First 100 Words (Through March 11, 2016)

Front 1

Peripeteia

Back 1

A sudden turn of evens or reversal

Front 2

Didactic

Back 2

Intending to teach; also can be used in the way patronizing is used for parenting

Front 3

Temerity

Back 3

Excessive confidence or boldness; audacity

Front 4

Abstruse

Back 4

Difficult to understand

Front 5

Vitiate

Back 5

Spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of

Front 6

Druthers

Back 6

Preference; esp in "having one's druthers"

Front 7

Miasma

Back 7

Corrupting atmosphere or disease causing gas.

Front 8

Incorrigible

Back 8

Not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed

Front 9

Mawkish

Back 9

Overly sentimental; maudlin

Front 10

Kakistocracy

Back 10

Governed by the worst people in society.

Front 11

Scuttlebutt

Back 11

Gossip or rumor

Front 12

Anodyne

Back 12

Soothing; alternatively bland or insipid

Front 13

Slavish

Back 13

Unoriginal; blindly imitative

Front 14

Claque

Back 14

A group hired to clap at a performance; a group of sycophants

Front 15

Crabwise

Back 15

Sideways; in a cautiously indirect manner

Front 16

Haptic

Back 16

Relating to touch; a bias for touch

Front 17

Desultory

Back 17

Digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random

Front 18

Fatidic

Back 18

Of or relating to prophecy

Front 19

Portent

Back 19

A sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen

Front 20

Recondite

Back 20

Dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter; esoteric

Front 21

Sapid

Back 21

Having a strong, pleasant taste

Front 22

Wabi-Sabi

Back 22

Comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.

Front 23

Recumbent

Back 23

Lying down; in a position of comfort or rest

Front 24

Bucolic

Back 24

Of or relating to the pleasant aspects of country life

Front 25

Equanimity

Back 25

Evenness of mind especially under stress; right disposition, balance

Front 26

Abrogate

Back 26

Repeal or do away with a law, right, or agreement.

Front 27

Slugabed

Back 27

A lazy person who stays in bed long after the usual time for arising.

Front 28

Empyreal

Back 28

Pertaining to the sky; celestial; sublime.

Front 29

Despondent

Back 29

Feeling or showing extreme discouragement, dejection, or depression

Front 30

Egress

Back 30

A way to get out of a place or the act of leaving a place

Front 31

Penetralia

Back 31

The most private or secret things; the innermost parts or recesses of a place or thing.

Front 32

Paronymous

Back 32

Containing the same root or stem, such as the words wise and wisdom.

Front 33

Emeritus

Back 33

(of the former holder of an office) having retired but allowed to retain their title as an honor.

Front 34

Apoplectic

Back 34

Overcome with anger; extremely indignant.

Front 35

Verklempt

Back 35

Overcome with emotion; clenched.

Front 36

Diptych

Back 36

A picture or series of pictures painted or carved on two hinged tablets; a work made up of two matching parts

Front 37

Licentious

Back 37

Sexually unrestrained; lascivious; unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral.

Front 38

Nadir

Back 38

The worst or lowest point of something; directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer

Front 39

Precocious

Back 39

Unusually advanced or mature in development, especially mental development:.

Front 40

Contrite

Back 40

Arising from sense of guilt; genuinely and deeply sorry about something.

Front 41

Lithe

Back 41

Flexible, readily bent; marked by effortless grace

Front 42

Acrid

Back 42

Sharp or biting to the taste or smell; bitterly pungent; caustic in language or tone.

Front 43

Bellicose

Back 43

Inclined or eager to fight; aggressively hostile; belligerent; pugnacious.

Front 44

Reticent

Back 44

Disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reserved.

Front 45

Staid

Back 45

Of settled or sedate character; not flighty or capricious; fixed, settled, or permanent.

Front 46

Pastiche

Back 46

An artistic piece consisting chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources; hodgepodge.

Front 47

Cavil

Back 47

To raise trivial and frivolous objections.

Front 48

Festoon

Back 48

To adorn (a place) with ribbons, garlands, or other decorations.

Front 49

Timorous

Back 49

Showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence.

Front 50

Virulent

Back 50

Extremely severe or harmful in its effects; bitterly hostile or antagonistic; hateful.

Front 51

Nihilism

Back 51

Viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless; a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths

Front 52

Sphygmic

Back 52

Of or relating to the pulse.

Front 53

Prodigal

Back 53

Wastefully or recklessly extravagant; giving or yielding profusely; lavish

Front 54

Alacrity

Back 54

Promptness in response; cheerful readiness

Front 55

Abattoir

Back 55

A slaughterhouse.

Front 56

Bogart

Back 56

To consume without sharing; to bully or intimidate.

Front 57

Shibboleth

Back 57

A word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning; platitude

Front 58

Demur

Back 58

To disagree politely with another person's statement or suggestion.

Front 59

Mugwump

Back 59

A person who is independent (as in politics) or who remains undecided or neutral.

Front 60

Fulsome

Back 60

Complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree; of large size or quantity.

Front 61

Hot Take

Back 61

(Informal) Journalism term derisively used to describe a "piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing" in response to a news story, "usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting"

Front 62

Hebetude

Back 62

The state of being dull; lethargy.

Front 63

Reify

Back 63

To convert into, or regard as a concrete thing: to reify a concept.

Front 64

Categorical Imperative

Back 64

First formulation: Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law without contradiction (Act with maxims that you would wish all other rational people to follow, as if it were a universal law. )

Front 65

Existentialism

Back 65

A philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational universe

Front 66

Westphalian Sovereignty

Back 66

Principle of international law that each nation state has sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs, non-interference in another country's domestic affairs, and that each state is equal in international law. Named after the Peace of Westphalia.

Front 67

Laïcité

Back 67

French Secularization; the freedom of public institutions, especially primary schools, from the influence of the Catholic Church in countries where it had retained its influence. Today, the concept covers other religious movements as well.

Front 68

Qualia

Back 68

Individual instances of subjective, conscious experience; arising from stimulation of the senses by phenomena

Front 69

Anthropic Principle

Back 69

Philosophical consideration that observations of the universe must be compatible with the conscious and sapient life that observes it; explains why the universe has necessary components to accommodate conscious life. As a result, it is unremarkable that the universe is compatible with life. Strong Anthropic Principle: the universe is compelled to eventually have conscious and sapient life emerge within it. Weak Anthropic Principle: selection bias, only in a universe capable of eventually supporting life will there be living beings capable of observing it.

Front 70

Manqué

Back 70

Short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one's aspirations or talents —used postpositively

Front 71

Churl

Back 71

A rude, boorish, or surly person; a peasant; rustic. (Churlish)

Front 72

Dada

Back 72

Movement in art and literature born out of negative reaction to the first World War, based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values; rejects reason and logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality and intuition.

Front 73

Beatific

Back 73

Bestowing bliss, blessings, happiness, or the like; blissful; saintly

Front 74

Plaintive

Back 74

Expressing suffering or sadness; having a sad sound.

Front 75

Ephemeral

Back 75

Lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory.

Front 76

Boor

Back 76

Uncultured person; one who lacks in education, knowledge, refinement and social graces.

Front 77

Acuity

Back 77

Sharpness or keenness of thought, vision or hearing.

Front 78

A Priori

Back 78

Can be known independent of any experience, as with mathematics (3+2=5), tautologies ("All bachelors are unmarried"), and deduction from pure reason (e.g., ontological proofs).

Front 79

A Posteriori

Back 79

Not existing in the mind prior to or independent of experience; rerating to what can be known by observation; from particular instances to a general principle or law; based upon actual observation or upon experimental data; induction

Front 80

Adiaphora

Back 80

Actions that morality neither mandates nor forbids. In Christianity, adiaphora are matters not regarded as essential to faith, but nevertheless permissible for Christians or allowed in church.

Front 81

Alief

Back 81

An automatic or habitual belief-like attitude, particularly one that is in tension with a person’s explicit beliefs; for example, a person standing on a transparent balcony may believe that they are safe, but alieve that they are in danger. And a person who believes in racial equality may nonetheless have aliefs – subtle patterns of response associated with their implicit attitudes – that cause them to treat people of different racial groups in subtly different ways.

Front 82

Analytic Proposition

Back 82

In logic, a statement or judgment that is necessarily true on purely logical grounds and serves only to elucidate meanings already implicit in the subject; its truth is thus guaranteed by the principle of contradiction. (e.g. all bachelors are unmarried)

Front 83

Synthetic Proposition

Back 83

A proposition whose predicate concept is not contained in its subject concept but related; genuinely informative but require justification by reference to some outside principle. (e.g. Tables exist, you need the reference point of "Tables" and what "exist" means, is not necessarily true)

Front 84

Epicene

Back 84

Having characteristics of both sexes or no characteristics of either sex; of indeterminate sex.

Front 85

Rectitude

Back 85

The quality or state of being straight; moral integrity; righteousness;the quality or state of being correct in judgment or procedure

Front 86

Chiasmus

Back 86

A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in “He went to the country, to the town went she.”or "the example of our power, and with the power of our example."

Front 87

Epistrophe

Back 87

The repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences, as in "Government is us. By us and for us. And creating the America we want is up to us."

Front 88

Anaphora

Back 88

Repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences, as in "In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear"

Front 89

Supine

Back 89

Lying on the back, face or front upward; inactive, passive, or inert, especially from indolence or indifference.

Front 90

Sardonic

Back 90

Characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering.

Front 91

Apocryphal

Back 91

(Of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true. Commonly applied in Christian religious contexts involving certain disagreements about biblical canonicity (e.g. Acts Of Thomas)

Front 92

Sagacious

Back 92

Having or showing an ability to understand difficult ideas and situations and to make good decisions

Front 93

Indolent

Back 93

Wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy.

Front 94

Antinomianism

Back 94

Holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation; obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than from any external compulsion.

Front 95

Solipsism

Back 95

The philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside of the mind. As a metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist.

Front 96

Epistemology

Back 96

Branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge; the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.

Front 97

Metaphysics

Back 97

Traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms: Ultimately, what is there? What is it like?

Front 98

Causal Adequacy Principle (CAP)

Back 98

A philosophical claim made by René Descartes that the cause of an object must contain at least as much reality as the object itself, whether formally or eminently. Example, any stone must have come from another larger or equally large stone. Used to argue that both the Big Bang and Creation stories have infinite regresses.

Front 99

Infinite Regress

Back 99

(aka the homunculus fallacy) is a series of an infinitely cascading propositions, where the validity of one depends on the validity of the one which follows and/or proceeds it. The Chicken-Egg problem is an example of a infinite regress.

Front 100

Externality

Back 100

A side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.