Word of the Week: Election Edition

It's Election Day! You know, the one day that should be a Federal holiday but isn't?

I'm sure these words are used in plenty of books, just not one of our current reads. But they're great words all the same, and thought they would be apropos for this very special Tuesday. I hope all of you have by now exercised your very important right to vote in this monumental moment in our history. If you haven't, then I hope you're standing in line to vote while reading this! Or that you're not a U.S. citizen (hi boyfriend!) and can only wish you were voting.

avaricious (adj.) av·a·ri·cious | \ ˌa-və-ˈri-shəs

greedy of gain : excessively acquisitive especially in seeking to hoard riches

benighted (adj.) be·night·ed | \ bi-ˈnī-təd

existing in a state of intellectual, moral, or social darkness; unenlightened

cretinous (adj.) cre·tin·ous | \ˈkrē-tᵊn-əs

stupid, vulgar, or insensitive

crow (v.) \ ˈkrō

crudity and artlessness in glorifying oneself

demagogue (n.) dem·a·gogue | \ ˈde-mə-ˌgäg

a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

gauche (adj.) \ ˈgōsh

lacking social experience or grace; crude

ignoble (n.) ig·no·ble | \ ig-ˈnō-bəl

characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness

ignominious (adj.) ig·no·min·i·ous | \ ˌig-nə-ˈmi-nē-əs

deserving of shame or infamy; despicable

indolent (adj.) in·do·lent | \ ˈin-də-lənt

averse to activity, effort, or movement : habitually lazy

Kakistocracy (n.) kak·i·sto·cra·cy | /kakəˈstäkrəsē/

a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens

Kleptocracy (n.) klep·toc·ra·cy | \ klep-ˈtä-krə-sē

a system of government whose corrupt leaders use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population

mendacious (adj.) men·da·cious | \ men-ˈdā-shəs

given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth

venal (adj.) ve·nal | \ ˈvē-nᵊl

open to corrupt influence and especially bribery

Last but last not least--I think we should revisit one of our words from last week, and one of my new personal favorites: meretricious.