Preclude

Preclude

<pre-clood>

stop; hinder; deter;

to prevent something from happening.

Wearing good shoes will preclude problems with your feet.

Memory trick:
preclude reminds of prevent

At work:
Good testing will preclude errors in our software.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Deleterious

Deleterious

<del-lah-teer-ree-us>

bad; harmful; unfortunate;

something causing damage or injury.

I avoid cookies because they are deleterious to my diet.

Memory trick:
deleterious reminds of delete
a delete is something we lose

At work:
The termination clause makes this a deleterious contract. We can't sign it.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Bilk

Bilk

<billk>

cheat; defraud; swindle;

to steal money from someone by using deceit.

He will bilk the woman out of money because he is dishonest.

Memory trick:
Bilk reminds of bill
We take their bills

At work:
We need to get a signed contract so they can't bilk us out of our deposit.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Perpetuate

Perpetuate

<per-pet-chew-ate>

maintain; continue; prolong

something unending that is usually considered bad.

The waves will perpetuate an assault on my sand castle until it is gone.

Memory trick:
Perpetuate reminds of perpetual as in perpetual motion

At work:
You must not perpetuate the pilfering of office supplies.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Pedant

Pedant

<ped-dent>

purist; perfectionist; stickler;

a person who is obsessed with small details or trivial rules.

His art is worthy of a true pedant.

Memory trick:
Just remember - a ped ant is small

At work:
He is a pedant and that's why his documentation is always so complete.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Artifice

Artifice

<art-tuh-fis>

gimmick; trickery; fraud;

an item for deceiving a person with deception.

The can of soda is an artifice because it is really a hidden safe.

Memory trick:
art is fake

At work:
Their software demo was an artifice because it secretly was a video.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Utilitarian

Utilitarian

<yoo-til-ah-tare-ree-an>

functional; useful; practical;

something made for use and not for show.

My car is utilitarian. It is not pretty but it is built for speed.

Memory trick:
utilitarian reminds of utility.

At work:
Our website is Utilitarian. It is simple but you can do a lot on it.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Marshal

Marshal

<mar-shall>

assemble; group; organize;

to gather a group of people for a purpose.

Let's marshal the players at the north field.

Memory trick:
marshal rhymes with march
we march together

At work:
We will marshal our teams together to get the job done.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Nonsensical

Nonsensical

<non-sense-sik-kal>

silly; foolish; stupid;

something ridiculous or senseless.

The nonsensical song did not have any meaning to us.

Memory trick:
Non reminds of not
Sensical reminds of sense
not sense

At work:
We have to work on these nonsensical numbers before we can do an audit.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Disingenuous

Disingenuous

<dis-in-gen-you-us>

dishonest; lying; false;

I find your story to be disingenuous so please tell me the truth.

Memory trick:
Remember dis or insult.
genuous reminds of generous.
A fake story disses us in a genrous way.

At work:
I think their positive presentation was disingenuous because their product has bad reviews.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Derogatory

Derogatory

<dee-rog-ah-tor-ree>

unfavorable; demeaning; degrading;

saying unflattering or slanderous things about someone.

Your derogatory comments are not true because I am a good person.

Memory trick:
Derogatory reminds of degrade.
We degrade someone when we say bad things.

At work:
Don't put derogatory comments in your report. Only say positive things.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Recapitulate

Recapitulate

<ree-kah-pit-chew-layt>

restate; summarize; review;

to go over and resay the main ideas.

The last page will recapitulate the lessons in the book.

Memory trick:
recapitulate reminds of recap

At work:
I'd like to recapitulate what we talked about before taking questions.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Mundane

Mundane

<mone-dain>

boring; dull; ordinary;

something uninteresting or unexciting.

The movie was so mundane I fell asleep.

Memory trick
Mundane reminds of Monday.
No one likes Monday because it is boring.

At work:
The ad was mundane until we added clowns.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Exemplify

Exemplify

<ee-zemp-pla-fye>

depict; mirror; symbolize;

an average example of something.

Your poems exemplify beauty because they are well written.
.
Memory trick:
Exemplify reminds of example.

At work:
Your presentation will exemplify the excellence of our services.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Epitome

Epitome

<ee--pit-tow-me>

model; symbol; essence;

something or someone who is a perfect example of another.

She was the epitome of beauty and she always turned heads.

Memory trick:
epic tome
An epic is a long poem.
A tome is a book.
An long poetic book shows an example.

At work:
Your reports are the epitome of quality because they are always good.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Minute

Minute

<my-noot>

small; tiny; minimal;

something so small it almost cannot be measured.

I added a minute pinch of sugar so it will not be too sweet.

Memory trick:
Minute reminds of the word minute <min-nut> or a small unit of time.

At work:
It is a minute change so I can have it ready for the meeting.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Foster

Foster

<for-ster>

nurture; promote; stimulate;

to help someone or something in a good way.

The teacher would foster his learning for years to come.

Memory trick:
foster reminds of faster.
we make success come faster.

At work:
I think the training program will foster good work habits.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Purport

Purport

<per-port>

imply; pretend; impersonate;

presenting something in a false or fake way.

The purport of rain turned out to be my brother using the hose on the window.

Memory trick:
Pretend report

At work:
You purport to be a computer expert but your program is not good.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Dubious

Dubious

<do-be-us>

unsure; uncertain; unclear;

something in doubt with no clear answer.

Math is a dubious subject because I don't understand it.

Memory trick:
We dub something when we don't understand it.
dub means to make up words.

At work:
The report is dubious because I don't trust the numbers.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Chasm

Chasm

<kah-zem>

crater; canyon; separation;

something dividing two things having a hole.

The horses jumped over the chasm and landed on the other side.

Memory trick:
chase down into

At work:
The is a chasm between our companies. We should meet to work together better.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Circumspect

Circumspect

<sir-kum-spekt>

wary; cautious; careful;

not willing to take chances or risks.

The circumspect rabbit stayed in the hole and never came out.

Memory trick:
circumstances we inspect before we go forward.

At work:
He is circumspect about the contract so we need to calm his fears.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Animadversion

Animadversion

<ahn-nah-mad-vur-shun>

slur; criticism; accusation;

saying something negative about someone.

The animadversion of the crowd grew and they began throwing things.

Memory trick:
We are animated when we reject their version.

At work:
There was not an animadversion in the room because they loved the presentation.


(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Predominant

Predominant

<pree-dom-min-ant>

ruling; main; chief;

The most important item or the most dominant thing.

Sugar is the predominant ingredient in soda.

Memory trick:
Predominant reminds of dominant.

At work:
The quality of the product will be our predominant focus in the presentation.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Connive

Connive

<kon-nyve>

conspire; plot; scheme;

the act of secretly planning something illegal or bad.

If we are going to connive then we should talk in private.

Memory trick:
Connive reminds of con or cheat.

At work:
Maybe you could connive with her and get paperclips.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Ponderous

Ponderous

<pon-der-rus>

awkward; clumsy; uncoordinated;

moving in an unsteady way because of great weight.

The ponderous elephant made the men run away.

Memory trick:
We ponder the sight of their great bulk.

At work:
Your ponderous report is hard to read. Please edit it and make it smaller.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Inconspicuous

Inconspicuous

<in-kon-spik-you-iss>

hidden; concealed; unshowy;

something unseen because it is not visible.

She stayed inconspicuous by hidding in the bushes.

Memory trick:
Inconspicuous reminds of conspire.
We conspire when we hide.

At work:
Keep the report inconspicuous until the end of the meeting.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Tomfoolery

Tomfoolery

<tom-ful-lur-ree>

foolishness; silliness; craziness;

acting like a fool or a clown.

Stop the tomfoolery! Don't run in the house.

Memory trick:
tom fool ery reminds of fool.

At work:
The boss does not like tomfoolery so don't joke around.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Wonky

Wonky

<wan-kee>

wobbly; crooked; unstable;

something unsteady and askew.

His wonky hat flew off his head because it was not on right.

Memory trick:
Wonky reminds of wacky.

At work:
I can't work because of my wonky desk. I guess I will take the day off.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Bollix

Bollix

<bol-licks>

fumble; bungle; mishandle

to flub something or make a mistake.

I'm not going to bollix this game. I made the right move.

Memory trick:
We take our licks when we make an error.

At work:
You won't bollix the speech if you prepare well.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers