Word: Tribute.
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: To honor someone with words or an award; Something given or done as an expression of esteem; payment by one nation for protection by another.
- Example: I was paying tribute to that life experience and Walt Disney, who famously said, "If you can dream it, you can do it."
Word: Linger.
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: Taking a long time to depart; linger can refer to feelings or sensations that slowly fade away.
- Example: I let the slide linger so the audience could follow the arrows.
- The smell of perfume that lingers in the elevator after the passengers have exited.
Word: Morose.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Showing a brooding ill humor; This word is stronger than just Sad.
- Example: "If I don't feel as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you," I said, and after, people laughed.
- When someone is morose, they seem to have a cloud of sadness hanging over them.
Word: Decamped.
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: Decam can be used by people when they scram, meaning when they relocate a household or a business to a new location.
- Example: My Family - My kids and my wife - we just decamped.
Word: Uproot.
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: Move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment or location.
- Example: My wife and I had decided to uproot our family, and I had asked her to leave a home she loved and friends who cared about her.
- When you uproot people, you move them from one place to a completely new one.
Word: Procrastinator.
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Someone who frequently postpones work, especially work that makes them anxious or bored.
- Example: When you wait until the last minute and fail to engage in a good writing process, you are not doing your best, even if you did get all A's as a procrastinator.
Word: Tangible.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Able to be seen or touched.
- Example: Writing is the tangible result of Thinking.
Word: disarray.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/verb.
- Meaning: State of confusion and lack of organization in a situation or a place.
- Example: Like any creative process, writing often starts in a jumble as you develop, sort, and sift through ideas. But it doesn't need to stay in disarray. Your writing will gain direction as you start examining those ideas.
Word: hone.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: Make perfect or complete.
- Example: She has taken numerous workshops to hone her skills.
Word: Impose
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: Force; Something unwelcoming; unfamiliar.
- Example: To impose a tax on the people.
Word: Solemn.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Dignified and Somber in Manner.
- Solemn can be used to describe anything that's really serious and dignified.
- Example: It was a solemn conversation, with Steve vowing to help look after Jai and the kids.
Word: Podium.
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Raised platform like the kind Olympians stand to receive medals when they win, soapbox, stump.
- Example: An unexpected whole house of 400, and as I hopped on stage to check out the podium and get organized, she could see how nervous I was.
Word: Rustling.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Adjective.
- Meaning: A gentle swishing sound.
- Example: There was a rustling in the audience as I got myself ready.
- Like the rustling of leaves in the trees on a breezy night.
Word: Puttering.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: Do random; unplanned work or activities; spend time idly.
- Example: Even with the talk only minutes away, I continued puttering at the podium, deleting some old slides.
Word: Tweed.
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Thick Woolen fabric used for clothing (Originated in Scotland).
- Example: I wasn't going to get up there in some professional tweed jacket with leather elbow patches.
- I put the tweed cap on and checked myself in the mirror one more time.
Word: toboggan.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: A long, narrow sled without runners; boards curve upward in front; move along.
- Example: One man rushed to the top of a snow-covered hill and slid down using a cardboard box as an improvised toboggan.
Word: slicking
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Slick means smooth or slippery.
- Example: The snow grew heavier in the afternoon in Austin, covering rooftops and slicking roads.
Word: predominantly.
- Parts of Speech: adverb.
- Meaning: To rule; for the most part; dominate; govern.
- Example: Central and Southern France are predominantly wine countries; beer only represents 16 percent of the country's alcoholic drinks market.
Word: doling.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: A share of money, food, or clothing that is part of charity.
- Example: The women aren't doling out charity. She pays $3.00 for an hour of Skype time to talk to her husband, who works in Dubai.
Word: Props.
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Proper Respect.
- Example: I have to give my props to the governor for handling the problem.
Word: Arc
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: In Math, Arc is one section of a circle, but in life, you can use it to describe any curved shape.
- Example: Chiron had told me long ago: Immortals arc constrained by ancient rules.
Word: unveiling
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Putting on the display, the act of beginning something new.
- Example: He attended the unveiling of the statue.
Word: Fiddle
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: The instrument that has strings. A fiddle is the same instrument as a violin. Manipulate manually in one's mind or imagination. Tries to fix or mend.
- Example: He constantly fiddles with her van on the weekends.
Word: Roused
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: Excited, Awaken, Wake up.
- Example: When someone calls out "rise and shine," they try to rouse you.
Word: Props
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Proper Respect.
- Example: I have to give my props to the governor for handling the problem.
Word: Windward
- Parts of Speech: Noun/adverb/adjective.
- Meaning: The direction from which the wind is coming, on the side to the wind.
- They were sailing windward.
- Example: Have you ever wondered why the windward side of the mountains or large hills receives so much snow than the surrounding areas?
Word: Leeward
- Parts of Speech: adjective/adverb/noun.
- Meaning: The side of something that is sheltered from the wind.
- Toward the wind.
- Example: Conversely, the leeward side often receives less snow due to descending air.
Word: Spotty
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Uneven or inconsistent especially in quality.
- Example: The wireless access in the internet room was spotty.
Word: Exasperating
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Extremely annoying or displeasing.
- Example: The wireless access in the internet room was spotty, which was exasperating because I was still combing the web, looking for the data.
Word: Tinkering
- Parts of Speech: Verb/Noun
- Meaning: Tinker means fixing or messing around about anything, spending time idly, unplanned activities.
- A person who enjoys fixing and experimenting with machines and their parts.
- Example: I kept tinkering, rethinking, and organizing.
Word: Catalogue
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb
- Meaning: A complete list of items, a list of things usually arranged systematically.
- A Catalogue is also spelled as Catalog.
- A book or pamphlet containing an enumeration of things.
- Example: How exactly do you catalogue your childhood dreams?
Word: Amassed
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Gathered or collected gradually or systematically.
- Means bringing together or assembling.
- It can be a real shock to enter a room and see your amassed friends shouting, "Surprise!"
- Example: I amassed 600 images of my family, along with dozens of off-beat illustrations that could make a point about childhood dreams.
Word: Sabbatical
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Adjective
- Meaning: A period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel.
- A leave is taken every seventh year.
- Example: We had bonded years earlier when I did a sabbatical at arts, where she is an executive.
Word: Gallows
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A structure typically of two uprights and a crosspiece used to hang criminals.
- A gallows is a frame, usually a wood, made up of a horizontal crossbeam from which a noose or rope is suspended.
- Example: Steve and I embraced, hired a car, and drove off together, trading gallows humor.
Word: Overjoyed
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Extremely happy.
- Extremely joyful.
- Example: When my wife brought our meals, I congratulated her on her promotion. "You must be overjoyed," I said.
Word: Resonate
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Be received or understood, evoke emotions.
- Resonate sounds like another verb, Resound, but they have subtly different meanings.
- Resound means to repeat the sound, while Resonate means to expand or amplify.
- Example: How could I turn this academic talk into something that would resonate with my kids a decade or more up the road?
Word: Discourse
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: An argument, An extended communication dealing with some particular topic, treatment, or discussion.
- This is the type of argument where people exchange ideas, sometimes heated, but it doesn't mean they get into fights or come to blows.
- Example: I had little interest in giving a discourse on, say, my insights into how I coped with the disease.
Word: Bravado
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A swaggering show of courage.
- Today, the word means almost over-the-top courage but can also mean a false show of bravery.
- Example: Though I have always had a healthy sense of self, I knew this lecture needed more than just bravado.
Word: Quirky
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Informal terms, way-out, off-beat
- Quirky is often used to describe the unconventional traits characterized by peculiar behavior.
- It is also used to describe things that possess an unconventional element, like a quirky strategy or a quirky idea.
- Example: My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all my dreams - from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky.
Word: Epiphany
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A moment of sudden revelation or insight, Divine Manifestation.
- The appearance of a god or a deity.
- Example: I had my Laptop with me in that waiting room, and fueled by this epiphany, I quickly tapped out an email to the lecture organizers.
Fortitude (Noun):
- Courage/Strength of mind in facing adversity.
- Example: "A Son of the Six is a man of faith and fortitude," Father Olufemi went on.
Vanity (Noun):
- Excessive pride in one's appearance or abilities, low table with mirror.
- Having a ridiculous amount of pride, false pride.
- Example: "The Vanity of human accomplishment," the doctor said sadly.
Hazy (Adjective):
- Unclear / Misty.
- Example: The day was hazy, and he couldn't see far ahead.
Habitat (Noun):
- Natural environment of a living being.
- Example: The habitat of Zebra is in the vast open plain.
Yearning (Noun):
- Deep longing / Strong desire/ Prolonged unfulfilled desire.
- Example: They speak of the schools with yearning and bravado; they want desperately to be selected.
Confront (Verb):
- To face a situation that makes you uncomfortable or a competition.
- To say something to someone about something they have done that bothers you or oppose.
- Example: When people are rude to you, you should confront them.
Grappling (Noun):
- Hand-to-hand combat, Wrestling, Struggle (The sport of Hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down).
- If you grapple with someone, you take hold of them and struggle with them, as a part of the fight.
- Example: Within moments, both were grappling and rolling on the ground, struggling for dominance.
Slugger (Noun):
- A boxer noted for an ability to deliver hard punches.
- A baseball player who is batting, batsman, batter, or hitter.
- Example: The Sluggers were trying to communicate with me.
Flatly (Adverb):
- Conveying a direct, clear idea firmly, in an unqualified manner.
- Example: "You have a plan," he said flatly, with a scrape of steel on stone (GOT).
Viscerally (Adverb):
- Based on deep feelings and emotional reactions, rather than reason or thought.
- Example: And the smell brought him back so viscerally, to a time when she loved him.
