Learn 100 new words

assiduous – adj. – marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application

belicose ‘be-li-kOs’ – adj. – favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars

ruminuate – ‘ROO-muh-nayt’ – verb – 1. mediate muse
2. to chew repeatedly for an extended period
Example sentence:
After meeting with her counselor, Meg passed the afternoon ruminating on the question of what to do with her life.

orotund – ‘OR-uh-tund’ – adj. 1. marked by fullness, strength, clarity of sound: sonorous
2. pompous, bombastic
eg. Josh cleared his throat dramatically, then did a dead-on impression of the professor’s orotund, patronizing speech.

mercurial – adj. – 1. of, relating to, or born under the planet Mercury
2. having qualities of eloquence, ingenuity, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury or to the influence of the planet Mercury
3. characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood

Job’s comforter – noun – a person who discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation
eg:
When Tracey’s second interview didn’t go well, more than one Job’s comforter remarked that she probably would have hated the job anyway.

réchauffé ‘ray-SHOH-fay’ noun 1. rehash 2. a warmed over dish of food
Example sentence:
“[It] is a réchauffé, . . . lifted and stitched from ‘The Gastronomical Me’ and other books.” (Victoria Glendinning, The New York Times Book Review, June 9, 1991)

gadarene – ‘GAD-uh-reen’ – adj. – headlong, precipate
Example:
Ross has criticized his company for joining the gadarene rush into the global market.

culpable – deserving blame

plauddits (n) – praise or the appluase of an audience

cynosure – a person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration

credulous – having or showing too great a readiness to believe things (aka guilible)

supine – (of a person) lying face upward OR failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence

of course! i’ll make them this summer. it really should be its own goal.

ameliorate – make something bad or unsatisfactory better

nexus – a connection or series of connections linking two or more things

apposite – appropriate, suitable, “apt in the circumstances or in relationship to something”

bruiser – a person who is tough & aggressive & enjoys a fight or argument

indefatigable – persisting tirelessly (adjective)

torpor – a state of physical or mental inactivity

ostensible – stated/appearing to be true but not necessarily so

never a bad thing. when i write i get stuck with the same dull-gern adjectives and assume they’re the only applicable word. i was reading “gillead” over break on my train ride home from Portland [excellent book so far (another one i got about 1/3 through and then allowed school to interupt)] and just kept thinking “i should look that up”, “i should look that up”, “i should look that up” every oooo 5 pages or so.

it’s time to learn 100 new words.. and maybe i’ll retain 5 or 10 and use them in every day conversation.