Word: Rubric
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Evaluation Tool that lists expectations and different levels of quality for a task or test; A rubric is a heading or a category in a chart; A rule or procedure.
- Example: A teacher’s grading rubrics may include participation, quizzes, grading, and papers.
Word: Colloquialisms
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Words or phrases that are not formal or literary but are typically used in ordinary or familiar conversations.
- A saying that expresses something other than the literal meaning of the words.
- Example: Saying, ‘I wasn't born yesterday,’ meaning, You can’t fool me.
Word: clichés
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: This refers to a saying or an expression that has been so overused that it has become boring and unoriginal.
- Example: If you have heard an expression a million times, chances are it’s a cliché.
Word: Contractions
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Words formed by combining two or more words and omitting certain sounds represented by apostrophes.
- Decreasing the size of something in size, volume, quantity, or scope.
- Example: Texas's economy has a whopping 10% growth, while the nation’s economy contracted during that period.
Word: Abating
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense; Make less active or intense.
- Example: The storm abated.
Word: Dashed
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Having gaps or spaces.
- Example: He had high hopes for society, and though his hopes were too often dashed, he remained a raging optimist.
- Men, women, and children seized articles and dashed inside shouting.
Word: Contain
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: The verb 'contain' has many shades of meaning, but it often describes something that’s held back or held in by something; be capable of holding.
- Example: My Imagination was always pretty hard to contain.
Word: Swirling
- Parts of Speech: Verb/Noun
- Meaning: To swirl is to turn in circles or spirals; The shape of something rotating rapidly.
- Example: I felt this urge to splash some of my thoughts swirling in my mind onto the walls of my room.
Word: Unconventional
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Bizarre, Eccentric, Flakey, Freakish, Freaky; To be unconventional is to act, dress, speak, or otherwise exist out of the bounds of cultural norms.
- Example: He understood me and my need to express myself in unconventional ways.
Word: Escapade
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A wild and exciting undertaking, Any carefree episode; An escapade is an adventure, tinged with a hint of danger.
- Example: My mother wasn’t so high on the whole escapade, but she relented quickly when she saw how excited I was.
Word: Impromptu
- Parts of Speech: Adjective/Adverb/Noun
- Meaning: Done without preparation, planning, or forethought.
- Example: The three men settled in to an impromptu meeting.
Word: Cropped up
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Appeared or occurred unexpectedly.
- Crop-up is a verbal phrase that means something or someone appears or happens, usually unexpectedly.
- Example: I’ll be late; something’s cropped up at home.
Word: Commemorative
- Parts of Speech: Adjective/Noun
- Meaning: Honoring or preserving the memory of someone or something.
- Anything that is a memorial to someone or something is called a Commemorative.
- Example: We were supposed to study incandescent lamps, but he spent the period telling us about commemorative stamps.
Word: Infamy
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: State of being well known for evil things.
- Means being famous for something bad or negative.
- Example: A date which will live in Infamy - F.D.Roosevelt
- Therefore, a prince must not worry about the infamy of being considered cruel when it is a matter of keeping his subjects loyal and united.
Word: Ostentatious
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Intended to attract notice and Impress others.
- Often used for displays of crass (lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence) or vulgar sort.
- Example: Despite the ostentatious nature of the glass castle, she had to admit that it did look rather beautiful at times.
Word: Persuade
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: To persuade is to get your way; twist somebody’s arm.
- With a carefully constructed argument and with the strength of your argument, you persuade with language.
- Example: You can’t persuade me to eat the desert!
Word: Analytical
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Evaluating Information gathered from Observation and experience; Critical Thinking;
- Example: If you are good at analysis, you take a problem or task and break it down into smaller elements to solve the problem or complete the task. It means you have an analytical mind.
Word: Sensationalized
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: To sensationalize is to exaggerate a story, event, or moment and make it more thrilling or alarming.
- Example: Media use this tactic constantly, sensationalizing a news story's details.
Word: Conscientious
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Being careful, thoughtful, and decent.
- Example: Conscientious people show care and put in a big effort.
Word: Reverent
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Feeling or showing profound respect; adoring, worshipful, veneration; reverence for God.
- Example: And that is what he did, always silent, reverent, and present.
Word: Cockiness
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Offensive boldness and assertiveness.
- Example: My mother, meanwhile, knew plenty, too. All my life, she saw it as part of her mission to keep my cockiness in check (The Last Lecture).
Word: Precocious
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: They are precocious, meaning they are way beyond their years in skills and knowledge; describing young people who have some adult-like qualities about them; early development or maturity, especially in mental aptitude.
- Example: She describes me as “alert, but not terribly precocious” (The Last Lecture).
Word: Relish
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb
- Meaning: To enjoy something immensely; spicy or savory condiment.
- Example: After I got my PhD, my mother took great relish in introducing me by saying: “This is my son. He’s a doctor” (The Last Lecture).
Word: Underwrite
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Protect by Insurance; cover; insure; guarantee financial support.
- Example: Together, they underwrote a fifty-student dormitory in rural Thailand (The Last Lecture).
Word: Grandest
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Large and Impressive in physical size or extent; behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope; rich and superior in quality.
- Example: He was more focussed on the grandest ideals and saw inequality as the greatest of goals (The Last Lecture).
Word: Resorted
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb
- Meaning: Turning to someone or something for assistance; have recourse to.
- Example: In desperation, they resorted to tactics such as strapping small bombs to dogs’ backs and sending them to blow up German tanks.
Word: Causality
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Connection between a cause and its result or consequence.
- Example: Sometimes it is difficult to figure out the Causality of the stomach ache, it could be due to stress or something you ate.
Word: Quantifiable
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Expressible as quantity; relating to or susceptible to measurement.
- Example: Rather than give him any quantifiable amount of time, I thought, why would I want to do that?
Word: Lessen
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: To lessen is to make smaller, reduce, or weaken; decrease in size.
- Example: The smoke had lessened, but it still wafted out the door, a dark, hazy cloud covering the entire area.
Word: astute
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Marked by practical, hardheaded intelligence; Someone who is astute, is clever and has good judgment.
- Example: An astute tenant always reads the small print in a lease.
Word: Articulate.
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: To articulate is to say something; express or state clearly; speak; pronounce or utter in a certain way.
- Example: Your primary purpose is to demonstrate your ability to articulate your knowledge and ability.
Word: Convoluted
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Highly complex or intricate; tangled; tortuous.
- Example: If something is convoluted, it's complex and challenging to understand.
Word: Stilted
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: The adjective stilted describes something, usually a style of writing, that is unnaturally formal; lacking natural ease.
- Example: A stilted letter of acknowledgment.
Word: Jargon
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Means specialized language used by people in the same work or profession; also includes click throughs and page views.
- Example:
- Medical jargon: A second language healthcare professionals use to shorten and ease communication.
- Corporate jargon: Terms, phrases, or acronyms used instead of clearly understood phrases.
- Speech therapy jargon: A string of sounds or babble that children use without meaning.
Word: Acquaints
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Make familiar or conversant, inform, Cause to come to know personally.
- Example: He acquainted the new employee with her duties
Word: Infectious
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Likely to spread or affect others, such as disease or emotional state.
- Example: My dad had this infectious inquisitiveness about current events, history, and our lives (The Last Lecture).
Word: Inquisitiveness
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: A strong desire to learn or seek knowledge.
- Example: My dad had this infectious inquisitiveness about current events, history, and our lives (The Last Lecture).
Word: Slobs
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Informal term for a lazy, untidy, or slovenly person.
- Example: The Instinct in our house was never to sit around like slobs and wonder (The Last Lecture).
Word: Anecdotes
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Short, interesting, or amusing accounts of actual incidents or events.
- Example: He liked humorous anecdotes that turned into morality tales (The Last Lecture).
Word: Dispense
- Parts of Speech: Verb.
- Meaning: To distribute or administer something, such as medication or advice.
- Example: Part of that is because if you dispense your own wisdom, others often dismiss it (The Last Lecture).
Word: Dissonance.
- Parts of Speech: Noun.
- Meaning: Disagreeable sounds can be called dissonance, A conflict of people’s opinions, actions, or characters.
- Example: The greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is that I’m in really good shape (The Last Lecture).
Word: Emboldened.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Fearless and daring; made bold or courageous.
- Example: I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength to do what I was about to do, but now I felt emboldened and potent (The Last Lecture).
Word: Potent.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Means really strong, but not like a bodybuilder; impactful, powerful; having or wielding force or authority.
- Example: I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength to do what I was about to do, but now I felt emboldened and potent (The Last Lecture).
Word: Frugal.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: A person who lives simply and economically; Avoiding waste.
- Example: They were frugal to a fault (The Last Lecture).
Word: Oppressive.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Something that crushes your spirit;
- Example: It sounds oppressive by today’s standards, but it was actually a magical childhood.
- Something that crushes you with its tyranny, like the oppressive rule of a dictator.
Word: Swift.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective/Noun.
- Meaning: Moving very fast; Capable of acting quickly; Capable of moving quickly.
- Example: When my father was admitted to the hospital due to acute kidney failure, and his creatinine levels were alarmingly high, the doctor acted swiftly and decisively.
Word: Cocooned.
- Parts of Speech: Noun/Verb.
- Meaning: A form of self-protection; Wrapped in.
- Example: We had packed up our lives, throwing ourselves into a tornado of our own making, when we could have just cocooned in Pittsburgh (The Last Lecture).
- She loves to stay at home and cocoon in cozy, misty, cold, snowy winters.
Word: Debilitating.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: Exhausting, draining, weakening.
- Example: My body had started to recover from the debilitating chemotherapy (The last lecture).
- Something that's debilitating seriously affects someone or something's strength or ability to carry on with regular activities.
Word: Palliative.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective/Noun.
- Meaning: That which is palliative soothes but isn't expected to cure; Remedy that alleviates pain without curing.
- Example: I was now on the easier-to-endure palliative chemo (The last lecture).
- A heat pack is a commonly employed palliative to temporarily soothe strained muscles.
Word: Cognitive.
- Parts of Speech: Adjective.
- Meaning: If it's related to thinking, it's considered cognitive; to get to know;
- Example: The greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is that I'm really in good shape (The last lecture).
- A child's cognitive development is the growth in his or her ability to think and solve problems.
