Vocab

4.11.11

nascent

nascent(adj) – beginning to exist or develop. word origin: 1615-25 Latin present participle of nasci, to be born  or arise.  1620s from L nascentum prp of nasci to be born

vagary

odd, eccentric, or unexpected action or bit of conduct
odd, whimsical, or freakish idea or notion; oddity; caprice

from http://yourdictionary.com: Origin: earlier used as a v., to wander < L vagari, to wander < vagus: see vague from http://dictionary.com: 1565–75,  in sense “wandering journey”; apparently < Latin vagārī  to wander

bludgeon
A  story reports that a man used a hand weight to "bludgeon" his fiancee to death.
bludgeon means: to strike with or as with a bludgeon; to bully or coerce.
Both yourdictionary.com and Merriam-Webster online list the origin as unknown, but its first known use was in  1730.

insidious

"working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner; intended to entrap; alluring." from the Latin word "insidere," which translates to "to lie in wait for." According to Merriam-Webster, its first known use was in 1545.

furlough

"a leave of absence or a leave granted to military enlisted personnel for a specified period." Layoffs, furloughs possible at SIUC: Employees at Southern Illinois University Carbondale may face furloughs and layoffs in the fall if the state's budget picture doesn't improve, officials said Thursday.

An etymology from the same dictionary says the word comes from the German verlaub, meaning to permit. An etymology from the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says the word is from the Dutch verloff, meaning to allow.

histrionics

"dramatics," and it stems from the Latin word histrion, meaning "actor." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language also says that histrionics is Latin in origin.

define: histrionics

cajole

a transitive verb meaning, "to persuade with flattery or gentle urging especially in the face of reluctance." Yourdictionary. com defines it as, "to coax with flattery and insincere talk." These definitions show that truly there is no synonyms, as this is definitely not the same as convince.

Intractable

[L intractabilis, fr. in- + tractabilis tractable] 1: not easily governed, managed, or directed <~problems> 2: not easily manipulated or wrought <~metal> 3: not easily relieved or cured <~pain>.

“Given the short time frame for action and the prospect of an intractable political clash, leaders in both government and business are already moving to avert a crisis ….

neophyte

new convert 

just beginning a new kind of life, work, etc.; beginner; novice

The word originates from the greek neophytos meaning newly planted, in which neos means new and phytos means to produce, grow. 

deleterious

But do not get devotees of xeriscaped yards, as desert landscaping is known, started about the deleterious effects of all that grass planted around the desert, wastefully sapping water, a valuable and scarce commodity here.

According to yourdictionary.com, deleterious means "harmful to health or well-being; injurious."

snit

a state of agitation or irritation; a fit of anger.  The origin is unknown, and it's hypothesized that it comes from the word "snippy."  

ubiquitous

as “present, or seeming to be present, everywhere at the same time.”

ubiquitous is of Latin origin, from ubiquity

conciliate

"to become friendly or agreeable" or "to gain (as goodwill) by pleasing acts" From Latin conciliatus, past participle of conciliare to assemble, unite, win over, from concilium assembly, council — more at council, and its first known use was in 1545. American Heritage states the origin of the word as "1540-50;   < Latin conciliātus  (past participle of conciliāre  tobring together, unite, equivalent to concili ( um ) council  + -ātus -ate^1"

yore
"But unlike their counterparts of yore, the Hoya staffers are part of a highly tech-savvy breed that is easily adapting to the seismic shifts that are convulsing the professional newspaper industry."
"time past and especially long past —usually used in the phrase of yore."
The word likely originated in the 14th century from "Middle English, from yore, adverb, long ago, from Old English gēara, from gēar year."

 4.1.11

vitriol

used to describe posts on an online message board.

something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism

patronize

1.     to act as a patron toward; sponsor; support

2.     to be kind or helpful to, but in a haughty or snobbish way, as if dealing with an inferior

3.     to be a regular customer of (a store, merchant, etc.)

malodorous

used to describe the gyms in the Czech Republic.
Having a bad odor; foul.

cornice

"The courthouse where he now sat in his own bare office, with a view of the wintry waves just across the city’s corniche, had been a place of fear and oppression."

"a road built along a coast and especially along the face of a cliff."

grandiloquence

speech that is lofty in tone, often to the point of being pompous or bombastic.

fledgling

"When McKelvey began to worry his company could get killed by an online competitor, he found that Dorsey was the only one on his small staff who agreed on the need to migrate the business onto the fledgling Internet."

 

fledg·ling: a young bird just fledged / a young, inexperienced person

enshrine

"to hold as sacred; cherish." to preserve or cherish as sacred”

presage

"to predict; to give a presage (a sign or warning of a future event)," – from the Latin "praesagium," which means "a foreboding." Prae means before and sagire means to perceive.

stalemate

"Any unresolved situation in which further action is impossible or useless; deadlock; draw."

tonnage

Most of the definitions that yourdictionary.com have for the word are having to do with cargo or shipping.  It's also defined as weight in tons.  It comes from the Old French word tonne.

mufti

From one of The New York Times' op-eds from this week, "In Egypt's Democracy, Room for Islam." The word did not appear in the story but at the end was written: "Ali Gomaa (the author of the op-ed) is the grand mufti of Egypt."

According to Webster's New World College Dictionary, mufti means, "In Muslim countries, an interpreter or expounder of religious law." An etymology from the same dictionary says the word's origin is Arabic, from āftā, meaning one who gives a decisive response and mufti; meaning to judge.

See define: mufti

lubricious

lubricious is used to describe the tone of the movie entitled, “Cat Run”.
it means “sexually stimulating or “salacious”.

scruple

. In the "Room for Debate" opinion section of the New York Times, there's a section debating the reasons for the increased obsession with attending an Ivy League school titled "The College Acceptance Rate Racket." One of the opinions, written by Jane S. Shaw, president of the nonprofit John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, briefly examines the elite league's practice of trying to garner as many applicants as possible when admissions officers are aware they will reject the majority of students. As Shaw says,

"Thus, elite schools have an incentive to cast as wide a net as possible among qualified candidates (I presume that their scruples prevent them from seeking high schoolers who can’t succeed) so that they can reject most of them."

scruple means  "high ethical standards."

tawdry

cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality

“India has had plenty of downbeat news in recent months, whether a litany of tawdry scandals, an unexpected sharp decline of foreign investment or the ineffectiveness of a bickering Indian parliament." 

stanch

verb meaning "to stop, check, or allay."
The wordcame from Latin (stāre, to stand), was used in "Vulgar Latin," Old French and Middle English. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word came from Latin, but it suggest that it came from the Latin word stagnum meaning "pond" or "pool."

define: staunch – see AP re stanch v. staunch

malaise

I came across this word in an opinion piece in the NY Times (before it kicked me off ??) about internships. It's a great read, and the writer uses malaise perfectly to describe the situation at universities. Webster's New World College Dictionary says a vague awareness of moral or social decline. Origin of Fr < mal, bad (see mal-) + aise, ease. American Heritage says the origin is similarly French, from Old French : mal-, mal- + aise, ease; see ease.

President Carter’s famous – or infamous – malaise speech