A glossary of useful terms for events of the past few months.
For consistency all definitions were taken from dictionary.com so I can't be accused of choosing the definition I like.
These are words I have read which are sometimes problematic along with some words I think would be useful.
Any suggestions please comment.
academic
[ak-uh-dem-ik]
adjective
1. of or pertaining to a college, academy, school, or other
educational institution, especially one for higher education:
academic requirements.
2. pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily
vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.
3. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or
directly useful:
an academic question; an academic discussion of a matter already
decided.
4. learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common
sense, or practicality.
5. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions;
conventional:
academic painting.
6. acquired by formal education, especially at a college or
university:
academic preparation for the ministry.
7. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to Academe or
to the Platonic school of philosophy.
noun
8. a student or teacher at a college or university.
9. a person who is academic in background, attitudes,
methods, etc.:
He was by temperament an academic, concerned with books and the arts.
10. (initial capital letter) a person who supports or
advocates the Platonic school of philosophy.
11. academics, the scholarly activities of a school or
university, as classroom studies or research projects:
more emphasis on academics and less on athletics.
attack
[uh-tak]
verb (used with
object)
1. to set upon in a forceful, violent, hostile, or
aggressive way, with or without a weapon; begin fighting with:
He attacked him with his bare hands.
2. to begin hostilities against; start an offensive against:
to attack the enemy.
3. to blame or abuse violently or bitterly.
4. to direct unfavorable criticism against; criticize
severely; argue with strongly:
He attacked his opponent's statement.
5. to try to destroy, especially with verbal abuse:
to attack the mayor's reputation.
6. to set about (a task) or go to work on (a thing)
vigorously:
to attack housecleaning; to attack the hamburger hungrily.
7. (of disease, destructive agencies, etc.) to begin to
affect.
verb (used
without object)
8. to make an attack; begin hostilities.
noun
9. the act of attacking; onslaught; assault.
10. a military offensive against an enemy or enemy position.
11. Pathology. seizure by disease or illness:
an attack of indigestion.
12. the beginning or initiating of any action; onset.
13. an aggressive move in a performance or contest.
14. the approach or manner of approach in beginning a
musical phrase.
cabal
[kuh-bal]
noun
1. a small group of secret plotters, as against a government
or person in authority.
2. the plots and schemes of such a group; intrigue.
3. a clique, as in artistic, literary, or theatrical
circles.
verb (used
without object), caballed, caballing.
4. to form a cabal; intrigue; conspire; plot.
censor
[sen-ser]
noun
1. an official who examines books, plays, news reports,
motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc., for
the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political,
military, or other grounds.
2. any person who supervises the manners or morality of
others.
3. an adverse critic; faultfinder.
4. (in the ancient Roman republic) either of two officials
who kept the register or census of the citizens, awarded public contracts, and
supervised manners and morals.
5. (in early Freudian dream theory) the force that represses
ideas, impulses, and feelings, and prevents them from entering consciousness in
their original, undisguised forms.
verb (used with
object)
6. to examine and act upon as a censor.
7. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity
as a censor.
censure
[sen-sher]
noun
1. strong or vehement expression of disapproval:
The newspapers were unanimous in their censure of the tax proposal.
2. an official reprimand, as by a legislative body of one of
its members.
verb (used with
object), censured, censuring.
3. to criticize or reproach in a harsh or vehement manner:
She is more to be pitied than censured.
verb (used
without object), censured, censuring.
4. to give censure, adverse criticism, disapproval, or
blame.
collusion
[kuh-loo-zhuh n]
noun
1. a secret agreement, especially for fraudulent or
treacherous purposes; conspiracy:
Some of his employees were acting in collusion to rob him.
2. Law. a secret understanding between two or more persons
to gain something illegally, to defraud another of his or her rights, or to
appear as adversaries though in agreement:
collusion of husband and wife to obtain a divorce.
critic
[krit-ik]
noun
1. a person who judges, evaluates, or criticizes:
a poor critic of men.
2. a person who judges, evaluates, or analyzes literary or
artistic works, dramatic or musical performances, or the like, especially for a
newspaper or magazine.
3. a person who tends too readily to make captious, trivial,
or harsh judgments; faultfinder.
4. Archaic.
criticism.
critique
critical
[krit-i-kuh l]
adjective
1. inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often
too readily.
2. occupied with or skilled in criticism.
3. involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.;
judicial:
a critical analysis.
4. of or pertaining to critics or criticism:
critical essays.
5. providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.:
a critical edition of Chaucer.
6. pertaining to or of the nature of a crisis:
a critical shortage of food.
7. of decisive importance with respect to the outcome;
crucial:
a critical moment.
criticism
[krit-uh-siz-uh m]
noun
1. the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything.
2. the act of passing severe judgment; censure;
faultfinding.
3. the act or art of analyzing and evaluating or judging the
quality of a literary or artistic work, musical performance, art exhibit,
dramatic production, etc.
4. a critical comment, article, or essay; critique.
5. any of various methods of studying texts or documents for
the purpose of dating or reconstructing them, evaluating their authenticity,
analyzing their content or style, etc.:
historical criticism; literary criticism.
6. investigation of the text, origin, etc., of literary
documents, especially Biblical ones:
textual criticism.
critique
[kri-teek]
noun
1. an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work;
detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject,
etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.
verb (used with
object), critiqued, critiquing.
4. to review or analyze critically.
dichotomy
[dahy-kot-uh-mee]
noun, plural
dichotomies.
1. division into two parts, kinds, etc.; subdivision into
halves or pairs.
2. division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or
contradictory groups:
a dichotomy between thought and action.
3. Botany. a mode of branching by constant forking, as in
some stems, in veins of leaves, etc.
4. Astronomy. the phase of the moon or of an inferior planet
when half of its disk is visible.
ethics
[eth-iks]
plural noun
1. (used with a singular or plural verb) a system of moral
principles:
the ethics of a culture.
2. the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a
particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.:
medical ethics; Christian ethics.
3. moral principles, as of an individual:
His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence.
4. (usually used with a singular verb) that branch of
philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the
rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of
the motives and ends of such actions.
fact
[fakt]
noun
1. something that actually exists; reality; truth:
Your fears have no basis in fact.
2. something known to exist or to have happened:
Space travel is now a fact.
3. a truth known by actual experience or observation;
something known to be true:
Scientists gather facts about plant growth.
4. something said to be true or supposed to have happened:
The facts given by the witness are highly questionable.
5. Law.. Often, facts. an actual or alleged event or
circumstance, as distinguished from its legal effect or consequence.
Compare question of fact, question of law.
feminism
[fem-uh-niz-uh m]
noun
1. the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other
rights of women equal to those of men.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) an organized movement
for the attainment of such rights for women.
3. feminine character.
feminist
[fem-uh-nist]
adjective,
Sometimes, feministic
1. advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights
for women equal to those of men.
noun
2. an advocate of such rights.
gamer
[gey-mer]
noun
1. a person who plays games, especially computer or video
games.
harass
[huh-ras, har-uh s]
verb (used with
object)
1. to disturb persistently; torment, as with troubles or
cares; bother continually; pester; persecute.
2. to trouble by repeated attacks, incursions, etc., as in
war or hostilities; harry; raid.
ideologue
[ahy-dee-uh-lawg, -log, id-ee-, ahy-dee-]
noun
1. a person who zealously advocates an ideology.
ideology
[ahy-dee-ol-uh-jee, id-ee-]
noun, plural
ideologies.
1. the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an
individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
2. such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to
some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for
putting it into operation.
3. Philosophy.
a. the study of the nature and
origin of ideas.
b. a system that derives ideas
exclusively from sensation.
4. theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature.
journalism
[jur-nl-iz-uh m]
noun
1. the occupation of reporting, writing, editing,
photographing, or broadcasting news or of conducting any news organization as a
business.
2. press.
3. a course of study preparing students for careers in
reporting, writing, and editing for newspapers and magazines.
4. writing that reflects superficial thought and research, a
popular slant, and hurried composition, conceived of as exemplifying topical
newspaper or popular magazine writing as distinguished from scholarly writing:
He calls himself a historian, but his books are mere journalism.
misogyny
[mi-soj-uh-nee, mahy-]
noun
1. hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.
objective
[uh b-jek-tiv]
noun
1. something that one's efforts or actions are intended to
attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target:
the objective of a military attack; the objective of a fund-raising
drive.
2. Grammar.
a. Also called objective case.
(in English and some other languages) a case specialized for the use of a form
as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition, as him in The boy hit
him, or me in He comes to me with his troubles.
b. a word in that case.
3. Also called object glass, object lens, objective lens.
Optics. (in a telescope, microscope, camera, or other optical system) the lens
or combination of lenses that first receives the rays from the object and forms
the image in the focal plane of the eyepiece, as in a microscope, or on a plate
or screen, as in a camera.
adjective
4. being the object or goal of one's efforts or actions.
5. not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or
prejudice; based on facts; unbiased:
an objective opinion.
6. intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind
rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book.
7. being the object of perception or thought; belonging to
the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject (opposed to
subjective ).
8. of or pertaining to something that can be known, or to something
that is an object or a part of an object; existing independent of thought or an
observer as part of reality.
9. Grammar.
a. pertaining to the use of a
form as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition.
b. (in English and some other
languages) noting the objective case.
c. similar to such a case in
meaning.
d. (in case grammar) pertaining
to the semantic role of a noun phrase that denotes something undergoing a
change of state or bearing a neutral relation to the verb, as the rock in The rock moved or in The child threw the rock.
10. being part of or pertaining to an object to be drawn:
an objective plane.
11. Medicine/Medical. (of a symptom) discernible to others
as well as the patient.
opinion
[uh-pin-yuh n]
noun
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient
to produce complete certainty.
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3. the formal expression of a professional judgment:
to ask for a second medical opinion.
4. Law. the formal statement by a judge or court of the
reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5. a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect
to character, merit, etc.:
to forfeit someone's good opinion.
6. a favorable estimate; esteem:
I haven't much of an opinion of him.
oppression
[uh-presh-uh n]
noun
1. the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome,
cruel, or unjust manner.
2. an act or instance of oppressing.
3. the state of being oppressed.
4. the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or
physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.
peer review
noun
1. evaluation of a person's work or performance by a group
of people in the same occupation, profession, or industry.
privilege
[priv-uh-lij, priv-lij]
noun
1. a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person
beyond the advantages of most:
the privileges of the very rich.
2. a special right, immunity, or exemption granted to
persons in authority or office to free them from certain obligations or
liabilities:
the privilege of a senator to speak in Congress without danger of a
libel suit.
3. a grant to an individual, corporation, etc., of a special
right or immunity, under certain conditions.
4. the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or
immunities.
5. any of the rights common to all citizens under a modern
constitutional government:
We enjoy the privileges of a free people.
6. an advantage or source of pleasure granted to a person:
It's my privilege to be here.
7. Stock Exchange. an option to buy or sell stock at a
stipulated price for a limited period of time, including puts, calls, spreads,
and straddles.
verb (used with
object), privileged, privileging.
8. to grant a privilege to.
9. to exempt (usually followed by from).
10. to authorize or license (something otherwise forbidden).
progressive
[pruh-gres-iv]
adjective
1. favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or
reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in
political matters:
a progressive mayor.
2. making progress toward better conditions; employing or
advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods,
etc.:
a progressive community.
3. characterized by such progress, or by continuous
improvement.
4. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to any of the
Progressive parties in politics.
5. going forward or onward; passing successively from one
member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.
6. noting or pertaining to a form of taxation in which the
rate increases with certain increases in taxable income.
7. of or pertaining to progressive education :
progressive schools.
8. Grammar. noting a verb aspect or other verb category that
indicates action or state going on at a temporal point of reference.
9. Medicine/Medical. continuously increasing in extent or
severity, as a disease.
noun
10. a person who is progressive or who favors progress or
reform, especially in political matters.
11. (initial capital letter) a member of a Progressive
party.
12. Grammar.
a. the progressive aspect.
b. a verb form or construction in
the progressive, as are thinking in They are thinking about it.
reactionary
[ree-ak-shuh-ner-ee]
adjective
1. of, pertaining to, marked by, or favoring reaction,
especially extreme conservatism or rightism in politics; opposing political or
social change.
noun, plural
reactionaries.
2. a reactionary person.
review
[ri-vyoo]
noun
1. a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a
book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.
2. the process of going over a subject again in study or
recitation in order to fix it in the memory or summarize the facts.
3. an exercise designed or intended for study of this kind.
4. a general survey of something, especially in words; a
report or account of something.
5. an inspection or examination by viewing, especially a
formal inspection of any military or naval force, parade, or the like.
6. a periodical publication containing articles on current
events or affairs, books, art, etc.:
a literary review.
7. a judicial reexamination, as by a higher court, of the
decision or proceedings in a case.
8. a second or repeated view of something.
9. a viewing of the past; contemplation or consideration of
past events, circumstances, or facts.
10. Bridge. a recapitulation of the bids made by all
players.
11. Theater, revue.
verb (used with
object)
12. to go over (lessons, studies, work, etc.) in review.
13. to view, look at, or look over again.
14. to inspect, especially formally or officially:
to review the troops.
15. to survey mentally; take a survey of:
to review the situation.
16. to discuss (a book, play, etc.) in a critical review;
write a critical report upon.
17. to look back upon; view retrospectively.
18. to present a survey of in speech or writing.
19. Law. to reexamine judicially:
a decision to review the case.
20. Bridge. to repeat and summarize (all bids made by the
players).
verb (used
without object)
21. to write reviews; review books, movies, etc., as for a
newspaper or periodical:
He reviews for some small-town newspaper.
science
[sahy-uh ns]
noun
1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of
facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general
laws:
the mathematical sciences.
2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world
gained through observation and experimentation.
3. any of the branches of natural or physical science.
4. systematized knowledge in general.
5. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by
systematic study.
6. a particular branch of knowledge.
7. skill, especially reflecting a precise application of
facts or principles; proficiency.
sexism
[sek-siz-uh m]
noun
1. attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of
sexual roles.
2. discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as
in restricted job opportunities; especially, such discrimination directed
against women.
think tank
noun
1. a research institute or organization employed to solve
complex problems or predict or plan future developments, as in military,
political, or social areas.
