Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Word of the Day

Teach us a word!

28 comments:

  1. Minacious - Of a threatening or menacing behavior.

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  2. Pertinent: (adj) pertaining or relating directly and significantly to the matter at hand; relevant.

    (dictionary.com)

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  3. Ignominious: deserving or causing public disgrace or shame.

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  4. Cynosure- something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.: the cynosure of all eyes.

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  5. Pernicious: (adj) having a harmful effect, esp. in a gradual or subtle way.

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  6. Ardor: (noun) enthusiasm or passion

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  7. Airy: (adj.) delicate; giving an impression of elegance and gracefulness.

    Context: Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2
    "And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine" (II.2.172).

    To use it in a sentence: Her airy personality was felt by all of her friends.

    How to remember it: Think of "Air" and how soft it feels--air is somewhat delicate. Also, if you were to float in the air, it would probably be graceful and peaceful.

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  9. Erudite: possessing or displaying profound or bookish learning

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  10. Saccharine- excessively sweet or sentimental

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  11. Alacrity (noun)- brisk of cheerful readiness

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  12. Prevaricate- (noun) speak or act in an evasive way

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  13. Sagacious - having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment

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  14. Temporize - verb - to put off; to procrastinate

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  15. Chicanery: n. trickery for a political, financial, or legal purpose

    Harding says, "He doesn't make any pretense about his motives, does he? Why should we? He has a healthy and honest attitude about his chicanery..."

    Chic sounds like trick...

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  16. effrontery: insulting behavior;shamelessness; insolence (rudeness)

    "Good guy, my foot. McMurphy would be embarrassed to absolute tears if her were aware of some of the simon-pure motives people had been claiming were behind some of his dealings. He would take it as a direct effrontery."

    Hint for memorizing: the word sounds like it's "up front"/in your face--like rudeness and insulting behavior.

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  17. Heres a quote from writer John Updike to help you remember the meaning of ignominious:“We hope the "real" person behind the words will be revealed as ignominiously as a shapeless snail without its shapely shell.”

    A snail without a shell is just a slug. There is no shape to it, and it would be am obvious disgrace to the other snails.

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  18. Supercilious: adjective
    behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others


    I think I'm really super. I can be silly and still get away with it. I'm supercilious!

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  19. It may help you remember the definition of pertinent if you realize that pertinent sounds/looks a bit like pertain.

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  20. Sagacious: having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment

    From Heart of Darkness:
    "The manager was switching his leg with a slender twig: his sagacious relative lifted his head."

    The easiest way for me to remember it is to see 'sage' in the first part of the word which means a profoundly wise man.

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  21. Temporize - verb - to put off; to procrastinate

    In a sentence:
    "The child temporized in order to delay his punishment."

    How to remember:
    The latin word for time is "tempus," and many words having to do with time begin with "temp-".

    examples:
    tempo (my personal favorite)
    temporal
    temporary

    (These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure you can come up with a few more.)

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  22. To remember prevaricate:

    In the definition, they use the word evasive. It means- tending to avoid commitment or self revelation, especially by responding only indirectly.

    In context: "It was evident he took me for a perfectly shameless prevaricator" (25). In the Heart of Darkness novel.

    This is odd but I think of a cat (prevariCATe) because they don't really respond to humans like dogs do (or at least in my experience). I feel like they brush people off and would really prefer to be left alone (don't directly respond).

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  23. Rapacious: aggressively greedy or grasping

    Context: Heart of Darkness
    "But as I stood on this hillside I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly" (16).

    Rap songs are aggressive...
    The word "wrap" sounds like "rap"...wrap and grasp are somewhat synonymous

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  24. Pernicious: (adj) having a harmful effect, esp. in a gradual or subtle way.

    Context: Pride and Predjudice
    "No doubt poisoned by his pernicious sister" (I'm not sure of page number)

    Cinderella had pernicious step-sisters.
    Pernicious has the same sound as malicious--that's how I remember it.

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  25. nemesis: the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall

    When introducing his wife, Harding says, "If you'll curtail (cut short) your literary pursuits a moment I'll introduce you to my counterpart and Nemisis."

    (Nemesis capitalized refers to Greek goddess usually portrayed as the agent of divine punishment for wrongdoing or presumption (hubris).
    (Dictionary app.)

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  27. Fastidious: very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

    Nashville Scene article -- "Each project is a testament to the fastidious, hands-on presentation for which he is known.

    How to remember: FASTidious -- always FAST to act upon perfecting something

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  28. bailiwick: a person's special field of interest, authority, or skill

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