Lists 5, 6, 7, 8 C & D

wan adj.	of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color; showing or suggesting ill health, fatigue, unhappiness, etc. -- The bulimic teenager’s wan face showed little life.
wanton adj.	immoral or unchaste; lewd ; unrestrainedly excessive; luxuriant; overabundant; frolicsome; playful -- Armed with a new credit card, the undisciplined teenager engaged in a wanton spending spree.
effervescent adj./ effervescence n.	bubbling; vivacious -- As a morning show TV host, Katy Couric was famous for her effervescence. Somehow this quality does not serve her so well as a serious journalist on the evening news.
mendacity n. / mendacious adj.	the tendency to be untruthful – Willful mendacity seems to be the modus operandi of the Bush administration with respect to its Iraq policy. – His charming manners were merely a front for his mendacity. He meant nothing that he said.
brazen adj.	1. boldy shameless or impudent; 2. made of brass -- Brazen vulgarity is a trademark of South Park's style of humor. -- Her parents broke down when their teenager brazenly announced her that she was running away with their 50 year old next door neighbor.
tryst n.	an appointment to meet at a specific time and place, as one made by lovers -- Little did Phil know that when his wife Phyllis was away on business, she held a regular tryst with one of her clients.
suitor n.	1. a man who courts or woos a woman; 2. a person who requests, petitions, or entreats -- He was an irresolute suitor; his parents wanted him to marry Esmerelda, but he wasn't sure he truly loved her.
concubine n./ concubinage n.	a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not married, esp. one regarded as socially or sexually subservient; mistress -- Was Cleopatra more famous as Queen of Egypt or as Marc Antony's concubine? -- Concubinage was a very common practice among rulers of the ancient world.
paramour n.	an illicit lover -- Though Bob and Jane could have divorced their respective spouses, they found it more thrilling to remain paramours. To marry would have killed the romance.
dubious adj.	causing doubt, ambiguous, vague; feeling doubt, hesitating, skeptical -- Though the teacher found Larry's excuse dubious, she opted not to challenge it. -- The committee liked candidate A, felt dubious about B, and rejected C.
acerbic adj.	sour or bitter, as in taste, character, or tone – The milk had an acerbic taste, so we poured it down the drain. – Apparently the Sarah Silverman Program’s comedic style is considerably more acerbic than even that of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
caustic adj.	burning or eating away by a chemical action; cutting, biting, stinging, sardonic, sarcastic -- His caustic wit could be entertaining, but occasionally he would go to far and seriously hurt his friends' feelings.
vulgar adj.	characterized by ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste; indecent; obscene; lewd -- The school's conduct code prohibits any kind of vulgar words or gestures.
ruse n.	an artifice; a sly trick -- The magician’s ruse was incredibly believable; everybody thought it really happened! -- Too often the teacher relies on pathetic ruses (extra credit points, dumb contests) to get her ninth graders to pay attention.
camp n. & adj. / campy adj.	exaggerated, often self-referential and self-derogatory form of irony (as if to mock oneself before giving someone else the chance); something, like Star Wars, "so bad, it's good" -- Participants in the annual gay pride parade often dress in campy, over-the-top costumes -- Much modern haut-couture fashion is firmly in the grip of camp. You'd never see these clothes in real life. -- I wish our assemblies featured fewer announcements and more campy skits and videos.
foray n.	1. a quick raid or attack, usually for the purpose of taking plunder; 2.an initial venture outside one's customary range of activity -- Too many late-night forays to the fridge and you can kiss that modeling career goodbye.
impale v.	pierce through or fix on something pointed; transfix; to make helpless -- Many Shakespeare tragedies end by littering the stage with impaled bodies.
anathema n.	something or someone accursed or assigned to damnation; something or someone detested – Studying foreign languages was anathema to him, so he was thrilled when he had fulfilled his graduation requirement.
adamant adj.	unyeilding, firm -- My mother was adamant in her position that girls should not have their ears pierced before they are sixteen. -- She holds adamantly to her religious beliefs.
affinity n.	1. a natural liking for or attraction to a person, thing, idea, etc. 2. a close resemblance, agreement, or connection -- Given his affinity for Italian culture, he planned to study abroad in Italy during his junior year. -- It is often assumed that there are natural affinities between the disciplines of science and mathematics, as between history and English.
proclivity n.	a natural tendency in human nature; inclination, especially towards something discreditable -- At thirty-five, she still had an embarrassing proclivity for children's sweets--her drawers were chock-full of gummy worms and cow tales. -- Its easy to understand teenagers' general proclivity for driving faster than they should.
corrective adj.& n./ correct v.	tending or intended to correct or improve, remedial; something corrective, remedy -- Experienced cooks always correct the seasoning of their dishes before serving them. -- That haircut needs immediate corrective action. -- His wife's unfailing generosity acts as a corrective to her husband's frequent faux pas.
brood n. / v. SENTENCE SHOULD MODEL METAPHORIC USAGE	1. a number of young produced or hatched at one time; family of offspring or young; 2. to sit upon (eggs) to hatch; 3. to think or worry over in solitude and at length. -- My dad often takes as much as fifteen minutes brooding over what to order from a menu. -- Always suspecting she's been insulted, she tends to brood needlessly over the most casual remarks.
clientele n.pl.	a body of clients (dependents on the services of a professional, such as a lawyer or architect); a group of customers – Walmart and Nordstrom cater to very different clienteles.
hallmark n.	1. a mark indicating quality or excellence; 2. a mark used in England to stamp gold and silver articles that meet established standards of purity; 3. a conspicuous feature or characteristic – While he daily instituted some of his innovations that were his hallmark in New York, he announced that his highest priority was a more basic one. – Shaking an opponent’s hand, regardless of the outcome of a game, is a hallmark of good sportsmanship.
altruism n./ altruist n. / altruistic adj.	unselfish concern for the welfare of others – In seeking to enlist the assistance of Iraq’s neighbors, specifically Syria and Iran, the United States would be appealing to its self-interest, not altruism. – In order to be a good nurse, one must have an altruistic personality.
hedonist n. / hedonistic adj./ hedonism n.	person who indulges in the material and physical pleasures of life; or in pleasure as a way of life – The hedonist took a two-month vacation on his yacht down the Caribbean.
jaunty adj. / jauntiness n.	having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk -- He walked with a jaunty swagger and knew he was head and shoulders better than the rest of his employees.
ebullience n./ ebullient adj.	the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts or feelings; exuberance; boiling over -- I don't know how cheerleaders manage to sustain their ebullience; stuck in outfits like theirs, the last thing I would do is smile and jump up and down.
opulence n. / opulent adj.	rich or profuse in some property or quality; luxurious, plentiful [tends to connote the overall grandeur of a space] -- When the real estate developer attempted to replicate the design of a seventeenth century chateau in his new McMansion development, the look degraded from opulence into garishness. -- Nick Carraway implicitly codes Daisy's house as opulent, and Gatsby's as garish.
sumptuous adj. / sumptuously adv.	involving great expense, luxurious, especially with respect to food, clothing, or decoration [tends to be applied to tactile feel and quality of specific objects] -- The house was sumptuously decorated with velvet drapes, leather couches, parquet floors, and marble fireplaces. -- For their 20th wedding anniversary, my parents went out to a sumptuous meal at a five-star restaurant.
luster n. / lustrous adj.	shine of reflected light off of a surface, gloss, sheen, radiance, brightness; reflecting quality of a mineral or gemstone -- I prefer the subtle luster of pearls to the flashy brilliance of diamonds. -- The cloud cover lent a lustrous effect to the sunrise.
curator n./ curate v.	professional collecter, organizer and maintainer of museum artefacts -- The China trade exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum are beautifully curated. -- The trustees were scandalized when it turned out to be the curator who had stolen the Picasso and sold it on the black market.
connoisseur n. / connoisseurship n.	an expert judge in art or matters of taste -- It's very costly to gratify one's taste as a wine connoisseur.
sycophant n. / sycophantic adj.	a self-seeking, servile flatterer -- I would wager that full fifty percent of valedictorians are grade-grubbing sycophants.
veneer n./ v.	to cover with a thin layer of high-quality material, either to decorate or to conceal lower-quality material, esp. in production of furniture -- Most Pottery Barn furniture is veneered to lend it an appearance of greater quality than it actually has. -- That smile on her face is only a veneer; in fact, she hates my guts.
façade n.	external front portion of a building, but often used with implications of concealing something inferior -- Many college buildings feature neoclassical facades. -- The student's humble bearing was merely a façade to retain the teacher's favor; privately he mocked him.
profligate adj. / profligacy n.	Being recklessly wasteful or extravagant or immoral – Her consumption of paper was profligate. She managed to write only three sentences per page. -- Many would consider spending $200 on a pair of sneakers to be profligate. -- If he doesn't curb his profligate spending, he'll soon be deep in debt.
subversive adj. & n. / subversion n. / subversiveness n. / subvert v.	overthrowing or destructive of something established; rebellious or corrupt (depending on one's perspective) in character or morals or intellect -- Many modern artists were considered subversive in their time.
transgress v. / transgression n. / transgressive adj. / transgressor n.	to overstep or break or go beyond (a law, a commandment, a social code) -- I fear I transgressed in asking her about her love life.
executive n. & adj.	1. a person or group having administrative or supervisonry authority in an organization; 2. the executive branch of of government. -- Most Harvard Business School students hope ultimately to become CEOs (chief executive officers) of major corporations. -- Since the teacher had not left clear directions, the sub made an executive decision to create her own homework assignment for the class.
judiciary n. / judicial adj.	1. a system of courts of law for the administration of justice; 2. the judges for a system of courts. – Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, chief of the Iranian Judiciary, recently announced the creation of special offices to deal with seditious minorities. – The judiciary decided to delay a ruling until further evidence had been examined. [on FRESH list; remove after 1011]
adjudicate v. / adjudication n.	to settle judiciously; act as a judge -- During the pep rally, several teachers adjudicated at the pie eating and screaming contests. [on FRESH list; remove after 1011]
provincial adj.	belonging or peculiar to particular or remote province or area; local; not cosmopolitan -- The wardrobe of most LHS men--dingy jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt with baseball cap--would seem provincial and out of place on Newbury Street in Boston.
cosmopolitan adj.	belonging to all the world--and especially the cities of all the world; not limited to the politics, interest, or prejudices of one part of the world [tends to be applied to cultural attitudes and style] -- His killer, cosmopolitan suit would look glamorous in New York, Paris, and London, but ridiculous at LHS.
worldly adj.	of or pertaining to this world and/or material interests and sophistication [as contrasted with heaven, spiritual life, things not to do with "getting ahead" on this earth]; the attitude of knowingness that comes from experience interacting with adults from all walks of life -- The preacher exhorted her congregation to give up their worldly desires. -- It is important that a president be a worldly figure, or else foreign governments will not take the US seriously. [On FRESH LIST -- Delete after 0910]
approbation n.	approval, sanction [used in more weighty and permanent senses than "approval"] -- He was always looking for his Dad's approbation in his choices of girlfriends, colleges, careers.
goad v.	to incite, prompt, as if by prodding with a stick -- I didn't want to go to the party, but my roommate goaded me into it by threatening to drive my car if I didn't come.
boon n. & adj.	1. a welcome benefit, blessing; 2. generous, merry, convivial, pleasant -- We had no idea the restaurant offered the boon of serving free desert to customers with birthdays. -- "a boon companion"
boot v. / bootless adj.	providing advantage, remedy, profit, benefit -- Our quest for the perfect leather jacket proved bootless, but we had a good time at the mall nonetheless. -- When you buy the lipstick, it comes with a bag and a mirror to boot.
strata n.pl. / stratification n.	1. levels of society of people with similar social, cultural, or economic success; 2. a number of layers, levels, or divisions in an organized system. – We all tend to conceive of society in terms of various economic, political, and cultural strata. – Too much hierarchical stratification in a business will tend to bog down clear, uninhibited communication among employees.
infrastructure n.	1. the underlying foundation or basic framework (as of a system or organization); 2. the system of public works (highways, buildings, bridges, public transportation, etc.) of a country, state, or region -- The Big Dig is the most complicated and expensive public infrastructure project in recent U.S. history. -- When setting budgets, it is notoriously difficult for municipalities to adjudicate between the demands of salary and infrastructure costs.
project v / projection n / projectile n & adj	to throw or impel forward; to "project" an image onto a screen by sending light through it -- Public speaking requires that one learn how to project one's voice so it can be heard from far away. -- Newborn infants are infamous for projectile vomiting. -- She tends to project her feelings towards her father onto her physics professor, who is a near lookalike.
repress v. VS. irrepressible adj.	to check or inibit (actions or desires). -- Since she wanted to fit in at LHS, the new student from Mississippi repressed her strong accent. -- Freudian psychology is well known for its interest in unearthing and examining repressed memories.-- Her irrepressible optimism gets on my nerves. What a Pollyanna.
divulge v. / divulgence n.	to disclose or reveal -- Members of the academy swear not to divulge the names of the winners until the awards ceremony. -- While a good mystery novel will not openly divulge its secrets until the conclusion, astute readers will attempt to detect and de-code subtle clues that are divulged gradually over the course of the story.
withhold v.	to hold back, keep back, restrain -- As a means of controlling their plots and emerging themes, skilled novelists are very careful about what kinds of information to disclose to or withhold from their readers. -- Since she didn't want to be like just for her money, she withheld the fact that she was an heiress to millions.
forgo v. / forgoing n. / forgone adj.	to do without; abstain from; give up -- I am willing to forgo chips and fries for the sake of my diet, but chocolate--never. -- Thus it is a forgone conclusion that I will not lose weight as fast as I might otherwise.
console v. / consolation n.	comfort, cheer up, esp. by making up for a loss or disappointment -- He bought her a puppy to console her over the death of her golden retriever.
disconcerting adj./ disconcert v.	to upset the composure or self-possession of; embarrass; confuse -- It was disconcerting to walk into my office and find most of the papers I'd left on my desk had been re-arranged.
conflate v. / conflation n.	to combine together (often elements that would not otherwise be seen as related) -- Since my brother was graduating around the same time that my parents were celebrating their 25th anniversary, we decided to conflate both events into one big party. -- The meanings of the words "profanity," "obscenity," and "blasphemy" are often conflated under the vague heading of "swear words," but there are meaningful distinctions between them.
profanity n. (sacred vs. profane : adjs.); obscenity n. / blasphemy n.	Profanity is a neutral term to categorize the quality of being irrverent toward God or sacred things, but especially through verbal gestures; "profanity" is a more generic term than "obscenity" or "blasphemy," which may be seen as subsets of the profane. -- Obscenity is the state or quality of being offensive to civilized morality or decency; indecent, vulgar references to bodily functions involving sex or excretion. -- Blasphemy refers to impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things, within a context in which such gestures would be taken as very serious spiritual, not just moral offenses. When we think of "profanity," we tend to mean words and gestures which may or may not be undertaken with a high degree of seriousness or awareness of spiritual consequences (depending on the speaker or the hearer), whereas "blasphemy" connotes a context violating a precept of Christian orthodoxy. -- Some persons who are deeply offended at profanity have no problem with obscenity, which may gross you out, but doesn't take the Lord's name in vain.
urbane adj.	having the qualities or characteristics associated with town or city life, esp. elegant and refined in manners, courteous, suave, sophisticated – Oscar Wilde’s plays are widely regarded as models of urbane wit.
humane adj.	characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for other beings, esp. for suffering or distress -- The inhumane treatment of prisoners at Abu Gharib in Iraq is a lasting source of embarrassment for the US.
coup d' etat n. / coup n.	a sudden and decisive action in politics, esp. one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force -- While England's King Charles I was killed in the coup d'etat that ushered in Puritan rule, fifty years later his grandson James II was deposed in a bloodless coup. -- In recent decades, African governments frequently change hands through military coups d'etats.
tabula rasa n.	blank slate; an as yet undetermined state of being or state of mind -- A young child's mind is a tabula rasa--blank but ready to receive all sorts of influences.
terra incognita n.	land unrecognized; an unknown or unexplored land , region, or subject -- For me, learning Arabic was embarking on terra incognita since I was never exposed to the language as a child. -- The street layout in Boston is so complex that it is easy to stray from familiar roads into terra incognita.
modus operandi n. / m.o.	regular mode of operating; method of working. -- Slacker though he is, he has a well-evolved modus operandi. He knows just which teachers to ask for passes and when to take strategic bathroom breaks.
savoir faire n.	knowingness about how to do things properly, effectively, elegantly -- I relied on my aunt's savoir faire to coax the maitre'd into getting us a table even though we didn't have reservations.
sang froid n.	literally, "cold blood"; quality of unflappability, unphasability, uncanny cool confidence when under pressure -- The audience was awed by the lion tamer's sang froid as he put his head between the animal's teeth. -- With utter sang froid, she removed the man's wallet from his pocket and stepped off the subway car.
truculent adj.	characterized by or exhibiting ferocity or aggressiveness; fierce, savage, pugnacious, aggressively defiant – I detest the truculent behavior of spoiled children when they do not get what they want.
frenetic adj.	frantic, frenzied -- The frenetic daily schedule of LHS is ridiculous. It is inhumane to allow only 4 minutes passing time and 20 minutes for lunch.
mystic adj. & n. / mysticism n. / mystical adj.	characterized by esoteric, otherworldly, or symbolic practices, encounters, or content, as certain religious ceremonies and art -- Certain medieval mystics lived alone in caves for years on end. -- The Divine Comedy concludes with a mystic vision of a heavenly rose, an image of the Virgin Mary. -- I loathe the cheezy, fake-mystical aesthetic of most new age music.
mythic adj. / epic adj.	1. to do with myth; associated with a reputation (often glamorous) that may be not wholly or not at all based in truth -- Romantic stories about pirates are laced with mythic tales about feats of daring and dastardly but ingenious crimes 2. applied to events, stories, and personalities whose reputation and significance seems larger than life, often of national/historical consequence that transcends the specific moment represented -- The Star Wars films are an epic saga of a multigenerational struggle between good and evil. -- The American Civil War was a conflict of epic proportions for the United States.
visionary adj.& n.	1. given to or concerned with seeing visions. 2. a person of unusually keen foresight. -- Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are considered visionary innovators in the personal computer industry. -- The Romantic movement in literature espouses the notion that the poet is more often than not a visionary, a sort of secular prophet who can capture and influence the zeitgeist of his culture.
slovenly adj.	sloppy, dishevelled, messy -- Today's style of teenage dress would be considered slovenly by 1950s standards.
vestige n / vestigial adj.	a mark, trace, or visible sign of something no longer present or in existence; a piece of evidence, an indication; a surviving remnant – Apparently the Boston Brahmin accent bears vestigial traces of English as it was likely spoken in Shakespeare’s day. -- Alerted by a nasty smell, she found the vestiges of an old tuna sandwich at the bottom of her bookbag.
temperate adj. / temper v. & n.	1. moderate or self retrained; not extreme in opinion or statement; moderate in respect to temperature; not subject to prolonged extremes of hot or cold; 2. to modify so as to tone down, dull down, restrain -- No one disagreed with her sensible, temperate proposals, but in listening to them they were bored out of their minds. -- Temper your temper. -- When among his parents' friends, he radically tempered the sarcastic tone he would normally flaunt among his peers.
myopia n. / myopic adj.	short or near sighted in vision or in atttitude -- Owning your own car in high school is a myopic goal, money down the drain. Most would be far better off to save that money for college or a future investment.
protract v.	to draw out, lengthen in duration, prolong, extend -- The news anchors awkwardly protracted their commentary as they waited for the president to appear at the podium.
irresolute adj.	undecided or undecisive
impute v. / imputation n.	to make a (sometimes unwarranted) assumption about some characteristic of a person or thing -- Esmerelda incorrectly imputed his hesitancy to his shyness rather than her poor grooming habits.
epitome n. / epitomize v.	person who or thing which embodies a quality; a typical example. -- Based on his wardrobe (polyester sans a belt slacks, pocket protector, thick glasses) I took him to be the epitome of a science nerd. -- The Dartmouth College campus in many ways epitomizes the look and feel of a classic Ivy League school.
epiphany n.	1. a sudden visionary realization, revelation; 2. a manifestation of some divine or superhuman being. – The connection between Hamlet and Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye struck the student like an epiphany.
tenet n.	a principle or doctrine or opinion maintained with little or no dispute by an organization or school of thought ["tenets," therefore, are usually so assumed that they don't need to be formulated as sound bytes or maxims or ads] -- A basic tenet in playing tennis is to remember always to follow through on your stroke. -- The right to own property is a fundamental tenet of capitalism.
maxim n.	a concisely expressed principle or rule of conduct; a statement of a general truth; precept -- The maxims "time is money" and "let the buyer beware (caveat emptor)" express a fundamental tenets of capitalism.
ineffable adj.	conveying an emotion or an impression that is felt to be impossible to put into words -- Even though I was not sad, some ineffable quality in her playing of the Mozart sonata moved me to tears.
sham n.	a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax -- An Eiffel Tower in Vegas: for some, a vulgar sham, for others, playful kitsch. -- The politician claimed to have a Yale degree, until the fact-checkers exposed him as a lying sham.
banal adj. / banality n.	devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite; dull -- Using the examples of average middle-class Germans who committed Nazi atrocities, Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil tries to account for how normally law-abiding citizens can be led to participate unthinkingly in barbarous acts. -- Daytime soap operas are famously banal: if you've seen one, you've seen them all.
curt adj.	rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner -- Once he saw how curtly the waitress interacted with customers, her manager fired her on the spot. -- I was offended by his curt responses to my suggestions. He wouldn't even listen to them.
ambulatory adj. & n.	1. of, pertaining to , or capable of walking. 2. an aisle surrounding the end of a choir or chancel of a church. -- After surgery, patients heal faster if they become ambulatory ASAP.
somnambulism n. / perambulate v. / perambulator n.	1. sleepwalking; 2. to walk through or about, traverse [usage is redundant, since typically one "perambulates through"]; 3.a baby carriage/stroller in which the infant lies recumbent -- We installed a gate at the top of our stairs since somnambulism runs in the family. -- Since we were early for our dinner reservation, we decided to perambulate through the neigborhood for a while. -- "Even while I trotted prattling by my nurse's side I regretted the good old days when I had, and wasn't, a perambulator." -- Max Beerbohm
rectitude n.	moral uprightness; righteousness; right judgment; quality of being honorable and honest – Clergypersons are expected to be paragons of rectitude. -- Some parents question the rectitude of showing any R-rated film to eighth graders.
abscond v. -- intransitive	to depart in a sudden and secret manner, esp. to avoid legal prosecution -- When the heiress went out to dinner, her maid absconded with all of her jewelry.
reconnoiter v.	[military provenance] to inspect or survey (an enemy position) -- Shall we go and reconnnoiter that buffet table a third time?
reconnaissance n.	the act of obtaining information about an enemy area; a survey of a region to gain information -- I can gather reconnaissance on a shoe store in less than five seconds; I don't even need to walk inside.
recognizance n.	a bond or obligation entered into before a court or magistrate, binding a person to do or not to do something, or to be somewhere at a certain time
eschew v.	to abstain or keep away from; shun; avoid -- Since I love doughnuts, I make it a point never to get coffee at Dunkins. Better to eschew temptation altogether.
continuum n.	a continuous extent, succession, or whole, no part of which can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division. -- Though each student’s political views vary slightly from the other’s, their outlooks all fall within a fairly close continuum. -- Where would you separate sky blue from baby blue on a continuum?
inimical adj.	unfriendly, hostile; adverse in tendency or effect; harmful -- The classmates' inimical exchange of words surprised me since I had thought they were the best of friends. -- More often than not, international relations between the US and Russia have been inimical.
malaise n.	a vague feeling of physical discomfort or uneasiness, as early in a illness; a vague awkwardness or moral or social decline — The boy’s malaise and poor color tipped off his mother that he was coming down with the flu. -- As fewer Americans pay attention to the news, we should be wary of a widespread political malaise undermining the integrity of our democracy.
rapport n.	sympathetic relationship or agreement; harmony -- Though I love them both equally, I enjoy a more natural and easy rapport with my father than with my mother.
egocentric adj. / egocentrism n. / egomaniac n.	regarding the self or the individual as the center of all things -- Oddly, a key element of the James Bond character's supposed charisma is his egocentrism. He is plainly in love with himself. -- The "I" embedded in the name of Shakespeare's famous villian Iago effectively symbolizes his egocentrism, if not his egomania.
monomania n. / monomaniac n. / monomaniacal adj.	an excessive interest in or enthusiasm for some one thing; craze; a mental disorder characterized by irrationality on one subject -- Approaching one's studies with a monomaniacal focus on grades rather than on content will backfire in the long run. You need to be willing to risk occasional mistakes to stretch your curiosity and explore difficult intellectual terrain.
predilection n.	a preconceived liking, partiality, preference -- I notice a predilection for adjectives in your writing.
annals n. (typically used in plural form)	a written account of events year by year in chronological order; historical records or chronicles -- "That time in high school when Dad ate the entire McDonald's menu" is a famous highlight in the unofficial annals of the Backman family. -- "Annals of Agony" was the title of her memoir of her high school years.
nefarious adj.	very wicked, villainous, iniquitous -- Iago and Richard III are two of Shakespeare's most nefarious, irredeeemable villains. [cut after 0910--on freshman list]
clamber v. / clambering adj. & n.	climb using both hands and feet; climb with difficulty or in a clumsy manner -- The toddlers clambered up the hill in hot pursuit of more Easter eggs.
clamor v. & n. / clamorous adj.	a loud outcry, uproar; a sustained noisy demand or complaint; a loud, sustained noise -- A deafening clamor of despair went up from the cafeteria when the kitchen ran out of pizza. -- The students clamored for more.
latent adj. / latency n.	lying hidden or dormant or undeveloped within a person or thing, as a quality or power as yet concealed or unrevealed -- I feel sure he has latent musical tendencies, though he's never so much as picked up an instrument. -- Our underinvestment in education is sure to waste the formidable skills latent in America's youth and undermine our economy in the long run.
tacit adj. / tacitly adv.	unspoken, silent; not expressed or declared openly, but implied -- When speaking to an American, usually one can tacitly assume that he or she supports democracy as a political system. -- No one voiced any objection when Britney moved to blackball the surliest sorority pledge, which she took as a sign of the girls' tacit agreement. -- When training a new employee, one of the most challenging tasks is initiating him or her into the tacit codes of conduct that shape a specific office culture.
taciturn adj.	almost always silent; not liking to talk; uncommunicative -- Her resume was impressive, but her taciturn manner in the interview lost her the job.
dissipate v. / dissipation n.	1. to scatter, dispel, disperse, waste, squander; 2. wasteful use of time, frivolous diversion, intemperance -- Once the clouds dissipated, Dad fired up the grill. -- The Internet provides more outlets for youthful dissipation than could have been imagined a generation ago.
dissolute adj. / dissolution n.	1. a dissolving or beign dissolved, breaking up into parts, disintegration, termination; 2. adjournment of a meeting; immorality, profligacy, debauchery -- Jed's parents dreaded that his dissolute habits would devolve into outright alcoholism before he graduated college.
jaded adj.	tired, wearied, dull, or sated, as from overuse or over-exposure -- The snotty shopgirls wore their regulation jaded sneer.
contraband n.	unlawful or prohibited trade; smuggled merchandise; goods forbidden by law to be imported or exported -- I always sneak contraband snacks into the movies.
filial adj.	of or befitting a son or daughter; having or assuming the relationship of child or offspring to parent. --The filial relationship between the men was obvious, but they turned out to be cousins rather than father and son. -- It’s hard to get out of filial obligations during the holidays.
patriarchal adj. / matriarchal adj.	of or befitting a male head of a family or a female head of a family
quotidian adj.	everyday, commonplace – Child-raising is another quotidian activity that eludes the positive psychologists. – Leaving her house early to buy coffee was a quotidian ritual of hers.
aver v.t.	to avouch or verify; prove or justify; to affirm confidently; declare positively -- He avered that Bill committed the crime because his prints matched those collected at the scene.
repartee n.	a clever and witty retort; also, skill in making such replies-clever retorts collectively -- The boy’s repartee was witty enough to launch his career in comedy.
iota n.	a very small quantity (of) -- The weather predictions confirmed there's not an iota of a chance that our flight will get out tonight. -- "not one iota"
liminal adj.	1. of, pertaining to, or hovering about, or constituting a transitional or initial (often vulnerable) stage of a process; 2. marginal, incidental, on a boundary or threshold. – Sigmund Freud's psychology is famously concerned with liminal states of consciousness, those notions and presumptions that affect our thoughts and actions without our deliberate awareness of them. -- Currently our experiment is at a crucial, but liminal stage: if we don't proceed carefully, we may distort our results and have to start all over. -- She is at that exciting liminal stage of her teaching career, still eager and energetic, not yet disillusioned.
malfeasance n.	evildoing, illegal action; esp. official misconduct by a public servant – The district attorney who had campaigned for office as an opponent of corruption was ironically arrested and convicted of fraud, malfeasance, and larceny.
blackguard n.	a scoundrel, a villain, a foul-mouthed person – Blackguard: it rhymes with haggard.
logorrhea n.	pathologically incoherent, wordy, repetitious speech. -- Ninth graders might diagnose Dickens with logorrhea, if they knew what the word meant.
antediluvian adj.& n.	1. belonging, referring, or appropriate to the time before the Flood described in Genesis; 2. a person who lived before the Flood, an old-fashioned or very old person – I’m sick of the antediluvian morality preached by my stupid old parents.
hack n. & adj.	a person hired to do routine, often dull, writing; literary drudge -- Most famous Victorian novelists were hack journalists early in their careers. -- I'm doing hack work at an ad agency until I get my big break. -- I thought her last book was a hack job; she's clearly in it only for the money.
slattern n./ slatternly adj.	an untidy or slovenly woman or girl – One of the petty pleasures of having a wide vocabulary is the satisfaction of calling a ninth grade girl a slattern to her face and knowing she’ll have no idea what you mean. – “It may be that some of Mr. Tryan’s hearers had gained a religious vocabulary rather than religious experience, that here and there a weaver’s wife, who, a few month’s before, had been simply a silly slattern, was converted into that more complex nuisance, a silly and sanctimonious slattern.” –George Eliot
harridan n.	a scolding, vicious woman; hag; shrew -- Snow White's stepmother, the Wicked Witch of the West . . . the harridan is a stock figure of aging but powerful femininity in fairy tales, novels, and films.
termagant n.& adj.	a boisterous, quarrelsome, scolding woman; shrew, virago -- The Taming of the Shrew is a play about a termagant wife.
mountebank n.	a false pretender to skill or knowledge; a charlatan; a person incurring contempt or ridicule through efforts to acquire something, esp. social distinction or glamour – Holden Caulfield might have used this word to break up the monotony of calling everyone a “phony,” but if he did he would have sounded like a kid from the 1850s, not the 1950s.
coquettish adj. / coquette n.	characteristic behavior of a woman who makes teasing sexual or romantic overtures; a flirt, but not an outright slut – In Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, Becky Sharp manipulates coquettish behavior to get whatever she wants out of men.
beau n.	a physically attractive, graceful, flirtatious, (apparently if not actually) well-to-do, if somewhat superficial young man ; a young, attractive male lover (18th century) -- Dastardly beaux and capricious coquettes abound in Fielding's fiction.
rake n. / rakish adj.	1. a womanizer, seducer/exploiter of women, often dissolute and/or roguish YET outwardly shrewd and charming (esp. 18th century); 2. jaunty posture, as in "the rakish angle at which he wore his hat" -- Clarissa's Mr. Lovelace is the consummate rake. -- I adored his rakish haircut.
rogue n. & adj.	rascal, scoundrel, mischievous, fun-loving, beggar, vagabond -- One usually has less to fear from an overt rogue than a covert rake. -- He feared stomach cancer, but it proved to be a rogue bubble.
banns n.	proclamation form a church pulpit of an intended marriage, on three successive Sundays, as insurance should there be any reason a couple should not marry -- To avoid the delay of reading the banns, the couple escaped to Gretna Green [in Scotland, the Vegas of 18th century England for quickie marriages].
dandy n. / dandiacal adj.	a man who plays excessive attention to his clothes and appearance [late 19th/early 20th century equivalent of "metrosexual"] -- Both Oscar Wilde and Max Beerbohm are famous English dandies.
autodidact n.	a person who is self-taught. – Bob Dylan barely passed high school and dropped out of college after one semester, but he is an autodidact who knows an impressive amount of English and American poetry.
eviscerate v. / viscera n.	to remove the entrails from; to deprive of esential parts. -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight includes a memorable description of the evisceration of a deer after a day's hunting. -- He didn't just criticize my article; he eviscerated it.
disembowel v.	to eviscerate -- The "dressing" of Bercilak's deer indeed reads with the precise, quasi-surgical connotations of "eviscerate" more than with the cruder butchery implied by "disembowel."
flagellate v.	to whip; scourge; to punish or berate as if with a whip -- Certain medieval religious orders included self-flagellation as a demonstration of repentant piety.
necromancy n.	1. a method of divination through invocation of the dead; 2. magic in general esp. that practiced by a witch or sorceror -- The late Victorians became fascinated with seances, necromancy, and all manner of the occult.
prestidigitation n.	sleight of hand; legerdemain (tricks of a stage magician, tricks or deceits of any sort) -- "There's no such Cat in the metropolis;/He holds all the patent monopolies/For performing surpising illusions/And creating eccentric confusions./At prestidigitation/And legerdemain/He'll defy examination/And deceive you again." --T.S. Eliot
factitious adj.	1. made by or resulting from art; artificial; 2. got up, made up for a particular occasion or purpose; arising from custom, habit, or design; not natural or spontaneous; artificial, conventional – Stage plays arouse in the audience factitious emotion. –R. West
meretricious adj.	1. showily but falsely attractive; 2. of, pertaining to, characteristic of a prostitute -- “Like a stage set after the lights have been turned off, Key West had lost its meretricious charm.”
mimesis n. / mimetic adj.	1. imitation of another's words or actions; 2. the attempt to represent the "real" world in art, poetry, etc. 3. pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of imitation, esp. of the real world in art, literature, etc. -- Art critics debate whether true mimesis is possible or desireable. -- Ancient Greek Gods, while anthropomorphic, are not mimetic. -- S.E. Hinton's novels are mimetic in a way that Greek myths never attempt to be.
verisimilitude n.	the (mere) appearance of being true or real; characteristic of compulsively "realistic" art [This term is used by critics working to "see through" and think about the effects of artistic realism, such as those produced by the 19th century novel, or even photography. This term queries the rationale and function of aesthetic work that presents itself as a copy of the "real" world. The term presumes that the notion of the "real," strictly speaking, resists the notion of the "copy." So why should "realism" be so powerful an aesthetic value?] -- I include this definition so you can understand how this term functions when you encounter it; you need not reproduce a sentence.
semiotics n. / semiotic adj.	the logic and study and interpretation of signs, of representation, of how it is that language and other modes of representation "signify" meaning; influential 20th century outgrowth of aesthetic and social criticism and philosophy
distemper n. & v.	1. a mental or physical derangement or disorder, disease; civil disorder; turmoil; 2. to mix colors or pigments with a binding medium
languor n. / languorous adj.	lack of energy or vitality (connotations of luxury and hedonism rather than disease or malaise) -- She reclined on the chaise in a pose of carefree languor.
apoplexy n./ apoplectic adj.	sudden loss of sensation and movement due to a disturbance of blood supply to the brain; a stroke; due to extreme anger or frustration, appearing as if one is having a stroke – When he realized what he had done, the teacher became apoplectic with fury and humiliation.
catalepsy n.	a seizure or abnormal condition characterized by postural rigidity and mental stupor, associated with certain brain disorders -- As I passed out the pop quiz, the entire class appeared struck by a mass catalepsy.
paroxysm n.	a violent attack or outburst of a (specified) emotion or activity; a fit, a convulsion – Women in Victorian novels can regularly be found collapsing in paroxysms of grief.
dyspeptic adj. / dyspepsia n.	chronic indigestion
peregrinate v. / peregrination n.	1. a journey through life, esp. viewed as a temporary precursor of eternal life in heaven; 2. the action or an act of traveling abroad or from place to place; a course of travel, esp. abroad; a journey, esp. on foot; 3. a systematic going through a subject, writing, course of study – I worked hard all year to save money for my summer peregrinations through Europe.
ablution n.	1. the act of washing clean; 2. the washing of the body as a religious rite; 3. the water, etc. used in ablution – Islamic teaching requires the faithful to perform ablutions before their daily prayers.
postprandial adj.	after a meal, as dinner -- My mom calls her after-breakfast walk her "postprandial constitutional."
vilify v.	to speak ill of; defame; slander -- We were shocked when she utterly vilified the girl who had been her best friend.
upbraid v.t	to find fault with or reproach severely; censure -- My parents rarely upbraid me for my messy habits or laziness, but they will not tolerate bad manners.
proleptic adj.	anticipatory, pre-supposed; preceding an argument so as to anticipate and preclude objection -- The teacher gave us a proleptic warning that the movie he meant to show tomorrow was rated R.
redact v. / redaction n.	to put into suitable literay form; edit -- I'd already typed up perfectly readable minutes, so I can't believe she's asking me to redact them into another format.
febrile adj.	feverish (applied to moods and contexts as much as people) -- The atmosphere in the crowded Mexican bar was febrile. Anything might happen.
sartorial adj./ sartorially adv.	to do with clothes and being well dressed -- I cannot commend her sartorial decisions. I would not be caught dead in that suit.
polyglot n.& adj.	a person who speaks many languages
polymath n. & adj.	a person knowledgable in many branches of learning
prattle v. / prattling adj.	to prate or babble in a childish manner
parochial adj.	of or pertaining to a parish or parishes, or to a limited or enclosed region or way of life -- Politicians frequently debate whether it is legitimate to use public vouchers to fund tuition for parochial schools. -- The stability and intimacy that some people enjoy in small town life others find claustrophobic and parochial. [on 10th grade list -- delete after 0910]
uxorious adj.	greatly or excessively fond of one’s wife, doting – Ernest Hemingway had many interesting qualities; uxoriounesss, however, was not one of them. [on 10th grade list -- delete after 0910]
importunate adj.	urgent or persistent in asking or demanding, insistent (annoyingly so)
obdurate adj.	not easily moved to pity or sympathy, hardhearted, impenitent
repair v.	(archaic) to go to; betake oneself; to go often, customarily, or in numbers -- "Mother, I shall repair to my room and set about my homework," he announced in an arch tone.
apellation n.	the act of calling by a name; a name, title, designation -- How many appellations for "skank" can you think of?
obviate v.	do away with or prevent by effective measures; make unnecessary -- George is willing to cook, so that obviates the need for a caterer.
prig n. / priggishness n.	a person disliked for an excessive sense of propriety in matters of learnng or morals; smugness
prospectus n.	document describing a proposed business investment, literary work, etc. for evaluation by prospective investors, participants, or buyers -- The prospectus for the business plan was so poorly written that the young entrepeneurs were never considered for funding. [on 10th grade list -- delete after 0910]