Word: Redaction
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: The process of editing text for a publication.
- Example: The author himself never chose to establish a definitive redaction.
Word: Earnest
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Serious and Sincere.
- Example: I will take an earnest person over a hip person every time, because hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term.
Word: Parody
- Parts of Speech: Noun / Verb
- Meaning: An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
- Example: “Hip” people love parodies. But there’s no such thing as a timeless parody, is there?
Word: Masquerade
- Parts of Speech: Noun / Verb
- Meaning: A false show or pretense.
- Example: Fashion, by the way, is commerce masquerading as hip.
Word: Abhor
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Regard with disgust and hatred.
- Example: And that may be why I rejected it and abhorred it.
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ReferencesBook:
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Perforate
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance.
- Example: Perforate the sheets of paper.
Word: Concisely
- Parts of Speech: Adverb
- Meaning: In a clear and brief manner, In a concise manner, in a few words.
- Example: The history is summed up concisely in this book.
Word: Framework
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Set of ideas from which more complicated ideas will be developed; The underlying structure.
- Example: Providing a factual framework for future speech.
Word: Aspect
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Parts, features, or characteristics.
- Example: You should first learn about the various aspects of her agenda.
Word: Objective
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Based on the facts rather than feelings or opinions.
- Example: If your objective is to learn a new word, you have succeeded.
Word: Personified
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: To give human characteristics to something that is not human.
- Example: The two of us personified the mix of arts and technology.
Word: Divergent
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Differing from Others.
- Example: The result was that students often got the best of our divergent approaches.
- The triplets may look alike, but they have divergent personalities.
Word: Chutzpah
- Parts of Speech: Informal Noun
- Meaning: Extreme self-confidence, Impudence, shameless audacity.
- Example: And if you have large ambitions and a measure of chutzpah, you can attempt to do it on a grand scale.
Word: Dissertation
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A long piece of writing on a specific subject, particularly one written for a university degree.
- Example: For her phD dissertation, she built a system called “Storytelling Alice."
Word: Peeved
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: To be annoyed or irritated.
- Example: I was completely peeved at the camp directors.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Wary
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems.
- Example: I’m a bit of an acquired taste in that sense, and after only one semester, some were still noticeably weary of me.
Word: Decree
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: An official order issued by a legal authority.
- Example: I issued that decree mostly because those things have been done in computer games only about a zillion times, and I was looking for original thinking.
Word: Stupefy
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Make someone unable to think or feel properly.
- Example: His answer left me stupefied.
Word: Disservice
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A harmful action.
- Example: I’d only do them a disservice by putting it anywhere.
Word: Existential
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Relating to existence.
- Example: Some of my students created completely unlikely existential worlds populated by lovable 3-D creatures they first dreamed about us kids.
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ReferencesBook: THE LAST LECTURE
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Unfazed
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Not disconcerted or perturbed.
- Example: He saw the data ranking him in the bottom quartile and remained unfazed.
Word: Visceral
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Instinctive, Innate, gut, deep-down, deep-rooted, emotional, inward.
- Example: I had this visceral urge to grow up and create those kinds of rides.
Word: Pitting
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Someone or something in conflict or competition with.
- Example: There was an incredible fifteen minute battle scene on a rocky red planet, pitting clones against droids.
Word: Quirky
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Eccentric, Idiosyncratic, Unconventional.
- Example: I’d been my usual self - a tough teacher with high expectations and some quirky ways - and they weren’t at the point where they appreciated that.
Word: Pegged
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Fix, Pin, Attach, Fasten, Hold down, Keep down.
- Example: People who know me say I’m an efficiency freak. Obviously, they have me pegged.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture.
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Stroke
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: An act of hitting or striking someone or something; a blow.
- Example: I think one key factor is that there is too much stroking and too little real feedback.
Word: Pragmatic
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.
- Example: That was a pragmatic, statistically valid way to look at themselves.
Word: Peers
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Fellow, colleague, partner, co-worker.
- Example: Did his peers think he was working hard?
Word: Quartile
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Each of four groups into which a population can be divided according to the distribution of values according to a particular variable.
- Example: For one course I taught, I’d had the students assess each other in the same way, but only let them know the quartile in which they ranked.
Word: Obnoxious
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Extremely unpleasant.
- Example: I remember a conversation, I had with one student whom others found particularly obnoxious.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Apt
- Parts of Speech: Adjective / Noun
- Meaning: Appropriate or suitable in circumstances.
- Example: You are more apt to speed things along.
Word: Delegate
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Representative, spokesperson, A person sent or authorized to represent others.
- Example: It’s never too early to delegate.
Word: Cliche
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays the lack of original thought, stereotype.
- Example: It is an accepted cliche in education that the number one goal of teachers should be to help students learn how to learn.
Word: Exert
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Apply or bring to bear a force, influence, or quality.
- Example: We need to make sure that our students are exerting themselves.
Word: Resort
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: Recourse to, turning to, the use of.
- Example: When they talk of building self-esteem, they often resort to empty flattery rather than character-building honesty.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Fixation
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: An Obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something.
- Example: I firmly believe that one of my appropriate fixations has been to manage time well.
Word: Railed
- Parts of Speech: Noun / Verb
- Meaning: Begin behaving in a strange, abnormal, or wildly uncontrolled way.
- Example: I’ve railed about time management to my students.
Word: Banister
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: The structure formed by the uprights and handrail at the side of the staircase.
- Handrail, railing.
- Example: “It doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister."
Word: Naive
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Showing lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement.
- Example: I once put “get tenure” on my to-do list. That was naive.
Word: Compulsive
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Resulting from or relating to an irresistable urge, especially one that is against one’s conscious wishes.
- Example: She said I sounded way too compulsive for her tastes.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture.
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Flatly
- Parts of Speech: Adverb
- Meaning: Showing little interest or emotion.
- Example: “So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly.
Word: Brazen
- Parts of Speech: Adjective
- Meaning: Bold and without shame.
- Example: And if by some chance I was the most brazen con man he’d ever stopped, well, he wasn’t taking this any further.
Word: Trot
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Proceed or cause to proceed at a pace faster than a walk, lifting each diagonal pair of legs alternatively.
- Example: As he trotted back to his police car, I had a realization.
Word: Chirp
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Utter a short, sharp, high-pitched sound.
- Example: The machine chirped, beeped and said I owed $16.55, but issued no receipt.
Word: Ordeal
- Parts of Speech: Noun
- Meaning: A painful or horrific experience, especially a protracted one.
- Example: The whole tedious ordeal could have stretched to ten or even fifteen minutes.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.
Word: Court
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Be involved romantically, typically with the Intention of marrying. Pay special attention.
- Example: When I was courting her, I sent her flowers once a week.
Word: Scribble
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Write or draw something carelessly or hurriedly.
- Example: Before she starts scribbling in her journal, I owe it to her to straighten up my mess.
Word: Drift
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Be carried slowly by a current of water or air.
- Example: I had drifted a few miles an hour over the speed limit.
Word: Cocked
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Tilt something in a particular direction.
- Example: The Officer Cocked his head and squinted at me.
Word: Squint
- Parts of Speech: Verb
- Meaning: Look at someone or something with one or both eyes partly closed in an attempt to see more clearly or as a reaction to strong light.
- Example: The Officer cocked his head and squinted at me.
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ReferencesBook: The Last Lecture
Word Meanings: Google Search, Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, Apple Lookup.