Vocabulary from "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich

• Accolade – a ceremonial tap on the shoulder with the flat of a sword, given to mark the conferring of knighthood; praise approval

• Agape – gaping, open-mouthed

• Alight – to descend and settle

• Alma mater - a school, college, or university at which one has studied and, usually, from which one has graduated

• Altruism – unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others

• Aphasic – loss of speech

• Aplomb – dignity and confidence

• Aqueous – of water; watery

• Baleful – menacing; destructive

• Cadre – a group forming a nucleus of informed personnel in industry or the armed forces that can be increased when necessary

• Careen – to tilt or keel over to one side; to swerve

• Contemptuous – manifesting, feeling, or expressing the feeling or condition of despising something

• Conundrum – a hard question; a riddle

• Culled – picked; selected; picked out and killed

• Emissary – a person sent to conduct negotiations

• Encomium – high praise given in speech or writing

• Flippant – not showing proper seriousness

• Gentrification – a movement of middle-class families into an urban area causing property values to increase and having the secondary effect of driving out poorer families

• Glossolalia – the power of speaking in unknown languages as claimed by religious groups; also called the “gift of tongues”

• Improvidence – not providing for future needs; wasting one’s resources

• Indignation – anger aroused by something thought to be unjust or wicked

• Individualism - the moral stance, political philosophy, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, the state, or any other group or institution.

• Ineluctably – not to be avoided or escaped; inevitable

• Juggernaut – a large overwhelming object or institution

• Lavish – giving or producing something in large quantities; plentiful

• Mephitic – smelling unpleasant

• Milieu – environment; surroundings

• Offal – the parts that come off as waste from a butchered animal

• Panacea – a remedy for all kinds of diseases or troubles

• Penury – extreme poverty

• Permutation – a variation of the order of set things

• Pidgin – a simplified form of English or another language, containing elements of the local language and used for communication between people speaking different languages

• Posterity – future generations; a person’s descendants

• Postprandial – after a meal, especially dinner

• Prevaricate – to stray from or evade the truth; lie

• Propagation – to breed or reproduce from parent stock; to spread; to transmit

• Putative – reputed; supposed; alleged

• Recalcitrant – disobedient, resisting authority or discipline

• Servile – suitable for a servant; menial

• Skank – (slang term) an offensive term for a girl or woman who is regarded as unpleasant-looking and sexually promiscuous

• Slated – to make arrangements for

• Solipsism – the philosophical theory that the self is only knowable

• Squalid – dirty and unpleasant, especially because of neglect

• Stingy – spending or giving or given grudgingly or in small amounts

• Sumptuary law – laws which attempt to regulate habits of consumption; laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc.

• Supposition – supposing; what is being supposed

• Unctuous – characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor; excessively smooth or smug

• Unencumbered – not burdened with cares or responsibilities

• Vehemence – showing strong feeling