Oct. 25, 2025
Matt’s words
Portentous (adj):having a menacing or threatening nature to it; ominous; a portent is an omen or sign
The storm clouds served as a portent of the rotten weather to come.
Portentous: In the final novel of the series, The Last Battle, the destruction of trees and dryads in Lantern Waste, a place tied to the creation of Narnia itself, is one of many portentous omens signalling the end of the world.—Ellen Walker, JSTOR Daily, 3 Sep. 2025
Mnemonic: Turn it into a portmanteau of important and ominous.
Expedient (adj):to take a simple way out; do what’s in your self-interest; opportune
Politically expedient…
Instead of doing what’s right, politicians often do whatever’s politically expedient.
When the bad guys turn their backs, it’s expedient to hightail it out.
Mnemonic: Think of Expedia but with a different ending – you end up somewhere you shouldn’t.
Pallid (adj):deficient of color; dull
That’s one of the reasons that the high culture of the 20th century seems so pallid in comparison with the high culture in the five preceding centuries – Charles Murray
Mnemonic: There’s a lid on your color pallet.
Redoubtable (adj):formidable;causing fear or alarm
The heart of the show was Berg’s performance as the redoubtableMolly, a meddler and a chatterbox but also the show’s moral heroine, a problem solver energized by the troubles of others.—Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
Mnemonic: A redoubt from last week is a stronghold that makes you “re-doubt” that you’ve won the battle.
A redoubt causes you to redoubt because it’s redoubtable.
Acquisitive (adj):strongly desirous of acquiring and possessing; greedy; avaricious; covetous
Cybersecurity providers are becoming more acquisitive [acquisition-minded], with some looking to offer a full platform of products to customers that are seeking to save money by reducing vendors. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 30 July 2025
Mnemonic: It’s like being inquisitive but for acquiring things.
Dr. Mom’s words
Esprit de corps (n): a feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by the members of a particular group.
They developed some esprit de corps through athletics competitions.
Mnemonic: “Esprit” looks like “spirit,” and the “corps” can mean the group.
Shoal (n): a sandbank or sandbar that makes the water shallow; also, a large number of fish swimming as a group (think “school of fish”)
The shoals off Nantucket Island are famous as the final resting places of many ill-fated ships. Merriam-Webster
Mnemonic: Think of a “shallow shoal.”
Williwaw (n): a sudden, violent gust of cold land air or unpredictable squalls
A williwaw rose up seemingly out of nowhere and wreaked havoc on our campsite. Merriam-Webster
The surprise verdict of the jury created a wild williwaw as reporters rushed to file their stories. Merriam-Webster
Mnemonic: Williwaw sounds like “windy wall” of air or water.
Kwashiorkor (n): a condition of severe malnutrition in infants and children, possibly related to a diet low in protein; one of the main characteristics is severe bloating, often in the stomach
The child appeared overfed at first glance, but his protruding belly was actually caused by the edema associated with kwashiorkor.
Mnemonic : Begins like “squash.” Most types of squash are either round or have protruding parts, like the body parts of children with kwashiorkor.
Bilious (adj): relating to an illness, caused by too much bile (a yellowish-greenish fluid produced by the liver), that can cause nausea; troubled by indigestion; irritable, angry, bitter
…bilious dialogue, a bilious attack…
If an unpleasant meal has left you feeling grumpy and looking green, you’re bilious in several senses of the word.
(The house was built) with clapboards painted red and bilious yellow. Sinclair Lewis
Mnemonic: Bilious is an adjective form of bile. Bile both tastes and can make you feel vile.
Interesting info: Bilious is one of several words whose origins trace to the old belief that four bodily humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) control temperament. Just like phlegmatic (“of a slow and stolid phlegm-driven character”), melancholy (“experiencing dejection associated with black bile”), and sanguine (“of a cheerful, blood-based disposition”), bilious suggests a personality associated with an excess of one of the humors—in this case, yellow bile. Such a personality may also be described as unreasonable, peevish, or ill-tempered, as typified by Charlotte Brontë in her 1849 novel, Shirley: “These two men, of hard, bilious natures both, rarely came into contact but they chafed each other’s moods.”
COLOSSAL COMPILATION:
Physical challenges like kwashiorkor can be redoubtable and portentous of future troubles, especially for those who find themselves stranded on a shoal after being struck by a williwaw, so it is expedient that we eschew our acquisitive natures and our overconcern about minor maladies like a pallid complexion or a bilious stomach and instead engender an esprit de corps among the unfortunate sufferers.
Vocabulary Mnemonics 
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