comorbidity (noun)
Morbidity (mor-BIH-dih-tee) refers to having a disease or medical condition. Comorbidity (koh-mor-BIH-dih-tee) refers to the presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in the same patient. As I used it in today’s quiz: “What percent of people whose deaths were attributed to COVID-19 had pre-existing comorbidities?”
conflagration (noun)
A conflagration (kon-fluh-GRAY-shun) is an extensive and highly destructive fire As I used it today: “[Trump’s] 2016 campaign rhetoric about illegal immigrants and his promise to build the wall ignited a conflagration of animosity towards him.”
adulation (noun)
Adulation (ad-juh-LAY-shun) is excessive admiration or praise. As I used it today: “On the one hand, I was thrilled that this person I adulated would condescend to confide in me. On the other hand, her comments seemed mean-spirited.”
exponential (adjective)
Exponential (eks-puh-NEN-shul) refers to an increase that becomes more and more rapid. As I used it today: “Compounding is slow and boring at first. But as time passes, the dividends get exponentially larger.”
fervent (adjective)
Fervent (FUR-vuhnt) means having/displaying very strong and sincere feelings about something. As I used it today: “Learn everything [the people doing the job you want] know. Help them solve their problems. Become their fervent apprentice. And when a job in their department opens up, they will think of you… and you will be fully prepared to jump on it.”
myopia (noun)
Ophthalmologically speaking, myopia (my-OH-pee-uh) is nearsightedness. The word is also used to refer to a lack of foresight or discernment. As I used it today: “People that favor tariffs and other trade restrictions do so, Henry Hazlitt said in The Foundations of Morality, because they suffer from a sort of analytical myopia.”
volte-face (noun)
Volte-face (vawlt’uh-FAHS) is a reversal in policy or opinion; an about-face. As used by Edmund William Gosse in Some Diversions of a Man of Letters: “We have had in France an example of volte-face in taste which I confess has left me gasping.”
pentheraphobia (noun)
Pentheraphobia (PEN-thur-uh-foh-bee-ah) is the fear or strong dislike of one’s mother-in-law, a real – and surprisingly common – psychological affliction. The word is derived from the Greek “penthera” (“mother-in-law”). People with this phobia may also have trouble with novercaphobia (fear of one’s stepmother), vitricophobia (fear of one’s stepfather), and/or soceraphobia (fear of one’s parents-in-law).
(I challenge you to use any of these words in casual conversation.)
apocalyptic (adjective)
Something that’s apocalyptic (uh-pahk-uh-LIP-tik) shows or prophesies the total destruction of the world – a scenario that is most famously described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation. As I used it today: “So many of Hollywood’s apocalyptic movies were shot in LA.”
paradigm (noun)
A paradigm (PARE-uh-dime) is a model; a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. As I used it today: “You are going to have to convince [your key people] that there is no other option. That unless everyone gets behind this new paradigm, the company will die.”