A Quick Current Events Vocab Quiz! Are "Nihilistic" Dissidents Threatening Sochi?

As the world prepares to watch the Sochi Olympics despite fears of violence from amorphous and diffuse groups of nihilistic dissidents a new farm bill offers only incremental change and CVS sacrifices cigarette revenue as incongruous to its health-related focus.

Follow this week's news coverage from a vocabularian's perspective by learning 10 words from this week's New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post coverage.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. brook
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    The Russian hosts of the 2014 Winter Games made clear long ago they would brook no political protests at the Olympics, and now, it seems, they are having second thoughts about allowing dissidents even to attend as spectators.
    --Russia Blocks Several Activists From Olympics, Even as Spectators, The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2014
    You probably know this word as a noun meaning a small running stream, but as a verb, brook means "to put up with or tolerate," and it's usually used in the negative.
  2. nihilistic
    relating to a complete rejection of moral values and beliefs
    Even if Russia succeeds in keeping Sochi safe, the violence is certain to grind on here in the Caucasus when international attention moves on, nurtured by the nihilistic ideology of the international jihad and punctuated by terrorist attacks outside the region that experts say Russia, like other countries, will never be able to prevent completely.
    --An Olympics in the Shadow of a War Zone, The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2014
    Nihilistic is used to signal a group's willingness to engage in violent tactics, but it's also often appropriate to non-violent teenagers or depressives. It means someone ascribing to the belief that life is meaningless.
  3. diffuse
    spread out; not concentrated in one place
    Mr. Umarov, who is described as Russia’s Osama bin Laden, has led the insurgency since 2006, but his influence and operational command are now a matter of dispute. Many officials and experts describe him as little more than a figurehead for a diffuse constellation of terrorist cells operating independently.
    --An Olympics in the Shadow of a War Zone, The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2014
    Don't confuse this word for "spread out" with defuse, which means to disarm as in a bomb or just an explosive situation. The words are pronounced differently, too. Diffuse rhymes with spruce and defuse with use.
  4. amorphous
    having no definite form or distinct shape
    Like the majority of Muslims in southern Russia, [Mr. Tlyepshev] showed no outward signs of embracing a radical strain of Islam, let alone aiding the amorphous networks of fighters who do, his wife said.
    --An Olympics in the Shadow of a War Zone, The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2014
    Morphology alert! If you know that morph means "to change shape," and that a means "not," you'll be able to guess that amorphous means having no defined shape or structure.
  5. curtail
    terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end
    Since returning to power in 2012, President Vladimir V. Putin has cracked down on all forms of dissent, jailing activists, curtailing public demonstrations and muzzling private news outlets in an effort to contain an opposition movement that blossomed in previous years.
    --Russia Blocks Several Activists From Olympics, Even as Spectators, The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2014
    Curtail is a formal way of saying "cut short." It's not the same as postpone or cancel, as the activity in question is already underway.
  6. relegate
    assign to a lower position
    Approved protests have already been relegated to a small area under a freeway viaduct, far from the sight of fans or athletes.
    --Russia Blocks Several Activists From Olympics, Even as Spectators, The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2014
    You can relegate people, things, or activities to inferior positions with this useful word. You might relegate your stuffed animal collection to your bedroom closet when you hit high school. Note the relationship between relegate ("send down") and delegate, which means to appoint or send forth on a task and can be seen as "send up."
  7. incremental
    increasing gradually by regular degrees or additions
    The bill’s authors urge support because it eliminates egregious “direct payment” subsidies and makes a few other incremental reforms.
    --In Congress’s farm bill, the rich get richer, The Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2014
    An increment is a small but measure. So to change in an incremental fashion means to change a little bit at a time. Here, where Obama was hoping for wholesale change, change that is only incremental is seen as a failure.
  8. apologist
    a person who argues to defend some policy or institution
    Contrary to what its apologists claim, the 2014 farm bill is not a hard-won triumph for bipartisanship.
    --In Congress’s farm bill, the rich get richer, The Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2014
    An apologist is not necessarily someone apologizing. Rather, it means to defend or argue in favor of something that's often controversial or widely disapproved of.
  9. woo
    seek someone's favor
    Each of those competitors, like CVS, is wooing sick patients with the promise they could help them better manage their health—and make sure they stay on their prescription medications.
    --CVS to Stop Selling Cigarettes, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 5, 2014
    In an old fashioned context, look for woo to mean "trying to get someone to marry you." While that definition still holds today, it's more generally seen as used here, where it means "to seek someone's favor." You might be wooed by a potential employer trying to convince you to take a job.
  10. incongruous
    lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness
    Some municipalities have balked at the incongruous combination of pharmacies and cigarettes.
    --CVS to Stop Selling Cigarettes, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 5, 2014
    Incongruous is at the heart of this story of CVS taking cigarettes off its shelves as it seeks to transition into a more comprehensive healthcare provider. Swap incongruous into the old Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the other," with you'll have both an easy way to remember its meaning and a rhythm that doesn't really work because...it's incongruous!
Created on Wed Feb 05 08:39:32 EST 2014 (updated Wed Feb 05 10:25:43 EST 2014)

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