Vocabulary Mnemonics

April 13, 2024

Matt’s words

Inexorable: impossible to stop or prevent; this word often has a slightly negative connotation

Death, aging, technology… these are all inexorable.

“The inexorable reality of death…” or “The seemingly inexorable progress of AI technology…”

Mnemonic: Focus on the first and last syllables: “in” and “able.”

“In” as a prefix often means “not.” For example, inseparable means “not separate-able.”

Abel is the first person murdered in the Bible.

So, think of Cain raising his knife to slay Abel, and their father, Adam, desperate to stop the slaying, yells out, “Not Abel!” Unfortunately for Adam, his cry was in vain. Abel’s death was inexorable.

Licentious: promiscuous, or lacking restraint in sexual matters

“Licentious behavior” or “flashing a licentious grin…” etc.

Mnemonic: Break the word into “license” and “shush,” as in “shush, don’t talk about that!” You’re left with “license” to indulge in “shush” behaviors.

Anomaly: something that is abnormal, unusual, or unexpected.

“The word orange is an anomaly in that it doesn’t have a single rhyme.”

“Is there a pattern, or was this an anomaly?”

Mnemonic: Remember that “a” as a prefix often means “not.” Atypical means not typical.

Then, squint your eyes and change “nomal” to normal.” You’re left with “not normal,” which is the meaning of anomaly.

Lucid: to be very clear and easy to understand.

Sentence: “I visited dad at the rest home yesterday.”

“How was he?”

“Really lucid!”

Mnemonic: To remember the meaning, picture your uncles Lou and Sid having a conversation at the old folks home. Normally, they’re unintelligible. Today they’re surprisingly lucid.

Alternatively, you can remember that “luc” means light. Think translucent. The Spanish word luz. Or the Luxor with its famous light. These all come from the same root.

This can help you remember that lucid means light/bright in a metaphorical sense.

Precipitate: to cause something to happen quickly or suddenly

Sentence: The shoving match precipitated the brawl

A big bet gone bad can precipitate bankruptcy.

Mnemonic: Break the word down into four parts: pre-cip-it-ate

Think of giving your pet a bowl of stew. It doesn’t know if it wants to eat it or not. It takes a pre sip to decide. It liked it, so it ate.

Pre-sip-it-ate.

Dr. Mom’s words

Garish: excessively or disturbingly vivid, bright, showy

“The entertainer’s Hawaiian shirt was so loud and colorful it bordered on garish.”

Mnemonic: Rhymes with parish and “glarish.” So picture a parish church, normally plain, brown, modest, understated. This one, however, is so bright and colorful that it causes a glare.

Limpid: clear, comprehensible, void of anything that darkens

“The opera diva’s voice had a limpid, other-worldly quality that mesmerized the listeners.”

Mnemonic: Break the syllables down to “limp” and “pud”dle. You’ve been in a plane crash in the desert. You’re injured and getting increasingly thirsty. You limp effortfully to get to a puddle of clear, undarkened water.

Cad: a man who behaves dishonorably, especially toward women

“Mom had a sense that her daughter’s new boyfriend was something of a cad by the cavalier, disrespectful way he talked about his previous girlfriends.”

Mnemonic: Use rhyming: a cad is a bad lad.

Dogged: Stubborn determination or tenacity, especially with difficult tasks

“You have to admire what a dogged advocate the child was for the preservation of her doll collection.”

Mnemonic: Picture a dog with a bone. He will “doggedly” hold on to that thing to his dying day, never loosening his grip or surrendering his prize.

Arrogate: to claim without justification; to take something without having the right to do so

“The neighborhood kids arrogated to themselves the local park’s restroom as their club’s hideout.”

Mnemonic: Break the word into “arrow” and “gate.” Picture Robin Hood walking through Sherwood Forest and coming upon a sturdy building behind a gate. He shoots an arrow perfectly into the center of the gate and claims the property as his own.  

Big sentence:

The licentious, garishly dressed cad lucidly, limpidly, doggedly, and inexorably precipitated the arrogation of the power position, not at all anomalous behavior for a person like him.