83. Prolific; Contrive; Conjure up

From, “So You Want to Become a Writer. . .” by Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal, 11/24/11:

“What's surprising and gratifying about "Seminar" is that Ms. Rebeck, a prolific playwright with a hit-or-miss average, should have connected so firmly with the dramatic ball this time at bat.” Like "The Understudy," her last play, "Seminar" is an intermission-free comedy that gets serious at the halfway point, and for all the shiny slickness of its surface, Ms. Rebeck has once again contrived to conjure up a stageful of too-clever-for-their-own-good characters who'll sneak right under your skin.”

Prolific: producing many works

Contrive: invent; fabricate

Conjure up: to present to the mind; to evoke [image

82. Prosaic

 From, Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN, Interview with Sir James Zakaria, aired 11/27/11:

ZAKARIA: So when one thinks of creative engineers, innovators, you assume they're going to make really cool products like computers and laptops. What made you think of a vacuum cleaner?

DYSON: Well, I'm rather attracted to rather prosaic things like vacuum cleaners and hand dryers. Where people haven't apparently made them with a great love for what they're doing.

Prosaic: commonplace; unromantic

81. Mellifluous

From, “Herman Cain's Implausible 2012 Election Run: From Pizza Magnate To GOP Candidate,” by Helen O’Neill, 11/26/11, Huffington Post:

“While fellow students at the historically black Morehouse College were joining Martin Luther King Jr. in marches and staging sit-ins, Cain joined the glee club. (He is a gifted singer whose mellifluous baritone is often heard during the campaign.)”

Mellifluous: pleasant to hear; melodious

80. Banal

 From, “Are We Getting Nicer?” by Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, 11/23/11:

“Then there are the myriad forms of violence that were once the banal backdrop of daily life.”

What are some things you consider to be the banal backdrop of daily life?

Banal: trite; commonplace

79. Stealth

From, “The Hillary Moment,” by Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen, The Wall Street Journal, 11/21/11:

“Even though Mrs. Clinton has expressed no interest in running, and we have no information to suggest that she is running any sort of stealth campaign, it is clear that she commands majority support throughout the country.”

Given the headline and the extracted sentence, what do you infer in the author's premise?

Stealth: secret, clandestine

78. Happy Thanksgiving

Everyone has something to be thankful for.

Write/ponder a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

77. Amorphous

From, “Pepper Spray’s Fallout, From Crowd Control to Mocking Images,” by Katharine Q. Seelye, 11/22/11, The New York Times:

“To many watching from the sidelines, pepper spray remains an obscure agent, even as the video of its spraying at Davis has become the defining image of an otherwise amorphous Occupy movement.”

Amorphous: without a clearly defined shape or form

76. Uber

From: “A Study in Power: Christine Lagarde,” by Camilla Webster, Forbes online, 8/24/11:

"In an era of uber connectivity and multitasking, Lagarde was completely prepared and present for this conversation. She did not allow cell phones or other requests to interrupt the event."

Debate topic: Is ‘uber’ slang or standard vocabulary? Should slang and standard words be used interchangeably in academic English?

Uber: being a superlative example of its kind or class; super

75. Ad Hominem

From, “Why I Would Take a Bullet for Cornel West,” by Matthew M. Briones, 11/17/11, The Root: 

 

“In July 2012, Cornel West will make his much anticipated return to Union Theological Seminary -- the site of his first academic job and one of the sacred grounds he calls home – from his current position at the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. In light of this news and in the context of the recent spate of unfair ad hominem attacks on Cornel within the media and academia, I thought it would be helpful to give readers a glimpse of a student and his teacher.”

Ad Hominem: Attacking an opponent's motives or character rather than the policy or position they maintain.

74. Infantilize; and Ineffable

From, “Don't Demonize Political Opponents, Infantilize Them,” by Harry Shearer, 11/19/11, Huffington Post:

"I'm not a parent, so other peoples' children are not always a source of ineffable joy, but this was one of those baby's faces that could make Attila the Hun say "Awwww"."

Infantilize: to treat as if infantile

Ineffable: incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable

73. Prescient

From, Piers Morgan Tonight (CNN TV), Interview with Brian Williams on 11/14/11:

Part of a question asked by Morgan was, “What do you think's gone wrong with the American business model?”

Extract from Williams’ response, “… And call me prescient, but in the next snow or ice storm, Piers, those wires are going to come down and they're going to take power with them. And it's going to be out for six to eight days throughout New England. And it's going to cost us productivity.”

Prescient: showing knowledge of events before they take place

72. Altruistic

From, “Another View: The Science and Strategy of College Recruiting,” by Marina Kegan, The New York Times, 11/9/11

Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I think most young, ambitious people want to have a positive impact on the world. Whether it’s through art or activism or advances in science, almost every student I spoke to had some kind of larger, altruistic goal in life.

Altruistic: benevolent; humane

71. Alleviate

From, 'Food of the Future' Has One Hitch: It's All But Inedible, by Julia Flynn Siler, The Wall Street Journal, 11/1/11:

“The breadfruit is a remarkable food: The prickly football-size pod is full of nutrients and energy. Growing on one of the earth's highest-yielding trees, it could even help alleviate world hunger, backers believe.”

Alleviate: make [the situation] less severe; ease; mitigate

70. Enigma and Grouse

Here are two recent headlines:

 

From, “Thursday’s Ratings: Erin Burnett Continues To Be Cable’s Biggest Enigma,” by Nando Di Fino, 11/11/11, MEDIA ite:

Enigma: mystery

----

From, “MSNBC's Alex Wagner Grouses That Americans Are Too Pro-Gun, As Opposed to 'Intelligent' Brits,” by Ken Shepherd, newsbusters.org 11/15/11:

 

Grouse:  complain pettily; grumble

69. Iteration

From, “Brazil Sambas to a Slower Beat,” by Beverly Goodman, Barron’s, 11/5/11:

“It's still a small percentage of the population that can afford even moderate-priced housing in São Paulo. There is a second iteration of a government program called "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" or "My House, My Life" that wants to create two million low-end housing units in three years.”

Iterate: repeat

68. Anodyne

From, “At Last, a Small Chevy That Makes Some Waves,” by Sam Smith, 11/11/11, The New York Times:

“For 2012, the Sonic replaces the Aveo, albeit at a base price ($14,495) some $1,800 higher. The Sonic is sold in other markets as an Aveo, but it is far from anodyne.”

Without knowing the Aveo, can you guess some reasons why the writer would describe it as inoffensive?

Anodyne: analgesic

67. Confluence and Ubiquitous

From, “Lauder, maker of breast cancer's pink ribbon, dies,” by Cristian Salazar and Samantha Critchell, November 12, 2011, Boston Globe:

"There had been no publicity about breast cancer, but a confluence of events -- the pink ribbon, the color, the press, partnering with Elizabeth Hurley, having Estee Lauder as an advertiser in so magazines and persuading so many of my friends who are health and beauty editors to do stories about breast health -- got people talking," she [Lauder] said. Then, three years after distributing the first pink ribbon, a flight attendant noted it on Lauder's lapel and said, "I know that's for breast cancer."

"From there, it became ubiquitous," she [Lauder] remembered.

 

Confluence: merging

Ubiquitous: omnipresent

66. Inferential

From, Piers Morgan Tonight (CNN TV) Interview with Gen. Colin Powell 11/10/11:

POWELL: … Everything that was in that presentation of mine was international intelligence estimate that the president used in the State of the Union earlier speeches that Secretary Rumsfeld was using, our generals were using. They were planning against this intelligence. And we thought it was solid, even though it was very inferential, we thought it was good intelligence.

What do you infer was Morgan's question to Powell?

Inference: deduction

65. Intransigent

From Piers Morgan Tonight (CNN TV) Interview with Gen. Colin Powell on 11/10/11:

MORGAN: Well, I wouldn't have him in a -- on a golf course with John Boehner after what he did. I'd have him in a boxing ring. And, Mr. Speaker, you want to fight about this, you're going to be this intransigent, your people is just not going to do anything to get any bill passed here at all, let's have it out properly.

How would you rewrite Morgan’s statement to make it clearer?

Intransigent: uncompromising

64. Douse

From, “China Housing Prices Decline,” by Dinny McMahon, Esther Fung and James T. Areddy, The Wall Street Journal, 11/8/11:

"Beijing has been trying to calm property prices for about two years in an effort to make housing more affordable and douse a possible catalyst for social unrest. Steps by regulators include tightening lending and putting tougher restrictions on buying homes."

When I was a child, it was fun to douse each other with water after a rousing game of cricket.

Douse: drench

63. Quintessential

From, “The Pancake of Possibilities,” by Gail Monaghan, The Wall Street Journal, 10/29/11:

“I've also learned that while quintessentially Indian, dosas are surprisingly tasty when eaten with western food as a bread substitute—say, as a stand-in for pita bread or as the base of a wrap sandwich.”

What are some of the things that are quintessentially yours?

Quintessential: exemplary