66 Words Wise People Know
Terms
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- Acquiesce (v)
- to comply with or assent to passively, by one's lack of objection or opposition. "I had to acquiesce in the situation and accept the fact that no major reorganization, reform, or voluntary fiscal restraint would come from Congress duing my first term." --Richard Nixon, R.N. N. Acquiescence "Our next-door neighbors have tacitly sanctioned our use of their driveway by their acquiescence in our using it during the past several months. * A timorous, reticent, or taciturn person (one who is shy or reluctant to speek) might acquiesce in a situation that he actually finds repugnant. A closely related word is accede: to agree or surrender to.
- Alacrity (N.)
- Cheerful readiness or willingness; briskness or liveliness. "With ardent alacrity the volunteers helped the earthquak victims salvage their belongings. "I have not that alacrity of spirit, Nor cheer of mind that I wont to have." ---Shakespeare Alacritous (ADJ.) An alacritous person might also be described as ardent (hopeful, confident) or zealoous (fervent or ardent, especially in devotion or activity).
- Anomaly n.
- deviation from thenorm; abnormality; peculiar or unusual event or phenomenon *Anamoly is a favorite word amon Star Trek screenwriters: "I've completed my analysis of the anomaly. It appears to be a multiphasic temporal convergence in the space-time continuum....It is, in essence, an eruption of antitime." Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation (final episode) Anomalous adj. "Poverty is an anomaly to rich people. It is very difficlut to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell."--Walter Bagehot *A closely related word is abberration: a deviation from what is normal, common, or morally right.
- Appease v.
- to pacify or make content; to concede to a beligerant demand in order to bring about peace. "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--hoping it will eat him last."--Sir Winston Churchill *Similar words iinclude mollify, placate, addle, and conciliate. An implacable person is not capable of being appeased, placated, or pacified. Appease is closely related to please; appeasing others will also please them.
- Ascetic n.
- one who denies oneself life's material satisfactions and normal pleasures, usually as part of religious belief or discipline "The ascetic and unpretentious lifesyle of the Hollywood movie mogul seemed an anomaly among his flamboyant industry colleagues and associates." "Asceticism is the secret mother of many a secret sin. God...did not give us fibre to much nor a passion to many."--Theodore Parker *A closely related word is anchorite: a person who has retired to a religious life of solitude and seclusion.
- Banal adj.
- commonplace; trite; hackneyed; unoriginal "New jazz music today seems banal and uninspired compared to the music of the bebop era. Banality n. "...he despised the agressive young men of the electronic medial....They just flitted from flower to flowe, intoning resonant banalities."--Spiro T. Agnew, The Caufield Decision *A similar word is insipid.
- Bane n.
- any cause of ruin or destruction, lasting harm or injury, or woe. "The woman grew to abhor her vituperative husband; among friends she would refer to him hyperbolically as "the bane of my existence." "Money, though bae of bliss, and source of woe." --Herbert Baneful adj. *A synonym of baneful is pernicious. Do not confuse bane with banal: trite; hackneyed. They are unrelated words.
- Censure n.
- severe criticism, scolding,or fault-finding. "All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to show how much he can spare. It has all the invidiousness of self-praise and all the reproach of falsehood."--Dr. Samuel Johnson *Aside from criticism, censure does not involve punishment. The word is also used as a verb, but there si no adjective form. Similar words include reproach, reproof, stricture, and pan. Another closely related word is censor; to criticize, object to, and possibly delete, especially on moral grounds. However, censure involves vehement disapproval and thus is a slightly stronger word than censor.
- Chagrin n.
- irritation marked by dissapointment or humiliation "His favorite team lost the big game, much to his chagrin since he had bet a large sum of money that his team would win. *The word is often improperly used to refer simply to sadness; while disappointment does tend to suggest sadness, chagrin requires, humiliation, irritation, or annoyance. A closely related word is vexation (irritation, annoyance, provocation), as illustrated in this sentence. "After the spelling bee, the winner's facetious and vexing remark comparing the loser's performance to Dan Quayle's misspelling of "potato" exacerbated the loser's chagrin."
- Chicanery n.
- trickery or deception, usually used to gain an advatage or to evade Chicane v. *Similar words include guile, knavery, disingenuousness, and artifice. "Some unscrupulous knaves would resort to any sort of chicanery in order to fleece an unwitting dupe of his last dollar."
- Choleric adj.
- tempermental; hotheaded; irascible "Just beneath his affable and disarming veneer lay a choleric and dangerous psychopath." *although choleric is unrelated to caloric, both words involve the notion of heat ( a colorie is a unit of measure for heat). *Similar words include mercurial, peevish, and acrimonious.