Vocab #4

1.

abrasive

uh BRAY siv

harsh, causing irritation, rough ; anything that grates or irritates — physically or metaphorically

What does an obnoxious person have in common with sandpaper? Both are abrasive. Anything that grates or irritates — physically or metaphorically — can be described using this adjective.

The history of the word abrasive illustrates how a word typically enters the English language and then changes with time. The English verb abrade "to wear down by scraping" entered the language from Latin abradere "to scrape off" in the late 1600s. Some 200 years later, the adjective form of the word — abrasive — came into use to describe a type of grinding tool. By the 1920s, abrasive had acquired the more figurative sense of annoying and infuriating. If you find someone abrasive, he or she grinds away at your nerves.

2.

appease

uh PEES

to pacify, to be conciliatory in a manner that sacrifices principles

Appease means to make or preserve peace with a nation, group, or person by giving in to their demands, or to relieve a problem, as in "the cold drink appeased his thirst."

Appease often implies abandoning your moral principles to satisfy the demands of someone who is greedy for power: think of British Prime Minister Chamberlain's attempt to appease the Nazis at Munich. The verb appease comes from the Old French apaisier, "to pacify, make peace, or be reconciled," from the phrase "a paisier," which combines a-, or "to," and pais, "peace," from the Latin pax.

3.

bewail

buh WALE

to deplore, to express deep sorrow; regret strongly

The verb bewail means to lament or express great sorrow. When your big brother or sister starts kindergarten, you may bewail the fact that they can't play with you all day anymore but you'll be excited when you get to go to school also!

The verb bewail is from the Old Norse word væla, meaning to lament. The prefix be- is added when you want to make something stronger or more intense. So bewail means to greatly lament and when compared to bemoan, a word with similar meaning, bewailing would be louder and more intense. You can bewail the death of a friend, but if you bewail a minor irritation like a broken nail, people will accuse you of being overly dramatic.

4.

cleft

CLEFT

a space or opening made by cleavage, a split; a long narrow opening

If you're looking for an indentation or opening in something, you're looking for a cleft (noun). A person with a cleft (adjective) chin has a little dent in the middle of their chin. Most superheroes have one.

Superman is known for his ability to leap tall buildings, his crush on Lois Lane, and the cleft in his chin. For some reason, that cleft is supposed to make him look strong. Some clefts are not so nice. A cleft palate is an upper lip with a deep indentation in it that should be fixed by a surgeon. You may know the verb cleave, which means to cut down the middle. If you cleave something but don't finish the job, you've probably left a cleft in it.

5.

countermand

koun ter MAND

to revoke, to cancel, or to reverse; cancel officially

When an officer in the military shouts, “Belay that order, Private!” that is a countermand. A countermand is an order that cancels or reverses an earlier command. Countermand is also used as a verb meaning “to cancel or revoke.”

Counter means “opposing” or “opposite,” and mand is short for “mandate” or “command.” Put them together and you’ve got countermand — an “opposing command.” When you issue a countermand, you cancel the original command and usually replace it with a new one. Countermand is often used in a military context, but it can be applied more widely. If your parents tell you to take out the trash, you might countermand these orders by telling your little brother to do it instead.

6.

defraud

deh FRAWD

to deal with deceptively; deprive of by deceit

To defraud is to con someone out of money. Defrauding is a sneaky crime.

If you know that a fraud is some kind of a scam, then you're on the way to understanding what defraud means. If someone defrauds you, they are cheating you out of money. Ponzi schemes—also known as pyramid schemes—are a type of defrauding. A guy trying to sell you a bridge is a type of defrauding, as is a foreign prince asking for money via email. Be wary!

7.

disavowal

dis uh VOW ul

Denial of any connection with or knowledge of

A disavowal is a strong denial of any knowledge about something. You might use it to get across the point that you have no idea how that window got broken.

Disavowal contains the word avow, which you can use to mean "declare openly"; it's kind of the positive version of the negative disavowal. While an avowal essentially says, "yes indeed!" a disavowal is not only saying, "no," but is also implying, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

8.

eclipse

eh KLIPS

to cast a shadow upon; to darken; to make dim or obscure by comparison; the phenomenon when one celestial body obscures another

Have you ever seen an eclipse? That's when the sun, earth or moon cross paths and cover each other up temporarily.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon blocks our view of the sun for a bit. A lunar eclipse happens when the moon is on one side of the earth and the sun directly opposite, so the moon disappears. A TV eclipse, perhaps the most serious of all, is when your dad walks in at the most crucial part of the movie and blocks your view of the TV while he lectures about taking out the trash.

9.

ellipsis

eh LIP sis

omission of words necessary for complete construction

An ellipsis is punctuation that is used to show where words have been left out. The ellipsis is usually formed by three periods (four if the ellipsis comes at the end of a sentence).

The word ellipsis comes to English via a Greek word, elleipein, meaning to fall short or leave out. The plural of the noun is ellipses. In the sentence, "'What the . . . !' she exclaimed.", the ellipsis replaces an expletive. The severity of the expletive is left to the reader's imagination.

10.

fussbudget

FUS buj it

One who worries about unimportant things; thinks about unfortunate things that might happen

My sister is earning a reputation as a fussbudget because she constantly complains.

11.

idolatry

eye DOLL uh tree

worship of idols, excessive devotion; the worship of images that are not God

Idolatry means the worship of images as if they were gods. Many religions prohibit idolatry, some even to the extent of forbidding any representational objects in houses of worship.

Idol sits at the head of the word idolatry. If you worship––or even just look up to––a person or a thing, you are said to idolize them. For some modern idolaters, money is their idol, while for others it is celebrities and for still others their jobs.

12.

malicious

muh LISH us

motivated by hate or deliberate intent to harm

Someone who is malicious enjoys hurting or embarrassing others. If you're writing a book about good and evil, you'll want to come up with a truly malicious character to do all the bad stuff.

Malicious is the adjective based on the noun malice, which means the desire to harm others. Both words come from the Latin word malus, for bad. If someone is malicious he doesn't just make bad things happen; he loves to make bad things happen.

13.

mote

MOTE

a particle or speck of dust; a tiny piece of anything

Say the word: mote. It's short and quick, isn't it? The word corresponds to its meaning, which is something tiny: a speck of dust, a bit of fluff, a speckle of gold in the prospector's pan.

We're not sure of the origin of the word mote, except that it is related to Germanic words meaning "sawdust or grit, tiny dust particles." We think of a mote as the tiniest of objects, but astronomer Carl Sagan demonstrates a different perspective when he looked at a photograph of Earth taken from a great distance by Voyager I and said, "We live on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

14.

optimum

OP tuh mum

most favorable, best or greatest degree attainable; best condition or highest extent of something

An optimum is the best condition or highest extent of something. He didn't mean to create a science experiment, but the unwashed coffee cup under his desk became the optimum dark, wet environment for growing lots of mold.

Optimum came into English in the 19th century from the Latin optimus, "best." You can use optimum to describe the best conditions for meeting a goal or achieving something, and it often refers to conditions in scientific tests. Runners determine their optimum weight before running a marathon, and astronauts train in the optimum environments for recreating what they'll experience in space. Optimum conditions for a great barbecue might include sunshine and blue skies.

15.

personification

pur son uh fuh KAY

attribution of personal qualities; a person who represents an abstract quality

Personification means "giving humans qualities to an abstract idea," as in a movie villain who is the personification of evil.

You can use the noun personification in two ways. In the first, a person who is known for a certain quality, like wisdom, is said to represent that quality in a way any can understand, like a patient, generous person who is the personification of kindness. On the other hand, personification can give human qualities to something that isn’t human. For example, you might say, “The sea is angry,” assigning it a human emotion.

16.

pertinacity

pur tuh NAS eh tee

stubborn persistence or act of refusing to yield on an opinion or belief

Pertinacity is a quality of sticking with something, no matter what. It's a type of persistent determination.

People who have pertinacity won't give up, and they stick with things doggedly. Pursuing a difficult career requires pertinacity. Pertinacity is a mix of courage, conviction, and a little stubbornness. Pertinacity requires a strong will and self-confidence. Pertinacity can also be called perseverance, persistence, and tenaciousness. Pertinacity is related to the word tenacity, which is also a quality that combines determination and commitment.

17.

prate

PRATE

to talk idly or foolishly at great length; speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

To prate means to talk on and on about something. While it may be interesting to hear about other people’s vacations, when they prate about them until the wee hours, it becomes intolerable.

There are more than a few instances where the famous have discouraged prating. Nursing great Clara Barton discouraged prating about “moral influences” when she encouraged a cigarette and a good, stiff glass of whiskey for Civil War soldiers. Herman Melville warned against mocking a lover’s wounded heart, saying “the stabbed man knows the steel; prate not to him that it is only a tickling feather.”

18.

precept

PREE sept

a rule guiding conduct or imposing a standard

A precept is a rule or direction, often with some religious basis, dictating a way you should act or behave.

Precepts are little life lessons that are usually passed down to children by authority figures such as parents, teachers, or religious figures. They are not as simple or practical as "eat your vegetables"; they tend to be more weighty and pretentious. In Hamlet, the character Polonius dished out a few choice precepts to his son Laertes: "neither a borrower nor a lender be" and "give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." Of course Laertes never lived long enough to benefit from Polonius's sage advice, since Hamlet offed him with his own poisoned blade.

19.

repulse

reh PULSE

to repel or to rebuff (usually with rudeness); force or drive back

To repulse something is to repel it or drive it back. When you repulse your sister, you disgust her. When you repulse the enemy in battle or someone in conversation, you force them back or make them turn away.

Repulse is related to the word repel, and they mean similar things: to repulse an advance — romantic or warring — is to repel, or fend off, its advance. To repulse someone by being disgusting is to be repellent. You could repulse a person's attempts at conversation if you repulse him by picking your nose. Repulse is now most frequently used in the gross-out sense, but Jane Austin often had her characters repulse each others’ attempts at conversation or civility.

20.

scribe

SKRIBE

a journalist, a public secretary or clerk; someone employed to make written copies of documents and manuscripts

A scribe is a term for someone employed to make written copies of documents. Before printing was invented, the busy scribes in a village would write copies of all the legal documents.

As a noun, scribe has several meanings. It's used as an informal term to refer to journalists. Scribe also refers to a sharply pointed tool used for marking wood or metal to be cut. As a verb, it means "to score a line on something with a pointed instrument." The master craftsmen instructed you to scribe a line on the piece of wood where he pointed, to mark the spot where he wanted it cut.

21.

sophistry

SOF eh stree

practice of intentionally misleading arguments that seem to be plausible; a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone

Sophistry is tricking someone by making a seemingly clever argument, such as telling your mom you must have candy before dinner because if you don't you'll die and then the protein and vitamins won't get eaten at all.

Sophistry is a word that you hear very little in contemporary life, perhaps because it makes anyone who uses it sound like a Puritanical fanatic insisting that something like gum-chewing is the path to the devil. But we are certainly still surrounded by examples of sophistry––just turn on the TV and watch an ad. You'll see plenty.

22.

supplication

sup luh KAY shun                           begging, humbly asking for a favor

Think of a supplication as sort of a prayer, a request for help from a deity. The word carries a sense of awe and adoration with it, suggesting something tentative, even servile, a respectful appeal to a higher power.

Although it is a noun, supplication comes from the Latin verb supplicare, which means "to plead humbly." While a supplication is often thought of as a religious prayer (it is used 60 times in the Bible), it can logically be applied to any situation in which you must entreat someone in power for help or a favor. Still, it carries with it an aura of religiosity and deep entreaty, and should not be used to describe just any simple request.

23.

traducer

truh DOOS ur

one who slanders or speaks falsely about someone

After hearing the gossip, the woman confronted the traducer face to face to stop the vicious slander.

24.

venturesome

VEN chur sum             

being bold and taking risks

The adjective venturesome describes someone who is willing to take risks, someone brave. If you have a venturesome child, you may worry because she's the one you find on top of the playhouse instead of inside it.

The root word of venturesome is venture, and venture is short for aventure, which is a form of adventure, which we understand to be an interesting or exciting experience. Some people are more venturesome than others. You may thrive on mountain climbing or going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, or your idea of adventure may be occasionally trying a strawberry jelly with your peanut butter instead of grape.

25.

waylay

WAY lay

to ambush or to attack unexpectedly;wait in hiding to attack 

When you waylay someone, you stop them from doing what they were going to do, either by using violence or some other tactic.

To waylay, or to be waylaid, is usually not a good thing: Mom would not be proud. Robbers waylay their victims. Outlaws waylaid stagecoaches in the Old West. The verb's origin, from wegelage, means "lying in wait, with evil or hostile intent." You might also use waylay to show someone being interrupted from finishing the task at hand: "I should’ve been studying, but was waylaid by my friend's invitation to go bungee jumping."