antebellum (adj.)
Belonging to the period before a war, especially the American Civil War (roots: ante-before bell-war) facetious (adj.) playfully jocular; humorous (smart aleck) roots: French - facétie kinetic (adj.) 1. of, relating to, or produced by motion 2. relating to or exhibiting kinesics (movement or activity of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light) (root: kin motion) expurgate (verb) to take out something obscene to remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication (root: ex out ate cause) bowlderize (verb) to remove offensive material; expurgate (comes from Thomas Bowdler who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818) abjure (verb) to take back a statement 1. to recant solemnly; renounce or repudiate 2. to renounce under oath; forswear (root: ab away jur swear) oligarchy (noun) 1. Government by a few, especially a small faction of persons or families 2. A state governed by a few persons (roots: oligo - few archy - rule) omnipotent (adj.) having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful (roots: omni - all potent - power) epihany (noun) 1. a. A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi b. January 6, on which date this feast is traditionally observed 2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being 3. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something; a revelation (ah hah moment) (roots: epi - on phan - appearance) laissez faire (noun) 1. an economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws 2. noninterference in the affairs of others hands off enfranchise (verb) 1. to endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote 2. to free, as from slavery or bondage (roots: en in; as in to make a part of something) chromosome (noun) 1. a threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carries the genes and function in the transmission of hereditary information 2. a circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information of the cell (roots: chromo colored some body) circumnavigate (verb) 1. to proceed completely around 2. to go around (roots: circum around nav ship) evanescent (adjective) vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor (roots: e out) |