Week 2: vocabulary

Week 2

1.      Abdomen: the part of the body below the chest that contains the stomach and other organs

She showed us a tiny tattoo on her abdomen, right next to her belly button.

2.      Abortion: a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

She chose to have an abortion.

3.      Abound: to be present in large numbers or in great quantity

They live in a region where oil abounds.

4.      Abrupt: very sudden and not expected

There was an abrupt change in the weather.

5.      Abundant: existing or occurring in large amounts

Rainfall is more abundant in summer.

6.      Acne: medical : a condition in which the skin on a person's face, neck, etc., has many small, swollen spots (called pimples)

a teenager with bad acne

7.      neoteric: recent in origin; new.

His new label specializes in alternative country or Americana -- music with a sense of tradition and a neoteric edge.

-- Christopher John Farley, "Back To Country's Roots", Time, June 11, 2001

8.      surly: ill-humored; sullen and gruff.

Maggie drank a little too much and got surly and made snide comments during the final toast.

-- John L'Heureux, Having Everything

9.      vivify: to endue with life; to enliven.

Stories not only provide context for statistical statements but can illustrate and vivify them as well.

-- John Allen Paulos, Once Upon a Number

10.  sycophant: one who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.

I became a sycophant, assuring Nick he was smarter than everyone else put together, smarter than his boss, than the people at the bank, than anyone in his family or mine.

-- Lisa Kleypas, Blue-Eyed Devil

11.  abrogate: to annul; to do away with.

The Court had made clear that the Federal Government was one of "limited and enumerated powers," Brann said, adding, "One of those powers is not to abrogate a state's immunity in its own courts."

-- Linda Greenhouse, "Justices Seem Ready to Tilt More Toward States in Federalism", New York Times, April 1, 1999

12.  penury: extreme poverty; also, insufficiency.

Charles regretted his departure, and the penury of his treasury, but trusted that God would favour him in his struggle against the king of France.

-- Henry Kamen, Philip of Spain

13.  variegated: having marks or patches of different colors; also, varied.

But as no one was being hurt, you were right to sit quietly and marvel at the variegated -- and sometimes idiotic -- beliefs of humanity.

-- Randy Cohen, "What Can I Say?", New York Times Magazine, July 11, 1999

14.  clamber: to climb with difficulty, or on all fours.

He dithered for a moment, during which time Mrs Hardy, wailing like a banshee, rushed from the dining room and clambered clumsily up the stairs.

-- Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie

15.  asperity: roughness of surface, sound, or manner.

Many years later, when I was sketching in Rome, a grim-looking Englishwoman came up to me and said with some asperity, "I see you are painting MY view."

-- Lord Berners, A Distant Prospect

16.  effete: infertile; also, worn out; also, decadent, effeminate.

He wasn't refined or effete, but a horse trader, smart, clever, always with his ear to the ground.

-- Bob Ortega, In Sam We Trust

17.  venerate: to regard or treat with reverence; revere.

They venerated the gods of fire and water.

-- Paul Theroux, Hotel Honolulu

18.  gustatory: pertaining to the sense of taste.

Why . . . would something that provides such gustatory pleasure turn out to be supposedly the worst thing you could ever eat?

-- Richard Turner, "The Trendy Diet That Sizzles", Newsweek, September 6, 1999

19.  tergiversation: evasion; also, desertion of a cause, party, etc.

Like most writers, I have always championed thrift . . . . Not long ago, however, I experienced an extraordinary tergiversation. Now I'm an ally of excess, a proponent of redundancy.

-- Michael Norman, "When an Author's Words Are Sold by the Pound", New York Times, September 15, 1991

20.  obstreperous: noisily and stubbornly defiant; also, boisterous.

Many booksellers . . . were reluctant to carry books that would attract the sometimes obstreperous youngsters who lived by rock and roll.

-- Ray Walters, "Paperback Talk", New York Times, September 13, 1981

21.  serendipity: the faculty or phenomenon of making fortunate accidental discoveries.

There again, perhaps because of serendipity, or an especially conscientious team of doctors, it can also happen that the crucial clues are noticed and recorded for posterity.

-- Edward Hooper, The River

22.  yen: a desire or craving.

"But the thing here is, Darcy, I've had a bit of a ... of a yen for him for ... well, forever. I just thought it was time to act on it or I'd always have one, and where would that get me?"

-- Nora Roberts, Tears of the moon

23.  timorous: full of apprehensiveness; fearful.

The way we are living,

timorous or bold,

will have been our life.

-- Seamus Heaney, "Elegy"

24.  irenic: promoting peace.

Taylor was always irenic by temperament and desire, and his sensitivity to others enabled him to bring together and work with people of very diverse views.

-- "The Right Rev John Taylor", Times (London), February 1, 2001

25.  bilious: of or pertaining to bile; also, ill-tempered.

Most arresting of all, his normally gray elephant hide has changed to a bilious shade of green.

-- Ellen Handler Spitz, Inside Picture Books