was admitted to NYU, but it was prohibitively expensive, so I ended up at state school instead. / My parents installed a high fence as a prohibitive barrier against the neighborhood hooligans. Related Words: Exorbitant means excessive, especially by being outrageously expensive.

torpor

torpor (noun) TORE-pore Also torpid (adj) Definition: Sluggishness, lethargy, or apathy; a period of inactivity Usage: Sam had hoped to be able to play in the game after having his wisdom teeth out, but the anesthesia left him in such torpor that he obviously couldn't play soccer. Related Words: Listless (spiritless, lacking interest or energy), Inertia (inactivity, lack of motion or progress), Loafing (idling away the time, lounging) More Info: Don't confuse torpid with turbid (turbulent), tepid (lukewarm), or turgid or tumid (swollen, bombastic).

torrid

torrid (adj) TORE-id Definition: Very hot, parching, burning; passionate Usage: They had a torrid love affair in the '80s, but split up because a royal was not permitted to marry a commoner. / The wandering refugees were in serious danger in the torrid Sahara. Related Words: Arid (dry, parched, barren) More Info: The "torrid zone" is the region of Earth between the tropics.

transitory

transitory (adj) TRAN-zit-tore-ee Definition: Temporary, short-lived, not lasting Usage: While a few people marry their high school sweethearts, generally, our teenage years are full of transitory crushes. Related Words: Ephemeral, Evanescent and Fugacious are synonyms. Transient can mean "lasting only a short time, temporary" or "staying only a short time," or can be a noun referring to people who move from place to place.

trifling

trifling (adj) TRIFE-ling Also trifle (noun) Definition: Trivial, not very important; so small as to be unimportant; frivolous, shallow Usage: Luis broke up with Cara because she was always obsessed with some trifling matter—he tried to talk about foreign aid dependency, and she changed the subject to what the actress Katie Holmes dressed her daughter Suri in for a shopping trip. / The young heiress was so wealthy that she considered the salary from her internship a mere trifle, and didn't even notice when her paycheck was days late. Related Words: Frivolous (lacking seriousness, excessively carefree, as in The judge dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous—you can't sue the government for failing to protect you from birds). Nugatory also means "of little or no importance."

trite

trite (adj) TRITE Definition: Lacking freshness and originality, lacking effectiveness due to overuse, cliché Usage: The topic of your speech is "Children are the Future"? That's pretty trite. Maybe you should think harder and come up with something original. Related Words: Banal, Hackneyed, Inane, and Insipid all mean "lacking freshness and originality, shallow." Shopworn also means this (or can also literally mean something marred from being handled in a store). Bromide and Platitude are nouns for a cliché or shopworn expression.

wary

wary (adj) WAIR-ee Definition: Watchful, motivated by caution, on guard against danger Usage: Be wary of anyone who tells you that "anyone" can get rich with some special plan or scheme. Related Words: Chary is a synonym (there are very few rhyming synonyms in English!), Leery (suspicious or wary), Vigilant (keenly watchful or alert in order to guard against danger)

whereas

whereas (conjunction) wair-AZZ Definition: While on the contrary, considering that Usage: Mr. Katsoulas had always assumed his son would take over the family business, whereas his son had always assumed he would go away to college and never come back. / Whereas peppers and squash are technically fruits, they are typically considered vegetables for culinary purposes. More Info: Legal statements often begin with whereas, as in "Whereas the plaintiff was living with the defendant, and whereas she had lent him her car..."

abate

abate (verb) uh-BAYT Also abatement (noun) Definition: Reduce, diminish Usage: Her stress over spending so much money on a house abated when the real estate broker told her about the property's 15 year tax abatement. Related Words: Tax abatement is used in the same way as tax "relief"—that is, a partial discount. Subside is another word for lessening (a storm could abate or subside). More Info: Abate comes from an Old French word for "beat, cast down" that also gives us batter (beat severely) and abattoir (slaughterhouse).

advocate

advocate (verb, noun) AD-voh-kayt (v), AD-voh-kit (n) Definition: Speak or argue in favor of (verb); a person who pleads for a cause or on behalf of another person (noun) Usage: I cannot possibly vote for a candidate who advocates oil drilling in federally protected nature preserves. / Children often have advocates appointed to represent them in court. Related Words: Proponents, Exponents, or Champions are all people who advocate for a cause. More Info: Advocate contains the root "voc," meaning "to call." This root also appears in vocal, invoke, etc.

aesthetic

aesthetic (adj, noun) ess-THEH-tick Also aesthete (noun) Definition: Concerning the appreciation of beauty or good taste, pertaining to the science of what is beautiful (adj); a sense of beauty and taste of a particular time and place (noun) Usage: The twins were so different—one possessed a truly baroque aesthetic, preferring golden, gilded decor. The other lived in a world of pure logic, untouched by any aesthetic sense whatsoever; art did not move him, his house was bare, and he married his wife solely because she was a master of calculus. More Info: The meaning of aesthetic can range from the academic study of beauty (aesthetics) to performing manicures, the work of an aesthetician. Don't confuse aesthetic with ascetic (pertaining to a simple, austere life with no luxuries, such as that of a monk; a person who leads such a life).

affectation

affectation (noun) aff-eck-TAY-shun Also affected (adj) Definition: Fake behavior (such as in speech or dress) adopted to give a certain impression Usage: I'm annoyed whenever Americans move to England and suddenly start speaking with an affected British accent; such affectations, when practiced by celebrities, are only likely to alienate their fans. Related Words: Artifice (trickery, especially as part of a strategy) More Info: In slang, some people call affected behavior "being a poser" (or poseur).

aggrandize

aggrandize (verb) uh-GRAND-ize Also self-aggrandizing (adj) Definition: Make greater; exaggerate Usage: I can't stand when my coworker aggrandizes her role in our group projects. / Stop it with your constant self-aggrandizing—we don't care how many automobiles you own! Related Words: Augment (to make larger) More Info: An opposite of self-aggrandizing could be self-deprecating or self-effacing.

aggregate

aggregate (verb, adj) AG-gruh-gayt (v), AG-gruh-git (n) Definition: Gather together, amount to (verb); constituting a whole made up of constituent parts (adj) Usage: While some of the company's divisions did better than others, in aggregate, we made a profit. / Concrete is created when crushed rock or glass is aggregated with cement; in aggregate, concrete is stronger than cement alone. Related Words: Agglomerate (collect into a mass), Consolidate (unite, combine, firm up—you can consolidate loans or consolidate power) More Info: Aggregate can be used in the same sense as a gross amount. Gross or aggregate sales are the total amount from all sources.

alacrity

alacrity (noun) uh-LACK-rit-tee Definition: Cheerful or speedy willingness Usage: Any boss wants an employee to respond with alacrity to his or her requests, handling them promptly and with enthusiasm. Related Words: Brisk (speedy, energetic, vigorous), Sprightly (lively, full of spirit) More Info: Alacrity has an adjective form, alacritous, but phrases like "full of alacrity" or "with alacrity" are much more common.

alienate

alienate (verb) AY-lee-en-ayt Also inalienable (adj) Definition: Cause to become unfriendly, hostile, or distant Usage: The talk-show host was trying to help, but only alienated her viewers when she suggested that they cope with a tough economy by checking themselves into a spa. Related Words: Disaffect (cause to lose affection or loyalty), Estrange (make hostile or indifferent —"He hasn't spoken to his estranged son in a decade.") More Info: In law, alienate means to transfer property to another owner. An inalienable right is one that you cannot give away or sell (for instance, it is not possible for a person to sell himself into slavery).

analogous

analogous (adj) uh-NAL-uh-guss Definition: Comparable, corresponding in some particular way (making a good analogy) Usage: In the U.S., whenever opponents of a war want to suggest that the war is unwinnable, they point out all the ways in which the war is analogous to the Vietnam War. Related Words: Tantamount (equivalent, as in "What he did is tantamount to murder.")

anarchy

anarchy (noun) ANN-ark-ee Also anarchism (noun), anarchist (noun) Definition: Absence of law or government; chaos, disorder Usage: Once the dictator was assassinated, the country fell into total anarchy, as none of the opposition groups were strong enough to seize power. More Info: Anarchism can sometimes mean the political philosophy that the absence of all direct government is ideal and that voluntary associations of individuals would be able to govern themselves.

anoint

anoint (verb) uh-NOINT Also anointed (adj) Definition: Rub or sprinkle oil on; make sacred, such as by a ceremony that includes applying oil to someone Usage: After Principal Smitters raised test scores over 60% at her school, it was only a matter of time before she was anointed superintendent by a fawning school board. More Info: Anoint shares a root with ointment, an oily substance added to the skin. Anointing occurs repeatedly in the Bible; in that time, people rubbed oil on themselves medicinally and for refreshment, and as a means of showing hospitality to guests.

anomaly

anomaly (noun) uh-NOM-ah-lee Also anomalous (adj) Definition: Deviation from what is common; inconsistency Usage: While the cosmetics division of this company has many female executives, it is an anomaly—in the rest of the company, sadly, only 4% of management positions are filled by women. Related Words: Aberration (departing from normal; mental irregularity or deviation in morality) More Info: The word "anomaly" sometimes pops up in discussions of the supernatural. The show XFiles was about the investigation of anomalies.

antagonize

antagonize (verb) an-TAG-uh-nize Also antagonistic (adj) Definition: Make hostile or unfriendly Usage: "Josie! Stop antagonizing your little brother! Give him back that firetruck and tell him you're sorry for pulling his hair!" Related Words: Provoke (anger, enrage, stir up, incite to action) More Info: When discussing literature or films, the protagonist is the main character and the antagonist is the main adversary (The Joker is Batman's antagonist).

apocryphal

apocryphal (adj) uh-POCK-riff-ull Also Apocrypha (noun) Definition: Of questionable authenticity; false Usage: I'm sorry, but this putative letter from George Washington that you found at a garage sale is clearly apocryphal—it is riddled with anachronisms (for instance, Washington was long dead by the time silent films were invented), and also, Washington most certainly didn't refer to Martha Washington as "hey baby." Related Words: Ersatz (artificial, synthetic, serving as a substitute), Faux (fake, imitation, as in "faux fur"), Specious (pleasing to the eye but deceptive) More Info: The word "Apocrypha" often refers to books that have been rejected for inclusion in (various versions of) the Bible, either due to dubious authenticity or because the Church considered them useful, but not divinely inspired. Obviously, different authorities disagree about what exactly is included in the Apocrypha.

appease

appease (verb) uh-PEEZ Definition: Pacify, satisfy, relieve; concede to belligerent demands, sometimes at the expense of principles Usage: My mother is so angry she wasn't the first person we called when the baby was born—I'm hoping to appease her by spending Christmas at her house this year. Related Words: Placate, Mollify, and Assuage are near-synonyms More Info: "Appeasement" is commonly associated with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy towards Germany between 1937-1939—as it turned out, giving the Sudetenland to Hitler didn't actually create "Peace in Our Time." Today, appeasement is associated with cowardice and giving in to bullies.

appreciable

appreciable (adj) uh-PREESH-yuh-bull Definition: Enough to be perceived, considerable Usage: She ruefully concluded that the "Pot Pie Diet" was a scam and had made no appreciable difference in her appearance—after four weeks, she had lost three-quarters of a pound. Related Words: A near-antonym is Negligible—both words can refer to small amounts, but an appreciable amount or difference is large enough to matter, and a negligible amount or difference is so small it can safely be ignored.

arbitrary

arbitrary (adj) AR-bi-trayr-ee Definition: Based entirely on one's discretion; capricious, unreasonable, or having no basis Usage: The judge's rulings were truly arbitrary—one defendant got community service for stealing a television, and another got three years for the same crime. / It doesn't really matter which brand of baking soda you buy—just arbitrarily pick one so we can get out of this grocery store before dinnertime. More Info: Arbitrary looks a lot like arbiter for good reason—originally, something arbitrary was something that was uncertain because it depended on an arbiter's decision. As indicated by the definition above, arbitrary can be neutral or negative.

arcane

arcane (adj) ar-CANE Also arcanum (noun) Definition: Known or understood by only a few; obscure, secret Usage: To win at Jeopardy, you must be full of arcane knowledge. / The wizard's shop was full of arcanum, from Latin-to-Ancient Greek dictionaries to entire books on magic spells relating only to elephants. Related Words: Esoteric, Abstruse More Info: Arcane comes from the Latin "arca," for "box"—arcanum is information that is metaphorically shut up in a box.

archaic

archaic (adj) ar-CAY-ick Also archaism (noun) Definition: Characteristic of an earlier period, ancient, primitive Usage: The school's archaic computer system predated even floppy disks—it stored records on tape drives! / Sometimes, when you look a word up in the dictionary, certain definitions are marked "archaic"—unless you are a Shakespeare scholar, you can safely ignore those archaisms. Related Words: Obsolete (out of date, no longer used), Antediluvian (extremely old, before the Biblical flood) More Info: "Archaic" is especially used to describe language common to an older time but rare today, such as "thou" or "forsooth." If a word appears in a dictionary with "archaic" next to a secondary meaning, that meaning is unlikely to be tested on the GRE.

articulate

articulate (adj, verb) ar-TICK-yoo-lit (adj), ar-TICK-yoo-layt (v) Definition: Using language in a clear, fluent way (adj); speak distinctly or give clarity to an idea (verb) Usage: She's so articulate that I'm sure she'll make a good lawyer. / The group voted on who would be the best spokesperson, able to articulate their needs to the panel. Related Words: Eloquent (speaking in a fluent, powerful, appropriate way) More Info: As an adjective, the last syllable is pronounced "lit." As a verb, it is pronounced "late."

artifact

artifact (noun) AR-ti-fact Definition: Any object made by humans, especially those from an earlier time, such as those excavated by archaeologists Usage: The archaeologists dug up countless artifacts, from simple pottery shards and coins to complex written tablets. / The girl's room was full of the artifacts of modern teenage life: Justin Bieber posters, Twilight books, and a laptop open to Facebook. More Info: Artifact contains the same root ("fact," meaning "to make") as in factory and manufacture.

ascertain

ascertain (verb) ass-er-TAYN Definition: Find out with certainty Usage: Hopefully, the investigation will allow us to ascertain who is at fault here. Related Words: Discern (perceive or recognize; tell two or more things apart), Descry (discover, see by looking carefully) More Info: Ascertain is easy to remember—it means "make certain" and has the word "certain" contained inside it.

console

console (verb, noun) cuhn-SOHL (v), CAHN-sohl (n) Definition: Lessen the suffering or grief of (verb); a control panel, or small table or cabinet (noun) Usage: I was unable to console Tina after she fell asleep at the console of her airplane and thereby failed her pilot's exam. Related Words: Succor (comfort, provide relief) More Info: As a verb, the word is pronounced "con-SOLE." As a noun, it's pronounced "CON-sole."

ascetic

ascetic (adj, noun) uh-SET-ick Also asceticism (noun) Definition: abstinent or austere in lifestyle (adj); a person who leads an austere and simple life without material pleasures, esp. someone who does this for religious reasons Usage: Ascetics such as monks actually take vows of poverty. / The graduate student lived an ascetic existence, her apartment containing only a futon couch and a single bowl and set of chopsticks, which she used to eat ramen noodles every night. Related Words: Hermit or Anchorite (person who lives away from society, esp. for religious reasons), Recluse (person who lives in solitude) More Info: Don't confuse ascetic with aesthetic, which means "pertaining to beauty or good taste."

audacious

audacious (adj) aw-DAY-shuss Definition: Very bold or brave, often in a rude or reckless way; extremely original Usage: He audaciously asked for a raise after working at the company for less than two months! Related Words: Insolent (bold in a rude way), Brazen (shameless, contemptuously bold) More Info: Barack Obama wrote a book called The Audacity of Hope. The title suggests that Americans should be bold enough to have hope even in bad circumstances. Audacious can be good (audacious explorers) or bad, as in the employee in the sentence above.

augment

augment (verb) awg-MENT Definition: Make larger Usage: If you memorize the definitions on all of these flashcards, you will have notably augmented your vocabulary! Related Words: Aggrandize (make greater; exaggerate) More Info: Augment shares a root ("augere," to increase) with august, meaning "majestic, inspiring reverence."

austere

austere (adj) aw-STEER Also austerity (noun) Definition: Severe in manner or appearance; very self-disciplined, ascetic; without luxury or ease; sober or serious Usage: Her design sense was so minimalist as to be austere; all-white walls, hard, wooden furniture, not a single picture, throw pillow, or cozy comfort anywhere. / The graduation speaker delivered an austere message: the economy is bad, and academic success alone isn't enough to succeed in the job market. Related Words: Ascetic (pertaining to a simple, austere life with no luxuries, such as that of a monk; a person who leads such a life)

autonomous

autonomous (adj) aw-TAH-nuh-muss Also autonomy (noun) Definition: Self-governing, independent Usage: As leader of an autonomous region, the newly-elected president was received as a peer by some world leaders, although he was not entitled to send a representative to the United Nations. / It is normal for young people to desire greater autonomy as they grow up. Related Words: Fiat (dictate or authoritative order, as in "The king rules by fiat."), Hegemony (domination, authority; influence by one country over others socially, culturally, economically, etc.) More Info: An autonomous region, such as Iraqi Kurdistan, is independent, but not considered its own country.

aver

aver (verb) uh-VER Definition: Declare or affirm with confidence Usage: "Despite your insistence that ethics are completely situational," said the philosophy professor, "I aver that the existence of natural rights inevitably leads to certain immutable ethical boundaries." More Info: Aver contains the root "ver" (truth), which also appears in verify, veracious, and verisimilitude.

avid

avid (adj) AV-id Also avidity (noun) Definition: Enthusiastic, dedicated, passionate; excessively desirous Usage: An avid cyclist, she was on her bike every weekend, and even bought the same bike that Lance Armstrong last used in the Tour de France. / Avid of power, the young Senator compromised every principle to gain the support—and money—of large corporations. Related Words: Ardent (very passionate), Zealous (full of fervor or dedicated enthusiasm for a cause, person, etc.)

censure

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

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).

cogent

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

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

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

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.

compliant

compliant (adj) cuhm-PLY-ent Definition: Obeying, submissive; following the requirements Usage: Those who are not compliant with the regulations will be put on probation and possibly expelled. / A compliant child, he never gave his parents any trouble. Related Words: Complaisant and Obliging are words describing people who comply with eagerness.

concede

concede (verb) cuhn-SEED Also concession (noun) Definition: Give in, admit, yield; acknowledge reluctantly; grant or give up (such as giving up land after losing a war) Usage: The negotiations were pointless, with each side's representatives instructed by their home countries to make no concessions whatsoever. / Quebec was a French concession to Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1763. / I suppose I will have to concede the argument now that you've looked up evidence on Wikipedia. More Info: The Latin "cedere" means "yield, go, withdraw" and also gives us cede (to yield, especially to give up land after losing a war), precede, and succeed.

conciliatory

conciliatory (adj) cuhn-SILL-ee-uh-tore-ee Definition: Reconciling, appeasing, attempting to make the peace Usage: The hotel manager was horrified at how the guest had been treated, and approached him in a conciliatory manner, offering him numerous freebies and apologizing repeatedly. Related Words: Placate, Mollify, Appease, Pacify and Assuage are all verbs for attempting to calm or make peace.

concur

concur (verb) cuhn-KER Definition: Approve, agree Usage: John Locke wrote that justice is based on the social contract, and I concur—in fact, my latest book is all about contractual justice. Related Words: Assent (approval, agreement) More Info: Concur is related to concurrent, meaning "occurring at the same time or acting over the same area; coordinating actions," as in "We recommend that you take calculus before college physics, but it is possible to take them concurrently."

connoisseur

connoisseur (noun) cah-nuh-SOOR Definition: Expert, especially in the fine arts; person of educated, refined tastes Usage: A chocolate connoisseur, Mom eschews grocery store brands and will only eat 80% -cocoaor-higher artisanal chocolate that is less than a week old. Related Words: Epicure (person with discriminating tastes, esp. regarding food and wine) More Info: Connoisseur comes, through French, from the Latin "cognoscere," meaning "to know," which also gives us cognition.

deference

deference (noun) DEFF-er-enss Also defer (verb) Definition: Respectful submission; yielding to the authority or opinion of another Usage: In many cultures, young people are expected to show deference to older people at all times. / I'm not an expert in databases—I'll defer to our programmers on that decision. / Ingrid deferred her college admissions for a year so she could travel the world.

delineate

delineate (verb) deh-LINN-ee-ayt Definition: Mark the outline of; sketch; describe in detail Usage: I do need the cash, but I'm not signing up for this psychological experiment unless you delineate what's going to happen. Related Words: Adumbrate (give a rough outline of) More Info: Delineate, of course, shares a root with linear.

denigrate

denigrate (verb) DEN-igg-rayt Definition: Belittle, attack the reputation of Usage: Many jokes in the Meet the Parents trilogy come from Robert De Niro's character denigrating Ben Stiller's character for being a male nurse. Related Words: Disparage is a synonym. More Info: Denigrate comes from a Latin root meaning "to blacken."

denote

denote (verb) deh-NOTE Also denotation (noun) Definition: Be a name or symbol for Usage: The company's brand denotes quality; the marketing team has done a fantastic job of associating the company's image with fine service. / There's nothing in the denotation of "crotchety" (grumpy, having strong and irrational preferences) that indicates any particular group of people, but due to the expression "crotchety old man," the word connotes, for many people, an image of an especially unpleasant male senior citizen. More Info: A denotation is the literal meaning of a word; a connotation is the feeling that accompanies that word. For instance, many special color words, such as "lilac" or "cerulean" have a positive connotation.

deride

deride (verb) deh-RIDE Definition: Mock, scoff at, laugh at contemptuously Usage: The manager really thought that deriding his employees as "stupid" or "lazy" would motivate them to work harder; instead, it motivated them to constantly hide his office supplies as an act of revenge. Related Words: Denigrate (belittle, attack the reputation of) More Info: Deride contains the Latin root "ridere" for "laughter," which also appears in risible, meaning "laughable."

derivative

derivative (adj) deh-RIV-uh-tiv Definition: Derived from something else; not original Usage: The singer's first album was a disappointment, derivative of several hit albums from the previous year, as though a management team had simply picked out the elements from other popular songs that they thought would make the most money. Related Words: Banal, Hackneyed, Inane, Insipid and Trite all mean "lacking freshness and originality, shallow." More Info: In finance, a derivative is a contract the value of which is derived from the value of underlying stocks, bonds, etc.

desiccate

desiccate (verb) DESS-ick-ayt Also desiccated (adj) Definition: Thoroughly dried up, dehydrated Usage: The key to maintaining odor-free shoes is to desiccate the insole by placing a drying agent, such as a small pouch of baking soda, inside the shoe between wears. / Beef jerky is a desiccated meat product. Related Words: Arid means very dry, like a desert. More Info: Also from the Latin "siccare" (dry), a siccative is a drying agent. The same root appears in the Spanish word for dry (seco) and in the name of the Italian dry sparkling wine prosecco.

detached

detached (adj) dee-TATCH-t Definition: Impartial, disinterested; unconcerned, distant, aloof Usage: He found her detached demeanor inappropriate for a funeral. It's fine to politely ask how someone died, but it's not appropriate to coldly question a relative on the medical history of the deceased. / The divorce proceeding was full of anger and recriminations, but the judge was able to make a detached decision. Related Words: Standoffish (cold, unfriendly) More Info: A detached house is one that does not have a wall in common with another building.

deterrent

deterrent (noun) dee-TER-int Definition: Something that restrains or discourages Usage: Some argue that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime—that is, the point is not just to punish the guilty, but to frighten other prospective criminals. Related Words: Balk (an impediment; refuse to proceed or to do something) More Info: As a military policy, deterrence is building military strength or ability to retaliate (especially by stockpiling nuclear weapons, as in the Cold War) sufficient to deter enemies from attacking.

diatribe

diatribe (noun) DIE-uh-TRIBE Definition: Bitter, abusive attack or criticism; rant Usage: I'd stay out of the living room for awhile—Grandpa's on another one of his diatribes about how it's un-American to call a large coffee a "venti." You can hear him ranting from here! Related Words: Tirade, Harangue, and Fulmination are all words for bitter, angry speeches or attacks.

didactic

didactic (adj) die-DACK-tick Definition: Intended to instruct; teaching, or teaching a moral lesson Usage: She might have been Teacher of the Year at work, but at home, her husband wished she would turn off her didactic personality. "Honey," he said, "I really don't need you to use everything as a learning opportunity." / The child was disappointed when the storybook turned didactic in the end, with the teddy bears—and the reader—being admonished never to lie. Related Words: Pedagogical (pertaining to teaching), Pedantic (showy about learning, excessively concerned with details, as in "He's so pedantic he corrects his friends' grammar.") More Info: Didactic can be positive or negative. Any teacher is didactic, but a person who is lecturing or moralizing in an unwanted manner can also be called didactic.

digress

digress (verb) die-GRESS Also digression (noun) Definition: Go off-topic when speaking or writing Usage: Grandpa digressed quite a bit while you were in the kitchen—he was telling us an old war story, but somehow now he's ranting about how nobody celebrates Arbor Day anymore. That digression could take awhile. Related Words: Divagate is a synonym. Diffuse as an adjective can mean off-topic (a diffuse speech).

discrepancy

discrepancy (noun) diss-CREH-pen-see Also discrepant (adj) Definition: Difference or inconsistency Usage: When there is a discrepancy between a store's receipts and the amount of money in the register, the cashier's behavior is generally called into question. Related Words: Incongruity (standing out), Discord or Discordance (harshness or inharmoniousness; disagreement) More Info: Unlike a mere incongruity, which could be as innocent as one guy with a mohawk at an otherwise straight-laced gathering, a discrepancy usually indicates that someone has done something wrong. A discrepancy in your medical records means someone has made a mistake; a discrepancy in your story means you're lying.

discriminating

discriminating (adj) diss-CRIM-in-ay-ting Definition: Judicious, discerning, having good judgment or insight Usage: He is a man of discriminating tastes—all his suits are handmade in Italy, and I once saw him send back an entree when he complained that black truffle oil had been substituted for white. The chef was astounded. / You can tell a real Prada bag by the discriminating mark on the inside. More Info: Many people automatically think of discriminating as bad, because they are thinking of racial discrimination. However, discriminating is simply telling things apart and can be an important skill—it is important to discriminate legitimate colleges from fraudulent diploma mills, for instance.

disingenuous

disingenuous (adj) diss-in-JEN-yoo-uss Definition: Insincere, not genuine Usage: Christine used the fact that her mother spoke limited English as an opportunity to be disingenuous. When her mother asked, "Will there be boys at this sleepover?" she replied "There won't not be boys there!" Related Words: Dissembling (misleading, concealing the truth, acting hypocritically), Prevaricating (misleading or lying) More Info: Disingenuous appropriately describes misleading behavior that isn't quite lying, like when you say "Let's do the dishes!" when you really mean "Why don't you do the dishes?" The opposite of disingenuous is ingenuous, or genuine.

disinterested

disinterested (adj) diss-INT-uh-rest-id Definition: Unbiased, impartial; not interested Usage: Let's settle this argument once and for all! We'll get a disinterested observer to judge who can sing the highest note! Related Words: Dispassionate (unbiased, not having a selfish or personal motivation), Nonpartisan (impartial, not controlled by a political party) More Info: Disinterested and uninterested have a confusing history. Some insist that disinterested only means "unbiased" and uninterested only means "not interested, apathetic." However, throughout history, both words have been used to denote both meanings, so you'll have to be guided by context in interpreting these words.

document

document (verb) DOCK-yoo-ment Definition: Support with evidence, cite sources in a detailed way, create documentary evidence of Usage: Journalists embedded with military units are able to document a war as it happens. / It's hard to deny her conclusion when her book is so well documented—she cites a relevant scientific study on practically every page. Related Words: Corroborate, substantiate and verify can all mean to prove true or provide evidence in favor of. More Info: Of course, document can also be a noun (a factual printed item); this card focuses on the less common definition.

dormant

dormant (adj) DOR-muhnt Definition: Asleep, inactive, on a break Usage: Some famous writers' skills have lain dormant until quite late in life; Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't publish Little House on the Prairie until she was 65. Related Words: Abeyance (temporary suspension, inactivity), Hiatus (break or gap in an activity), Deferment or Deferral (postponement) More Info: If you speak Spanish or French, dormant will certainly remind you of the verb dormir, to sleep.

dubious

dubious (adj) DOO-bee-uss Definition: Doubtful, questionable, suspect Usage: This applicant's resume is filled with dubious qualifications—this is a marketing position, and this resume is mostly about whitewater rafting. Related Words: Apocryphal (of questionable authenticity, false), Ersatz (artificial, synthetic, serving as a substitute), Faux (fake, imitation, as in "faux fur"), Specious (pleasing to the eye but deceptive) More Info: Dubious is related to the Latin word for "two," perhaps in the sense of there being two explanations for something—the one presented, and the true one being hidden.

e.g.

e.g. (abbreviation for Latin "exempli gratia") ee-gee Definition: For example, such as Usage: He was positively traumatized by the romantic comedies his girlfriend made him watch (e.g., He's Just Not That Into You). Related Words: i.e. is an abbrevation of Latin "id est," or "that is" and means "that is to say, in other words," as in "He finally nailed the lutz—i.e., a toepick-assisted figure skating jump with an entrance from the back outside edge." More Info: Use e.g. to introduce examples and i.e. to add a definition or clarification.

eccentric

eccentric (adj) eck-SENT-rick Definition: Peculiar, odd, deviating from the norm esp. in a whimsical way Usage: The old woman was harmless but eccentric—not many senior citizens wear a train conductor's uniform and carry a boom box. / The eccentricity of a planet's orbit is the amount by which it deviates from a perfect circle; in general, comets are far more eccentric than known planets. Related Words: Idiosyncrasy (a peculiarity specific to a particular person) More Info: Some have observed that only the rich are called eccentric; regular people are just weird.

eclectic

eclectic (adj) ick-CLECK-tick Definition: Selecting the best of everything or from many diverse sources Usage: Eclectic taste is helpful in being a DJ—crowds love to hear the latest hip-hop mixed with '80s classics and other unexpected genres of music. / The restaurant features an eclectic menu—if you don't like artisanal pasta or steak frites, try the chow mein! Related Words: Heterogeneous means "made up of diverse elements." Hodgepodge, Medley, Farrago, Potpourri, Pastiche and Olio are all words for mixtures of diverse things. More Info: The original Eclectics were Greek philosophers who chose what they thought were the best of other philosophers' doctrines.

eclipse

eclipse (noun, verb) ick-CLIPS Definition: The obscuring of one thing by another, such as the sun by the moon or a person by a more famous or talented person (noun); to obscure, darken, make less important (verb) Usage: During a solar eclipse, the moon eclipses the Sun. / Billy Ray Cyrus, who had a hit song, "Achy Breaky Heart," in the '90s, has long since found his fame eclipsed by that of his daughter, Miley. Related Words: Occult can mean "supernatural, mysterious, arcane," but as a verb, can also mean "to hide from view or become hidden," as in "The Pleiades, existing in deep sky, can be occulted by the moon when everything lines up just right" or "Other former members of NSYNC have felt their careers occulted (or eclipsed) by the stunning success of Justin Timberlake."

efficacy

efficacy (noun) EFF-ih-cuh-see Definition: The quality of being able to produce the intended effect Usage: Extensive trials will be necessary to determine whether the drug's efficacy outweighs the side effects. / I am having trouble cutting my steak with this butter knife; I'm going to ask the waiter for a more efficacious implement. More Info: Don't confuse efficacy with efficiency. Something efficacious gets the job done; something efficient gets the job done without wasting time or effort. Efficacity is a variant on efficacy and is identical in meaning.

egalitarian

egalitarian (adj) ee-gal-it-TAIR-ee-uhn Definition: Related to belief in the equality of all people, esp. in political, economic, or social spheres Usage: After moving to a more liberal part of the country, the couple was pleased to have neighbors who shared their views of egalitarian marriage—for instance, men and women could be found in equal proportions downshifting to part-time work to make time for childcare. More Info: Egalitarian, of course, contains a root for "equal," but comes into English through French, which explains the spelling (égal is French for "equal").

egregious

egregious (adj) igg-GREE-juss Definition: Extraordinarily or conspicuously bad; glaring Usage: Your conduct is an egregious violation of our Honor Code—not only did you steal your roommate's paper off his computer and turn it in as your own, you also sold his work to a plagiarism website so other cheaters could purchase it! Related Words: Flagrant (shamelessly bad or offensive, obvious, notorious) More Info: Egregious shares a root with gregarious (sociable)—"greg" comes from a word for "herd, flock." Think of egregious in the sense of standing out from the herd (in a bad way).

elated

elated (adj) ee-LAY-tid Definition: Very happy, in high spirits Usage: I am elated that you flew my twin brother in from Australia to surprise me at my birthday party! Related Words: Ebullient (very enthusiastic, lively, excited), Blithe (joyous, merry; excessively carefree), Exultant (joyful, celebratory)

elicit

elicit (verb) ee-LISS-it Definition: Call forth, bring out, evoke Usage: The touchdown elicited wild cheer from the crowd. / While the death of Ellen's elderly cat was indeed sad, Ellen's constant, mournful looks whenever anyone mentioned any animal at all were nothing but a play to elicit sympathy. Related Words: Educe means "bring out, esp. something that has been dormant," as in "The speech therapist finally educed (or elicited) a complete sentence from a boy who had been previously labeled 'non-verbal.'" More Info: Don't confuse with illicit, which is an adjective meaning "illegal."

eloquent

eloquent (adj) ELL-oh-kwent Definition: Marked by forceful, fluid, apt speech; expressive, emotionally moving Usage: Wow, he's such an eloquent speaker, he could sell snow to Antarcticans! / When Mom suggested that everyone might enjoy a museum instead of the beach, she was met with the children's eloquent looks of disgust. Related Words: Rhetorical and oratorical are words related to the art of public speaking. While a lawyer needs good rhetorical skills, sometimes rhetorical and oratorical mean only related to style and effect, and lacking substance. Eloquent, however, is always positive—even in the latter sentence above, the eloquent looks of disgust are very effective in expressing the children's feelings. More Info: The root "loq" means "speech" and also appears in loquacious (talkative) and interlocutor (participant in a dialogue; interrogator).

embellish

embellish (verb) em-BELL-ish Definition: Decorate, add ornamentation; enhance (a story) with fictional or fanciful details Usage: Every time she tells that story, she embellishes it quite a bit—at first, she was lost in the woods and then she was found. The part with the grizzly bear was added later. / The Christmas sweater was embellished with festive jingle bells! Related Words: Bedeck means "adorn or deck out," as in "The church was bedecked with flowers for the wedding." This is essentially the same word as in the Christmas carol "Deck the Halls." More Info: Embellish contains a root for beauty, "bell," as in "belle of the ball." (This can be a quite confusing root, though, as "bell" can also mean "war," as in belligerent, bellicose, rebellion. In Latin, "bellus" meant "dress up" and "bellum" meant war).

eminent

eminent (adj) EM-in-ent Definition: Prominent, distinguished, of high rank Usage: The undergraduate shocked everyone by asking the eminent old professor, "Really? What makes you such an expert?" / "Your Eminence!" said the bishop to the Pope, "Don't forget this copy of your speech!" Related Words: Venerable (worthy of deep respect, hallowed, dignified) More Info: Eminent domain is the law allowing the government to appropriate private property, such as forcing people to move so a new highway can be built. And, while supposedly Marshall Mathers selected the pseudonym "Eminem" based on his initials (M&M), we like to think he was aware of the name's strong resemblance to eminent.

empirical

empirical (adj) em-PEER-ick-ull Definition: Coming from, based on, or able to be verified by experience or experimentation; not purely based on theory Usage: The Ancient Greeks philosophized about the nature of matter (concluding, for instance, that everything was made of earth, water, air, and fire) without any empirical evidence—that is, the very idea of conducting experiments hadn't been invented yet. / People always knew empirically that when something is dropped, it falls to the ground; the theory of gravity later explained why. More Info: In Ancient Greece, practitioners of medicine who relied on experience rather than theory were of the Empiric School; in contrast, the Dogmatic school followed the teachings of Hippocrates above all. In philosophy, a priori knowledge is that which can be deduced from logic alone, and a posteriori knowledge is empirical.

emulate

emulate (verb) EM-yoo-layt Definition: Copy in an attempt to equal or be better than Usage: The ardent Star Trek fan emulated Captain Kirk in every way possible—his brash and confident leadership might have gotten him somewhere, but the women he tried to impress weren't so impressed. More Info: Imitate merely means to copy; emulate means to copy in a positive, admiring way. A word for "copy" that has a somewhat negative connotation is ape (based on the idea of a large primate trying to copy humans), as in "While he tried to ape Hemingway's style, the truth is, he simply wasn't a very good writer."

enervate

enervate (verb) EN-er-vayt Definition: Weaken, tire Usage: After taking the SAT in the morning and playing in a soccer game in the afternoon, Trina was truly enervated before the prom even began. "You dance like a grandmother with osteoporosis," said her date. Related Words: Sap (weaken, undermine, destroy in an underhanded way), Enfeeble (weaken, make feeble) More Info: The "e" in enervate is a variant of the prefix "ex" and means "out," while "nerv" means "nerve, sinew." Today, the word doesn't exactly mean "remove the nerves from," although that certainly does sound like something that would weaken a person.

enhance

enhance (verb) en-HANSS Definition: Raise to a higher value, desirability, etc. Usage: The cosmetics industry stays in business because so many people want to enhance their appearances. Related Words: Embellish (decorate, add ornamentation), Aggrandize (make greater; exaggerate) More Info: Enhance may come from the Old French "enhaucer," meaning "to raise" and sharing an origin with haughty, or arrogant.

enumerate

enumerate (verb) ee-NOO-mer-ayt Definition: Count or list; specify one-by-one Usage: The Bill of Rights enumerates the basic rights held by every citizen of the United States. / I don't have time to enumerate all the steps involved in baking a cake—just find a recipe on the internet! Related Words: Reckon means "count" or "consider or regard as," as in "The math teacher is reckoned the only person in the school who can reckon the number of primes under 500 in less than one minute." More Info: Enumerable means "countable," not to be confused with innumerable, which means "numerous, a lot."

ephemeral

ephemeral (adj) ee-FEM-er-ull Definition: Lasting only a short time, fleeting Usage: "Thank you for this jacket that says 'Eugene's Girl,'" said Marie, "but I fear that your love will prove to be ephemeral—over the last two years, I've seen four other girls in school with the same jacket. Do you buy them in six-packs?" Related Words: Evanescent and Fugacious are synonyms. Transient can mean "lasting only a short time, temporary" or "staying only a short time," or can be a noun referring to homeless people, temporary workers, or others who move often. More Info: Ephemeral comes from a Greek word for "day." It originally meant—and sometimes still means—lasting only one day.

erratic

erratic (adj) er-RAT-ick Definition: Inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course Usage: When someone engages in erratic behavior, family members often suspect drug use or mental illness. However, sometimes the person is just building a top-secret invention in the garage! Related Words: Desultory (lacking consistency or order, disconnected, sporadic; going off topic) More Info: Erratic shares a root with error and the verb err, which originally meant "to stray or wander"—that is, to be erratic—but now means "to make a mistake."

eschew

eschew (verb) ess-CHOO Definition: Shun, avoid, abstain from Usage: As a vegan, he eschewed not only meat and dairy but also anything made of leather. Related Words: Abjure (give up, renounce; repudiate, recant, or shun, especially formally or under oath), Forswear (reject or renounce under oath; swear falsely in court) More Info: Pronounce this word just as it looks: "ess-CHEW."

eulogy

eulogy (noun) YOU-luh-gee Definition: Speech of praise or written work of praise, esp. a speech given at a funeral Usage: While it was hard for Xing to write a eulogy for his friend, he was pleased to be able to tell others at the funeral some wonderful things about him that they hadn't known. / The review of the book was pure eulogy—usually, this publication runs more balanced articles. Related Words: Encomium (warm, glowing praise, esp. a formal expression of praise), Laudation (praise, tribute), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks) More Info: "Eu" is a Greek root for "good," and "log" or "logos" for "discourse."

exacerbate

exacerbate (verb) egg-ZASS-er-bayt Definition: Make worse (more violent, severe, etc.), inflame; irritate or embitter (a person) Usage: Allowing your band to practice in our garage has greatly exacerbated my headache. Related Words: Aggravate is a synonym. More Info: Exacerbate shares a root with acerbic, meaning "sour; harsh or severe." The prefix "ex" means "out" but can also have the meaning of "thoroughly" or "utterly." To acerbate is to make more acerbic; to exacerbate is to make utterly acerbic.

exacting

exacting (adj) egg-ZACK-ting Definition: Very severe in making demands; requiring precise attention Usage: The boxing coach was exacting, analyzing Joey's footwork down to the millimeter and forcing him to repeat movements hundreds of times until they were correct. Related Words: Meticulous (taking extreme care with details; fussy), Fastidious (excessively particular, hard to please) More Info: Exaction is a word for extortion, or demanding money under threat. To exact as a verb can mean to extort money, or simply to demand, as in "to exact obedience from the soldiers."

exculpate

exculpate (verb) ECK-skull-payt Also exculpatory (adj) Definition: Clear from guilt or blame Usage: The security camera footage showing Mr. Murphy to have been in a casino the entire night turned out to be just the evidence needed to exculpate him of robbing a bank fifty miles away. Related Words: Vindicate and Exonerate are synonyms. More Info: "Ex" in this context means "out" and "culp" (as in culprit and culpable) means "blame." Exculpate has a very rare antonym, inculpate, meaning "charge with fault, incriminate."

exhaustive

exhaustive (adj) egg-ZAW-stiv Definition: Comprehensive, thorough, exhausting a topic or subject, accounting for all possibilities; draining, tending to exhaust Usage: The Standard Book of British Birds provides an exhaustive treatment of the subject—you will find that not a single British bird has been omitted. / The rebels finally surrendered after an exhaustive siege that left them without ammunition or even food. Related Words: Thoroughgoing (thorough, complete; zealous), Omnibus (including or providing for many items)

explicit

explicit (adj) eck-SPLISS-it Definition: Direct, clear, fully revealed; clearly depicting sex or nudity Usage: The goal of my motivational talk is to make explicit the connection between staying in school and avoiding a life of crime. Related Words: Unequivocal (clear, having only one possible meaning), Explicate (make clear) More Info: The antonym of explicit is implicit or tacit, meaning "hinted at, implied."

exponent

exponent (noun) eck-SPOH-nent Definition: Person who expounds or explains; champion, advocate, or representative Usage: An exponent of clean fuel, he petitioned the state government to commit to replacing conventional energy with solar and wind energy where possible. Related Words: Proponent (person who proposes or argues in favor of something) More Info: Of course, an exponent is also the number to which another number is raised. Both senses of the word come from the verb expound, meaning "interpret, explain, state in detail." In a sense, an exponent on a number expounds upon that number by telling us how many times the number is to be multiplied by itself.

extraneous

extraneous (adj) eck-STRAY-nee-uss Definition: Irrelevant; foreign, coming from without, not belonging Usage: This essay would be stronger if you removed extraneous information; this paragraph about the author's life doesn't happen to be relevant to your thesis. / Maize, which originated in the New World, is extraneous to Europe. Related Words: Superfluous (extra, unnecessary, excessive) More Info: In Latin, "extra" means "outside of." The "coming from without" meaning of extraneous can also be expressed with extrinsic, the antonym of which is intrinsic.

extrapolate

extrapolate (verb) eck-STRAP-oh-layt Definition: Conjecture about an unknown by projecting information about something known; predict by projecting past experience Usage: No, I've never been to Bryn Mawr, but I've visited several small, private women's colleges in the Northeast, so I think I can extrapolate. More Info: In math and science, to extrapolate is to infer values in an unobserved interval from values in an observed interval. For instance, from the points (1, 4) and (3, 8), you could extrapolate the point (5, 12), since it would be on the same line. The antonym of extrapolate is interpolate, to estimate between two known values, such as by using (1, 4) and (3, 8) to assume (2, 6). Interpolate can also mean "insert words or foreign material into a text or conversation."

facetious

facetious (adj) fuh-SEE-shuss Definition: Joking, humorous, esp. inappropriately; not serious, concerned with frivolous things Usage: When I said, "Sure, you can take anything in my house as a souvenir of this study session," I was being facetious! I would like my nightgown back now. / He's a facetious person—I doubt he will take your offer of a spiritual quest very seriously. Related Words: Waggish (merry, roguish), Risible (laughable, related to laughing), Jocular, Jocund, or Jocose (jesting, jolly), Droll (funny in an odd way) More Info: Don't confuse facetious with fatuous, meaning "foolish, silly, inane." Facetious people can be smartly sarcastic; fatuous people are dull and dim-witted. Facetious comes from a Latin word for clever; fatuous comes from a word for gaping—as in, having one's mouth hang open like a very stupid person.

facilitate

facilitate (verb) fuh-SILL-it-tayt Definition: Make easier, help the progress of Usage: A good meeting facilitator lets everyone be heard while still keeping the meeting focused. / As a midwife, my goal is simply to facilitate a natural process. More Info: Speakers of Spanish and French will certainly recognize facilitate's similarity with "fácil" or "facile," meaning "easy." Interestingly, though, the word facile in English can be negative, meaning "shallow or superficial"—that is, a little too easy.

fanciful

fanciful (adj) FAN-sih-full Definition: Whimsical, capricious; imaginary; freely imaginative rather than based on reason or reality Usage: The play was set in a fanciful version of New York City, one where all the cab drivers spoke perfect English and the Statue of Liberty seemed to be in the middle of the island. Related Words: Whimsical (fanciful, eccentric) is a near-synonym. Capricious (acting on impulse, erratic) is also close, but is sometimes used negatively.

fathom

fathom (verb) FA-thum Definition: Measure the depth of (usually of water) as with a sounding line; penetrate and discover the meaning of, understand Usage: I cannot even remotely fathom how you interpreted an invitation to sleep on my couch as permission to take my car on a six-hour joyride! Related Words: Sound and Plumb (used as verbs) are synonyms. More Info: A sounding line or plumb line is a length of rope with a weight at the bottom; dropping it into water will allow the weight to sink and water to be measured in fathoms (six-foot increments —fathom comes from a word for outstretched arms, which on an adult male tend to measure about six feet).

fidelity

fidelity (noun) fid-DELL-it-ee Definition: Faithfulness, loyalty; strict observance of duty; accuracy in reproducing a sound or image Usage: Wedding vows typically include a promise of fidelity—such as by "forsaking all others as long as I may live." Related Words: Constancy (loyalty, the state of being unwavering) More Info: Fidelity contains the root "fid," for "trust," also appearing in diffident, fiduciary, infidel, and Fidel Castro's name.

figurative

figurative (adj) FIG-yer-uh-tiv Definition: Metaphorical, based on figures of speech; containing many figures of speech (as fancy-sounding writing); related to portraying human or animal figures Usage: The painter was renowned for his figurative art, including many portraits—he had been known to say that abstract artists were just people who had never learned to draw. / Highly figurative language can be difficult for English language learners—for instance, to "throw the baby out with the bath water" refers to being too hasty and unwisely getting rid of the good with the bad. Related Words: The opposite of figurative is literal, although in regular speech, people often use literal to mean figurative. People who say I was literally ready to kill someone rarely mean that, which is why we are not alarmed when they say that. We understand that they are really speaking figuratively.

finesse

finesse (noun, verb) fin-NESS Definition: Extreme delicacy, subtlety, or diplomacy in handling a sensitive situation or in a performance or skill (noun); use tact or diplomacy; employ a deceptive strategy (verb) Usage: After the prince deeply insulted his hosts, the diplomat was able to finesse the situation, playing it off as a translation error and getting the negotiations back on track. Related Words: Tact (sensitivity to what is proper and inoffensive) More Info: Finesse is also a brand of shampoo. The commercials typically feature a person getting into—and then out of—a tough situation. The slogan is "Sometimes you need a little finesse, sometimes you need a lot."

fleeting

fleeting (adj) FLEE-ting Definition: Passing quickly, transitory Usage: I had assumed our summer romance would be fleeting, so I was very surprised when you proposed marriage! Related Words: Ephemeral, Evanescent and Fugacious are synonyms. Fugitive is best known as meaning "running from the law," but can also mean fleeting. More Info: A fleet is a group of ships controlled together. The connection is the root word, "to float"—a fleet of boats floats on the water, and a fleeting romance, for instance, is one that simply seems to float away.

foment

foment (verb) FOH-ment or FAH-ment Definition: Incite, instigate, stir up, promote the growth of; apply medicated liquid to a body part Usage: The revolutionary group was quietly fomenting a rebellion, galvanizing student radicals, leading unions in revolutionary songs, and anonymously pasting incendiary posters in every quarter of the city. Related Words: Rouse (wake up; incite, stir up) More Info: Abigail Adams famously told her husband John Adams that, if left out of the Constitution, ladies would "foment a rebellion." Foment comes from a Latin word for a poultice or hot compress. The similiar-sound ferment (to undergo fermentation as in yogurt, kimchi, etc., such as by a yeast or bacterium) can also be used to mean "excite or agitate"—you can foment or ferment a rebellion.

foreshadow

foreshadow (verb) for-SHAD-oh Also foreshadowing (noun) Definition: Indicate or suggest beforehand, presage Usage: You didn't know this was a horror movie? I thought it was pretty clear that the children's ghost story around the campfire was meant to foreshadow the horrible things that would happen to them years later as teenagers at a motel in the middle of the woods. Related Words: Prefigure is a synonym. Forerun means run before or foreshadow. Harbinger and Herald mean a person or thing that indicates what is to come (Herald can also mean "messenger," including about something in the past). Portentous and Ominous can mean "giving a bad sign about the future" (portentous can also mean "very significant, exciting wonder and awe"). More Info: "Fore" means "before"—foreshadow literally comes from the idea that an object's shadow sometimes arrives before the object does.

gainsay

gainsay (verb) gayn-SAY Definition: Declare false, deny; oppose Usage: The professor is quite doctrinaire—she's been known to lower the grade of any student who dares gainsay her. Related Words: Dissent (disagree or take an opposing view, esp. in relation to a formal body such as a government) More Info: In Old English, "gain" actually meant "against," although most other words formed from this word part are now obsolete (as in "gainclap," a counterstroke, such as in battle).

garrulous

garrulous (adj) GAIR-ull-uss Definition: Talkative, wordy, rambling Usage: Uncle Bill is so garrulous that our dinner conversation lasted three hours—and the only person who said more than ten words was Uncle Bill. Related Words: Prolix, Verbose, and Loquacious all mean talkative or wordy. Garrulous adds the sense of going off-topic or being tiresome. For instance, a very long-winded but informative academic paper would be prolix or verbose, but not garrulous.

gradation

gradation (noun) gray-DAY-shun Also grade (verb) Definition: A progression, a process taking place gradually, in stages; one of these stages Usage: The hill's gradation was so gradual that even those on crutches were able to enjoy the nature trail. / The short story's language graded from the vernacular to the erudite so gradually that you practically didn't realize until the end that the speaker had become educated almost before your eyes. More Info: A grade is a step, stage, or rank, as in grades on papers, school years ("sixth grade"), or "Grade A" milk.

guile

guile (noun) GUY-ull Also guileless (adj) Definition: Clever deceit, cunning, craftiness Usage: The game of poker is all about guile, manipulating your own body language and patter to lead other players to erroneous conclusions about the cards you're holding. Related Words: Duplicity (deceit, double-dealing, acting in two different ways for the purpose of deception), Wily (crafty, cunning) More Info: Beguile can mean to trick or mislead, but can also mean to charm or bewitch—that is, to trick in a pleasant, sometimes flirtatious way.

hackneyed

hackneyed (adj) HACK-need Definition: So commonplace as to be stale; not fresh or original Usage: This screenplay is so hackneyed—the leading lady has a quirky, artsy job in the city and has a minor problem early in the movie from which the male lead rescues her, and they get together but then break up due to a misunderstanding, and then they end up together anyway, all while the female lead's "sassy" friend gives advice. Ugh. I'll bet they're auditioning Jennifer Aniston right now. Related Words: Banal, Hackneyed, Inane, Insipid and Trite all mean "lacking freshness and originality, shallow" More Info: Hackney in London was once out in the countryside and was a place from which you could rent a horse, leading to the sense of an overworked, broken-down horse, and consequently to someone, such as a writer, who works for hire and has few fresh ideas left.

hardy

hardy (adj) HAR-dee Definition: Bold, brave, capable of withstanding hardship, fatigue, cold, etc. Usage: While the entire family enjoyed the trip to South America, only the hardier members even attempted to hike to the top of Ecuador's tallest volcano. Related Words: Robust (strong, vigorous, full-bodied), Hale (vigorous, healthy) More Info: Hardy, unsurprisingly, comes from "harden," in the sense of "make brave." Hardy is also an English last name; the adventurous Hardy Boys are the heroes of a series of young adult novels popular since their debut in 1927.

haven

haven (noun) HAY-ven Definition: Harbor or port; refuge, safe place Usage: The relief workers set up the camp as a haven from persecution. Related Words: Succor (relief, aid), Asylum (refuge or sanctuary; refuge granted by a country to a foreigner persecuted in her or her own country). Asylum was once used to mean a care facility for the mentally ill, orphans, etc., but this usage is generally considered insensitive today.

hearken

hearken (verb) HAR-ken Also hark (verb) Definition: Listen, pay attention to Usage: "Hearken, students!" said the old-fashioned music teacher. "We are going to practice 'Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." / The simple lifestyle and anachronistic dress of the Amish hearken back to an earlier era. More Info: Hark is a variant of hearken and has the same meaning. The expression hearken back or hark back is much more common in modern usage than hearken alone, and means to turn back to something earlier or return to a source.

hedonist

hedonist (noun) HEE-dun-ist Also hedonism (noun), hedonistic (adj) Definition: Person devoted to pleasure Usage: A vacation is a fine time to practice hedonism, letting your troubles go and pursuing massages and cocktails as though it's your life mission. Related Words: Sybarite (synonym). Voluptuary is also very similar, but adds the idea of seeking luxury. Licentious (sexually unrestrained; immoral; ignoring the rules), Libertine (morally or sexually unrestrained person; freethinker) More Info: The original Hedonists were Greek philosophers who held that pleasure is the highest moral good, so whatever policy causes the most pleasure (and least pain) to the most people is the most moral policy.

heterogeneous

heterogeneous (adj) het-er-oh-JEE-nee-uss Definition: Different in type, incongruous; composed of different types of elements Usage: Rather than build the wall with plain brick, we used a heterogeneous mixture of stones—they are not only different colors, but a variety of sizes as well. Related Words: Homogeneous (of the same kind) is the opposite of heterogeneous. More Info: The Latin root "gen" means "birth, produce, race" and appears in generate, genus, gender, genocide. "Hetero" means "different" and appears in heterodox (unorthodox).

hierarchy

hierarchy (noun) HIGH-er-ar-kee Definition: A ranked series; a classification of people according to rank, ability, etc.; a ruling body Usage: The activist, accustomed to groups ruled by consensus, was quite surprised to find that the Eco-Action Coalition was led by a strict hierarchy—members followed orders from district leaders, district leaders from regional leaders, and regional leaders from the national head. Related Words: Echelon (a level, rank or grade; the people at that level), Stratum (a layer, esp. one of a number of parallel layers, such as in sedimentary rock or the Earth's atmosphere; plural is strata, as in "Of all the strata of society, the middle class is the stratum hit hardest by the recession.") More Info: A hierarchy was originally a ranked division of angels.

hodgepodge

hodgepodge (noun) HAHJ-pahj Definition: Mixture of different kinds of things, jumble Usage: The comedian's book wasn't a proper memoir, but more a hodgepodge of old bits, personal stories that went nowhere, random political opinions, and childhood photos. Related Words: Heterogeneous means "made up of diverse elements." Medley, Farrago, Potpourri, Pastiche and Olio are all words for mixtures of diverse things. More Info: Hodgepodge comes from hotchpotch, a stew of meat and vegetables.

homogeneous

homogeneous (adj) hoh-moh-JEE-nee-uss Definition: Of the same kind; uniform throughout Usage: While Sweden seems to have solved many of its social ills, critics point out that Sweden's largely homogeneous population doesn't present the challenges extant in a more diverse nation with many cultures and languages. Related Words: Heterogeneous (different in type, incongruous; composed of different types of elements) is the antonym of homogeneous. More Info: The Latin root "gen" means "birth, produce, race" and appears in generate, genus, gender, genocide. "Homo" means "same" and appears in the biology term homologous (having the same relation or structure, as in human arms and bat wings).

hyperbole

hyberbole (noun) high-PER-boh-lee Definition: Deliberate exaggeration for effect Usage: Oh, come on. Saying "That movie was so bad it made me puke" was surely hyperbole. I strongly doubt that you actually vomited during or following The Back-Up Plan. Related Words: Overstatement is similar in meaning. More Info: Hyperbole shares a root (meaning "throw") with ballistics—think of it as throwing your statement quite a bit past the mark.

idiosyncrasy

idiosyncrasy (noun) id-dee-oh-SINK-rah-see Also idiosyncratic (adj) Definition: Characteristic or habit peculiar to an individual; peculiar quality, quirk Usage: Sometimes, the richer people get, the more idiosyncratic they become. After he made his first billion, he began traveling with a pet iguana, sleeping in an oxygen chamber, and, oddly, speaking with a slight Dutch accent. Related Words: Eccentric (peculiar, odd, deviating from the norm esp. in a whimsical way) More Info: The root "idio" means "referring to one person, peculiar" (an idiolect is a speech pattern spoken by only one person).

implicit

implicit (adj) im-PLISS-it Definition: Implied, not stated directly; involved in the very essence of something, unquestionable Usage: He didn't have to be told to resign; it was implicit in his not getting the promotion that he had no future at the company. / I enjoy ice climbing with my father because, in such a dangerous situation, it's important to have a partner you trust implicitly. Related Words: Tacit also means implied, unspoken. More Info: The antonym of implicit is explicit (direct, clear, fully revealed, or clearly depicting sex or nudity).

implode

implode (verb) im-PLOHD Definition: Burst inward Usage: The startup struggled for years before it simply imploded—the management team broke into factions, all the clients were scared off, and employees who hadn't been paid in weeks began taking the office computers home with them in retribution. More Info: Implode is, of course, the opposite of explode.

incentive

incentive (noun) in-SENT-iv Also incentivize (verb) Definition: Something that encourages greater action or effort, such as a reward Usage: A controversial program in a failing school system uses cash payments as an incentive for students to stay in school. Related Words: Inducement (motive for action, incentive)

inconsequential

inconsequential (adj) in-con-seck-WENCH-ull Definition: Insignificant, unimportant; illogical Usage: You wrote a bestselling book and got a stellar review in the New York Times—whatever your cousin has to say about it is simply inconsequential. / Given that your entire essay is about Hamlet's relationship with his mother, your thesis that Hamlet's relationship with Laertes drives the plot is inconsequential —that is, it does not follow as a consequence of the evidence you've provided. Related Words: Negligible, Null, and Nil mean "nothing, or too insignificant to matter."

incorporate

incorporate (verb) in-CORE-per-ayt Definition: Combine, unite; form a legal corporation; embody, give physical form to Usage: When a business incorporates, it becomes a separate legal entity—for instance, the business can declare bankruptcy without the owners doing so. / Local legend has it that ghosts can incorporate on one night of the year and walk among the living. Related Words: Incarnate (embodied, personified; put into concrete form, embody, take on a human body) More Info: Incorporate contains the Latin "corpus" (body), also found in corpse (dead body), corpulent (fat), and even "Marine Corps."

indeterminate

indeterminate (adj) in-dee-TER-min-it Definition: Not fixed or determined, indefinite; vague Usage: The results of the drug trial were indeterminate; further trials will be needed to ascertain whether the drug can be released. / The lottery can have an indeterminate number of winners—the prize is simply divided among them. Related Words: Ambiguous (not clear, hard to understand, open to having several meanings or interpretations)

indifferent

indifferent (adj) in-DIFF-er-ent Definition: Not caring, having no interest; unbiased, impartial Usage: Do whatever you want—I'm indifferent. I won't even notice. Related Words: Apathy (not caring; absence of feeling; lack of interest or concern) More Info: The presence of "different" in indifferent comes from the sense of "not differing, neither good nor bad."

inform

inform (verb) in-FORM Definition: Inspire, animate; give substance, essence, or context to; be the characteristic quality of Usage: Her work as an art historian is informed by a background in drama; where others see a static tableau, she sees a protagonist, a conflict, a denouement. / Marjorie's desire to work in forensics is informed by a family history in the police department. More Info: Of course inform most commonly means "impart knowledge to"; thus, many students are confused when they see the word used in other ways on the GRE.

ingenuous

ingenuous (adj) in-JEN-yoo-uss Definition: Genuine, sincere, not holding back; naive Usage: Multi-level marketing scams prey on the ingenuous, those who really think there's someone out there who just wants to help them get rich. Related Words: Guileless and Artless are near-synonyns. An Ingenue is a young—presumably innocent—actress or other female performer. More Info: The "gen" in ingenuous is the same root as in genuine, and the two words are very similar in meaning. Don't misread ingenuous as ingenious, which means "brilliant" (an ingenious idea).

inherent

inherent (adj) in-HAIR-ent Definition: Existing as a permanent, essential quality; intrinsic Usage: New research seems to support the idea that humans have an inherent sense of justice—even babies become upset at puppet shows depicting unfairness, and are gratified at seeing the "bad" puppets punished . Related Words: Innate (inborn)

innocuous

innocuous (adj) in-NOCK-yoo-uss Definition: Harmless, inoffensive Usage: While it's quite acrid in here, fortunately the fumes that come from our factory are completely innocuous—you don't need a face mask unless you'd like one. Related Words: Benign (harmless, favorable) More Info: The rare word nocuous means "harmful." Innocuous can also have the sense of "boring, insignificant," as in something so harmless as to lack interest.

intelligible

intelligible (adj) in-TELL-ih-juh-bull Definition: Able to be understood, clear Usage: You are doing a disservice to all music by listening through those horrible speakers! None of the lyrics are even intelligible! I'll bet you have no idea what this song is even about! Related Words: Legible applies to handwriting and means "able to be read." Intelligible can be used for speech, writing, or ideas. Lucid means clear and applies to people as well as ideas. As in, "After brain surgery, it will take awhile for the anesthesia to wear off and for her to become lucid. Then we can test whether her handwriting is intelligible, which will help pinpoint any loss of functioning."

intractable

intractable (adj) in-TRACT-uh-bull Definition: Difficult to control, manage, or manipulate; hard to cure; stubborn Usage: That student is positively intractable! Last week, we talked about the importance of staying in your seat during the lesson—this week, she not only got up mid-class, but she actually scrambled on top of a bookcase and refused to come down! / Back injuries often result in intractable pain; despite treatment, patients never feel fully cured. Related Words: Intransigent, Obdurate, and Obstreperous are also used to describe people who are stubborn and hard to control. More Info: The antonym of intractable is tractable, meaning "compliant." The root "tract" means "manage or handle" (and originally "drag about") and also appears in tractor, distract, retract, and, of course, tract (a stretch of land).

lassitude

lassitude (noun) LASS-it-tood Definition: Tiredness, weariness; lazy indifference Usage: It's so difficult to get anything done in the dead heat of August! I can't seem to shake my lassitude enough to get out of this hammock, much less study for the GRE. Related Words: Languid (drooping from exhaustion, sluggish, slow; lacking in spirit). Torpid and slothful mean slow and lazy. Indolent means habitually lazy, such as a person who chooses never to work.

intrepid

intrepid (adj) in-TREPP-id Definition: Fearless, brave, enduring in the face of adversity Usage: Intrepid explorers Lewis and Clark led the first U.S. expedition to the West Coast, facing bitter winters and rough terrain. Related Words: Hardy (bold, brave, capable of withstanding hardship, fatigue, cold, etc.), Fortitude (strength in facing adversity), Grit (firmness of mind, esp. during hardship; courage) More Info: The antonym trepid means frightened and trepidation means fear or alarm. The USS Intrepid is a decommissioned Naval aircraft carrier docked in NYC as a museum. As a rule, if it's the name of a ship, it's probably something good (even the Titanic was meant to be positive—"titanic" means very large).

intrinsic

intrinsic (adj) in-TRIN-zick Definition: Belonging to the essential nature of a thing Usage: Despite all this high-tech safety equipment, skydiving is an intrinsically dangerous proposition. / Communication is intrinsic to a healthy relationship. Related Words: Innate (inborn), Inherent (existing as a permanent, essential quality; intrinsic) More Info: The antonym extrinsic means "not forming part of a thing, extraneous, coming from the outside." Intrinsic motivation is wanting to do something due to interest in the task itself; extrinsic motivation is wanting to do something for a reward, to earn a grade, to avoid punishment, etc.

jargon

jargon (noun) JAR-gun Definition: Vocabulary specific to a group or occupation; convoluted or unintelligible language Usage: The information my doctor gave me was so full of medical jargon I couldn't understand it at all! I'm going to look on the Internet for something written for regular people. Related Words: Argot and Cant also refer to specialized vocabularies (more often used to describe the underworld—lawyers have jargon, mobsters have argot or cant.) Cant can also mean lofty but insincere talk (e.g., pageant queens talking about world peace). A lexicon is a dictionary or specialized vocabulary. More Info: Jargon comes from a Latin root for "chatter" that also gives us gargle and gargoyle. Vague business-talk ("It is a best practice to synergize our efficiencies") is often called jargon.

jocular

jocular (adj) JOCK-yoo-ler Definition: Joking or given to joking all the time; jolly, playful Usage: He's certainly a jocular fellow—if we were friends, I'm sure I'd find his antics amusing, but as his professor, I do wish he'd contribute some serious comments to the class discussion instead of his constant stream of jocular comments. Related Words: Jocund and jocose come from the same root and mean the same thing. Waggish (merry, roguish), Risible (laughable, related to laughing), Droll (funny in an odd way)

keen

keen (adj) KEEN Definition: Sharp, piercing; very perceptive or mentally sharp; intense (of a feeling) Usage: Dogs have a keen sense of smell. / As homecoming queen, she had experienced the envy of others, but their jealousy only grew more keen when she was selected for a small role in a movie. Related Words: Acumen (keen, quick, accurate insight or judgment), Astute (shrewd, very perceptive), Perspicacity (acuteness of perception) More Info: Keen comes from the same root as "can" (to be able)—if there's a job to do, a keen person can probably get it done!

kudos

kudos (noun) KOO-dohss Definition: Praise, honor, congratulations Usage: "Kudos on your amazing GRE score!" said the teacher. / While the critics weren't impressed, the play received plentiful kudos from the audience. Related Words: Plaudits (applause, approval), Laudation (praise), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks)

laconic

laconic (adj) luh-CON-ick Definition: Using few words, concise Usage: The boss was famously laconic; after allowing his employees to present their new plan for an entire hour, he finally responded, "Confirmed." Related Words: Reticent and Taciturn (not talking much) are often used to describe shy people and do not have the sense of "getting the point across efficiently" that laconic does. Pithy, however, takes this idea even further—it means getting the point across in just a few, cleverly-chosen words. More Info: Laconic comes from the Greek place named Laconia, the region in which Sparta (which of course gives us spartan) was located. A famous story has an invading general threatening, "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground." The Spartans laconically replied, "If."

languid

languid (adj) LANG-wid Also languor (noun) Definition: Drooping from exhaustion, sluggish, slow; lacking in spirit Usage: We signed up for a fitness boot camp, but after a single hour of exercise in the heat, we all felt so overcome with languor that we refused to go on. Turns out the reason we need a fitness boot camp in the first place is that we're pretty languid people. Related Words: Torpid and slothful mean slow and lazy. Indolent means habitually lazy, such as a person who chooses never to work. Lassitude is weariness or lack of caring. More Info: Don't confuse languor with langur, a type of monkey. Languorous is a more pleasant version of languid, suggesting dreamy relaxation.

laudable

laudable (adj) LAW-dib-bull Also laud (verb) Definition: worthy of praise Usage: When a major discount mart fired several employees for subduing a gunman, most people considered the action a laudable act of heroism, but the discount chain fired the employees for "violating company policies." Nevertheless, the mayor lauded the former employees in a medal-granting ceremony. Related Words: Encomium (warm, glowing praise, esp. a formal expression of praise), Panegyric (formal, lofty, or elaborate praise), Paean (song of praise, triumph, or thanks) More Info: Laud shares a root with applaud and plaudits (applause, approval).

layperson

layperson (noun) LAY-per-son Also laity (noun), lay (adj) Definition: a person who is not a member of the clergy or not a member of a particular profession (such as medicine, law, etc.) Usage: The actress Jenny McCarthy has written a book about autism. While her experience as a parent is interesting to anyone in a similar situation, it's still important to remember that McCarthy is a layperson, not a doctor. More Info: A layperson is literally a member of a church who is not a minister or priest. The laity is the church's membership (not including the clergy), or a group of people outside a particular profession. Lay can be an adjective meaning "pertaining to regular people," as in a lay version of a medical text.

likewise

likewise (adverb) LIKE-wize Definition: Also, in addition to; similarly, in the same way Usage: Chip was baffled by all the silverware set before him, so when his host began eating salad with the smallest, leftmost fork, Chip did likewise. Related Words: Moreover (in addition to what has been said, for instance "His actions cost us the job; moreover, he seriously offended our client)." More Info: In conversation, likewise can mean "Me, too." When someone says "Nice to meet you," you could say, "Likewise."

log

log (verb, noun) LAHG Definition: Keep a record of, write down; travel for or at a certain distance or speed (verb); a written record (noun) Usage: Lawyers who bill by the hour have to be sure to log all the time they spend on every client's case. / You cannot get your pilot's license until you have logged 40 hours of flight time. Related Words: Chronicle (a historical account in time order) More Info: Of course, a log is a piece of a tree, and to log can also mean to cut down trees (what loggers do).

loquacious

loquacious (adj) loh-KWAY-shuss Definition: Talkative, wordy Usage: The loquacious professor spoke at a million miles an hour and still regularly talked past the scheduled end time of the class. Related Words: Prolix and Verbose are synonyms. Magniloquent and Grandiloquent mean speaking in a lofty, grandiose style. More Info: The root "loq" means "speech" and also appears in eloquent and interlocutor (participant in a dialogue; interrogator).

lucid

lucid (adj) LOO-sid Definition: Clear, easy to understand; rational, sane Usage: After surgery, it'll take at least an hour until she's lucid—it's nothing to worry about, but patients sometimes talk complete nonsense until the anesthesia wears off and their speech becomes lucid. Related Words: Lucid can mean literally clear, but often means metaphorically clear or clearheaded —a lucid argument, a lucid person. The similar pellucid usually means literally transparent, as in pellucid waters. More Info: The root "luc" for "light" also occurs in translucent, luminous, luminary, lucubrate (work or study, originally by candlelight), and elucidate (make clear, explain).

lull

lull (noun, verb) LULL Definition: Soothe or cause to fall asleep (as in a lullaby); quiet down; make to feel secure, sometimes falsely (verb); a period of calm or quiet (noun) Usage: Tisha always tried to be polite—if she had to slip out of class to use the bathroom, she waited for a lull in the action so as not to attract too much attention. / Grandma's singing lulled the baby to sleep—much as, in her work as a spy during World War II, Grandma used her beauty and charm to lull foreign dignitaries into giving up their secrets. Related Words: Slack usually means loose, negligent, or lazy, but a slack can also be a calm spot in the water or a period of quiet or suspended activity. The holidays represent a lull or slack in work at many companies.

makeshift

makeshift (noun, adj) MAKE-shift Definition: A temporary, often improvised, substitute (noun); improvised for temporary use (adj) Usage: Lost in the woods for over 24 hours, the children were eventually found sleeping under a makeshift tent made from branches and old plastic bags. / I don't have a ladder, but I can stack up some boxes as a makeshift. More Info: The expressions "thrown together" or "slapped together" express a similar idea of "making do" with the resources on hand. To "jury rig" something is to assemble it quickly with whatever materials you have available.

malleable

malleable (adj) MAL-ee-uh-bull Definition: Able to be bent, shaped, or adapted Usage: The more malleable the material, the easier it is to bend into jewelry—and the easier it is to damage that jewelry. / My mother is a little too malleable—she said she liked all the things her first husband liked, and now she says she likes all the things her second husband likes. Related Words: Tractable, pliable, and plastic can also mean physically bendable, or metaphorically bendable, as in "easily influenced or shaped by others." Mutable means changeable. More Info: Malleable comes from a Latin word for "hammer" and thus shares a root with mallet.

mendacious

mendacious (adj) men-DAY-shuss Also mendacity (noun) Definition: Lying, habitually dishonest Usage: She was so mendacious that, when she broke the television, she blamed it on her little brother, even though he was in a wheelchair and could hardly have tipped over a piece of furniture. Her mendacity knows no bounds! Related Words: Disingenuous (insincere, not genuine), Dissembling (misleading, concealing the truth, acting hypocritically), Prevaricating (misleading or lying) More Info: Mendacious comes from a root for "defect, fault" that also gives us mend and amendment, which relate to fixing faults.

mercurial

mercurial (adj) mer-CURE-ee-ull Definition: Quickly and unpredictably changing moods; fickle, flighty Usage: It's tough being married to someone so mercurial. I do pretty much the same thing every day—some days, she thinks I'm great, and other days, the exact same behaviors make her inexplicably angry. Related Words: Erratic (inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course) More Info: Mercurial comes from the idea that people born under the planet Mercury are quick but volatile.

metamorphosis

metamorphosis (noun) met-uh-MORE-fuh-siss Also metamorphose (verb) Definition: A complete change or transformation (in biology, a change such as a caterpillar becoming a pupa and then a butterfly) Usage: Many reality show competitions are based on the idea of a contestant undergoing a metamorphosis, such as through dieting, exercise, life coaching, rehab, or plastic surgery—or all of the above. More Info: "Meta" means "change" and "morph" means "shape" (morphology is the branch of biology dealing with form and structure of organisms). When people use "morph" as a short form of metamorphose ("Mighty Morphin Power Rangers"), they have actually used the wrong part of the word; the television heroes should be the Mighty Meta Power Rangers.

meticulous

meticulous (adj) meh-TICK-yoo-luss Definition: Taking extreme care in regards to details; precise, fussy Usage: As a surgeon, of course Mom needs to be highly meticulous in her work—she gets things right down to a fraction of a millimeter. But this also means that when it's her night to cook, she's sometimes a little too meticulous—no one really needs a meatloaf to be sculpted into an absolutely perfect rectangular prism. Related Words: Finicky or Fastidious (excessively particular, hard to please), Exacting (very severe in making demands; requiring precise attention)

mitigate

mitigate (verb) MITT-igg-ayt Definition: Make less severe; lessen or moderate (damage, grief, pain, etc.) Usage: Sadly, his illness could not be cured, but the nurses made every effort to mitigate the symptoms. Related Words: Ameliorate, Palliate, and Alleviate are near-synonyms, all of which could take the place of mitigate in the sentence above. More Info: Exacerbate and aggravate are antonyms, referring to making something worse.

modest

modest (adj) MAH-dest Definition: Humble; simple rather than showy; decent (esp. "covering up" in terms of dress); small, limited Usage: The reporter was surprised that the celebrity lived in such a modest house, one that looked just like every other plain, two-story house on the block. / Her first job out of college was a rude awakening—her modest salary was barely enough for rent, much less going out and having fun. Related Words: Paltry (extremely small or worthless, insultingly small—in terms of money, often "a paltry sum") More Info: Many students know modest as in "a modest outfit" (one that doesn't show too much) and are confused by references to "modest beginnings"—a person from a modest or humble background grew up poor (or relatively poor).

monotony

monotony (noun) muh-NOT-uh-nee Definition: Sameness or repetitiousness to the point of being boring; lack of variation, uniformity, esp. repetition in sound Usage: The monotony of working on a factory assembly line made her feel as though she would go insane from boredom. Related Words: Tedium (that which is tiresome due to being too long, dull, or slow, as in The plot moved at a tedious pace). More Info: Monotone comes from Latin parts for "one tone," like a dial tone on an old-fashioned phone, or a very boring public speaker. Now, we can use monotony for things other than sound—for instance, studying vocabulary can get a little monotonous if you don't make an effort to keep it interesting by writing your own fun sentences, practicing with friends, and thinking about the gloriousness of a high GRE score.

nascent

nascent (adj) NA-sent or NAY-sent Definition: Coming into existence, still developing Usage: The violin teacher was always very encouraging with children. All children sound terrible the first couple of years, so she offered plenty of praise to encourage nascent talents. Related Words: Inchoate and incipient also mean just beginning, not yet completed, although inchoate can also have the sense of chaotic or disordered. More Info: Nascent contains a Latin root ("born") that also occurs in prenatal and neonate (a newborn baby).

naïve

naïve (adj) nye-EEV Also naivety or naivete (noun) Definition: Simple and unsophisticated, unsuspecting, lacking worldly experience and critical judgment Usage: I was a little naïve during the hiring process—the HR rep asked for my acceptable salary range, and I answered honestly. Of course I got an offer for the very lowest number in the range! Now I know I should have tried to get a number from her first, or named a higher number so I could negotiate down. Related Words: Dupe (person who is easily fooled or used, or to fool or exploit), Sap (person easily taken advantage of), Credulous (gullible) More Info: Naïvete (or naïveté) looks strange because it's French; it just means naïveness. Other strange spellings also pop up in regards to this word: naïf, naïfness, naïfly—all the same word. As a noun, a naïf or naïve is simply a naïve person.

negate

negate (verb) neh-GAYT Definition: Deny or refute; make void or cause to be ineffective Usage: Darling, if you add "I promise to try to work things out for at least a couple of weeks before giving up" to our wedding vows, it would kind of negate the part where you promise to love, honor, and cherish me "until death do us part." / The debate coach reminded the students that they had to negate each one of their opponents' major points in order to win. Related Words: Nullify is to make void or invalid. Sap, Enfeeble, and Undermine all mean "weaken" and thus are not as strong as negate or nullify. More Info: Of course, negate is the same word we use in math, as in "To negate both sides of the equation, multiply through by -1."

net

net (adj, verb) NET Definition: Remaining after expenses or other factors have been deducted; ultimate (adj); to bring in as profit, or to catch as in a net (verb) Usage: In one day of trading, my portfolio went up $10,000 and down $8,000, for a net gain of $2,000. / All those weeks of working weekends and playing golf with the boss ought to net her a promotion. Related Words: The opposite of net is gross. Your gross income is what your company pays you, and your net income is what you actually get to take home. If you sell merchandise, all the money you collect is the gross, but very little of that (or even none of it) may be profit—you have to subtract expenses to calculate the net. More Info: A related idea is tare. If you go to a pay-by-the-pound salad bar and get your salad in a heavy dish, the person weighing the salad will often deduct the tare—the weight of the dish—prior to calculating what you pay.

nevertheless

nevertheless or nonetheless (adverb) NEV-er-the-less or NUN-the-less Definition: However, even so, despite that Usage: While losing the P&G account was a serious blow, we nevertheless were able to achieve a new sales goal this month due to the tireless efforts of the sales team in bringing in three new clients. / I really can't stand working with you. Nonetheless, we're stuck on this project together and we're going to have to get along. Related Words: Notwithstanding means "in spite of" or "all the same," as in "The ballerina kept dancing, notwithstanding her injuries."

notoriety

notoriety (noun) noh-ter-RY-et-ee Also notorious (adj) Definition: Ill fame; the state of being well-known for a disgraceful reason Usage: Bill was notorious for being late to everything—after awhile, his friends just stopped inviting him to the movies. / Some countries ban convicted criminals from capitalizing on their notoriety by writing books from prison or selling rights to movies about their lives. Related Words: Infamous is a synonym for notorious. More Info: Not only did rapper The Notorious B.I.G. adopt the word notorious for his name, actress Tori Spelling has starred in a reality show entitled "So NoTORIous." We guess it's cool to be famous in a bad way?

novel

novel (adj) NAH-vull Definition: New, fresh, original Usage: You can make your writing better by eliminating clichés and replacing those clichés with more novel turns of speech. / Smoked salmon on a pizza? That's certainly a novel idea. Related Words: There are many more words for old, stale, overused ideas or writing lacking in novelty; trite, insipid, banal, and hackneyed are all antonyms of novel. More Info: Novel is related to the French nouvelle, "new." The meaning of novel as a book-length work of fiction comes from the idea of a "new story."

obviate

obviate (verb) AHB-vee-ayt Definition: Prevent, eliminate, or make unnecessary Usage: Adding protective heel taps to your dress shoes can obviate the need to take them to the shoe repair store later, once the heels have worn down. Related Words: Circumvent (go around, avoid, bypass, such as circumventing the rules) More Info: It can be confusing that obviate looks so much like obvious but doesn't seem related. The words do share a root, and the common meaning is that something that is "in the way" is obvious —and also takes some effort to avoid or obviate.

occult

occult (noun, adj, verb) uh-CULT Definition: The supernatural (noun); pertaining to magic, astrology, etc.; mysterious, secret or hidden (adj); to hide, to shut off from view (verb) Usage: A group of religious parents demanded that a popular series of young adult vampire novels be banned in schools because it promoted the occult. / During a solar eclipse, the moon occults the sun and it is momentarily dark in the middle of the day. Related Words: Eclipse (the obscuring of one thing by another, such as the sun by the moon or a person by a more famous or talented person, or to obscure, darken, make less important)

offhand

offhand (adj) OFF-hand Definition: Casual, informal; done without preparation or forethought; rude in a short way, brusque Usage: I was pretty happy with my salary until my coworker Deena mentioned offhandedly that she was thinking about buying a house now that she made six figures. Related Words: Extemporaneous and Impromptu (done with no or little preparation), Ad-lib (to improvise; something improvised)

officious

officious (adj) uh-FISH-uss Definition: Excessively eager in giving unwanted advice or intruding where one is not wanted; meddlesome, pushy Usage: Lisa's dinner parties are exhausting. She's an officious host who butts in and runs everyone's conversations, keeps an eye on what everyone is eating and makes sure you finish your vegetables, and even knocks on the bathroom door to make sure you're "okay in there." Related Words: In common speech, most of us would call an officious person "nosy" or a "busybody."

offset

offset (verb, noun) off-SET (v), OFF-set (n) Definition: Counteract, compensate for (verb); a counterbalance (noun) Usage: Property taxes did go up this year, but the hit to our finances was offset by a reduction in fees paid to our homeowners association. More Info: Something offset is "set off" against something else, such as by acting as a counterweight. A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases that can be applied to compensate for emissions made someplace else. That is, a company that sends out a lot of carbon dioxide can compensate for polluting by financially supporting energy efficiency or wind turbine projects.

onerous

onerous (adj) ONN-er-uss Definition: Burdensome, oppressive, hard to endure Usage: Doctors are often faced with the onerous task of telling waiting families that their loved one has died. Related Words: Cumbersome also means burdensome (or clumsy or unwieldy), but usually in a physical way, whereas onerous is generally metaphorical. Arduous means difficult. More Info: Onerous comes from onus, a modern-day word meaning "burden," and is often used in the expression "put the onus on" (The committee put the onus on Joe to get everything turned in on time).

opaque

opaque (adj) oh-PAYK Definition: Not translucent; not allowing light, heat, etc. to pass through; dark, dull, unclear or stupid Usage: The school dress code required opaque tights under skirts—the rules specified that sheer stockings were unacceptable. / Rena was tragically opaque—when her boyfriend said "I want to see other people," she thought he meant he needed glasses. Related Words: Turbid refers literally to water that is muddy and not clear because of stirred-up dirt or mud; metaphorically, it can mean obscured or confused, as in turbid feelings.

optimal

optimal or optimum (adj) AHP-tim-ull or AHP-tim-um Also optimize (verb) Definition: Best, most desirable or favorable Usage: Many believe that the U.S. Constitution's genius lies in its striking and optimal balance between freedom and order. More Info: Since prime means "of first importance," Transformers hero Optimus Prime's name seems a bit redundant, but gets the message across—he's best and first!

orthodox

orthodox (adj) ORE-thoh-docks Definition: Adhering to a traditional, established faith, or to anything customary or commonly accepted Usage: I appreciate that the new dentist thinks that my oral health can be improved through yoga, but I really prefer a more orthodox approach to dental care. Related Words: Conventional means traditional or customary. The opposite of orthodox is, of course, unorthodox—or its synonym, heterodox. More Info: "Ortho" means "correct, true, straight" and also appears in orthodontist, orthopedist, etc. The root "doct/dox" means "opinion" or "teach, know" and occurs in doctrine, doctor, paradox, and doctrinaire (person who applies doctrine in an impractical or rigid and close-minded way).

oscillate

oscillate (verb) AH-sill-ayt Definition: Swing back and forth; waver, change one's mind Usage: I wish we had air conditioning, but at least I replaced our old fan with this oscillating one that swings side to side and blows air on the whole room. / Stop oscillating and pick a restaurant! Seriously—Indian or Thai? Related Words: Equivocate (use unclear language to deceive or avoid committing to a position), Ambivalent (uncertain; unable to decide, or wanting to do two contradictory things at once), Vacillate and Waffle (waver, be indecisive), Dither (act irresolutely), Tergiversate (repeatedly change one's opinions, equivocate) More Info: This word has a weird story—the Latin "oscillum" means "little face." Masks of Bacchus, the god of wine, used to be hung in vineyards to oscillate in the breeze.

outstrip

outstrip (verb) out-STRIP Definition: Surpass, exceed; be larger or better than; leave behind Usage: Our sales figures this quarter have outstripped those of any other quarter in the company's history. Related Words: The expression "leave in the dust" has a similar meaning. Supersede means to replace or cause to be set aside (iPods have superseded portable CD players). More Info: Other out- words can have the sense of "do better than"—for instance, outweigh, outsell, outshine. To outpace is to be faster than and to outwit or outfox is to be more clever than. Here's a weird one: to outbrave is to be more brave than.

overshadow

overshadow (verb) oh-ver-SHAD-oh Definition: Cast a shadow over, darken; dominate, make to seem less important Usage: She was a straight-A student who excelled at field hockey, but she still felt overshadowed by her older sister, who won a national science competition for her work on cancer in mice, and also had time to become a pole vaulting champion and model who walked in Fashion Week. Related Words: Eclipse (the obscuring of one thing by another, such as the sun by the moon or a person by a more famous or talented person, or to obscure, darken, make less important)

paradigm

paradigm (noun) PAIR-uh-dime Definition: Model or pattern; worldview, set of shared assumptions, values, etc. Usage: Far from being atypically bawdy, this limerick is a paradigm of the form—nearly all of them rely on off-color jokes. Related Words: Prototype (original model serving as the basis for future copies or versions), Exemplar (example, item that is representative or typical, something worthy of imitation) More Info: "Para" means "beside." Paradigm comes from two Greek word parts meaning "beside" and "show" and combined into the Greek "paradiegma" for "pattern or example."

paradox

paradox (noun) PAIR-uh-docks Definition: Contradiction, or seeming contradiction that is actually true Usage: Kayla was always bothering the youth minister with her paradoxes, like "If God is all-powerful, can He make a burrito so big He can't eat it?" Related Words: Conundrum (a riddle, the answer to which involves a play on words; any mystery), Enigma (puzzle, mystery, riddle; mysterious or contradictory person) More Info: The root "doct/dox" means "opinion" or "teach, know" and occurs in doctrine, doctor, and doctrinaire (person who applies doctrine in an impractical or rigid and close-minded way).

pariah

pariah (noun) puh-RYE-uh Definition: Social outcast, untouchable Usage: After the schoolteacher was fired for participating in what some called a "hate rally," he became a pariah in his own town, glared at in the grocery store—even his longtime barber refused him a haircut. More Info: This word comes from the Tamil language, spoken in India, and is related to the caste system and to the lowest group of people in it, the "untouchables" or pariahs.

partial

partial (adj) PAR-shull Definition: Biased, prejudiced, favoring one over others; having a special liking for something or someone (usually partial to) Usage: Although I grew up in New York, I've always been partial to country music. / His lawyers are appealing on the grounds that the judge was partial to the plaintiff, even playing golf with the plaintiff during the trial. Related Words: Partisan (partial to a particular party, group, etc., esp. in a biased, emotional way). Predilection, Propensity, Proclivity, and Bent are all words for a preference or inclination (He has an arrogant bent about him, and a propensity to offend others). More Info: Of course, partial can also mean "not complete." The connection between the two meanings is that, if you are partial to pumpkin pie, for instance, you are "one-sided" about it.

partisan

partisan (adj, noun) PAR-tiss-un Definition: Devoted to a particular group, cause, etc. (adj.); fervent supporter of a group, party, idea, etc.; guerilla fighter (noun) Usage: It is unconscionable to engage in partisan politics in a time of crisis. People are trapped in the rubble of an earthquake, and you suggest that we vote for your tax bill in exchange for your voting for our relief bill? Related Words: Partial (biased, prejudiced; having a special liking for something) More Info: Partisan is related to the idea of a party (as in a political party). A party or other selfinterested group can also be called a faction. Partisanship gone too far could be called factionalism. Bipartisan means pertaining to both parties (typically in a two-party system), and nonpartisan means unbiased or not affiliated with a party.

patent

patent (adj, noun) PAT-ent Definition: Obvious, apparent, plain to see (adj); a letter from a government guaranteeing an inventor the rights to his or her invention (noun) Usage: Her resume was full of patent lies: anyone could check to see that she had never been president of UNICEF. Related Words: Blatant means obvious or flagrant and is used to describe something bad (blatantly disregarding the rules). More Info: Patent comes from a Latin root for "openness," also appearing in petal. A "letter patent" was once an open letter, and this is the origin of "patent" as a record of idea ownership—if you have a patent, there is an "open letter" (patent for all to see) attesting that your invention belongs to you.

pathological

pathological (adj) path-oh-LODGE-ick-ull Definition: Relating to or caused by disease; relating to compulsive bad behavior Usage: She thought her skin darkening was simply a result of the sun, but it was actually pathological, the result of a serious disease. / I can't believe you stole from the Make a Wish Foundation—you're pathological! More Info: "Pathos" means "disease." Pathological often occurs as "pathological liar." When pathological is used alone to describe a person, the meaning is that the person compulsively lies or hurts others.

patronizing

patronizing (adj) PAY-truh-nize-ing Also patronize (verb) Definition: Condescending, having a superior manner, treating as an inferior Usage: I'm not surprised that Professor McDougal used to teach kindergarten. His patronizing tone has been driving me crazy. Not only does he assume we can barely add or subtract, he also makes us put our heads down and have a moment of silence. More Info: As a verb, patronize means to be a patron of—that is, to support with money. You can be a patron of the arts, and restaurants sometimes have signs thanking you for your patronage. This meaning is positive, while being patronizing is negative. What's the connection? This word (along with patriotic) comes from the Latin "pater," for "father." Even in Roman times, fathers had a certain stereotype—they give you money, but they also talk to you like you're a little kid.

paucity

paucity (noun) PAW-sit-ee Definition: Scarcity, the state of being small in number Usage: Our school has such a disgraceful paucity of textbooks that the students are sharing, and so cannot even count on being able to take the books home to do homework. Related Words: Dearth (scarcity, lack) More Info: Paucity is related to pauper, a very poor person.

peccadillo

peccadillo (noun) peck-uh-DILL-oh Definition: Small sin or fault Usage: I'm going to propose to Melinda tomorrow—sure, she has her peccadillos, like anyone, but she's the perfect woman for me. More Info: "Pecado" is Spanish for "sin." Adding "-illo" to a Spanish word indicates "small" (a tomatillo resembles a small tomato, for instance). Thus, peccadillo means "small sin." English speakers pronounce the word like "armadillo," although of course Spanish speakers would use a "y" sound for the double l.

pedestrian

pedestrian (adj) puh-DESS-tree-un Definition: Ordinary, dull, commonplace Usage: It was so amazing when you had us over to dinner and made that rack of lamb! I'm afraid neither of us is a professional chef like you are, though, so we hope you won't mind that we've made something more pedestrian: hot dogs and French fries. Related Words: Prosaic means "relating to prose" or "ordinary, dull, commonplace"—the idea being that prose is not as exciting or noble as poetry. More Info: Of course, a pedestrian is also someone who travels on foot (the root for "foot" also appears in pedal, moped, and podiatrist). The connection with "ordinary" is that a distinguished person would travel on horseback—only the common folk would travel on foot.

penchant

penchant (noun) PEN-chint Definition: Liking or inclination (usually penchant for) Usage: He seems like a mild-mannered accountant, but twice a year he jets off to Australia to satisfy his penchant for adventure sports. Related Words: Predilection, Propensity, Proclivity, and Bent are all words for a preference or inclination (He has an arrogant bent about him, and a propensity to offend others). Partial means biased, or having a special liking for something or someone. More Info: From the French penchant ("leaning") which comes from a Latin root that also gives us pendulum. A person with a penchant leans metaphorically in a certain direction.

perfidious

perfidious (adj) per-FIDD-ee-uss Definition: Disloyal, treacherous, violating one's trust Usage: The perfidious soldier sold out his comrades, giving secrets to the enemy in exchange for money and protection. Related Words: Apostate (person who deserts a party, cause, religion, etc.), Recreant (coward or deserter), Quisling (person who betrays his country by aiding an invader), Infidel (unbeliever, person who does not accept a particular faith) More Info: Perfidious contains the root "fid," for "trust," also appearing in diffident, fiduciary, infidel, and Fidel Castro's name.

peripheral

peripheral (adj) puh-RIFF-er-ull Definition: Relating to or making up an outer boundary or region; not of primary importance, fringe Usage: My main goal is to get into a good grad school. Whether it has good fitness facilities is really a peripheral concern. Related Words: Auxiliary (helping or supporting the main thing) More Info: "Peri" means "around." Peripheral vision is what you can see "out of the corner of your eye."

plummet

plummet (verb) PLUM-it Definition: Plunge, fall straight down Usage: During the first 60 seconds or so of a skydive, the diver plummets towards Earth in freefall; then, he or she activates a parachute and floats down at what seems like a relatively leisurely pace. More Info: As a noun, a plummet (or plumb bob) is a weight on the end of a cord. To plumb (or sound) the depths of a body of water is to drop a plummet (or sounding line) and see how much cord is used when the plummet hits the bottom, and therefore how deep the water is. When something plummets, the idea is that it is falling fast and straight down, as though it has been weighted.

polarized

polarized (adj) POH-ler-rize-d Definition: Divided into sharply opposed groups Usage: The school board was used to rationally discussing issues, but when it came to the teaching of evolution in schools, the board was polarized, immediately splitting into two camps, with the discussion devolving into a shouting match within minutes. Related Words: Faction (group or clique within a larger organization), Partisan (partial to a particular party, group, etc., esp. in a biased, emotional way), Cabal (a conspiratorial group) More Info: In science, polarized objects have positive electric charges in one area and negative electric charges in another.

ponderous

ponderous (adj) PAHN-der-uss Definition: Heavy; bulky and unwieldy; dull, labored Usage: The book assigned by her professor was a ponderous tome, more a reference book than something you could read straight through. She was so bored she thought she would die. Related Words: Tedium (that which is tiresome due to being too long, dull, or slow, as in The plot moved at a tedious pace) More Info: To ponder is simply to contemplate or think deeply about. But ponderous means boring, difficult to make your way through. Both are based on the idea of "heaviness"—considering "heavy" ideas makes you a thoughtful person, but having to listen to a long, boring speech might seem like a heavy weight upon you.

precarious

precarious (adj) prick-CAIR-ee-uss Definition: Unstable, insecure, dangerous Usage: Recognizing that his position at the company was precarious, Sanjay requested that his bonus structure be formally written down as a contract, rather than dangled over him as a mere verbal promise. Related Words: Parlous is a synonym.

precursor

precursor (noun) prick-KER-ser or PREE-ker-ser Definition: Something that comes before, esp. something that also announces or suggests something on its way Usage: We cannot ignore this warning sign—it is clearly a precursor of larger problems to come. / The new CEO decided to do things differently from his precursors. Related Words: Antedate (be older than, precede in time; assign to an earlier date) More Info: The "cursor" in precursor is the same as in currency—the root means "run." A precursor can be thought of as a "before-runner," or forerunner (a synonym).

predisposed

predisposed (adj) pree-diss-POH-zd Also predisposition (noun) Definition: Having an inclination or tendency beforehand; susceptible Usage: Some autoimmune disorders don't kill the patient directly, but rather make the patient predisposed to contracting other, potentially fatal illnesses. / His defense attorney argued that his abusive childhood predisposed him to a life of crime. More Info: Predisposed certainly is related to the idea of being disposed. While to dispose of something is to throw it away, to be disposed to do something is to be inclined to or willing to do it. For instance, He is disposed to be a good host.

preempt

preempt or pre-empt (verb) pree-EMPT Definition: Prevent; take the place of, supplant; take before someone else can Usage: The speaker attempted to preempt an excessively long Q&A session by handing out a "Frequently Asked Questions" packet at the beginning of the seminar. Related Words: Obviate (prevent, eliminate, or make unnecessary) More Info: The "empt" part of preempt comes from a rare word for "purchase"—to preempt can also mean to settle on public land in order to establish the right to purchase that land before anyone else.

presumptive

presumptive (adj) prizz-ZUMP-tiv Definition: Based on inference or assumption; providing reasonable grounds for belief Usage: The dictator's favorite nephew is the presumptive heir to power, but anything could happen. / He's the presumptive winner of the election—we haven't counted all the votes, but at this point it's almost mathematically impossible for the other guy to win. Related Words: Ostensible or ostensive (professed, evident, or pretended; outwardly appearing in a certain way), Putative (supposed or reputed) More Info: Don't confuse presumptive with presumptuous, meaning assuming in an arrogant way. He's presumptively a nice guy, at least from what I've heard—my sister said he wasn't presumptuous at all.

presumptuous

presumptuous (adj) prizz-ZUMP-choo-uss Definition: Too bold or forward; going beyond that which is proper Usage: I would never date that presumptuous jerk! I mean, I thought he was attractive until he walked up to me and said, "We should go out—I looked up your address on Google and I'll pick you up at 8." The nerve! More Info: Don't confuse presumptuous with presumptive, meaning "based on inference or assumption," as in a presumptive heir to the throne.

pretentious

pretentious (adj) prit-TENT-chuss Definition: Claiming or demanding a position of importance or dignity, esp. when unjustified; showing off, creating a deceptive, false show of worth Usage: Josie found her date's habit of constantly dropping French phrases into conversation to be incredibly pretentious, especially since he knew she didn't speak French. He sure did sound fancy, though. Related Words: Ostentatious (pretentious, boastfully showy in order to impress others) More Info: Pretentious shares an origin with pretend and pretense (pretending or making a false show of something).

principled

principled (adj) PRIN-sip-ull-d Definition: Having high moral standards Usage: Donna was only an intern, but she was also quite principled—although she knew it would kill her shot at a full-time job, she was the one who alerted the authorities when asked to violate federal law via corrupt accounting practices. Related Words: Scrupulous can mean principled (strictly following moral rules), or can mean precise, exact, careful about the details. More Info: A principle is a moral rule. A principal is the head of a school, and principal as an adjective means first or most important (the money you owe on student loans, not including the interest, is the principal). Thus, you could say something like My principal principle is never to lie.

pristine

pristine (adj) priss-TEEN Definition: In an original, pure state; uncorrupted Usage: Having grown up in a rural area, Billy had been in plenty of forests where people regularly left beer cans and shotgun shells behind. So it truly took his breath away, after hiking hours through the Himalayas, to visit a pristine forest, seemingly untouched by humans. Related Words: Unadulterated and unsullied are near-synonyms.

proliferate

proliferate (verb) proh-LIFF-er-ayt Also prolific (adj) Definition: Increase or spread rapidly or excessively Usage: The book alleged that terrorist cells are proliferating across the United States faster than law enforcement can keep up. Related Words: Prolific means producing a lot of something - generally either offspring (rabbits are prolific) or creative work (a prolific songwriter). More Info: A phrase associated with the Cold War was nuclear proliferation, the rapid buildup of nuclear weapons. Proliferate shares a Latin root ("offspring, progeny") with proletariat, meaning the working class, manual laborers, or the poor.

prologue

prologue (noun) PROH-log Definition: Introductory part to a book, play, etc. Usage: The novel's prologue gives some historical background so the main story can be better understood in context. Related Words: Preamble (introductory statement, preface—such as the Preamble to the Constitution) More Info: An epilogue is a concluding portion added after a literary work. The "log" in prologue and epilogue is the same root ("logos," for "discourse or speech") as the "lect" in lecture, lectern, and dialect. Both prologue and epilogue can be used metaphorically—"If the blown tire was an unpleasant prologue to the evening, the food poisoning we came down with that night was an even worse epilogue."

prosaic

prosaic (adj) proh-ZAY-ick Definition: Dull, ordinary Usage: Finding his friends' bar mitzvahs at the local synagogue a bit prosaic, Justin instead asked his dad to rent out the local laser tag center. Related Words: Pedestrian means commonplace, dull, or lacking imagination. Quotidian means daily or commonplace (as daily things tend to be). Middling comes from the idea of being in the "middle" and means medium, average, or mediocre. Something lackluster is unexciting. Humdrum means boring or dull. More Info: Prosaic means "relating to prose" or "ordinary, dull, commonplace" —the idea being that prose is not as exciting or noble as poetry.

proscribe

proscribe (verb) proh-SCRIBE Definition: Prohibit, outlaw; denounce; exile or banish Usage: Plagiarism is proscribed by every college's code of conduct. Related Words: Censure (strong disapproval or official reprimand), Circumscribe (encircle or confine, set limits) More Info: The "scribe" in proscribe means "write" (as in script, scribble, scripture, etc.) The sense is that to proscribe is to publish a record of someone's punishment—to condemn or sentence that person publicly. Don't confuse proscribe with prescribe, which means "order, set down as a rule" (like a doctor's prescription)—the two words are opposites!

prospective

prospective (adj) proh-SPECK-tiv Definition: Potential, in the future Usage: Everyone had a hard time correctly saying the name of the seminar, "Perspectives for Prospective Doctors." Even the prospective doctors—college students hoping to be admitted to medical school—were a bit confused. More Info: Don't confuse with perspective (point of view). Perspective is a noun, which is a good clue that you want prospective in phrases like "prospective student" (usually a person applying to a college but not yet accepted).

pugnacious

pugnacious (adj) pug-NAY-shuss Definition: Inclined to fight, combative Usage: Amy had hoped to avoid inviting Uncle Ed to the wedding, as he was a pugnacious fellow— and, sure enough, he managed to start a fistfight with the best man. Related Words: Belligerent, bellicose, and truculent are synonyms. More Info: Pugilism (boxing, fistfighting) and pugnacious come from the Latin "pugnus," for "fist."

qualified

qualified (adj) KWAH-lif-fide Definition: Modified, limited, conditional on something else Usage: The scientist gave her qualified endorsement to the book, pointing out that, while it posed a credible theory, more research was still needed before the theory could be applied. Related Words: Tentative (done in order to test; uncertain), Temper (moderate, soften, tone down) More Info: Of course, everyone knows qualified in the sense of qualified for the job. Use context to determine which meaning is intended. A qualified person is suitable or well-prepared for the job; a qualified statement or feeling is held back or limited.

quibble

quibble (verb) KWIBB-ull Definition: Make trivial arguments or criticisms, find faults in a petty way, esp. to evade something more important Usage: Look, I am telling you some of the serious consequences of global warming, as predicted by the scientific establishment—I think you're just quibbling to complain that I said "carbon monoxide" when I meant "carbon dioxide." Related Words: Cavil (synonym), Carp (constantly complain, fret, and find fault), Peevish (annoyed, in a bad mood, stubborn) More Info: This word is often associated with lawyers.

ranks

ranks (noun) RANKS Definition: Personnel; a group of people considered all together Usage: Among the ranks of our alumni are two Senators and many famous authors. More Info: Many people know the word rank as "a level or grade," as in A general has a higher rank than a sergeant. The other use of ranks is also originally related to the military: the ranks or sometimes the rank and file means all the regular soldiers (not the officers). Ranks also refers to soldiers standing in a particular formation, so the expression to break rank means to rebel, disagree, or disrupt a situation in which everyone is doing the same thing, as in The author broke rank with her colleagues in the field of personal development by suggesting that "positive thinking" may be doing more damage than good.

reap

reap (verb) REEP Definition: Harvest, such as by cutting; gather; get as a result of one's effort Usage: He worked night and day in the strange new country, never stopping to rest, for he knew he would reap his reward when his family greeted him as a hero for all the money he had sent back home. Related Words: Reap and sow are used together or separately as metaphors related to farming, and specifically the idea that the seeds that you plant (or sow) determine what you will later harvest (or reap). A common expression is You reap what you sow. More Info: The "Grim Reaper" is a fictional figure who uses a scythe (curved blade on a handle) to "cut down" lives as one would cut down grain.

recluse

recluse (noun) RECK-looss Definition: Person who lives in seclusion Usage: That show about "hoarders" featured a recluse who hadn't left her house in six years. Related Words: Hermit or Anchorite (person who lives away from society, esp. for religious reasons) More Info: Recluse is generally more negative than hermit—it often refers to a person thought by others to be a bit crazy. Recluse shares a root ("claudere," meaning "to close or shut") with secluded and exclusive.

resolve

resolve (verb, noun) rizz-ZAHL'v Definition: Find a solution to; firmly decide to do something; decide by formal vote (verb); firmness of purpose (noun) Usage: She was resolved to find a marrow donor for her son, and led a stunningly successful drive to get people to sign up for a national donor registry. Even when no match was found for her son in the first year, her resolve was undampened. Related Words: Resolute (firmly determined), Unequivocal (clear or decided), Resolution (the quality of being firmly determined; resolving to do something; a formal judgment, esp. decided by a vote) More Info: To lose your resolve means to become unsure or to lose your nerve.

respectively

respectively (adverb) ree-SPECK-tiv-lee Definition: In the order given Usage: His poems "An Ode to the Blossoms of Sheffield" and "An Entreaty to Ladies All Too Prim" were written in 1756 and 1758, respectively. More Info: Respectively is important in making the meaning clear in some sentences. Lisa and John have a cat and a dog sounds as though the couple jointly owns the pets, whereas Lisa and John have a cat and a dog, respectively makes it clear that the cat is Lisa's and the dog is John's.

reverent

reverent (adj) REV-er-ent Definition: Feeling or expressing very deep respect and awe Usage: Ayn Rand is a controversial figure, but critical views are not welcome at the local Objectivist Club meeting, where everyone expresses a reverent view of the author. Related Words: Pious (devout; religiously reverent and dutiful) More Info: This word comes from the same place as reverend (a minister, as in a church).

rhetoric

rhetoric (noun) RET-er-ick Also rhetorical (adj) Definition: The art or study of persuasion through speaking or writing; language that is elaborate or pretentious but actually empty, meaning little Usage: The ancient Greeks used to study rhetoric as a major academic subject. Today, if you want to improve your rhetorical skills, you will probably have to hunt down a public speaking class or join Toastmasters. / The politician's blather is all rhetoric and no substance. Related Words: Oratorical is a synonym. While a lawyer needs good rhetorical skills, sometimes rhetorical and oratorical mean only related to style and effect, and lacking substance. More Info: A rhetorical question is one intended for effect, and not intended to be answered, as in "Are you stupid?"

rudimentary

rudimentary (adj) roo-dim-MENT-uh-ree Definition: Elementary, relating to the basics; undeveloped, primitive Usage: My knowledge of Chinese is quite rudimentary—I get the idea of characters and I can order food, but I really can't read this document you've just given me. Related Words: Inchoate (just begun, undeveloped, unorganized), Nascent and Incipient (just beginning to exist, or in a very early stage of development) More Info: Rudimentary shares a root with rude. Rude originally meant crude or unlearned—that is, lacking rudiments (first principles or early training).

rustic

rustic (adj, noun) RUSS-tick Definition: Relating to country life, unsophisticated; primitive; made of rough wood (adj); a rural or uncultured person (noun) Usage: For their honeymoon, they eschewed fancy hotels and instead chose a rustic cabin in the woods. / Grandpa was a true rustic—I was happy to have him visit, but not so happy to find him urinating outside in a bucket when we have several perfectly nice bathrooms. Related Words: Bumpkin and yokel are also words for an awkward, uncultured, simple person, generally from the country.

sagacious

sagacious (adj) suh-GAY-shuss Also sage (noun) Definition: Wise; showing good judgment and foresight Usage: It's important to choose a mentor who is not only successful, but also sagacious—plenty of people are successful through luck and have little insight about how to attack someone else's situation. Related Words: Sapient (synonym), Prudent (wise in practical matters, carefully providing for the future), Circumspect (cautious, prudent; careful to consider the circumstances and consequences), Perspicacious (very perceptive, insightful) More Info: A sage is a respected wise person. (Sage is also an herb).

salubrious

salubrious (adj) suh-LOO-bree-uss Definition: Healthful, promoting health Usage: After spending her twenties smoking and drinking, Jessica recognized the necessity of adopting a more salubrious lifestyle, but found it difficult to cut back. Related Words: Salutary is a synonym. More Info: Spanish speakers probably recognized this one - it's very similar to the Spanish "salud."

sanction

sanction (noun, verb) SANK-shun Definition: Permission or approval, something that gives support or authority to something else (noun); to allow, confirm, ratify (verb); OR a legal action by one or more countries against another country to get it to comply (noun); to place sanctions or penalties on (verb) Usage: Professional boxers may only fight in sanctioned matches—fighting outside the ring is prohibited. / America's sanctions on Cuba mean that it is illegal for Americans to do business with Cuban companies. More Info: This word can be very confusing—its two definitions seem to be opposites. Allow and penalize? We have to use context to figure out the meaning —since the bad meaning (generally "sanctions," plural) applies to international actions, most usages of sanction (regarding any other topic) mean "allow." Sanction comes from the root for holy (also in sanctuary, sanctify, etc.). Imagine an ancient society in which the ruler is also the spiritual leader, and it's easy to imagine how legal sanctions could be thought of as "holy."

speculate

speculate (verb) SPECK-you-layt Definition: Contemplate; make a guess or educated guess about; engage in a risky business transaction, gamble Usage: During the Gold Rush, speculators bought up land, sometimes with borrowed funds, expecting to prospect the land for gold and get rich quickly. / She speculated that, in zero gravity, showers would have to exist as closed rooms in which a giant bubble of water formed, and a person got inside it. More Info: Speculate comes from a root ("look at") also found in spectacle, spectator, inspect, and many others. To speculate is to try to "see" into the future or a situation about which not much is known.

sporadic

sporadic (adj) spore-AD-ick Definition: Occasional, happening irregularly or in scattered locations Usage: Her attendance was sporadic at best, so when she flounced into class after a two-session absence, she discovered that not only was everyone working on group projects, but that the professor hadn't even thought to assign her to a group. Related Words: Erratic (inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course), Desultory (lacking consistency or order, disconnected, sporadic; going off topic) More Info: Sporadic is related to the idea of spores, reproductive structures that come off of plants, mushrooms, etc. and are spread, such as by the wind.

stark

stark (adj) STARK Definition: Complete, total, utter; harsh or grim; extremely simple, severe, blunt, or plain Usage: The designer's work is appreciated for its stark beauty, but most people prefer to live in a cozier, more welcoming home—the kind with carpets and pillows, for instance. / She is stark raving mad! / The stark reality is that we will have to begin burning our furniture for warmth if we are to survive. Related Words: Austere (severe in manner or appearance; very self-disciplined, ascetic; without luxury or ease; sober or serious) More Info: A common expression is "stark naked" (here, stark adds emphasis). In British slang, "starkers" (American: "streakers") are people who run naked through a public place for amusement. In many cultures, such an act would be a stark violation of public decency.

static

static (adj) STATT-ick Definition: Fixed, not moving or changing, lacking vitality Usage: The anthropologist studied a society in the Amazon that had been deliberately static for hundreds of years—the fiercely proud people disdained change, and viewed all new ideas as inferior to the way of life they had always practiced. Related Words: Status Quo (existing state or condition), Stasis (equilibrium, a state of balance or inactivity, esp. caused by equal but opposing forces), Standing (existing indefinitely, not movable, as in a standing invitation), Stationary (not moving) More Info: The idea of television or radio static is obviously more recent—think of the fact that static keeps whatever you were watching or listening to from moving forward.

status quo

status quo (noun) STATT-uss or STAY-tuss QUOH Definition: Existing state or condition Usage: Many opposed the establishment of a needle-exchange program, but others reasoned that the plan would be an improvement on the status quo, in which disease spread rapidly through certain communities. More Info: Latin for "state in which."

stingy

stingy (adj) STINN-jee Definition: Not generous with money, reluctant to spend or give Usage: Billionaire industrialist J. Paul Getty was so famously stingy that he installed pay phones in his mansion for guests to use. When his grandson was kidnapped, he refused to pay ransom and only changed his mind when the kidnappers cut off the boy's ear. This famous cheapskate then demanded that his son (the boy's father) pay him back! What a miser. Related Words: Miser, Cheapskate, Skinflint (stingy person), Frugal (economical, thrifty, not wasteful with money), Stint (to be frugal) More Info: A "scrooge" is also a miserly person, especially a wealthy one, after the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

stolid

stolid (adj) STAH-lid Definition: Unemotional, showing little emotion, not easily moved Usage: Dad is so stolid that we can't get a rise out of him no matter what we do—Jody got a tattoo, Max declared himself a communist, and Helen won a Rhodes Scholarship. No response! Dad just nods and says "Alright, then." Related Words: Impassive (not having or not showing physical feeling or emotion), Inscrutable (not able to be scrutinized, mysterious) More Info: Stolid has a lot of overlap with stoic (indifferent to pleasure or pain). Stoic is generally stronger and often related to enduring suffering.

subjective

subjective (adj) sub-JECK-tiv Definition: Existing in the mind or relating to one's own thoughts, opinions, emotions, etc.; personal, individual, based on feelings Usage: Naturally, anyone's experience of a movie is subjective, and some will enjoy this picture despite its flaws; however, it is an objective fact that the cinematography is very bad. / We can give names to colors, but we can never quite convey the subjective experience of them—what if my "red" is different from your "red"? More Info: The opposite of subjective is objective (factual, related to reality or physical objects; not influenced by emotions, unbiased)

subside

subside (verb) sub-SIDE Definition: Sink, settle down, become less active; return to a normal level Usage: When her terror subsided, she realized that the house wasn't really haunted. / It is a chronic illness—symptoms will flare up and subside over one's lifetime. Related Words: Abate (reduce, diminish) More Info: From the Latin for "sink to the bottom," subside is related to sediment (material at the bottom of a liquid) and sedentary (not moving around, as a person with an inactive lifestyle).

substantiate

substantiate (verb) sub-STAN-chee-ayt Definition: Support with evidence or proof; give a material existence to Usage: You say you were at home when the crime occurred two towns over—is there anyone who can substantiate your claim? / Your business ideas are interesting, but you never substantiate them—you haven't put a single plan into action. Related Words: Corroborate (support, add evidence to), Verify (prove true)

supersede

supersede (verb) soo-per-SEED Definition: Replace, take the position of, cause to be disregarded as void or obsolete Usage: Of course, electric washing machines superseded hand-powered ones many decades ago, but my great-grandmother used her hand-cranked washer until she died in the 1990s. Related Words: Supplant (take the place of, displace, especially through sneaky tactics), Outstrip (surpass, exceed; be larger or better than; leave behind), Overshadow (cast a shadow over, make to seem less important), Supersede (replace or cause to be set aside), Eclipse (obscure, darken, make less important) More Info: "Super" is Latin for "above, beyond" and appears in many words that have a sense of being literally or figuratively on top: superficial, superimpose, etc.

surfeit

surfeit (noun) SURF-it Definition: Excess, excessive amount, overindulgence Usage: The soup kitchen would like to announce that it has a serious surfeit of those cans of jellied cranberries that no one seems to want, but it could still use at least ten Thanksgiving turkeys. Related Words: Replete with (supplied in abundance, filled, gorged), Glut, Surplus and Plethora (excess, overabundance) More Info: "Sur" means "over" and the rest of the word is related to the Latin "facere," meaning "to make." The literal meaning is overproduce.

surmise

surmise (verb) ser-MIZE Definition: Guess, infer, think or make an opinion with incomplete information Usage: Based on your rather sad attempt to figure out the tip on our restaurant bill, I would surmise that you actually have no idea how percents work. Related Words: Conjecture (synonym), Supposition (assumption, hypothesis, something that has been supposed)

sycophant

sycophant (noun) SICK-uh-fint Definition: Servile flatterer, parasitic person who fawns in order to get ahead Usage: Stop being such a sycophant. I don't need you to compliment my tie or get me coffee; I just need you to do your job without bothering me. Related Words: Lackey, Toady, and Myrmidon are synonyms. Fawn means to try to please in a submissive way. Obsequious means "servile, very compliant, fawning." Truckle means to act subserviently and Kowtow means to fawn—or, literally, to bow until one's forehead touches the floor. In slang, we might call a sycophant a boot-licker, suck-up, etc.

synchronous

synchronous (adj) SINK-run-nuss Definition: Happening at the same time; occurring at the same rate and thus happening together repeatedly Usage: The sound of that bell is a signal for the dancers to make perfectly synchronous entrances from opposite sides of the stage. / The two nearby churches have synchronous church bells—if you stand halfway between the buildings as the bells chime out the hour, it sounds really cool! Related Words: Simultaneous and contemporaneous also mean occurring at the same time. Contemporaneous is appropriate for describing people in the same time period (Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford had contemporaneous careers). More Info: The root "sym/syn" means "together" and also appears in symbiosis, sympathy, etc.

table

table (verb) TAY-bull Definition: Lay aside to discuss later, often as a way to postpone discussion indefinitely Usage: I see we're not going to agree on whether to scrap our entire curriculum and develop a new one, so let's table that discussion and move on to voting on the budget. More Info: In American English, to table something means to postpone discussion of it until later, but in British English, to table a bill is the opposite—to submit it for consideration.

tacit

tacit (adj) TASS-it Definition: Understood without being said; implied, not stated directly; silent Usage: Her parents never told her she could smoke, but they gave their tacit consent when they didn't say anything about the obvious smell coming from her bedroom. Related Words: Implicit (implied, not stated directly; involved in the very essence of something, unquestionable) More Info: Tacit is related to taciturn (not talking much, reserved).

taciturn

taciturn (adj) TASS-it-turn Definition: Not talking much, reserved; silent, holding back in conversation Usage: Because he felt self-conscious about his stutter, Mike had always been taciturn, but after some very good speech therapy, soon he was much more voluble. Related Words: Reticent is a synonym. Laconic means "using few words, concise." More Info: Taciturn is related to tacit (understood without being said; implied, not stated directly; silent).

tangential

tangential (adj) tan-JEN-chull Definition: Only slightly relevant, going off-topic Usage: It's hard to get a quick answer out of Noah—ask him any question, and you'll get a wide range of tangential remarks before you can find a polite way to move on. Related Words: Penumbra (outer part of a shadow from an eclipse; any surrounding region, fringe, periphery; any area where something "sort of" exists), Digress or Divagate (go off-topic when speaking or writing) More Info: In math, a tangent line touches a curve and then continues on, forever—much like many people we wish would stop talking.

temperance

temperance (noun) TEMP-er-enss Also temper (verb) Definition: Moderation, self-control, esp. regarding alcohol or other desires or pleasures; total abstinence from alcohol Usage: After the end of the Civil War, economic change led to an increase in alcohol problems and the birth of the Temperance Movement, which ultimately led to Prohibition. / Grandma is a model of temperance—she drinks red wine every night, but only the 1/3 of a glass that she read was conducive to preventing heart attacks. Related Words: Teetotaler (person who doesn't drink alcohol at all), Abstain (hold back, refrain, esp. from something bad or unhealthy), Sobriety (temperance or the state of being sober; seriousness) More Info: To temper is to moderate, soften, or tone down, or to make less intense. Something untempered is not controlled or moderated. Of course, temper as a noun means a person's state of mind or tendency to anger.

tenuous

tenuous (adj) TEN-yoo-uss Definition: Long and thin, slender; flimsy, having little substance Usage: Your argument is quite tenuous—it depends on our accepting the results of a 1955 study published in an obscure medical journal not subject to peer review. More Info: The related attenuate means "weaken or thin out" (for instance, a general who sends too few troops over too large an area has attenuated his army). The related tensile means "relating to tension" or "capable of being stretched."

timely

timely (adj) TIME-lee Definition: Well-timed, happening at a suitable time Usage: Your arrival is quite timely—we were just mulling over a question we're sure you can answer! / His timely departure prevented him from having to do any work. Related Words: Opportune can be a synonym for timely, or can mean "favorable, appropriate." More Info: While timely ends in -ly, it is NOT an adverb. You therefore cannot "do something timely"—you must instead "do it in a timely manner."

timorous

timorous (adj) TIM-er-uss Definition: Fearful, timid Usage: An expression describing a timorous person is "quaking in his boots"—that is, a scared person would shake or shiver from fear. Related Words: Intrepid means fearless and did, in fact, come from the rare word trepid, meaning fearful. Craven and pusillanimous mean cowardly.

unseemly

unseemly (adj) un-SEEM-lee Definition: Improper, inappropriate, against the rules of taste or politeness Usage: The activist really did want to get the candidate's support for the equal-rights measure, so she did what the candidate's aides asked—but she found it very unseemly that they suggested a specific dollar amount for the "donation" she was asked to make in order to get a meeting. Related Words: Indecorous (synonym), Boorish or Churlish (rude, ill-mannered, insensitive), Uncouth (having bad manners, awkward), Gauche (tactless, lacking social grace, awkward, crude) More Info: The antonym seemly means suitable, proper, appropriate, or even handsome.

vacillate

vacillate (verb) VASS-ill-ayt Definition: Waver in one's mind or opinions, be indecisive Usage: In need of a good used car, I was vacillating between the Ford and the Hyundai until a recommendation from a friend helped me decide. Related Words: Equivocate (use unclear language to deceive or avoid committing to a position), Ambivalent (uncertain; unable to decide, or wanting to do two contradictory things at once), Waffle (waver, be indecisive), Dither (act irresolutely), Tergiversate (repeatedly change one's opinions, equivocate) Memory Trick: Vacillate sounds a bit like Vaseline. When you vacillate, your decisions are quite slippery, as though coated in petroleum jelly.

venerate

venerate (verb) VENN-er-ayt Also venerable (adj) Definition: Revere, regard with deep respect and awe Usage: The boys were utterly crushed when the baseball player they venerated saw them waiting and refused to sign an autograph. Related Words: Revere (feel or express very deep respect and awe) More Info: Something venerable is worthy of great respect and admiration and is possessed of great dignity usually associated with age or longstanding. That is, you can venerate anything—Mariah Carey, for instance—but if you call her venerable, she might be a bit insulted that you think she's old. Venerable often appears in the phrase "venerable institution" (said of Harvard, for instance).

veracity

veracity (noun) ver-RASS-it-ee Also veracious (adj) Definition: Truthfulness, accuracy; habitual adherence to the truth Usage: I question the veracity of your story—I just don't think you've been to outer space. / She was known for her veracity only because she had no choice—she was a terrible liar. Related Words: Probity (honesty, integrity), Verisimilitude (having the appearance of truth), Verity (the quality of being true) More Info: Don't confuse veracious (true) with voracious (hungry, ravenous).

viable

viable (adj) VYE-uh-bull Definition: Capable of living (or growing, developing, etc.); practical, workable Usage: I have three screenplay ideas, but the studio head said only one was commercially viable. Apparently, it's important to have a human lead character and a satisfying ending. / Due to leaps forward in technology, premature babies are considered viable earlier and earlier—currently around 24 weeks. Related Words: Feasible (possible; logical or likely; suitable), Plausible (credible, having the appearance of truth) More Info: The Latin root for "life" ("vi") gives us vivid, survive, revive, vivacious, and convivial. And also the Spanish word for "life" and thus the Ricky Martin classic, "Livin' La Vida Loca."

vintage

vintage (adj, noun) VIN-tij Definition: Related to items of high quality from a previous era, old-fashioned, antique (adj); the wine of a particular year (noun) Usage: He didn't want just any vintage Darth Vader action figure—he wanted a particular vintage, the 1978 telescoping lightsaber one. / She special-ordered her favorite vintage of the Côtes du Rhône, then turned to her George Clooney-lookalike husband and joked that she liked men of a certain vintage as well. Related Words: Retro is an informal word used to describe the best of earlier times (often related to fashion, design, etc.) More Info: Vintage originated in relation to wine, and the same root appears in vine and vintner (winemaker).

virtual

virtual (adj) VER-choo-ull Definition: Existing only in the mind or by means of a computer network; existing in results or in essence but not officially or in name Usage: The Tamagotchi is a handheld virtual pet made in Japan—you have to "care" for it by performing various actions with the device, but in the end, your "pet" still looks very much like a keychain. Related Words: Nominal can mean "in name only" but not in fact. In this way, it is something of an opposite to virtual, which can mean not in name, but existing in reality (The abused maid was nominally a free person, but kept as a virtual slave). De facto means "in fact, actually" (but not in name, as in "Some allege that Edith Wilson was the de facto—or virtual—President after her husband Woodrow was incapacitated by a stroke").

vituperate

vituperate (verb) vye-TOO-per-ayt Definition: Verbally abuse, rebuke or criticize harshly Usage: All couples fight, but your girlfriend vituperates you so severely that I'm not sure she loves you at all. Verbal abuse is actually a pretty good reason to break up. Related Words: Pejorative (disparaging, derogatory, belittling), Revile (verbally abuse or speak very badly of), Berate (scold angrily and at length) More Info: Vituperate comes from the Latin root "vitium," ("fault"), which also occurs in vice (sin, wickedness) and vitiate (ruin, corrupt). Vice (or vitiating your things) would be one reason for vituperating someone.

volatile

volatile (adj) VAH-luh-tile Definition: Varying, inconstant, fleeting; tending to violence, explosive; Usage: Following the sudden revolution, the political environment in the country was so volatile that anything could have started a riot. / Stock prices are by nature volatile—if you want a "safe and steady" investment, try mutual funds. Related Words: Inconstancy (Fickleness, unreliability; the state of changing without good reason), Erratic (inconsistent, wandering, having no fixed course) More Info: From chemistry: a volatile substance easily changes states, such as by evaporating.

warranted

warranted (adj) WAR-en-ted Also warrant (verb, noun) Definition: Justified, authorized (warrant can mean to justify or a justification, but can also mean to vouch for or guarantee) Usage: The pundit's comments don't even warrant a response from our organization—they were mere name-calling, not suitable for public discourse. / Your criticism of Anne is unwarranted—as your assistant, she has done everything you've asked her to do. / He doesn't have his documents with him, but I'll warrant that he is indeed a certified forklift operator. More Info: A warrant can, of course, be a legal justification (as in every cop movie ever)—such as permission given to police by a judge to enter and search a suspect's home.