Word of the week F block

 Effeminate (adjective) [of a man] having it showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly “ not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body- he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder removed under his thin coat” (The Great Gatsby). I chose this word because it helped in my understanding of the book, and I thought the concept of masculinity, and what it was supposed to be, behind it was interesting. 

 Miscegenation: (n)    The interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types I don't really remember what sentence this word was found in, but it was in a history documentary about Newton Knight in the 1800s. I chose this word because even though it represents a problem that America faced a long time ago,  it can somewhat be related to the events today. In the 1800s, miscegenation was considered a bad thing, and was even illegal. Today, the conflict is not of marriage between races, but marriage between the same sex. Some people still look poorly upon same sex marriage which is similar to the problem of different race marriage in the 1800s.

 (noun) A soft fine or sheer clothing crepe especially of silk "Her face, above a spotted dress of crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering" - The Great Gatsby I chose this word because I looked it up thought it was going to be just a direct translation from french to english but the word had an english definition which I thought was interesting. The direct translation in english is "Chinese crepe".

  Lopped : to eliminate as unnecessary or undesirable Ex: “...a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided...” (Jefferson First Inaugural Address) I saw this word in History class when reading Jefferson's first inaugural address. I thought it was unique and interesting. I like the language Jefferson used, describing how certain wrongs were eliminated (lopped) by the "sword of revolution".

 Austere: (Adjective) Severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance "At the Constitutional Convention of 1787 the convivial Gouverneur Morris boasted that he could soften up the austere general." (Article on the Founding Fathers) I chose this word firstly, because I was unsure of its meaning and it was important to understand the description of General Washington during that time. I also chose this word because I like the way that it sounds and appears when reading it. 

 Misanthrope: (noun) a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society. “ The problem is that JD is an atypical misanthrope , so when they’re joking in the kitchen about how to get Heather to puke from a hangover cure, JD suggests a bottle of drain cleaner.” (found in an article about the movie Heathers ) I chose this word because I was unsure of what the sentence was trying to convey until I looked up it’s definition. After learning the meaning of misanthrope I was able to better understand the sentence and the character JD. 

  Peremptorily: (ADV)  Insisting immediate attention or obedience, often in a rude manner Found in the novel, The Great Gatsby , “As I started my motor Daisy peremptorily called ‘Wait!” (Fitzgerald 23). This word helps with my understand of the book we are reading in class. It is also a great word to add to my vocabulary to enhance my writing.

 v- to postpone, or to put off/ schedule for a later time I found this in the poem "Harlem". "What happens to a dream deferred?" (Hughes 1). I didn't exactly choose this word for the word itself, but rather the poem I found it in. The poem describes the feelings of missing an opportunity very well, and more importantly covers how people might handle it. For some people it may simply disappear, never to be remembered again. For others it may be a sore point, something they regret. It may fester and even rot. For others they may see it through a positive light as humans usually do with their past. For others it may be a weight that weighs them down, thinking of what they could have achieved.

Impulse-   noun- 1.a sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act. 2.a driving or motivating force; an impetus. Some axons are encased in a myelin sheath, a layer of fatty tissue that insulates them and speeds their impulses .-Psych Textbook I chose this word as one to be in my vocab list because even though I knew what impulse generally meant I still did not know the exact definition of it. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what it meant and didn't miss anything or any part of the definition. By getting the full definition I was able to fully understand what impulse meant and put it into the context of the sentence.

 Thwart: (verb) to prevent (someone) from accomplishing something “Yearning as always for the bench, he was persuaded by his wife to run for president in 1908, and his victory fulfilled his ambition while thwarting his own” - From history text “Reassessing William Howard Taft” I chose this word because the sound and placement of letters is very unique, and caught my eye in the text. Thinking of the word “thwart”, the idea of a “wart” comes in mind, but this word has a very different meaning and part of speech in reality. 

  Threshold (n.)  the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be manifested "When the depolarization reaches about -55 mV a neuron will fire an action potential. This is the threshold. If the neuron does not reach this critical threshold level, then no action potential will fire." From psychology textbook reading I thought that this was a cool concept applying to not only neurons and psychology, but also applying to our body's stamina thresholds. In crew, we always talk about the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds, the points in our bodies in which lactate is produced and heart usage increases substantially. The only way to be able to fight through these thresholds and complete an endurance workout is do increase your stamina with cardio and strength training.

  Ambivalence (Noun) the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone “This cartoon, scanned from the Democratic Puck April 10, 1912, shows Taft’s ambivalence about primary elections for choosing convention delegates” The use of the word ambivalence confused me because I could not understand Taft’s position on whether he thought primary elections were beneficial or not. Now that I know what ambivalence means I know that Taft did not have one particular opinion on the method of selecting convention delegates. 

  Extemporize : (v) Compose, perform, or produce something such as music or speech without preparation; improvise. "She was only extemporizing but a stirring warmth flowed from her..." (Fitzgerald 17). I chose this word because it is from The Great Gatsby , and when I read this sentence I did not fully understand it. After looking up the word, I have a better grasp of what the sentence is saying.

Sesquipedality: (Noun) The habit or style of using extremely long, fancy words. He taxed Adams for obesity, referring to him as ‘His Rotundity,’ the possessor of a ‘sesquipedality of belly.’” - History reading I chose this word because while reading the sentence above, the word made no sense and sounded closer to Sasquatch than any other word I could think of. After a quick google search, I realized that the word was in essence a filler word. Either way, this word helped show me how many words in the English language often have no real purpose and are there to make one look smart. Also, rumor has it, that if you look in the mirror and say  Sesquipedality 3 times, the Sasquatch will appear and start doing the Macarena.

 Echolalia: N meaningless repetition of another person's spoken words as a symptom of psychiatric disorder "There was the boom of the base drum, and the voice of the orchestra leader rang out suddenly above the echolalia of the garden" - The Great Gatsby pg 49 I chose this word because I liked the way that it sounded, but also, the point in Gatsby where I found the word, there was a party at Gatsby's house going on. I thought that Gatsby in this part of the novel was mysterious, and so the atmosphere of the party was like that as well and I thought that this word just kind of captured what I thought the atmosphere of the chapter was. The word has a slightly dark definition because it means repeating someone's words but because of a psychiatric disorder which just furthered my thought that the party had a mysterious atmosphere. When I looked up the word I thought it would just mean repeating but I wanted to check, but the definition could also be showing that the ...

 (adjective)  Hissing;  characterized by a hissing sound; noting sounds like those spelled with s " " His age, his battered good looks, his accent, the slight sibilance in his voice, his culinary erudition worn lightly, his finely honed knife skills and the ’70s-era funk of his wood-paneled kitchen: It is somehow a mesmerizing package" (The New York Times: Jacques Pépin and the Art of Making the Most of It) I chose this word because I've been rewatching the Harry Potter movies recently and the main character Harry, is considered a parslemouth, meaning he can talk to snakes. I was looking for a way to describe the way the language worked to my dad because he didn't understand, and that's when I came across this word which basically describes the entire language because the entire language is comprised of the speaker making snake-like hissing sounds to talk to snakes. 

 Nascent: (Adjective) (Especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential "The nascent financial institutions, however, survived." (History Text) I chose this word because when I first read it I was unsure of what it meant and how it related to the financial institutions. After looking it up I realized that it was similar to the word that means "to be born" in Spanish which is nacer. I found this interesting because both words meanings were similar, as they described something new being created, so I chose this word.  

 Modus operandi: (n)  a Latin term used in English-speaking circles to describe an individual's or group's habitual way of operating, which forms a discernible pattern. The duo’s modus operandi was simple: The casino employee would monitor security cameras at the card tables and feed the information back to a high roller visiting from outside the country. -Article about the biggest casino heists in Las Vegas. I found myself watching a movie called "Ocean's Eleven" which is basically about 11 guys robbing a Las Vegas Casino. The movie was very interesting to me, and I wanted to know if any casinos have been robbed in real life, so I searched it up. Apparently, there have been numerous robberies, but most people ended up being caught. Modus operandi was picked because it's a phrase that is usually used in crime, and it can show a bunch of different methods that people have used to rob a bank. If I do enough research, this could be a solid future career choice.

Juggernaut: (noun) a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force or institution,  “The Biden campaign’s progress towards victory he said was ‘like a juggernaut … steady but inexorable’” (As Kamala D. Harris breaks barriers, India and Jamaica celebrate, The Washington Post) I chose the word Juggernaut this week because I found it to be very ironic, as it is a funny-sounding word that means the opposite of what I expected it to be when I first looked it up. Originally I assumed that it would mean something as silly as it sounds. More importantly though, what really drove me to chose this word was the article it came from, which discussed how Kamala Harris is the first Indian American and Black woman to be elected into office and how her family's respective native countries have celebrated. It makes me happy to see that so many people around the world have been moved by her election, as it shows that people other than white men can make a difference in the world.

  Word of the week: My chosen word this week is the term “verboten,” an adjective, defined as “not permitted or allowed” by the Merriam Webster dictionary. As some freshmen in my art class were talking about an upcoming geometry test they had, the art teacher, amused but frustrated, said that “math was verboten in her class.”  I chose this word because it continues to remind me of this comical moment in class. Not only does this term have a rather odd cadence, but remembering this term itself reminds me of the endearing yet frustrated look on my art teacher’s face as this episode occurred. I felt as though I could personally relate to this word because, I, too, can tend to take examination stress beyond that classroom and to other classes, especially when it comes to math tests.

Pragmatic (adjective) - relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters : practical as opposed to idealistic “Jefferson’s pragmatic ‘disposition dictated an initial strategy of conciliation toward the Federalists’” (History Source) I was reading about Hamilton's economic plan in my history class and I came across this word that I didn't know. Looking it up helped me understand the sentence, which was important to understanding the argument the author was making.  

 (noun.) a red Bordeaux wine ¨I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret.¨-The Great Gatsby I chose this word because I work at a restaurant and have seen this word at work on something and didn't really think about it, but then I read it in Gatsby and I thought it was a funny coincidence. Now I know what it means.

 Gewgaw: (noun) a showy thing, especially one that is useless or worthless. “ Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws [sic] of life and the useful.” (found in a history article about Washington and Dubois) I chose the word gewgaw because I thought it was strange and did not even seem like a real word. I liked it because it was a fun and old-timey word used mostly in the 1800s. Also once learning the definition I was able to better understand the sentence and the entire article.

  Monoclonal (adj.): f orming a clone that is derived asexually from a single individual or cell “It is the first monoclonal antibody used to be authorized for use in treating coronavirus” - COVID article

  Efficacy: (N.)  The ability to produce expected results Found in article about covid vaccines, “Pfizer’s results were based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted by an external and independent Data Monitoring Committee from the phase three clinical study” (CNBC article,  Pfizer, BioNTech say Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective — ‘great day for science and humanity’, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/09/covid-vaccine-pfizer-drug-is-more-than-90percent-effective-in-preventing-infection.html ). With the current pandemic, understanding of this word helps enhance understanding of the current situation. As vaccines are being explored and moving onto the final testing stage, it is important for all to understand what is happening as well as the terminology used.

 Paternalistically: (noun) policy or practice of treating or governing people in a fatherly manner, especially by providing for their needs without giving them rights or responsibility “It was a landmark step toward state protections for workers but also encouraged the Court to act paternalistically and treat female workers differently from their male counterparts” - from article about the importance of the Brandeis Brief I chose this word because it describes how to govern people in an organized and methodical way, and I hear the word “pattern” in it, which also adds to how it is almost a strict pattern of these manners repeating.

  Unabated: (adj)  Without any reduction in intensity or strength. “President-elect Joe Biden warned on Monday that the US was facing a “dark winter” as the coronavirus continues to spread unabated…” -News article about the corona virus this coming winter I chose this word because I found it in an article about the coronavirus. It talked about predictions for what this winter will be like, and President Biden says that everyone should continue to wear masks. I think this is very relevant to what is going on in the world right now.

 N -  A wave in atmospheric winds that forms from wind passing over mountains. I found this word in Randall Munroe's book How To . It starts off talking about how to jump high, but quickly switches to gliding, and how to gain altitude without any internal power source. Mountain waves are an excellent way to do this, and can even interact with the Polar Night Jet in some case to extend into the stratosphere. This is like what many birds and butterflies do to conserve energy by riding thermals, but much more extreme.

 Rotogravure: N; A sheet or magazine printed by rotogravure, especially the color magazine of a Sunday newspaper  "I knew now why her face was familiar-it's pleasing contemptuous expression had looked out at me from many rotogravure pictures of the sporting life at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach" - The Great Gatsby pg 18 I picked this word for week 7 because it's from the Great Gatsby and because we usually read older books in English and rotogravure is a dated word, so it could show up in other novels that we read in english and now I know what it means.

 Plight (noun)  a dangerous, difficult, or otherwise unfortunate situation. Her commitment to helping others and contributions to the publication gained her recognition in her mission to improve plight working and living conditions and ultimately earned her a position as the first woman on the Illinois Board of Charities.-Julia Lathrop essay I chose the word plight because while writing my history essay I was thinking of a word that was close to dangerous, dirty, unfair, and hard to add to my sentence so I could describe the way some people lived in the Progressive Era. I could not think of a good word for the sentence so asked my mom if she had any ideas. While my mom was suggesting words to me she said I could use the word plight. I have never heard this word but it sounded right so I looked it up and decided to put it into my vocab list.

  Superimposed (Adjective) placed or laid over something else, typically so that both things are still evident “So what is really going on here is that all three structures exist simultaneously, at the same time. So what I tell students is you want to think of all three structures as being superimposed ” (Chemistry lecture on resonance structures) I had not come across the word superimposed before I heard it in a chemistry lecture about resonance structures. While I did not initially understand how resonance structures could exist at the same time, by learning that these structures are somewhat placed on top of each other, or are superimposed, helped me to visualize what the final structure would look like. My overall understanding of this topic increased after learning the meaning of this word. 

Weigh-Enough   (n.) (exclamation) a command used by coxswains in rowing, meaning: stop whatever it is you’re doing – rowing, carrying the boat, etc. " Weigh Enough " is the command to stop rowing or, in some cases, whatever the rower is doing, whether it be walking with the boat overhead or rowing. ("Weigh" is a nautical term for the movement of a boat through water (as in headway and right-of-way). So the command "weigh enough", literally means enough moving the boat). Often pronounced way-nuf, wane-up or wane-off in the United States." Rowing term This word is used exclusively in rowing as far as I know, and it's introduced to new rowers as soon as they start. Considering that it's a word that's never used in anything else in the world, I assume it's a new and interesting word for a lot of people.  

Abridging: (Verb) Shorten (a piece of writing) without losing the sense. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” - Bill of Rights During our previous class, we were talking about our Awakening essays and Mr. Humphrey talked about how not having unnecessary information is as important as having the necessary information. This connects really well with my word of the week, abridging, which means to shorten a piece of writing without losing the purpose the piece of writing was meant to deliver. This word therefore perfectly sums up what Mr. Humphrey meant to say!

 (Noun) take (something) for oneself, typically quickly without permission”I never said she sniffled my money” (heard in a conversation between me and my dad) I chose this word not because the word itself isn’t particularly interesting, but the sentence it is used in is. The sentence it is used in is interesting because it has 7 different meaning depending on which word you emphasize in the sentence. I just thought that was kind of cool. 

Proclivity (noun) - an inclination or predisposition toward something "TD Marshall has developed into a lockdown corner after switching positions last year and has a proclivity for big plays off turnovers (Article)" I chose this because I was reading an article about a college football player TD Marshall. I saw the word "proclivity" and I had never seen that before, so I decided to add that to the vocabulary list for the week. Normally, I would've ignored it but doing this vocab list weekly made me look it up.

 serendipitous: (adj)  occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way There's nothing wrong with that, and in fact you may come across some very serendipitous surveys that are great fun. (Found in a psychology article about surveys). I came across this word while reading a boring article about surveys, (for psychology) and it stuck out to me because I thought who would ever need to use a word that sounds like that, and decided to research it. Apparently it means to discover something happy by chance. Personally I would use the word "lucky" because many more people understand the definition of lucky compared to serendipitous , which to me, sounds like a word you would say when dipping something in syrup. My vocabulary is definitely not complex enough to use a word like serendipitous, and people would look at me funny if I ever did say it. Although now it is a great word to have stored in my head, although I will probably forget how to pronounce it in a coup...

 Cerebral: (adj.) Of the cerebral of the brain; intellectual rather than emotional or physical, "He was more of a cerebral person," (a conversation I overheard from my mom). I chose the word cerebral because I had never heard it used to describe an aspect of a person's personality before, as I had only heard it used when referring to the cerebral part of the brain, and I thought it was really interesting.

  Bully pulpit (noun): A public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue. “ The cautious Taft hesitated to use the presidential bully pulpit to arouse public opinion” (found in a history textbook) I chose this word because it sounded interesting, but I had no clue what it’s meaning was. Once I looked up it’s definition I was able to understand what the textbook was trying to convey. I also thought it was an interesting sounding word, especially for something having to do with the government.

  Incumbent (adj.):  necessary for (someone) as a duty or responsibility. 2. (of an official or regime) currently holding office. Source: “To choose either incumbent Donald Trump or challenger Joe Biden to lead a pandemic-bettered nation for the next four years” - Apple News Article about election

 Coalition- noun  - an alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states. None of the German parties have enough people to get an absolute majority while voting to pass a law, so they have to make coalitions to obtain an absolute majority-German discussion on Political parties voting- said by Ms. Smith While talking about the German government and political parties my German teacher was talking about coalitions and how almost every party is part of one in the German parliament. I did not know what a coalition was so it made the whole lesson very confusing, after looking up the definition I was able to better understand the new information I was taught and further my learning.

(adj.) tending to be trouble some "His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" - The Great Gatsby I chose this word because I have seen it multiple places before and never knew what it meant so I thought it was about time I looked it up and understood. 

 Extemporizing  v - To preform or pompose without preparation. To improvise. I found this word on page 17 of The Great Gatsby . “This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose. She was only extemporizing but a stirring warmth flowed from her as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words” I decided to use this word because out of all of the words I found in the book so far Its one of the few that I had no idea what it meant, even with context. The word itself didn't really give any hints and I have never encountered it before. Honestly, when I first heard about this assignment I didn't believe that I would find that many new words in a week. Now in just a week I have found many more than I needed to, and many of them I had never encountered before.

  Comorbidities: (N) A simultaneous presence of more than one disease or medical condition occurring at once in a patient “ These factors are then considered in the context of each individual patient, their age, and their comorbidities ” (found in history article, Mayo Clinic Proceedings , https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(13)00077-3/fulltext ) With my new understanding of this word, I can understand more about the medical field of which I hope to pursue a career in within my future. Disease is something that is so unique to individuals and yet inevitable. This word increases understanding about the medical field and spikes interest.

 Acquiescence: (noun) the reluctant acceptance of something without protest "In the summer of 1798, the Federalist majority in Congress, with the acquiescence of President Adams, passed four acts severely limiting both freedom of speech and the freedom of press and threatening the liberty of foreigners in the United States." (History Text) I chose this word because it was a large and had an interesting appearance to me. It popped out to me on the page when I was reading. I was unsure of what it meant when reading so I thought that it would be helpful if I found its meaning.

 Reciprocity: (noun) the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another “Emerson Barnes reckons a Trump administration would consecrate on reciprocity when reopening borders, while a Biden one would be keen to repair international relations — but would ultimately be led bu the science.” - From news article comparing Biden and Trump I chose this word because of the unique sound and spelling of how it is, but also where the word came in context. Reading this article the day before the election taught me the differences between the two candidates, and how one would concentrate on reciprocities. 

 C udgel : (Noun)  A short, thick stick used as a weapon. (Verb) To b eat with a cudgel. “They arrived in military formation, fifes playing and drums beating, armed with muskets, broadswords, and cudgels , the men’s tricornered hats festooned with sprigs of evergreen…” - History Homework This is what it looks like: I chose this word because it shows how misleading some words can be. Cudgel does not sound like a deadly weapon at all, in fact, when I hear the word I think of really big french fries for some reason. A cudgel could be compared to Kevin Hart. When you think of Kevin Hart you think of short and weak whereas when I think of cudgel I think of big french fries. But Kevin Hart is actually very ripped and could probably knock most people out in a fight. Similarly, the cudgel is actually a very gruesome looking weapon. To summarize, I chose this word to highlight how some words can sound one way and mean something totally different.

 (n)  A harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect. “Scientists will use a placebo to test if the Covid-19 vaccine is effective” -conversation with my family I chose this word because it relates to what is going on around us in the world, with Corona, and scientists trying to find a vaccine.

 Fractiousness - N: the quality of being easily upset or annoyed, and often complaining "His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" The Great Gatsby pg 7 I chose this word for Week 6 because the word came from The Great Gatsby, and because I think that this is an easy word to add into your vocabulary/conversation because although I don't hear it used very often, the definition isn't complicated so it could be used in common conversation. Some words that you look up have such specific definitions, there are hardly any scenarios where the word could be used smoothly in conversation, but this isn't the case for this word. 

  Ubiquitous (Adjective) existing or being everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered “So we know the aluminum weighs 500g, and we also know the specific heat of aluminum because it is given... The only one that is not given to you is the specific heat of water just because it’s a ubiquitous thing” Chemistry lecture on calorimetry I chose to include this word in this week’s blog because I had never come across this word before. When I encountered this word in a chemistry lecture, I could not understand what my teacher meant about the specific heat of water. After learning what the word meant, I understood that my chemistry teacher meant that we will be expected to memorize the specific heat of water because we will use the numerical value very often in our chemistry calculations.