week 33

Someone who is complacent has become overly content — the junk-food-eating couch potato might be feeling complacent about his health.
The literal meaning of this word's Latin root is "very pleased," but even though complacent people may seem pleased with themselves, we are rarely pleased with them. They are unconcerned by things that should concern them, and they may neglect their duties. A complacent person might be heard saying, "Ehh, don't worry about it!" — when there really is something to

Stand outside the school cafeteria passing out flyers with nutritional details on school food, and you may foment a revolution––foment means stirring up something undesirable, such as trouble.
You would never say, "Hooray, we fomented a revolution." Instead you'd say, "Those good for nothing scalawags fomented the rebellion." Don't confuse foment and ferment. Ferment can mean "to stir up" in a good way––a football game can ferment excitement in a town, or foment trouble through traffic tie-ups a

Penitent means deeply sorry, ashamed, and full of remorse. If you feel sorry––or just want to appear to––you should adopt a penitent manner.hich means to repent. It can be either noun or adjective. Though it's not restricted to them, penitent often pops up in religious contexts, particularly as a noun, as in, "The penitent threw herself at the bishop's feet and begged forgiveness for her sins.

A connoisseur is a person who, through study and interest, has a fine appreciation for something, like the connoisseur who can identify the clarinet player on a jazz recording by the sound of his inhalations alone.
A connoisseur is an authority in his field, someone who has expert knowledge and training, especially in the arts. A connoisseur may also be someone with an extremely developed sense of taste, like the connoisseur who can identify rare wine by a flavor others can't even detect

To debilitate something is to make it weaker. A bad flu may debilitate your powers of concentration, like the New Year's resolutions that temporarily debilitate bakeries' business. It’s often used to describe what disability or illness does to a person's health, but it can describe anything that has been weakened, like the sense of community that is slowly debilitated by people working longer hours and the lack of sidewalks that in many towns make it harder to walk around and meet the neighbors.

Slovenly is what your great aunt Mehitabel might call you if you came to high tea without a necktie. It means "messy or unkempt," but is a word you probably won't hear messy or unkempt people using.

A beautiful sunset, a rainbow, a wonderful dream right before your alarm clock goes off — all of these could be described as evanescent, which means “fleeting” or “temporary.”

The verb allay is used when you want to make something better or eliminate fears and concerns.

When you allay something, you are calming it or reducing difficulties. It is used commonly in the context of to allay concerns and to comfort and some of its many synonyms are alleviate, decrease, mitigate, assuage and mollify.

Dark and mysterious, the occult is a kind of supernatural power or magic. If you see your neighbor chanting over a giant vat of bubbling brew in the middle of the night, there's a chance he's dabbling in the occult. meaning “hidden, secret.” That's why it can also be used as both a noun referring to black magic and an adjective meaning "difficult to see." Quipped the famous physicist Heinz Pagels, “I like to browse in occult bookshops if for no other reason than to refresh my commitment to scien

Both meanings of quarry have to do with going after something. An animal being hunted is called quarry, and when you dig a hole in the earth looking for rocks, both the digging and the hole are called quarry as well.

Reproach means to mildly criticize. If you show poor manners at your grandmother's dinner table, she will reproach you.

The verb reproach means to express disapproval or criticism of; as a noun it means blame or criticism. If you are beyond reproach that means no one could find anything to criticize about you. Synonyms for reproach are the verbs admonish, reprove, rebuke, reprimand.

A propensity is a natural tendency to behave in a certain way. We all have propensities — things we tend to do. Dogs have a propensity to bark, and many people have a propensity for getting annoyed by it.

If you have a propensity for something, then it's something that comes naturally to you or something you just do a lot. Some people have a propensity to laugh. Other people have a propensity for making others laugh, or for being generous, or for getting angry. It's hard to change your propensi

Funerals are often somber affairs. Also your face after your teacher hands back an exam you failed. Somber is used to describe situations, facial expressions, or moods that are dark, gloomy, or depressing.
Something that is somber is often thought of as "in shadow," as in "the shadow of grief," or "the shadow of a bad mood." This is not just a coincidence.

Discreet describes someone or something that is appropriately quiet, prudent, and restrained. If you are wearing a discreet gray suit, it is unlikely that anyone at that business meeting will notice you.Often people use discreet not only to indicate modesty or carefulness, but also to show a sort of secretiveness along the lines of “You're going to keep this a secret, right?” If no one in your family knows that you like to dress up as a bear, but then your cousin finds out, you may ask him to pl

When something is tantamount to another thing it is essentially its equivalent. For some animal activists, wearing fur is tantamount to murder.

Tantamount often refers to an action or thing being compared to another greater action or quality, as in, “Missing your finals is tantamount to dropping out of college.”

Describe yourself as wary if you don't quite trust someone or something and want to proceed with caution. Be wary of risky things like wild mushrooms and Internet deals!If you keep a wary eye on something, you are attentive for signs that it is becoming dangerous. Likewise, if you give someone a wary glance, your face conveys the suspicion and caution you feel

Someone impetuous acts too hastily or carelessly. Hotheaded, impulsive folks are impetuous.
If you're a careful person who thinks everything through and doesn't act rashly, then you're not very impetuous. Impetuous has to do with doing things on the spur of the moment — and not good things. Being impetuous usually goes along with being impatient and easily angered.

Seeing a word in context lets you glean information about how it's used. Glean means to gather bit by bit. You might say, "I couldn't understand her accent, but from what I could glean, she needs money to take the bus." Ruth meets her future husband when she asked permission to glean from his fields, which means follow the grain cutters, gathering the seed kernels that have fallen on the ground. For the very poor at this time, gleaning was often means of getting food.

Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed. You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation.Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed.. You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce.

Deter means to discourage. Many believe that the use of capital punishment deters people from committing murder. Others think that is hogwash.Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy dictum "walk softly but carry a big stick" was meant to deter other countries from messing with the United States.