- Mai Duc Nguyen
New English Words of the Month – December 2018
1. (n) integrity: the merit of always behaving in a moral and socially desirable way
Example: The integrity of the local Red Cross team is highly appreciated by local residents.
2. (n) flair: a gentle or skillful way of doing something
Example: The president always delivers his speeches with flair.
3. (adj) pithy: to be short, concise but effective
Example: The presentation was pithy, however, it still helped us realize our organizational problems.
4. (n) wit: the ability to make rational decisions or do things cleverly to make people laugh
Example: The CEO’s wit makes him such an attractive leader.
5. (n) reprisal: to do something unpleasant to somebody because he/she did something bad to you
Example: Illegal reprisal, even if it is logical, is never a justification for crime.
6. (adj) contentious: something sensitive that causes conflict or disagreement
Example: Eliminating the death penalty policy remains a contentious debate in several countries.
7. (v) hoard: to save a large amount of something and hide it somewhere
Example: Women in this village tend to hoard their pocket money to invest in their kids’ future education.
8. (n) fallacy: a common belief which is false but is regarded as true by many
Example: According to researchers, it is a fallacy to refer family origin as the single cause of extreme poverty.
9. (v) salvage: to save belongings that were damaged because of a disaster
Example: Victims of the fire failed to salvage their personal belongings, because the fired remained for more than 10 hours.
10. (n) savvy: specialist knowledge in a certain profession or the ability to judge situations rationally
Example: The tech-savvy students created a startup in their dorm room, which later became a global unicorn.
What new words have you learned in December 2018? Please share them with others by leaving a comment.