Poseur

Word: Poseur

Part of Speech: Noun.

Definition: A “poser”, or in other words, a person who feigns a visage in order to impress or influence others. 

Synonyms: Imposter, mimic, pretentious. 

Antonyms: N/a.

Sentences: 

Some say that in high society, extravagant flaunting of one's wealth is expected as a means to prevent poseurs from penetrating such exclusive groups. 

“There's a difference between being a poseur and being someone who's so emotionally challenged they're kind of just doing their best to show you what they've got.”

“While Obama, the olive-branch poseur, has called for a restoration of 'civility' in Washington and liberal elites whine and whinny about the need for 'no labels,' class-warfare demagoguery has metastasized unchecked.”

Insouciant

Word: Insouciant

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Carefree.

Synonyms: Happy-go-lucky.

Antonyms: High strung.

Sentences: 

The insouciant man had a childish appeal to him. 

The pop-rock band's insouciant tone made their new single be coined as the perfect song for breezy summer rides in a convertible. 

Menial

Word: Menial 

Part of Speech: Adjective. 

Definition: Servile or lowly. 

Synonyms: Obsequious.

Antonyms: Skilled.

Sentences: 

It's common for new hires to be forced to do menial tasks. 

Because of the hard times, Bob was willing to take even the most menial job. 

"There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes." -William J. Brennan, Jr. 

Alacrity

Word: Alacrity 

Part of Speech: Noun.

Definition: Readiness to do something or something that is done with speed.

Synonyms: Eagerness, promptness. 

Antonyms: Reluctance.

Sentences: 

The young agreed to the dangerous quest with the alacrity only a child could possess. 

The best thing a butler can do is perform his tasks with alacrity. 

“He had a uniform jacket with one button off, and seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity.”

“It should be done with the same degree of alacrity and nonchalance that you would display in authorizing a highly intelligent trained bear to remove your appendix.”

Prosaic

Word: Prosaic 

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Dull, or like prose.

Synonyms: Ordinary.

Antonyms: Exciting, unusual. 

Helpful hints to remember:

Sentences: 

The shopkeeper knew such rhythm-less, prosaic poetry wouldn't sell.

Nobody wants to listen to a prosaic speech. 

“France is not poetic; she even feels, in fact, a congenital horror of poetry. Among the writers who use verse, those whom she will always prefer are the most prosaic.”

Gaunt

Word: Gaunt

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Extremely thin (for people) or barren (for places, things). 

Synonyms: Scrawny.

Antonyms: Plump.

Sentences: 

The monster was horrifically gaunt and gangly. 

In some parts of the world it's common to see gaunt children begging in the streets.

“When I see a woman who is all gaunt and emaciated, I don't think she's beautiful. She reminds me of a Chihuahua that's freezing and shaking.” -Rosario Dawson

Asylum

Word: Asylum

Part of Speech: Noun. 

Definition: Traditionally “asylum” refers to any refuge. 

Synonyms: Haven, sanctuary.

Antonyms: N/a.

Helpful hints to remember: “Insane” asylums were originally intended to be refuges for the mentally ill. Also consider “right of asylum”. 

Sentences: 

Although border security believed the man trying to enter the country illegally was a terrorist, he pleaded that he was actually just trying to seek asylum. 

For the little birds, the thick, thorny bush served as an asylum from the hungry fox.

"Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty." -Samuel Adams 

Cornucopia

Word: Cornucopia

Part of Speech: Noun.

Definition: Traditionally a horn filled with an endless supply of food (“Horn of Plenty”), but also refers to any abundant supply. 

Synonyms: Bounty, plenty.

Antonyms: Dearth.

Helpful hints to remember: The Cornucopia is a common Thanksgiving motif. 

Sentences: 

There was a cornucopia of offerings from agents after the amateur model suffered a wardrobe malfunction onstage. 

The tome was a cornucopia of information about ancient beasts. 

Dowdy

Word: Dowdy

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Plain, disorganized, or not in style. 

Synonyms: Shabby, tacky. 

Antonyms: Chic.

Note: As a noun this word refers to a woman who is dowdy, or in other words, unattractive.

Sentences: 

Nobody wanted to date Frank's dowdy sister. 

Paul was horrified when his blind date turned out to be a dowdy. 

"You don't have to be dowdy to be a Christian." - Tammy Faye Bakker

Phrenic

Word: Phrenic

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Relating to the mind or the diaphragm.

Synonyms: Cerebral

Antonyms: Ignorant

Helpful hints to remember: Your phrenic nerve reaches from your neck (think mind) to your diaphram. “Phren” is also the ancient Greek word for mind, which is where we get the word “phrenology” from, which is a psudoscientific field of study that predates modern psychology. 

Note: This word is rather rare, and is more likely to show up on the MCAT verbal section. 

Sentences: 

There are many websites that offer computers games to increase your phrenic capabilities. 

At first, the mother was most concerned about the horrible bruise on her son's head, but once he started slurring his speech, she began to fear that his injury might be more phrenic in nature. 

Banal

Word: Banal

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Cliché, trite, or unoriginal. 

Synonyms: Hackneyed.

Antonyms: Fresh.

Sentences: 

The film critic mused to himself that he was not going to sit through another banal film at the festival, or else he would go mad. 

“You can control and censor a child's reading, but you can't control her interpretations; no one can guess how a message that to adults seems banal or ridiculous or outmoded will alter itself and evolve inside the darkness of a child's heart.”

Every patient hated the banal “smooth jazz” that pervaded the physician's waiting room.

Canard

Word: Canard

Part of Speech:

Definition: A rumor with no basis or “hoax” that is often meant to be damaging.

Synonyms: Sham

Antonyms: Fact

Helpful hints to remember: This is another French word that literally means “duck”. I am not sure why calling something a duck would equate to a hoax, 

Sentences: 

Rosie's rumor about her best friend being a slut was intended to make everyone hate Julia, but the canard ultimately worked against her when she was revealed to the lie's source.

"It has been my policy not to respond to each of the many canards which have been part of the campaign to discredit my investigation, nor to waste time trying to...”

Seminal

Word: Seminal

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Pertaining to seed or semen; able to create; or an original and influential forerunner that provides a basis for some form of future work.

Synonyms: Germinal.

Antonyms: Banal.

Helpful hints to remember: Germ cells are to germinal as semen is to seminal. 

Sentences: 

Andy Warhol is considered to be a seminal artist. 

“The seminal elements of what makes a story great - challenge, struggle, resolution - are the same whether we're talking about story content for a movie such as 'Rain Man,' or telling a purposeful story to forge new business relationships or conclude a fruitful transaction, such as acquiring an NBA franchise.”

The seminal fluid was the core piece of evidence in the rape case. 

Wax

Word: Wax

Part of Speech: Verb

Definition: To grow or increase 

Synonyms: Mount

Antonyms: Wane

Warning: I cannot stress enough how common this word is.  

Sentences: 

“Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive.”

Even though the old woman was quite surely, her grandchildren were always able to wax her kindness.

Note: The rising moon is to wax as the setting moon to wane. 

Nigh

Word: Nigh

Part of Speech: Adjective (and adverb).

Definition: Near, almost, or direct.

Synonyms: Close.

Antonyms: Far.

Sentences:

• The end is nigh.
• It had been nigh onto forty minutes before the girl finally appeared on the path. Clearly she had not taken the nighest route to her grandmother's house.
• “By these and many histories more, it is most evident, that the more nigh salvation and deliverance approach, the more vehement is temptation and trouble.”

Adulation

Word: Adulation

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Excessive devotion to someone or obsequious flattery

Synonyms: Fawning

Antonyms: Criticism, debasement

Warning: People tend to confuse “adulation” for “adoration”, and erroneously use the two interchangeably. Note that “adulation” carries a negative connotation even though some sources will define it as “extreme admiration”, for it either refers to someone who is unreasonable or servile. Consider these three quotations:

• “If you're a movie star, there's a cycle you go through: adoration, adulation, you're used, and then you're discarded. And it happens again and again, always in that sequence.”
• “A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both.”
• “I savour (sic) the adulation and love I have been getting from my fans and the blessings of elders in my family. Fourteen years have given me a lot and I can't thank God and the industry enough.”

Can you identify the improper usage?

Dour

Word: Dour

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Gloomy or severe.

Synonyms: Morose.

Antonyms: Cheery.

Helpful hints to remember: Dour looks like sour but rhymes with sore. See the sentence below.

Sentences:

• The sore whore's dour roar kept them coming back for more.
• Poor Isabelle could only endure so much dour criticism before bursting into tears.
• The wicked witch thought her dour home was perfect for all her evil doings. 

Ingrate

Word: Ingrate

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Someone who is ungrateful

Helpful hints to remember: “Ingrate” sounds like “ungrateful”.

Sentences:

• “You ingrate! How could you forget to say thank you to your grandmother?”
• Despite their begging, the man was reluctant to give them the much desired water, as he knew the ingrates would scatter the second they felt quenched.

Abase

Word: Abase

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: To degrade or demote; generally means “to lower in value”.

Synonyms: Disgrace, shame

Antonyms: Boost, support, promote

Helpful hints to remember: Literally once meant “to lower”, which is why in old English texts you'll see phrases like “the jouster abased his lance”. This word is extremely similar to “debase”.

Sentences:

• The soccer players felt abased after the humbling loss.
• Though they had been friends since the fourth grade, the soldier knew that his comrade's attempt to expose his extramarital affair was an attempt to abase him.
• “The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility, in a word all the qualities of the canaille.”

Assay

Word: Assay

Part of Speech: Verb

Definition: To analyze or test.

Synonyms: Analysis or appraisal.

Antonyms: N/a.

Helpful hints to remember: See below.

Sentences:

• “It's a failure of national vision when you regard children as weapons, and talents as materials you can mine, assay, and fabricate for profit and defense.”
• The ELISA, or Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, is the most common form of HIV testing used today.
• While most politicians were nervous, Adam was overjoyed since he knew the assay results would redeem him.
• Question: Can you identify which definition of “assay” is used in each of the above sentences?

Epicure

Word: Epicure

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: A person who ''cultivates a refined taste''.

Synonyms: Connoisseur

Antonyms: Puritan

Helpful hints to remember: The magazine “Epicurious” has a title which is a portmanteau of “epicure” and “curious”.

Sentences:

• “Serenely full, the epicure would say, Fate cannot harm me,—I have dined to-day.”
• The rich, slim epicures thought nothing of spending small fortunes in order to taste every corner of the earth. 

Lachrymose

Word: Lachrymose

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Tearful, mournful, or close to tears; note it is used to describe tone, speech, atmosphere, or disposition, but not the inciting event.

Synonyms: Weepy

Antonyms: Joyful

Helpful hints to remember: Lacrimal glands are the glands that produce tears.

Sentences:

• Octavian hated working at the amphitheater on lachrymose tragedy night, as all the weeping women would annoy him to no end.
• The father must have had a heart of coal in order to walk away from his lachrymose children like that.
• Peter decided that the lachrymose atmosphere of the active cemetery was the perfect place to write a horror novel. 

Bucolic

Word: Bucolic

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Something that is of shepherds or of a rural life

Synonyms: Pastoral, agrarian

Antonyms: Metropolitan

Helpful hints to remember: This word is difficult, though you must appreciate that it's considered the more difficult cousin of “pastoral”, which is word of great historical significance, and therefore has a tendency to pop-up in examinations that challenge your vocabulary.

Sentences:

• The office worker envied the easiness of the farmer's bucolic lifestyle.
• For millenniums, bucolic life has been portrayed with idealized simplicity so that city dwellers may use its conjured imagery as a escape from their own metropolises.
• Though she possessed more modern tastes herself, the boy's house had its own bucolic charm.

Saccharine

Word: Saccharine

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Sugary, excessively sweet, or, in the more abstract sense, something that is pleasing

Synonyms: Candied

Antonyms: Bitter, disgusting

Helpful hints to remember: Saccharin is a popular artificial sweetener.

Sentences:

• Trevor moaned when his girlfriend suggested that they go see the new saccharine rom-com.
• Perhaps his mother's saccharine cakes had deluded him, but Philip always preferred sour candies to sweet ones.
• The new pop album was good, but Chelsea resented the adult women tended to be too saccharine for their age. 

Vivify

Word: Vivify

Part of Speech: Verb.

Definition: To bring to life, either figuratively or literally.

Synonyms: Enliven.

Antonyms: Deaden.

Helpful hints to remember: Consider the roots of the words; Viv, or life, comes from latin, and -fy, which means “to make or cause”, comes from old French.

Sentences:

• Dr. Frankenstein's ultimate goal was to vivify the spare body parts he had sewn together.
• The widower's only reprieve from his hectic life was when he could vivify his wife in his vibrant memory.
• “Among his most potent pictures are self-portraits that vivify notions of sight as an internal, psychic, erotic and charged process.”

Germane

Word: Germane

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Relevant or related.

Synonyms: Pertinent.

Antonyms: Irrelevant.

Helpful hints to remember: Think of germ cells, or sex cells, and how individuals who come from the same germ cells are closely related.

Sentences:

• Although the recent presidential debates were extremely entertaining to watch, many people were disappointed since it appeared that neither candidate was committed to staying germane to the issues most important to Americans.
• Due to time restrictions, only germane questions will be allowed at the Q&A.
• “Questioning my spiritual life has always been germane to what I was writing. Always. It's because I'm not quite an atheist and it worries me. There's that little bit that holds on: 'Well, I'm almost an atheist. Give me a couple of months.'” -David Bowie 

Jejune

Word: Jejune

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Definition: Jejune can mean naive, insipid, or devoid in nutritional value (as in diet). However, all of these definitions share the general idea of lacking something in common, whether it be maturity or complexity.

Synonyms: Childish, barren.

Antonyms: Adult.

Helpful hints to remember: This word possesses a Latin origin, but resembles the French word “jeune”, which means young.

Sentences:

• The biology freshman kept a notebook filled with jejune ideas that he hoped to one day investigate.
• Phil insisted that he wanted to be an artist, but his parents worried that no one would buy his jejune drawings that seemed to lack any inspiration.
• “I have often wondered why some late Writers should sensure (sic) Tully's Letters for being too naked and jejune, when that to his Friend Lucceius, which the Reader will find in this Collection, is a plain Demonstration to the contrary?”

Doff

Word: Doff

Part of Speech: Verb.

Definition: To remove or get rid of.

Synonyms: Discard.

Antonyms: Cover, don.

Helpful hints to remember: This word was created as a combination of “do” and “off”.

Sentences:

• Pleased to see his naked wife, the salesman doffed his pants rather quickly.
• Traditionally during a Catholic mass, men are obligated to doff their hats while women are required to don them.
• “Doff that stupid idea: it would never work.”

Limn

Word: Limn

Part of Speech: Verb.

Definition: To represent something through art or description.

Synonyms: Portray.

Antonyms: N/a.

Helpful hints to remember: Limning is an old word used to describe the illumination process, or adding of illustrations, to illuminated manuscripts.

Sentences:

• Though the poet wanted nothing more than to create an epic for his love, he could not quite find a way to limn her.
• Some artists create their work through limning, while others produce more abstract pieces.
• “As television came to dominate sports coverage, writers began to assume that the audience had seen the game; their job became to limn the drama, provide "insights" about the personalities, players and coaches, to analyze what it all meant.”

Mien

Word: Mien

Part of Speech: Noun.

Definition: A certain demeanor or facial expression.

Synonyms: Air.

Antonyms: N/a.

Helpful hints to remember: “Mien” is French for “mine”.

Sentences:

• Even though he was only a beggar, the homeless man possessed a mien of the upper-class.
• The depressed, collective mien of the prisoners of war was something the soldier would not soon forget.
• “Genius, like truth, has a shabby and neglected mien.”

Zenith

Word: Zenith

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: Highest point.

Synonyms: Peak, apex

Antonyms: Nadir

Sentences:

• “I think one of the reasons people quit is because they're afraid they won't be able to get better and better; that they have to come to a zenith of some kind.”
• Our wedding day was the zenith of my joy, while my dear wife's funeral was my nadir.
  Bonus Question:
  Zenith::Climax as Nadir::

1. Below
2. Climax
3. Plain
4. Sad

Nadir

Word: Nadir

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: The lowest point, or point of greatest despair.

Synonyms: Rock bottom

Antonyms: Zenith

Sentences:

• During the nadir of my life I had nothing to turn to but drug use.
• The sacred ritual could only take place in the nadir of the valley.
• After 1985 the band reached its nadir and was on the brink of breaking apart. 

Gaucherie

Word: Gaucherie

Part of Speech: Noun

Definition: An act which lacks social grace, and is subsequently embarrassing or awkward.

Synonyms: Mistake, vulgarity

Antonyms: (Something that is done with care or discretion... There really is no formal antonym.)

Helpful hints to remember: In French, “gaucherie” literally means awkwardness, but is also used to refer to someone who is left-handed.

Sentences:

• “My,” whispered Steven, “I think the only gaucherie in this room is that dress!”
• Almost everyone's first high school dance is filled with gaucheries.
• Please, forgive my gaucherie, but I was not aware there was a lady in the house.

Arabesque

Word: Arabesque

Part of Speech: Noun, Adjective

Definition:  Any ornament or object that uses complex line imagery typical of the Islamic calligraphic decorative style, or its European appropriation. It can similarly be used as an adjective. 

Synonyms: Embellished

Antonyms: Plain

Helpful hints to remember: “Arabesque” literally means “of Arabia”. 

Warning: “The Arabesque” usually refers to the ballet position.

Sentences: 

• The iconic fleur-de-lis is repeated in many arabesque designs. 
• Sam knew the upper-class clients of his rug shop would go crazy over the exotic, arabesque pieces that had just arrive from across the sea. 
• Otto knew the little arabesque was the perfect piece to hang over his mantle. 

Nascent

Word: Nascent

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: Something that is early in development or just beginning to grow. Think of it as the “baby” form of non-physical things.

Synonyms: Fledgling

Antonyms: Shrinking

Helpful hints to remember: “Renascent” means “to be reborn”.

Sentences:

• In its nascent state the club had merely been a collective of students. To Philip's shock it now it spanned the nation.
• Although during the test run the vehicle burst into the flames, the inventor was able to get several investors to fund his nascent design.
• “True love is quiescent*, except in the nascent moments of true humility.” (*”Quiescent” means “to be at rest”.)

Sanguine

Word: Sanguine

Part of Speech: Adjective

Definition: (1) happily optimistic (most common), (2) bloody, (3) red, like blood.

Synonyms: Optimistic

Antonyms: Pessimistic

Helpful hints to remember: “Sang” is blood in French.

Sentences:

• Her sanguine cheeks revealed her embarrassment.
• Such sanguine environments like the abattoir are not for the meek or faint.
• “I had now arrived at my seventeenth year, and had attained my full height, a fraction over six feet. I was well endowed with youthful energy, and was of an extremely sanguine temperament.”
• Of course, as with any word with multiple meanings, sanguine can be used in a “play on words”; for example, someone might possess a “sanguine love for war”.
• Note that sanguine also refers to the red chalk that has traditionally been used in sketches to create a sepia tone.