Monthly Archives: July 2015

XX vocab

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fratricide
n. The killing of one’s brother or sister.
n. One who has killed one’s brother or sister.
junta
n. A group of military officers ruling a country after seizing power.
mujahidin
n. Alternative form of mujahideen; plural form of mujahid.
mujahid
n. a Muslim engaging in jihad, especially armed jihad; a jihadist
implacable
adj. Impossible to placate or appease: implacable foes; implacable suspicion.
coalesced
v. To grow together; fuse.
caliphate
n. The office or jurisdiction of a caliph. The last caliphate was held by Ottoman Turkish sultans until it was abolished by Kemal Atatürk in 1924.
caliph
n. A leader of an Islamic polity, regarded as a successor of Muhammad and by tradition always male.
buffet
n. a blow, as with the hand or fist.
n. a violent shock or concussion.
nom de guerre
n. A fictitious name; a pseudonym.
conniptions
n. Informal A fit of violent emotion, such as anger or panic. Also called conniption fit.
hagiography
n. Biography of saints.
n. A worshipful or idealizing biography.
cadres
n. A nucleus of trained personnel around which a larger organization can be built and trained: a cadre of corporals who train recruits.
n. A tightly knit group of zealots who are active in advancing the interests of a revolutionary party.
n. A member of such a group.
malapropisms
n. Ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound.
n. An example of such misuse.
commonweal
n. The public good or welfare.
homogeneity
n. The state or quality of being homogeneous.
homogeneous
adj. Of the same or similar nature or kind: “a tight-knit, homogeneous society” ( James Fallows).
adj. Uniform in structure or composition throughout.
adj. Mathematics Consisting of terms of the same degree or elements of the same dimension.
pariah
n. A social outcast: “Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard” ( Mark Twain).
n. An Untouchable.
major domo
n. a man in charge of a great household, as that of a sovereign; a chief steward.
n. a steward or butler.
n. a person who makes arrangements for another.
pundit
n. A source of opinion; a critic: a political pundit.
n. A learned person.
facile
adj. Done or achieved with little effort or difficulty; easy. See Synonyms at easy.
adj. Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
adj. Arrived at without due care, effort, or examination; superficial: proposed a facile solution to a complex problem.
enmity
n. Deep-seated, often mutual hatred.
quotidian
adj. Everyday; commonplace: “There’s nothing quite like a real … train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute” (Anita Diamant).
adj. Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of malaria.
inchoate
adj. In an initial or early stage; incipient.
adj. Imperfectly formed or developed: a vague, inchoate idea.
decry
v. To condemn openly.
v. To depreciate (currency, for example) by official proclamation or by rumor.
insha’allah
if Allah wills; God willing
GOP
The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP (abbreviation for Grand Old Party)
ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization whose stated mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by its Constitution and laws.”
bien-pensant
adj. Right-thinking, orthodox, conformist; conservative.
n. A person who is bien pensant.
n. Someone who accepts and or espouses a fashionable idea after it has been established and maintains it without a great amount of critical thought.
odious
adj. Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure. See Synonyms at hateful.
cognoscenti
Plural form of cognoscente.
cognoscente
n. A person with superior, usually specialized knowledge or highly refined taste; a connoisseur.
promulgate
v. To make known (a decree, for example) by public declaration; announce officially. See Synonyms at announce.
v. To put (a law) into effect by formal public announcement.
charlatan
n. A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.
culpability
n. The degree of one’s blameworthiness in the commission of a crime or offense.
varsity
n. The principal team representing a university, college, or school in sports, games, or other competitions.
n. Chiefly British A university.
émigré
n. A Frenchman who has departed their native land, especially a royalist who left during the French Revolution.
n. An emigrant, one who departs their native land to become an immigrant in another, especially a political exile.
vociferous
adj. Making, given to, or marked by noisy and vehement outcry.
vehement
adj. Characterized by forcefulness of expression or intensity of emotion or conviction; fervid: a vehement denial. See Synonyms at intense.
adj. Marked by or full of vigor or energy; strong: a vehement storm.
neophyte
n. A recent convert to a belief; a proselyte.
n. A beginner or novice: a neophyte at politics.
n. Roman Catholic Church A newly ordained priest.
vixen
n. A female fox.
n. A woman regarded as quarrelsome, shrewish, or malicious.
milieu
n. An environment or a setting.
pernicious
adj. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly: a pernicious virus.
adj. Causing great harm; destructive: pernicious rumors.
adj. Archaic Evil; wicked.
pontificate
n. The office or term of office of a pontiff.
v. To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.
v. To administer the office of a pontiff.
duplicitous
adj. Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.
MSM
Mainstream Media
salad days
“Salad days” is a Shakespearean idiomatic expression to refer to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. More modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a heyday, a period when somebody was at the peak of their abilities—not necessarily in that person’s youth.
barbiturate
n. A salt or ester of barbituric acid.
n. Any of a group of barbituric acid derivatives that act as central nervous system depressants and are used as sedatives or hypnotics.
expound
v. To give a detailed statement of; set forth: expounded the intricacies of the new tax law.
v. To explain in detail; elucidate: The speaker expounded the approach of positive thinking. See Synonyms at explain.
v. To make a detailed statement: The professor was expounding on a favorite topic.
fabulist
n. A composer of fables.
n. A teller of tales; a liar.
jibe
n. to shift from one side to the other when running before the wind, as a fore-and-aft sail or its boom.
n. to alter course so that a fore-and-aft sail shifts in this manner.
éminence grise
n. A powerful adviser or decision-maker who operates secretly or unofficially. Also called gray eminence.
amalgam
n. Any of various alloys of mercury with other metals, especially:
n. An alloy of mercury and silver used in dental fillings.
n. An alloy of mercury and tin used in silvering mirrors.
STEM
STEM is an acronym referring to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
beyond the pale
Describing behaviour that is considered to be outside the bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgement in civilised company.
agitprop
n. Political propaganda, especially favoring communism and disseminated through literature, drama, art, or music: “It also is a conspiracy movie, agitprop against today’s targets, big government and big business” ( George F. Will).
retinue
n. The retainers or attendants accompanying a high-ranking person.
brigand
n. A robber or bandit, especially one of an outlaw band.
rhetorical
adj. Of or relating to rhetoric.
adj. Characterized by overelaborate or bombastic rhetoric.
adj. Used for persuasive effect: a speech punctuated by rhetorical pauses.
caput mundi
Caput Mundi is a Latin phrase taken to mean “capital of the world” (literally: “head of the world”)
Potomac
n. a river flowing SE from the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia, along the boundary between Maryland and Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay. 287 miles (460 km) long.
n. a city in central Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare (or Asymmetric engagement) is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional army and an insurgency or resistance movement.
nefarious
adj. Infamous by way of being extremely wicked.
offing
n. The part of the sea visible from shore that is very distant or beyond anchoring ground.
idiom. in the offing In the near or immediate future; soon to come: with exams finished and graduation in the offing.
idiom. in the offing Nearby; at hand.
Il mondo casca
The world falls
indelible
adj. Impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent: indelible ink.
adj. Making a mark not easily erased or washed away: an indelible pen for labeling clothing.
adj. Unable to be forgotten; memorable: an indelible memory.
surety
n. The condition of being sure, especially of oneself; self-assurance.
n. Something beyond doubt; a certainty.
n. A pledge or formal promise made to secure against loss, damage, or default; a security.
nebulous
adj. Cloudy, misty, or hazy.
adj. Lacking definite form or limits; vague: nebulous assurances of future cooperation.
adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a nebula.
nebula
n. Astronomy A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness depending on the way the mass absorbs or reflects incident radiation.
n. Astronomy See galaxy.
n. Pathology A cloudy spot on the cornea.
preeminent
adj. Superior to or notable above all others; outstanding. See Synonyms at dominant, noted.
subjugation
n. The act of subjugating.
n. The state of being subjugated; forced control by others.
subjugate
v. To bring under control; conquer. See Synonyms at defeat.
v. To make subservient; enslave.
vox populi
Vox populi is a Latin phrase that literally means voice of the people.
bugbear
n. A bugaboo.
n. A fearsome imaginary creature, especially one evoked to frighten children.
bugaboo
n. An object of obsessive, usually exaggerated fear or anxiety: “Boredom, laziness and failure … These bugaboos, magnified by imagination, keep [the workaholic] running” (Dun’s Review).
n. A recurring or persistent problem: “the bugaboos that have plagued vision systems: high price and slow throughput” (Lawrence A. Goshorn).
infidel
n. Offensive An unbeliever with respect to a particular religion, especially Christianity or Islam.
n. One who has no religious beliefs.
n. One who doubts or rejects a particular doctrine, system, or principle.
Weltanschauung
n. a person’s or a group’s conception, philosophy or view of the world; a worldview
Intifada
n. An uprising among Palestinian Arabs of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, beginning in late 1987 and continuing sporadically into the early 1990s, in protest against continued Israeli occupation of these territories.
autocratic
adj. Of or pertaining to autocracy or to an autocrat; absolute; holding independent and arbitrary powers of government.
adj. Of or pertaining to the manner of an autocrat.
autocrat
n. A ruler having unlimited power; a despot.
n. A person with unlimited power or authority: a corporate autocrat.
ameliorate
v. To make or become better; improve. See Synonyms at improve.
hegemon
n. One that exercises hegemony.
hegemony
n. The predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others.
lynchpin
n. A locking pin inserted in the end of a shaft, as in an axle, to prevent a wheel from slipping off.
n. A central cohesive element: Reduced spending is the linchpin of their economic program.
apocryphal
adj. Of questionable authorship or authenticity.
adj. Erroneous; fictitious: “Wildly apocryphal rumors about starvation in Petrograd . . . raced through Russia’s trenches” (W. Bruce Lincoln).
adj. Bible Of or having to do with the Apocrypha.
apocrypha
n. Certain writings which are received by some Christians as an authentic part of the Holy Scriptures, but are rejected by others.
n. Something, as a writing, that is of doubtful authorship or authority; — formerly used also adjectively. – John Locke.
Mitteleuropean
Mitteleuropa is one of the German terms for Central Europe. The term has acquired different cultural, political and historical connotations.
charlatan
n. A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.
voluble
adj. Marked by a ready flow of speech; fluent.
adj. Turning easily on an axis; rotating.
adj. Botany Twining or twisting: a voluble vine.
doyen
n. A man who is the eldest or senior member of a group.
rarefied
adj. Belonging to or reserved for a small select group; esoteric.
adj. Elevated in character or style; lofty.
lambastes
v. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of lambaste.
lambaste
v. Informal To give a thrashing to; beat. See Synonyms at beat.
v. Informal To scold sharply; berate.
Likudnik
n. A supporter of the Israeli political party Likud.
Likud
n. A leading rightist political party in Israel.
fawn
v. To exhibit affection or attempt to please, as a dog does by wagging its tail, whining, or cringing.
v. To seek favor or attention by flattery and obsequious behavior.
n. A young deer, especially one less than a year old.
obsequious
adj. Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.
portent
n. An indication of something important or calamitous about to occur; an omen.
n. Prophetic or threatening significance: signs full of portent.
n. Something amazing or marvelous; a prodigy.
divide et impera
divide and rule
bellicose
adj. Warlike or hostile in manner or temperament. See Synonyms at belligerent.
kerfuffle
n. A disorderly outburst, disturbance, commotion or tumult.
stellar
adj. Of, relating to, or consisting of stars.
adj. Of or relating to a star performer.
adj. Outstanding; principal.
bete noire
Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear.
strident
adj. Loud, harsh, grating, or shrill; discordant. See Synonyms at loud, vociferous.
manifestly
adv. In a manifest manner; obviously.
manifest
adj. Clearly apparent to the sight or understanding; obvious. See Synonyms at apparent.
v. To show or demonstrate plainly; reveal: “Mercedes … manifested the chaotic abandonment of hysteria” (Jack London).
v. To be evidence of; prove.
mufti
n. A Muslim scholar who interprets the shari’a.
n. Civilian dress, especially when worn by one who normally wears a uniform.
cuckold
n. A man married to an unfaithful wife.
v. To make a cuckold of.
paramour
n. A lover, especially one in an adulterous relationship.
svelte
adj. Slender or graceful in figure or outline; slim.
Byzantine
adj. Of, relating to, or characterized by intrigue; scheming or devious: “a fine hand for Byzantine deals and cozy arrangements” (New York).
malign
v. To make evil, harmful, and often untrue statements about; speak evil of.
adj. Evil in disposition, nature, or intent.
adj. Evil in influence; injurious.
emir
n. A prince, chieftain, or governor, especially in the Middle East.
veep
n. Slang A vice president.
vaunted
adj. Highly or widely praised or boasted about.
v. Simple past tense and past participle of vaunt.
fecund
adj. Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful.
adj. Marked by intellectual productivity. See Synonyms at fertile.
parlous
adj. Perilous; dangerous: “starting from scratch in parlous economic times” (Madalynne Reuter).
adj. Obsolete Dangerously cunning.
paean
n. A song of joyful praise or exultation.
n. A fervent expression of joy or praise: “The art . . . was a paean to paganism” (Will Durant).
n. An ancient Greek hymn of thanksgiving or invocation, especially to Apollo.
truism
n. A self-evident truth. See Synonyms at cliché.
salacious
adj. Appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious.
adj. Lustful; bawdy.
hokum
n. Something apparently impressive or legitimate but actually untrue or insincere; nonsense.
n. A stock technique for eliciting a desired response from an audience.
putative
adj. Generally regarded as such; supposed. See Synonyms at supposed.
sordid
adj. Filthy or dirty; foul.
adj. Depressingly squalid; wretched: sordid shantytowns.
adj. Morally degraded: “The sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils” (James Joyce). See Synonyms at mean.
mensch
n. Informal A person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: “He radiates the kind of fundamental decency that has a name in Yiddish; he’s a mensch” (James Atlas).
tawdry
adj. Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance. See Synonyms at gaudy.
adj. Shameful or indecent: tawdry secrets.
n. Cheap and gaudy finery.
gaudy
adj. Showy in a tasteless or vulgar way.
n. Chiefly British A feast, especially an annual university dinner.
polemic
n. A controversial argument, especially one refuting or attacking a specific opinion or doctrine.
n. A person engaged in or inclined to controversy, argument, or refutation.
adj. Of or relating to a controversy, argument, or refutation.
apogee
n. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite most distant from the center of the earth.
n. The point in an orbit most distant from the body being orbited.
n. The farthest or highest point; the apex: “The golden age of American sail, which began with the fast clipper ships in 1848, reached its apogee in the Gold Rush years” (Los Angeles Times).
perfunctory
adj. Done routinely and with little interest or care: The operator answered the phone with a perfunctory greeting.
adj. Acting with indifference; showing little interest or care.
casus belli
n. An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war.
cogent
adj. Appealing to the intellect or powers of reasoning; convincing: a cogent argument. See Synonyms at valid.
fiat
n. An arbitrary order or decree.
n. Authorization or sanction: government fiat.
surfeit
v. To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust.
v. Archaic To overindulge.
n. Overindulgence in food or drink.
apartheid
n. An official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.
n. A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups.
n. The condition of being separated from others; segregation.
sine qua non
n. An essential element or condition: “The perfect cake is the sine qua non of the carefully planned modern wedding” (J.M. Hilary).
interminable
adj. Being or seeming to be without an end; endless. See Synonyms at continual.
adj. Tiresomely long; tedious.
vapid
adj. Lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull: vapid conversation.
adj. Lacking taste, zest, or flavor; flat: vapid beer.
greenroom
n. A waiting room or lounge for the use of performers when they are offstage, as in a theater or concert hall.
internment
n. The act of interning or confining, especially in wartime.
n. The state of being interned; confinement.
au courant
adj. Informed on current affairs; up-to-date.
adj. Fully familiar; knowledgeable.
wiles
n. A stratagem or trick intended to deceive or ensnare.
n. A disarming or seductive manner, device, or procedure: the wiles of a skilled negotiator.
n. Trickery; cunning.
fractious
adj. Inclined to make trouble; unruly.
adj. Having a peevish nature; cranky.
polyglot
adj. Speaking, writing, written in, or composed of several languages.
n. A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages.
n. A book, especially a Bible, containing several versions of the same text in different languages.
coterie
n. A small, often select group of persons who associate with one another frequently.
emigre
n. One who has departed their native land, often as a refugee.
n. An emigrant, one who departs their native land to become an immigrant in another.
parley
n. A discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of truce or other matters.
v. To have a discussion, especially with an enemy.
sanction
n. Authoritative permission or approval that makes a course of action valid. See Synonyms at permission.
n. Support or encouragement, as from public opinion or established custom.
n. A consideration, influence, or principle that dictates an ethical choice.
internecine
adj. Of or relating to struggle within a nation, organization, or group.
adj. Mutually destructive; ruinous or fatal to both sides.
adj. Characterized by bloodshed or carnage.
paunchy
adj. Having a potbelly.
wag the dog
To ‘wag the dog’ means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue.
woolly-headed
adj. Having hair that looks or feels like wool.
adj. Vague or muddled: wooly-headed ideas.
bellweather
n. Common misspelling of bellwether.
bellwether
n. One that serves as a leader or as a leading indicator of future trends: “The degree to which the paper is censored is a political bellwether” (Justine De Lacy).
polemical
adj. of, or relating to argument or controversy; polemic or contentious
adj. aggressive in verbal attack; disputatious.
n. A diatribe or polemic
fickle
adj. Characterized by erratic changeableness or instability, especially with regard to affections or attachments; capricious.
veracity
n. Adherence to the truth; truthfulness. See Synonyms at truth.
n. Conformity to fact or truth; accuracy or precision: a report of doubtful veracity.
n. Something that is true.
bona fide
adj. Made or carried out in good faith; sincere: a bona fide offer.
adj. Authentic; genuine: a bona fide Rembrandt. See Synonyms at authentic.
hoser
n. Canadian Slang A clumsy, boorish person, especially an uncouth, beer-drinking man.
boorish
adj. Resembling or characteristic of a boor; rude and clumsy in behavior.
aflutter
adj. Being in a flutter; fluttering: with flags aflutter.
adj. Nervous and excited.
shopworn
adj. Tarnished, frayed, faded, or otherwise defective from being on display in a store.
adj. Worn-out, as from overuse; trite: shopworn anecdotes.
conflagration
n. A large destructive fire.
bellicose
adj. Warlike or hostile in manner or temperament. See Synonyms at belligerent.
July Crisis
The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that led to World War I.
trepidation
n. A state of alarm or dread; apprehension. See Synonyms at fear.
n. An involuntary trembling or quivering.
parley
n. A discussion or conference, especially one between enemies over terms of truce or other matters.
v. To have a discussion, especially with an enemy.
prescience
n. Knowledge of actions or events before they occur; foresight.
partisan
n. A fervent, sometimes militant supporter or proponent of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea.
n. A member of an organized body of fighters who attack or harass an enemy, especially within occupied territory; a guerrilla.
adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a partisan or partisans.
decisive
adj. Having the power to decide; conclusive.
adj. Characterized by decision and firmness; resolute.
adj. Beyond doubt; unmistakable: a decisive defeat.
geostrategy
n. The branch of geopolitics that deals with strategy.
n. The geopolitical and strategic factors that together characterise a certain geographic area.
n. Governmental strategy based on geopolitics.
subnational
adj. Forming a subdivision of a nation; contained entirely within a nation.
metonym
n. A word used in metonymy.
metonymy
n. A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of Washington for the United States government or of the sword for military power.
cf
abbr. compare, compare to
abbr. see also
abbr. confer (in the obsolete sense of compare) particularly in Webster’s 1913.
instate
v. To establish in office; install.
Chekism
Chekism (from Cheka, the first Soviet secret police organisation) is a term to describe the situation in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, where the secret political police control everything in society.
sordid
adj. Filthy or dirty; foul.
adj. Depressingly squalid; wretched: sordid shantytowns.
adj. Morally degraded: “The sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils” (James Joyce).
shantytown
n. A town or a section of a town consisting chiefly of shacks.
Pottery Barn rule
The Pottery Barn rule is an American expression alluding to a “you break it, you buy it” policy, by which a retail store holds a customer responsible for damage done to merchandise on display. It is an analogy often used in the political or military arena to suggest that if an actor inadvertently creates a problem, the actor is obliged to provide funding sufficient to correct it.
realitätsflucht
German for: flight from reality
ailment
n. A physical or mental disorder, especially a mild illness.
ail
v. To feel ill or have pain.
v. To cause physical or mental pain or uneasiness to; trouble. See Synonyms at trouble.
Gott mit uns
German for: God is with us
echelon
n. A formation of troops in which each unit is positioned successively to the left or right of the rear unit to form an oblique or steplike line.
n. A flight formation or arrangement of craft in this manner.
n. A similar formation of groups, units, or individuals.
fundament
an underlying ground, theory, or principle
n. The buttocks.
n. The anus.
n. The natural features of a land surface unaltered by humans.
regalia
n. The emblems and symbols of royalty, such as the crown and scepter.
n. The rights and privileges of royalty.
n. The distinguishing symbols of a rank, office, order, or society.
profligate
adj. Given over to dissipation; dissolute.
adj. Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant.
n. A profligate person; a wastrel.
dissipation
n. The act of dissipating or the condition of having been dissipated.
n. Wasteful expenditure or consumption.
n. Dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure; intemperance.
dissolute
adj. Lacking moral restraint; indulging in sensual pleasures or vices.
konspiratsiya
conspiracy
tradecraft
The skills acquired through experience of a trade.
(espionage) The methods used in espionage and clandestine operations.