The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart
Page 16
tautology (taw-TAHL-uh-jee), noun
A statement, principle, or phrase repeated many times in different ways for emphasis and resulting in redundancy.
After his wealthy father’s death, Gerald consistently referred to his mother with the TAUTOLOGY, “widow woman.”
tawdry (TAW-dree), adjective
Gaudy, showy, and cheap, as clothes; or, base and mean, as motives.
“Far from being the basis of the good society, the family, with its narrow privacy and TAWDRY secrets, is the source of all our discontents.” – Sir Edmund Leach, British author
teem (TEEM), verb
To abound or swarm.
As we walked into the nightclub, the paparazzi TEEMED around us like so many manic worker bees.
teleological (tee-lee-uh-LOJ-ik-uhl), adjective
The notion that things exist for a purpose.
The fact that we have unsurpassable wealth and taste, while others who are less important endure hardship, is surely proof that we live in a TELEOLOGICAL universe.
temerity (teh-MER-ih-tee), noun
Possessing of boldness and confidence perhaps unwarranted by the situation at hand.
Anne, the girl who just moved to our gated community, had the TEMERITY to ask if we would invite her to one of our galas.
temper (TEHM-per), verb
To moderate or lessen the impact of.
“Yet I shall TEMPER so / Justice with mercy.” – John Milton, English poet
temperance (TEM-per-ance), noun
Abstinence from consuming alcoholic beverages.
Cicero said that TEMPERANCE is “the firm and moderate dominion of reason over passion and other unrighteous impulses of the mind.”
tempestuous (tem-PESS-chew-us), adjective
Tumultuous and turbulent, as a personality.
Claire’s TEMPESTUOUS personality is most likely linked to the fact that her father has married and remarried an excessive amount.
temporal (tem-PORE-uhl), adjective
Relating to time.
“Science is the language of the TEMPORAL world; love is that of the spiritual world.” – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright
temporize (TEHM-puh-rize), verb
To gain time by being evasive or indecisive.
When an officious socialite tries to get too close to us, we do not feel the need to TEMPORIZE with our response; we simply remind her of her place.
tenacious (tuh-NAY-shuss), adjective
Persistent, stubborn, obstinate.
“Women are TENACIOUS, and all of them should be TENACIOUS of respect; without esteem they cannot exist; esteem is the first demand that they make of love.” – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright
tendentious (ten-DEN-she-us), adjective
Describes statements or actions designed to promote one’s beliefs or point of view.
Laura is TENDENTIOUS in her efforts to prove that she believes that a plentitude of fine jewelry is the key to happiness.
tenebrous (TEN-uh-bruss), adjective
Dark and gloomy.
Eloise and Marcus spent the day exploring the TENEBROUS forest that surrounded their family’s Maine compound.
tenet (TEH-net), noun
A central philosophy; a core belief; a rule or principle one lives by.
“Christian writers from the third century on pointed out the deleterious effect of Platonism on Christian belief—even while adopting many of its fundamental TENETS.” – Harold Attridge, Dean of Yale University Divinity School
tenuous (TEN-you-us), adjective
Unsubstantiated and weak.
Roland’s arguments to prove to us that it’s better to give than to receive were TENUOUS at best.
tepid (TEHP-id), adjective
Characterized by a lack of enthusiasm.
We greeted the new opera, with its mawkish plot and poor acting, with TEPID applause.
tête-à-tête (TET-ah-tet), noun
A face-to-face meeting.
Some of us had begun to believe that our servants were pilfering from us, so we sat down the allegedly guilty parties and had a TÊTE-À-
TÊTE.
thaumaturge (THAW-mah-turj), noun
A person who works miracles.
If you were ever to see Hannah early in the morning, just after she has awoken, then you would know her personal make-up artist is the epitome of a THAUMATURGE.
theocracy (thee-AH-krah-see), noun
A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God.
The Vatican is the ultimate THEOCRACY.
tincture (TINK-cherr), noun
A trace amount or slight tinge.
The tragic opera was leavened with a TINCTURE of comic relief.
titillate (TIT-l-ate), verb
To excite in an agreeable way.
With its stirring performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, the full orchestra TITILLATED us at the Van Gelder’s gala.
titular (TITCH-uh-luhr), adjective
A person who is a leader by title only, but lacks any real power.
The Queen is the TITULAR head of the British empire.
tombolo (TOM-bo-low), noun
A split that joins an offshore island to the mainland.
Until they decide to build a bridge, the single-lane road on the TOMBOLO is the only way on to and off of the island.
tome (TOAM), noun
A large or scholarly book.
“She carries a book but it is not / the TOME of the ancient wisdom, / the pages, I imagine, are the blank pages / of the unwritten volume of the new.” – Hilda Doolittle, American poet and memoirist
toothsome (TOOTH-suhm), adjective
Voluptuous and sexually alluring.
Dorienne is TOOTHSOME thanks mainly to her plastic surgeon and her family’s attractive fortune.
topical (TOP-ih-kuhl), adjective
Having to do with issues of current or local interest.
All the debutantes at the ball wasted our time with inane attempts at TOPICAL conversation about politics and other distasteful matters.
topography (tuh-POG-ruh-fee), noun
The arrangement of the physical features of a place, area, or physical object; the “lay of the land.”
After her return from Europe, Lauren spent most of her time talking about the dazzling alpine TOPOGRAPHY of Switzerland.
torpor (TORE-purr), noun
Apathy; indifference.
“A multitude of causes unknown to former times are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage TORPOR.” – William Wordsworth, British Romantic poet
torrid (TORE-ihd), adjective
Ardent and passionate.
The TORRID romance between Alison and her family’s stable boy lasted only a short time before the family discovered the tryst and fired the young man.
tort (TORT), noun
In law, a civil misdeed requiring compensation of the victims.
Cutting the branches off a neighbor’s tree that went over the fence into your yard is, at most, a TORT, not a felony.
tortuous (TORE-chew-us), adjective
Intricate and indirect; not straightforward.
“[Critics] don’t know that it is hard to write a good play, and twice as hard and TORTUOUS to write a bad one.” – Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist
totem (TOH-tuhm), noun
Anything that serves as a venerated symbol.
Our various formal and informal gardens are TOTEMS to our emphasis on the importance of the natural world.
tout (TOWT), verb
To publicize in a boastful, extravagant manner.
Eloise TOUTED the excellence of her family’s new personal chef to a gauche and distasteful degree.
tractable (TRACK-tuh-bull), adjective
Easy going; easily managed.
The occasional kind comment seems rath
er enough to keep our servants TRACTABLE.
tractate (TRAK-tayt), noun
A treatise.
Amanda’s mother delivered a TRACTATE to her daughter about socializing with the right people after she learned that Amanda had been spending time with middle-class families.
traduce (truh-DOOSS), verb
To speak maliciously of; slander.
We have snubbed Katrina permanently because she has, at one time or another, TRADUCED each one of us in the society pages.
transcendent (tran-SEN-dent), adjective
Going beyond normal everyday experience; existing beyond the known physical universe and its limitations.
“Genius … means the TRANSCENDENT capacity of taking trouble.” – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish satirist and historian
transfiguration (trans-fig-yuh-RAY-shun), noun
An extreme change in appearance; a metamorphosis.
By the time of her coming out party, Brigitte had undergone a TRANSFIGURATION from gawky child to poised and beautiful adolescent.
transgress (trans-GRESS), verb
To go beyond acceptable bounds.
“Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we TRANSGRESS them at once?” – Henry David Thoreau, American author and transcendentalist
transient (TRAN-shunt), adjective
Temporary; lacking permanence.
“To the artist is sometimes granted a sudden, TRANSIENT insight which serves in this matter for experience. A flash, and where previously the brain held a dead fact, the soul grasps a living truth! At moments we are all artists.” – Arnold Bennett, English novelist
transmogrify (trans-MOG-ruh-fie), verb
To change appearance in a disturbing way.
We cannot abide that particular interior decorator because he always manages to TRANSMOGRIFY tasteful displays of luxury into pompous tableaus of arrogant wealth.
transubstantiation (tran-sub-STAN-she-aye-shun), noun
The notion of endowing something with symbolic value beyond its physical construct.
TRANSUBSTANTIATION is used as a technique in marketing, transforming shabby and gauche items into supposed examples of tasteful luxury.
travail (truh-VAIL), noun, verb
Pain and suffering due to a mental or physical hardship; or, to endure such pain and suffering.
Charlotte recently had to endure the TRAVAIL of going an entire week without her family’s Olympic-sized swimming pool because the pool had developed a crack.
treacle (TREE-kuhl), noun
Contrived or mawkish sentimentality.
That writer’s work is suffering in quality, as we could hardly sit through the TREACLE of her recently opened opera.
tremulous (TREHM-yuh-luss), adjective
Timid and fearful.
With TREMULOUS mien, Anthony asked Gwendolyn if she would consent to a joining of their families.
trenchant (TREN-chunt), adjective
Sarcastic; direct and to the point; intelligently analytical and accurate.
Michael’s TRENCHANT commentary on American politics and society have made him a popular radio talk show host.
triptych (TRIP-tick), noun
A picture or carving on three panels, or a set of three associated paintings or other works of art.
Scott wanted to buy just the center painting, but the gallery owner refused to break up the TRIPTYCH.
Triton (TRY-ton), noun
A mythical creature, similar to a mermaid, with a human torso and arms, gills under the ears, and a tail like a dolphin.
TRITONS served Neptune as his attendants.
troglodyte (TRAHG-lah-dyte), noun
A person considered to be primitive, out of date, coarse, uncouth, ill-mannered, or brutish.
Sick and tired of going out with TROGLODYTES, Janet told her friends she was through with blind dates.
tropism (TRO-prizm), noun
The tendency of a plant or other organism to change direction in response to a stimulus; also used as a pejorative to describe reflexive or instinctual (i.e., mindless) human behavior.
The socialites demonstrate TROPISM as they flocked to the newly opened store of the newest high-fashion designer.
truckle (TRUHK-uhl), verb
To submit obsequiously to a command.
We have trained our servants to TRUCKLE to our every whim.
truculent (TRUK-you-lent), adjective
Belligerent; argumentative; always ready for a fight.
Short-tempered and TRUCULENT, Lucy could be set off by the slightest incident or comment.
trumpery (TRUHM-puh-ree), noun
Something without value; a trifle.
The TRUMPERY that the Smythingtons collect and call “art” is, clearly, distasteful dreck.
truncate (TRUN-kate), verb
To shorten something by cutting off the top or one of the ends.
Ellen looked ridiculous because she had chosen to TRUNCATE her floor-length party dress to tea-length hem.
tryst (TRIST), noun
An appointment made by lovers to meet at a certain place and time.
Since their families are of equal station, no one worries much about the supposedly secret TRYSTS between Josephine and Brock.
tumescent (too-MESS-ent), adjective
Becoming or already engorged, full, swollen, or rigid.
After the hurricane, our Florida compound was flooded by the TUMESCENT intra-coastal waterway.
tumid (TOO-mid), adjective
Pompous and swollen with pride.
We cannot stand it when Katherine wins arguments about couture and art collecting because the TUMID expression that crosses her face after a conversational victory is so loathsome.
turgescent (tur-JESS-ent), adjective
Becoming or appearing swollen or distended.
His abs were so neglected, his stomach became TURGESCENT after a big meal.
tyro (TIE-roh), noun
A beginner or novice.
Though a TYRO, Madeline quickly mastered cross-country skiing during her jaunt to Switzerland.
“A gentleman doesn’t pounce … he
glides. If a woman sits on a piece of
furniture which permits your sitting
beside her, you are free to regard
this as an invitation, though not an
UNEQUIVOCAL one.”
Quentin Crisp, British writer, actor,
and model
U
ubiquitous (you-BICK-wih-tuss), adjective
Something that is everywhere, all around you, constantly surrounding you, and you cannot escape from it.
Wireless communication in the United States became UBIQUITOUS toward the close of the twentieth century.
ulterior (uhl-TEER-ee-er), adjective
Intentionally concealed, as motives.
“When one has extensively pondered about men, as a career or as a vocation, one sometimes feels nostalgic for primates. At least they do not have ULTERIOR motives.” – Albert Camus, Algerian-born French author and philosopher
umbra (UM-brah), noun
A planet’s shadow, especially the shadow of the Earth upon the moon.
A solar eclipse is caused by the Earth passing through the moon’s UMBRA upon the sun.
umbrage (UM-bridge), noun
To take exception to and be offended by a comment or action seen as a slight or insult.
“I take UMBRAGE with people who post comments on my blog that are patently false,” Bob said.
unassuming (uhn-uh-SOOM-ing), adjective
Modest and unpretentious.
The Binghamton’s just bought a lovely, UNASSUMING 5,000 square-foot chalet in the Rockies.
unbridled (un-BRY-duld), adjective
Without limitations or boundaries; uncontrolled and unrestrained.
The customer’s UNBRIDLED fury at being denied a refund was a sight to behold.
u
nceremonious (un-sair-uh-MOAN-ee-us), adjective
Discourteously abrupt, hasty, rude.
The maître d’s UNCEREMONIOUS manner only made us love the new French restaurant all the more.
unctuous (UNK-chew-us), adjective
Possessing an untrustworthy or dubious nature; characterized by an insincere manner.
Local car dealers doing their own TV commercials often communicate in an UNCTUOUS, almost laughable manner.
undulate (UN-jew-late), intransitive verb
To move back and forth or from side to side in a smooth, slow motion.
Barbara and Bentley UNDULATED gracefully at their family’s private ice rink.
unequivocal (uhn-ih-KWIV-uh-kull), adjective
Possessing a clear meaning or answer.
“A gentleman doesn’t pounce … he glides. If a woman sits on a piece of furniture which permits your sitting beside her, you are free to regard this as an invitation, though not an UNEQUIVOCAL one.” – Quentin Crisp, British writer, actor, and model
ungainly (un-GAIN-lee), adjective
Awkward and clumsy.
One of the hallmarks of this year’s fashionable shoes is that they make one seem UNGAINLY on anything other than marble flooring.
uniformitarianism (you-ni-form-ih-TARE-ee-uhn-izm), noun
The belief that change on Earth takes place slowly, gradually, and at a uniform rate rather than through short, sudden, catastrophic events.
The fact that the families of our servants have been with us for many, many generations would seem to be proof of UNIFORMITARIANISM.
unilateral (you-nhi-LAT-ur-uhl), adjective
A decision that affects many people or states, but that is made independently by a single authority, without consulting those whom it affects.
We made a UNILATERAL decision to exclude Edwin from our group of possible paramours due to his distasteful habit of kissing and telling.
unimpeachable (un-ihm-PEE-chuh-bull), adjective
Above reproach; impossible to discredit or slander.
We promoted Carla to upstairs maid because her job performance has been UNIMPEACHABLE.
unitary (YOU-ni-tare-ee), adjective
A thing that exists or occurs in discrete units, sections, parts, or steps.