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Vocab 26
fiasco n A complete and utter failure--sometimes ridiculously so. The surprise party for Gretchen was a complete fiasco; she's pathologically shy and hid in the bathroom crying all night.
heinous adj Conspicuously and wickedly bad. Stealing brakes off wheelchairs in San Francisco was a heinous crime for which Gus served 10 years in prison.
maverick n One who goes his/her own way, independent of the crowd--an independent and even rebellious thinker. (Originally the term comes from the old West, used to describe a horse which had broken away from the main herd.) No one thought that a startup computer company could compete with IBM, but Michael Dell, a true maverick in the field, proved them all wrong.
parsimony n Extreme thrift, almost miserliness. It's prudent to practice a cautious parsimony when making out one's budget, but Gertrude saved bits of string, for goodness sake!
rectitude n Honesty and moral uprightness. Abe Lincoln, known for his rectitude, would walk 10 miles to return extra change to a customer.
retribution n Vengeance, especially in payment for a wrong. As much as we wished to exact retribution for 9/11, the Afghan people have nothing higher than a hut that we could bomb in return for the WTC.
rhetorical adj Pertaining to the qualities of a speech, found especially in oratory. 1) George was fond of using rhetorical devices during his speeches; antithesis, rhetorical questions, and parallelism were all tricks up his sleeve.
venial adj Sinful in a minor way, not mortal. Although blasphemy and murder are both mortal sins which are punished in hell, telling your grandmother a fib about whether you like her hat is a more venial offense.
verisimilitude
n
Likeness or similarity to reality. Garry's paintings were known for such a
high degree of verisimilitude that patrons at the art gallery wondered how the
curator got an actual bowl of fruit to hang on the wall.
vertiginous adj Extremely,
even dizzyingly steep. As part of our rock-climbing training, we climbed the
vertiginous height of Devil's Tower in Utah--800 feet straight up.