Vocabulary Mnemonics

July 27, 2024

Matt’s words

Prestidigitation: (n) sleight of hand; legerdemain (light of hand)

The magician’s powers of prestidigitation kept his audience spellbound.

Enron’s accountants were masters of financial prestidigitation.

Mnemonic: The root of presti is presto, which means “quick” in a magical way. Digit means “finger.” Put them together and you have quick fingers.

Milieu: (n)the setting; environment; surroundings in which something occurred

We are all influenced by the cultural milieu we were raised in.

A Tale of Two Cities takes place in a milieu of revolution and inequality.

Mnemonic: The beginning of the word has “mill.” A mill has lots environmental hazards.

Manifold: (adj) many; various

The young rookie had manifold opportunities to prove his worth to the team.

Men, our challenges are manifold.

Uses: Pipeline manifold… intake manifold. A pipe or chamber with many inlets. Intake manifold: fitting with lots of ports

Mnemonic: Think “many.”

Vulpine: (adj) resembling a fox; foxy; crafty

The bad guy in the movie had a vulpine smile.

Mnemonic: The word has a “v” at the beginning. Imagine a fox with a big “v” smile.

Iconoclast: (n) someone who attacks settled beliefs or institutions

Examples: art critical of a mainstream religion; intellectual rebels

Martin Luther, the famous iconoclast…

The street festival, known for its iconoclastic art and avant-garde style (advanced, unorthodox group).

Mnemonic: Icon-no-last, as in, “the cultural icons won’t last.”

Dr. Mom’s words

Abrogate: (v) to abolish or avoid

“Occasionally, harebrained laws are abrogated.”

Mnemonic: “Ab” means away from or off (think of absent or abnormal). Your responsibility is to “ro(w) to the gate,” but you choose not to. You are abrogating your responsibility to row to the gate.

Fatuous: (adj) silly, pointless, inane; also, disregard of reality

“It’s hard not to mock when a person who should be serious repeatedly makes fatuous comments.”

Mnemonic: Breaking the word up into “fat,” “chew,” and “us.” If you switch the order of these, you could imagine talking to some people who say, “Come chew the fat with us,” meaning they want to just have silly, pointless conversation with you.

Encomium: (n) a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly; a eulogy

“I have heard many encomiums about the new museum, which surely made the day of the loyal donors.”

Mnemonic: Switch the first two syllables of the word, so “com-en.” This sounds like “commend,” which means to recommend something or to praise something.

Churlish: (adj) marked by a lack of civility; vulgar, surly

“My coworker’s churlish behavior toward our customers led to her being let go.”

Mnemonic: Leave the “c” off the beginning of the word, and notice “hurl.” Think of the idiom, “hurling insults,” which means to shout insults or rude language at someone else. That describes someone churlish.  

Canard: (n) a false and/or baseless claim; groundless rumor

“The report about a conspiracy turned out to be a canard.” 

Mnemonic: Flip the two syllables around into, “Ard can!” You’re being assured that someone named Ard can definitely do the task at hand, but you have no evidence for that. It’s a baseless claim. It’s a canard.

BIG sentence:

The churlish, vulpine, iconoclastic politician entered the milieu with prestidigitation, deftly assuring his compatriots that he would be abrogating his responsibility if he didn’t advise them to abandon their fatuous conversations about the latest canard and rather focus their manifold talents on crafting an encomium to the party’s current policy positions.