275. Obfuscate

Excerpt from, “Don’t Blame Autism for Newtown,” by Priscilla Gilman, The New York Times, 12/17/12:

Rather than averting his eyes or staring, this stranger took the time to look, to notice and to share his appreciation of a child’s soul with his mother. The quality of that attention is what needs to be cultivated more generally in this country.

It could take the form of our taking the time to look at, learn about and celebrate each of the tiny victims of this terrible shooting. It could manifest itself in attempts to dismantle harmful, obfuscating stereotypes or to clarify and hone our understanding of each distinct condition, while remembering that no category can ever explain an individual. Let’s try to look in the eyes of every child we encounter, treat, teach or parent, whatever their diagnosis or label, and recognize each child’s uniqueness, each child’s inimitable soul.

Obfuscate: render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible; bewildering

274. Theodicy

Excerpt from, “Three Words of Caution in the Wake of Another Mass Killing,” by Jonathan L. Walton, 12/16/12, Huffington Post:

Life has an improvisational quality that one can only describe as absurd. There is no logic. No viable explanations. No rhyme or reason. One day a family is decorating the house in preparation for the holiday season. And the next day the unspeakable happens. It makes no sense. And any attempt to provide a reason for the tragedy of Friday would only lead to glib theodicies, insensitive sermonizing, and puerile platitudes. I would go as far as to say that all words at a time like this come across as cliché when we try to make sense of the nonsensical. The human language is neither complicated nor creative enough to capture the depths of this sort of pain.

Theodicy: the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil

273. Perspicacious

Extract from, "Maureen Dowd's Holiday Pudding," by Geoffrey Dunn, Huffington Post, 11/29/12:

 During a week in which those icons of feminism -- senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham -- viciously attacked Rice, Dowd somehow decided it was perspicacious to go after her, too, using a series of unsourced allegations.


Perspicacious:  having a ready insight into and understanding of things; shrewd

272. Resurgent

Extract from, "California Finds Economic Gloom Starting to Lift" by Adam Nagourney, The New York Times, 11/27/12: 

After nearly five years of brutal economic decline, government retrenchment and a widespread loss of confidence in its future, California is showing the first signs of a rebound. There is evidence of job growth, economic stability, a resurgent housing market and rising spirits in a state that was among the worst hit by the recession.

Resurgent: increasing or reviving after a period of little activity, popularity, or occurrence

271. Dystopia

Extract from, "The Final Insult: Mitt Romney’s Clueless Gift Gaffe" by John Avlon, The Daily Beast, 11/14/12:
 Romney’s comments about his opponent’s “old playbook,” as he called it, again revived a dystopian scenario conservatives have been warning about since the New Deal, where Democrats “buy” a permanent majority and undermine democracy at the cost of the productive class.

Dystopia:  an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one

270. Gallimaufry

Extract from,  "Romney Is President," by Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, 11/10/12:
 Just like the Bushes before him, Romney tried to portray himself as more American than his Democratic opponent. But America’s gallimaufry wasn’t knuckling under to the gentry this time.

Gallimaufry:  a confused jumble or medley of things

269. Internecine

Excerpt from, "October Surprise Shows Ever-Loosening Grip On Commonest Courtesies: The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup For Oct. 2" by Jason Linkins and Elyse Siegel, Huffington Post, Posted: 10/27/2012 9:3


THE INERT ARGUE MOMENTUM: Meanwhile, as the country started to tip, slightly, in the direction of end-of-the-election insanity, the political media sort of took leave of their senses, and pitched themselves a weird little internecine war over which media outlets were being worked by whose campaign, for the purpose of spinning a narrative of "momentum."

Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict

268. Neologism

Excerpt from, “'Romnesia': Obama Coins Mitt Romney 'Condition'” by Sam Stein, Huffington Post, 10/19/12:

Obama went through a number of other so-called cases, including tax cuts and the coal industry. The neologism [romnesia] got hearty laughs and applause, especially as the president informed the crowd that the condition was covered under his health care law.

Neologism: a newly coined word or expression

267. Insurmountable

Excerpt from, “Lance Armstrong Gets Dumped” by Reed Albergotti, Vanessa O’Connell and Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal, 10/18/12:

Nike was particularly harsh, citing what it described as insurmountable evidence that he [Armstrong] participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade.

Insurmountable: too great to be overcome

266. Apotheosis

Excerpt from, "Pop Goes the President" by Frank Bruni, The New York Times, 10/15/12:

This presidential election will go down as the one in which the pop-culture pander reached its ludicrous apotheosis and we were asked to believe things even more fantastical than a revenue-neutral 20-percent cut in marginal tax rates.

Apotheosis: the highest point in the development of something; culmination or climax

265. Ebullient

Excerpt from, “The Generation War,” by David Brooks, The New York Times, 10/12/12:

Vice President Joe Biden, of course, could stand on Neptune and distract attention away from the sun. He entered the Senate in 1973, back when the old Democratic giants from the New Deal era still roamed the earth. Every sentimental tone of voice, every ebullient and condescending grin brought you back to the kitchen tables in working-class Catholic neighborhoods of places like Scranton, Pa., Chicago, San Francisco, Providence, R.I., and Philadelphia.

Ebullient: overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement