abase - verb cause to feel shame;
hurt the pride of
Ex. God's
love does not abase his majesty, nor his majesty diminish his love.
abdicate - verb give up, such as power, as of
monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
Ex. He
agreed to abdicate and
retire in favor of the next in line for the throne.
abomination - noun an action that is vicious or vile;
an action that arouses disgust or abhorrence; a person who is
loathsome or disgusting; hate coupled with disgust
Ex. His abusive treatment of the children was an
abomination.
brusque - adj. marked by rude or peremptory
shortness
Ex. If service seems a little brusque sometimes
that is because the waiter is always so busy.
saboteur - noun someone who commits sabotage or
deliberately causes wrecks; a member of a clandestine subversive
organization who tries to help a potential invader
Ex. Anyone
caught without an identity card would be treated with suspicion as a possible
enemy saboteur.
debauchery - noun a wild gathering involving
excessive drinking and promiscuity
Ex. Because
he was looking forward to four years of debauchery, he could not
wait to go to college.
proliferate - verb cause to grow or increase rapidly; grow
rapidly
Ex. As problems with the business continued to proliferate,
Edward decided to chuck it all and go into retirement.
anachronism - noun an artifact that belongs to another
time; a person who seems to be displaced in time; who belongs to
another age; something located at a time when it could not have
existed or occurred
Ex. These days the habit of introducing yourself to a new
neighbor with a welcome gift has become an anachronism.
nomenclature - noun a system of words
used to name things in a particular discipline
Ex. The language of sculpture is an example of a nomenclature.
expurgate - verb edit by omitting or modifying parts
considered indelicate
Ex.
The rapper was told that if he did not expurgate the offensive
lyrics from his new song, it would never be played on the radio.
bellicose - adj. having or showing a ready
disposition to fight
Ex. His bellicose behavior at the party
ensured that he would not be invited again.
gauche - adj. lacking social polish
Ex. His gauche table manners make me
cringe, especially when he tries to talk with his mouth full.
rapacious - adj. excessively greedy and grasping; devouring
or craving food in great quantities; living by preying on other
animals especially by catching living prey
Ex. Our rapacious neighbors have maxed
out five different credit cards because they always have to have something
newer and better.
paradox - noun (logic) a statement that
contradicts itself
Ex. In a
strange paradox, the medicine made Preston sick before it made her
better.
conundrum - noun a difficult problem
Ex. Trying to solve the conundrum caused
him to waste a lot of time on his SAT.
anomaly - noun (astronomy) position of a planet as
defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun); a
person who is unusual; deviation from the normal or common order or
form or rule
Ex. In order to find the anomaly, scientists
had to repeat the experiment over a hundred times.
ephemeral - adj. lasting a very short time; noun anything
short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form
Ex. I'm happy that the movie can give some pleasure to
people, but acting is ephemeral.
rancorous - adj. showing deep-seated resentment
Ex. There are equally rancorous arguments
about how best to stimulate supply.
churlish - adj. having a bad disposition; surly; rude
and boorish
Ex. A husband telling his wife she looks fat is an
example of churlish.
precipitous - adj. characterized by precipices; extremely
steep; done with very great haste and without due deliberation
Ex. The classical financial models used for most of this
century predict that such precipitous events should never
happen.
