vilify - VIL-ih-FIE, VIL-ih-fih-KAY-shun - speak or write about in an unpleasant manner, put down, castigate

Example: "The Week magazine attempted an analysis of Sarah Palin's amazing rise in popularity with the publishing of her book, despite harsh vilification by the general press."

foment - FOH-MENT - stir up, incite, instigate, arouse, egg on

Example: "On NPR's morning news it was announced that a partisan plan has begun, to foment blame on the present administration for what the President called a 'systemic failure' in airline security."

censorious - sen-SOAR-ih-US - severely critical

Example: "Sexual liberation has reached the military; in her censorious portrayal of sexual accosts while serving in Iraq, Capt. Margaret H. White declared her biggest threat came from her fellow soldiers."

laud - LAHD - praise, esp. in a public context

Example: "Both the administration & the press have lauded the passengers on the Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Detroit for overcoming the Nigerian who planned to blow up the plane, and subsequently, prevent a terrorist attack."

rime (sometimes "rime ice") - RIME - a kind of icy frost that coats things, usually due to humid air or moisture freezing when temperature drops

Example: "The local weather forecast in Lower Michigan predicts that the recent drizzle will result tomorrow in a coating of rime ice if temperatures drop to the freezing point."

grandiloquent - grand-ILL-oh-KWENT - pompous or extravagant in language, style or manner, especially to impress

Example: "An ethnic cook on a local talk show raved grandiloquently about the curative powers of her chicken soup, particularly with regard to colds or the flu."

dormant - DORE-MANT - in a deep sleep or, as with animals, falling into a period with functions slowed down

Example: "After 30 years of slowdown, the dormant nuclear industry seems to be swinging back, with 104 plants now running and sharply raising their output, and with more expected to be completed soon."

simulacrum - SIM-you-LA-krum - an image or representation of someone or something

Example: "It's not well known, but in a remote area in Indiana the Army and the Indiana National Guard have turned an abandoned ramshackle complex into a simulacrum of a war-torn Afghan city, with a courthouse, a jail and a graffiti-smeared marketplace - where our troops practice before heading for the real thing."


(Just checked: also can be pronounced sim-YOU-lai-krum)

concierge - kohn-see-AIRJ - someone hired by a hotel or apartment building to help guests or residents

Example:  "According to an article in the NY Times, experts predict smartphone applications as personal concierges - handling everything from reservations to reimbursements."

outré - ooh-TRAY - unusual, startling, far out, bizarre

Example: "As all the critics agree, 'Avatar' has a hackneyed plot, but the special effects are, to put it mildly, outré to the extreme!"

avatar - av-ah-TAR - the god-like embodiment of someone who personifies. or is the manifestation of, an idea or concept

Example: "Buddhists believe that Buddha was an avatar - an Indian philosopher who renounced his life as a prince in order to develop & teach."

zealous - zell-uss - having or showing great zeal (ardent devotion)

Example: "Facing beefed-up security on the border that now includes miles of new fencing, floodlights, drones, motion sensors and cameras - Mexican smugglers have stepped up their efforts to corrupt even the most zealous border police."

ebullient - eh-BYOO-lee-ENT - cheerful, full of eager energy

Example: "Former Black Sabbath frontman, after repeated tries, finally passed his driving test; the ebullient man exclaimed, 'I'm legal now, so watch out!'"

sacrilege - SAK-rih-LEJ - a violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred

Example: "An article in the NY Times revealed a custom unique to weddings in Pittsburgh - having a special table heaped with a variety of home-made cookies: "Not to bake cookies for the ceremony is considered a sacrilege by its citizens.'"

intractable - in-TRAK-tah-BULL - hard to control or deal with, excessively stubborn

Example: Aluf Benn, an Israeli columnist, wrote that the normally intractable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seriously interested in making concessions to the Palestinians and coming to agreement on a two-state solution to decades of controversy."

comity - KOM-it-ee - considerate behavior toward others; comity of nations is an association of nations for mutual benefit

Example: "It is a comity of nations that have assembled in Copenhagen to discuss global changes."

capacious - cah-PAY-shus - roomy, having a lot of space inside

Example: "Digital camera owners are asked to note that a camera won't be of much use without a capacious memory card to store photos or videos on."

imbroglio - im-BRO-lee-oh - an extremely confused, complicated or embarrassing situation

Example: "The Tiger Woods imbroglio might finally leave the front pages, now that he has confessed, apologized & promised to make reparation for his philanderings."

invictus - in-VIK-tus - Latin for "unconquered"

Example: "Invictus is the title of a poem by William Ernest Henley, which Nelson Mandela read & was inspired by, while in a South African prison."

egotist - ee-goh-tist - the practice of talking & thinking of oneself excessively due to an overblown image of self-importance

Example: "Ambrose Bierce once said, 'An egotist is a person of low taste - more interested in himself than me.'"

bourgeois - boor-SZHWA - of the middle class, boring, conventional, materialistic, "square"

Example: "With three new biographies of Andy Warhol renewing interest in the 50s artist , critic David Wallace-Wells belittled him for his Campbell's tomato soup cans and elaborate multiple reproductions of movie stars, calling him 'a pop artist out to out-bourgeois the bourgeois.'"

fait accompli - feht-ak-kom-PLEE - a done deed, a thing that has already happened

Example: "Delegates to the Copenhagen discussion on global waming have come to an early agreement that serious global changes have become a serious fait accompli."

epiphany - ee-PIF-uh-NEE - insight, realization, manifestation

Example: "The Week magazine recently quoted 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who in a sudden epiphany wrote: 'Science is organization of knowledge; wisdom is organization of life.'"

endemic - en-DEM-ik - the innate tendency to behave in a particular way

Example: "All China's barriers to higher consumption are endemic - their focus on one thing: making stuff."

dystopia - dis-TOW-pyah - an imaginary place where everything is as bad as could be - opposite of "utopia," where everything is as good as could be

Example: "Whether true or not, we tend automatically to consider any Muslim-dominated country, like Iran or Afghanistan, to be a dystopia of dictatorial horrors."

irascible - ee-RASS-sible - "hot-tempered, easily angered

"A New York Times article reported that the president's speech (indicating his troops for Afghanistan decision) was responded to negatively & immediately in typical knee-jerk reaction from the irascible Fox news outlets."

insouciance - in-SOO-see-AHNS - casual lack of concern, indifference

Example: "A federal district court ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigational channel to the devastated flood during Hurricane Katrina - leading to billions of dollars in litigation against the federal government - as myopia, insouciance & shortsightedness."

rife - bursting, overflowing, teeming, rampant

Example: "The town of Ontonagon came first in its race for money to build a children's playground; the people there are rife with excitement over it. Note the following comment: "I am so glad something good is happening for Ontonagen. I voted faithfully! Hooray for all the yoopers who helped make this happen. It shows what wonderful people they are - whether they live in the U.P. still, or not."

preemptive - pree-EMP-tive - done before somebody else can act, seizing the initiative

Example: "In his most recent speech, President Obama declared that he would take preemptive action in Afghanistan."

moratorium - MORE-uh-TOR-yum - suspension of activity, temporary prohibition of activity

Example: "Tiger Woods is attempting to place a moratorium on police activity regarding his well publicized car accident, which, he claims, took place on his own property and thus is of family, not police, issue."