Vocabulary from the GOP Undercard Debate - Aug. 6, 2015

In the undercard round of the first GOP debate, candidates stuck to a pretty basic vocabulary, with non-surprises like nation, economy, and immigration appearing most frequently.

However, when we used our listmaker to sort all words used in the undercard round of the debate by relevancy (this compares use in the debate to use in the Vocabulary.com corpus of texts overall), we get to see where candidates go when they dig deep for more unusual words, candidates did so judiciously.

Scan through this list for relevancy data on individual words.
11 words 10 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. entitlement
    right granted by law or contract
    I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years.
    --George Pataki
    Entitlement is a word that will appear, on average, once in every 6,840 pages of text. It comes up in discussions of welfare and unemployment, which the out-of-work or those living in poverty receive by way of government entitlements, or welfare.
  2. resurgence
    bringing again into activity and prominence
    We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again.
    --Carly Fiorina
    Fiorina is obviously a fan of this word, as she used it three times within the debate. It was an apt choice; it might very well describe the effect of the debate, in which she was seen to shine, on her campaign. You can expect to see this word appear once in every 4,486 pages of text; unless you're writing Veronica Roth "Insurgent" series fan fiction, and are thinking "Resurgent" would make a great name for book 5.
  3. radicalize
    make more extreme in social or political outlook
    That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested.
    --George Pataki
    The Vocabulary.com Dictionary's usage tracker predicts one instance of radicalize on every 30,860 pages of text. Our usage trackers shows two of these from MSNBC, describing extremism in the GOP. Was Pataki trying to send a secret message to GOP centrists waiting out the primary voting, but still tuning in to the debate? Pretty sneaky, sis.
  4. immigration
    the group of people coming to a country
    We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion.
    --Bobby Jindal
    This is one of the few words on this list that is both relevant to the debate and also appeared frequently enough (11 times, not including in questions), it would feature prominently in a word cloud. It's so common, in fact, that our usage tracker's first 17 cites of the words from the Vocabulary.com corpus are dated today.
  5. juggernaut
    a massive inexorable force
    It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country.
    --Rick Santorum
    Our usage tracker tells us that you can expect to see juggernaut once in every 22,995 pages of text. in this evening of red, white, and blue patriotism, Santorum might have been surprised to learn that Juggernaut comes from a Hindi word Jagganath which means "lord of the world."
  6. legislating
    the act of making or enacting laws
    If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other.
    --Jim Gilmore
    Occurring once in approximately every 17,255 pages of text, legislating is not an activity that is referred to as such often...except in this context it appears in here, where a president is being criticized for doing the job of another branch of government.
  7. amnesty
    a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense
    For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure.
    --Rick Perry
    Although Gov. Perry would want you to remember what he said about his objection to amnesty for illegal immigrants, amnesty itself is all about forgetting. It shares its structure with amnesia. Amnesty's fairly frequent occurrence in the Vocabulary.com corpus (once in every 2,076 pages of text) may in part be due to the frequent appearance of Amnesty International in the news.
  8. illegal
    prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules
    Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration?
    --Rick Perry
    The appearance of this word in the debate goes hand-in-hand with discussions around immigration. But in the larger Vocabulary.com corpus, the word is used in a multitude of contexts; and it comes up frequently. You can expect to see it once in about every 287 pages of text.
  9. conservatism
    belief in preserving tradition and opposing radical change
    2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation.
    --Carly Fiorina
    Although this is a word you'll see on average in every 2,324 pages of text, you might be seeing it more often right now as the 17 GOP candidates work to define this word and their party.

    And what does the conservatism of these candidates have to do with a big juicy steak? They meet (meat) in the person of Chateaubriand, one of the first people to use the term conservative and also the man for whom the beef dish was named.
  10. ineptitude
    unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
    We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation.
    --Carly Fiorina
    This is a word you might have expected to hear more of after Trump took the stage; Fiorina beat him to it. It's relatively unusual; you might see it once in about every 11, 939 pages of text, which contrasts to its synonym incompetence, which will appear every 4,110.
  11. empower
    give or delegate authority to
    She has empowered a failed agenda. She is going to empower a failed solution to an American economy dying to grow.
    --Lindsey Graham
    Turning this women's lib, Jack Kemp-liberal style word on its head, Graham makes a sophisticated word-play-infused jab at Hillary Clinton, while brining to light a word you don't often hear in political circles.
Created on Thu Aug 06 21:05:11 EDT 2015 (updated Fri Aug 07 02:02:33 EDT 2015)

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