Testing on this blog

purport
To have or present the often false appearance of being or intending; profess: selfish behavior that purports to be altruistic.
To have the intention of doing; purpose

discrepancies
Divergence or disagreement, as between facts or claims; difference.
An instance of divergence or disagreement. See Synonyms at difference

mull
To go over extensively in the mind; ponder.

impassible \im-PASS-uh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Incapable of suffering; not subject to harm or pain.
2. Unfeeling or not showing feeling.

Body is flux and frustration, a locus of pain and process.
If it becomes impassible and incorruptible, how is it still
body?
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recidivism \rih-SID-uh-viz-uhm\, noun:
A tendency to lapse into a previous condition or pattern of
behavior; especially, a falling back or relapse into prior
criminal habits.

Mr. Atrens's basic argument is that it's physiologically
almost impossible for many people to lose weight, as
evidenced by a high recidivism rate and the unflagging
profitability of diet paraphernalia, from liquid
concoctions to surgeons' staples.
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arbiter \AR-buh-tuhr\, noun:
1. A person appointed or chosen to judge or decide a dispute.
2. Any person who has the power of judging and determining.

There was no shortage of such socially knowing,
good-natured, and adaptable folk among the charter members
of the Institute, especially in its department of
literature, where a sizable number were not really literary
practitioners but instead high-quality magazine editors,
professors, and other well-settled arbiters of taste.
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leitmotif \LYT-moh-teef\, noun:
1. In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage
which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person,
situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the
play; a sort of musical label.
2. A dominant and recurring theme.

Each actor to appear on stage is accompanied by a musical
phrase on the drum -- a sort of leitmotif to characterize
an emotion, much like a Wagnerian drama.
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panacea \pan-uh-SEE-uh\, noun:
A remedy for all diseases, problems, or evils; a universal
medicine; a cure-all.

He considered education "the great panacea" and insisted
that access to knowledge was the key to all social
progress.
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nebbish \NEB-ish\, noun:
A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

You used to be a nebbish, a noodle, a fool
And now you're Mr. Big Time with your own private pool
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execrable \EK-sih-kruh-buhl\, adjective:
1. Deserving to be execrated; detestable; abominable.
2. Extremely bad; of very poor quality; very inferior.

His human-rights record was abysmal. His relations with
Washington were adversarial. He rivaled Zimbabwe's
execrable Robert Mugabe for the title "Africa's Saddam."
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dilettante \DIL-uh-tont; dil-uh-TONT; dil-uh-TON-tee; -TANT;
-TAN-tee\, noun;
plural dilettantes, also dilettanti \-TON-tee; -TAN-\:
1. An amateur or dabbler; especially, one who follows an art
or a branch of knowledge sporadically, superficially, or for
amusement only.
2. An admirer or lover of the fine arts.

adjective:
Of or characteristic of a dilettante; amateurish.

As he had put it, it was a matter of principle, not money:
Mistler family trusts, over which he exercised
discretionary powers, had not been established to support
dilettantes or would-be litterateurs waiting for
inspiration.
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bedaub \bih-DOB\, transitive verb:
1. To smudge over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and
dirty.
2. To overdecorate; to ornament showily or excessively.

The patient's signature is less neat than usual, not only
because of his agitated state but also, quite possibly,
because the pen is so bedaubed with chocolate that it slips
through his fingers.
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The act or product of thinking; the use of the power of
reason; mental activity; thought.

Generally, to the 2 1/2-year-old apple of her parents' eye,
who bravely negotiates her ABC's, the recitation must seem,
if anything other than pure nonsense, more like a physical
task -- like rafting a river or running a steeplechase --
than cerebration.

Dotage \DOH-tij\, noun:
Feebleness of mind due to old age; senility.


canard \kuh-NAHRD\, noun:
1. An unfounded, false, or fabricated report or story.
This is just a canard that is assumed to be true because it has been repeated so often.


malaise
\muh-LAYZ; -LEZ\, noun:
1. A vague feeling of discomfort in the body, as at the onset
of illness.
2. A general feeling of depression or unease.

The Prince found himself in a state of malaise and dissatisfaction with life.

evince
\ih-VIN(T)S\, transitive verb:
To show in a clear manner; to manifest; to make evident.
The study showed that girls were better prepared for class, had better attendance records, and evinced more positive academic behavior overall.


hortatory \HOR-tuh-tor-ee\, adjective:
Marked by strong urging; serving to encourage or incite; as,
"a hortatory speech."
He later gave up the ministry in the conviction that he
could reach thousands with his beguiling pen and onlyhundreds with his hortatory voice.
Hortatory is from Latin hortatorius, from hortari, "to exhort,to incite, to encourage."

predicate
(prd-kt)
v. pred·i·cat·ed, pred·i·cat·ing, pred·i·cates
v. tr.
To base or establish (a statement or action, for example): I predicated my argument on the facts.
To state or affirm as an attribute or quality of something: The sermon predicated the perfectibility of humankind.
To carry the connotation of; imply.
Logic. To make (a term or expression) the predicate of a proposition.
To proclaim or assert; declare.

v. intr.
To make a statement or assertion.

n. (-kt)
Grammar. One of the two main constituents of a sentence or clause, modifying the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the verb, as opened the door in Jane opened the door or is very sleepy in The child is very sleepy.
Logic. That part of a proposition that is affirmed or denied about the subject. For example, in the proposition We are mortal, mortal is the predicate.

Restrospect
A review, survey, or contemplation of things in the past.

Idiom:
in retrospect
Looking backward or reviewing the past.


Exuberant
Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy.
Lavish; extravagant.
Extreme in degree, size, or extent.
Growing, producing, or produced abundantly; plentiful: “Threads of her exuberant hair showed up at the bottom of the sink” (Anne Tyler). See Synonyms at profuse.


Concentric
Having a common center

Apathy
Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness.

Succumb
To submit to an overpowering force or yield to an overwhelming desire; give up or give in. See Synonyms at yield.
To die.

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.

Penitence
The condition or quality of being penitent; regret for wrongdoing.

metier
also métier \met-YAY; MET-yay\, noun:
1. An occupation; a profession.
2. An area in which one excels; an occupation for which one is
especially well suited.

The pairing of Maynard and Salinger -- the writer whose
metier is autobiography and the writer who's so private he
won't even publish -- was an unlikely one.
--Larissa MacFarquhar, "The Cult of Joyce Maynard," [1]New
York Times Magazine, September 6, 1998

succor
\SUH-kuhr\, noun:
1. Aid; help; assistance; especially, assistance that relieves
and delivers from difficulty, want, or distress.
2. The person or thing that brings relief.

transitive verb:
To help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to
assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve.

In Asakusa, a crowd sought succor around an old and lovely
Buddhist temple, dedicated to Kannon, goddess of mercy.

inveigh \in-VAY\, intransitive verb:
To rail (against some person or thing); to protest strongly or
attack with harsh and bitter language -- usually with
"against"; as, "to inveigh against character, conduct,
manners, customs, morals, a law, an abuse."
Reuther never hesitated to inveigh against "poverty,
hunger, and disease."

gainsay \gayn-SAY; GAYN-say\, transitive verb:
1. To deny or dispute; to declare false or invalid.
2. To oppose; to contradict.

In our present, imperfectly postmodern world, where most
information still takes the potentially embarrassing form
of printed matter lurking in archives, liars still must
position themselves so that the historical record may not
easily gainsay them.
--Thomas M. Disch, [1]The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of

supercilious \soo-puhr-SIL-ee-uhs\, adjective:
Disdainfully arrogant; haughty.

The girl has a supercilious expression, and seems to be
looking down her nose at the camera.
--Annie Dillard, [1]For the Time Being

dour \DOO-uhr; DOW-uhr\, adjective:
1. Harsh; stern.
2. Unyielding; inflexible; obstinate.
3. Marked by ill humor; gloomy; sullen.

John James Ruskin's dinner table was far too lively for the
dour John La Touche.
--Tim Hilton, [1]John Ruskin: The Later Years

requisite \REK-wuh-zit\, adjective:
Required by the nature of things or by circumstances;
indispensable.

noun:
That which is required or necessary; something indispensable.

Those with the requisite talents made drawings and
watercolors of the birds, the flowers, the untouched
landscapes that unfolded before them.

hyperbole \hy-PUHR-buh-lee\, noun:
Extravagant exaggeration.

stolid \STOL-id\, adjective:
Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily
excited.

Normally stolid, she occasionally joined in the frequent
applause and smiled along with the laughter at the
high-spirited session.

irrefragable \ih-REF-ruh-guh-buhl\, adjective:
Impossible to refute; incontestable; undeniable; as, an
irrefragable argument; irrefragable evidence.

cozen \KUZ-un\, transitive verb:
1. To cheat; to defraud; to deceive, usually by petty tricks.
2. To obtain by deceit.

intransitive verb:
To act deceitfully.

You would naturally not think so flat a rogue could cozen
you. But have a care! These half idiots have a sort of
cunning, as the skunk has its stench.