Vocabulary Week 1

Vocabulary Week 21 GoldWord 1: Resolute Def: Determined to do Sent: Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. E Wilson

Word 2: Hedonism Def: A person who believes pleasure should be the main object of life Sent: There's sort of an elegant, causal hedonism here. Not decadent, not Key West. But we like to have fun. Mike Driscoll

Word 3: Nullify Def: To cancel or make void Sent: Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much. Robert Greenleaf

Word 4: Allocate Def: To distribute according to a plan Sent: Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process. Ronald Reagan

Word 5: Stammer Def: To make involuntary stops and repetitions in speaking Sent: Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth. Plutarch

Word 6: Resonate Def: To echo or produce a positive effect on someone Sent: But people are so tired from the rhetoric on the right and the left that what Cindy is doing resonates with them. Judith Ross

Word 7: Contemporary Def: 1. Modern and up-to-date; 2. Belonging to the same time period Sent: The man who ventures to write contemporary history must expect to be attacked both for everything he has said and everything he has not said. Voltaire

Word 8: Homogeneous Def: Of the same or similar nature or kind Sent: People are not homogeneous; we're not all the same physically, psychologically or dispositionally. Jim Weaver

Word 9: Lachrymose Def: Tearful and sadSent: But his English accent sometimes seemed strained and he has a tendency to bellow the often exquisitely lachrymose verse. John Kenneth Galbraith

Word 10: ComeuppanceDef: A punishment or fate that someone deserves. Sent: It is often the case that powerful people get their comeuppance because of something that a lot of people would see as a technicality. Norm Ornstein

Word 11: Puerile Def: Stupid and childish Sent: The average man simply spends his leisure as a dog spends it. His recreations are all puerile, and the time supposed to benefit him really only stupefies him. H. L. Mencken

Word 12: Laud Def: To give praise to Sent: All our lauded technological progress -- our very civilization - is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal. Albert Einstein

Word 13: Obtuse Def: 1 Stupid, mentally dull 2 Over 90 degree angle Sent: However obtuse human behavior is in other arenas, art, if not suborned, can clarify, put into perspective and re-inspire. Lorin Maazel

Word 14: Bulwark Def: Fortification or barricade Sent: The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by a despotic government. Thomas Jefferson

Word 15: Odious Def: Revolting in a disgusting way Sent: One is not superior merely because one sees the world in an odious light. Franois R. Chateaubriand

Word 16: Cordial Def: Friendly Sent: Maintaining cordial relationship with friends help us in improving upon our own capabilities. Atharva Veda

Word 17: Intuition Def: Knowing from instinctive feelings rather than conscious reasoning Sent: The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge. Rene Descartes

Word 18: Juggernaut Def: A massive force or object that crushes whatever is in its pathSent: If only the world remains wedded to free trade, there seems to be nothing to prevent China's export juggernaut from continuing to rumble on. Andy Xie

Word 19: Captivate Def: To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. Sent: I am captivated more by dreams of the future than by the history of the past. Thomas Jefferson

20Word 20: Manslaughter Def: The crime of killing someone illegally but not deliberatelySent: I did, ... But it could be manslaughter, not murder. It's not necessarily murder. But it doesn't bother me what you call it. Kevorkian