Vocab #7

aberration - (noun) an optical phenomenon resulting from the failure of a lens or mirror to produce a good image; a disorder in one's mental state; a state or condition markedly different from the norm
-The lady at the mental hospital had an aberration and couldn’t function properly.

Ad hoc- (adverb) for the special purpose or end presently under consideration
-After thinking long and hard, he decided to ad hoc his relationship with his girlfriend in order to date a different girl.

bane - (noun) something causes misery or death
-Hitler was a bane to the Jews.

bathos - (noun) triteness or triviality of style; a change from a serious subject to a disappointing one; insincere pathos
-She made a bathos when we were talking about winning world war two and she mentioned how many people died.

cantankerous - (adj.) having a difficult and contrary disposition; stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate
-The cantankerous child would not go to bed.

casuistry - (noun) moral philosophy based on the application of general ethical principles to resolve moral dilemmas; argumentation that is specious or excessively subtle and intended to be misleading
-Everybody has a casuistry that will pop up when we do something we know we shouldn't.

de facto - (noun) in fact; in reality
-De facto, there are only a handful of dinosaur fossils left on this earth.

depredation - (noun) an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding; (usually plural) a destructive action
-The depredation of his town scarred the man for life.

empathy - (noun) understanding and entering into another's feelings
-I feel deep empathy for the woman who lost her baby.

harbinger - (noun) an indication of the approach of something or someone; verb foreshadow or presage
-The intense music was a harbinger.

hedonism - (noun) an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good; the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle
-Hedonism can make people do some crazy things.

lackluster - (adj.) lacking luster or shine; lacking brilliance or vitality
-The rubber ball was lackluster and dirty.

malcontent - (adj.) discontented as toward authority; noun a person who is discontented or disgusted
-The malcontent man gave the police a hard time for giving him a ticket.

mellifluous - (adj.) pleasing to the ear
-The violin is so mellifluous.

nepotism - (noun) favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)
-My boss shows such nepotism when he makes me work on all the holidays while his son gets to go out with his friends.

pander - (noun) someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce); verb arrange for sexual partners for others; yield (to); give satisfaction to
-I found out that my teacher was a pander.

peccadillo - (noun) a petty misdeed
-I realized that I made a peccadillo when I threw my cigarette out the window.

piece de resistance - (noun) the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction.
-The roller coaster was the piece de resistance of the fair.

remand - (noun) the act of sending an accused person back into custody to await trial (or the continuation of the trial); verb refer (a matter or legal case) to another committee or authority or court for decision; lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
-As the chief of police, I have to remand about three people a day.

syndrome - (noun) a complex of concurrent things; a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease
-Sneezing is a syndrome of having a cold.