Economist Vocabulary

fillip

A snap or a light blow: "Demand for political and economical analysis got a fillip with the financial crisis"

Equanimity

Composure

Apotheosis

Epítome; ideal example

Fulminate

Explode or detonate

ambivalent

Having mixed feelings about someone or something; unable to choose: "Stridency on campus is not only an American problem, throughout the West is the young who are most ambivalent about free speech."

Privation

Lack of comforts or necessity

Conflate

Merge

Shills

Person who gives praise for self interest

Penury

Poverty or destitution

Quiescent

Quiet; still or inactive

Reticense

Reserved, not speaking freely

repudiate

To reject: "Facile solutions are dangerous, four ideas in particular need to be repudiated."

imbroglios

a bitter misunderstanding or disagreement; a complicated situation: "These imbroglios are different and coincidental, yet they overlap."

boon

a blessing or a gift: "The growing clout of online platforms is a boon to society but a headache for trustbusters."

malaise

a condition of weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of disease; unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness or lethargy: "A Chinese crisis is likely to be sharper and more sudden than Japan's chronic malaise."

harbinger

a foreshadow; herald that makes known the approach of another "The near-election of a far-right candidate in Austria is a harbinger: all over Europe, far-right parties are becoming too big to ignore."

anathema

a person or thing detested or loathed: "There is general recognition that some kind of reform is unavoidable, but some of the reforms are anathema to German conservatives."

pugilist

a person who fights with their fist; a boxer: "Unlike his pugilistic predecessor, Mauricio Macri wants to cooperate with Britain on such areas such as trade and fighting rug trafficking."

rentier

a person who has a fixed income, as from lands or bonds: "The one who has a perpetual income from bonds or rents is called a rentier."

dipsomaniac

a person with an irresistible craving for alcoholic drink: "Benidorm" is a cheesy television comedy about aging, lobster-skinned, dipsomaniacs on the Spanish Costas."

sump

a pit, well, or collection: "The Parliament's role as a sump for protest votes means it also provided a European stage for those who would destroy the union."

riposte

a quick, sharp return in speech or action: "The powerful riposte to the claim made by some protestors that their subjective arguments are supreme is that, to function, society relies on impartial adjudication of wrongs, especially in an era of multiculturalism, with its attendant frictions."

gaffe

a social blunder; faux pas: "David Cameron made a gaffe by naming two fantastically corrupt countries before an open microphone."

impetus

a stimulus; momentum: "Mr. Obama's election gave suspicion about questionable state voting practices additional impetus."

peccadilloes

a very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault: "Ed Henry, a Republican Congressman calling for the Governor's impeachment, saying Governor Bentley's peccadilloes are different than Mr. Trump's."

venal

able to be purchased (by bribe): "In the grand scheme of things, Britain is not especially venal, it was the exposure not the activity that created the perception of corruption."

precipitously

abruptly "Uncertainties mean that regulators must not act precipitously"

dearth

absence, defect: "The hopes pinned on Ms, Savchenko point not so much to her promise but to Ukraine's dearth of leaders."

athwart

across; against; crisscross "Ever more voters are standing athwart the locomotive, yelling, "Stop!"."

panjandrums

administrator, big shot "The prospect of brexit, which to the panjandrums of the EU was always such a patent absurdity that it would never come to pass, has suddenly roared into view."

paroxysm

agitation; seizure or spasm: "The Thirty Years War of the 17th century was a religious paroxysm that killed a smilier share of the continent's population."

entente

alliance or understanding "Despite initial threats from disgruntled congressmen, a hazy entente has sprung up within the city."

phalanx

any body of troops in close array; a number of individuals, especially persons united for a common purpose: "A phalanx of liberals backs transgender rights."

arbitrary

at one body's discretion; subjective; not under law: "Lebanese schools arbitrarily stop Syrian refugee children from attending classes."

despot

autocrat or tyrant: "Many leaders were despots who masked their autocracy with the rhetoric of Arabic unity."

hinterland

back parts of a country: "Able to legalize cannabis but unable to tax or regulate it, DC finds itself in a strange hinterland of legality."

clarion

blaring, shouting sound ""More Europe", once the clarion call for federalists across the continent, now carries the quaint ring of an ancient hunting cry."

pithy

brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; terse: "Trump has a flair for pithy invective and rules on social media."

pernicious

causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: "The battle between the Labour man and his Conservative rival was marred by a pernicious attempt to link Mr. Kahn to Islamic extremism."

pernicious

causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: "Trump was underestimated, the same must not be said of the threat his egomania and pernicious nativism represents to America and the world."

vitriolic

caustic, scathing: "The mood in the Conservative base is vitriolic - most members want to quit the EU."

sanguine

cheerfully optimistic or confident; (can also mean bloody, or ruddy/reddish): "Due to the availability of Penicillin, a thorn scratch today seems a minor irritant, not a potential killer. But that may be too sanguine."

putative

commonly regarded as such; reputed; supposed: "The putative invasion of bathrooms by perverts and predators is a nicely combustible emblem for wider social upheavals"

assiduous

constant; unremitting: "Italy is the most assiduous state in claiming EU "geographical indications.""

vociferous

crying out noisily; clamorous: "Despite the UN's glaring faults, deplored ever more vociferously by its critics, most reforms are likely to be blocked"

promulgating

declaring or publishing formally: "A more sensible reason for jittery nerves is Brazil's shaky relationship with the truth when it comes to promulgating official information."

forfend

defend, secure, protect; forbid: "One oft-heard fear is that, heaven forfend, America might try to gain recognition for its own inferior pizza."

importune

demand with urgency / persistence: "David Cameron was importuned by UKIP-inclined MPs to promise a vote on Brexit."

abscond

depart suddenly and secretively: "He understands that prisoners can't be allowed to simple abscond, since the world is a bad place, but wold like Georgia to say "We don't want him.".

banal

devoid of freshness or originality: "In China's boldest city of financial risk-takers, Mr. Fan's story of bankruptcy was almost banal."

antithetical

directly opposed or opposite "Mr. Martin believes that Islam is a "violent religion, antithetical to American values."

opprobrium

disgrace; outrageously shameful: "EU officials often fume about the opprobrium heaped upon Europe over migration while rich Gulf or Asian states look the other way."

perennial

enduring, perpetual "True to France's perennial concerns about where it's energy would come from, they want an agreement on nuclear power."

impunity

exception from punishment: "Protected by China, Mr. Kim can pursue his nuclear program with impunity."

impunity

exception from punishment; immunity "Hilary Clinton's email ring was not a secret, is points instead to the impunity with which Mrs. Clinton's affairs were handled."

adulation

excessive devotion "The supporters yelled louder and chanted whenever the senator waved or chortled to acknowledge the adulation of which he is such an unlikely object."

unctuous

excessively smooth, suave, or smug; greasy: "The unctuous Mr. Cruz never hit it off with Washington insiders."

adroit

expert or nimble: "Meanwhile, politicians have grown more adroit at using state institutions to quash investigations into their alleged misconduct."

fatuous

foolish; silly: "Mr. Cruz is best known to many New Yorkers for his fatuous slur."

eponymous

giving one's name; origin of a name: "The Lancaster 5 technology vaguely resembles a scale model of the eponymous second-world-war bomber."

accretion

gradual growth, addition: "Security and the slow accretion of confidence can help people move past nationalism to embrace a new European landscape of regions, cultures and cities."

abstruse

hard to understand, recondite or esoteric, obsolete: "With teaching as with other complex skills, the route to mastery is not abstruse theory but intense, guided practice."

stridency

having a harsh sound; shrill or irritating quality: "Stridency on campus is not only an American problem, throughout the West is the young who are most ambivalent about free speech."

ambivalent

having mixed feelings, unable to choose: "One presidential candidate in the United State is a raging protectionist; the other is ambivalent."

punitive

having to do with inflicting punishment; harsh: "The Chinese are changing their tactics, looking for sanctions harsh enough to change Mr. Kim's mind, but not so punitive as to risk the collapse of the regime."

beguiling

highly attractive or tempting: "Europe's idea of launching a mass refugee-resettlement scheme is beguiling: it would replace chaos with order..."

farrago

hodgepodge: "He thought the whole farrago was a mistake, or a practical joke, or a miscarriage of justice.

sanctity

holiness, saintliness, or godliness: "For all his sanctity, Mr. Bentley has been fatalistic about gay marriage, whereas Mr. Moore is still fighting it."

corollary

immediate consequence or easily drawn conclusion; a natural result: "That leads to an important corollary: expose the bacteria to fewer drugs and resistance should abate."

indigent

impoverished: "Bill held Thanksgiving dinners for the indigent."

torpor

inertia; sluggish inactivity; apathy: "Italians like to think that their art, culture, and way of life will lift them out of economic torpor."

benighted

intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened; overtaken by darkness: "It seemed as though the Arabs were at last turning towards democracy, but now their condition is more benighted than ever."

irascible

irritable: "Lebanon is a minnow in a volatile region with irascible giants like Iran and Saudi Arabia tugging at its politics."

Blithely

joyous; glad; carefree or heedless: "Madero said blithely, "It is a matter of time before the National Assembly disappears.""

inane

lacking sense, silly: "The outpouring of Bernie-love offered up by a crowd of 20,000 seemed mostly inane."

licentious

lewd; unrestrained by law or morality: "Ted Cruz says that New York Valuses are liberal, licentious, infested with bearded atheists."

self-effacing

modest "Though he is too self-effacing to say so, he is a model citizen of the UN."

facile

moving, acting, working, proceeding, etc., with ease, sometimes with superficiality: "In the Middle East, facile solutions are dangerous."

innocuous

not harmful: "The idea that people and groups have a right to not be offended is not as innocuous as it sounds."

sartorial

of or relating to clothing or style or manner of dress: "New vocabulary of transgenderism, plus its sexual, sartorial, and medical nuances, can be alienating."

umbrage

offense; annoyance; shade: "Many Kentuckians took umbrage at her perceived insensitivity to the sufferings of the state's miners."

purveyor

one that furnishes or sells something: "The Eurasia Group, a consultancy firm, is a veteran purveyor of real-time political science."

ambiguous

open to or having several possible meanings; equivocal; obscure "an ambiguous answer".

preternatural

outside of nature, supernatural: "Mr Trump's gassy claim to be a preternatural "winner" makes him look silly in defeat."

fastidious

picky; excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please: "China has been fastidious in capping its external liabilities."

jeremiad

prolonged or mournful complaint "In striking unison, several of Mexico's leading thinkers published jeremiads on the state of Mexican democracy last month."

alacrity

quick and cheerful readiness: "The alacrity with which Mrs. Clinton trumpeted an ignobly small win in Kentucky makes her look weak and her party divided."

parochial

relating to church or parishes "The breadth of protesters outlook is generally more historical than parochial."

rubicund

ruddy, red: "A rubicund fisherman bellowed at the crowd."

solipsism

selfcentered; preoccupation with indulgence of one's feeling or desires: "What really distinguishes some students from their predecessors is not solipsism or impatience, but the expectation that all their problems should be magicked away."

staid

settled; permanent; not flighty or capricious: "Politics in Kerala, India are so staid that rival party bands traditionally deliver a joint crescendo in village squares to mark the end of campaigning."

profligate

shamelessly imoral; recklessly extravagant; "Unless both countries follow through resentment towards seemingly profligate southern Europeans from voters in northern Europe will rise."

acrimony

sharpness; harshness; bitterness of speech or disposition: "Both sides complain that the election is being stolen; the acrimony, sharpened by allegations of racial discrimination, makes Florida's hanging chads in 2000 seem like a church picnic."

sops

something given to pacify or quiet; bribe: "The sops are still being dished out today."

opacity

state of being opaque or unclear: "Facebook's opacity about how it ranks content and posts will continue to enrage those who suspect foul play."

redolent

suggestive; reminiscent: "Ms. Le Pen's talks of a "People's Spring" in Europe is a phrase redolent, rather unfortunately, of the Arab one."

connivance

tacit encouragement or assent (without participation) to wrongdoing by another: "With the Chinese government's connivance, debt levels can probably keep climbing for a while."

mendacious

telling lies, especially habitually: "Mendacious campaigning mirrored by partisan media amplified the sense of betrayal in the UK."

voyeurism

the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts, especially secretively. "Voyeurism and molestation, the specters raised by traditionalists, are already illegal."

arrears

the state of being behind or late, especially in the fulfillment of a duty, promise, obligation, or the like: "After a few investments wend bad Mr Fan found himself 10m yuan in arrears to his creditors."

obfuscated

to confuse or bewilder; to make obscure or unclear: "Instead of confessing her guilt and cooperating with remorse, Mrs. Clinton obfuscated, denied and watched the scandal grow"

coruscate

to emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam: "On the basis of his coruscating criticisms of the United Nations, which he considers fat, sloppy and inactive, Trump was asked if he would consider withdrawing America from the organization."

ameliorate

to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve: "Republican leaders urge Trump to lurch into the more ameliorative center and moderate his more extreme positions."

cosset

to pamper, coddle, treat as a pet: "Brazilian industry has long been shielded from foreign competition, and the government continued the cosseting until May this year."

defenestrated

to throw (a person or thing) out of a window: "Mr. Moore could oversee Mr. Bentley's impeachment, unless he himself is defenestrated."

nihilism

total rejection of established laws and institutions: "The referendum has been marked by a pin-striped nihilism dressed up as common sense."

arbitrary

tyrannical; despotic; subject to individual will or judgment without restriction: "In Egypt Mr. Sisi's rule is proving as oppressive as it is arbitrary and economically incompetent."

ubiquitous

universal, everywhere: "Corruption is equally as ubiquitous as crime in Mexico."

invective

vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach: "Trump has a flair for pithy invective and rules on social media."

munificent

very generous or liberal: "To be "pro-European" is to possess a concert, both selfish and munificent, for an old continent that encompasses Britain now as in the past."

malfeasance

wrongdoing; a legal act that is unjustified: "For many foreigners the Hexi Pharma scandal confirms Romania as a kleptocracy riddled with malfeasance."