Verbal Advantage - Level 08 » Index

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  • Word 1: Alacrity
    Word 1: Alacrity [uh-LAK-ri-tee]
    Cheerful readiness, eagerness, or promptness in action or movement: “The duty of the firefighter is to answer every alarm with alacrity.”
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    Synonyms of alacrity include quickness, liveliness, briskness, enthusiasm, animation, zeal (ZEEL), and celerity (suh-LER-i-tee)
    According to Funk & Wagnalls Standard Handbook of Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions (1947), alacrity denotes “that cheerful and hearty willingness from which quickness and promptness naturally result; hence, a prompt response. Alacrity springs from some demand from without; eagerness is spontaneous, springing from within; eagerness to act may produce alacrity in responding to the call for action.”
    Alacrity and celerity are close in meaning. Both suggest “quickness in movement or action,” says Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1993). Celerity “implies speed in accomplishing work; alacrity stresses promptness in response to suggestion or command.” Because celerity emphasizes swiftness, you cross a busy street, complete a project, or run from danger with celerity. Because alacrity emphasizes eagerness, liveliness, or promptness, you meet a challenge, return a telephone message, or respond to a call for help with alacrity.
  • Word 2: Obviate
    Word 2: Obviate [AHB-vee-AYT]
    To prevent, make unnecessary, meet and dispose of, clear out of the way.
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    Obviate comes through the Latin verb obviare, to prevent, from the adjective obvius, in the way, the source also of the familiar English word obvious, which means literally “lying in the way.” The verb to obviate suggests preventing a problem or difficulty from arising by anticipating it and taking effective measures to meet and dispose of it or clear it out of the way. You can obviate trivial objections by coming straight to the point. You can obviate a trial by settling out of court. The necessity of attending a meeting can be obviated by a timely phone call.
  • Word 3: Emolument
    Word 3: Emolument [i-MAHL-yuh-mint]
    Wages, salary, payment received for work.
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    Synonyms of emolument include compensation, recompense (REK-um-PENTS), and remuneration, word 30 of Level 6.
    Emolument comes from the Latin emolumentum, the fee a miller received for grinding grain, which comes in turn from the verb emolere, to grind out. By derivation, emolument means “that which is ground out by one’s exertion.” In the daily grind of the modern world, emolument has come to mean wages, pay, compensation for one’s labor. Webster’s New International Dictionary, second edition (1934), notes that emolument “applies to whatever profits arise from office or employment, as ‘the emoluments of a profession.’”
    Now that you know the meaning of emolument, and also the keywords perquisite from Level 3 and commensurate from Level 6, I presume that the next time you consider a new position you will make sure that the perquisites are attractive and that the emolument is commensurate with your experience and ability.
  • Word 4: Intransigent
    Word 4: Intransigent [in-TRAN-si-jent]
    Uncompromising, refusing to come to an agreement, unwilling to modify one’s position or give ground.
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    Synonyms of intransigent include irreconcilable, unyielding, diehard, hidebound, obstinate (word 34 of Level 1), resolute (REZuh-loot), tenacious (te-NAY-shus), recalcitrant (ri-KAL-suh-trint), intractable (in-TRAK-tuh-buul), refractory (word 42 of Level 6), and obdurate (AHB-d(y)uu-rit).
    Antonyms include compromising, flexible, obliging, submissive, compliant, malleable (word 29 of Level 2), docile (word 28 of Level 7), tractable, deferential, acquiescent (AK-wee-ES-int), and complaisant (kum-PLAY-zint).
    Intransigent combines the privative prefix in-, meaning “not,” with the Latin verb transigere, to come to a settlement, and means literally refusing to settle, unwilling to come to an agreement, uncompromising.
    Resolute, tenacious, obstinate, intractable, refractory, obdurate, and intransigent suggest firmness or fixity in ascending intensity. The resolute person is firmly settled in opinion, resolved to pursue a course of action. Tenacious, which comes from the Latin tenere, to hold, suggests holding firmly; the tenacious person adheres persistently and sometimes doggedly to a belief or course of action. Obstinate implies stubborn adherence to an opinion or purpose and strong resistance to contrary influence or persuasion. Intractable means hard to lead or manage; the intractable person stubbornly resists direction. Refractory means stubborn and disobedient; a refractory person actively resists authority or control. Obdurate means stubbornly hardhearted; the obdurate person cannot be moved by appeals to the emotions.
    Our keyword, intransigent, combines the firmness of resolute, the persistence of tenacious, the stubborn resistance of obstinate, intractable, and refractory, and the hardheartedness of obdurate. The intransigent person takes an extreme position and will not compromise or back down under any circumstances.
  • Word 5: Mordant
    Word 5: Mordant [MOR-dint or MORD-’nt]
    Biting, cutting, keen, sarcastic, scathing.
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    Additional synonyms of mordant include incisive (in-SY-siv), caustic (KAW-stik), trenchant (TRENCH-int), virulent (VIR-(y)uhlint), and acrimonious (AK-ri-MOH-nee-us).
    When you think of mordant, think of gnashing teeth. Mordant comes from Old French and Latin words meaning to bite, cut into, nip, or sting. Today mordant is chiefly used of speech or writing that is biting or cutting in a bitterly sarcastic way. We speak of mordant satire, mordant wit, mordant criticism, or a mordant cross-examination.
  • Word 6: Sagacious
    Word 6: Sagacious [suh-GAY-shus]
    Wise, shrewd, perceptive; showing sound judgment and keen insight, especially in practical matters.
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    Synonyms of sagacious include insightful, discerning, astute (word 3 of Level 4), judicious (word 16 of Level 5), percipient (pur-SIP-eeint), sage (rhymes with page), sapient (SAY-pee-int), and perspicacious (PUR-spi-KAY-shus).
    Antonyms of sagacious include undiscriminating, undiscerning, simpleminded, witless, inane (i-NAYN), gullible, credulous (KREJ-uhlus), obtuse (uhb-T(Y)OOS), and addlepated (AD-’l-PAY-tid).
    The corresponding noun is sagacity, wisdom, shrewdness, keen insight or discernment.
    Sagacious comes from the Latin sagax, having keen senses, especially a keen sense of smell. In its early days in the language, sagacious was used of hunting dogs to mean quick in picking up a scent. That sense is long obsolete. By 1755, when Samuel Johnson published his famous dictionary, sagacious had come to mean, as Johnson puts it, “quick of thought; acute in making discoveries.” To illustrate the expanded sense, Johnson quotes the philosopher John Locke: “Only sagacious heads light on these observations, and reduce them into general propositions.” Over the years since then, sagacious continued to acquire dignity, perhaps by association with the adjective sage, which means having or showing great wisdom. Today, says the third edition of The American Heritage Dictionary (1992), sagacious “connotes prudence, circumspection, discernment, and farsightedness.”
    That’s a far cry from the hunting hounds of yore. Yet, as those words reveal, a faint odor of quick-sniffing canine instinct still clings to the word. In current usage, the sagacious person is no brooding scholar or musing philosopher but a shrewd, sharp-eyed, keen-witted person who displays instinctive wisdom, swift insight, and sound judgment regarding mundane or practical matters. Thus we do not speak of a sagacious treatise on the meaning of life, but rather of a sagacious comment on human nature, a shrewd lawyer who asks sagacious questions, or a business executive known for making sagacious decisions—in other words, wise and keenly perceptive decisions.
  • Word 7: Acerbic
    Word 7: Acerbic [uh-SUR-bik]
    Sour, bitter, and harsh in flavor, tone, or character.
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    Synonyms of acerbic include tart, caustic (KAW-stik), pungent (PUHN-jint), astringent (uh-STRIN-jint), acrid (AK-rid), and acidulous (uh-SIJ-(y)uh-lus).
    The direct antonym of acerbic is sweet.
    Acerbic comes from a Latin word meaning sour or bitter like unripe fruit. Acerbic may be used literally to mean sour or bitter tasting, as the lemon is an acerbic fruit. However, the word acidic probably is more often used in this literal sense, and acerbic usually is used figuratively to mean sour, bitter, and harsh in tone or character: An acerbic mood is a sour mood; acerbic words are bitter words; and someone who is acerbic has a harsh, unpleasant personality.
  • Word 8: Variegated
    Word 8: Variegated [VAIR-ee-uh-GAY-tid]
    In a broad sense, varied, diverse, showing variety of character or form; in a strict sense, spotted, streaked, or dappled; having marks or patches of different colors, as a variegated quilt, a variegated cat, or a variegated design.
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    The verb to variegate is now often used figuratively to mean to give variety to, diversify. The adjective variegated is also frequently used in this way to mean varied, diverse, or multifaceted, as variegated interests, a variegated selection, or variegated accomplishments.
  • Word 9: Succor
    Word 9: Succor [SUHK-ur, like sucker]
    To aid, help, relieve, give assistance to in time of need or difficulty, as to succor the wounded or succor the sick.
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    The noun succor means help, aid, relief, assistance in time of need or distress, as to give succor to the homeless on Thanksgiving.
    Both the verb and the noun come from a Latin verb meaning “to run to the aid of.” Although succor and the slang verb sucker have the same pronunciation, they are not related and are virtually opposite in meaning.
  • Word 10: Importune
    Word 10: Importune [IM-por-T(Y)OON]
    To trouble or annoy with requests or demands, make urgent or persistent entreaties or solicitations.
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    To remember the meaning of the verb importune, think of some annoying person who interrupts your life at an inappropriate moment and urgently asks you to do something you don’t want to do. Salespeople importune you on the telephone when you’re not interested and have better things to do. Panhandlers importune you on the street to beg for a handout. Children are experts at importuning parents when they are preoccupied with work or some pressing domestic chore, like cooking or paying bills.
    The corresponding adjective is importunate (im-POR-chuh-nit), troublesomely demanding, persistent in a vexatious way.
  • Word 11: Palliate
    Word 11: Palliate [PAL-ee-AYT]
    To lessen the severity of, gloss over, make something seem less serious or severe, as to palliate suffering, to palliate an offense, or to palliate your troubles with drink.
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    Synonyms of palliate include soften, diminish, mitigate, and extenuate. Antonyms include worsen, intensify, aggravate, and exacerbate (ig-ZAS-ur-BAYT). Exacerbate and acerbic, keyword 7 in this level, come from the same Latin root, and both suggest bitterness or harshness. The adjective acerbic means sour, bitter, or harsh in flavor, tone, or character. The verb exacerbate means to increase in bitterness or severity, as to exacerbate a problem or exacerbate a conflict.
    The verb to palliate comes through the Latin verb palliare, to cloak or conceal, from the noun pallium, a cloak. Palliate was once used to mean to cover as if with a cloak, to shelter, hide, conceal. This meaning is now obsolete, and today palliate means to conceal or cloak the seriousness of something, make it appear less severe or offensive than it is, as to palliate a social indiscretion or palliate the enormity of a crime.
    In modern usage, palliate often connotes glossing over or disguising the seriousness of something by making excuses or apologies: “Her press agent issued a statement in an attempt to palliate her role in the scandal.”
  • Word 12: Wizened
    Word 12: Wizened [WIZ-’nd]
    Dried up, shriveled, withered, shrunken and wrinkled.
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    The verbs to wither, to shrivel, and to wizen all imply drying up. Webster’s New World Dictionary, second college edition (1988), explains that wither suggests a loss of natural juices: “The grapes were left to wither on the vine.” Shrivel suggests shrinking and curling as from exposure to intense heat: “With a heavy sigh, Scott removed the shriveled steak from the barbecue.” Wizen (WIZ-’n) suggests shrinking and wrinkling from advanced age or malnutrition.
    Although the verb to wizen now is somewhat rare, its past participle, wizened, is still often used of persons or parts of the body to mean shrunken and wrinkled, dried up by age or disease: An old person’s face may be wizened, or someone’s body may be wizened by cancer.
    Here is a passage from my vocabulary-building mystery novel, Tooth and Nail, in which the context attempts to illustrate the meaning of wizened: “An ancient, wizened man shuffled into the room, supporting his stooped and shriveled frame with a stout oaken staff…His face was sallow and deeply wrinkled; his cheeks were sunken and his crown was entirely bald. But for his eyes, which twinkled roguishly, he was a picture of death.”
  • Word 13: Captious
    Word 13: Captious [KAP-shus]
    Faultfinding, quick to point out faults or raise trivial objections.
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    Synonyms of captious include carping, quibbling, caviling, censorious (sen-SOR-ee-us), and querulous (KWER-uh-lus).
    Critical, carping, and captious all mean “inclined to look for and point out faults and defects,” says Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1993).
    Critical, though often used in a negative sense, is in fact a neutral word: the critical person tries to judge something fairly and objectively by weighing its merits and faults. Strictly speaking, a critical assessment is a fair, impartial assessment, and a critical examination may result in a supportive conclusion. Critical is so often used of harsh or unfavorable judgment, however, that the neutral sense of the word has nearly been lost; it would be nice if we took pains to preserve it.
    Carping, says Webster’s Ninth, “implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.” Captious, which comes from the Latin captus, the past participle of the verb capere, to take or seize, “suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.”
    Here’s an idea: The next time you find yourself about to use critical in a negative sense, how about giving carping or captious a try instead?
  • Word 14: Emendation
    Word 14: Emendation [EE-men-DAY-shin]
    A correction, alteration, change made to correct or improve, especially a change made in a piece of writing to correct an error or restore the text to its original state.
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    The verb to emend (ee-MEND) means to make corrections in a text. Emendation may mean the act of emending, correcting and improving a piece of writing, or it may mean a correction made in a text.
  • Word 15: Truculent
    Word 15: Truculent [TRUHK-yuh-lint]
    Fierce, ferocious, especially in a brutal, bullying, threatening, or aggressively defiant way.
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    The corresponding noun is truculence (TRUHK-yuh-lints), fierceness, ferocity, brutal aggression.
    Synonyms of truculent include pugnacious (puhg-NAY-shus), belligerent, malevolent (muh-LEV-uh-lint), rapacious (ruh-PAY-shus), and feral (FEER-ul).
    Antonyms include humane, merciful, compassionate, benevolent (buh-NEV-uh-lint), and clement (KLEM-int), all of which suggest mercy or mildness, and also timid, demure (di-MYOOR), diffident (DIF-uh-dint), apprehensive, and timorous (TIM-ur-us), all of which suggest shyness or fear.
    Truculent descends from Latin words meaning savage, fierce, cruel, or grim. In current usage truculent applies to fierce, savage, or ferocious people or to behavior that is brutal, threatening, bullying, or aggressively defiant: A truculent nation is a hostile, belligerent nation. A truculent look is a pugnacious or threatening look. A truculent philosophy of business is a brutal, aggressive, rapacious, winner-takes-all philosophy of business. In his Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage (1957), Bergen Evans offers this sentence to illustrate the meaning of truculent: “One of my superiors was a truculent fellow who would have loved being a storm trooper under Hitler.”
    Truculent is now also used of speech or writing to mean scathing, vicious, or vitriolic (VI-tree-AHL-ik), as a truculent retort, a truculent editorial, or a truculent political advertisement.
  • Word 16: Expurgate
    Word 16: Expurgate [EKS-pur-GAYT]
    To cleanse by removing offensive material, free from objectionable content.
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    Synonyms of expurgate include censor, purge, and bowdlerize.
    The verbs to expurgate and bowdlerize are close in meaning. (Bowdlerize may be pronounced BOWD-luh-ryz, first syllable rhyming with loud, or BOHD-luh-ryz, first syllable rhyming with towed. Historically the weight of authority favors BOWD-luh-ryz, which I recommend.)
    Thomas Bowdler (BOWD-lur) was an English editor who in the early 1800s published expurgated, or cleansed, editions of the Bible and Shakepeare’s works. People did not appreciate Bowdler’s expurgation of the Good Book and the bawdy Bard, so they took his name and made a nasty word: bowdlerize. To bowdlerize is to remove material considered risqué, offensive, or obscene, but it connotes doing so out of a prudish or squeamish sense of morality.
    Expurgate comes from the Latin expurgare, to cleanse, purify, and by derivation is related to the verb to purge, to free from impurities, and the adjective pure. To expurgate means to cleanse by removing that which is objectionable.
    When something is bowdlerized, that which is considered morally offensive has been deleted. When something is expurgated, that which is considered objectionable for any reason has been deleted. You can bowdlerize Shakespeare by taking out the ribald humor, and you can bowdlerize D. H. Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover by removing the passages about sex; but you cannot bowdlerize a textbook because presumably it does not contain anything ribald, erotic, or obscene. However, if people charge that a textbook displays a bias or draws conclusions that they find objectionable, they may attempt to expurgate it, cleanse it by removing the offensive material.
  • Word 17: Reprobate
    Word 17: Reprobate [REP-ruh-BAYT]
    Thoroughly bad, wicked, corrupt, morally abandoned, lacking all sense of decency and duty.
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    Synonyms of reprobate include unprincipled, shameless, base, vile, degenerate, depraved, irredeemable, and incorrigible. Antonyms include virtuous, pure, righteous, honorable, chaste, unsullied, and exemplary.
    Reprobate comes from the Latin reprobare, to reprove, disapprove of strongly. In theology, the adjective reprobate means damned, predestined for damnation, and the noun a reprobate means a person rejected by God and excluded from salvation.
    In general usage, the noun a reprobate means a corrupt, unprincipled person, a scoundrel, and the adjective reprobate means morally abandoned, bad-to-the-core, lacking all sense of decency and duty.
  • Word 18: Spurious
    Word 18: Spurious [SPYUUR-ee-us]
    False, counterfeit, artificial; not true, authentic, or genuine.
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    Synonyms of spurious include sham, bogus, phony, fictitious, fabricated, fraudulent, illusory (i-LOO-suh-ree), apocryphal (uhPAHK-ri-ful), and supposititious (suh-PAHZ-i-TISH-us). Antonyms include genuine (there is no wine in genuine; say JEN-yoo-in), authentic, valid, and bona fide (BOH-nuh FYD).
    Spurious by derivation means “false, illegitimate.” Spurious was once used to mean of illegitimate birth, bastard, and although dictionaries still list this sense, it is now rare. Since it came into the language about 1600, and most often today, spurious is used to mean false, counterfeit, not authentic or genuine.
    Spurious applies to that which is not what it claims or is claimed to be. A spurious document is not authentic or original, and may have been forged; spurious gems are counterfeit, not real or genuine; spurious statements are fabricated, made up; spurious feelings are affected or artificial; and a spurious charge is false, trumped-up, and should be repudiated.
  • Word 19: Volition
    Word 19: Volition [voh-LISH-un]
    Will, choice, decision, determination.
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    In Latin, the verb velle means to will or wish, and the word volo means “I will.” From these words comes the English noun volition, which may refer either to the power of using the will or the act of exercising it in making a conscious choice or decision.
    “He seems to lack volition” implies that he is weak and unable to make a choice or determination. “She came of her own volition” implies that she exercised her will independently, decided on her own to come.
  • Word 20: Interpolate
    Word 20: Interpolate [in-TUR-puh-LAYT]
    To insert, introduce; specifically, to insert words into a piece of writing or a conversation.
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    The corresponding noun is interpolation, an insertion of words into a piece of writing or a conversation.
    The verbs to interpolate, interject (IN-tur-JEKT), and interpose (IN-tur-POHZ) all mean to insert or place between. To interpose suggests the insertion of either a literal or figurative obstacle. You may interpose yourself between two people who are quarreling, or circumstances may interpose an impediment or stumbling block that hinders your progress toward a goal. To interject suggests an abrupt insertion, and usually refers to speech. You interject an opinion, an idea, or a suggestion. To interpolate suggests a deliberate, careful insertion of words into a piece of writing or a conversation. Word-processing programs make it easy to delete or interpolate material and reformat what you have written. Interpolate sometimes suggests altering a text by inserting something spurious, unrelated, or unnecessary: Lawyers may insist on interpolating clauses in a contract, or an author may object to an editor’s interpolation.
  • Word 21: Adduce
    Word 21: Adduce [uh-D(Y)OOS]
    To offer or cite as a reason, as evidence, or as authority for an opinion or course of action.
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    By derivation adduce means to bring forward. In modern usage, adduce means to bring forward or cite something as a reason, as an example, or as proof in a discussion, analysis, or argument. Lawyers adduce evidence to bolster their case. Politicians adduce facts to justify their position on an issue. Scholars and scientists adduce the results of their research to prove their theories. In writing a report proposing a new marketing plan for a company, an executive might adduce examples of similar marketing strategies that worked for other companies.
  • Word 22: Miscreant
    Word 22: Miscreant [MIS-kree-int]
    An evil, unscrupulous, vicious person; someone without principles or conscience; a villain, criminal.
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    Because the world contains so many evil, unscrupulous, vicious people, the language abounds with synonyms for the noun miscreant, including but not limited to scoundrel, rascal, rogue, hoodlum (HUUD-lum or HOOD-lum), hooligan (HOO-li-gun), ne’erdo-well, varlet, rapscallion, blackguard (BLAG-urd or BLAG-ahrd), desperado, scapegrace (SKAYP-grays), scofflaw (SKAHF-law), malefactor (MAL-uh-FAK-tur), and reprobate, word 17 of this level.
    Miscreant, which entered English in the fourteenth century, comes through Old French from Latin, and combines the prefix mis-, which means “bad” or “not,” with the Latin credere, to believe. By derivation a miscreant is someone who does not believe.
    For several centuries the word was used to mean a heretic, a person who rejects or flouts religious principles, but this sense is now archaic and since at least the time of Shakespeare miscreant has been used to mean a morally bad person, a vile wretch, detestable scoundrel. The adjective miscreant, pronounced the same way, means villainous, evil, destitute of conscience.
  • Word 23: Quixotic
    Word 23: Quixotic [kwik-SAHT-ik]
    Foolishly impractical or idealistic, especially in an extravagantly chivalrous or romantic way; inclined to pursue lofty, unreachable goals or far-fetched, unworkable schemes.
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    Synonyms of quixotic include fanciful, whimsical, visionary, utopian, impracticable (im-PRAK-ti-kuh-buul, five syllables please), and chimerical (ki-MER-i-kul). Antonyms include realistic, practical, pragmatic, and utilitarian.
    Quixotic comes from Don Quixote (kee-HOH-tee), the hero and title of a seventeenth-century satirical romance by Miguel de Cervantes (sair-VAHN-tays). Don Quixote is an old man passionately devoted to the ideals of chivalry—fighting evil and rescuing the oppressed. The Don does not realize that his code of honor has become outworn and been replaced with far less lofty, mercenary goals. With his credulous but pragmatic squire, Sancho Panza (English: SAN-choh PAN-zuh; Spanish: SAHN-choh PAHNsah), he sets forth on a quest to save the world from wickedness. The world, however, holds only ridicule for the visionary Don, who winds up tilting at windmills and making speeches to the wind.
    Today the adjective quixotic refers to a person who is extravagantly idealistic or romantic, like Don Quixote, or to an idea or goal that is so impractical and far-fetched as to seem foolish.
  • Word 24: Suppurate
    Word 24: Suppurate [SUHP-yuh-RAYT]
    To fester, form or discharge pus.
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    This unusual word applies to wounds, boils, ulcers, or other lesions that become infected and discharge pus. (By the way, lesion, pronounced LEE-zhun, means a wound, injury, infection, or harmful change in some part of the body.)
    When a lesion suppurates, discharges pus, it is called suppuration; and suppuration, if untreated or unchecked, may lead to a state of putrefaction (PYOO-truh-FAK-shin). The verb to putrefy (PYOO-truh-fy) means to rot or decay; the adjective putrid (PYOO-trid) means rotten, foul-smelling, fetid; and the noun putrefaction means rotting, decomposition, foul-smelling decay.
    Okay, you can stop holding your nose now because this suppurating, putrid lesson is over and we’re moving on to…
  • Word 25: Martinet
    Word 25: Martinet [MAHR-ti-NET]
    A strict disciplinarian, taskmaster, rigid enforcer of rules and regulations.
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    Martinet comes from General Jean Martinet, a seventeenthcentury French drillmaster who became legendary for subjecting his troops to harsh discipline and for his rigid adherence to military rules and regulations. In modern usage, martinet may refer to a strict military disciplinarian, or more generally to any rigid, authoritarian enforcer of rules and regulations.
  • Word 26: Compunction
    Word 26: Compunction [kum-PUHNGK-shin]
    A twinge of regret caused by an uneasy conscience; a pang of guilt for a wrong done or for pain that one has caused another.
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    Synonyms of compunction include remorse, misgiving, scruple, and qualm (KWAHM, the l is silent). A stronger synonym is contrition, word 9 of Level 5, which means repentance, deep and devastating sorrow for one’s sins or for something one has done wrong.
    Compunction comes through the Late Latin compunctio, a pricking of conscience, ultimately from the Latin verb pungere, to prick, sting, pierce, or stab. The Latin pungere is also the source of the English words puncture, meaning to prick, pierce, or stab; pungent, which means piercing or stinging to the smell or taste, as a pungent aroma; and poignant (POYN-yint), which means piercing or penetrating to the senses, the emotions, or the intellect.
    When you feel the prick or sting of conscience or a twinge of regret for something you have done wrong, or when you feel a pang of guilt for causing pain to another person, that is a compunction: “After a year, Ned still had compunctions about ending his relationship with Suzy.” If your conscience is clear and you have no regrets, you lack compunction: “Vanessa grew sick and tired of working for a martinet, and when she finally decided the time was right to quit her job, she did so without compunction.”
  • Word 27: Mercurial
    Word 27: Mercurial [mur-KYUUR-ee-ul]
    Quick to change moods or change one’s mind, having an unpredictable temperament.
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    Synonyms of mercurial include flighty, impulsive, fickle, capricious (which properly rhymes with delicious; it’s word 11 of Level 1), volatile (word 47 of Level 4), erratic, and protean (PROH-tee-in).
    Antonyms include stable, fixed, steadfast, invariable, and immutable.
    Does anything about the word mercurial sound familiar? Can you guess its derivation? If you’re thinking that mercurial is related to the word mercury, then you are a sagacious person, both in the current sense of wise, shrewd, perceptive, and in the obsolete sense of quick in picking up a scent—in this case, an etymological scent.
    The ancient Roman god Mercury, known to the Greeks as Hermes (HUR-meez), was the messenger or courier of the gods, but he had many other responsibilities as well. He was the deity (DEE-i-tee) who conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld, and also the god of commerce, travel, eloquence, and thievery. (Those ancient Greeks and Romans covered all the bases, didn’t they?)
    Mercury is usually depicted wearing a winged helmet and winged sandals to show his fleet-footedness, and as Hermes he also carried a winged staff with two serpents coiled around it. That staff, which now serves as the symbol of the medical profession, is called a caduceus (kuh-D(Y)OO-see-us).
    I’m sure that doctors today view the caduceus as a symbol of their devotion to providing swift, efficient health care, but I must confess I find it nothing short of hilarious that the medical profession has chosen a symbol from an ancient god who governed commerce, travel, eloquence, and thievery, and who escorted the dead to their final resting place.
    Because of the various hats worn by the god Mercury, the adjective mercurial has been used to mean everything from swift, quick-witted, and eloquent to shrewd, clever, and thieving. Dictionaries still list these words under the definition “having the characteristics attributed to the god Mercury,” but in current usage the word most often is used to mean like the element mercury, which is also called quicksilver. As you know, mercury is used in thermometers, and it is highly reponsive to changes in temperature. Like the mercury in a thermometer, that which is mercurial is changeable, fickle, or capricious. The mercurial person has an unpredictable temperament and is quick to change moods.
  • Word 28: Nostrum
    Word 28: Nostrum [NAHS-trum]
    A quack remedy or medicine; a panacea; hence, a dubious or dishonest plan or scheme for curing a social or political problem.
    →
    Nostrum comes from the Latin noster, which means “our.” In days of yore, the charlatan and the mountebank—two unsavory types that I discussed in word 17 of Level 4—would sell their panacea or cure-all by calling it a nostrum, meaning literally “our remedy.” As a result, the word nostrum came to mean a medicine whose ingredients are kept secret and whose preparer makes exaggerated claims about its effectiveness, which has not been proved.
    That definition is still in good standing, as a trip to any healthfood store will prove. Because quack remedies can be applied not only to the ills of the body but also to the ills of the body politic, in modern usage nostrum has also come to mean a dubious or dishonest plan or scheme for curing a social or political problem. Throughout society today, from the bars to the talk shows to the hallowed halls of government, you can hear quacks, eccentrics, and downright weirdos proposing their nostrums for the ills of the world.
  • Word 29: Propitiate
    Word 29: Propitiate [pruh-or proh-PISH-ee-ayt]
    To appease, gain or regain the goodwill or favor of, cause to become favorably inclined.
    →
    Synonyms of propitiate include conciliate, pacify, mollify, placate, and assuage (word 37 of Level 2). Antonyms include alienate, offend, antagonize, estrange, and disaffect.
    The corresponding noun is propitiation, appeasement, conciliation, the act of getting into the good graces of.
    The verb to propitiate comes from Latin and means literally to soothe, appease, render favorable. From the same source comes the adjective propitious (pruh-PISH-us), which refers to favorable conditions or a favorable time for doing something, as a propitious time for buyers in the real estate market.
    In modern usage, to propitiate means to cause to become favorably inclined, to win the goodwill of someone or something despite opposition or hostility. Typically, you propitiate a higher power, such as your boss, your parents, the Internal Revenue Service, or your god.
  • Word 30: Efficacy
    Word 30: Efficacy [EF-i-kuh-see]
    Effectiveness; the power to produce a desired effect or result.
    →
    Efficacy applies to things that have the power to produce an intended effect. We speak of the efficacy of a drug, a scientific method, or an advertising campaign. The corresponding adjective is efficacious (EF-i-KAY-shus), which means effective, capable of producing a desired effect or result, as an efficacious law, an efficacious policy, or an efficacious marketing plan.
  • Word 31: Tantamount
    Word 31: Tantamount [TAN-tuh-MOWNT]
    Equivalent; having equal force, effect, or value.
    →
    Tantamount comes from an Anglo-French phrase meaning “to amount to as much, be equal to,” and ultimately from the Latin tantus, which means “so much” or “so great.” In modern usage, when one thing is tantamount to another, it amounts to as much as the other, adds up to the same thing.
    In his Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage (1957), Bergen Evans notes that the words paramount and tantamount “look deceptively alike but they mean very different things. Paramount means supreme in rank, preëminent [now written preeminent, without the dieresis]. Tantamount means equivalent, as in value, force, effect, or significance. It is usually followed by to (Your statement is tantamount to a confession). Tantamount is properly applied to acts and statements but not to material things.”
  • Word 32: Pariah
    Word 32: Pariah [puh-RY-uh]
    An outcast; a person despised or rejected by society.
    →
    Pariah entered English in the early 1600s from Tamil (TAM-ul), one of the languages of India. In the traditional social system of India, people were divided into classes called castes (pronounced like casts). Unlike in the United States, where there has always been a great deal of class mobility, downward as well as upward, until recently the Indian caste system was rigid, and the pariah caste was one of the lowest on the social ladder. Its members worked chiefly as agricultural and domestic laborers and as servants to the British when India was a British colony. The third edition of The American Heritage Dictionary (1992) notes that until 1949 the pariahs “were also known as untouchables.”
    From this sense of social inferiority, the word pariah came to be used in English of any person despised or rejected by society, an outcast. Although pariah is often used to describe criminals, outlaws, degenerates, and derelicts, the word does not always connote lawlessness, abject poverty, or antisocial behavior. Young people can become pariahs at school if they don’t wear the right clothing or do what is considered “cool.” In the 1960s, the hippies became pariahs in the eyes of the establishment because of their disdain for traditional values and opposition to the Vietnam War. And in the 1950s, during Senator Joe McCarthy’s infamous witchhunt for Communist subversives, many people who worked in the Hollywood film industry were blacklisted and treated like pariahs, social outcasts.
  • Word 33: Germane
    Word 33: Germane [jur-MAYN]
    Relevant, fitting, appropriate, precisely to the point.
    →
    Synonyms of germane include pertinent, suitable, applicable (APli-kuh-bul), apposite (AP-uh-zit), and apropos (AP-ruh-POH).
    Antonyms include inappropriate, unsuitable, irrelevant, inapplicable, alien, extraneous, incongruous (in-KAHNG-groo-wus), and malapropos (MAL-ap-ruh-POH).
    Germane comes through Middle English and Old French from the Latin germanus, which means “having the same parents.” When you have the same parents, you are closely allied by blood, and so related or akin. Out of this notion of family affinity grew the modern meaning of germane, having a close relationship to the subject at hand, closely tied to the point in question.
    Germane, apposite, pertinent, and relevant are close in meaning.
    Relevant is the weakest of the group and means simply related, connected, bearing upon a subject: “The chair of the meeting asked the participants to keep their comments relevant and to refrain from bringing up tangential issues.” Pertinent implies immediate, precise, and direct relevance: “Emily made several pertinent suggestions during the meeting that helped us focus on the problem.” Apposite implies relevance that is particularly appropriate, timely, or suitable to the occasion: “Emily made some apposite observations about the competition that made us reconsider our marketing strategy.” Our keyword, germane, implies a close connection or natural relationship that is highly fitting or appropriate: “Emily also presented a great deal of germane information in her report”; “The judge chided the defense attorney for voicing opinions that were not germane to the case.”
  • Word 34: Licentious
    Word 34: Licentious [ly-SEN-shus]
    Sexually abandoned; lacking moral restraint, especially in sexual conduct.
    →
    Apparently there is something sensual about the letter l, because there are no fewer than nine synonyms of licentious that begin with l: lewd, loose, lustful, lecherous (LECH-ur-us), lascivious (luh-SIV-ee-us), libertine (LIB-ur-TEEN), lubricious (loo-BRISH-us), lickerish (LIK-ur-ish), and libidinous (li-BID-’n-us). Additional synonyms of licentious—and believe me, I’m selecting only the more challenging ones—include bawdy, wanton, ribald (word 42 of Level 7, rhymes with scribbled), prurient (PRUUR-ee-int), debauched (di-BAWCHT), dissolute (DIS-uh-loot), salacious (suhLAY-shus), and concupiscent (kahn-KYOO-pi-sint).
    Had enough sexy words? All right, here are three antonyms of licentious to quell your lust: pure, chaste, and virtuous.
    Licentious comes from the Latin licentia, freedom, leave, liberty, the source also of the English word license. By derivation licentious means taking license, and the word implies doing something one is not supposed to do, especially something sexually immoral. Dictionaries will tell you that licentious may be used to mean unrestrained by law, morality, or rules of correctness or propriety, as a licentious poet or a licentious rap musician. But the truth is that in current usage licentious almost always connotes unrestrained sexuality. Licentious poets write lewd or lustful poems, and licentious rap musicians hip-hop through their sexual escapades. A licentious person is someone who displays a lack of moral restraint regarding sexual conduct.
  • Word 35: Superannuated
    Word 35: Superannuated [SOO-pur-AN-yoo-AY-tid]
    Retired because of age, weakness, or ineffectiveness; old and worn out; outdated, outmoded, obsolete.
    →
    Synonyms of superannuated include timeworn, antiquated (AN-tiKWAY-tid), decrepit (di-KREP-it), passé (pa-SAY), and effete (iFEET).
    Superannuated combines the prefix super-, meaning “beyond,” with the Latin annum, a year, and by derivation means beyond the useful years. That which is superannuated is too old for use, work, or service. The word may be used of a person who has reached the age of retirement, or of anything that has outlived its usefulness, that is old and worn out, as a superannuated car, a superannuated custom, a superannuated technology, or a superannuated idea.
  • Word 36: Egregious
    Word 36: Egregious [i-GREE-jus]
    Conspicuously bad, remarkable or outstanding for some undesirable or offensive quality.
    →
    Synonyms of egregious include flagrant, outrageous, excessive, shocking, gross, monstrous, notorious, grievous (GREE-vus, two syllables please), and arrant (AR-unt).
    Egregious comes from the Latin egregius, not of the common herd, and therefore select or outstanding. Egregious was once used to mean outstanding or remarkable, but this sense is long obsolete, and for at least three hundred years the word has most often been used to mean outstanding or remarkable in a bad way, conspicuously bad, offensive, or undesirable.
    When you think of how many remarkably bad things there are in the world, it’s surprising that egregious isn’t used more often. Here are a few possible applications: an egregious crime, an egregious lie, an egregious insult, an egregious fool, an egregious oversight, an egregious mistake, and an egregious breach of human rights.
  • Word 37: Vapid
    Word 37: Vapid [VAP-id, rhymes with rapid]
    Lifeless, dull, boring, flat, stale; lacking spirit, interest, or flavor.
    →
    Synonyms of vapid include unsavory, insipid, unpalatable, trite, prosaic (word 16 of Level 4), pedestrian, and jejune (ji-JOON, word 1 of Level 10).
    Antonyms include lively, vigorous, vivid, animated, robust, vivacious (vi-VAY-shus), and emphatic.
    Vapid comes from the Latin vapidus, which means spiritless, spoiled, flat. The word has remained true to its Latin root, and in modern usage vapid still applies to that which is lifeless, boring, or stale. Today we speak of vapid conversation, vapid beer, a vapid remark, or a vapid look in a person’s eyes.
  • Word 38: Crotchet
    Word 38: Crotchet [KRAHCH-it, rhymes with watch it]
    An odd notion or whim that one clings to stubbornly.
    →
    The corresponding adjective is crotchety. A crotchety person is full of crotchets, and therefore stubbornly eccentric. Crotchety is often applied to cantankerous old people who are set in their eccentric ways.
    Crotchet comes from a Middle English word meaning a staff with a hook at the end. It is related to the familiar word crochet (kroh-SHAY), the form of needlework in which thread is looped with a hooked needle. Crotchet was once used to mean a reaping hook or a hooklike instrument. In modern usage, however, the most common meaning of crotchet is an odd notion or whim that hooks you or that you cling to stubbornly, as if with a hook.
    Webster’s New World Dictionary, third edition (1997), says that crotchet “implies great eccentricity and connotes stubbornness in opposition to prevailing thought, usually on some insignificant point.” A crotchet may appear insignificant to others, but if it’s your crotchet, it’s far from trivial. Think of all the eccentric people you know, young or old, who cling to some odd notion or peculiar way of doing something and you will see that to the people who hold them, crotchets are heartfelt convictions.
    In The Writer’s Art (1984), James J. Kilpatrick includes a long chapter in which he lists, without excuses or apology, one hundred of his crotchets about usage. “Every one…is as dear to me,” he writes, “as Audrey, the country wench, was dear to Touchstone. She was an ill-favored thing, sir, but his own. If I am tetchy about the placement of only, that’s it. I’m crotchety.”
    And before your verbally advantaged guide gets crotchety about usage too, let’s move on to the next word.
  • Word 39: Epigraph
    Word 39: Epigraph [EP-i-GRAF]
    An inscription; especially, an inscription on a building or monument, or a brief quotation at the beginning of a literary composition that suggests or is germane to its theme.
    →
    Epigraph, epigram, and epitaph are close in meaning but sharply distinguished in usage.
    An epitaph (EP-i-TAF) is an inscription on a gravestone or tomb in memory of the person buried. In The Devil’s Dictionary, a classic work of satirical lexicography, the acerbic and crotchety humorist Ambrose Bierce defined epitaph as “an inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.” Dorothy Parker, another American writer famous for her quick, mordant wit, once proposed these two epitaphs for herself: “Excuse my dust” and “This is on me.”
    Epigram (EP-i-GRAM) has two meanings. Originally it referred to a short, witty poem—for example, this two-line ditty by Ogden Nash: “I like eels/’cept as meals.” Later epigram also came to mean a short, pointed saying that displays terse wit or a clever twist of thought. One of the greatest epigrammatists (EP-i-GRAM-uh-tists), or writers of epigrams, who ever lived was the nineteenth-century poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. Here are three examples of Wilde’s epigrams: “When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong.” “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.” “[A cynic is] a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
    Our keyword, epigraph, is formed from the prefix epi-, meaning “on” or “above,” and the Greek verb graphein, to write. This Greek verb has influenced many English words, including electrocardiograph, an instrument for recording the beating of the heart; orthography, correct spelling; polygraph, otherwise known as a lie detector; and graphology, the study of handwriting. Whenever you see a word containing graph, you can reasonably assume that it has something to do with writing.
    An epigraph by derivation means a writing on or above something; hence, an inscription. When you see words engraved on a building, a monument, or a statue, that’s an epigraph. When you see a brief quotation placed at the beginning of a book, a chapter, a poem, or the like, that is also an epigraph.
  • Word 40: Expatiate
    Word 40: Expatiate [ek-SPAY-shee-ayt]
    To elaborate, speak or write at great length.
    →
    Synonyms of expatiate include discourse (dis-KORS), expound (ek-SPOWND), and descant (des-KANT).
    The verb to expatiate comes from the Latin expatiari, to wander. Expatiate originally meant to wander or walk about freely, but this sense is now rare. In current usage expatiate suggests wandering at will over a subject. When you expatiate on something, you elaborate, go into detail, speak or write about it at great length. The corresponding noun is expatiation (ek-SPAY-shee-AY-shin).
  • Word 41: Sinecure
    Word 41: Sinecure [SY-nuh-KYOOR— recommended—or SIN-uh-KYOOR]
    A position that provides a good income or salary but that requires little or no work; in colloquial terms, a cushy job.
    →
    Sinecure comes from the Latin phrase beneficium sine cura, which means “a benifice without cure.” And what does that mean, you ask? A benefice is an endowed church position or office that provides a member of the clergy with a fixed income or guaranteed living. A “benefice without cure” means a paid position for a member of the clergy that does not require pastoral work—in other words, the curing of souls. Pastors, vicars, rectors, and the like who were granted sinecures by their church did not have a congregation, and they were paid well to do little or nothing.
    Sinecure is such a useful word that it was soon adopted by the laity to mean any position or office that has no specific duties or work attached to it but that provides an income or emolument.
  • Word 42: Predilection
    Word 42: Predilection [PRED-i-LEK-shin]
    A preference, partiality, preconceived liking, an inclination or disposition to favor something.
    →
    Synonyms of predilection include fondness, leaning, bias, prejudice, predisposition, affinity (word 46 of Level 4), penchant (word 9 of Level 3), propensity, and proclivity.
    Predilection comes through French from the Medieval Latin verb praediligere, to prefer. Unlike the words bias and prejudice, which are often used negatively, predilection has either a neutral or positive connotation and is used as a stronger synonym of preference and partiality (PAHR-shee-AL-i-tee). According to the third edition of Webster’s New World Dictionary (1997), a predilection is “a preconceived liking, formed as a result of one’s background, temperament, etc., that inclines one toward a particular preference.” You can have a predilection for anything you are naturally partial to or inclined to like, as a predilection for ice hockey, a predilection for solving crossword puzzles, a predilection for country music, or a predilection for Italian cuisine.
  • Word 43: Imbroglio
    Word 43: Imbroglio [im-BROHL-yoh]
    A complicated or intricate situation; a difficult, perplexing state of affairs; also, a misunderstanding or disagreement of a complicated and confusing nature.
    →
    Synonyms of imbroglio include entanglement, embroilment, predicament, and quandary (word 27 of Level 3).
    Imbroglio comes through Italian and Old French from Latin and means by derivation to entangle, confuse, mix up, embroil. When imbroglio entered English in the mid-1700s, it meant “a confused heap,” but this sense is now rare. The great Oxford English Dictionary shows that by the early 1800s imbroglio had come to mean “a state of great confusion and entanglement; a complicated or difficult situation; a confused misunderstanding or disagreement.” The unraveling of an imbroglio is a common plot in many plays, novels, and operas, but there are plenty of imbroglios in real life as well. Open the newspaper on any given day and you will find stories of political imbroglios, financial imbroglios, marital imbroglios, and criminal imbroglios.
  • Word 44: Ineffable
    Word 44: Ineffable [in-EF-uh-buul]
    Inexpressible, unable to be expressed or described in words.
    →
    Synonyms of ineffable include unutterable, unspeakable, and indescribable.
    Ineffable comes from the Latin ineffabilis, which means unutterable, not able to be spoken. Once upon a prudish time, when Thomas Bowdler was bowdlerizing Shakespeare and the Bible and Anthony Comstock was committing Comstockery on the U.S. Mail, the more refined members of polite society would call the legs of a piano “limbs” and refer to a man’s trousers as “ineffables.” My, how times change. Today women also wear trousers, and hardly anything is ineffable, especially on late-night TV.
    Dictionaries note that ineffable may mean too sacred to be spoken, as the ineffable name of a deity (DEE-i-tee) or an ineffable curse, but this sense is now infrequent, and in current usage ineffable almost always means inexpressible, unable to be expressed or described in words. Webster’s New International Dictionary, second edition (1934), notes that ineffable usually applies to “good or pleasant things,” as ineffable beauty or ineffable joy, but it may occasionally apply to something unpleasant that is inexpressible, as ineffable disgust.
  • Word 45: Stolid
    Word 45: Stolid [STAHL-id]
    Not easily moved, aroused, or excited; showing little or no feeling or sensitivity; mentally or emotionally dull, insensitive, or obtuse.
    →
    Synonyms of stolid include unemotional, unresponsive, sluggish, apathetic, impassive, indifferent, and phlegmatic (fleg-MAT-ik), word 33 of Level 9.
    Stolid comes from the Latin stolidus, stupid, dull, unmoving. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, third college edition (1997), stolid applies to a person “who is not easily moved or excited,” and suggests “dullness, obtuseness, or stupidity.” Unlike stoic people, who display firmness of mind and character in their thick-skinned, unflinching indifference to pain and suffering, people who are stolid are not easily moved because they are oafs, dolts, louts, or half-wits. In other words, a stolid person shows little feeling or sensitivity because the light’s not on upstairs.
    Stolid is sometimes also applied figuratively to behavior or things that are unresponsive, insensitive, or not easily moved. A stolid countenance or expression is unresponsive. A stolid bureaucracy is dense and insensitive to the needs of individuals. And stolid opposition is not easily moved.
  • Word 46: Offal
    Word 46: Offal [AWF-ul, like awful— recommended—or AHF-ul]
    Waste, garbage, refuse, rubbish.
    →
    Offal comes from Middle English and is a combination of the words off and fall. Originally the word applied to anything that fell off or was thrown off in the process of doing something—for example, wood chips in lumbering or carpentry, or the dross or scum that forms on the surface of molten metal. Since the early 1400s, offal has also been used of the waste parts removed in the process of butchering an animal. From that unsavory sense, the meaning of offal broadened to denote waste or garbage in general, anything thrown away as worthless. In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes, “What trash is Rome? What rubbish, and what offal?”
    Dictionaries still define offal as the waste parts, and especially the entrails, of a butchered animal, and if you are fond of sausages, as I am, I hope it won’t disturb you to know that many of them are made from offal. However, the more general definition of the word—trash, refuse, rubbish—is now probably more common. Today we dispose of our offal in sewers and landfills, and the offal of society gets sent to jail.
  • Word 47: Lissome
    Word 47: Lissome [LIS-um]
    Limber, flexible, moving with ease and grace.
    →
    Synonyms of lissome include nimble, agile, supple, and lithe (LYTH, rhymes with writhe).
    Lissome, lithe, and limber are close synonyms. Limber suggests moving or bending easily, as limber muscles, or a limber bough. Lithe and lissome suggest moving with nimbleness, agility, and grace; of the two words, lithe is more literal, lissome more poetic. We speak of a lithe runner; a lithe deer; a lissome dancer; a lissome tongue.
  • Word 48: Mellifluous
    Word 48: Mellifluous [muh-LIF-loo-us]
    Flowing smoothly and sweetly, like honey.
    →
    The adjective mellifluous comes through Middle English from Latin and means literally flowing like honey. The word has stuck like honey to its root, and in modern usage mellifluous means honeyed or honey-toned, flowing smoothly and sweetly.
    Mellifluous often applies to sounds or words, as a mellifluous voice, mellifluous music, a mellifluous speaker, or mellifluous writing.
  • Word 49: Surfeit
    Word 49: Surfeit [SUR-fit, like surf it]
    To supply, fill, or feed to excess, especially to the point of discomfort, sickness, or disgust.
    →
    Synonyms of surfeit include sate and satiate (SAY-shee-AYT), which may mean either to fill or supply to satisfaction or to fill or supply beyond what is necessary or desired. Additional synonyms include stuff, cram, glut, gorge, choke, inundate, and cloy.
    The verb to surfeit is derived from Middle English and Old French words meaning to overdo, exceed, and in modern usage surfeit means to feed, fill, or stuff to the point of discomfort, sickness, or disgust. You can surfeit yourself on a Thanksgiving feast. You can surfeit yourself with booze. You can watch episodes of the “Three Stooges” until you are surfeited with slapstick humor. Or you can read Verbal Advantage until your brain is surfeited with words.
    The corresponding noun surfeit, pronounced the same way, is most often used to mean an excess or oversupply, as a surfeit of praise or a surfeit of products on the market.
  • Word 50: Blandishment
    Word 50: Blandishment [BLAN-dish-ment]
    Flattering or coaxing speech or action; an ingratiating remark or gesture.
    →
    Blandishment comes through Middle English and Old French from the Latin verb blandiri, to flatter, caress, coax, which comes in turn from the adjective blandus, which means flattering, fondling, caressing. By derivation, blandishment means speech or action that flatters, fondles, coaxes, or caresses in an attempt to win over or persuade a person.
    In current usage the word is usually employed in its plural form, blandishments, which the second edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary (1934) defines as “soft words and artful caresses.” Unlike flattery, which is generally perceived as selfserving, blandishments are not necessarily insincere. They may be expressions of honest affection, kindness, or desire. When you offer blandishments to your boss, to a friend, to your spouse, or to your lover, you are using gentle flattery and kind words to butter that person up.
    The corresponding verb is blandish, to coax with flattering or ingratiating statements or actions.
Answer Key
Favorite Books
Verbal Advantage - Level 01

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 02

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 03

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 04

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 05

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 06

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 07

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 09

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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Verbal Advantage - Level 10

Verbal Advantage: Ten Easy Steps to a Powerful Vocabulary. A 10-step vocabulary program teaches 500 key words and 3,000 synonyms. Verbal Advantage provides a complete learning experience, with clear explanations of meanings, word histories, usages, pronunciation, and more. Far more than a cram session for a standardized test, the book is designed as a lifetime vocabulary builder, teaching a vocabulary shared by only the top percentage of Americans, with a proven method that helps the knowledge last.

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