Word of the Day List – 2013-2014
1. acquisitive – able to get and retain ideas or information; concerned with acquiring
wealth or property
· In an acquisitive society, there is a great deal of emphasis on buying and selling.
2. arrogate – to claim or take without right
· By whose authority did you arrogate to yourself the right to decide how the
club’s money should be spent?
3. banal – trite, commonplace, hackneyed, stale
· The new play’s banal dialogue made it seem more like a soap opera than a serious drama.
4. belabor – to work on excessively; to thrash soundly
· His tendency to belabor the small points often made him miss the big picture.
5. carping – tending to find fault, especially in a petty, nasty, or hairsplitting way; petty,
nagging criticism
· Most artists choose to ignore the carping of critics and simply go on with their work.
6. coherent - holding or sticking together; making a logical whole; comprehensible,
meaningful
* Your essay would be a great deal tighter and more coherent if you removed all the
extraneous information it now contains.
7. congeal – to change from liquid to solid; to thicken; to make inflexible or rigid
· If you do not wash your dishes right away, the food on them will congeal.
8. emulate – to imitate with the intent of equaling or surpassing the model
· Most beginning writers try to emulate a great writer and later develop their
own individual styles.
9. encomium – a formal expression of praise; a lavish tribute
· Even the most severe critics showered encomiums on the young writer for
the remarkable narrative power of her first novel.
10. eschew – to avoid, shun, keep away from
· The young athletes promised the coach that they would train vigorously and
eschew bad habits.
11. germane – relevant, appropriate, apropos, fitting
· Bringing up examples from the past is not germane to the present discussion.
12. insatiable – so great or demanding as not to be satisfied
· People with an insatiable appetite for gossip usually do not have interesting stories of their own.
13. intransigent – refusing to compromise; irreconcilable
· How can we “meet them halfway” when they are so intransigent in their opposition to what we propose to do?
14. invidious – offensive; hateful; tending to cause bitterness and resentment
· Parents should avoid making invidious comparisons between their children.
15. largesse – generosity in giving; lavish or bountiful contributions
· The university was the fortunate beneficiary of the largesse of many of its
graduates.
16. reconnaissance – a survey made for military purposes; any kind of
preliminary inspection or examination
· The purpose of military reconnaissance remains the same: to learn as much
as possible about the enemy.
17. substantiate – to establish by evidence; to prove; to give concrete or
authentic form to
· I doubt very much that he can substantiate his claim that he completed the
assignment by himself.
18. taciturn - habitually silent or quiet; inclined to talk very little
· In spite of his size, he was so taciturn that we tended to forget that he was
even in the room.
19. temporize – to stall or act evasively in order to gain time, avoid a
confrontation, or postpone a decision
· In any crisis, the longer a person temporizes, the greater the danger is likely
to become.
20. tenable – capable of being held or defended
· As a result of recent research, earlier theories about the origins of the universe
are no longer tenable.
21. accost – to approach and speak to first; to confront in a challenging or
aggressive way
· As a newspaper reporter, it was my job to accost people on the street and
ask their opinions.
22. animadversion – a comment indicating strong criticism or disapproval
· The inexperienced filmmaker was disheartened by the animadversion of
the film critic.
23. avid – desirous of something to the point of greed; intensely eager
· Most writers are also avid readers who have loved books since childhood.
24. brackish - having a salty taste and unpleasant to drink
· The shipwrecked passengers adrift on the lifeboat became ill after drinking
brackish water.
25. celerity – swiftness, rapidity of motion or action
· Although the heavy snowfall was not expected, the highway department
responded with surprising celerity.
26. devious – straying or wandering from a straight or direct course; done
or acting in a shifty or underhanded way
· The interrogator used devious methods to try to get the suspect to incriminate
himself.
27. wane – to decrease gradually in size, extent, power, or intensity
· “If the president’s popularity continues to wane,” the senator remarked, “he may well lose the next election.”
28. halcyon - a legendary bird; happy, calm, peaceful
· The teacher read the legend of the halcyon, a mythic bird that nested in a calm sea.
29. histrionic – pertaining to actors and their techniques; theatrical, artificial;
melodramatic
* Upon receiving the award, the actress gave a histrionic speech that bored the entire
audience.
30. incendiary – deliberately setting or causing fires; designed to start fires; tending to
stir up strife or rebellion; one who deliberately sets fires, arsonist;
one who causes problems
· The arsonist planted an incendiary device in the basement of the store.
31. maelstrom – a whirlpool of great size and violence; a situation resembling a
whirlpool in violence and destruction
· Many wealthy southern plantation owners saw their financial resources swallowed up in the maelstrom of the Civil War.
32. myopic – nearsighted; lacking a broad, realistic view of a situation; lacking
foresight; shortsighted
· The myopic foreign policy of the last administration has led to serious problems with our allies.
33. overt – open, not hidden; expressed or revealed in a way that is easily recognized
· The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was an overt act of war.
34. pejorative - tending to make worse; expressing disapproval; derogatory; belittling
· The lawyer was accused of making a pejorative remark when referring to the
defendant’s background.
35. propriety – the state of being proper; appropriateness; standards of what is
proper or socially acceptable
· In Grandmother’s day, standards of propriety required that a young lady wear
a hat and gloves when she went out in public.
36. sacrilege – improper or disrespectful treatment of something held sacred
* In the eyes of many Americans, people who burn or purposely disrespect our flag in any way, are guilty of an intolerable sacrilege.
37. summarily – without delay or formality; briefly; concisely
· As soon as there was evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the official was
summarily removed from office.
38. suppliant – asking humbly and earnestly; one who makes a humble request
· The prisoner made a suppliant address to the parole board.
39. talisman – an object that serves as a charm or is believed to confer magical powers
· Most people do not believe that a rabbit’s foot or other talismans actually bring good luck.
40. undulate – to move in waves or with a wavelike motion; to have a wavelike
appearance or form
· The baseball fans began to undulate as they cheered, so they appeared to move in
a wave.
41. articulate – to pronounce distinctly; to express well in words; able to employ
language clearly and forcefully
· The most articulate student in the class was chosen to mediate the debate.
42. malapropism – an unconscious and usually absurd misuse of a word
· In one of his typical malapropisms, my landlord informed me on the hottest day
of the year that he didn’t mind the heat as much as the humility.
43. credence – belief, mental acceptance
· The government and the public failed to give credence to the reports of an
impending water shortage.
44. decry – to condemn; to express strong disapproval; to officially depreciate
· Every office of government and every educational institution should decry
bigotry in all its forms.
45. dissemble – to disguise or conceal; to deliberately give a false impression
· The young woman was unable to dissemble her feelings and admitted to having committed the crime.
46. distraught – very much agitated or upset as a result of emotion or mental conflict
· When news of the school fire ran through town, distraught parents rushed to the
scene of the blaze.
47. eulogy – a formal statement of commendation; high praise
· Every Memorial Day the Mayor delivers a eulogy stressing the selfless
devotion of those who have died in defense of this country.
48. evince – to display clearly; to make evident; to provoke
· The crowd did not evince any signs of panic but moved in an orderly
fashion to the nearest exits.
49. exhume – to remove from a grave; to bring to light
· When new evidence turned up in the case, the court ordered the coroner to
exhume the victim’s body and reexamine it.
50. feckless – lacking in spirit and strength; ineffective, weak; irresponsible,
unreliable
· Although a feckless youth, Mr. Sabatini eventually matured into a hard-working
and responsible citizen.
51. lackadaisical – sorely lacking in spirit, energy, or purpose
· “No matter how bright a student is,” the child psychologist observed, “a
lackadaisical attitude toward studying will result in poor grades.”
52. codicil – in law, an addition to a will that adds changes or provisions; an
appendix or supplement
· The wealthy matriarch added a codicil to her will, providing that her
granddaughter would not inherit any of the estate if she failed to earn a
bachelor’s degree from an accredited college.
53. nefarious – wicked, depraved, devoid of moral standards
· The NCAA has in recent years cracked down hard on such nefarious
practices as “shaving points.”
54. piquant – stimulating to the taste or mind; spicy; tangy
· The chef was an expert in making those piquant dishes that are characteristic
of South Indian cooking.
55. unwonted – not usual or expected; not in character
· I have always regarded my cousin as something of a daredevil, but on the day of the race, he approached the start with unwonted caution.
56. primordial – developed or created at the very beginning; going back to the most
ancient times or earliest stages; fundamental; basic
· The primordial stages of most civilizations are founded on ordinary needs met by
common goals.
57. utopian – founded upon or involving a visionary view of an idea world;
impractical
· A number of religious groups have built separate communities based on
utopian schemes.
58. feign – to pretend or give a false appearance of
· The student did not fool Mrs. Namey when he feigned illness in an attempt
to get out of school early.
59. emaciated – wasted or reduced by starvation, disease, or the like
· The hollow eyes and shrunken cheeks of the emaciated children in the
magazine ad were haunting reminders of our role in the fight against world
hunger.
60. corpulent – fat and bulky
· In one of Poe’s short stories, the protagonists are corpulent, despicable men who enjoy hurting others with their practical jokes.
61. atrophy – to waste away ; any progressive decline or failure
· Almost every case of muscle or tissue atrophy is the result of disease, prolonged disuse, or changes in cell nutrition.
62. bastion – a fortified place, a stronghold
· The high ground east of the river formed a natural bastion, which the army defended with all the forces at their disposal.
63. concord – a state of agreement, harmony, unanimity; a treaty, pact, or covenant
· Peace is not just the absence of war but a positive state of concord among the nations of the world.
64. disarray – disorder, confusion; to throw into disorder
* If you leave the window open, a breeze may disarray the papers on the desktop.
65. exigency – urgency, pressure; urgent demand, pressing need; an emergency
· A born leader is someone who can rise to the exigencies of any crisis that he or she may be confronted with.
66. flotsam – floating debris; homeless, impoverished people
· In the shelter, I saw for the first time people who’d been beaten and discouraged by life; these were the so-called derelicts and flotsam of the great city.
67. grouse – a type of game bird; a complaint; to complain, grumble
· The patient’s latest grouse was that he did not get any dessert with his dinner the night before.
68. jocular – humorous, jesting, jolly, joking
· It was pleasant to see the usually quiet and restrained Mr. Fisher is such a jocular mood.
69. frenetic – frenzied; highly agitated; frantic
· We were fascinated by the frenetic scene on the floor of the stock exchange as brokers struggled to keep up with sudden price changes.
70. incarcerate – to imprison; confine; to jail
· Even critics of our penal system admit that as long as hardened criminals are incarcerated, they can’t commit further crimes.
71. glean – to gather bit by bit; to collect small quantities; to pick up
· We were able to glean only a few shreds of useful information from his long, boring speech.
72. incumbent – obligatory or required; one who holds a specific office at the time spoken of
· Of all the Congressional seats in our state, only one was won by a new member; all the other winners were incumbents.
73. ludicrous – ridiculous, laughable, or absurd
· Mrs. Cody’s comment was so ludicrous that we finally understood that she was only joking.
74. mordant – biting or caustic in thought, manner, or style; sharply or bitterly harsh
· The actor was upset by the mordant criticism of the gossip columnist who seemed out to ruin his reputation.
75. pecuniary – consisting of or measured in money; of or related to money
· The couple was forced by pecuniary considerations to sell their large home and buy a much smaller one.