Charles Harrington Elster - Verbal Advantage (Disc 13)

Legerdemain Puerile Complicity Transmute Abstruse

edify |edf|
verb ( edifies, edifying, edified ) [ with obj. ]
formal

instruct or improve (someone) morally or intellectually.

edify
verb students who have no desire to be edified should leave my classroom and take up thumbtwiddling: educate, instruct, teach, school, tutor, train, guide; enlighten, inform, cultivate, develop, improve, better.
formal

supercilious |soopr sils|

adjective behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others: a supercilious lady's maid.

supercilious
adjective a supercilious young clerk: arrogant, haughty, conceited, disdainful, overbearing, pompous, condescending, superior, patronizing, imperious, proud, snobbish, snobby, smug, scornful, sneering; informal hoity-toity, high and mighty, uppity, snooty,

stuck-up, snotty, snot-nosed, jumped up, too big for one's britches.
Having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy

his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air

= disdainful, haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, swaggering Expressive of contempt curled his lip in a supercilious smile proud
= sneering, snide uncomplimentary

dissemble |disembl|
verb [ no obj. ] conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs: an honest, sincere person with no need to dissemble.Vacuous
Capacious

dissemble
verb she's being honest and has no need to dissemble: dissimulate, pretend, feign, act, masquerade, sham, fake, bluff, posture, hide one's feelings, put on a false front.

Make believe with the intent to deceive = affect, feign, pretend, sham ~ belie, misrepresent bull, fake, mouth, play possum, take a dive, talk through one's hat

Hide under a false appearance He dissembled his disappointment = cloak, mask ~ disguise, mask

vacuous |vakyws|

adjective having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless: a vacuous smile | vacuous slogans. archaic empty.

vacuous
adjective that vacuous laugh of his drives me nuts: silly, inane, unintelligent, insipid, foolish, stupid, fatuous, idiotic, brainless, witless, vapid, vacant, empty-headed; informal dumb, moronic, brain-dead, fluffy, fluffball. ANTONYMS intelligent.
Showing a lack of intelligence or thought; stupid and silly It was in this last category that the vacuous comments began = asinine, fatuous, inane, mindless daft, dumb, foolish, stupid

Without value, significance or point vacuous comments = empty, hollow meaningless, nonmeaningful

Devoid of matter a vacuous space empty

capacious |kpSHs|
adjective having a lot of space inside; roomy: she rummaged in her capacious handbag.

capacious
adjective a capacious hotel suite: roomy, spacious, ample, big, large, sizable, generous; formal commodious.

ANTONYMS

cramped, small.

Large in capacity she carried a capacious bag big, large

mnemonic |nmnik|
noun a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something. adjective aiding or designed to aid the memory. of or relating to the power of memory.

sonorous |snrs|
adjective (of a person's voice or other sound) imposingly deep and full. capable of producing a deep or ringing sound: the alloy is sonorous and useful in making bells. (of a speech or style) using imposing language: they had expected the lawyers to deliver sonorous lamentations.

sonorous
adjective 1 a sonorous voice: resonant, rich, full, round, booming, deep, clear, mellow, orotund, fruity, strong, resounding, reverberant. 2 sonorous words of condemnation: impressive, imposing, grandiloquent, magniloquent, highflown, lofty, orotund, bombastic, grandiose, pompous, pretentious, overblown, turgid;

oratorical, rhetorical; informal highfalutin.

commensurate |kmensrt, -menSH-|

adjective corresponding in size or degree; in proportion: salary will be commensurate with experience | such heavy responsibility must receive commensurate rewardIncessant.

commensurate
adjective 1 they had privileges but commensurate duties : equivalent, equal, corresponding, correspondent, comparable, proportionate, proportional. 2 a salary commensurate with your qualifications: appropriate to, in keeping with, in line with, consistent with, corresponding to, according to, relative to; dependent on, based on.

incessant |insesnt|
adjective (of something regarded as unpleasant) continuing without pause or interruption: the incessant beat of the music.

incessant
adjective their dog's incessant barking: ceaseless, unceasing, constant, continual, unabating, interminable, endless, unending, never-ending, everlasting, eternal, perpetual, continuous, nonstop, around/round-the-clock, uninterrupted, unbroken, unremitting, persistent, relentless, unrelenting, unrelieved, sustained. ANTONYMS

intermittent, occasional.

sycophant |sikfnt, -fant|

noun a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.

sycophant
noun I thought you wanted a competent assistant, not a nodding sycophant: yes-man, bootlicker, brownnoser, toady, lickspittle, flatterer, flunky, lackey, spaniel, doormat, stooge, cringer, suck, suck-up.

tangential |tanjenCHl|
adjective of, relating to, or along a tangent: a tangential line. diverging from a previous course or line; erratic: tangential thoughts. hardly touching a matter; peripheral: the reforms were tangential to efforts to maintain a basic
Of superficial relevance if any a tangential remark = digressive beside the point, irrelevant

standard of life.

Of or relating to or acting along or in the direction of a tangent tangential

tenable |tenbl|
adjective 1 able to be maintained or defended against attack

or objection: such a simplistic approach is no longer tenable. 2 (of an office, position, scholarship, etc.) able to be held or used: the post is tenable for three years.

tenable
adjective O'Leary's confession has certainly made Cohn's alibi more tenable: defensible, justifiable, supportable, sustainable, arguable, able to hold water, reasonable, sensible, rational, sound, viable, plausible, credible, believable, conceivable. ANTONYMS indefensible.

impalpable |impalpbl|
adjective unable to be felt by touch: an impalpable ghost. not easily comprehended: something so impalpable as personhood.

impalpable
adjective his skin was sallow and his pulse impalpable | impalpable clouds: intangible, insubstantial, incorporeal, immaterial; indefinable, elusive, imperceptible, indescribable.
Incapable of being perceived by the senses especially the sense of touch the impalpable constituent of energy = intangible abstract

Imperceptible to the senses or the mind an impalpable cloud as impalpable as a dream impalpable distinctions impalpable shadows elusive, imperceptible, subtle, unperceivable palpable

odious |ds|
adjective extremely unpleasant; repulsive.

odious
adjective the odious procedures of the military government | the dumpsite was especially odious in summer: revolting, repulsive, repellent, repugnant, disgusting, offensive, objectionable, vile, foul, abhorrent, loathsome, nauseating, sickening, hateful, detestable, execrable, abominable, monstrous, appalling, reprehensible, deplorable, insufferable, intolerable, despicable, contemptible, unspeakable, atrocious, awful, terrible, dreadful, frightful, obnoxious, unsavory, unpalatable, unpleasant, disagreeable, nasty, noisome, distasteful; informal ghastly, horrible, horrid, gross, godawful; beastly. ANTONYMS delightful, pleasant.

ubiquitous |yoo bikwts|

adjective present, appearing, or found everywhere: his ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family | cowboy hats are ubiquitous among the male singers.

ubiquitous
adjective after WWII, television became almost ubiquitous in the United States: omnipresent, ever-present, everywhere, all over the place, pervasive, universal, worldwide, global; rife, prevalent, far-

reaching, inescapable. ANTONYMS rare.

ruminate |room nt|

verb [ no obj. ] 1 think deeply about something: we sat ruminating on the nature of existence. 2 (of a ruminant) chew the cud.

ruminate
verb we ruminated on the nature of existence: think about, contemplate, consider, meditate on, muse on, mull over, ponder on/over, deliberate about/on, chew on, puzzle over; formal cogitate about.

remuneration |rimyoon rSHn|

noun money paid for work or a service.

remuneration
noun you will receive adequate remuneration for the work you have done: payment, pay, salary, wages; earnings, fee(s), reward, compensation, recompense, reimbursement; formal emolument(s).

peccadillo |pekdil|
noun ( pl. peccadilloes or peccadillos ) a small, relatively unimportant offense or sin.

peccadillo
noun I'm sure we can overlook a few peccadilloes :

misdemeanor, petty offense, indiscretion, lapse,

misdeed.

supine |soo pn|

adjective 1 (of a person) lying face upward. technical having the front or ventral part upward. (of the hand) with the palm upward. 2 failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence: supine in the face of racial injustice.

supine
adjective 1 she lay supine on the sand: flat on one's back, face upward, facing upward, flat, horizontal, recumbent, stretched out. ANTONYMS prone, upright. 2 the supine media: weak, spineless, yielding, effete; docile, acquiescent, pliant, submissive, passive, inert, spiritless. ANTONYMS strong.

banal |bnl, bnal, -nl|

adjective so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring: songs with banal, repeated words.

banal
adjective banal lyrics: trite, hackneyed, clichd, platitudinous, vapid, commonplace, ordinary, common, stock, conventional, stereotyped, overused, overdone, overworked, stale, worn out,

timeworn, tired, threadbare, hoary, hack, unimaginative, humdrum, ho-hum, unoriginal, uninteresting, dull, trivial; informal old hat, corny, cornball, played out; dated dime-store; rare truistic, bromidic. ANTONYMS original.

heterodox |hetrdks|
adjective not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs: heterodox views.

heterodox
adjective their heterodox sister was home from college, spouting her liberal views: unorthodox, nonconformist, dissenting, dissident, rebellious, renegade; heretical, blasphemous, recusant, apostate, skeptical; freethinking, unconventional. ANTONYMS orthodox.

grandiloquent |grandilkwnt|
adjective pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, esp. in a way that is intended to impress: a grandiloquent celebration of Spanish glory.

grandiloquent
adjective grandiloquent speeches: pompous, bombastic, magniloquent, pretentious, ostentatious, highflown, orotund, florid, flowery; overwrought, overblown, overdone; informal highfalutin, purple. ANTONYMS understated.

infinitesimal |infinites()ml|
adjective extremely small: an infinitesimal pause. nounMathematics an indefinitely small quantity; a value approaching zero.

malinger |mliNGgr|
verb [ no obj. ] exaggerate or feign illness in order to escape duty or work.

malinger
verb he was put on report for malingering: pretend to be ill, feign (an) illness, fake (an) illness; shirk; informal goof off.

aver |vr|
verb ( avers, averring , averred ) [ reporting verb ] formal state or assert to be the case: [ with clause ] : he averred that he was innocent of the allegations | [ with direct speech ] : You're the most beautiful girl in the world, he averred. [ with obj. ] Law allege as a fact in support of a
Report or maintain He averred that he was the victim of a crime = allege, say ~ assert, asseverate, maintain plead

To declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true Before God I aver I am innocent = affirm, assert, avow, swan, swear, verify ~ declare, pronounce assure, attest, claim, declare, hold, protest, take, tell

plea.

cacophony |kkfn|
noun ( pl. cacophonies ) a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds: a cacophony of deafening alarm bells | figurative : a cacophony of architectural styles | songs of unrelieved cacophony.

cacophony
noun despite the cacophony, Rita slept on: din, racket, noise, clamor, discord, dissonance, discordance, uproar.
A loud harsh or strident noise = blare, blaring, clamour, din ~ noise

Loud confusing disagreeable sounds

usage |yoosij, -zij|

noun the action of using something or the fact of being used: a survey of water usage | the usage of equipment. the way in which a word or phrase is normally and correctly used. habitual or customary practice, esp. as creating a right, obligation, or standard.

usage
noun

1 energy usage: use, consumption, utilization. 2 the usage of equipment: use, utilization, operation, manipulation, running, handling. 3 the intricacies of English usage: phraseology, parlance, idiom, way of speaking/writing, mode of expression, style; idiolect. 4 the usages of polite society: custom, practice, habit, tradition, convention, rule, observance; way, procedure, form, wont; formal praxis; (usages) mores.

refractory |rifraktr|
adjective formal 1 stubborn or unmanageable: his refractory pony. 2 resistant to a process or stimulus: some granules are refractory to secretory stimuli. Medicine (of a person, illness, or diseased tissue) not yielding to treatment: healing of previously refractory ulcers. Medicine, rare (of a person or animal) resistant to infection. technical (of a substance) resistant to heat; hard to melt or fuse.

refractory
adjective formal their refractory children: obstinate, stubborn, mulish, pigheaded, obdurate, headstrong, self-willed, wayward, willful, perverse, contrary, recalcitrant, obstreperous, disobedient, difficult; informal balky; archaic contumacious, froward. ANTONYMS obedient.

iconoclast |knklast|
noun

1 a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions. 2 a destroyer of images used in religious worship, in particular: historical a supporter of the 8th- and 9th-century movement in the Byzantine Church that sought to abolish the veneration of icons and other religious images.

iconoclast
noun in terms of the money culture in Washington, she is an iconoclast: critic, skeptic; heretic, unbeliever, dissident, dissenter, infidel; rebel, renegade, mutineer.

enervate
verb |enrvt| [ with obj. ] cause (someone) to feel drained of energy or vitality; weaken. adjective |enrvit| literary lacking in energy or vitality: the enervate slightness of his frail form.

enervate
verb the hot weather enervated her: exhaust, tire, fatigue, weary, wear out, devitalize, drain, sap, weaken, enfeeble, debilitate, incapacitate, prostrate; informal knock out, do in, shatter. ANTONYMS invigorate.

levity |levt|

noun humor or frivolity, esp. the treatment of a serious matter with humor or in a manner lacking due respect: as an attempt to introduce a note of levity, the words were a disastrous flop.

levity
noun without some occasional levity, the working environment is no better than a sweatshop: lightheartedness, high spirits, vivacity, liveliness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, humor, gaiety, fun, jocularity, hilarity, frivolity, amusement, mirth, laughter, merriment, glee, comedy, wit, wittiness, jollity, joviality. ANTONYMS seriousness.

equanimity |kwnimit, ekw-|

noun mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation: she accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity .

equanimity
noun she confronted the daily crises with equanimity : composure, calm, level-headedness, selfpossession, coolheadedness, presence of mind; serenity, tranquility, phlegm, imperturbability, equilibrium; poise, assurance, self-confidence, aplomb, sangfroid, nerve; informal cool. ANTONYMS anxiety. 1 a restriction on a person or activity: religious strictures on everyday life. 2 a sternly critical or censorious remark or

instruction: his strictures on their lack of civic virtue. 3 Medicine abnormal narrowing of a canal or duct in the body: a colonic stricture | jaundice caused by bile duct stricture

stricture
noun 1 the constant strictures of the nuns: criticism, censure, condemnation, reproof, reproach, admonishment, animadversion. ANTONYMS praise. 2 the strictures on Victorian women: constraint, restriction, limitation, restraint, curb, impediment, barrier, obstacle. ANTONYMS freedom. 3 an intestinal stricture: narrowing, constriction.

opulent |pylnt|
adjective ostentatiously rich and luxurious or lavish: the opulent comfort of a limousine. wealthy: his more opulent tenants

opulent
adjective 1 his opulent home: luxurious, sumptuous, palatial, lavish, lavishly appointed, rich, splendid, magnificent, grand, grandiose, fancy; informal plush, classy, ritzy, posh, swanky, swank. ANTONYMS spartan, stark, ascetic. 2 an opulent family: wealthy, rich, affluent, well off, well-to-do, moneyed, prosperous, of means, of substance; informal well-heeled, rolling in money/dough, rolling in it, loaded, stinking/filthy rich, made of money, in clover, (living) on easy

street; dated in the chips. ANTONYMS penniless, poor, impoverished. 3 her opulent red hair: copious, abundant, profuse, prolific, plentiful, luxuriant; literary plenteous. ANTONYMS sparse, thin.

disparage |disparij|
verb [ with obj. ] regard or represent as being of little worth: he never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors.

disparage
verb they disparage Lawrence and his achievements: belittle, denigrate, deprecate, trivialize, make light of, undervalue, underrate, play down; ridicule, deride, mock, scorn, scoff at, sneer at; run down, defame, discredit, speak badly of, cast aspersions on, impugn, vilify, traduce, criticize, slur; informal pick holes in, knock, slam, pan, badmouth, dis, pooh-pooh; formal calumniate, derogate. ANTONYMS praise, overrate.

discursive |diskrsiv|
adjective 1 digressing from subject to subject: students often write dull, secondhand, discursive prose. (of a style of speech or writing) fluent and expansive rather than formulaic or abbreviated: the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive. 2 of or relating to discourse or modes of discourse: the attempt to transform utterances from one

discursive context to another. 3 Philosophy, archaic proceeding by argument or reasoning rather than by intuition.

discursive
adjective 1 dull, discursive prose: rambling, digressive, meandering, wandering, maundering, diffuse, long, lengthy, wordy, verbose, long-winded, prolix; circuitous, roundabout, circumlocutory; informal waffly. ANTONYMS concise. 2 an elegant discursive style: fluent, flowing, fluid, eloquent, expansive. ANTONYMS terse.

redress |ridres, rdres|

verb [ with obj. ] remedy or set right (an undesirable or unfair situation): the power to redress the grievances of our citizens. archaic set upright again: some ambitious architect being called to redress a leaning wall. noun remedy or compensation for a wrong or grievance: those seeking redress for an infringement of public law rights.

redress
verb 1 we redressed the problem: rectify, correct, right, put to rights, compensate for, amend, remedy, make good, resolve, settle. 2 we aim to redress the balance: even up, regulate, equalize. noun your best hope of redress: compensation,

reparation, restitution, recompense, repayment, indemnity, indemnification, retribution, satisfaction; justice.

Anomalous |nmls|
adjective deviating from what is standard, normal, or expected: an anomalous situation | sentences that are grammatically anomalous

anomalous
adjective it's an anomalous birthmark: abnormal, atypical, irregular, aberrant, exceptional, freak, freakish, odd, bizarre, peculiar, unusual, out of the ordinary; deviant, mutant; formal heteroclite. ANTONYMS normal, typical.

obsequious |bskws|
adjective obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree: they were served by obsequious waiters.

obsequious
adjective an elderly gentlemen surrounded by obsequious heirs: servile, ingratiating, sycophantic, fawning, unctuous, oily, oleaginous, groveling, cringing, subservient, submissive, slavish; informal brownnosing, bootlicking, smarmy; vulgar slang ass-kissing. ANTONYMS domineering.

didactic |ddaktik|

adjective intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive: a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice. in the manner of a teacher, particularly so as to treat someone in a patronizing way: slow-paced, didactic lecturing.

didactic
adjective the reforming, didactic function of art: instructive, instructional, educational, educative, informative, informational, edifying, improving, preceptive, pedagogic, moralistic.

truncate |trNGkt|
verb [ with obj. ] (often as adj. truncated) shorten (something) by cutting off the top or the end: a truncated cone shape | discussion was truncated by the arrival of tea. Crystallography replace (an edge or an angle) by a plane, typically so as to make equal angles with the adjacent faces.

truncate
verb the program may need to be truncated: shorten, cut, cut short, curtail, bring to an untimely end; abbreviate, condense, reduce, prune. ANTONYMS lengthen, extend.

abstemious |abstms|

adjective not self-indulgent, esp. when eating and drinking: We only had a bottle. Very abstemious of you.
DERIVATIVES

abstemiously adverb, abstemiousness noun ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin abstemius (from ab- from + a word related to temetum strong drink) + -ous.

abstemious
adjective the monks here have willingly chosen this abstemious life: self-denying, temperate, abstinent, moderate, self-disciplined, restrained, self-restrained, sober, austere, ascetic, puritanical, spartan, hair-shirt. ANTONYMS self-indulgent.

ethereal |iTHi()rl|
adjective 1 extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world: her ethereal beauty | a singer who has a weirdly ethereal voice. heavenly or spiritual: ethereal, otherworldly visions. 2 Chemistry (of a solution) having diethyl ether as a solvent.

ethereal
adjective melodic phrases of ethereal beauty: delicate, exquisite, dainty, elegant, graceful; fragile, airy, fine, subtle; unearthly. ANTONYMS substantial, earthly.

bombastic |bmbastik|
adjective high-sounding but with little meaning; inflated: bombastic rhetoric | bombastic music that drowned out what anyone was saying.

bombastic
adjective his bombastic speeches could send thousands into the streets: pompous, blustering, turgid, verbose, orotund, high-flown, high-sounding, overwrought, pretentious, ostentatious, grandiloquent; informal highfalutin, puffed up; rare fustian.