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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Vocabulary #10

1) aficionado- (n) someone who is very interested in and enthusiastic about a particular subject

2) browbeat- (verb) to try to force someone to do something by threatening them or persuading them forcefully and unfairly

3) commensurate- (adj) in a correct and suitable amount compared to something else

4) diaphanous- (adj) describes a substance, especially cloth, which is so delicate and thin that you can see through it

5) emolument- (n) a payment in money or some other form that is made for work that has been done

6) foray- (n) a short involvement in an activity which is different from and outside the range of a usual set of activities

7) genre- (n) a style, especially in the arts, that involves a particular set of characteristics

8) homily- (n) a piece of spoken or written advice about how someone should behave

9) immure- (verb) to enclose within walls

10) insouciant- (n) a relaxed and happy way of acting without feeling worried or guilty

11) matrix- (n) the set of conditions which provides a system in which something grows or develops

12) obsequies-(obsequy -noun) A funeral right or ceremony

13) panache- (n) a stylish, original and very confident way of doing things that makes people admire you

14) persona- (n) the particular type of character that a person seems to have, which is often different from their real or private character

15) philippic- (n) a bitter or impassioned speech of denunciation; invective

16) prurient- (adj) too interested in the details of another person's sexual behaviour

17) sacrosanct- (adj) thought to be too important or too special to be changed

18) systemic- (adj) A systemic problem or change is a basic one, experienced by the whole of an organization or a country and not just particular parts of it

19) tendentious- (adj) (of speech or writing) expressing or supporting a particular opinion which many other people disagree with

20) vicissitude- (plural noun) changes which happen at different times during the life or development of someone or something, especially those which result in conditions being worse