SQUALID (adjective): 1 extremely dirty and unpleasant, dirty, run-down, or unsanitary, especially because of poverty;  2 showing a contemptible lack of moral standards:

Examples:
- The TV host made a squalid attempt to save himself from public embarrassment.
- Volunteers in South Africa worked to improve the squalid conditions of the slums.
- The non-profit agency raised money for children who are living in squalor.
-  The politician made a squalid attempt to buy votes.

Synonyms: filthy, broken-down, crummy, seedy, shabby, wretched, degraded, nasty, sordid, immoral, undignified

Antonyms: clean, sanitary, sterile

 

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RELISH
Definition (noun, verb):  (Verb)
1.    to enjoy or take great pleasure in an experience
2.    to enjoy the taste of a particular food or drink
3.    to give a pleasing taste to food, e.g. by adding spice or relish
Noun:
1.    enjoyment: a liking or appreciation of food or of an experience
2.    a spiced side dish or accompaniment to food, e.g. pickled or fresh vegetables with chili
3.    a pleasing sensation of strong taste or flavor
4.    interest or excitement, especially when it makes something more enjoyable

Examples:
- Marc was appointed to a position for which I had little relish.
- Frank doesn’t relish telling Lisa that her car has been stolen.
- But when her car was found she was feeling better. Lisa ate her dinner with relish and even asked for seconds.
- I have no relish for getting up early in the morning
- The incident added relish to an otherwise dull weekend.

Synonyms: enjoyment, gusto, delight, pleasure, glee, enjoy, delight in, love, adore

Antonyms: dislike.

VORACIOUS (adjective): Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.
Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit;
especially eager: unusually eager or enthusiastic about an activity
very hungry: desiring or consuming food in great quantities

Examples:
- Phil is a voracious eater who dives into his food.
- Lisa a voracious reader that pours through several books a month.
- Don’t we all love to see children with a voracious appetite for knowledge.

Synonyms: hungry, ravenous, insatiable, rapacious, greedy, eager, avid

Antonyms: satiated

 

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PROCRASTINATE (verb): to delay doing something that should be done, To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. To postpone or delay needlessly.

Examples:
- Marc warned his students not to procrastinate on the assignment because it could not be done in one day.
- Lisa procrastinated all afternoon until it was too late to start painting the walls that day.
- Lisa didn’t finish the project because of procrastination; she simply waited too long to get started.

Synonyms: delay, postpone, stall, dawdle, put off, prolong

Antonyms: hurry, rush, speed

UNWITTING (adjective): 1. not aware; 2. not intentional, Not knowing; unaware: an unwitting subject in an experiment. Not intended; unintentional: an unwitting admission of guilt.

Examples:
- There’s no need to apologize; I realize it was an unwitting mistake and I don’t blame you at all.
- Lisa unwittingly helped her boss shred some files, which she had no idea contained sensitive information pertinent to the case against their firm.
- The two women claimed they were the unwitting victims of a drugs dealer who planted a large quantity of heroin in their luggage.

Synonyms: unaware, inadvertent, unknowing, unintentional, unplanned

Antonyms: knowing, aware

 

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PALLIATE (verb) : 1. to try to make something seem less serious or severe, especially by offering excuses; 2. to make something less intense or severe; 3. to relieve the painful, physical symptoms of a disorder or disease.

Examples:
- Lisa works out everyday in order to palliate stress.
- The medical article addressed the many ways to palliate the symptoms of the disease until a cure could be found.
- Joanne tried to palliate the pain she had caused her parents by sending an apology card.
- My mother tried to palliate the bleeding with a band-aid, until we could get to the hospital to have the cut stitched up.

Synonyms: extenuate, mitigate, excuse, abate, alleviate, diminish, ease, assuage

Antonyms: aggravate, worsen, exacerbate

TURGID (adjective): 1. pompous and overcomplicated: pompous, boring, and overcomplicated. 2. overflowing: swollen and overflowing

Examples:
- I could not sit through another minute of the actor’s long, turgid, and unnecessarily complicated acceptance speech.
- The doctor said grandpa’s turgid veins were caused by his diabetes.
- After his success in the stock market, Mike’s already turgid ego became even more inflated.
- There is a woman at my book club who loves to expatiate about her understanding of the book in a turgid manner.

Synonyms: bombastic, pompous, overblown, inflated, tumid, high-flown, puffed up, affected, pretentious.

Antonyms: reserved, humble, quiet

 

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INSOUCIANT (adjective): a relaxed and happy,   without worry or guilt: without worry, anxiety, or guilt–unconcerned.

Examples:
- Frank’s insouciant attitude toward money and the importance of saving will surely land him in financial trouble.
- The insouciant housekeeper didn’t notice that the dog had gotten out.
- Sometimes, Lisa admired Frank’s youthful insouciance, but other times she thought he was too cavalier.
- The insouciant way in which John managed his employees caused people to slack off and disregard their responsibilities.

Synonyms: breezy, carefree, ignorant, easygoing, blithe, nonchalant, careless

Antonyms: concerned, burdened, troubled, worried, anxious

SYNTHESIS (noun):  the combination of ideas to form a theory or system :
1. result of combination: a new unified whole resulting from the combination of different ideas, influences, or objects
2. combining of various components into whole: the process of combining different ideas, influences, or objects into a new whole
3. chemistry formation of chemical compounds: the formation of compounds through one or more chemical reactions involving simpler substances

Examples:
- The synthesis of all the information we have gathered should provide us with a definitive theory.
- The synthesis of our various ideas created a truly unique marketing strategy for our client.
- Please synthesize the data in a concise report.
- The artist’s paintings are an interesting synthesis of abstraction and impressionism.

Synonyms: creation, combination, formation, mixture, compound, composition, union

Antonyms: separation, destruction

 

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PARIAH = someone who has been outcast from society and is avoided by people, a person who is not accepted by a social group, especially because he or she is not liked, respected or trusted

Synonyms: outcast, vagrant, abomination, derelict, renegade, undesirable, castoff, reject

Antonyms: insider

Examples:
- The president became a pariah after he asked for another tax increase, and people couldn’t wait to oust him from office.
- Phil mumbled: “Smokers are treated as pariahs these days.”
- Lisa’s constant lying caused her to become a pariah among her peers.

PREFACE = (noun, verb) (n.) an introduction at the beginning of a book; (v.) to begin with a preface or introduction before presenting your main point

Synonyms: (n.) introduction, foreword, prologue, (v.) introduce, begin, open

Antonyms: (n.) epilogue, postscript, addendum, closing, conclusion, (v.) close, conclude

Examples:
- Joanne loves Mark Twain’s books because they are immediately engaging, right from the preface.
- Phil didn’t preface the bad news with, “I don’t know how to tell you this but.”
- Please let me preface my response to your question by noting that I am not an expert in this area.

 

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SANGUINE = (adjective) having a cheerfully optimistic temperament or outlook–hopeful

Synonyms: upbeat, optimistic, positive, hopeful, expectant, enthusiastic, cheerful

Antonyms: hopeless, pessimistic

Examples:
- The hotel trained its human resources staff to choose employees with sanguine personalities
- Some people expect the economy to continue to improve, but others are less sanguine.
- Stock traders remained sanguine despite reduced profit margins.
- John’s sanguine outlook on life, even during difficult times, kept him young and carefree.
- Sandy’s sanguine attitude won her many friends and admirers.

PRUDENT = (adjective) 1. having good sense and judgment; 2. being careful and sensible

Synonyms: careful, cautious, discreet, wise, sagacious, judicious, sensible, practical, discerning, guarded, mindful, tactful, thrifty, economical, watchful, circumspect

Antonyms: imprudent, foolish

Examples:
- Phil was quite prudent in his spending habits and always had plenty of savings in the bank.
- Marc’s decision was prudent and timely.
- It’s always prudent to read a contract properly before signing it.
- Lisa was always prudent when giving criticism, so as not to offend anyone.
- Joanne’s financial prudence was rewarded with growing investments.

 

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RECTIFY = (verb) to make something right again, to correct it

Synonyms: remedy, repair, right, correct, adjust, amend, fix, mend, improve, revise

Antonyms: ruin, damage, worsen

Examples:
- Frank tried to glue the vase back together, but unfortunately, he couldn’t rectify the break.
- His top priority as the new president was to rectify his predecessor’s mistakes.
- If Lisa doesn’t make an attempt to rectify the problem, her neighbors will take her to court.
- The tense situation was rectified when Mary called everyone in the group to apologize for her mistakes.
IMPECUNIOUS = (adjective) poor and thus without the comforts of a wealthier life

Synonyms: poor, destitute, impoverished, penniless

Antonyms: rich

Examples:
- The prodigal son returned home impecunious and suffering from near starvation.
- Everyone was surprised to learn that Donald Trump married an impecunious woman who he met at a diner.
- Annie is a musical about a group of impecunious orphans who all dream of a better life.

 

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NEPOTISM: (noun) favoritism shown to relatives by those in power, favoritism shown by somebody in power to relatives and friends, especially in appointing them to good positions. using your power or influence to obtain good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family:

Synonyms: favoritism, partiality

Antonyms: nonpartisanship

Examples:
- The Italian Mafia practiced nepotism as a way of keeping the “business” inside the family.
- The government discouraged nepotism and made sure that people were    hired and promoted based on merit, not because they are relatives of the president.
- When the company CEO gave a sought-after position to his son, many employees felt it was due to nepotism, rather than true merit.

IMBROGLIO = (noun: a complicated, sometimes emotionally charged, situation involving intrigue and misunderstanding, an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation : the Watergate imbroglio. An unwanted, difficult and confusing situation, full of trouble and problems.

Synonyms: predicament, tangle, snarl, dispute, mess

Examples:
- The imbroglio in the Middle East was caused by a lack of clear communication and fear.
- The company may not survive another legal imbroglio
- Land developers and environmentalists are always in some type of imbroglio over new construction plans.

 

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SPORADIC = occurring occasionally at intervals that have no apparent pattern

Synonyms: occasional, infrequent, unconnected, scattered, uncommon, irregular

Antonyms: frequent, regular

Examples:
- The ambiguous economic report caused sporadic buying on wall street.
- The police’s sporadic attempts to sweep the drug pushers off the streets proved ineffective.
- The WTO meeting was disrupted by sporadic protests and riots.
- The weather man forecasted sporadic showers throughout the day.

RETORT = (noun, verb) (n.) a quick, witty response to a question; (v.) 1. to quickly respond to a question with a witty or insulting response; 2. to respond to someone’s argument

Synonyms: (n.) response, reply, comback, counterargument, (v.) reply, answer, respond, rebut, counter

Antonyms: question

Examples:
- When she said “Yeah, BABY!” he retorted, “That’s Mr. Baby to you.”
- “I am rubber and you are glue” is not a very good retort to criticism.
- After Lisa screamed at him, Marc’s retort was, “Please come back when you are ready to act like an adult and engage in a civilized discussion.”
- Sure, that’s a funny retort you just made, but you still haven’t answered my question.

 

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