Vocabulary Mnemonics

April 12, 2025

Matt’s words

Precocious (adj):  mature at an early age; early developing

A precocious child…

… Columbus was still sailing the ocean blue and American English, frisky and rambunctious as a precocious child, was as yet unborn. —Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2000

Mnemonic: “Think of the song “Bette Davis Eyes” by Jackie DeShannon (and then Kim Carnes).

“She’s precocious!” and she knows just what it takes to make a pro blush.

Torpor (n): state of mental or physical inactivity; hibernation; lack of energy

After writing all day I spent the evening in a torpor.

Their bodies go into a torporwhere their heart rate and metabolism slows 20% to 50%. —Damon Arthur, USA TODAY, 27 Dec. 2024

Mnemonic: Just think of stupor; they mean basically the same thing.

Glabella (n):smooth spot between the eyebrows

For example, $700 for the crow’s feet, $700 for the glabella, and $700 for the forehead. —Micaela English, Town & Country, 14 June 2022

Mnemonic: Think about going “ga-ga” for “bell” because of her glabella

Gadfly (n):a person who annoys through consistent criticism; someone who upsets the status quo; a pesky defender in basketball

Socrates was the “gadfly of Athens.”

The reporter was a gadfly to the White House.

Once considered a gadflyenvironmental activist, Kennedy mulled a longshot challenge to former President Biden, but switched to an independent White House bid in 2023. —Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 28 Jan. 2025

Mnemonic: Think of a fly but you’re “gahing” at it.

Haberdashery (n):store with men’s clothing and accessories, either the goods or the store

While in college, Mr. Miller worked at Eddie Jacob’s haberdashery in downtown Baltimore, developing a lifelong taste for fine clothing. —Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun, 24 Nov. 2024

Oversized silver studs and other vintage-looking haberdashery decorate the hems of denim pieces. —Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 13 Jan. 2025

Mnemonic: Men usually want to “dash” in to the store. “Have her dash for me to the haberdashery.”

Dr. Mom’s words

Malaise (n): an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of heath; the feeling prior to onset of illness

The symptoms include headache, malaise, and fatigue.

During the Depression era of the 1930s, many part of the U.S. seemed afflicted by a cultural malaise.

Mnemonic: When you’re in a malaise, you feel lazy, unmotivated.

Trenchant (adj): clear-cut, distinct; keen; sharply perceptive; also caustic, as in it eats through something

My teacher’s trenchant feedback hurt my feelings at first but later became valuable.

Intellectually trenchant and emotionally brutal, the film is also a feast of outstanding acting. YourDictionary

Mnemonic: Think of a sharp, cleanly cut trench in the ground.

De rigueur (adj): proper; prescribed or required by fashion, etiquette, or custom

It used to be de rigueur for pop bands to grow their hair long.

The request for information on allergies and dietary issues has become de rigueur.

Mnemonic: The word sounds like “the regular,” something that is customary to do.

Anathema (n): someone or something intensely disliked or loathed

The prevailing philosophy was anathema to many of their countrymen. Stephen Gould

While everything pointed to an immense flood, Bretz knew such a notion would be anathema to his fellow geologists. Richard Lovett, New Scientist, 21-27 April 2007

Mnemonic: The prefix “ana” here means “against.” (An anachronism is something against, or backward to, time.) The next syllable in the word is “them,” so think of being against them.

Lascivious (adj): filled with or showing sexual desire; lewd, crude, impure, lustful

The defendant in the trial was being accused of lewd and lascivious behavior.

Mnemonic: The word begins with “lass” and “scivi.” If you pronounce the “c,” you’ve got “skivvies,” or underwear. When you see a lass, you might imagine her in her skivvies, leading to impure thoughts and/or behaviors.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

The trenchant gadfly was anathema to virtually everyone in his town due in part to annoying personal characteristics like his unsightly glabella, his obsession with haberdasheries, his marked torpor and perpetual malaise-like state; however, worst by far, people steered clear of him because of his belief that it was de rigueur for him to behave lasciviously toward precocious girls.