Words of the Day

2012- 2013

1st Semester

-id Words Day 1

A. squalid (SKWA-lid)

B. adjectiveC. dirty or wretched, caused by poverty or

negligenceD. When he first joined the Peace Corps,

Paul was horrified by the squalid conditions in which the natives lived; many of them slept on the floor in mud huts and had no electricity or flushing toilets. :(

-id Words Day 2

A. fetid (FET-id)

B. adjective

C. used to describe something that smells extremely unpleasant

D. The lost explorer spent days slogging through the fetid swamp.

-id Words Day 3

A. sordid (SOR-did)

B. adjective

C. involving dishonorable actions and motives

D. We had thought of him as a pillar of the community, until the sordid details of his secret life came out.

-id Words Day 4

A. torpid (TOR-pid)

B. adjective

C. mentally or physically inactive; lethargic

D. Technically speaking, bears don’t hibernate; they just become very torpid.

-id Words Day 5

A. sapid (SAP-id)

B. adjective

C. having a distinctly pleasant taste

D. Suzanne served a sapid five-course meal to her party guests.

-id Words Day 6

A. acrid (ACK-rid)

B. adjective

C. having an irritatingly strong and unpleasant taste or smell

D. The acrid taste of the berries told him that they were inedible, and perhaps poisonous.

-id Words Day 7

A. rancid

B. adjective

C. repugnant or nasty- used to describe food that has gone bad or the behavior and remarks of people

D. The valedictorian’s rancid remarks about the school’s curriculum embarrassed the principal at the graduation ceremony.

-id Words Day 8

A. vapid (VAP-id)

B. adjective

C. offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging

D. Some people like card games, but she found them completely vapid.

-id Words Day 9

A. flaccid (FLAS-id) or (FLAK-sid)B. adjectiveC. soft and hanging loosely or limply,

especially so as to look or feel unpleasant; flabby

D. The polio he suffered as a child left his leg muscles flaccid, but Will has not let wearing leg braces stop him from an active life and successful career.

-id Words Day 10

A. gravid (GRAV-id)

B. adjective

C. pregnant; carrying eggs or young

D. When the woman turned to go, her profile clearly showed that she was gravid.

Money Words

There’s an old saying- “money talks”- but it’s equally true that

we talk a lot about money. Here are some words to use in such

conversations.

Money Words Day 1

a. parsimonious (par-sih-MOAN-ee-us)b. adjectivec. unwilling to spend money or use

resources; stingy or frugal d. In order to save money, the

parsimonious director of the orphanage refused to serve meat to the children more than once a week.

Money Words Day 2

a. penurious (pen-YUR-ee-us)

b. adjective

c. extremely poor; poverty-stricken

d. During the Great Depression, millions of Americans were reduced to a penurious lifestyle.

Money Words Day 3

a. mendicant (MEND-ih-kant)b. noun or adjectivec. a beggar (noun); given to begging

(adjective)d. Lori and Lily had seen beggars in large

cities in the United States, but they were unprepared for the number of mendicant children coming up to them on their travels last summer.

Money Words Day 4

a. pecuniary (puh-KYOON-ee-air-ee)b. adjectivec. having to do with moneyd. After his wife died, Mr. Stevenson

hired an accountant to deal with all of his pecuniary matters. He had left all of his household finances to her and had no idea how to pay all of the bills.

Money Words Day 5

a. solvent (SOL-vent)

b. adjective

c. able to meet financial obligations

d. Recent interest rate rises have had very severe effects on normally solvent companies.

Money Words Day 6

a. affluent (AF-floo-ent)b. adjectivec. rich, prosperous, wealthyd. Gold River Estates is an affluent

neighborhood. Every house has a swimming pool, a three-car garage, and a five-acre plot of land surrounding it.

Money Words Day 7

a. remuneration (re-MYUN-er-AY-shun)

b. noun

c. payment for goods or services provided

d. The hospital offered Caroline ample remuneration for her work in the intensive-care unit, because the hours were long and the schedule was very demanding.

Money Words Day 8

a. lucrative (LOO-kra-tive)

b. adjective

c. yielding money or profit

d. Clubs take care of their star athletes by paying them lucrative salaries.

Money Words Day 9

a. husbandry (HUS-bun-dree)

b. noun

c. management and conservation of resources

d. In accordance with his practice of good husbandry, he never buys anything on credit.

Money Words Day 10

a. fiscal (FISS-kul)

b. adjective

c. of or relating to government revenue

d. The presidential candidate promised to improve the country’s fiscal practices and thus bring about a stronger economy.

Hodgepodge Words

Hodgepodge Day 1

a. feralb. adjectivec. a wild state of living, especially an

animal; human behavior that is more like the savagery of an animal

d. We tried to bring the feral cat into our home, but he wouldn’t let us touch him and he sprayed all over the house.

Hodgepodge Day 2

a. hirsute (HEER-sute)b. adjectivec. hairy, often unusually sod. The giggling girls at the swimming

pool admitted that they were trying to decide which of the boys had the most hirsute back.

Hodgepodge Day 3

a. lurid (LOOR-id)

b. adjective

c. causing shock or horror; gruesome

d. “Please spare me the lurid details of the horrible things Rosemary said to you. They’re just too painful to hear,” Luke said sympathetically to Nora.

Hodgepodge Day 4

a) aesthetic (es-THET-ik)b) adjectivec) concerned with beauty or the

appreciation of beautyd) I like to make sure that the pictures

hanging in my home give great aesthetic pleasure to me and those who may visit.

Hodgepodge Day 5

a. contumely (KON-toom-lee)

b. noun

c. insolent or insulting language or treatment

d. “If you continue with this contumely,” Woolsey asserted, “I shall have to take you home from the party. Such discourteous remarks are inappropriate, especially from a respectable girl.”

Hodgepodge Day 6

a. cryptic (KRIP-tik)b. adjectivec. having a meaning that is mysterious,

puzzling, or obscured. The pirates puzzled over the cryptic

markings on the map, longing to believe a store of gold doubloons was waiting for them on the island.

Hodgepodge Day 7

a. incarnation (in-car-NAY-shun)b. nounc. a person who embodies in the flesh a

deity, spirit, or abstract qualityd. F. Scott Fitzgerald intensifies the religious

feel of Gatbsy’s near-worship of Daisy when he writes, “He kissed her and the incarnation was complete.”

Hodgepodge Day 8

a. ecclesiastical (ek-LEEZ-ee-ASS-tik-al)b. adjectivec. of or relating to a church; appropriate for

use in a churchd. Dressed in ecclesiastical robes and carrying

a book of hymns, the bishop stood out in the crowd of children and parents at the school’s December Christmas party.

Hodgepodge Day 9

a. esoteric (ess-of-TER-ik)b. adjectivec. intended for or likely to be understood by only a small

number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest

d. Joelle, not being a sports fan, is intrigued by real sports enthusiasts who exchange esoteric bits of lore such as “most home runs hit by a left-handed batter being pitched to by a left-handed pitcher.”

Hodgepodge Day 10

a. prehensile (pre-HEN-sul)b. adjectivec. adapted for seizing or grasping especially

by wrapping around; able to perceive quickly; having keen mental grasp

d. Samuel’s mind was wonderfully prehensile; when he read a book he could quickly incorporate its substance into his store of knowledge.

Painful Words

Pain can involve an injury to the body, an assault on the senses, or a rebuke to the spirit. These 10 words invoke various causes

and effects of misery.

Painful Words Day 1

a. harrowing (HARE-oh-ing)

b. adjective

c. extremely distressing and agonizing

d. “What a harrowing experience for you,” said Ms. Pitt sympathetically, “to have been stuck in that subway car for forty minutes.”

Painful Words Day 2

a. dissonant (DIS-on-ant)

b. adjective

c. sounds lacking harmony

d. One of the factors that made Mr. Robinette such an effective leader was that he welcomed dissonant voices into a discussion; he did not regard differences of opinion as a threat to his ego. .

Painful Words Day 3

a. raucous (RAW-kus)b. adjectivec. disturbingly harsh and loud noise;

rowdy, boisterousd. The street was filled with a raucous

mixture of the cries of street vendors clashing with car horns and the motors of Vespas.

Painful Words Day 4

a. traumab. nounc. a deeply distressing or disturbing experience;

emotional shock following a stressful event or a physical injury, which may be associated with physical shock and sometimes leads to long-term neurosis

d. The trauma he suffered from the head wound forced him to remain in the hospital for several weeks.

Painful Words Day 5

a. schadenfreude (SHAD-en-froid-deh)b. nounc. pleasure derived by someone from another

person’s misfortuned. Although she didn’t want to admit to her

schadenfreude, Abby was happy to hear that everyone but her failed the math final; she thought it would make her seem especially smart to her teacher.

Painful Words Day 6

a. ostracize (OS-truh-size)b. verbc. exclude (someone) from a society or groupd. Although the charges of sexual harassment

against Mr. Larrabee have been dropped, he continues to be ostracized by a number of people in his workplace.

Painful Words Day 7

a. pariah (puh-RYE-uh)b. nounc. a social outcastd. After Aaron told the teacher about

Ann’s misdoings,he was treated like a pariah by classmates who felt “snitching” was the worst possible offense.

Painful Words Day 8

a. tribulation (trib-u-LAY-shun)b. nounc. a hardship, an affliction, a form of sufferingd. Those working for a greater degree of racial

equality in the 1960s were sustained in their tribulations by their belief that this important change would come.

Painful Words Day 9

a. sadism (SAY-dism)

b. noun

c. the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others

d. Mrs. Rivers is a wonderful teacher, but some of her students enjoy accusing her of being sadistic because of the rigor of her assignments and the challenge of her expectations.

Painful Words Day 10

a. masochism (MASS-uh-KIZm)

b. noun

c. the tendency to derive pleasure, from one's own pain or humiliation

d. You’re taking differential calculus from that tough teacher? You must be a masochist.

Lying Words

Lying Words Day 1

a. veracity (vuh-RASS-uh-tee)

b. noun

c. conformity to facts; accuracy; habitual truthfulness

d. She’s an unusual person- a political leader who is known for her veracity.

Lying Words Day 2a. temporize (TEMP-er-ize)

b. verb

c. temporarily adopt a particular course in order to conform to the circumstances

d. The congressman temporized during a discussion of stem-cell research at a White House conference in order to delay the vote and create more time for his committee members to lobby opponents of the upcoming bill.

Lying Words Day 3

a. dissemble (dis-SEM-bull)b. verbc. conceal one's true motives, feelings,

or beliefs behind false words or deliberately misleading behavior

d. He wanted to go into politics, so he took courses in drama to perfect his already significant dissembling skills.

Lying Words Day 4

a. subterfuge (SUB-ter-fuje)b. nounc. plan or strategy of deception in order to conceal,

escape, or evaded. Through careful subterfuge, including dipping his

thermometer into a cup of hot tea when his mother wasn’t looking, Harvey managed to convince his parents that he was far too sick to go to school.

Lying Words Day 5

a. circumlocution (cir-cum-lo-CUE-shun)b. nounc. the use of many words where fewer would do,

especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive

d. The reporter asked if all the talk about discussing, considering, and appointing a committee was just circumlocution for the fact that no real action was planned.

Lying Words Day 6

a. equivocation (ee-KWIV-uh-KAY-shun)b. nounc. ambiguous language used to conceal

the truth or avoid committing oneselfd. The skillful candidate’s artful

equivocations led the people on both sides of the issue to conclude that he agreed with them.

Lying Words Day 7

a. double entendre (DUB-ble ahn-than-druh)

b. nounc. a word or phrase open to two

interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent

d. The teacher was never sure if Randy was making double entendres, but his sniggering classmates knew.

Lying Words Day 8

a. canard (kuh-NARD)b. nounc. an unfounded rumor or story; a

projection on an aircraft wing; a kind of duck

d. The candidates speech was short on policy statements and long on canards lobbed at the opposing party.

Lying Words Day 9

a. tergiversate (ter-JIV-er-sate)

b. verb

c. to turn ones back on- to leave- a cause formerly supported; make conflicting or evasive statements

d. President George H. W. Bush is remembered for his clever phrase. “Read my lips. No new taxes,” but not everyone remember that he tergiversated on that issue.

Lying Words Day 10

a. subreptionb. nounc. a calculated misrepresentation

through concealment of the factsd. He’s being subreptious- intentionally

misrepresenting the truth through calculated omission of information. (used as an adjective)