vocabulary #1

1. Adumbrate: To outline; or to foreshadow  

It was Aristotle who first adumbrated the principle that which no one owns, no one will care for.

2. Apotheosis: The elevation or exaltation of a person to the rank of a god. 

Surely this is the ultimate apotheosis of free market thinking.

3. Ascetic: A person who abstains from the normal pleasures of life for religious reasons.
He became a very famous ascetic.

4. Bauble: A showy, usually cheap, ornament; trinket.
The children each made their own bauble.

5. Beguile: to take away from by cheating or deceiving.

He was beguiled of his money.

6. Burgeon: to grow or develop quickly; flourish.

They began importing supplies and products for the newly burgeoning field.

7. Complement: something that completes or makes perfect.

That shirt compliments her eyes.

8. Contumacious: stubbornly perverse or rebellious.
He is a very contumacious person when it comes to being told what to do.

9. Curmudgeon: a bad-tempered, difficult person.
i don't know why people have to be so curmudgeon.

10. Didactic: Intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.

James was a very didactic person, he really loved teaching.

11. Disingenuous: lacking in sincerity.
It was disingenuous of him then to encourage the farmers to continue farming when he knew their crops wouldn't grow there

12. Exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault.
The jury had to exculpate the defendant due to lack of evidence.

13. Faux pas: a slip or blunder in etiquette, manner, or conduct.

 I committed a terrible faux pas at the office when I commented to my friend that I didn't like my boss who was standing directly behind me 

14. Fulminate: Express vehement protest.
Politicians fulminate about double standards and antisemitism.

15. Fustian: Thick, durable twilled cloth with a short nap, usually dyed in dark colors.
He was wearing an ugly fustian blue wool suit.

16. Hauteur: arrogance.
The unmistakable hauteur in his tone implied that there was no chance of his being wrong.

17. Inhibit: to prohibit; forbid.
The audience was inhibited from going on stage.

18. Jeremiad: a mournful complaint.
The tired children were full of jeremiad.

19. Opportunist: a person who adapts his actions to take advantage of opportunities.
Criminal acts are often opportunistic.

20. Unconscionable: not in accordance with what is just or reasonable. 

To Jim, it was unconscionable to use such underhanded tactics to get ahead.