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Vocab 5
ameliorate
v
To make better or less painful by easing or comforting. I can't tell
if this aspirin will ameliorate your pain, but take some anyway until the doctor
arrives.
captious adj Excessively fault-finding and complaining, picky. Aunt Ruth is such a captious old woman that when we invite her to dinner she complains if her napkin isn't folded properly.
charisma n Personal charm and magnetism, the ability to lead by sheer force of personality. It is still debated whether Bill Clinton was a fine President, but no one doubts that he had such great charisma that he could charm even his detractors.
detente
n
From French, an easing of tensions between two nations. During much of the
Cold War in the 50s, an uneasy detente existed between the US and Soviet Union;
we weren't warring, but we wanted to.
eschew
v
To reject or turn one's back on. Since I found out that I have
diabetes, I must eschew heavy sugary pastries.
fulminate v To sputter angrily in rage, to utter a thunderous denunciation. In the early 60s, Nikita Kruschev fulminated angrily against the United States, bellowing, "We will bury you." He's dead now.
harbinger
n
One who comes before, as a messenger. 1) The crocuses, harbingers
of spring, are peeking up through the late March snow. 2) Macbeth hoped
to the the harbinger to the king, riding home before him to bring news to Lady
Macbeth.
hiatus n A pause or a gap, a break. 1) He was an obsessive talker, and he filled every hiatus in the conversation with meaningless chatter. 2) My favorite show, Blues Clues, is going on summer hiatus, and I'm forced into watching reruns.
incisive adj Sharp and penetrating, as an intellect (related to "incision"). Ankhur had such an incisive mathematical mind that he could understand the proof of a complex equation before the teacher had finished writing it out.
indictment
n
A formal charge of wrongdoing. After Vinnie was arrested, the
court handed down a formal indictment against him and ordered him bound over for
trial.