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. 

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 

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

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.

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?

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?

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. 

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.”

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.”

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.

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”.)