bathetic | heterodox | impresario | eldrich | restive | fustigate | objurgation | gainsay | sacrosanct | ingenuous | Xanadu | persiflage | ersatz | factotum | hegria | treacle | leitmotiv | septentrional | zoomorphic | incipient | bricolage | vaunted | quixotic | pernicious | cavil | gloaming | edulcorate | numen | Ruritanian | defenstration | desuetude | vatic | cocinnity | xenial | martinet | argosy | bloviate | stagflation | orgulous | lucbration | cognoscente | tourbillion | nychtemeron | alopecia
bathetic buh-THET-ik (adjective)
- extremely commonplace or trite
- *characterized by insincere or overdone pathos: excessively sentimental
Example Sentence:
The movie is a bathetic weeper, one that all but the most maudlin and sentimental viewers will find overly dramatic and unbelievable.
heterodox HEH-tur-ruh-dahks (adjective)
- *contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion : unorthodox, unconventional
- holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines
Example Sentence:
In the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus presented the then-heterodox theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of our solar system.
impresario im-pruh-SAHR-ee-oh (noun)
- the promoter, manager, or conductor of an opera or concert company
- a person who puts on or sponsors an entertainment (as a television show or sports event)
- *manager, director
Example Sentence:
Russian actress, entrepreneur, and impresario Anna Brenko established the first continuously producing private professional theater in Moscow in 1880.
eldrich EL-drich (adjective)
- weird, eerie
Example Sentence:
“Remember,” I said to myself as eldritch shrieks and unearthly laughter surrounded me, “this is only a Halloween haunted house!”
restive RES-tiv (adjective)
- stubbornly resisting control : balky
- *marked by impatience : fidgety
Example Sentence:
“The audience was growing restive; there was some stamping of feet at the back.” (J.B. Priestly, The Good Companions)
fustigate FUSS-tuh-gate (verb)
- cudgel
- *to criticize severely
Example Sentence:
In her victory speech, the newly elected governor praised the tenacity and high moral character of her opponent–the same man she had fustigated throughout her campaign.
objurgation ahb-jer-GAY-shun (noun)
- a harsh rebuke
Example Sentence:
Tommy’s grandmother delivered a stern objurgation when she found him playing in a mud puddle.
gainsay GAYN-say (verb)
- *to declare to be untrue or invalid
- contradict, oppose
Example Sentence:
“Malter, we feel ye to be a wonderful veteran man, and nobody can gainsay it.” (Thomas Hardy, Far from the Maddening Crowd)
sacrosanct SAK-roh-sangkt (adjective)
- most sacred or holy : inviolable
- *treated as if holy : immune from criticism or violation
Example Sentence:
For years, the respected scientist’s theories were treated as sacrosanct by his colleagues, and only recently have his ideas been seriously challenged.
ingenuous in-JEN-yu-wus (adjective)
- *showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness
- lacking craft or subtlety
Example Sentence:
“They saw simply a loose, lank youth with tow-coloured, sun-burned hair and a brown-berry, ingenuous face that wore a quizzical, good-natured smile.” (O. Henry, Jimmy Hayes and Muriel)
Xanadu ZAN-uh-due (noun)
- an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place
Example Sentence:
To Arthur, the beach house on the edge of the jungle was a Xanadu, the perfect spot for the romantic tropical vacation he had dreamed of for years.
persiflage PURR-suh-flahzh or PAIR-suh-flahzh (noun)
- frivolous bantering talk : light raillery
Example Sentence:
When the cooking segement ran short, Diane and her cohost turned to persiflage to fill up the time left until commercial break.
ersatz AIR-sahts or AIR-zahts (adjective)
- being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
Example Sentence:
My pooch looked up from his doggie burger, then at me, and his sad eyes seemed to say “Why are you serving me this ersatz hamburger instead of the real thing?”
factotum fak-TOH-tuhm (noun)
- *a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities
- a general servant
Example Sentence:
Sander’s job title is “General Manager,” which basically means he is a factotum who does whichever jobs need to be done around the office.
hegira hih-JYE-ruh or HEH-juh-ruh (noun)
- a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation: exodus
Example Sentence:
To escape the lowering clouds of impending war, Grandmother’s family embarked on a hegira that would carry them far from their native soil.
treacle TREE-kuh (noun)
- a medicinal compound formerly in wide use as a remedy against poison
- (chiefly British) a: molasses b: a blend of molasses, invert sugar, and corn syrup used as syrup at the table
- *something (as a tone of voice) heavily sweet and cloying
Example Sentence:
George suggested we avoid the movie unless we were in the mood for “two and a half hours of sentimental treacle.”
leitmotiv LITE-moh-tee (noun)
- an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation, especially in a Wagnerian music drama
- *a dominant recurring theme
Example Sentence:
No one at the dinner party was able to forget about the volcano erupting just a very hunderd miles away, and the subject became the leitmotiv running through the evening’s conversations.
septentrional sep-TEN-tree-uh-nul (adjective)
- northern
Example Sentence:
Each autumn, Grandma and Grandpa close up their septentrional summer home in Maine and head south to Florida for the winter.
zoomorphic zoh-uh-MOR-fik (adjective)
- having the form of an animal
- *of, relating to, or being a deity conceived of in animal form or with animal attributes
Example Sentence:
Numerous zoomorphic gods and goddesses populate ancient Egyptian religion, including Anubis the jackal, Bastet the cat, and Buto the cobra.
incipient in-SIH-pee-yent (adjective)
- *beginning; commencing; coming into, or in an early stage of, existence; in an initial stage
- a beginner
Example Sentence:
The Rock Worshippers, an incipient student group, hopes to become an officially sponsered college organization in the spring.
bricolage bree-koh-LAZH or brih-koh-LAZH (noun)
- construction or something constructed by using whatever comes to hand
Example Sentence:
“Many administrators already find it difficult to keep networks running, because they are unplanned bricolages of different computers and operating systems,” observed Charles Mann in the November 17, 1995 issue of Science.
vaunted VAWN-ted or VAHN-ted (adjective)
- highly or widely praised or boasted about
Example Sentence:
Lila was jealous of Donna’s much vaunted speed and stamina, and she was determined to train hard enough to beat her in the 500 meter race.
quixiotic quick-SAH-tik (adjective)
- *foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action
- capricious, unpredictable
Example Sentence:
Marta tried desperately to convince everyone to give up their cars and computers and return to nature on Earth Day, but it was a quixotic crusade and few heeded her.
pernicious per-NISH-us (adjective)
- highly injurious or destructive : deadly
Example Sentence:
Uncle Lenny calls America’s love of television a “pernicious disease that destroys morality and corrupts the mind”–but he never misses his favorite detective show.
cavil KAH-vul (verb)
- (intransitive sense) to raise trivial and frivolous objections
- (transitive sense) to raise trivial objections to
Example Sentence:
“It may seem petty to cavil at minor flaws given the film’s unquestionable excellence as a whole,” said Avery, “but I have to say I thought the ending lacked credibility.”
gloaming GLOH-ming (noun)
- twilight, dusk
Example Sentence:
In Robert Burns’s poem “The Twa Dogs,” two dogs named Caesar and Luath discuss humankind until “the sun was out o’ sight, / An’ darker gloamin brought the night,” upon which they “Rejoic’d they were na men but dogs.”
edulcorate ih-DULL-kuh-rate (verb)
- to free from harshness (as of attitude) : soften
Example Sentence:
Desperately in need of a loan, Martin used ever trick he knew to cajole, flatter, and edulcorate his well-heeled but frugal Aunt Clara.
numen NEW-muhn (noun)
- a spiritual force or influence often identified with a natural object, phenomenon, or place
Example Sentence:
The great oak tree seemed to Lisa to have a spiritual presence, and she drew strength from its numen as she sat in meditation beneath its branches.
Ruritanian RUR-uh-tay-nee-uhn (adjective)
- of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an imaginary place of high romance
Example Sentence:
The theme park’s brochure depicts a Ruritanian world where a child might have tea with an elaborately-costumed princess or clash swords with a swashbuckling adventurer.
defenstration dee-fen-uh-STRAY-shun (noun)
- a throwing of a person or a thing out a window
Example Sentence:
Inspector Fry surveyed the scene and asked himself three questions: did the man fall out of the window accidentally, did he jump, or was this a case of murder by defenestration?
desuetude DES-wih-tood or dih-SOO-uh-tood (noun)
- discontinuance from use or exercise : disuse
Example Sentence:
After long years of desuetude and decay, the old textile mill was purchased by a developer and converted into trendy shops and apartments.
vatic VAT-ik (adjective)
- prophetic, oracular
Example Sentence:
Although the astrologer’s fans regarded her vatic pronouncements with reverence, skeptics often pointed out that her predictions were so vague that they were difficult to prove or disprove.
concinnity kuhn-SINN-uh-tee (noun)
- harmony or elegance of design, especially of literary style, in adaptation of parts to a whole or to each other
Example Sentence:
“When form and content are exquisitely unified…art offers an experience of complete concinnity, a harmoniously integrated experience of mind, body and soul.” (Alexandra York, in a speech delivered November 3, 1997)
xenial ZEE-nee-uhl or ZEE-nyuhl (adjective)
- of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guest and especially among the ancient Greeks between persons of different cities
Example Sentence:
Our host and hostess in that distant land performed their xenial duties with grace and charm.
martinet mart-un-ET (noun)
- a strict disciplinarian
- *a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods
Example Sentence:
Many employees consider the office manager a power-hungry martinet who forces them to follow ridiculous rules and to use foolish, outdated methods.
argosy AHR-guh-see (noun)
- a large ship, especially a large merchant ship
- *a rich supply
Example Sentence:
Dan was a wonderful storyteller with an argosy of fascinating tales about his exotic trips abroad, his eccentric family, and the wild days of his youth.
bloviate BLOH-vee-ate (verb)
- to speak or write verbosely and windily
Example Sentence:
Politicans love to bloviate, and Nicole was no exception–she could talk for hours and never tire of her own overblown campaign rhetoric.
stagflation stag-FLAY-shun (noun)
- persistent inflation combined with stagnant consumer demand and relatively high unemployment
Example Sentence:
The oil embargo of the early 1970s plunged the United States into a period of economic stagflation in which rising prices were coupled with sluggish growth.
orgulous OR-gyuh-lus or OR-guh-lus (adjective)
- proud
Example Sentence:
Antoine usually worked with the boutique’s most elite and tended to adopt an orgulous air, haughty and disdainful, towards more ‘ordinary’ customers.
lucubration loo-kyuh-BRAY-shuhn (noun)
- laborious or intensive study; also : the product of such study
Example Sentence:
It was Madeline’s daunting task to edit Professor Martino’s thousand pages of densely written scholarly lucubrations into a readable 500-page book.
cognoscente kahn-yh-SHEN-tee or kahg-nuh-SEN-tee (noun)
- a person who is especially knowledgeable in a subject, a connoisseur
Example Sentence:
Nora conversed knowledgeably about dividends, insider trading, and the Dow Jones industrial average, revealing herself to be a true cognoscente of the stock exchange.
tourbillion tur-BILL-yuhn (noun)
- whirlwind
- *a vortex, especially of a whirlwind or whirlpool
Example Sentence:
“In the history of any art there are unexpected eddies and tourbillions.” (C.B. Cox, The Twentieth-Century Mind)
nychthemeron nick-THEHM-uh-rahn (noun)
- a full period of a night and a day
Example Sentence:
For her science project, Trish observed the eating and sleeping patterns of 10 mice over a 24-hour period, charting their habits throughout the nychthemeron.
alopecia al-uh-PEE-shee-uh (noun)
- loss of hair, wool, or feathers : baldness
Example Sentence:
When Dr. Brown told Erwin he knew of an experimental treatment for his progressive alopecia, Erwin replied, “That’s nice, Doc, but what can you do about my balding head?”