Vocabulary Mnemonics

May 24, 2025

Matt’s words

Razzmatazz (n): razzle dazzle, something that is dazzling

Some prefer the Superbowl halftime show, with its music and razzmatazz, more than the game itself.

Mnemonic: It’s the same as razzle dazzle, but think of the Tasmanian Devil dazzling you, and you’ll get the “tazz” at the end.

Dulcet (adj): Sweet and soothing, usually having to do with sound

The dulcet rhythm of the waves was music to my ears.

Mnemonic: In Spanish, “dulce” means sweet or candy; also, you can think of music, but perhaps a “dull set” of music that is not razzmatazzy. Rather, it is sweet and soothing.

Dirigible (n): a blimp; a lighter-than air aircraft that can be steered

Wikipedia incorrectly lists the flight of the French army dirigible “La France” as the first roundtrip dirigible flight. –Smithsonian Magazine

Mnemonic: You can “dir”ect the aircraft over the “ridge” as you float through the sky.

Umbra (n): a shadow that excludes all light from something else, as during an eclipse

If you’re in the shaded part of an eclipse, you’re in the umbra.

There’s a large, fuzzy outer shadow called the penumbra and a much smaller, darker, central shadow, the umbra. –Space.com

Mnemonic: Umbra sounds like umbrella. When you’re under an umbrella, you’re in the center of the shadow that’s been created, so you’re in the umbra.

Wunderkind (n): child prodigy

Everyone thinks their child is a wunderkind.

A true wunderkind, Mozart was performing to dazzled and razzmatazzed crowds at age 6.

Mnemonic: “Wonder” and “kid” combine to make a kid who is a wonder.

Dr. Mom’s words

Diacritic (n): a sign, symbol, or accent written above or below a letter indicating a difference in pronunciation from the same letter when unmarked; examples include the grave, tilde, macron, umlaut, dieresis (two dots above)

The floral patterns at the bottom of the logo as well as the football at the top both reference Qatari culture, while the dots either side of the football are actually Arabic diacritics. —SI.com, 3 Sep. 2019

Mnemonic: “Dia” is also at the beginning of diagonal, a slash or accent mark that is “critical” to the pronunciation of a word. There are many critical accent marks, including my next word.

Cedilla (n): a comma-shaped diacritical mark written under the letter c, s, or k, indicating a specific sound they are making; specifically, in Romanian, where a cedilla under an “s” indicates a pronunciation of “sh.”

The word façade has a cedilla on the c, telling us to change the hard “c” to an “s” sound.

Braşov is an entrancing city in Romania, but be careful to pronounce it “Brashov” due to the cedilla under the “s.”

Mnemonic: Cedilla is pronounced with an “s,” but the letter written is “c.” So the cedilla tells us the c sound is pronounced as an s.

Redolent (adj): suggestive of something, reminiscent of, “whiff of…”; also, having a pleasant odor, exuding fragrance

The air was redolent of garlic after our delicious Italian pasta dinner.

For older codgers like me who prefer golf clubs to nightclubs…historic La Quinta Resort & Club (is a) redolentwhiff of Hollywood’s glorious days gone by. —David Weiss, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Mnemonic: From the Latin “olere,” meaning to smell. The “ole” in the middle is the base of the olfactory bulb, the part of the forebrain that processes odor information. Also, the “re” at the beginning can mean again, so you’re smelling, or remembering something, again.

Disentangle (v): to free someone or something from an entanglement; extricate

It is sometimes a challenge to disentangle fact from fiction.

Mnemonic: “Tangle” is when things are knotted or woven together (metaphorically or literally), so “dis”- entangling is taking apart the actual knots or the figurative complications.

Deferential (adj): showing deference or high regard/respect for someone, as in an elder or superior; marked by or showing proper regard for another’s higher status; allowing someone else to choose

Although she was his superior, he didn’t want to seem too deferential.

Judges tend to be highly deferentialto the privacy claims raised by these educational institutions.

—Holly Yan, CNN Money, 10 May 2025

Mnemonic: Think of deferential being like “reverential,” or demonstrating reverence for something. You would be respectful and put your own needs/desires aside if you’re being reverent toward something/someone.

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

Watching the wunderkind properly use cedillas and other diacritical marks in his writing, create dulcet tones on his flute, successfully launch a dirigible to study the umbra of an eclipse, and disentangle distracting razzmatazz from substantive information was redolent of Mozart’s genius and caused me to show due deference to him, despite his youth.