Monomania \mon-uh-MAY-nee-uh; -nyuh\, noun:1. Pathological obsession with a single subject or idea.2. Excessive concentration of interest upon one particular subject or idea. One of the themes in the book was the necessity for a leader to be passionate about the work. And sometimes in a corporate setting, passion becomes monomania.— “Balancing the Personal and the […]

Aesthete \ES-theet\, noun:One having or affecting great sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature. Beijing, with its stolid, square buildings and wide, straight roads, feels like the plan of a first-year engineering student, while Shanghai’s decorative architecture and snaking, narrow roads feel like the plan of an aesthete.— “Sky’s the Limit in Shanghai”, Los […]

Fulsome \FUL-sum\, adjective:1. Offensive to the taste or sensibilities.2. Insincere or excessively lavish; especially, offensive from excess of praise. He recorded the event in his journal: “Long evening visit from Mr. Langtree–a fulsome flatterer.”— Edward L. Widmer, Young America: The Flowering of Democracy in New York City Concealed disgust under the appearance of fulsome endearment.— […]

Ostensible \ah-STEN-suh-bul\, adjective:Represented or appearing to be true, but not necessarily so. The credibility of the energy-trading sector has been severely damaged by disclosures of sham transactions in energy trading, designed to build up ostensible sales and profits and therefore share prices of the trading companies.— James Flanigan, “Dynegy CEO Quits as Probe of Sham […]

Militate \MIL-ih-tayt\, intransitive verb:To have force or influence. In our current era of politics, many factors militate against changes in policies.— Reed Hundt, You Say You Want a Revolution Even though Simpson’s youth, limited professional experience, lack of reputation, unmarried status, and modest social origins all militated against success, the twenty-eight-year-old Simpson applied for the […]

Vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant. But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile.— Neil Baldwln, Legends of the Plumed Serpent He did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space […]

Stanch \STONCH; STANCH\, transitive verb:To stop the flowing of; to check in its course; also, to stop the flowing of blood from; as, “to stanch a wound.” Out of the corner of my eye I can see one of Shiggy’s daughters busy at the rear door with a mop and a mountain of napkins, furious […]

Opprobrium \uh-PRO-bree-uhm\, noun:1. Disgrace; infamy; reproach mingled with contempt.2. A cause or object of reproach or disgrace. Typically academic, they disdainfully observed about many university press books–“too dry, too specialized, too self-absorbed for us.” In their world, the word “academic” was as much a term of opprobrium as the word “middlebrow” was in mine.— Janice […]

Solace \SOL-is\, noun:1. Comfort in time of grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety.2. That which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; a source of relief. transitive verb:1. To comfort or cheer in grief or affliction; to console.2. To allay; to soothe; as, “to solace grief.” Surrounded by unhappiness at home, John Sr. early […]

cataract \KAT-uh-rakt\, noun:1. A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall.2. A downpour; a flood.3. A clouding or opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, which obstructs the passage of light. Niagara is no virgin. Today, its cataract can be stopped with the pull of a lever, and less than […]