“A Dictionary of Contemporary Figurative Language” is meant to be an appendix to an earlier,

more comprehensive work: ED648945, “A Dictionary and Thesaurus of Contemporary

Figurative Language and Metaphor 2024.” This appendix simply updates the dictionary of that
previous work to better reflect the language used during the 2024 United States presidential
election, during which terms like joy, authenticity, fascist, genocide, and they/them figured
prominently. As stated for the previous work, “This is first and foremost a resource for EFL /
ESL students. It should also be of interest to teachers, curriculum developers, materials writers,
teacher trainers, and lexicographers. And it has attracted interest from experts interested in
metaphor detection, natural language processing (NLP), and social-media analysis, some of
whom are using the tool of artificial intelligence (AI).” This appendix lacks the thesaurus of the
previous work.

Page 1 of 1645
A Dictionary of Contemporary Figurative Language

by Joseph Gagen Stockdale III

January 30, 2025

Page 2 of 1645
Table of contents
1. The dictionary of colocations 4-1645

Page 3 of 1645
 he has done an ~

The dictionary of abrupt about-face

the admission was an ~

collocations belated about-face

the ~ won't fool the people (by a government)
ecological about-face
A earth has done an ~ (NASA statement)
ideological about-face
ablaze (adjective) the literature of ~ includes…
ablaze with passion about-face came
his speech began in a quiet smolder and ended ~ his ~ after…
ablaze with speculation did an about-face
the Internet was ~ about why... the military ~
set the internet ablaze done an about face
he ~ by sipping espresso martinis with Timothee he has ~ with regard to Israel (a leader)
Chalamet *** war, conflict, the military...

set social media ablaze ♦ “Fall in!” "Attention!" "Left face!" “Right face!” "About face!"
"Forward, march!" “Road guard... post!” "Column... halt!" “At ease!”
his murder has ~ (of a young rapper) “Fall out!” (Military commands.)

set Twitter ablaze about-turn (noun)

his late-night tweet ~
about-turn on the subject
stay ablaze the government's seeming ~ of Islamic law
Ja’Marr Chase ensured the feud would ~ (NFL)
♦ “Start a discussion, not a fire. Post with kindness. Read our
diplomatic about-turn
guidelines here. What do you think?” (A Newsweek HYS for online this latest ~ on Syria
commenters.)
*** A Texas woman...
sudden about-turn
athletes are shocked and outraged at Wada’s ~
♦ “A Texas woman ended up burning down her home in a heated
battle with a snake. When the Texarkana resident spotted the serpent above (above the fray)
in her garden, she doused it with gasoline and set it ablaze. The
flaming snake slithered into a nearby brush pile, igniting it and the
house in a conflagration...” above the fray
he is trying to stay ~ (a politician)
about-face (in an about-face)
stay above the fray
in an about face a candidate might ~ while surrogates do the dirty work
~, the President abandoned his plan to…
above (above the law)
in an about face from a year ago
~, Congress voted to expand… above the law
not even the president is ~
in an embarrassing about face nobody is ~ (judge arrested)
~, officials acknowledged that… the ruling showed politicians were not ~
about-face (other) he acted like he was ‘~’ (Ryan Routh in Greensboro, NC)
above (hierarchy)
about face for Pakistan
his policies, if successful, will mean a real ~ above him in the pecking order
the fit-again Erik Lamela is ~ (Tottenham Hotspur)
about-face for the government
the request is an ~ (Afghanistan) aboveboard (adjective)
about-face from a year ago aboveboard
the space agency's new policy is an ~ everything I did was ~
about-face on the bill ethically above board
he deserves credit for his ~ AI experts cautiously see new platform as ~ (The
Shotline)
about face with regard to Israel

Page 4 of 1645
*** analysis see exactly (contempo-speak)
♦ This might come from the world of cards, and its opposite might be
underhanded. absolutely, I mean
see I mean (filler)
abrasive (adjective)
absolutely just
abrasive and annoying see just (filler)
he is ~
absolutely kind of
brilliant and abrasive see kind of (contempo-speak)
a ~ engineer named…
absolutely really
absence (groups) see really (gushing)
absence of (viewpoint) diversity Absolutely. Well
NPR suffers from the ~ (Uri Berliner / too progressive) see well (filler)
absence of women do absolutely
the ~ from the seat of power I ~ worry about body image stuff
*** various groups... so I ~ remember my mother saying...
“Lesbian invisibility has been compounded by the absence of women
from the seat of power.” does absolutely
♦ Black Art: In the Absence of Light. (The 2021 documentary.) certainly this ~ intersect with whatever...
♦ “These erasures—and nene’s inheritance of and grappling with I think absolutely
them—are the point. It is difficult to make a whole from a hole, but in
Torres’s hands, we feel the weight of nothingness and the presence ~ we would have...
of absence.” (“A Radical Queer Novel Challenges the Idea of History ~ it does...
Itself” by Hugh Ryan, The New York Times, November 13, 2023. The
review uses words like: presence; absence; erase; erasure; queer, I think, absolutely,
and gay. It does NOT use invisible or invisibilize.) ~ this type of care could be done...
*** analysis
♦ Refers to nothing real.
kind of absolutely
to have this ~ brutal internecine warfare (politics)
absolutely (contempo-speak) we’ve to ~ scramble those guys (Arghandab Valley)
that ~ clean, pressed demeanor that he presents to the
absolutely be watching world
you should ~ ‘South Side’ (HBO Max sitcom)
really, absolutely
absolutely need to know it’s ~ spectacular (a free online tool)\
the Olympic storylines you ~ (2016 Rio) and that means it is ~ critical (for leopards in Cambodia)
absolutely shows this Tri-Faith Initiative has ~ moved our hearts
yeah, I think it ~ that... (punditry on NPR) really absolutely
Absolutely Everything there was ~ no hope...
The Complete Guide To ~ (Abridged) (!) this ~ is paradigm-shifting
and there’s ~ nothing the UK is going to gain...
absolutely confident
I’m ~ that what we’re doing is the right thing to do Totally. Absolutely
Oh, yeah. ~, Afram says, and giggles...
absolutely dangerous
that is ~ totally, absolutely
it’s ~ false (politics)
absolutely horrific it’s irrevocably, ~ linked to man-induced climate change
‘~’ stories show ‘culture in cricket is rotten’ (BBC) Oh, yeah! No ~. Usually...
absolutely horrified Yeah, absolutely.
official ‘~’ with... ~ Look, the act has a very simple agenda
~ So if Haley can show up... (political punditry)
absolutely terrified ~ And also with the legislative change...
I was ~ ~ I mean, it is a compliment...
absolutely true ~ And I think that a lot of our creative process...
10 ~ stories about... yeah, absolutely.
absolutely ready Oh ~
we are ~ to start shipping out vaccines Yeah, I think absolutely
absolutely exactly ~. The Trump administration has really...

Page 5 of 1645
 ~, the Paralympics are (modeled on regular Olympics) absorbed
yeah. Totally. Absolutely absorbed into Saudi Arabia
“Oh, ~,” Afram says, and giggles...
Qatar might well have been ~ (history)
You know, absolutely absorbed by the society
~, people of color in this country have...
they were ~ they invaded (Mongols)
you know, absolutely forcibly absorbed
if this were the U.S. and Detroit, ~
the three Baltic republics were ~ into the Soviet Union
♦ “The Olympic storylines you absolutely need to know.” (Storylines
from the Rio 2016 Olympics.) abundance (amount)
♦ NPR: Those are my favorite! / JB: Oh, yeah! No totally, absolutely.
Usually most bands that have blown me away that I’ve never heard abundance of caution
from or seen before that I see that are just in and out I’m just like, out of an ~, we are altering the production plan (virus)
‘Holy hell!” (“Touche Amore: A Hardcore Band Finds Comfort In
Distance” by Lars Gotrich, NPR, All Songs Considered, December 9, *** analysis
2011.) ♦ This word comes from the Latin unda, or wave. The root is more
♦ “There’s absolutely no risk, none, for the people in Atlanta. If there obvious in a word like inundate. Still, it’s a nice way to think of the
is a risk, it would be...” word.

♦ “We have learned absolutely nothing. It’s absolutely the truth.” abundance (groups)
♦ “What did you see?” / “Yeah, absolutely...” (Typical National Public
Radio / NPR.) spirit of abundance
*** analysis Kisner characterized the signoff as a “~” (big huge love)
♦ “Absolutely” can be the immediate response to a yes-no question. joy, abundance, (mutual) aid, and care
♦ “Absolutely” can be the immediate response to a Wh-question. disabled people rooted in ~ (Alice Wong / MacArthur)
♦ “Absolutely” can be a response to “Thanks.” ♦ “She signed off ‘Big huge love.’” (The Irish actor Jessie Buckley to
♦ “Banished in 1996, but deserves a repeat nope given its overuse. the writer Jordan Kisner. Kisner characterized the signoff as a “spirit
Usurped the simple ‘yes,’ laments a contributor. Another condemned of abundance.” From “Monster Talent: In role after indelible role,
it as ‘the current default to express agreement, endemically present Jessie Buckley is exploring the darkest corners of human nature” by
on TV in one-on-one-interviews.’ Frequently ‘said too loudly by Jordan Kisner, photograph by Jennifer Cheng, The New York Times
annoying people who think they’re better than you,’ bemoaned an Magazine, December 4, 2022. “Big.” “Huge.” “Abundance.” “Monster.”
aggrieved observer. ‘Sounds like it comes with a guarantee when that “Role after indelible role.” “The darkest corners...”)
may not be the case,’ cautioned a wary watchdog.” (“Absolutely” is on ♦ “Motivational speakers often tell reps that the ultimate goal is
the Lake Superior State University 2023—Words banned for “misuse, ‘abundance,’ a roomy word that comprehends not just wealth but also
overuse, and uselessness.”) family life, charity, and well-being. Knockers (door-to-door salesmen)
absorb (a country, etc.) remove impediments to abundance by continually taking up new
disciplines. They pump weights, try intermittent fasting or paleo,
adopt Wim Hof breathing techniques, and undertake 75 HARDS,
absorbed Kyrgyzstan seventy-five-day programs requiring twice-a-day workouts, abstention
Imperial Russia ~ and its nomadic tribes from alcohol, and immersion in self-help books. It you’re betting on
yourself, then everything you do to make yourself faster and tougher
ability to absorb and more focussed improves your odds.” (“The Hard Sell” by Tad
Friend, The New Yorker, August 8, 2022.)
their language's ~ new words (German)
*** analysis
absorb (books, culture, etc.) ♦ The clientele knows...
♦ IYKYK...
absorbed books
he ~ by the dozen (self-learning at library) ♦ see also full (groups), fullness (groups), fully (groups)

absorb the culture

abuzz (activity)
a lot of the girls didn't really ~ (US models in Japan) abuzz with activity
absorbed a gothic sensibility the base is ~ (as US leaves Afghanistan)
he ~ which would imprint itself on his work gold mining and logging once kept this peninsula ~

absorbed (Islamic) principles and traditions abuzz with warnings

the young prince ~ a nervous Muslim world is ~ of a threat from the West

absorb (punishment, etc.) had people abuzz

the news ~ this morning (politics)
absorbed the (full ) force
he ~ of the explosion with his body (hero soldier) has the internet abuzz
his flirty interview with Amelia Dimoldenberg ~
absorbed (a lot of) punishment
he ~ in the last round (a boxer) kept this peninsula abuzz
gold mining and logging once ~ with activity

Page 6 of 1645
abyss (noun) described the internet as an accelerant
officials ~ that speeds up radicalization
financial abyss accelerate (verb)
there seems to be no way out of this ~
on the brink of a (sectarian) abyss accelerating their efforts
the country is walking ~ (protests) states are ~ to ban texting while driving

on the edge of electoral abyss accelerate learning

his campaign teetered ~, but he is scrambling his way pupils use pedal power to ~
back crisis has accelerated
fall into an abyss as the climate ~, though, it has become clear that...
women ~, and they can't get out (eating disorders) inflation is accelerating
plunged into a (political) abyss ~, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says
the country ~ after… outbreak is accelerating
plunges (further) into the abyss the measles ~
as Greece's blighted economy ~ accelerator (speed)
pulled the (financial) system back from the abyss AI accelerator
the government ~ Pentagon steps on ~
sliding into the abyss political accelerator
the country is ~ (economy) he was pressing his ~ to the floor (politics)
teetering towards the abyss keep your foot on the accelerator
the city is ~ of bankruptcy ~ of what we have been doing (energy policy)
worked his way out of the abyss pressing his (political) accelerator
he ~ of crime and hopelessness he was ~ to the floor
*** analysis
♦ In an article in The New York Times, "Computers That Trade on the
put his foot on the accelerator
News," Graham Bowley reported that the word abyss in an article perhaps he didn’t quite ~ in the early rounds (a boxer)
about the Greek financial crisis caused computers to initiate sell
orders. Wall Street mines such words from news articles and Twitter step on the accelerator
feeds to analyze the market. he can ~ when it matters (Usyk in the ring)
Academy Awards (epithet) steps on (AI) accelerator
Academy Awards of the publishing world Pentagon ~
the National Book Awards, sometimes referred to as the ♦ “Now, with a Republican administration in control of Washington,
Strauss was in the driver’s seat, and his right foot was pressing his
~ political accelerator to the floor.” (American Prometheus: The
Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and
Academy Awards of the culinary world Martin J. Sherwin. The popular 2023 film Oppenheimer was based on
it’s the ~ (James Beard Foundation awards) this book.)
*** analysis ♦ see also brake (control), gas (step on the gas / step off the gas),
pedal (pedal to the metal)
♦ The figurative usage of “the Academy Awards of...” can refer to the
most minor of contests: freelance writers and copywriter types who accession (noun)
wish to hype their subjects have caught on to the expression. and
generative AI will no doubt spread it.
accession to the EU
♦ This usage may become extinct in our lifetime. In twenty-five years
Turkish ~ seems to be permanently on hold...
or so, the Academy Awards will probably be a relic of the past, as
dead as the Pac 12 in sports, or the current Democratic party. The
Academy Awards don’t stand for much, anymore. accession number
the ~ is a unique identifier (cultural property)
♦ see also Oscars (Oscars of surfing, etc.)

accelerant (noun) accession process

the ~ is dead (Turkey and the EU)
accelerant ♦ “The EU pretends to negotiate, Turkey pretends to reform.” (Turkish
Twitter is the ~ for so many to spew outrage accession to the EU.)

accelerant of (global) conflict ace (verb)

climate upheaval is acting as an ~
aced his job interview
accelerants of human misery he ~
jails are ~

Page 7 of 1645
ace (noun) acolyte (noun)
ace acolyte of big business
it was time for me to bring out my ~ he is an ~ and corporate greed
ace in the hole acolytes of (US) capitalism
my ~ is that I can… he is like most ~
the fear card is his ~ (national security)
our nuclear arsenal is our ~ acolytes of the Yale School of Economics
the ~ share a worldview
came up aces
Green’s 2018 Halloween ~ (good box office) Obama acolyte
he is an ~ who… (politics)
pull an ace out of his sleeve
he managed to ~ (a winning card, so to speak) tones of an acolyte
he described her in ~
accompany (attachment)
swarmed by (young) acolytes
accompany the tourist invasion he was ~ (a film director)
the economic benefits that will ~
acre (amount)
Achilles' heel (noun)
acres of (color) charts
Achilles' heel you would need ~ to denominate Albers’s palette
security was our ~ (US AID project in Afghanistan)
acres of newsprint
Achilles’ heel of Napoleon’s army the interview generated ~
the ~ was logistics and supply (1812)
acrobat (person)
Achilles' heel of the system
the ~ lies… linguistic acrobats
slang is fine for ~ (who can code-switch)
Achilles' heel of 3-D TV
clunky glasses were the ~ (remedied)
acrobatic (adjective)
Achilles' heel of the West verbally acrobatic
the Arabian Gulf is the ~ (oil and Iran) Clinton was more intelligent, calculating, and ~ (vs.
Bush)
Achilles heel for Chelsea acrobatics (noun)
this is the ~—marking in the box (soccer)
angioplasty's Achilles' heel acronymic acrobatics
the problem is ~ (regrowth of tissue) the awkwardness of the ~ (LGBTTIQQ2SA)

company's Achilles' heel semantic acrobatics

the ~ is that… Macron performed ~ (patriotism vs. nationalism)

skiers' Achilles' heel verbal acrobatics

the knees are the ~ there are no ~ to charm (a book review)

proved to be his Achilles’ heel vocal acrobatics

while he excelled in wooing donors, finances ~ a sturdy rhythm section and Olivia W-B’s ~ (music)
♦ “A listener dismissed NPR’s use of the gender-inclusive term
acid (acid debate, etc.) ‘pregnant’ people as an unnecessary verbal backbend.” (NPR’s
Office of the Public Editor.)
acid asides
she is famous for her ~ (a comic)
act (insincere show)
acid blogger hard-ass act
people are disgusted with radio ranters and ~s (civility) beneath their ~ they were just teens (young Marines)

acid debate maturity act

the controversy has sparked ~ (religion) kids put on this ~ (high school)
♦ see also vitriol (noun), vitriolic (adjective) own act
acid-tongued they came to believe too much in their ~ (Hitler, etc.)

acid-tongued hard-to-get act

ditch the ~ (relationships)
the ~ comedian (Groucho Marx)

Page 8 of 1645
ditch the (hard-to-get) act second acts
you should ~ I think there are ~ in life, people can move on but...
keep up the act actually (contempo-speak)
how long can he ~
actually is
put on an act now, what that ~, is... (NPR punditry)
con artists know how to ~
actually found it
putting on an act I ~ to be surprisingly really useful (non-binary)
a lot of guys seem nice, but they are just ~
he's lying, he's just ~ actually getting seated
everyone in high school is to some extent ~ we were ~ at a table to sit down for dinner...

act (performance) actually make us happier

the small joys that can ~
circus act
he's a ~ and he's killing boxing actually might be
the first time where that ~ the case
vagabond act
they morphed their ~ into today's World Tour (surfers) actually said
my mom ~ she had some trouble sleeping (nervous)
balancing act
setting limits, encouraging independence is a real ~ actually was (super) powerful
it ~ (living together before marriage)
juggling act
trying to build a team is a hard ~ (basketball) actually wrote it
he ~ while he was in the U.S.
difficult act
the King's got a lot more ~ than in the last decade actually necessarily
the paper doesn’t ~ call for action (violent protest)
tough act
their father is a ~ to follow actually secretly
it’s ~ a dietary superhero (fiber, according to NPR)
act (clean up one's act)
actually, quite weirdly
cleaned up its act in English, ~, we can even say... (Lera Boroditsky)
the CIA director said the company had ~ (security)
the city has clamped down on violence and ~ actually quite a horrifyingly
in the 1990s, Manhattan ~ it’s ~ potent disease state (sports gambling)

cleaned up her act actually basically

she checked herself into rehab, then ~ see basically (contempo-speak)
we thought she had ~, but… (athlete) actually do
clean up your act see do (emphasizer)
you need to ~ actually does
act (development) see does (emphasizer)

final act actually even

the hostage drama saw its ~ played out (plane) see even (contempo-speak)
the family is trying to interpret his ~ (suicide) actually exactly
first act see exactly (contempo-speak)
on the world soccer stage, it was a stunning ~ (loss) actually just
the ~ has closed with a tremendous finale (Civil War)
see just (filler)
the ~ of the tragedy has been enacted (war)
you've just seen the ~, the finale is yet to come (trial) actually kind of
see kind of (contempo-speak)
last act
and then began the long ~ of his life (a writer) actually pretty
see pretty (contempo-speak)
main act
there was no preparation for the ~ (combat) actually really
this is only the prologue to the ~ (banks fail) see really (gushing)
the sideshow became part of the ~ (war)
he quickly became the ~ at the meeting (politician) actually so

Page 9 of 1645
 see so (gushing) United States, but...” (Conductor Marin Alsop about one of her
upcoming performances.)
actually sort of like ♦ “But what do we know about what that actually means now he
see sort of like (filler) actually owns the company? Do we know anything about how he...” /
“Yeah, I mean he says he thinks...” (NPR punditry.)
actually, you know ♦ “He actually showed us a picture on his phone... Arnold actually
see you know (filler) works in the insurance industry... You know we were actually talking
to Arnold... (Heard on NPR.)
actually very ♦ “This potentially might be the first time where that actually might be
see very (contempo-speak) the case, and we might... (A pundit heard on NPR. “Potentially.”
“Might be.” “Actually.” “Might be.” “Might...”)
definitely actually *** analysis
they most ~ crash (snowboarding / SBX) ♦ Linguist John McWhorter’s analysis of “actually” is interesting, as
always. “By the 18th-century, speakers were using it for a judgmental
I mean, actually function.” “He actually killed the cat.” In his FACE typology of MPMs
~, Dante, whom I talk about... (modal pragmatic markers), he considers it to represent
No. ~, I’ve been performing since I was 6 (Claire Danes) “Counterexpectation: Much to my surprise.” (Words on the Move by
the linguist John McWhorter, Chapter 1, “The Faces of English:
Words Get Personal.”)
I mean actually
~ throwing punches out on the sidewalk (got into a fight) ♦ Believe me!
♦ see also basically (contempo-speak), definitely (contempo-speak),
I think actually obviously (contempo-speak), really (gushing)
~ there were only two in the first year... (cases)
but ~ that they are in the minority
addict (chess addict, etc.)
~ it was the world community that wanted us to... chess addicts
I think, actually the Internet is great for ~
it would actually, over time, ~ shrink enrollment movie addict
the overall approach, ~ remains the same, which is... an adolescent ~
well, ~, it has more of a...just a straight Pakistani logic
20 Republicans or, ~ 19 Republicans... crossword puzzle addict
yeah, which ~, was a little bit of a blessing because... he is a ~
probably actually bone fishing addict
its ~ easier to write for other scholars than it is to... hard-core yachtsmen and ~s
often ~ their parents would get upset... (college)
total (TV) addict
really actually I love TV, I'm a ~
there’s not enough income in it to ~ survive (a sport)
were things ~ ever a dime generation of (tanning) addicts
and so I’m ~ optimistic... tanning beds spawned a ~
it’s ~ quite exciting addict (sex addict, etc.)
and then I ~ like Pete Buttigieg (politics)
I think she was ~ willing to die for her beliefs anger addict
he admitted to being an “~” (Harvey Weinstein)
Well, actually
~, it was the survivors who... power addict
~, this morning we saw a really big jump up in spending he’s a ~ (Harvey Weinstein)
~, they’re both...
sex addict
yeah, actually he admitted to being a “~” (Harvey Weinstein)
~, your plastic coffee pod may not...
addicted (enthusiasm)
Yeah. So actually
~ drug crimes... (NPR) addicted to his sport
he was so ~ that he rarely spent a weekend indoors
You know, actually
~, yesterday was five years to the day from... addicted to fly fishing
my friend and I were ~ for wild brook trout
you know, actually
I’d like to see CNN, ~ have journalists (like old days) addicted to a dating game
it’s not like that he was, ~ infectious to anybody... she’s a gamer, ~ called One True Prince

you know actually passionately addicted

Well, ~, your corneas look pretty good he was ~ to Beethoven’s music (Berlioz)
♦ “So, we’re going to feature on our opening concert on October 14 a
concerto by Villa-Lobos that he actually wrote it while he was in the

Page 10 of 1645
addicted (dependency) sitting in a chair with his hands politely folded. The rabbi is intoning,
“We are here to witness Jacob, who screamed at his Xbox for four
hours just this morning, become a man.” (The New Yorker, December
addicted to (this kind of) high-paced content 13, 2021.)
people have become ~ (TikTok) ♦ “He had been on the Internet every day since his early teens.”

addicted to economic growth address (verb)

we are ~
address the problems
addicted to oil we must ~ that underlie the insurgency
we are ~ from the Middle East
addressed more specific rumors
grow (increasingly more) addicted she ~ as well (cold case)
as we ~ to modern technology
address stereotypes
addiction (enthusiasm) be prepared to ~ when you hear them
Ives addiction addressed (such taboo) subjects
my ~ started one summer at music camp... he ~ as race and sexuality (Pryor)
♦ Laksa fever; “everyone’s just contracted this laksa fever”; “the love
child of Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean cuisine”; love for addresses this
laksa; a thing that people love; craving a fix (for laksa); the mania (for is there currently any legislation on tape that ~
laksa); a city obsessed (with laksa); the laksa obsession; the faithful;
a giant shrine is erected (for monthlong laksa festival); laksa ice- addresses the (invisible and visible) wounds
cream / smoothies / cheesecake / sausage / crocodile dumplings /
beer; the Laksa Festival Hall of Fame; the Golden Bowl award for
the center ~ of war
best laksa... (“How laksa fever took hold in this Australian city” by the
wonderful writer Tiffanie Turnbull, BBC, October 31. 2023. Life at
add up (verb)
“The Top End” of Oz. Super!)
added up
addiction (dependency) she knew in an instant that it all ~ (signs of glue sniffing)
adrenalin addiction didn’t add up
~ drives reporters from one hotspot to another her story ~
when you just use your common sense, it ~ (a juror)
entertainment addiction it just didn’t make sense, just ~
corporate greed, ~ and political impotence (the US)
doesn’t add up
sex addiction it ~, it’s very suspicious (a suicide)
~ is not yet recognized as a psychiatric disorder
wait a second, this ~, there’s a problem here
curb (his country’s) addiction just didn’t add up
an international accord designed to ~ to coal (Indonesia)
why would he do that, it ~ (a disappearance)
get off our (oil) addiction adhere (adhere to something)
we need to ~ (dependence on foreign oil)
addictive (adjective) adhere to
they have a code that they ~, blue silence (cops)
addictive adhere to the norms
Thai food is ~
countries should strictly ~ of international law
combat can be ~
comment boards are ~, same with Twitter, FB... adjacent (pop-adjacent, etc.)
addictive device adjacent to the ballroom scene
it’s an ~ (the smartphone) Billy Porter was ~
addictive (computer) games North Face-adjacent
~ are a moral hazard to youth (China) ~ activewear for people who avoid activity (Hua Hsu)
addictive product Tess Monaghan adjacent
it’s now an ~ (legal sports gambling) Dream Girl is ~, Tess actually appears (Laura Lippman)
addictive thing anarchism-adjacent
this is an ~ that hurts the students (laptops in class) ~ scholars such as Marshall Sahlins (Alan Jacobs)
♦ “It’s now an addictive product that’s being delivered on an addictive
device. Everybody essentially has a casino in their pockets now, bagel-adjacent
because they’re doing it on their phone.” (The writer Michael Lewis the bialy, a ~ Jewish roll... (The New Yorker)
about newly legalized sports gambling and, especially, young men.)
♦ A FUNNY CARTOON. In the foreground, there is a rabbi, standing basketball-adjacent
behind a podium, addressing an audience. Behind him is a boy, Harlow’s opening medley of ~ bangers (on SNL)

Page 11 of 1645
club-adjacent ♦ “The supposed Israel affiliations and adjacencies of 200 writers...”
(The Israel-Hamas war.)
his ~ pop R&B (Usher)
♦ see also centered (survivor-centered, etc.), centric (Afro-centric,
Disney-adjacent etc.), ish (androgyny-ish, etc.), y (pulpy, etc.)
a theater kid and ~ actor (Olivia Rodrigo) adolescence (noun)
gross-adjacent during its (starry-eyed) adolescence
is this behavior supposed to be gross (or at least ~), or... A.I. ~, in the sixties... (technology)
jazz-adjacent podcasting’s adolescence
the song sounds ~, at a minimum, jazzy-ish (Adele) in 2014, ~
news-adjacent in its adolescence
Oprah is (according to NPR’s David Folkenflik) the scandal threatened to kill off the movie industry ~
pop-adjacent Adonis (handsome)
the accessible, ~ punk of “All Hands On The Bad One”
Adonis
lockdown-adjacent the chubby man beat the ~ (Joshua vs. Ruiz / boxing)
2020, for all its ~ loneliness, still had anthems like
“WAP” adonis body
having the ~ doesn’t make a great fighter (AJ)
lychee-adjacent
fresh longan, a ~fruit (Hannah Goldfield / The New adopt (verb)
Yorker)
Adopt A Cow
MAGA-adjacent members of ~ get aged and soft cheeses...
not wanting people to shit on my steps doesn’t make me
~ adopt a lantern
people ~, and you can go visit your lantern in Chinatown
music-adjacent
showcasing various ~ pockets of the city (Philly) adopted the nickname
he ~, “pied piper of R&B” (R. Kelly)
porn-adjacent
a series of soft-core, ~ films, I guess you could say... adopted his (slash-and-burn, scorched-earth) politics
Republicans have ~
punk-adjacent
the critically acclaimed, ~ two-tone bands of... (Ska) adopt a road
The Hayes Family / ~ (a sign in Asheville, North
Q-adjacent Carolina)
she latched on to Q and ~ theories (a politician) ♦ “We’ve done a couple of different initiatives that we’re super proud
of. One is called “Light Up Chinatown” and we ended up having
restaurant-adjacent people adopt a lantern, and you can go visit your lantern in
one ~ business is doing well (equipment liquidator) Chinatown. It basically brightens up the street for our elders, you
know, walking the streets at night, so that they feel a little bit safer.”
“rich-adjacent” (Joanne Kwong, President, Pearl River Mart, a notable Chinese
department store.)
Connell gets into an elite university, where he becomes ~
adopted (adopted state, etc.)
rock-adjacent
a ~ album with producer... adopted home
Asheville was her ~
soul-adjacent
soul and ~ music adopted state
my ~ of North Carolina
sports-adjacent
I wrote a ~ love story (fiction) adopted
tech-adjacent adopted
rich, ~ people seem to dominate the E.A. movement they want their pet ideas ~ (conservatives)
uptalk-adjacent adopted as a corporate tool
but his tone was ~ and his smile warm (a salesman) PowerPoint was ~
♦ “Not all Damien Chazelle movies are about (or adjacent to) jazz...”
(Vulture.) adopted by companies
♦ “An open letter signed by big name artists, art critics and art-world ChatGPT has been ~ for a wide range of tasks
adjacents...” (A creative use of “adjacent” as a noun for a person,
from The Cornell Daily Sun, “Independent Since 1880.” Ithaca, New adopted country
York.) a road trip across my ~ (James Parker / The Atlantic)

Page 12 of 1645
adore (verb) adoring (adjective)
adore adoring fans
best of the summer: 6 books the critics ~ Phillips has been branded “The Yorkshire Pirlo” by his ~
adore these Blueberry Popovers adoring supporters
I ~ served with blueberry jam sauce and blueberry butter Trump and Vance were welcomed by 14,000 ~ (2024
RNC)
adore each other
they really ~ (Bardem about Lucy and Ricky) adrift (adjective)
adored him adrift in the (new multiparty) sea
when he walked down the street, people ~ (Mike Tyson) politicians, ~, now needed campaign funds
adored it seemed adrift
I accepted my Gemini soul, in fact I ~ (Kravitz) he ~ without the army for structure (a troubled soldier)
adore the vests spent years adrift
plenty of women and non-tech workers ~ (Bobby Allyn) they had ~ in their diaspora (Somalis in Lewistown)
absolutely adore adult (and adult in the room)
I ~ Succession creator Jesse Armstrong
I ~ A Strange Loop (the musical by Michael R. Jackson) adults in the room
the cypherpunk kids versus the ~
sort of adore
we ~ our bosses (CEO worship) adult table
Japan wanted to demonstrate it was an adult sitting at the
*** Bethlehem, Lake Ohrid...
~
♦ Leonardo da Vinci; Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi; Botticelli;
Bruegel... (Famous artists who painted a “The Adoration of the Magi” coolheaded adult
or “Adoration of the Kings.” Others have painted “The Adoration of
the Shepherds.”)
he came off as the ~ in the room (Federal government)
♦ O come all ye faithful / Joyful and triumphant / O come ye, O come ♦ “I hope that the adults in the room on both sides of the aisle get
together and help to bring the temperature down, but it’s far from a
ye to Bethlehem / Come and behold him / Born the King of Angels / O
guaranteed outcome.” (A pundit about events in Slovakia, including
come let us adore Him / O come let us adore Him / O come let us
the attempted assassination of Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert
adore Him / Christ, the Lord.” (The traditional Christmas song.)
Fico.)
♦ Lake Ohrid is known as the Balkan Jerusalem.
♦ “Everybody knows that chronological order is for squares and
*** analysis Wikipedia.” (A sarcastic comment about Netflix’s 10-part biopic
Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which is not presented
♦ John McWhorter in the introduction to his Words on the Move has
an interesting point to make about the adjective “adorable.” It has chronologically.)
come to mean “charming” and is ordinarily applied to small things, ♦ “The kid is the innocent here. He did what his parents led him to do.
like babies or their toys. “Curious George is adorable; the Statue of The adults in the room are culpable...” (An online commenter about
Liberty, not so much.” the OceanGate Titan disaster.)

adored (reverence) ♦ “She needs to step down, she is way out of her league, adults need
to be put in charge.” (An online commenter about L.A. Mayor Karen
Bass, about the 2025 L.A. wildfires.)
adored
♦ see also grownup (and grownup in the room)
they are ~ (suicide bombers)
adult (adulting)
adored and abhorred
tell us your most ~ holiday tunes... Adulting
critically adored ~ is produced by WNYC Studios (a podcast)
the psychological horror was ~ (2019 film Saint Maud) ‘adulting’ classes
♦ "They are understood here. They are adored. She was, is and will some schools are offering ~ to fill the gap
remain a heroine for us." (Chechen woman, speaking of Elza
Gazuyeva. See the quote below.) Adulting School
♦ “Why don’t you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or to “~ Teaches Young Adults Grown-Up Skills” (Maine)
the White House and engage in talks, ask him what he wants and
give it to him so he leaves you in peace? Why don’t you do that? You adulting school
find it possible to set some limitation in your dealings with these
bastards, so why should we talk to people who are childkillers? No
~ teaches skills to fledgling adults
one has a moral right to tell us to talk to childkillers...” (“Angry Putin
rejects public Beslan inquiry,” Jonathan Steele in Moscow and Nick Basics Of ‘Adulting’
Paton Walsh in Beslan, Guardian Weekly, 2004. See the Wikipedia “Colleges Teach Students The ~”
article “Beslan school siege.” Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011,
♦ Cooking dinner instead of ordering takeout; making one’s own craft
Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, but the acknowledged mastermind of
cocktails; changing a flat tire; making deviled eggs; folding sheets;
9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—whose nephew was involved in the
controlling one’s finances; paying bills on time... (Adulting topics,
original 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center—remains alive and
classes.)
is being held at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.)

Page 13 of 1645
advance (in advance, etc.) major advance
US physicians made another ~ in endocrinology
days in advance
the killing was planned ~ medical advance
animal testing has led to many ~s
several days in advance advance guard
models predicted the high pressure ~
what is coming in advance advance guard of the feminists
we increased our radar so we know ~ (public health) she belonged to the ~ (the sculptor Kathleen Scott)
*** analysis
*** analysis
♦ The French “avant-garde” literally means “advance guard” and is
♦ Earlier times are before later times, and later times are after earlier
also the basis for the word “vanguard,” according to one website.
times, based on the time queue. The person who reaches the end of
a trail reaches it earlier than the people following him or her. aegis (noun)
advance (a day can advance, etc.)
under his aegis
day advanced he insists the newspaper is not ~
as the ~, it got hotter and hotter ~, sales soared (Tim Cook / Apple)
*** analysis
morning advanced
♦ An aegis (pronounced EE-jus) was a breastplate or shield. It is a
as the ~, the soldiers prepared for battle reference to Zeus’ protective shield in Greek mythology. It means
advance (verb) protection or sponsorship.

aegis (Aegis Insurance, etc.)

advanced in jumps
his career ~ Aegis Combat System
the ~ protects ships
advanced with giant steps
nuclear science has ~ Aegis Security Insurance Company
the ~ focuses on Property and Casualty insurance
advanced from guarded to good condition
the twins ~ (operation) aesthetic (and aesthetics)
advance their cause through leadership aesthetics of bureaucracy
people who ~ or example the art for this article employs the ~ (The Atlantic)
advance the cause aesthetic of (late-twentieth-century) zoo design
~ of freedom in Africa (US) Happy’s pen exemplifies the ~ (elephant at Bronx Zoo)
advance medicine aesthetic of disappearance
the goal of the partnership is to ~, lower costs the national history behind her ~ (Cristina Rivera Garza)
advance our (own negotiating) position aesthetics of (particular) neighborhoods
as we ~ the history and the ~ (SoHo, etc.)
advanced rapidly aesthetics of roadhouse
mine technology ~ after World War II a buddy-cop style with the ~
career advanced aesthetics of first-person shooter
his ~ in jumps the ~ video games
science has advanced aesthetics like whimsigoth
nuclear ~ with giant steps ~, and there’s also grunge fairycore which is quite similar
efforts to advance aesthetic evolution
~ pain research ~ in the animal world (the peacock, etc.)
advance (noun) aesthetic maintenance
~ includes augmented breasts and tan skin (Hooters)
advances in medicine
the 20th century saw great ~ aesthetic roots
with ~ in BDSM (Isamaya line by Isamaya Ffrench)
breathtaking advance
this is a ~ (legislative act) aesthetic space
the ~ of country music (Mali Obomsawin)
great advance
anesthesia was a ~ in surgery aesthetic universe
the ~ of Avatar (the film)

Page 14 of 1645
aesthetic and literary “torture porn” aesthetic
~ works labeled “dark academia” horror dominated by a ~ (Saw, Hostel, etc.)
aesthetics and styles Post-Soul Aesthetic
these ~ (of subcultures on TikTok) Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the ~ (book)
aesthetic, the vibe Socio-Aesthetics
for bars, they talk about the ~ (Gen Z TikTok searches) “The ~ of Pink” (by Liz Camp / the color not the singer)
rap’s (most refined) aesthetic green energy aesthetics
Westside Gunn and Conductor Williams are perfecting ~ backlash in Vermont over ~ (wind turbines look bad)
updated aesthetics Pretty Little Liars aesthetic
Hooters’ ~ (from short shorts to more like underwear) so, apparently ~ is back (Julia Guerra, InStyle)
Sandler aesthetic Mob Wife Aesthetic
the ~ and its defenders (Adam Sandler / Happy Madison) ~ is winter’s hottest trend (big hair, fur, miniskirts, etc.)
balletcore aesthetic “effeminate” aesthetics
the most literal translation yet of the ~ (pastel ensemble) NRTA will ban ~ in entertainment shows (as indecent)
designers like Molly Goddard have embraced the ~
lewd aesthetic
‘Barbie’ (movie) aesthetic patrons lean into Hooters’ ~...
~ takes Big Apple by storm (NYC / summer of 2023)
pink aesthetic
chola aesthetic Barbie core, the 80s-inspired unapologetically ~
the ~ was first forged by the marginalized youths...
retro aesthetic
Cholo aesthetic twee stands for a ~ (mods, berets, mini skirts, 1960s, etc.)
the ~ derived from Los Angeles Chicano culture
twee aesthetic
dark academia aesthetic while its ~ comes with some ergonomic pain (a console)
I love the ~, the outfits, the vibe, the books... thrifting is core to the ~ (second-hand shops)
drainer aesthetic wild aesthetic
the ~... (see quote below) efforts to preserve the area’s ~ (ecotourism, etc.)
“farmhouse chic” aesthetic witchy aesthetic
“Fixer Upper” is blamed for the spread of the ~ (HGTV) whimsigoth, the ~
fashion aesthetic boho, rock-goddess aesthetic
cottagecore is a ~ popularized by teens and young adults why the ~ lives on (BBC / Clare Thorp)
femme aesthetics cute, nostalgic rural aesthetic
Saucy Santana’s unapologetically ~ in a queerphobic a cozy tidy garden and a ~ (cottage-core)
industry
glam-grotesque aesthetic
gay aesthetic the gallery showcased a new ~ (SCREAM)
a defined ~--at once together, at once defiant...
ragbag, ethnic aesthetic
Gen Z aesthetic they created a ~ (bohemian fashion / 1960s)
the teen drama embodies the ~ (Euphoria / neon, etc.)
sexy, hyper-glam, over-the-top, party-girl aesthetic
(VSCO) girl aesthetic Y2K’s ~
Elle credits Emma Chamberlain with popularizing the ~
unique, aspirational aesthetic
“clean girl aesthetic” Ottolenghi has its own ~ (eating, lifestyle brand)
the TikTok ~ has drawn criticism for cultural
appropriation attitude and aesthetic
he described the ~ as “trashy” (brat summer)
“soft girl” aesthetic
the ~ began in Nigeria (young Black women) a look, an aesthetic, and a literary sub-genre
dark academia is ~ all wrapped up in one
queer aesthetics
the evolution of ~ in hip-hop (Saucy Santana, etc.) style and aesthetic
the Barbiecore trend is an homage to her bubblegum pink
stealth-gay aesthetic ~
a~
values, aesthetics

Page 15 of 1645
 member of Anonymous share ~ ♦ “Behind the Art: ‘We need to Take Away Children’ (p. 36), an
investigation of the Trump administration’s family-separation policy, is
popularization of aesthetics the longest feature The Atlantic has published in a single issue in
decades. The art for this article employs the aesthetics of
the ~ like “little Mexican girl-core” bureaucracy—photocopied documents, torn renderings of court
filings, and black-and-white photography—to evoke the trove of
leans into its aesthetic evidence that Caitlin Dickerson uncovered in her reporting. We found
the group ~ of celebrating the common folk (music) that presenting the information in stark terms made clear how
administrative banality masked the callousness at the heart of the
♦ “Perhaps in making a conscious effort to separate his sound from policy.” (Oliver Munday, Design Director.)
the lighter, esoteric side of the drainer aesthetic (see: Bladee), Lean
goes full Joy Division by rapping over...” (Yung Lean (feat. FKA ♦ “It’s weird that all these professors look alike. There is a ‘type’—still
twigs), ‘Bliss’” by Reanna Cruz, NPR Music, April 8, 2022.) dressing like a turn of the last century intellectual, Granny Clampett
wire frames and all.” (An online commenter about “Stanford professor
♦ In her article ”So, Apparently Pretty Little Liars Aesthetic Is Back,” who vanished in hike ahead of domestic violence court date is found”
(InStyle, June 8, 2022), Julia Guerra uses the word “aesthetic” six by Emily Crane, The New York Post, June 12, 2023.)
times, not including its use in the title, which she may or may not
have written. ♦ OLD: fashion, fad, look, style... / NEW: aesthetic...
♦ “‘Queerbaiting’ essentially boils down to appropriating queer ♦ see also core (cottagecore, etc.)
signifiers as an aesthetic only.” *** aesthetics (esthetics), art, literature, etc.
♦ “I think it’s an era that like aesthetically I could really get down with.” ♦ Aesthetic adventuring (Mondrian); purely aesthetic content (versus
(Kemah Bob about the era of Hatshepsut on BBC’s “You’re Dead To politically committed content); aesthetic experience; aesthetic flair
Me.” She specifically mentions the colors gold and blue, eyeliner, and (Faith Ringgold); aesthetic form; aesthetic judgment; aesthetic
cats.) pleasure; an esthetic sublime; aesthetic verity; “in matters of content,
♦ “I’m so glad you found this restaurant. It’s so aesthetical.” Watch: the politically committed and the purely aesthetic; sophisticated
9 MINUTES OF ANNOYING TICTOK VSCO GIRLS” (TikTok aesthetics...” (Collocates for aesthetic and aesthetics used by the
Compilation) great New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl.)
♦ “Nineteen thousand labiaplasty procedures were performed, ♦ Aesthetic consciousness; aesthetic considerations; aesthetic
according to the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery National Databank.” (The distinction; aesthetic ideology; aesthetic modes; aesthetic necessity;
popularity of leggings during the pandemic resulted in an increased aesthetic (and ethical) significance; aesthetically gratuitous (scenes
number of labiaplasties.) of punitive and humiliating violence)... (Collocates for aesthetics,
aesthetic and aesthetically used by the classicist and literary critic
♦ “Estheticians knead, wax, pluck, rub, and paint people.” Daniel Mendelsohn.)
♦ “In the 1960s there were the mods and rockers. The 70s saw the ♦ Aesthetic judgment; aesthetic preference; aesthetic principles...
disco and flower power eras, while in the 80s, new romantic style had (Other critics.)
its heyday. Fast forward to the present...” (‘Soft Girl’: The radical
trend millennials love” by Evie Muir, BBC, 4th December 2022.) ♦ “The question is,...Why does anyone care about Dickens? Why do I
care about Dickens? / That kind of question is never easy to answer.
♦ Pastel colours; fluttering butterflies; warm fluffy clouds; slightly As a rule, an aesthetic preference is either something inexplicable or
cottagecore; super-femme... (The Soft Girl aesthetic / style / trend / it is so corrupted by non-aesthetic motives as to make one wonder
philosophy / personal and political act, set of ethics, etc.) whether the whole of literary criticism is not a huge network of
♦ Large hoop earrings; clothes inspired by the Cholo aesthetic; silky, humbug...” (“Charles Dickens” by George Orwell.)
long, straight hair; lightly tanned skin; thin, upturned noses; puffy, *** analysis
pouty lips; heavy, glamorous makeup; a snatched waist... (The “spicy
Latina” cliché or “copy-paste Latinas.”) ♦ Pretentious and trendy words beloved by contempo-speakers and
writers include: aesthetic (style, fad); agnostic (don’t know, don’t care,
♦ Berets; miniskirts; A-line dresses; little dresses; colorful printed don’t have an opinion); gnosticism (special knowledge); heuristic (rule
tights; Mary Jane ballet flats; oversized collars; layered cardigans; of thumb); intentional (?); lived experience (what I know to be a fact);
tweed; houndstooth; sweet sincerity; cute; nostalgic; kitsch; quirk; performative (insincere, bad); precarity (precariousness); reductive
faux naivete; indie music...” (The twee aesthetic.) (too simple); solipsistic (egotistical); and transactional (what’s in it for
♦ Tweed, corduroy; trousers; blazers; boating blazers; deep dark me). Hari Kunzru’s article in Harper’s Magazine entitled “Easy Chair”
colors; a bucolic school setting; a small, elite, liberal arts college; includes the words “epistemological,” “ontological,” and gnosticism.”
studying the classics; libraries; aspirational students; an in crowd; the The article is about UFOs.
cool crowd; class obsession; elitism; wealth; exclusivity;
secretiveness; a secret society; intrigue; brooding; longing; darkness; afford (verb)
sex; sexual entanglements; knives hidden under tweed blazers; blood
on sweater vests; hot academics murdering each other... (The dark afford
academia aesthetic, from “Dark academia’s deadly allure and the doubt is a luxury they can't ~ (soldiers on way to Iraq)
timeless appeal of prep style,” NPR, It’s Been A Minute, Dec. 16,
2022.)
afford to fall
♦ Wrap sweaters; ballet flats; leg warmers; slick-back hairstyle; we can't ~ further behind
pastels; pinks; leotards; unitards; open backs; tulle skirts; en pointe /
toe shoes; sweet, feminine, dainty, frilly... (The cottagecore
aesthetic.)
afford to lose
the President cannot ~ Iraq
♦ “Big hair; furs; miniskirts; sexiness; opulence; confidence... (The
Mob Wife aesthetic.) afford to remain
♦ “Clean girl bun can cause permanent hair loss.” we cannot ~ passive spectators to such acts…
♦ “According to taste, you will either cheer her majestic gutting of
twenty-first-century self-regard, and her stout defense of high afford another Somalia
aesthetic principles, or agree with the student that she’s ‘a fucking the UN cannot ~
bitch.’” (“Baton Charge: “Tar” by Anthony Lane, The New Yorker,
October 10, 2022.) afford the disruption
♦ “Is boredom an aesthetic now?” (Cheesy dialogue.) we can't ~ that would bring (company policies)
♦ “I don’t have any shame in flaunting a gold-digger aesthetic.” (Linda
Andrade, the “Original Dubai Housewife.” Her spending sprees are
watched by millions on TikTok.)

Page 16 of 1645
aflame (resemblance) afterglow (in the afterglow)
aflame with fall color in the afterglow
the maple trees are ~ ~ that follows the performance, the audience lingers...
aflame (adjective) in the afterglow of another championship
a decade later, ~, he said… (an athlete)
aflame
the region is ~ (Middle East) in the afterglow of (Obama's) election
the Arab world was ~ in March 2011 she found it easier to run ~ (a politician)
aflame with (righteous) anger in the afterglow of his (first big) role
at some moments we are ~ he moved into the Chateau Marmont ~ (L.A. actor)
aflame with outrage in the afterglow of our (rafting) trip
Republicans were ~ (politics) we relaxed and drank wine ~
aflame with violence in the (mellowing) afterglow of victory
in the dying days of apartheid South Africa was ~ ~, they don't seem so fierce (elected women)
aflame with uprisings in the afterglow of their Tony wins
YA novels imagine a world ~ the films received increased business ~
still aflame basking in the afterglow
his curiosity is ~ (a filmmaker) we're still ~ of the president's marvelous speech
he was ~ of a caretaker’s honeymoon period (team)
set hearts aflame
his verses still ~ (the Persian poet Hafez) bask in a (virtue-signalling) afterglow
it’s easy to tweet the approved hashtags and ~
set the social medial world aflame
♦ A full-page print ad for the Subaru Legacy asks the question, "Can
he ~ after writing... (religion) a drive have an afterglow?" In the foreground is the sedan, parked on
a scenic overlook. In the background is a dramatic vista of the sea
set aflame by (recent) comments and clouds just after sunset. Of course, the beautiful lingering light is
the classical music community has been ~ from... the actual afterglow.

afloat afterglow (other)

keep the site afloat afterglow of those visits
he reassured employees he would find the money to ~ the ~ has never worn off (celebrity visits restaurant)

keep the studio afloat afterglow of victory

sentiment alone cannot ~ (MGM / debt woes) the ~ was brief (political reformers)

keeping the regime afloat post-World Cup afterglow

oil is ~ how will the ~ be reflected in attendance (US soccer)

stay afloat happiness and afterglow

Iran can ~ without Western investment the party is flushed with ~ (elections)
he struggled to ~ (low-paying job) ♦ see also glow (noun)
he got us disaster relief to ~ (politician)
the economy is struggling to ~ afternoon (at a later time)
after (at a later time) in the afternoon
~, we built igloos...
after King Hammurabi *** analysis
King Solomon ruled about 700 years ~ ♦ The forenoon is before noon, in the morning.
after horses aftershock (noun)
trains came ~ (technology)
aftershocks from 9/11
come after the ~ forced the company to cuts jobs nationwide (airline)
see come (come after / at a later time)
*** analysis aftershocks from the (shareholder) revolt
♦ Earlier times are before later times, and later times are after earlier
the ~ will be felt across the business world
times, based on the time queue. The person who reaches the end of
a trail reaches it earlier than the people following him or her. political aftershocks
the ~ of the 2004 tsunami… (Sri Lanka)

Page 17 of 1645
feel the aftershocks age of romantic giants
we will ~ of the financial crisis for a long time in an ~ he was a titan (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
against (opposition) age of social media
in this ~
against everything
I am ~ he stands for (politics) age of Viagra
this is the ~, and Mr. Trink was its siren (Thailand)
against it
the Prime Minister is ~ (a proposal) age of technological wizardry
in an ~...
speak against the war
Oscar winners ~ Gilded Age
♦ “As has been the case for most of my life, I listen to Oscar winners the sixties were the ~ of rock journalism (excess)
speak against war.” (NPR’s Linda Holmes.)
golden age
against (up against) see golden age (and golden era)
up against modern age
this is what cities are ~ (hacked for ransom) the ~ of blockbusters (films)
up against a (bureaucratic) juggernaut for the ages
I’m ~ that won’t stop (immigration status) it was a game ~ (an exciting basketball game)
it was a fight ~ (Usyk vs. Fury)
up against a history with an eye roll ~, PM Meloni appeared annoyed (Biden)
we were ~ of social injustice (prosecuting O.J. Simpson)
age (of the steamer) lasted
up against “General Winter” the ~ 150 years (steamboats on the Yangtze River)
he found himself ~ (Napoleon)
♦ “We live in a subscription age and a numbers age... This is a big,
well up against big fight.” (The boxing promoter Eddie Hearn at a press conference
for Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano, referring to DAZN, ticket sales,
Mark De Mori is ~ it (a boxing match) and social media buzz, including Twitter.)

coming up against agency (groups)

it’s brilliant when your get a David ~ Goliath (soccer)
agency
ran up against we want more than representation, we want ~ (an Asian)
biographers ~ a wall of privacy language is ~, language is power (Korean girl in US)
♦ “Mark De Mori is well up against it...” (A commentator about De it’s a story about women having ~ (Amazon’s The
Mori versus Filip Hrgovic during the buildup to the Day of Reckoning Power)
fight event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.)
♦ “This is what we are up against / You deserve an explanation... / agency to speak up for ourselves
The internet we were promised—a place of free, collaborative, and we really didn’t have that ~ (a female soccer player)
accessible knowledge—is under constant threat... / Most readers
don’t donate, so your gift matters...” (Wikimedia Foundation / Proud agency through hyper-sexualisation
host of Wikipedia and its sister sites.)
the idea of finding ~ is freeing (film Poor Things)
*** analysis
♦ “What happens when an unstoppable force comes up against an agency, (your) autonomy
immovable object?” (Politics.) to live with mental illness is to fight for your ~
age (come of age) agency or influence
the ruling suggest strongly that he had ~ over decisions
came of age in the pandemic
mRNA technology ~ agency, ferocity and encouragement
inspirational declarations of ~ (the TV series Pose)
come of age
will this be the year they ~ (team in Champions League) women’s agency
age (age of Trump, etc.) sex work and ~

age of Trump her own agency

Baker managed to have ~ (Josephine Baker in France)
he covered Democratic politics in the ~
age of fiscal belt-tightening female agency
the “Dinner Party” is about ~ (Judy Chicago)
in an ~
age of edit male agency
notions of female sublimation and ~ (film “fridging”
we are in an ~ (news, films, music, science, memes, etc.)
trope)

Page 18 of 1645
artistic agency agency—sexual, musical, geographical—as men.” (Coi Leray. From
“The Future Of Rap Is Female” by Niela Orr, The New York Times
she embraces ~ (Billie Eilish) Magazine, August 13, 2023. “The Hip-Hop Issue.”)

creative agency ♦ “You get to decide what your life looks like.” (“A Letter to College
Sports” by Cailin Bracken.)
the requirements labels make on their artists’ ~ (pop)
♦ “Young girls have more options now.”
sexual agency *** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
a patriarchal world view that denied women ~ ♦ “It’s a story about women having agency, feeling safe and
confident.” (Amazon Prime video series The Power.)
sense of agency
♦ “AGENCY [ey-juhn-see] Your ability to make decisions about your
having a ~ and choosing to be mean (females) own life. / On the island of Madagascar, bold women are ignoring
social taboos to take control of their futures. They want agency over
activism and agency their reproductive choices because climate change is making life
to understand ~ in such a context (“radical rudeness”) more and more difficult. One woman told MSI’s outreach team, ‘There
is drought and winds that block out the sun and devastate much of
authenticity, courage and agency our farmland. Children are dying of malnutrition.” / Empower a woman
to choose. / Just $32 will give four women contraception for a full year
Kristen inspires leaders to lean into their ~ (a speaker) and greater agency over their futures. / MSI United States / Make
reproductive choice possible. / msiunitedstates.org (A full-page
power and agency advertisement in The Atlantic with picture, April 2023.)
the tech industry is where US workers have the most ~
♦ “Kristen, a former DEI & Learning executive, inspires leaders to
build ~ in their work lives (through legal resources, etc.) lean into their authenticity, courage and agency.” (A speaker. $10K+)

claim agency *** presentism, history in contempo-speak...

the online world offers somewhere for them to ~ (Gen Z) ♦ “The great value of Hamalainen’s work is a corrective polemic. In
restoring historical agency to Native peoples, he joins a number of
claiming agency accomplished historians...” (“On Native Grounds: For much of
American history, the tribal nations were on top” by David Treuer, The
women are ~ (Judy Chicago / the “Dinner Party”) New Yorker, November 14, 2022. Until they weren’t...)

denied women agency ♦ “And it was remarkable wandering around these old ex-mining
villages, which were once vibrant communities before the miners’
a patriarchal world view that ~ strike of 1984... And so the people who lived there felt that they’d lost
agency in their lives, lost control in their lives, they were angry and
have that agency furious...” (Paul Laverty, speaking about the 2023 Ken Loach film The
we really didn’t ~ to speak up for ourselves until now Old Oak.)
♦ “[Choose Your own Adventure books] invited kids to exercise some
inclines towards agency agency [italics mine]...” (Contempo-speak at its clunkiest. From The
the language around leadership ~ (gender research) New Yorker in 2022. The series was launched in 1979.)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
lost agency
♦ “Whatever a woman claims she wants is an expression of female
they felt that they’d ~ in their lives, lost control... agency.” (An online commenter.)
replaces agency (in kids) by learned helplessness *** more conventional usage...
CRT ~ (critical race theory) ♦ “Our military leaders had no choice in the matter.” (War. The
Gustav Line.)
seeking agency *** analysis
we’re seeking more than just representation, we’re ~
♦ Agency in this sense is almost always a synonym for empowerment
and in opposition to a perceived sense of victimhood. It is often
support (individual) agency affirmation, no matter what the reality is.
as a humanist, a womanist, I ~ (Gazelle Amber
♦ A quality almost non-existent in society but often touted as an ideal.
Valentine) Defined by its absence.

take agency ♦ Refers to nothing real.

reclaim desire and ~ over your sexual experiences ♦ “These abstract words are freely used in the political world... When
we hear them, we had best be cautious. Ask questions of ourselves.
*** various groups... What has the candidate promised? ‘Freedom’? ‘Freedom’ from what?
♦ “For Asians, we’re seeking more than representation, we’re seeking And ‘liberty’ to do what? This ‘freedom’ he is going to give you is
agency. We want to be able to tell our stories and show our already restricted by your obligations to your family, your business,
characters in all of our splendor and complexity, because that’s what your duties to your community, state, and nation; by your inherited
it takes for people to actually see us as people... I think Asian characteristics, by your environment; by your wealth and education,
Americans are kinda taking charge of our own destiny.” (Jeff Yang, or by the lack of them; and by a thousand laws. What is our candidate
author of Rise: A Pop History of Asia America From the Nineties To going to do about all that? What new kind of ‘freedom’ can he give
Now. From ABC, GMA, “How movies and TV shows dehumanize and us?” (Word Origins And Their Romantic Stories by Wilfred Funk,
hypersexualize Asian Americans.”) Litt.D., Chapter 12, “Political Terms and Their Origins.”)
♦ “If a player does not want to get vaccinated, we will stand behind
him one hundred percent. Look, players need to have agency when it
comes to what they decide to put in their bodies.” (Benjamin Watson,
Vice President, NFL Players Association.) agenda (noun)
♦ “To be agentic is to be confident and decisive.” (Gender research.)
agenda-driven
♦ “She is sex-positive and makes vivacious, danceable music, perfect
for a party or a TikTok challenge. ‘Players,’ her biggest hit, is a two-
it was misleading, distorted, and ~ (“woke” criticism)
minute ditty about young women having the same capacity for

Page 19 of 1645
agenda and narrative mental agility
they want the city to burn, it helps their ~ skills include physical toughness and ~ (military)
the president has faced questions about his ~ (age, gaffes)
wrecking-ball agenda
they have a ~ that is rooted in nationalism (politics) tactical agility
~ is first of all a mental state (military)
hidden agendas
the unwritten rules, ~, and minefields... agnostic (adjective)
creepy agenda agnostic to the prevailing political system
it just makes you look like you have some kind of ~ China is ~ of the countries it invests in
personal agendas agnostic about the ideology
this is stale news being recycled by those with ~ we’re ~ (of groups we investigate for violence / FBI)
political agendas agnostic about the use
professors and administrators are pushing ~ the guidelines are ~ of experimental medications (no
stance)
woke agenda
critics have accused Disney of pushing a ~ agnostic approach
an ~, one biased in favor neither of X or Y
fit your agenda
just stating the truth, sorry it doesn’t ~ agnostic position
media outlets haven taken an ~ (is interrogation torture)
pursue their (own hidden) agendas he himself has maintained the somewhat ~ that...
factions ~ outside of the law
brand agnostic
pushing (political) agendas what we’re enforcing now is ~ (any vaccine will do)
professors and administrators are ~
fashion-agnostic
pushing or suppressing agendas an earth-loving ~ crowd (a meeting of climate activists)
people wonder if the BBC is ~
*** analysis genre-agnostic
♦ “So, what’s on the agenda today?” (Used literally or figuratively, In
this ~ young brother was raised on opera, gospel and funk
either case, it’s best to start with a doughnut or two and coffee.) the ~ indie scene (Lizzo, etc.)
agile (adjective) platform-agnostic
TikTok’s ~ algorithm (and lack of data protection)
agile development
~ means constantly making small improvements commercially agnostic
a nonprofit, ~ place for serious genealogy (GED-match)
agile and adaptive
security must be ~ (terrorism) completely agnostic
the Galileo Project is ~, has no expectations (Avi Loeb)
agile and responsive
government must become more ~ to business emotionally agnostic
the phrase itself is ~ (“this changes everything)
ideologically agile
he was brilliant, funny, and ~ (a politician) “militantly agnostic”
she takes a ~ approach to UFOs (Leslie Kean)
lean and agile
the company is ~ remain agnostic
colleges now ~ to rampant antisemitism (the U.S.)
lean, agile and focused ♦ “For most of this period, the attitude of the press, the courts, and
the company is ~ on building better cars state legislatures was predominantly agnostic. They neither believed
nor disbelieved in the claims of the competing groups and tried, when
pragmatic and agile possible, to avoid becoming embroiled in their partisan disputes.
we must be ~ in pursuit of human rights (diplomacy) When the regulars attacked the divergent practitioners, the press
often took the side of the persecuted and called for tolerance.” (The
smaller, (more) agile and innovative Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr, 1984.)
~ will survive ♦ “The painting’s quiet default is gender agnosticism...”
♦ “At that time, the Energy Department was agnostic, it didn’t have a
remains (as) agile (as ever) position one way or the other. What’s happened is they’ve done an
her mind ~ update to this report and the Energy Department’s position has
shifted. It’s gone from saying ‘Well we don’t know’ to ‘We think it’s
agility (noun) most likely it did come from a lab, though with low confidence’...”
(Michael Gordon, National Security Correspondent for the Wall Street
Journal.)
agility
~ requires quick-minded, flexible leaders (military)

Page 20 of 1645
♦ A FUNNY CARTOON in the AARP magazine, of all places! A man the single most important task we have ~
is addressing another man. He says, “Do you want your eggs
scrambled or hard-boiled?” The other man responds, “I don’t care. I’m
we've got a good deal of work ~
egg-nostic.” (Contempo-speak cliches like “agnostic” can be our darkest days are ~, not behind us (pandemic)
considered dead, buried, and stupid when they appear in a cartoon,
especially one in a magazine for the elderly.) ahead for you and your baby
*** analysis you probably have questions about what is ~
♦ The religious meaning of this word has devolved to mean challenges ahead
something like, “Not sure, who knows, unwilling to commit, non-
committal, no stance, undogmatic, don’t care, “Whatever,” could care prepare students for the ~ (military school)
less...” Internet “father” Vint Cerf on ~
♦ Merriam-Webster’s online entry for this word is excellent.
choices ahead
♦ Pretentious and trendy words beloved by contempo-speakers and
writers include: aesthetic (style, fad); agnostic (don’t know, don’t care,
he understands the hard ~ (a politician)
don’t have an opinion); gnosticism (special knowledge); heuristic (rule
of thumb); intentional (?); lived experience (what I know to be a fact); days ahead
performative (insincere, bad); precarity (precariousness); reductive there are better ~
(too simple); solipsistic (egotistical); and transactional (what’s in it for
me). Hari Kunzru’s article in Harper’s Magazine entitled “Easy Chair” road ahead
includes the words “epistemological,” “ontological,” and “gnosticism.” no one knows what lies on the ~ (course of war)
The article is about UFOs.

ago (two days ago / gone by) STORMS AHEAD

~ (newspaper)
two days ago
they left ~ task ahead
the ~ for engineers and scientists is to…
long ago
in the ~, when I was a girl book ahead
it’s good to ~ (camping reservations)
*** analysis
♦ This means “gone by.” lie ahead
your best days ~
aground (run aground) our best days ~
run aground lies ahead
he was sure the investigation would ~ and find no no one knows what ~
evidence I don't know what ~
run aground on the shoals we are ready for the struggle that ~ (war)
the promises have ~ of changing sex ratios look ahead
relationship can run aground let's ~ to the future
the author-biographer ~ let’s ~, the way you have to in a chess game (Brexit)
as we ~ to the elections coming up in November
Aha! (Aha! moment)
looking ahead
"Aha!" moment ~, clouds appear on the horizon (economy)
she says that she had an ~ in 2005 (administrator)
plan ahead
Aha! instant it's good to ~
the ~ in cognitive science, the Eureka moment... ♦ “We’re so focused on what’s ahead, we’re not worried about what’s
♦ “The Aha moments that go from insight into action.” (Spotlight behind us.” (The boxer Anthony Joshua, speaking about his rematch
Tableau GPT / business analytics.) with Andy Ruiz Jr. AJ had lost the first match, in a tremendous upset.)

ahead (ahead of his time, etc.) ahead (before a future event)

see time (ahead of his time, etc.) ahead of elections
the increasingly bitter political climate ~ next summer
ahead (the future is ahead, etc.)
ahead of the Challenger’s launch
what’s ahead ~, analysts could have made hundreds of charts...
gas hits $5 a gallon, here’s how it got here and ~
ahead of his upcoming trial
ahead of her he was back in court ~ (Markeith Loyd / Florida)
when you think about what was ~, it’s so sad (tragedy)
ahead of Medvedev’s visit
ahead of him the admission came ~ to Warsaw
he has a great future ~ (athlete)
well ahead
ahead of us weather forecasters saw it coming ~ of time

Page 21 of 1645
ahead (ahead of schedule, etc.) surging ahead
Southeast Asia is ~ (aquaculture)
ahead of schedule
we are ~ went ahead
the program ~ and was deemed a success
get ahead of the conversation *** analysis
I’m not going to ~ that will take place (speculation) ♦ Don't get mad, don't get even, get ahead.
ahead (competition) ahead (go ahead)
ahead of those went ahead with the event
Swedish living standards are way ~ in the US they ~ (in spite of pandemic)
miles ahead ailing (adjective)
it was ~ of every similar application
ailing
million miles ahead businesses are ~ because of government regulation
Liverpool are a ~ (of Manchester United / soccer)
ailing economy
two steps ahead companies are feeling the effects of the ~
the virus was ~ (of preventative measures) the government is pumping money into the ~
way ahead ailing Macs
Swedish living standards are ~ of those in the US she tends to ~ (tech worker)
light years ahead ailing (housing) market
she was ~ of her peers ending the deduction could cripple an already ~
today’s tech is ~ of the old techniques (forensics)
aim (verb)
come out ahead
I'm going to beat him, I'll ~ (mixed-martial arts) aim to please
we ~ (a store motto)
puts them ahead
their strategy ~ of other banks aiming for
and that's what we're ~ (making it easy for shoppers)
ahead (progress)
aimed for a Friday night liftoff
far ahead the space agency ~
rich countries are ~ of poor ones in adapting to warming
aim for a fun, less sanitized view
forging ahead reenactors ~ of the Old West
other countries are ~ (aquaculture)
aim (noun)
get ahead
never pass up an opportunity to ~ aim
if the ~ is to destroy vehicles, use mines (military)
marching ahead their ~ is to trigger fear and chaos (political assassins)
the science is ~ (genetic tests) their ~ is to survive (peasants)
move ahead aims of the campaign
mentally ill people struggle to ~ in their lives ridding Iraq of WMD is one of the main ~
we must ~ into the future
aim of the ceremony
moved ahead the ~ is to… (Swazi reed dance)
he cautiously ~ with privatization
aim of that operation
moving ahead the ~ was to… (Russian military in Chechnya)
his friends were ~ while he was standing still
aim of the symposium
plowing ahead the broad ~ was to report on and discuss the…
we are ~ (difficult medical research)
aim of a show of force
pressing ahead the ~ is deterrence (military)
the Russians are ~ with fake social media accounts
we are ~ in our efforts (government official) aim of storing
Glen Canyon Dam was finished with the ~ water for…
push ahead
we are trying to ~ aim of overthrowing
it has the stated ~ the government (an opposition group)

Page 22 of 1645
aim in (my) life aimed at the (US) military
before Qeis, I had no ~ (a student) protest ~ have waxed and waned (S. Korea)
aim in (this) life aimed at the superstitious
everyone has his own ~, and mine is to be a martyr attention-grabbing advertisements ~ (muti)
nomads' (traditional) aim aimed at abortion clinics and their workers
the Tibetan ~ of maximizing herd size (vs. slaughter) attacks ~ (US)
terrorists’ aim aimed at Pakistan's foreign community
if the ~ was to… an assault ~ (on a church)
intended aim aimed at modernizing
regulating the forces and means toward an ~ (military) he announced a series of reforms ~ the bureau
stated aim aimed at preventing
it has the ~ of overthrowing the government mosquito-control programs ~ further cases (West Nile)
dual aim aimed at punishing
the immunizations have a ~ (protect and prevent) laws ~ habitual criminals
first aim aimed at reducing
our ~ was to be competitive at the World Cup… regulations ~ noise pollution
initial aim air (air of authority, etc.)
having sex might have been his ~, but… (murderer)
air of authority
primary aim you'll carry an ~
a ~ of ED intervention is to.. (domestic abuse)
air of indifference
strategic aim she has a calculated ~ (teen girl)
application of military capability in support of ~s
air of invincibility
traditional aim America's ~ is gone (international basketball)
the Tibetan nomads' ~ of maximizing herd size
air of make-believe
ultimate aim diplomacy can have an ~ (protocol, etc.)
his ~ is to…
air of respectability
unselfish aim toy drives give bikers an ~
most seem motivated by ~s
air of sophistication
one aim she exudes an ~
the staff has only ~, turning fantasy into reality
air of superiority
several aims he detected an ~
President Clinton and his advisers had ~
arrogant air
achieve this aim he had a preppie, ~ about him
to ~, we will have to…
carry an air
aim (take aim at something) you'll ~ of authority
take aim at (pretty much every) race exudes an air
his monologues ~ he can she ~ of sophistication
took aim at America air (environment)
other veterans of the Russian-Afghan war ~
air he breathes
taking dead aim that’s the ~ that he has internalized (Nazi website)
his company is ~ at… (a competitor)
air (take the air out of a room, etc.)
aimed
takes the air out of the stadium
aimed at Muslims when something like that happens, it just ~ (neck injury)
a string of attacks by extremist Christians ~
air (anger in the air, etc.)
aimed (specifically) at children
products ~ in the air

Page 23 of 1645
 change was ~ (the law) global warming is ~ (an opinion)
spring is ~
war is ~ just (a lot of) hot air
the threat of litigation was always ~ (corporation) people talk about mine safety, but it's ~

anger in the air a lot of hot air

there is much ~ ~ blows out of Washington (politics)

electricity in the air full of hot air

there is a new ~ (after combat and death) he's ~ (a politician)
he talks a good game, but he’s ~ (a politician)
fear in the air ♦ “The acronym, coined in the early 1990s, is pedagogical vapor.”
with the general ~, people are paying off debt, not buying (STEM.)
♦ “Save the applause until we get a result. It’s been all talk so far.”
feeling in the air (Senator Lindsey Graham, during a Senate hearing. See “Zuckerberg
the ~ was he couldn’t have done it (charged at apologizes to families of kids harmed online as Senate grills tech
courthouse) CEOs” by Cheyenne Haslett and Alexandra Hutzler, ABC, January
31, 2024.)
air (up in the air) air (into thin air)
up in the air
disappeared into thin air
the school year ended with her plans ~
she ~ (wanted for a crime)
where things go from here is quite honestly ~
I think it’s still ~ a little bit (where athlete will commit vanished into thin air
to) it was like she just ~ (woman vanishes)
the fate of Twitter is ~ this week (Elon Musk takes over)
air (out of thin air)
up in the air whether
it’s still ~... (making a decision) appeared out of thin air
investors have ~
still up in the air
her quest to land an internship is ~ come out of thin air
when they can return to their homes is ~ (wildfires) ideas just don't ~

remains up in the air emerge out of thin air

the reason for the Moon Illusion ~ the fear of the undead didn't ~
*** analysis create credit out of thin air
♦ “Up in the air” can link in certain cases to a phrase like, “Nobody the Federal Reserve can ~
knows how this plane lands” with the idea of resolution and
conclusion. create profit out of thin air
air (breath of fresh air) Wall Street can ~

breath of fresh air air (clear the air)

she's a ~ (politician) clear the air
the blog is a ~ (field notes from scientists) they had a meeting to ~ (athlete and coach)
his lay status is a ~ (new college president) an interview so she could ~ about what happened
I thought he was a ~, but it turns out he is an elitist if you had any lingering doubts, this should ~
breath of fresh air amid all the polite Oscar-bait turns clear the air entirely
Emma Stone is a ~ (2023 film Poor Things) wouldn't that just ~ (making documents public)
breath of fresh air for the city air (expose)
the mayor has been a ~
air it out
breath of fresh air after the scandal you don’t have to ~ to the public where everyone can
he seemed to be a ~ of Watergate (politics) hear
unexpected breath of fresh air airbrushed
their designs were an ~ (fashion show)
too slick, airbrushed, propaganda
brings a breath of fresh air to the magazine many thought the video was ~, to gain support and
she ~ (new editor) funding
air (hot air)
hot air
a plan without action is ~

Page 24 of 1645
aircraft carrier (turn an aircraft alarm about (the military's) conduct
the case raises ~ in Iraq (atrocity)
carrier)
rising alarm
aircraft carrier ~ over gun violence
how long will it take, is it a matter of turning an ~
(change) reason for alarm
♦ “When I became president, one of the things I discovered coming
stay calm, there is no ~
into office is you’re in charge of a big apparatus... It’s an ocean liner so there was plenty of ~
and not a speedboat... Trying to change policy is really difficult.”
(“Barak Obama on 2020.”) raises alarm
♦ “It will take time to turn around this metaphorical tanker in the case ~ about the military's conduct in Iraq
midstream.” (Saudi-Israeli relations) *** analysis
♦ “And we’ve got to reverse that. Not only have we got to stop this ♦ “ALARM: to arms! / If we are alarmed at any time, we should spring
supertanker, we’ve got to turn it round and send it back in the to arms for that is what the Italian cry all’ arme meant. In later years
opposite direction.” (Anthony Geddes, tree advocate, about farmers the Italians combined the two words into allarme and the meaning
who cut down trees to grow crops for food, as opposed to tree was extended from the military command itself to the emotion and
planting.) fright that had been felt on hearing it shouted. Now, very often, alarm
aired (and aired out) has only to do with the warning of the morning alarm clock.” (Word
Origins And Their Romantic Stories by Wilfred Funk, Litt.D. It’s a nice
way to think of the word. Particularly when it comes to that alarm
being aired clock and its snooze button.)
the divorce is over with no dirty laundry ~
alarm (warning)
being aired out
these are general grievances that are ~ (the Oscars) five-alarm fire
see fire (five alarm fire, etc.)
airtight (adjective)
sounded alarms
airtight alibi Doctors Without Borders ~ (famine in Niger)
his lawyers say he has an ~
sounding the alarm
airtight case groups have been ~ about the Arab drug problem
prosecutors believe they have an ~ they are in emergency mode, they are ~
seemed airtight albatross (noun)
his alibi ~
albatross of debt
akin (adjective) the ~ he had been dealing with... (a politician)
akin to body armor albatross for Oakland
we see vaccines as ~ (Defense Department) the quote has become something of an ~ (“no there
there”)
akin to the Super Bowl
in the mountainous nations, the Hahnenkamm is ~ albatross for the industry
(skiing) the Production Code was an ~ (films)
akin to the leftist call Afghanistan albatross
B.D.S. can be understood as ~ to defund the police Trump inherited the ~
(Israel)
lifelong albatross
akin to WrestleMania a parking ticket can become a ~ (racial inequality)
that interview was ~ (Bill Ackman vs. Carl Icahn) ♦ “John James Audubon’s racism is the albatross rotting around the
necks of those who would hold him in reverence. It is past smelling
akin to drunk driving foul and beginning to reek.” (“What Do We Do About John James
not masking is ~ (COVID) Audubon?” by J. Drew Lanham. Which begs the question, “What Do
We Do About J. Drew Lanham?” The answer: give him a Macarthur
♦ “Facial recognition is akin to nuclear or biological weapons.” (Evan
Genius Award. See the Wikipedia article “J. Drew Lanham.” “This
Greer of Fight for the Future.)
article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia’s
alarm (feeling) layout guidelines.”)
♦ “It has the albatross of the original hanging over its neck in a not
alarm super good way.” (NPR’s Andrew Limbong. Funny!)
~ as dump sites fill up and overflow... ♦ “So that sounds to me like you’re arguing that the social-welfare
state is kind of an albatross around the necks of people who are
alarm over the (rotten-egg) odor working hard as you say. But I don’t think the numbers support that...”
(NPR’s Michel Martin interviewing Senator Joe Manchin.)
there was ~
*** Ernest Shackleton...
alarm over (gun) violence ♦ “During the morning we started a fire in the cave with wood from the
most Americans feel ~ top-sides of the boat, and though the dense smoke from the damp

Page 25 of 1645
sticks inflamed our tired eyes, the warmth and the prospect of hot thousands of elfin lanterns weaving their ethereal dances." (Dersu
food were ample compensation. Crean was cook that day, and I Uzala by V.K. Arseniev, translated by Malcolm Burr. In Ussuria.)
suggested to him that he should wear his goggles, which he
happened to have brought with him. The goggles helped him a great alight (fire)
deal as he bent over the fire and tended the stew. And what a stew it
was! The young albatrosses weighed about fourteen pounds each set the region alight
fresh killed, and we estimated that they weighed at least six pounds
each when cleaned and dressed for the pot. Four birds went into the
conflicts could ~ (Caucasus)
pot for six men, with a Bovril ration for thickening. The flesh was white
and succulent, and the bones, not fully formed, almost melted in our
alive (status)
mouths. That was a memorable meal. When we had eaten our fill, we
dried our tobacco in the embers of the fire and smoked contentedly.” alive
(South!: The Story of Shackleton’s Last Expedition, 1914-1917 by my business is ~, but not thriving
Ernest Shackleton. From Chapter 9, “The Boat Journey.”)

Alcatraz (Alcatraz of the South, etc.) still alive

the talks are ~ (negotiations)
Alcatraz of the Rockies the two teams are ~ in the playoffs (sports)
ADX Florence in Colorado, sometimes called the ~ very much alive
Alcatraz of the South jazz is ~, in Paris…
Angola, the ~ (prison bordered on 3 sides by Mississippi) stay alive
♦ “McNeil Island in South Puget Sound is the Alcatraz you’ve never it's tough to ~ in today's economy (a business)
heard of.”

alchemical (adjective) alive (alive and well)

alive and well
alchemical process interagency coordination is ~
by some ~, blame settled on Nancy Spector
(Guggenheim) alive and well in the UK
alchemist (noun) regional stereotypes are ~
remains alive and well
alchemist of words
the movement ~
an ~, Melville transformed his often mundane sources
♦ “The moon lander is “alive and well” but resting on its side.”
alchemy (noun) (“Odysseus” IM-1 Nova-C, nicknamed Odie.)

alchemy of timing, biography, and context alive (activity)

the politically crucial ~... (Kamala Harris / 2024) alive with activity
Urban Alchemy the night sky, ~ (satellites, an eclipse, etc.)
~ seeks to transform the energy in traumatized urban alive with rats
spaces the alley was ~ that evening...
Alexander (Muslim Alexander, etc.)
alive with rumor
Muslim Alexander residential areas and offices were ~ (following attack)
he conceived for himself an identity as the ~ (Mehmet II)
ever alive
alight (activity) he was a young man ~ to new ideas

alight with posts alive (come alive)

social networking sites are ~ from…
come alive
alight with (conspiracy) theories they ~ (characters in a book / book review)
the blogosphere is ~ came alive
*** the Molucca Sea, the Sikhote-Alin mountains... the Peruvians ~ in the second half (World Cup soccer)
♦ “We had now fairly entered the Molucca Sea. After dark it was a he ~ in the fourth quarter with 4 catches for 121 yards
beautiful sight to look down on our rudders, from which rushed
eddying streams of phosphoric light gemmed with whirling sparks of come alive at night
fire. It resembled (more nearly than anything else to which I can rats ~
compare it) one of the large irregular nebulous star-clusters seen
through a good telescope, with the additional attraction of ever-
changing form and dancing motion.” (The Malay Archipelago by
came alive in the second quarter
Alfred Russel Wallace,) the team ~
♦ "That night the fire-flies were in countless thousands, in millions, it
seemed... Suddenly, there was a blinding flash which for an instant lit
come alive with activity
up the whole countryside, as a large meteor trailed its blazing tail the streets literally ~ (Toronto)
across the sky... As at the wave of a magic wand the illumination of
the insects went out... Then suddenly in the herbage there appeared comes alive with young musicians
a spark again, and in half a minute the air was again filled with the the campus ~ (summer music program)

Page 26 of 1645
came alive with a great tube ride sniper alley
he suddenly ~ (surfing competition) this part of town was called ~ (Sarajevo)
comes alive when Machine Gun Alley
he ~ he talks about his passion they called the area ~ (7th Cavalry / Iraq)
alive (keep something alive) RPG Alley
an ambush on a stretch of road known as ~ (Baqouba)
keep awareness alive
the need to ~ (of the Holocaust) alley (Bat Alley, etc.)
keep history alive Bat Alley
part of our mission is to ~ (Trail of Tears) bats have been seen flying down ~ (passage in a cave)
keep hope alive Shark Alley
doctors have a duty to ~ a wave rolled along an area known as ~ (Farallones)
kept the initiative alive alley (Cyclone Alley, etc.)
the administration has ~
Cyclone Alley
keep memory alive Bangladesh sits on "~"
portraits can ~
cyclone alley
keep romance alive Madagascar sits on a type of ~ in the Indian Ocean
it's important to ~ (in a marriage)
Hail Alley
keep the spark alive where Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming meet is “~”
the dreams of what were ahead helped ~ for me (love)
iceberg alley
keep the tradition alive the Bonavista peninsula is the province’s so-called “~”
he does his part to ~ (sumo in Brazil) it’s been a busy season in ~ (Newfoundland and
Labrador)
all (give something one’s all, etc.) A68a has been riding this “~” (Antarctica to South
his all Georgia)
he gave it ~ “~,” the major route (A23a)

giving her final college gymnastics season her all "Lightning Alley"
Olivia Dunne is ~ the corridor is known as ~ (Tampa Bay to Titusville)

pour your all into something tornado alley

when you ~, and it doesn’t go the way you planned... spring in ~ (U.S.)
*** analysis Tornado Alley
♦ “We gave it everything” = “We gave it our all.” ~ runs from Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas
allergic (adjective) alley (Death Alley / U.S. 61, etc.)
allergic to (small) boats Blood Alley
for those ~ in stormy seas… Death Alley, ~, that's what they call it (a highway)
allergic to the concept Death Alley
economists are ~ of fairness (reform) U.S. 61 is known as ~ (fatal crashes in Missouri)
allergic to consensus "hell highway"
a profession ~ (academic philosophers) killed returning to the reservation on the ~ (Arizona)
allergic to him expressway to death
I'm ~ (the two don't get along) National highway 8 is known as the ~ (India)
allergy (noun) alley (Silicon Alley)
allergy to stardom see Silicon Valley
he has an ~ (a successful actor, to Hollywood)
alley (Cancer Alley, etc.)
alley (Ambush Alley, etc.)
“Asthma Alley”
"Ambush Alley" the South Bronx is often described as ~ (pollution)
fighting in Nasiriya, nicknamed ~ by the Marines (Iraq)
Cancer Alley

Page 27 of 1645
 they live in a region known as ~ (southwestern you do start to see other people of color as ~
Louisiana) *** various groups...
Louisiana’s ‘~’ residents in clean air fight
♦ “If you’re a white person, you’re getting to the perimeter, you’re
this 85-mile stretch of Louisiana, referred to as ‘~’ putting your body on the f****** line right now!” (“Black Protest
Leaders To White Allies: ‘It’s Our Turn To Lead Our Own Fight,’”
“covid corridor” NPR, All Things Considered, September 22, 2020.)
the commuter corridors have become the ~ (East Coast ♦ “She’d become my ally, she loves her son endlessly.” (The actor
US) Elliot Page about his mother.)

alley (up one's alley) ♦ “Ally. I’m Straight, But Not Narrow.” (A slogan superimposed on a
Pride flag.)
up my alley *** jumping on the “ally” bandwagon...
now this part is ~ (how to fix a module vs. its function) ♦ “We strive to create a supportive and inclusive space for people to
bring their whole selves to work.” (A company’s employee resource
right up your alley group for LGBTQIA employees and allies.)
you have to read this, it's ~ *** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
check this out, it’s ~ ♦ “Ally Straight Bracelet, Pride Love Wins, LGBTQAI+ Pride Love
Wins Tibetan Wrist Wrap Bracelets, Support LGBTQ Community,
all-star (adjective) Boho Rope Bracelet.” ($6.82 / Etsy.)
♦ “Rainbow ALLY pin—Enamel Badge Gay Flag Pride Sticker Shirt
all-star team LGBT Lesbian Bisexual Trans Support Gift Straight Earrings Button
with an ~ of lawyers representing them (celebrity Safe Space / 21,425 reviews: “Just awesome!”; Great addition to my
divorce) husband’s lanyard”; “Beautiful pins for my conference lanyard.”
($10.60+ / Etsy.)
all-star (legal) team ♦ “It’s a Good Day to Be An Ally Sweatshirt, Ally Gift, Proud Ally
he had an ~ (rich pedophile) Sweatshirt, Proud Ally Gift, Pride Parade Outfit, LGBTQ Ally
Crewneck.” ($36.50+ / Etsy.)
alluring (adjective) ♦ “Want to be a better ally in the fight for racial equality and justice?
Microsoft Bing / Learn more.” (A message on a Bing screensaver, the
alluring purpose of which is to get you to use the Bing search engine instead
the pitch is ~ (an educational fad) of Google’s.)

ally (groups) *** analysis

♦ “She could sometimes be an awkward ally.” (The Irish singer
Sinead O’Connor.)
ally
how to be an ~ and nurture a more inclusive world ♦ You can’t always rely on your allies...

ally for your fat students ally (other)

you can be this ~ (a fat teacher) ally in curbing the spread
adult allies countries hope that technology will be an ~ of the virus
Youth Lobby, a grassroots coalition of young people and allies in that fight
~
she didn’t have a lot of ~ (trouble between 2 actors)
Jewish allies
not as an enemy, but as an ally
“Dad encourages ~ to display menorah” (Adam
Democrats welcome change, ~ (politics)
Kulbersh)
allyship (groups)
awkward ally
she could sometimes be an ~ (singer Sinead O’Connor) allyship with male victims
support for Depp is taken as ~ of abuse
better ally
want to be a ~ in the fight for racial equality and justice allyship with trans folk
objection to Di Martino was framed as ~
trans and LGBTQ ally
how to be a ~ at work (Gender Reveal / NPR) allyship & co-conspiratorship
strategies in ~ as a verb... (activism)
self-professed straight LGBT ally
he is a ~ (So Gay Rosé brand co-founder) performative allyship
see performative allyship
with an ally
being transgender can be hard, but made easier ~ (work) sign of allyship
a ~ with male victims of abuse
employees and allies
*** various groups...
a sense of community for our LGBTQ+ ~ (SV
♦ “Support for Depp is taken as a sign of allyship with male victims of
Bank) abuse.” (The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial.)
rivals rather than as allies ♦ “Well, every American should take [monkeypox] seriously, but there
are two kinds of taking it seriously. One is when thinking that you are

Page 28 of 1645
at personal risk. And that would be men having sex with men, gay *** various groups...
men in the United States, particularly those who are sexually active.
♦ “More groups and resources have appeared for LGBTQIA2S+
Um, other Americans, you know, should have some empathy and
folks.”
some solidarity and help their gay and lesbian neighbors get through
this. Uh, many straight Americans rallied to our side during the HIV ♦ “We had just had a bit of a pause as we have seen someone run on
epidemic. But the Federal government really needs to get its act to the pitch holding a rainbow flag.” (The 2022 FIFA World Cup in
together because right now we’re failing in the response.” (Gregg Qatar. The incident occurred during the Portugal-Uruguay game.)
Gonsalves at the Yale School of Public Health. From “How to talk
♦ “Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+” (“Maren Morris comes out as
about monkeypox effectively, without stigmatizing gay men,” NPR, All
bisexual 4 months after finalizing divorce from Ryan Hurd.”)
Things Considered, August 5, 2022.)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
analysis
♦ “The awkwardness of the acronymic acrobatics...” (LGBTTIQQ2SA,
♦ “I mean, if we’re honest, allyship is good business at this moment...
etc.)
[R]acial allyship or queer allyship or trans allyship... [Allyship]
becomes monetized. It becomes commercialized...” (Author and ♦ “The term LGBTQIAA+ is a clear instance of balkanization.”
scholar Mark Anthony Neal. From “‘Thugs don’t dance’: (Jonathan Rauch.)
iLoveMakonnen and Drake tested rap’s norms of masculinity, but only
♦ “He needs to drum up publicity and get on the alphabet’s good
one passed,” NPR, Louder Than A Riot Season Two, May 4, 2023.)
side.” (Criticism of the Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe.)
along (further along) ♦ “The legislation will protect the country from LGBT values.”
(Russia’s “Answer to Blinken” law that bans gay propaganda.)
further along ♦ “BLM and the LGBTQ+ABCDE crowd...” (A disparaging
in Europe, the outbreak is a little ~ (Omicron variant) commenter. BLM is presumably Black Lives Matter, NOT the Bureau
of Land Management.)
alphabet (letters) ♦ “LGBTQ+...what happens when they use up the alphabet?”

alphabet soup of (government) agencies ♦ “Will England be taking the knee at this World Cup to highlight
social injustices? If so, does this also cover gingers and baldies?” /
an avalanche of inspections from an ~ “Of course. What do you think the G and B stand for in LGBTQ?”
(Inspired repartee on a BBC HYS about the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
alphabet soup of choices The snark alludes to a speech given by FIFA president Gianni
we have the ~ (federal organizations and their initialisms) Infantino in which he said, “At school I was bullied because I had red
hair and freckles.” Read “Fact check: 11 eye-catching lines from
alphabet-soup of law enforcement Gianni Infantino’s speech in Qatar” by Paul MacInnes, The Guardian,
19 Nov 2023. The games were considered a great success by
the ~ that’s here (Louisville protests) everyone, and those who visited Qatar in person praised the country
for its unique culture and wonderful hospitality.)
alphabet soup phrases
♦ see also LGBTQ+, pronouns (groups), queer (collocations)
without resorting to ~ (C-word, N-word, etc.)
altar (at / on / upon the altar)
alphabet soup of ESC
the ~ (environmental, social, governance) on the congressional altar
*** war, conflict, the military... even after Minouche Shafik offered up faculty sacrifices
♦ “EOD handled the bombs. SSTP treated the wounds. PRP ~
processed the bodies. The 08s fired DPICM. The MAW provided
CAS. The 03s patrolled the MSRs. Me and PFC handled the money... on such a remote altar
/ I will remember that our HMMWV had 5 PX. That the SITREP was 2 no clergyman would sacrifice his career ~ (Norfolk
KIA, 3 WIA. That KIA means they gave everything. That WIA means I
didn’t.” (From the short story “OIF” in Redeployment by the brilliant
Island)
Marine writer Phil Klay. OIF stands for Operation Iraqi Freedom.)
at the altar of (high) capitalism
*** analysis
this movie kneels ~ (the 2023 film Air)
♦ See the Wikipedia article “Alphabet soup (linguistics).” The article
mentions “Frankin D. Roosevelt’s agencies of the New Deal,” at the altar of political correctness
including “CCC,” “NLRB,” “REA (Rural Electrification Administration),”
other Roald Dahl classics have been similarly butchered
“TVA,” and “WPA.”
~
alphabet (LGBTQ+)
at the altar of disruption
alphabet people today’s tech world worships ~
Christians who don’t support or believe in the ~
at the altar of Mammon
alphabet soup nothing’s so holy that it can’t be sacrificed ~
he dislikes the ~ (LGBTQ+)
the ~ people (a disparaging comment) at the altar of Donald Trump
the ~ that has come to be known as “LGBTQ+” evangelicals ~

alphabet-soup on the altar of (environmental) correctness

the ~ designation for sexual minorities he would sacrifice energy independence ~

LGBTQA+ alphabet soup on the altar of greatness

the Pentagon has embraced the ~ (recruiting) we are witnessing human flesh ~ (a boxer)

get on the alphabet’s good side on the altar of (this nation’s continued) freedom
he needs to drum up publicity and ~ the country will never forget your sacrifice ~ (Britain)

Page 29 of 1645
on this altar of the gun god ♦ “I was welcomed by so many amazing Black students who look just
like me, who have the same dreams and aspirations as me as well.”
they are really human sacrifices ~ (mass shootings) (Daya Brown about Duke University. From “Teen accepted to more
than 50 colleges, receives over $1.3 million in scholarships.” She
on the altar of that peace wants to study mass communications or film, and she created her
~ Venice was to be sacrificed (France and Austria) own production company while in high school. “I think a lot of people
think that if you’re smart, you can’t be cool. So I found a way to
on the altar of Radicalism showcase brilliance [and] still have fun while you’re doing it.”)
he sacrificed the South ~ (southern view of Grant) ♦ “For Asians, we’re seeking more than representation, we’re seeking
agency. We want to be able to tell our stories and show our
upon the altar of freedom characters in all of our splendor and complexity, because that’s what
it takes for people to actually see us as people... I think Asian
you have laid so costly a sacrifice ~ (Lincoln) Americans are kinda taking charge of our own destiny.” (Jeff Yang,
author of Rise: A Pop History of Asia America From the Nineties To
kneels at the alter Now. From ABC, GMA, “How movies and TV shows dehumanize and
this movie ~ of high capitalism (2023 film Air) hypersexualize Asian Americans.”)
♦ “Lizzo performed...that was amazing...” (Priyanka Chopra.)
laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar
♦ “The way they work is, it’s very femme-forward, very female-
you have ~ of freedom (President Lincoln) positive. They have an amazing female photographer, Vanessa
Beecroft, and you just feel like a million dollars on their set. It just
sacrifice your children on the altar feels very modern and very ‘female gaze.’” (Nelly Furtado, about her
don’t ~ of bad science (anti-vaxxer propaganda) participation in the Best Of Skims advertising campaign.)
♦ “Mrs. Ramsay’s work is to make people magnificent—to make them
sacrifice (energy) independence on the altar believe in themselves, make them think they can do anything...”
he would ~ of environmental correctness (“We’re All Invited to the Lighthouse” by Patricia Lockwood, The
Atlantic, April, 2023.)
sacrifice rights on the altar of terrorism ♦ “Clearly in this case, his moral compass doesn’t matter. And as
we can’t ~ (facial recognition) much as I believe he’s amazing and a good person, even if he
♦ “Mia from Land O Lakes butter and her buddy the Frito Bandito weren’t, that does not matter because...” (Mr Jefferson Bosela, who
were simply sacrificed on the altar of corporate wokemanship. (Woke- quit his job to assume the role of family spokesman. See “Shooting of
personship?).” (“Mars shelves M&M spokescandies in latest woke Chris Kaba.”)
corporate fiasco” by Dan Gainor, Opinion, Fox News, Jan. 26, 2023.) ♦ “It’s an election year, and Audubon, and its partner organization the
♦ “The mother of Almog Sarusi, one of the murdered hostages, says Audubon Action Fund, will be working hard across our amazing
you sacrificed her son on the altar of the Philadelphi Corridor...” (A network of chapters, state office, and nature centers to keep climate
reporter addressing Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israel-Hamas war.) and clean-energy legislation at the forefront of people’s agendas.”
(Audubon magazine, Winter 2019.)
*** analysis
♦ “We’re going to hear from another amazing Chicago organizer.”
♦ See the Wikipedia article “Bixby letter.” See also the Wikipedia (The protest-stage announcer, introducing the next speaker at the
article “Sullivan brothers.” You be the judge. Whatever the historical March on DNC 2024.)
truth, the phrase seems to becoming more and more popular.
*** more conventional usage...
amalgam (noun) ♦ “Well, Carl’s amazing.” (Wink wink, nudge nudge. Snarky, sarcastic
male abuse about a weird underperformer who doesn’t fit in. A
amalgam of (different) influences synonym for the old “retarded” or “special.” This is a good example of
the euphemism treadmill.)
Turkish cooking is an intriguing ~
*** analysis
amalgam of (changing death-penalty) politics ♦ “Amazing” is a cliche used not only for affirmation but also for self-
there is an ~ and concerns about the system congratulation. In that way it does double duty for many groups.
♦ When a term can mean anything to anyone, or includes everyone, it
amalgam of speed, timing, work-rate and pressure means nothing.
he beat Baranchyk with an ~ (Scot boxer Josh Taylor)
♦ Refers to nothing real.
amazing (groups) ♦ As Michael Goldhaber said, “The value of true modesty or humility
is hard to sustain in the attention economy.”
Amazing ♦ “One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least
We’re ~ 1,2,3! (Leslie Kimmelman / autism) change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one
jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase...into
Amazing in All Children the dustbin where it belongs.” (“Politics And The English Language”
by George Orwell, Horizon, April 1946.)
its battle cry is “See ~” (a book about autism)
♦ “Not everything is amazing; and when you think about it, very little
amazing network is.” (Lake Superior State University 2023 Banished Words List—
Words banned for “misuse, overuse, and uselessness.”)
our ~ of chapters (Audubon Society)
Amazon (epithet / biodiversity)
amazing Black students
I was welcomed by so many ~ Amazon of the North
the Great Bear Rain Forest is often called the ~ (BC)
amazing woman
she was an ~ that loved her family (committed suicide) Europe’s Amazon
it has even been called ~ (Drevlians nature reserve)
described as “amazing”
Aidan Mann was ~ (stabbed to death) Ocean's Amazon
*** various groups... the Coral Triangle has been called the ~

Page 30 of 1645
Amazon (the company) global ambassador
he travels the world as a ~ for the NBA (Shaquille
Amazon O’Neal)
~ has made Jeff Bezos rich
poor ambassadors
Amazon (epithet / the company) Manchester City, ~ for this country (lose to Real Madrid)
Amazon of South Korea tireless ambassador
Coupang is often referred to as the ~ (online retailer) he was a ~ for Beaujolais Nouveau (Georges Duboeuf)
Amazon .com of something sees himself as an ambassador
Hastings wanted to create ‘the ~’ (Netflix) he ~ for his sport (Tito Ortiz and mixed martial arts)
♦ “Hastings, according to Rudolph, wanted to create ‘the
Amazon.com of something.’ Rudolph suggested home video. Netflix
self-described ‘(edible insect) ambassador’
amassed subscribers by mailing out DVDs. It began streaming in the ~ promotes the use of insect protein
2007.” (“Boxed Out: The Passing of prestige TV” by Michael
♦ “I’m just so happy for Caitlin, and I think she represents the
Schulman, The New Yorker, November 6. 2023.)
university, our sport, she’s such a good ambassador.” (Iowa Head
ambassador (role) Coach Lisa Blunder about the remarkable basketball player Caitlin
Clark.)

ambassador of skateboarding ♦ “I’m a modern-day pawpaw ambassador. Pawpaws for the people!
It’s a movement.” (Michael Judd, an edible-landscape designer from
he serves as the ~ (Tony Hawk) Maryland who is also a pawpaw enthusiast, talking to a group of
people about...pawpaws. Recorded by Yasmine AlSayyad, Dept. Of
ambassador for the (Jaguar) brand Foraging, Pawpaws For The People, “The Talk Of The Town,” The
she had been the ~ (endorsement / athlete) New Yorker, September 19, 2022.)
♦ “She is now training to become their new ambassador.” (Flerken, a
ambassador for the Cherokee half African serval cat and half domestic cat, for the Ark Wildlife
she will be an ~ (Miss Cherokee Fair / Eastern Band) Park.)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
ambassador for marine life
♦ "I don't even know what an ambassador really was. When I think of
whale sharks are a fantastic ~ ambassadors I think of living off government money and jet-setting
with girlfriends." (The great boxer “Iron” Mike Tyson, on a trip to
ambassador for the sport China to promote boxing.)
he is a great ~ (Vitali Klitschko / boxing) ♦ Angus Cloud was a brand ambassador for Rockstar Energy Drink
and starred in its ad campaign “Fuel What’s Next,” which champions
ambassador for UNESCO the idea of what’s possible if you follow your passions. He starred for
she is a goodwill ~ (a famous film actor) two seasons in the TV show Euphoria, playing a drug pusher. He
died at age 25 of a lethal combination of fentanyl, cocaine,
ambassador to the world methamphetamine, benzodiazepine, and other drugs. His mother
Ali is the goodwill ~ (the boxer) made the call to 911.
♦ “You are attaching your logo to the athlete and should this enter a
America’s best ambassador legal realm, every time he goes into a courtroom, that’s your logo
he was ~ (Charles Barkley at the Barcelona Olympics) walking in on two legs.” (A sports analyst about an athlete charged
with several counts of sexual abuse. In other words, players are
ambassadors for their teams, whether they want to be or don’t.)
Beauty ambassador
Lil Nas X named new Yves Saint Laurent ~ ♦ “Florida removes all references to Aaron Hernandez,” AP, July 25,
2013.
brand ambassador amber (traffic light)
the reality star is a ~ for the popular clothing brand
Angus Cloud was a ~ for Rockstar Energy Drink “amber list”
it will not be illegal for Britons to travel to ~ Greece
climb ambassador
they are a ~ for clothing brand Patagonia (non-binary) classified as amber
travel to France, Spain and Greece are now ~ (pandemic)
goodwill ambassador
she is a ~ for UNESCO (a famous film actor) amber (in amber, etc.)
G-string ambassador stuck in amber
she has acted as the Y2K ~ in the past (Dua Lipa) The Times can’t be ~ if it is going to grow...
L’Oreal “Ambassador” ♦ “Chairman and publisher AG Sulzberger met with sports staffers
Thursday and told them The Times ‘can’t be stuck in amber’ if it was
she was perhaps not unbiased, she was a ~ (Doutzen going to grow.”
Kroes) ♦ “He was the most interesting person on the stage. He was the only
one, maybe except Mickey, not playing a role. The whole thing is in
tourism ambassador amber at this point, and yet these guys are keeping the songbook
Messi has a role as a ~ for Saudi Arabia (soccer player) alive.” (A fan of the Grateful Dead about Bob Weir. From “Dead
Reckoning: At the Sphere, a fan wrestles with what the Grateful Dead
de facto ambassador have left behind” by Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, July 29,
2024.)
he serves as the ~ of skateboarding (Tony Hawk)

Page 31 of 1645
*** stone, amber, peat, permafrost, a glacier, sediment... ♦ “So I want to bring in brother Berliner. Because that was a brave
thing he did... You knew, when your wrote this, you weren’t going to
♦ Fossils are frozen in time, whether in stone or in amber, in peat or
get a chorus of amens...” (News Nation’s Chris Cuomo speaking to
in permafrost, in a glacier or in the long-vanished sediment of an
Uri Berliner, about the latter’s criticism of NPR. Berliner would end up
ancient river or sea.
resigning.)
♦ All things “frozen in time” are inherently interesting to people,
♦ In certain situations, an “amen!” might be stated as a “hell yeah!”
because they make us think of the past, our own mortality, and
Watch Gretchin Wilson Redneck Woman YouTube.
eternity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82dDnv9zeLs
ambush (noun) America (America’s sweetheart, etc.)
ambush marketing America’s Dad
critics charged Marta flouted FIFA’s “~” rules Bob Saget, “~” from Full House (TV series)
‘ambush’ interviews the rise and fall of “~” (Bill Cosby / The Cosby Show)
they use ~ in the hope of going viral (politics) America’s linguist
by ambush John McWhorter, ~
it’s called ~, it’s not fair (facts change in civil suit) America’s mayor
♦ “Fauci calls on Fox News to fire host who urged ‘kill shot’ in Giuliani milked the role of ~ (New York City)
‘ambush’ interviews” by Rachel Treisman, NPR, December 22, 2021.
Rudi Giuliani, once ‘~,’ gets mugshot in Georgia
♦ “Pray to the comedy gods for a Colbert-Steward tag-team ambush (politics)
interview of Donald Trump and/or Joe Biden...” (NPR’s Eric Deggans.
From “What to watch this summer: Here are the TV shows we’re
looking forward to,” NPR, Pop Culture Happy Hour, June 4, 2024.)
America’s sweetheart
in 2012, Taylor Swift was unequivocally ~
*** war, conflict, the military...
she’d become ~ (1972 / the great Carole King)
♦ “Many kills in modern combat are ambushes and surprise attacks in he was the son of ~ (Terry Melchor / Doris Day)
which the enemy represents no immediate threat to the killer, but is
killed anyway, without opportunity to surrender... / Until the twentieth it’s about time we recognize Sydney Sweeney as ~
century such ambush kills were extremely rare in combat, and many
civilizations partially protected themselves and their consciences and America’s sex therapist
mental health by declaring such forms of warfare dishonorable.” (On Doctor Ruth, known as “~” (Dr. Ruth Westheimer)
Killing by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman.)
♦ “Indiana limestone has been dubbed “the Nation’s Building Stone.”
♦ “One day, Klimov and Shaposhnikov had to go right up to the (See the Wikipedia article “Indiana Limestone.”)
German lines. They climbed over the railway embankment and crept
up to a bomb-crater that sheltered a heavy-machine-gun crew and an ♦ Sports radio! The idea that a particular NFL football team could be
artillery officer. Pressed flat against the ground, they watched the referred to as “America’s team” was the subject of a discussion by
Germans go about their tasks. One young man unbuttoned his jacket, Tank Spencer and Jeremy Greene of The Sportsocracy and a funny
tucked a red checked handkerchief under his collar and began rant by Jeremy. If grown American men spent as much time and
shaving; Seryozha could hear the scrape of the razor against his wiry, mental effort thinking and talking about world problems as they do
dust-covered stubble. Another German was eating something out of a sports issues, every single problem in the world could and would be
small flat tin; for a brief moment Seryozha saw his face take on a look solved in a week or less!
of concentrated, lasting pleasure. The officer was winding up his ♦ “[Ben] Bolch on Monday wrote on social media that he ‘failed
watch. Seryozha felt like asking very quietly, so as not to frighten him: miserably’ with his choice of words and he wanted to sincerely
‘Hey! What time is it?’ / Klimov took the pin out of a grenade and apologize to the LSU and UCLA programs. The piece referred to
dropped it into the crater... / ‘You’re not a Baptist, are you?’ Old UCLA as ‘America’s sweethearts’ and ‘milk and cookies.’ Conversely,
Polyakov once asked this man who had killed a hundred and ten it referred to LSU as ‘dirty debutantes’ and ‘Louisiana hot sauce.’
people... / Once Seryozha saw Klimov after he had drunk a captured Bolch said he tried to be clever with alliteration but didn’t understand
bottle of schnapps; then he had been quite terrifying—even Grekov at the time how the connotations were deeply offense.” (“LA Times
had seemed wary of him.” (Life And Fate by Vasily Grossman, edits column and apologizes after drawing the ire of LSU coach Kim
translated by Robert Chandler, New York Review Books.) Mulkey” by Thomas Schlachter, CNN, April 1, 2024. The article
quotes Mulkey, “Take your phone out right now and google ‘dirty
ambush (verb) debutantes’ and tell me what it says. ‘Dirty debutantes?’ Are you
kidding me?” The original article was entitled, “UCLA-LSU is
ambush us America’s sweethearts versus its basketball villains.” The offending
desire can ~, take us by surprise (sex) parts of the article have been erased.)

ambush him with the news ammunition (and ammo)

so tonight I ~ ammo for activists
ambushed I’ve always called my writing ~ (Naomi Klein)

feels (a little) ambushed ammunition for critics

the family , to say the least (offer to meet son’s killer) this will provide ~

felt ambushed ammo for critics

one man ~ by her appearance all this was ~, who believed...
amen (noun) ammunition for lawsuits
it could be used as ~
chorus of amens
you knew you weren’t going to get a ~ political ammunition
the "missile gap" provided ~ to air-power advocates

Page 32 of 1645
gather (political) ammunition remain amped up
he asked a foreign leader to help him ~ against an after a performance he would ~ (musician)
opponent
amplification (noun)
give ammunition
the video is sure to ~ to critics amplification in the media
~ can lead to contagion (names of mass shooters)
amnesia (noun)
algorithmic amplification
collective amnesia ~ leads to violence (YouTube)
a ~ surrounds the Civil War (attitudes to slavery, etc.)
his participation in the ~ that surrounds those wars… snap responses, speed, amplification
the social web is architected for ~
colonial amnesia
“~,” the incapacity to remember the stages of coloniality
amplified
historical amnesia amplified in a feedback loop
this will deepen our ~ about the Civil War the narrative was ~ by the media (Steele Dossier)
the design displays a sense of ~ (a monument) amplified by the media echo chamber
*** analysis their views are ~ (stock analysts, commentators, etc.)
♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice
Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary amplified by the media megaphone
and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples an analyst, his voice ~, can send a stock soaring or
of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia;
sinking
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf;
deformed; lame; limping...
get amplified
amok (run amok) conspiracy theories ~ by conservative cable news stars

running amok amplify (verb)

some experts are now worried about AI assistants ~
amplified flaws
ran amok the media, desperate to get it out, ~ in the reporting
the regulators sat by while the financial industry ~
amplify those ideas
run amok a conservative media ecosystem helps ~ (alt-right)
this is the result of a system ~ (justice)
amplify their message
*** the Malay Archipelago... they use social media to ~ (extremists)
♦ “Macassar is the most celebrated place in the East for ‘running a
muck.’ There are said to be one or two a month on the average, and amplify his message
five, then, or twenty persons are sometimes killed or wounded at one he counted on his critics to ~
of them... A man thinks himself wronged by society—he is in debt and
cannot pay—he is taken for a slave or has gambled away his wife or
child into slavery—he sees no way of recovering what he has lost...
amplify (pro-government) narratives
He grasps his kris-handle, and the next moment draws out the these networks ~ (the internet)
weapon and stabs a man to the heart. He runs on, with bloody kris in
his hand, stabbing at everyone he meets. ‘Amok! Amok!’ then speaks up and amplifies
resounds through the streets...” (The Malay Archipelago by Alfred the Koori Mail ~ Black voices (Australian newspaper)
Russel Wallace.)
*** “Above him was a sounding board...”
amped (strength) ♦ “Sullivan stood in the dock [of the Old Bailey] directly facing the
witness box. Above him was a sounding board to amplify his voice.”
amped up with (plenty of) chilies (1851.)
the dish is ~
amp up (verb)
amped up audio system
the car has an ~ amped up the discussion
the film really ~ about global warming
amped (feeling)
amping up their rhetoric
amped up Republicans are ~ (politics)
the importance of the game has both teams ~
he was so ~ that he didn't notice… amped up the violence
high tackles led with the helmet have ~ in football
amped up on sugar and carbs
kids who are ~ can't learn as well
amputate (remove)
amped up men amputate
she had no business walking through a mob of ~ ~ before the infection spreads (poor players at Man U)

Page 33 of 1645
♦ “She was in tears over the abrupt amputation of her social life and bloody stump, / And has not yet looked on it.” (“The Dresser” by Walt
turmoil at home.” (A high-school senior talking to her school Whitman, 1865. “Slough” would be pronounced, “sluff.”)
counselor via Zoom. The student’s school had been closed due to the
♦ “Corday also comes across a representative of a new phenomenon,
Coronavirus pandemic.)
the soldier beggar. Of late it has become usual to see them at
♦ “I just fell in love with Stumpy (pronounced Stumpyyy). I saw him restaurants or cafes. They are often wearing medals on their chests,
and I looked him up two years ago and found out he has a Facebook fine medals like the Croix de Guerre, awarded for heroism in the field.
page.” (Oregon eighth-grade history teacher Debby, about the named They sell picture postcards or sing patriotic songs to collect a little
cherry tree near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. “Stumpy.” money. / The begging soldier Corday meets on the pavement has an
“Debby.” “Cherry.” Cutesy!) arm missing. He is also drunk. He is meandering through the stream
of people, asking one, then another, for a few coppers or for a
*** war, conflict, the military...
cigarette at least. And he repeats the same word all the time:
♦ “The arrival of the nurses was the talk of the army, from Scutari to ‘Peace... peace...’” (The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund.
Sebastopol. Florence’s name alone supplied the officers with He is writing about World War I.)
material for heavy-footed jokes. They referred to her simply as ‘the
♦ In Seldom Disappointed, the great Tony Hillerman writes about the
bird.’ The chief medical officer of the Crimean army, Dr. Hall,
seemingly callous banter and traditions of badly wounded soldiers on
summed up the general opinion. ‘It is very droll,’ he said between his
a hospital ward in Europe during WWII. For example, a soldier has
teeth, when told of Miss Nightingale’s appointment. / ‘I cannot
his right arm amputated and when he returns to the ward he is
conceive,’ an eyewitness later wrote, ‘as I now calmly look back on
greeted by his comrades as "Lefty!" Hillerman makes the point that,
the first three weeks after the arrival of the wounded from Inkerman,
while such behavior seems "barbarous," it is, in fact, an antidote to
how it could have been possible to have avoided a state of things too
self-pity.
disastrous to contemplate, had not [Florence] been there.’ / ‘I am a
kind of General Dealer,’ [Florence] wrote to Sidney Herbert, ‘in socks, ♦ "I never, ever in a million years thought I would do a marathon so
shirts, knives and forks, wooden spoons, tin baths, ... towels and now I feel like I could do anything. I really believe you've got to have
soap, small tooth combs, precipitate for destroying lice, scissors, goals when you're injured like this. I've seen people at the hospital
bedpans and stump pillows.’” (Florence Nightingale by Ruth Fox who don't have goals, and they just sit there and slip away." (Army
Hume.) Sgt. John Kieth, after finishing the NYC marathon in a handcycle. An
RPG hit his Humvee in Iraq. He was in an induced coma for 2
♦ “6. Conservative Surgery in Compound Fracture of Femur. / The
weeks, and woke up at Walter Reed hospital. Doctors tried to
military surgeon [must] determine upon the propriety of amputation in
salvage his limb, but after a month Kieth made the decision to have it
compound fractures of the femur, the result of gunshot wounds. / The
amputated, after talking to amputees at Walter Reed, who inspired
authorities, both French and English, teach us not to trust these
him because they were so active.)
cases to nature, and broadly state that, in the operation alone, there
is hope; but the statistics, both in the Crimean campaign and in our *** analysis
own service, prove that the mortality after amputation is enormous,
♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice
and force us to consider the propriety of conservative practice in this
Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary
numerous class of surgical accidents. / In various numbers of the
and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples
Journal [Confederate States Medical And Surgical Journal] the reader
of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia;
will find many interesting observations bearing upon this question,
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf;
and we submit at this time a consolidated statement of compound
deformed; lame; limping...
fractures of femur treated without operation, compiled from the
records in the Surgeon General’s office, from June, 1862, to February
1, 1864, inclusive. We have in this summary, excluded all cases not
amputated (removed)
positively determined, and hence, while the number of observations is
greatly reduced, the value of the conclusion is increased in like amputated from the Syrian body politic
proportions. / Total number of case, 221—recovered, 116—52 per that an ancient Syrian community could be ~... (Jews)
cent. / Average period of recovery, 104 days—greatest period, 255
days, and least 41 days. Average period where death occurred, 52 ♦ “That an ancient Syrian community could be amputated from the
days—greatest period, 185 days—least, one day. Average amount of Syrian body politic because it was inconvenient always felt like a
shortening, 1 9-10ths inches—greatest, 5 inches, and least, half an frightening precedent.” (The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir
inch. / When we compare directly the results of amputations with the of Syria by Alia Malek.)
table of cases not operated on, we feel still more disposed to rebel *** analysis
against the authority of Guthrie, McLeod, Larrey, Percy and
Dupuytren, and at least hesitate before condemning the shattered ♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice
limb to instant ablation. Our own statistics are as follows: / 507 cases Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary
amputated—250 recovered—50 per cent. / 221 cases not and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples
amputated—116 recovered—52 per cent. / The chance for life being of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia;
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf;
more than equal, the value of the leg saved should be considered,
and the table throws important light on this point—the average deformed; lame; limping...
shortening is less than two inches. / Legouest: 1,664 cases
amputated—recovered, 123—7 per cent. / 337 cases not
analogy (and analogize, etc.)
amputated—recovered, 117—31 per cent. / Chimborazo Hospital
Statistics: 31 cases not amputated—recovered, 19—61 per cent. / analogies to the past
These observations prove that whenever, in compound fracture of officials downplay ~ (Cold War 2.0)
femur, the result of gunshot wound, there is a doubt as to the
propriety of amputation, that we should give the leg the benefit of the analogy of the day
doubt—the chances of life being at least equal, and the value of the
limb, after recovery, being worth the effort to save it. –Confederate this seems to be the ~ (see quote below)
States Medical and Surgical Journal.
analogized the controversy
♦ 1861-1865. The American Civil War. Doctors knew of ether and
chloroform but still lacked an understanding of antisepsis and spread
he ~ to a time when Black men were hanged from trees
infection with dirty instruments and dressings. “After the Battle of
Perryville in 1862, water was so scarce that Union surgeons mountaineering analogy
performing amputations almost around the clock did not wash their we probably have crested a peak, a ~...
hands for two days.” (This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin
Faust.) alternative analogy
♦ “From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand, / I undo the I offered him an ~
clotted lint, remove the slough, wash off the matter and blood; Back
on his pillow the soldier bends, with curv’d neck, and side-falling proper analogy
head; / His eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look on the the ~ is with...

Page 34 of 1645
gift for analogy ♦ “What the herbals did for botany the bestiaries did for zoology.”
The New York Times Book Review praised her for her ~ ♦ “This dream...is to pedagogy what the perpetual-motion is to
physics: always wished for, endlessly proposed, and never
analogies are often drawn demonstrated.” (Education and its fads.)
~ between sports and religion (Passion Plays by R. ♦ “Latitude and longitude were to the measurement of space what the
Blamer) mechanical clock was to the measurement of time.”
♦ “The Atchafalaya Basin is a swampy wilderness that is to crawfish
carry the analogy further what the Serengeti is to lions.” (Calvin Trillin. A wonderful analogy.)
to ~... ♦ “The incursion in Lebanon in 1982 was to Israel what Vietnam was
♦ “We probably have crested a peak, this seems to be the analogy of to the United States.” (According to Major M. Thomas Davis, 1985.
“W was to X what Y was to Z.”)
the day, a mountaineering analogy, but the reality is, we’ve only just
begun the descent, and we’re still at a very very high altitude, and we ♦ “But what Sir William Harvey was to physiology, Tyson would be to
know that that descent is going to take us months.” (Chris Hobson comparative anatomy.”
from NHS Providers, speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic.)
♦ “The effect which Newton’s discoveries had in mathematics,
♦ “Gottingen was the scene of Oppenheimer’s first real triumph as a Johnson’s work had in this world of words.”
young man coming of age. Becoming a scientist, Oppenheimer later
♦ “What Portugal was for adventurers in geography, Italy was for
remarked, is ‘like climbing a mountain in a tunnel: you wouldn’t know
history, and Florence was the Sagres.” (A triple analogy. Sagres was
whether you were coming out above the valley or whether you were
the port from which Henry the Navigator sent out ships to sail south
ever coming out at all.’ This was particularly so for a young scientist
along the West coast of Africa.)
on the cusp of the quantum revolution.” (An astonishing simile. From
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert ♦ “We’re not going to get rid of porn any more than we’re going to get
Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The popular 2023 rid of Disneyland even if we don’t like the princess trope and that
film Oppenheimer was based on this book.) happily-ever-after motif.” (Shira Tarrant.)
♦ “In the months before meeting Oppenheimer, [Lawrence] had ♦ NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly: “Is it correct to say the World Baseball
conceived the notion of building a machine capable of penetrating the Classic is to Baseball what the World Cup is to soccer?” / Tom
so far unassailable nucleus of the atom, which existed, he quipped, Goldman: “It is. Yeah.”
‘like a fly inside a cathedral.’” (Another astonishing simile from
♦ Mary Louise Kelly: “All right, with that analogy in mind, we’ll leave it
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert
there. TV critic Eric Deggans, thank you.” (The analogy Deggans had
Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The popular 2023
used was, “It’s like trying to change the tire on a car while it’s
film Oppenheimer was based on this book.)
running.”)
♦ “Roosevelt upped the total to $10 million on the condition that
♦ “He has the charm and personality of a rusty nail.” (A tennis fan
Finland would not directly purchase arms with it. This ‘was like
about a famous tennis player.)
offering a clean shirt to a man asking for a square meal...’” (The
Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-40.) ♦ “The gaudy, vertiginous fairground ride of a play...” (A favorable
review.)
♦ “Eliot’s words are everywhere, in other words. The more closely you
map ‘The Waste Land,’ the more it assumes the shape of an isthmus; ♦ “Frustrating. England trying to string a few passes was like trying to
so much of the past, both public and personal, streamed into its eat paella with your elbows.” (An online commenter, following
making, and so much has flowed from it ever since.” (“On The Rocks: England’s loss to Spain the in the final of the Fifa 2023 Women’s
A hundred years of ‘The Waste Land,’” by Anthony Lane, The New World Cup.)
Yorker, October 3, 2022. An isthmus connects two larger pieces of
♦ “It’s like an orphanage that also has a gruel business on the side.”
land. By this wonderful analogy, the larger pieces of land are the past
(Employer self-dealing with 401(k) options.)
and the present.)
♦ “The phenomena are always of the same kind. The miners are
♦ “Swooping curves agree with short brushstrokes about as well as
either immediately destroyed by the explosion, and thrown with the
an airplane wing agrees with drag.”
horses and machinery through the shaft into the air, the mine
♦ “[Masterclass] is to a medical degree what an apple is to an orange becoming as it were [an enormous piece of artillery, from which they
planet.” (“What Is MasterClass Actually Selling?” by Carina Chocano, are projected...” (On the Safety Lamp for Coal Miners, with Some
The Atlantic, September 2020. A wonderful example of an analogy Researches into Flame by Humphry Davy, 1818.)
focusing on how two things are NOT similar.)
♦ “If we are also able to build a brain scanner that can capture the
♦ The destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Julfa has been likened state of every synapse at a given moment—the pattern of information
to the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. (Cultural crimes that neuroscientists call the connectome, a term analogous with
against humanity. In the media, the extinguishment of Nagorno- genome—then we can upload that pattern into a brain-emulating
Karabakh and the lives of its 120,000 inhabitants (“2023 Azerbaijani computer. The result will be, for all intents and purposes, a human
offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh”) was barely mentioned, submerged mind. An uploaded mind won’t dwell in the same environment as we
by the ongoing “Russian invasion of Ukraine,” just as the Russian do, but that’s not necessarily a disadvantage...” (“The End of Us: Is
invasion of Ukraine was submerged by the Israel-Hamas war.) the reign of human beings on Earth nearing its end?” by Adam
Kirsch, The Atlantic, January / February 2023.)
♦ “I went to math camp when I was fourteen and came home
clutching a Rubik’s Cube to my chest... I majored in math in college ♦ “Comparing the men’s and women’s game is crazy.” (An online
and went on to get my PhD...” (Cathy O’Neil, author of Weapons Of commenter about the Fifa 2023 Women’s World Cup.)
Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality And Threatens
♦ “Why doesn’t Rosen compare Laudor’s story to Elyn’s? Two Jews
Democracy. Chapters are titled: Bomb Parts; Shell Shocked; Arms
who developed schizophrenia and went to Yale Law School; one
Race; Propaganda Machine; Civilian Casualties; Ineligible To Serve;
murdered his partner and the other won a MacArthur genius grant.
Sweating Bullets; Collateral Damage; No Safe Zone; and The
This reflects a larger failure in Rosen’s article...” (The Atlantic, July /
Targeted Citizen. The New York Times Book Review deservedly
August 2023.)
praised her for her “gift for analogy.”)
♦ “Fed up with the BBC and other outlets reminding us of 1966. It
♦ The book was destined to be for anatomy what Copernicus’ work
might as well be 1066. Meaningless.” (An online commenter about
was for astronomy. (Structure of the Human body by Vesalius and De
the hype surrounding England’s “Lionesses,” defeated by Spain in the
Revolutionibus by Copernicus.)
final of the Fifa 2023 Women’s World Cup. To which one reply was,
♦ “Ray and Linnaeus would accomplish for all plants and animals “We lost in 1066 to the French,” the reply to that being, “Normans.”
what Mercator and his fellows did for the planet’s whole surface.” Perhaps a “reply too far.”)
♦ “Just as the map-makers of the earth started from the self-evident ♦ “Like many concerned keepers of the game and its traditions,
boundaries of land and sea, mountains and deserts, the naturalists, Sword will often explain the creeping dispassion for baseball in terms
too, found self-evident units among plants and animals.” of that overcooked analogy about the boiling frog in the pot. ‘Part of

Page 35 of 1645
what made this so tricky was that the games were getting two or away before you came along, prae, ‘before,’ and decedo, ‘go away.’
three minutes slower every year rather than half an hour slower, so The deceased is simply one who is decessus, ‘departed.’” (Word
there was never a point where it felt like a real emergency,’ he told Origins And Their Romantic Stories by Wilfred Funk, Litt.D. From
me. I offered an alternative analogy, comparing baseball’s Chapter 4, “Where Words About Human Beings Come From.”)
predicament to a slow-growing tumor that the new rules would
surgically excise. ‘I’d prefer to go back to the frog,’ Sword said. / How anchor (noun)
did America’s beloved old frog find itself in such mortal danger...?”
(“How Baseball Saved Itself” by Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, July / anchor of the (Egyptian) government
August 2023.)
the military is the ~ right now (2011)
♦ “Michael Irvin analogized the controversy he’s in with Marriott to a
time when black men accused of harassing white women were hung anchor for the development
[sic] from trees.” (“Michael Irvin: Woman’s hotel accusations turning
into modern-day lynching” by Ryan Glasspiegel, The New York Post,
the golf course is the ~ (apartments, condos)
March 8, 2023.)
anchor babies
♦ Camille Vasquez: You also wrote, quote, “Imagine a powerful man
as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it
opponents of immigration talk about "~"
strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to
patch up holes—not because they believe in or care about the ship, anchor tenants
but because their own fates depend on the enterprise.” (Taps malls need ~
microphone to illustrate the point.) In this op-ed, you’re saying Mr.
Depp is a ship, right? / Amber Heard: I’m making an analogy to a anchor (entertainment) tenants
powerful man as a ship. / CV: The powerful man you’re referring to in each had ~ (Las Vegas hotels / casinos)
this analogy is Mr. Depp, right? / AH: Uh, I was talking about a bigger
issue actually than just Johnny... / CV: The iceberg is you in this
analogy, right, Miss Heard? / AH: (Obviously surprised) Um, I would
western anchor
not say that, I hadn’t, I had not... (exhales) That was not what I Nanga Parbat is the ~ of the Himalayas
intended, no. (The Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial.)
♦ Anastasia Tsioulcas: “The prosecution asked a defense
westernmost anchor
witness...about an org (organization) chart he had made of Kelly’s Khe Sanh was the ~ of the line below the DMZ
company. It was illustrated like a cartoon octopus, and, in retrospect,
that was a pretty unfortunate metaphor for a man accused of running anchored
an enterprise intended to lure victims into sex crimes.” / Noel King:
“That’s a really vivid image, isn’t it.” / Anastasia Tsioulcas: “It really anchored in old ways
is.” (“A Jury In New York Begins Deliberations In R. Kelly’s Federal leadership is still ~ (politics)
Trial,” NPR, Morning Edition, Sept. 27, 2021.)
♦ “Much of life should have quotes around it.” (Frank’s ‘love’ for Betty anchored to the document text
Tran...) the selected object is ~ here (text box Microsoft Word)
*** analysis
♦ He was comparable / equivalent / analogous / similar / akin to a
ancien regime
lion. He was like a lion. He has been likened to a lion. He was lion-
like. He could be lion-ish. He had a leonine presence and demeanor. ancien regime of Hosni Mubarak
He was a lion. He was a “lion.” He had the courage of a lion. He was Morsi replaced the ~
a lion of a man. Colleagues referred to him as “the Lion.” As a lion
could exhibit ferocious violence at times, so could he. He was to the creature of the ancien regime
Senate what the lion was to the Serengeti. He was no / not a timid to his detractors he was a ~ (politics)
zebra, antelope, or wildebeest. In terms of courage, he was the
opposite of a rabbit. (Different ways the language gives us to
compare.)
factions of the ancien regime
negotiations among ~ and Gulf monarchies (Yemen /
anathema 2015)
anathema to the Koch network candidates from the ancien regime
tariffs and trade wars are ~ ~ (Field Marshal Ahmed Shafiq, Amr Moussa, etc.)
♦ “Despite a fondness for tech-founder posturing and talk of
anathema to (many) media outlets and academics innovation, Weiss appears in Meltzer’s portrait as a creature of
these proposals were ~ (New Consensus think tank) media’s ancien regime, with her print connections and her exquisitely
controlled bearing. The subtlety of her commercial strategy stands in
become anathema contrast to the methods adopted by the denizens of ‘Extremely
he has ~ in progressive circles (pro-Israel) Online.’” (“Makeover: Building a billion-dollar beauty brand in the
influencer era” by Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, September 25,
*** analysis 2023.)
♦ “In church Latin, anathema meant the curse of excommunication,
but these ecclesiastical anathemas were given so freely at one time
anemic (adjective)
that the meaning of the word became extended to any curse, to
anything loathed or hated.” (Word Origins And Their Romantic Stories anemic
by Wilfred Funk, Litt.D.) earnings have been ~
ancestor (go before) sales have been ~
economic growth has been ~
ancestors of (today’s) potatoes turnout was ~ (election)
they are the ~ (Peruvian wild potatoes)
anemic 1.5 percent
*** analysis
the rate of economic growth slowed to an ~
♦ “Your ancestor is one who has ‘gone before’ you, eventually from
the Latin ante-, ‘before,’ and cedo, ‘go,’ while a predecessor went anemic attempt

Page 36 of 1645
 their ~s to address the issue this ~ (Sh2-106, a nebula in Cygnus)
anemic economy made a snow angel
our ~ is a result of higher taxes (politics) she ~ and posted it on YouTube (Johannesburg)
anemic (job) growth make a snow angel
he produced very ~ (a leader) they go outside and ~ after a sauna (Finland)
♦ A New England Patriots football player was once fined $10,000 for
anemic recovery making a snow angel after scoring a touchdown.
poverty is on the rise in the recession and the ~ continues
♦ In The Miracle Season, two small girls—“fearless, generous
souls”—are shown making mud angels. Their mothers could not have
anemic response been happy when they got home!
people are upset by the military's ~ to the provocation
♦ Sh2-106 is also known as the Celestial Snow Angel. It’s a nebula in
angel (Angel of the Battlefield, etc.) the constellation Cygnus (the Swan), and its shape has also been
compared to an hourglass and butterfly.

Angel of Arnhem angel (superlative)

her British patients nicknamed her the ~ (Kate ter Horst)
voice of an angel
Angel of the Battlefield she has the ~ (a singer from Isan)
Clara Barton was known as the ~ (Civil War)
lost an angel
“Angel of the Confederacy” Macedonia and the Balkans ~ (Tose Proeski)
she has been remembered as the ~ (Sally Louisa ♦ “Macedonia and the Balkans lost an angel.” (Archbishop Stefan, the
Tompkins) head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, about the death in a car
crash of the Macedonian pop star Tose Proeski. It was a sentiment
“Angel of Dien Bien Phu” felt across the Balkans.)
the US press gave her the name ~ (Genevieve de Galard)
angel (angel-faced)
♦ “George Silk captured the iconic image of a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.”
(Papua New Guinea, World War II. See the short documentary
Kokoda Front Line 1942.)
angel-faced child
the ~ who tells lies...
angel (Angel of Death, etc.)
angel (guardian angel)
see Angel of Death (literal analogy)angel (the
guardian angel of Nazare
Los Angeles Angels, etc.) the ~ (Sergio Cosme, jet ski driver / surfing)
Guardian Angels self-appointed guardian angel
Gardiens de Nuit is a French version of New York's ~ Chen Si is the bridge’s ~ (stops suicides)
Hell’s Angels his guardian angel
~ member sentenced to 14 years in prison for... tell my son I will always be ~ (suicide note)
Los Angeles Angles digital guardian angle
the ~ are in the American League West (MLB) Shearman is grateful he had this ~ (an Apple Watch)
angel (appearance) ‘guardian angel’ saves family
~ from Kentucky floods
princess or angel
I want to be Britney Spears, no more ~ (Halloween girl) views Elon Musk as her guardian angel
angel (behavior) she ~ (actor Gina Carano, blacklisted by Hollywood)
♦ “I think it’s pretty incredible what he is doing. A lot of billionaires put
angels their money into buying islands and building bunkers. Elon Musk is
using his money to fight massive injustice battles.” (Gina Carano,
in fairness, the North Koreans have been no ~ about being blacklisted by Hollywood. Gina was a MMA fighter before
being noticed by Steven Soderbergh and cast in the lead of the 2011
angel of vengeance film Haywire. Her next role was in Fast & Furious 6. Read “Gina
he sees himself as kind of an ~ (The Power of the Dog) Carano on Getting Sacked From Star Wars and Her Grudge Match
With Disney” by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, March
perfect angel 14, 2024.)
he's a ~ with everyone but us (a 15-month-old) ♦ “Shearman is grateful he had this digital guardian angel on hand.”
(“Body surfer swept out to sea rescued thanks to Apple Watch” by
angel (snow angel) Ben Cost, The New York Post, July 16, 2024.)
*** analysis
snow angels
♦ People query Google Search with questions like: How do I know I
kids create ~ in the snow have a guardian angel? and How do I talk to my guardian angel?
it's a great place to make ~ (Dubai mall)
celestial snow angel

Page 37 of 1645
angel (help and assistance) from a new angle
these conclusions help us look at the tragedy ~
angel
she was an ~ to so many of us (exoneration lawyer) from ten different angles
I wanted to think through these issues ~ (a writer)
“Angel of the Gap”
Australia mourns ~ (Don Ritchie, who prevented considered the problem from every angle
suicides) I have ~

angel investor look at the tragedy from a new angle

I raised money from some ~s and venture capitalists these conclusions help us ~
I’m an ~ and I’m looking for... animal (different animal, etc.)
he is a serial entrepreneur and ~
different animal
Antonio Brown’s angel urban warfare is a ~ than fighting in the open
Tom Brady has been ~ (two NFL athletes) the new style of aggressive ad is a ~ (Internet)
lay-away angels two (very) different animals
generous acts of kindness doled out by so-called ~ the map of the Pacific before and after Cook are ~
search angel unique animal
she is a self-described ~ (helps adoptees find birth considering public education, Maine is something of a ~
parents)
unusual animal
trail angel NCTC is kind of an ... (counter-terrorism center)
~s provide water, food, even lodging for hikers
~s figure out where hikers are likely to run into trouble completely different animal
~s are a tradition on long-distance footpaths (AT, PCT) a virtual lab is totally different from a classroom, it's a ~
~s left 30 1-gallon jugs of water and a note
a ~ left a cooler stocked with soda, water and beer much different animal
the US military is a ~ than the Taliban forces
angel, benefactor, Godsend
Tom Brady was his ~ (to Antonio Brown / NFL) very different animal
♦ Mini-Me: [writes] Are you a clone of an angel? / Foxxy Cleopatra:
the Bundesliga is a ~ from the Premiership (soccer)
Ohhh how sweet. No, my mini-man, I’m not. / Mini-Me: [writes] Are *** delightful usage...
you sure you don’t have a little clone in you? / Foxxy Cleopatra: Yes,
♦ Bill Whitaker, ABC Correspondent: “This is your first Broadway
I’m sure. / Mini-Me [writes]: Would you like to? (The film Austin
production. This is a different animal.” / Anne Teresa De
Powers in Goldmember.)
Keersmaeker, Belgian choreographer: “What you call it, an animal?”
*** analysis (From a delightful 60 Minutes interview about West Side Story,
February 16, 2020.)
♦ Lay-away angels are anonymous people who pay for Christmas
items put on lay-away at stores. Trail angels leave water, food, and *** analysis
other supplies along trails like the Appalachian Trail for the through
♦ “That’s a different animal.” “That’s a different beast.” “That’s a
hikers, who are not able to carry much.
different kettle of fish.” Take your pick!
Angel of Death (literal analogy) animal (political animal, etc.)
Angel of Death human animal
Josef Mengele, the ~ (Nazi doctor at Auschwitz) stimulus and response is sufficient to understand the ~
Dr. Death narrative animals
Philip Nitschke, nicknamed ~ (assisted suicide) we are ~, we love a good story (Guillermo del Toro)
Merchant of Death political animal
Victor Bout, the arms dealer dubbed the “~” he's a ~ and will probably go along with Israel (politics)
♦ “Trainers started referring to her as ‘the angel of death’, The Karl is not a ~ (a law enforcement leader)
Guardian has been told, although it was ‘tongue in cheek’ rather than
because they suspected her of foul play.” (“Lucy Letby: how did a
I see myself as not a ~ in this job (DNI)
nurse commit such unthinkable murders?” by Josh Halliday, The
Guardian, 18 August 2023. In the article, Dr Stephen Breary is quoted
animal (party animal, etc.)
as saying, “It can’t be Lucy. Not nice Lucy.”)
playboy and a party animal
he had a reputation as a ~ (a soccer player)
angle (from an angle) animal (insult)
from every angle animal
I have considered the issue ~ an ~ decided to take her life (murder of coed)
what do you want to bet this ~ has previous arrests...

Page 38 of 1645
 this ~ is still going to have life in prison (death penalty) tend to be anodyne
these ~s are not people... (insult) its public comments on due process ~
*** analysis
animals come out
all the ~ at night (the 1976 film Taxi Driver) ♦ An anodyne is a drug that soothes pain.
♦ The Merriam-Webster online dictionary does NOT tag this as
rabid animals “disparaging.” The Cambridge online dictionary tags this “formal
they are ~ that should all be put down (looters, arsonists) mainly disapproving.” Dictionaries are weird.

wild animals anoint (verb)

they threw my boy in a cage with those ~ (prison) anointed his (long-time) ally as his successor
animals tormented him he ~ (Nursultan Nazarbayev)
those wild ~ until he became mean as they were (prison) anointed him as the candidate
♦ “The thought that he was waiting for some woman to attack her and the Democratic establishment has ~ (Joe Biden)
do what he wanted to do... I was just thinking, what a horrible animal,
vile animal, he is...” (The sister of a murder victim.)
anoint him as the Democratic nominee
♦ “They were vicious, they were animals, you know, to beat him up Biden appealed to Sanders backers to ~
that way...” (The attack left the boxer Emile Griffith nearly dead. From
the affecting and emotionally wrenching documentary Ring of Fire: anointed (unelectable) Kamala Harris as his
The Emile Griffith Story 2005.)
replacement
♦ “The animal that did this is no longer on this earth.” (Police solve a
cold case. The murderer had died in 2013.) President Joe Biden ~ (2024 U.S. presidential election)
♦ “Witnesses described the scene as like animals attacking a piece of anoint a political heir
meat, with one telling the jury it appeared to be a deliberate attempt
to kill.” (Jack Woodley case: Ten teenagers found guilty of murder,” he wants to ~
BBC, June 2, 2022.)
anoint college leaders
♦ “All the animals come out at night... It’s sick, venal. Someday a real
rain will come and wash the scum off the streets.” (Travis Bickle in the committees that ~ are almost always secretive
the 1976 film Taxi Driver. Watch: “Someday A Rain Will Come And
Wash All the Scum Off The Streets” | Taxi Driver | CineClips anointed him one of the beautiful people
*** analysis
People magazine ~
♦ “When I have a mad dog in my yard there is only one solution.” (A anointed
comment on a discussion board about a heinous murderer. The
commenter is alluding to vigilante justice.) anointed ”the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates”
♦ see also beast (insult) she was ~ by George Shultz (Elizabeth Holmes)
anniversary (creation) anointed the (art world's newest) star
th he has been ~
50 anniversary
the ~ of Stepen King’s 1974 book Carrie anointed as the Party’s standard-bearer
*** analysis he was ~ (Hubert Humphrey)
♦ Nonhuman and nonliving things can have anniversaries,
autobiographies, autopsies, biographies, birthdays, careers, epitaphs, anointed one
eulogies, obituaries, requiems, and even be characters. he would latch onto people and make them his ~s (a boss)
♦ see also birthday (creation), old (a year old, etc.) she went from being “the ~” to being out of favor (job)
anodyne (adjective) get anointed
how exactly did he ~ as the voice of Black America
anodyne answers ♦ “He would latch onto people and make them his anointed ones.
she gives ~ to media (a sports star) Then after a period of time, ‘Oops, you’re no longer my anointed
one.’” (An administrator. Who else?)
anodyne drone
the ~ typing away in her silent cubicle answer (respond)
anodyne names answered with an assault
they often adopt ~ (SoCal Research Club / Antifa) Syria ~ of its own, killing several dozen Syrians...

anodyne title answered with tear gas and water cannons

an article with the ~ “The Value of Science in Prediction” police ~ (after protesters hurl gasoline bombs)

anodyne and fuzzy answer (response)

the language of these bills is ~ (culture wars)
Answer to Blinken
so anodyne Russia’s “~” law bans gay propaganda
that letter was ~ and insignificant (yet caused
right answer
controversy)
a ceasefire is not the ~ right now (Israel-Hamas war)

Page 39 of 1645
♦ “The answer to bad speech or hate speech—however you want to ♦ The essential meaning is “equivalent.”
define that—is always more speech, and it always will be.” (Gab CEO
Andrew Torba.) antediluvian (old)
answer (solution) antediluvian hangover
it’s an ~ from far-off days (a judicial matter)
answer
the ~ is in front of us antediluvian opinions
Irwin suggested that Churchill held ~
the answer is
~ reform and an awake electorate antediluvian policy
its ~ of opposing women priests (job advert for vicar)
answer to social issues
♦ Lord Judge, former lord chief justice: “In my opinion, the time has
criminalization is frequently America’s ~
arrived when the requirement for the physical presence of a child—
♦ “There’s no excuse for going and killing people... it’s not the witness or victim—within the court building should be regarded as an
answer.” (The Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs, Colorado.) antediluvian hangover from laughable far-off days of the quill pen and
the ink well.” (BBC, World at One, “An antediluvian hangover.” A child
answer (Britain’s answer to Bill Gates, could be asked questions via video conferencing.)

etc.) antenna (noun)

Europe’s answer to PayPal antennae
Germans considered it ~ (Wirecard) I walk around with my ~ up, ready for trouble (gang)
North America’s answer to Machu Picchu antenna for (racial) slights
Chaco Canyon is ~, only older (drought, etc.) he has no ~ (Nigerian immigrant in US)
Britain’s answer to Bill Gates price antenna
he was once seen as ~ (tech tycoon Mike Lynch) his ~ was already on high alert (inflation woes)
Britain’s answer to Ry Cooder anthem (noun)
guitarist Justin Adams has been called “~”
anthem
Britain’s answer to the Tea Party it's been an ~ ever since (Aretha sings "Respect")
UKIP has been described as ~ (US)
anthem of African Americans
China’s answer to Lord of the Rings it became the ~ (“Say it clear, say it loud...)
while it might be easy to describe Condo Heroes as ~...
anthem of a (celebrity) campaign
China’s answer to Twitter Dylan’s “Hurricane” was the ~ to release Rubin Carter
Weibo, ~
anthem of (female and black) empowerment
Europe’s answer the video is an ~ (Beyonce’s “Formation”)
~ to NASA (ESA astronauts)
anthems of the (Civil Rights) movement
Russia’s answer to California some of her songs became ~ (Nina Simone)
#Sochifornia, ~ (Sochi)
anthems for women
tech’s answer ~ to accept themselves (Lizzo)
Facebook’s “supreme court” is ~ to the Hays Office
(P.R.) anthem among Pentecostals in the Appalachians
the song became an ~ ("There ain't no grave…”)
millennial answer to Tracy and Hepburn
they seemed like the ~ (Kristin Stewart / Jesse Eisenberg) angry young man's anthem
"Custer Died for Your Sins" was an ~
♦ “It’s America’s answer to Shakespeare.” (“OK: How Two Letters
Made ‘America’s Greatest Word’ NPR, All Things Considered,
November 20, 2010. Guy Raz interviews Allan Metcalf, author of OK:
rousing anthem
The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word. The interview and it’s a ~ of encouragement and hope (a song)
the excerpt from the book are fascinating.)
♦ “Mother, or MU/TH/UR 6000, is the spaceship’s computer system,
club anthem
Scott’s answer to Kubrick’s HAL 9000, from ‘2001.’” (“Napoleon the supersonic ~ “Tattoo” (Eurovision)
Complex: Does Ridley Scott see himself in the hero of his epic new
film?” by Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, November 13, 2023.) pop anthem
*** analysis “Queen of Kings,” a thunderous ~ (Eurovision)
♦ Both are in the same state of decay; both were the sites of thriving
civilizations; both experienced drought and were essentially
rock anthem
abandoned... (Comparisons between Machu Picchu and “North "Born to Run" is one of the best ~s ever
America’s answer” Chaco Canyon. From “Ancient Culture Prompts
Worry for Arid Southwest,” NPR, All Things Considered, July 9, swamp anthem
2007.) a raucous version of the ~ “Sabine Turnaround” (Cajun)

Page 40 of 1645
booty-call anthem anti-discrimination
Adele’s first ~ (“Can I Get It?) ~ laws in education
date-rape anthem anti-drug
it’s been referred to as a ~ (an old Christmas song) Angela Dawson was an ~ crusader (East Baltimore)
strip-club anthem anti-establishment
the song was a ~ called “Money Maker” the political baggage of its ~ origins (black studies)
prison terms strengthen ~ views
feminist anthem
her single has been hailed by some as a ~ (“The Man”) anti-fat
fight ~ bias
secret national anthem
the ~ of an entire generation (“You forgot the color anti-fatness
film”) ~ keeps fat people on the margins (Aubrey Gordon)
♦ “It became the national anthem of African Americans.” (“Say it clear,
say it loud, I am black, and I am proud.” Sung by Nina Simone.) anti-gay
the two plaintiffs who took on Florida’s ~ marriage ban
♦ “Big Freedia, queen of the New Orleans ‘sissy bounce’ scene,
released her first EP and is bringing her ‘go homo’ anthems ~ feeling is entrenched in Uganda
nationwide on a successful tour.” (Tavia Nyong’o, professor of pathologizing the ~ position (“homophobia”)
performance studies at NYU and blogger at Hear is Queer.)
*** analysis anti-girlbossery
♦ “This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs
is all this ~ simply a new way to put women down
that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action. Find more at
NPR.org/Anthem.” (National Public Radio.) anti-government
it was the final act in his ~ crusade (Oklahoma City
anthemic (adjective) bombing)
anthemic single anti-immigrant
the album’s ~ “FREEDOM” (Jon Batiste) reject white supremacy, ~ and anti-blackness ideologies
anti-gun
anti (antiracist, etc.) ~ doctors should stay in their lane (stick to surgery)

anti-abortion anti-immigrant
the Alabama law tops a crescendo of ~ legislation ~ feeling

anti-American anti-immigration
the government has struggled to prevent an ~ backlash he’s the leading ~ voice in town

anti-Americanism anti-intellectual
the US airstrike resulted in an outburst of ~ Brearley has been captured by an ~, illiberal mob
(school)
anti-bisexual
its hideous, it’s awful, it’s very ~ (film Basic Instinct) anti-Israel
pro-Palestinian and ~ organizations
anti-Blackness
the 1619 Project excavates racial inequality and ~ anti-lesbian
the ~ and colorism that’s common among Latinos it’s very ~ (the film Basic Instinct)

anti-blackness anti-mask
reject white supremacy, anti-immigrant and ~ ideologies the ~ meltdown has become its own video genre

anti-Casteist anti-oppression
how to be an ~ align our actions and behaviors with anti-racism and ~

anti-Chinese anti-racist
~ discrimination in the US (historical) it’s not enough to be non-racist, you must be ~
pedagogy rooted in ~ and anti-patriarchal practices
anticolonial how to send an ~ message without appearing
see anticolonial (groups) performative
claiming and protecting space is fundamental in ~ protest
anti-consumerism
his ~ was ahead of its time (Travis McGee character) Anti-Racist
How to Raise an ~ (by Ibram X. Kendi)
Anti-Defamation
“White Lives Matter” is hate speech to the ~ League anti-Semitism
the vandalism lays bare the latent ~ that exists in society

Page 41 of 1645
anti-terror black separatist hates groups with ~ beliefs
they seek to build an international ~ coalition *** various groups...
♦ “Opinion: Tom Hanks Is A Non-Racist. It’s Time For Him To Be
anti-vaccine Anti-Racist” by Eric Deggans, NPR, Opinion, June 13, 2021.
California is ground zero of the ~ movement
♦ “How To Be An Anti-Casteist” by Gregory Warner, Lauren Frayer,
Derek Arthur, NPR, Rough Translation, September 30, 2020.
anti-vax
people who have burrowed into an ~ rabbit hole ♦ “I will NO LONGER tolerate ANY racism against me for being a
#ProudBrownWoman of #SouthAsian and #Carribbean descent...The
fact that I have consistently been made to endure this hateful racism
anti-vaxxism in anti-racist spaces is abhorrently shameful.” (Dr. Vanessa Toolsie,
the lab-leak hypothesis is a xenophobic cousin to ~ who was born in Trinidad of Indian descent, resigning from her
position of elected vice president of the Orange County branch of the
anti-war National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From
there’s no such thing as an ~ film “NAACP leader in Florida quits over ‘racist marginalization,’” AP,
August 25 2022. Republished on ABC News.)
anti-Washington ♦ “ASBOs are simply a badge of honor for lads like this.” (A comment
capitalizing on a tide of ~ sentiment (politics) about a delinquent. An ASBO is an anti-social behavior order in the
United Kingdom.)
anti-white *** war, conflict, the military...
had a history of ~ racism on social media (Darrell ♦ “Antiaircraft; anti-armor; antilanding; antihandling; anti-missile; anti-
Brooks) personnel; antisatellite; antisubmarine; anti-tank; anti-terrorism...
black separatist hate groups with antisemitic and ~ beliefs (Military “anti-s.”)
*** analysis
anti-whiteness
♦ “Use the modifiers anti-abortion or abortion-rights; don’t use pro-life
~ is the fundamental premise of the left pro-choice or pro-abortion unless they are in quotes or proper names.
Avoid the term abortionist, which connotes a person who performs
anti-anti-Zionism clandestine abortions.” (The Associated Press style book.)
cases of ~ (doxxing pro-Hamas students, etc.)
antibody (noun)
anti-Zionists
frequently ~ let the mask slip (to show their anti- “antibody response” within the government
Semitism) there was an ~ (rejection of lab-leak theory)

anti-LGBTQ anticlimax (noun)

there are so many ~ attacks going on around the country sad anticlimax
in a year of ~ hate his last campaign proved a ~ (an admiral)
anti-LGBTQ+ anticolonial (groups)
we have seen an onslaught of aggressively hostile ~ bills
anti-colonial family
anti-bullying he was raised by a strong ~...
an ~ crusade (schools)
anticolonial principles
anti-cockfighting an analysis informed by ~ (disability studies)
successful ~ crusades in Missouri and Arizona
anticolonial translation
anti-authoritarian the idea of ~ has gained increasing sway (translators, etc.)
irreverent, ~ and iconoclastic (Mad magazine)
♦ “[He] was born and raised in Chicago by a strong anti-colonial
anticolonial family. They...” (People At NPR.)
see anticolonial (groups) antidote (noun)
anti-foreign antidote to adversity
waves of ~ sentiment convulsed the country a cheerful disposition and a sunny smile are the ~
anti-patriarchal antidote to the boredom
pedagogy rooted in anti-racist and ~ practices provide an ~ of teaching numbers, months, etc.
anti-religious antidote to criminality
the book is ~ empathy is the ~ (versus idea of "bad seed")
anti-Semitic antidote to cynicism
we felt the need to come out against ~ tropes this book is an ~
anti-social antidote to the (poisonous) doctrine
an ~ behavior order (ABSO / the U.K) he was an ~ of extremism
antisemitic and anti-white antidote to self-importance

Page 42 of 1645
 poking fun at his experience was an effective ~ the Geneva Spur is an ~ rib of black rock (Everest)
antidote to violence anvil top
violence is not an ~ (capital punishment) a cumulonimbus mass with a dramatic ~
antidote to the darkness and division anvil storm clouds
it’s up to all of us to be the ~ (Michele Obama) those majestic ~ that form on a hot summer’s day
antidotes to hatred and intolerance anvil (military)
caring and sympathy are the best ~
hammer and anvil
antidote against self-pity the ~ is a military tactic involving two primary forces
our callousness was an ~ (hospital ward) the “~” tactic is a single envelopment
in the ~ tactic, the hammer is the maneuver element
antidote for stress
a break from work is a necessary ~ (vacations) anxiety (noun)
view (Tibetan) Buddhism as an antidote anxieties about AI
some Han Chinese ~ to the materialism and greed… the film speaks to our ~ (M3GAN)
*** war, conflict, the military...
anxiety over authenticity
♦ In "Seldom Disappointed," the great Tony Hillerman writes about
the seemingly callous banter and traditions of badly wounded soldiers
~ be damned...
on a hospital ward in Europe during WWII. For example, a soldier has
his right arm amputated and when he returns to the ward he is Anxiety and Authenticity
greeted by his comrades as "Lefty!" Hillerman makes the point that, “~: Are ‘super-natives’ loving New Orleans to death?”
while such behavior seems "barbarous," it is, in fact, an antidote to
self-pity. Gen Z’s anxiety
antique (adjective) fueling ~ is being exposed to news in a different way
accent anxiety
antique
northerners were particularly prone to ‘~’ (in England)
it seems so ~ now… (a sentiment)
antique (noun) class anxiety
the raw nerve of English society, ~
antique
climate anxiety
the revenue system is an ~ (economy)
a lot of people are feeling ~
turned the telegraph into an antique
climate change anxiety
the telephone ~
here’s how to turn ~ into action (NPR’s Allison Aubrey)
anvil (Vulcan’s Anvil, etc.)
eco-anxiety
Anvil Mountain how can I deal with my ~
~ is a summit in San Juan County, Colorado
Election Anxiety
~ is a summit in La Paz County, Arizona
“How To Deal With ‘~’ (NPR / 2016)
Anvil Peak
election anxiety
~ is a summit in Platte County, Wyoming
~ is real (according to NPR)
Anvil Rock
gender anxiety
~ is a pillar in San Juan County, Utah
the ~ rippling through America today (NPR)
~ is a pillar in Pierce County, Washington
~ is a pillar in Union County, Kentucky health anxiety
~ is a pillar in Park County, Wyoming cyberchondria is a subset of ~ (compulsive searching)
~ is a summit in Yavapai County, Arizona the pandemic definitely made my ~ worse...
~ Arch is an arch in Osage County, Missouri
math anxiety
Devils Anvil Boaler cited Randall Engle regarding “~” (Jo Boaler)
~ Peak is a summit in San Diego County, California
menu anxiety
Vulcan’s Anvil the young suffer from “~” (UK / language, prices, etc.)
once rafters see ~... (a mile before Lava Falls)
~ is a 50-foot-tall vertical volcanic plug (Colorado River) range anxiety
~ is a wonder of nature (mile 178 on Colorado River) you reduce the cost the ~... (switching to electric
vehicles)
anvil (shape)
rapture anxiety
anvil-shaped for some Christians, ‘~’ can take a lifetime to heal (CNN)

Page 43 of 1645
vulva anxiety ♦ Michel Martin: “How does the task force define anxiety?” / Lori
Pbert: “That’s a really good point...” (“Behind the new anxiety
my ~ grew through my teens (a girl with an “outie”) screening recommendation,” NPR, All Things Considered, September
24, 2022. It’s hard to know what the “point” was.)
long-held anxiety
♦ Anxiety; anxiety disorders; anxious; apprehension; avoidance;
the ~ that Americans are “falling behind” in math, disease (cardiovascular disease, etc.); dread; events (traumatic
science events, etc.); fearful; fight or flight; heartbeat (increased heartbeat); ill
at ease; insomnia; muscles (tightened muscles, etc.); nervousness;
ambient anxiety pressure (high blood pressure, etc.); problems (financial problems,
stressors included a kind of ~ caused by the pandemic etc.); sleeplessness; spikes (in blood pressure, etc.); stimulation
(mind overtasked with stimulation, etc.); stresses (chronic stresses,
etc.); struggling (to sit still, etc.); thoughts (racing thoughts, etc.);
ecological anxiety threat (anticipated threat, etc.); vigilance; violence (community
novels of maternal guilt and ~ (Hum by Helen Phillips, violence, etc.)... (“What is anxiety” by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Mental
etc.) Health, Dec. 19, 2022. Just in time for Christmas!)
♦ “I asked her what had struck her most about the poem. ‘The
financial anxiety landscapes,’ she said, without hesitation. ‘The rocks and the rivers.
the film is strikingly fraught with ~ (Sex and the City) All that dryness.’ Not for her the unreal city, or the mob of languages,
but a natural world under clear and present threat. “The Waste Land,”
moral anxiety in short, can speak to the ecological dread of her generation as it
spoke to the social and political anxieties of those who had
the yuppie was the collective projection of a ~ weathered the First World War. The poem, which is prefaced with the
words of a Sibyl, is fated to tell each of us, from one era to the next,
parental anxiety whatever it is that we most fear to hear.” (“On The Rocks: A hundred
economist Emily Oster believes data can ease ~ years of ‘The Waste Land’” by Anthony Lane, The New Yorker,
October 3, 2022.)
postnatal anxiety ♦ “As a millennial with anxiety, I understand fear.” (The nonbinary
Lizzie experienced ~ and insomnia beauty influence Cyrus Veyssi, explaining why females should not be
afraid to share bathrooms with males who identify as female.)
social anxiety ♦ “In a few weeks, some Americans will celebrate the beginning of
ways to conquer ~ Donald Trump’s second term. For some others, the next four years
pandemic measures that instill unnatural ~ in people will be filled with anxiety over personal safety.” (“Neighbors protecting
neighbors: Worried marginalized communities prep for Trump term”
crucible of anxiety by Odette Yousef, NPR, All Things Considered, December 18, 2024.)
how to handle the ~ (college admissions) *** jumping on the “anxiety” bandwagon...
♦ “I didn’t know the connective tissue between my brother and my
irritation and anxiety medical trauma and my depression and PTSD and anxiety.”
students express ~ (rising tuition, fewer classes) (Elisabeth Finch of Grey’s Anatomy, trying to explain her compulsive
lying.)
stares, fear or anxiety ♦ “Constant notifications are ruining your health—7 tips to ease
if you can use public bathrooms without ~... ‘ringxiety.’”
♦ “The ‘Sunday scaries’ are eating my joy.” (Anxiety about work
coping with anxiety week.)
mindfulness can also play a role in ~ ♦ “Hangxiety,” the blues you feel after a night of heavy drinking.
devoured by anxiety ♦ “Beware ‘fanxiety face’: How watching football can give you
wrinkles, according to a doctor.” (The New York Post.)
she is ~ when she’s not working (magazine editor)
*** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
ease ‘ringxiety’ ♦ “Nervous about 2024? We can help, with support / We’re preparing
constant notifications are ruining your health—7 tips to ~ for one of the most consequential news cycles of our lifetimes. We
need your help to raise $1.5m to fund our journalism next year and
speaks to our anxieties beyond. / $830,874 of $1,500,000 goal / Make a year-end gift.” (The
Guardian.)
the film ~ about AI (M3GAN)
♦ “Joan of Arkansas is a climate-anxious work.” (By Emma
*** various groups...
Wipperman, whose writing is concerned with ecology, desire, and
♦ “Years later, I have ptsd, I have panic attacks I go to therapy. queer digital intimacy.)
Finally I’m ready to talk about it and finally heal.” (Gabby, about a
♦ “Anxiety Relieving Pet Bed.” (An advertisement for MrFluffyFriend,
sexual assault with a Golden Globe nominee.)
showing a large dog snoozing on a cushion.)
♦ If you can use public bathrooms without stares, fear or anxiety, you
♦ “‘Hardcore science’ or ‘just a sticker’—do anti-anxiety patches
have cisgender privilege.
actually work?” by Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian, Thu 7 Sep
♦ “Zoomers especially have developed intense social anxiety around 2023.)
communicating with others in real life, and dating is no different. /
♦ “For me, personally, I wanted to support the students, and the
Some are even scared to make phone calls, so flirting in real life can
younger generations, I have empathy for what they’re going through.”
feel especially daunting.” (“How Gen Z destroyed flirting: This is how
(“Community member Victoria Van Holder holding a sign offering
young people try to score a date today” by Brooke Kato, The New
“free hugs.” From “A year after Michigan State University shooting,
York Post, July 4, 2024.)
museum has preserved memorial items” by Sophia Saliby, NPR, All
♦ Bohemians; freaks; hipsters; natives; super-natives (recently arrived Things Considered, February 13, 2024. See the Wikipedia article
appropriators, colonizers); newcomers; young people; poseurs; “2023 Michigan State University shooting.”)
permanent residents; tourists; (post-Katrina) transplants; yuppies; ...
♦ “Anxious at the Portland airport? Beni the Llama is here for you,
(Types and groups of people mentioned in “Anxiety and authenticity:
spreading joy” by Katia Riddle, NPR, November 4, 2024.)
Are ‘super-natives’ loving New Orleans to death?” by C.W. Cannon,
The Lens: Focused on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, June 1, *** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
2018.)

Page 44 of 1645
♦ The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is ♦ “Hangxiety” has a Wiktionary entry: it combines “hangover” and
Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by social psychologist “anxiety.”
Jonathon Haidt.
♦ Wiktionary does not yet have an entry “English terms suffixed with -
♦ “The people who are counseling young people, I have seen this xiety.”
even in my own institution, dealing with say climate anxiety, they say,
♦ “Anxiety over authenticity be damned, I just want to keep cool.”
‘Yes, it’s such a serious problem, it is very good that you’re anxious.’
(African / Ankara hand fans. From “Ankara Hand Fans” by Tomi
Well, no. Your anxiety is not going to save the planet. Your actions
Obaro, The New York Times Magazine, August 14, 2022.)
are going to save the planet... (Steven Pinker of Harvard speaking to
Piers Morgan.) ♦ “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
♦ “More screen time obviously means less time spent cultivating ♦ “Nobody died.”
meaningful relationships. Additionally, many young people fall prey to
♦ see also panic (bisexual panic, etc.)
the ‘compare and despair’ trap that social media presents.”
(Generation Z, or Gen Zers. The Anne E. Casey Foundation.) Apache (Apache helicopter, etc.)
♦ “I watched the Mom do an interview once, and she stated her
daughter has anxiety over climate change. That family is a bit of a Apache (Longbow attack) helicopter
mess.” (An online commenter about “Rep. Katherine Clark’s
transgender daughter Riley Dowell sentenced for assault on Boston
the AH-64D, the ~
cop” by Victor Nava, New York Post, May 3, 2023.) ♦ “You may have noticed there’s a pattern in U.S Army helicopter
♦ “They keep sayin’ I should get help, but I don’t even know what I names—Apache, Black Hawk, Chinook and others. These crucial
need, they keep sayin’, ‘Speak your truth,’ and at the same time put it aircraft are all named after Native American tribes or figures. / But
onto me.” (Megan Thee Stallion, “Anxiety.”) have you ever wondered why? / The U.S. military has a long history
with Native Americans. Armed conflicts between the two were
♦ “For O’Shannassy, there is something comforting about the status commonly known as the American Indian Wars and were fought
anxieties of people who have everything.” (The author of Superyacht intermittently from the time the U.S. was first settled by Europeans to
Captain, a memoir. From “The Floating World” by Evan Osnos, The early in the 20th century. But Native Americans also served as some
New Yorker, July 25, 2022.) of the fiercest fighters for the United States for more than 200 years.
♦ To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, “How am I In fact, 32 Native Americans have earned the nation’s highest military
anxious? Let me count the ways. / I am anxious to the depth and award, the Medal of Honor...” (“Why do Army helicopters have Native
breadth and height / my soul can reach...” (Funny!) American names?” by Katie Lange, JBSA News, Nov. 4, 2020. JBSA
stands for Joint Base San Antonio. The “and others” as mentioned in
*** an international perspective... the article include the Cheyenne Attack Helicopter, the Comanche
♦ “Every culture possesses what Edward Shorter, a medical historian Helicopter, and the Lakota UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter.)
at the University of Toronto, calls a ‘symptom repertoire’—a range of
physical symptoms available to the unconscious mind for the physical
apart (division)
expression of psychological conflict.’ In parts of India, patients are
said to suffer from dhat syndrome: they complain of impotence and apart
have the delusion that they are losing their semen. In Nigeria, they reunited after years of being ~
students who can’t retain information and report feeling a burning
sensation in their heads are sometimes given a diagnosis of ‘brain wide apart
fag.’ The illnesses are reinforced by a local belief that the symptoms
are a sign of authentic suffering, worthy of expert attention and care.” the two sides remained ~
(“The Apathetic: Why are refugee children falling unconscious?” by
Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, April 3, 2017.) grew apart
♦ “In Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions (Norton), the Dutch
we ~ (divorce)
psychologist Batja Mesquita describes her puzzlement, before
arriving in the United States, at the use of the English word distress.
apartheid (separation)
Was it ‘closer to the Dutch angst (anxious/afraid),’ she wondered, ‘or
closer to the Dutch verdriet/wanhoop (sadness/despair)?’ It took her apartheid regime
time to feel at home with the word...” (“Affective Disorder: Some educational material labels Israel an “~”
psychologists contend that our emotions are culturally specific. How
should we feel about that?” by Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, political apartheid
August 8, 2022.)
we’ve got ~ in this country (US politics)
♦ “[I]f you have several sources for your personal happiness, only
then can you be a good partner. Otherwise, you are—it’s a very bad funding of (Israeli) apartheid
word, and I don’t know if it is as bad in English as well, but in German
it’s really, really bad. You are needy.” (A breakup coach.) end all U.S. ~... (a banner)
*** V.K. Arseniev, George W. De Long... Queers Against (Israeli) Apartheid
♦ "Hunger was now torturing us. The Cossacks sat gloomily round the ~ (a protest sign)
fire and hardly spoke. Several times I asked Dersu how we had taken
the wrong trail, and were we on the right road. He answered that he *** various groups...
had never been in this district before, that he had nothing to go by ♦ “I feel like it’s militarized, right, over-policed, enslaved—militia...
and, like me, could only guess. Hoping to forget their hunger a little, This is a thing of, ‘Black folks can’t govern. Black leaders can’t
the men tried to sleep. I lay down too, but could not sleep. Anxiety govern.’ So we’ll show you how to run, how to move, how to talk...” (A
and doubt tormented me. If we did not manage to kill something Jackson, Mississippi resident about the Capitol Police and their
tomorrow, or reach the Iman, things would be desperate indeed. In jurisdiction in her city. The mayor of Jackson likens the control zone
the summer a man can carry on without food for several days, but in to apartheid.)
the winter hunger kills quickly." (Dersu Uzala by V. K. Arseniev,
translated by Malcolm Burr.) ♦ “Black attorneys make up less than 5 percent of all attorneys and
continue to face horrific experiences in law school and in the legal
♦ “October 30th, Sunday—One hundred and fortieth day. Boyd and community.” (“Must I Mentor a White Law Student When I Requested
Gortz died during night. Mr. Collins dying.” (The final entry in Captain a Black Mentee?” The Ethicist by Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New
George W. De Long’s ice journal. From In the Kingdom of Ice: The York Times Magazine, Dec. 4, 2022.)
Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton
Sides.) ♦ “Blackline is a hotline geared towards the Black, Black LGBTQ+,
brown Native, and Muslim communities.”
*** analysis

Page 45 of 1645
♦ “Those (Afro-Americans) are the ones we recruit. And, uh, we want ♦ “[T]he world could be radically transformed and humanity deposed
to keep it home. This is a HBUC (historically Black university or from its position as apex cogitator over the course of an hour or two.”
college) and we’re gonna stick to that all the way through.” (Gregory (Nick Bostrom—author of the 2014 book Superintelligence—about
Green, head tennis coach at Tuskegee University in Alabama. From artificial intelligence.)
“HBCUs recruit international athletes for tennis. Some are calling it
into question,” NPR, November 14, 2023. Ari Shapiro, host. Reported apocalypse (noun)
by Julien Virgin of member station WABE in Atlanta.)
♦ “This lady actually had the CAUdacity to say black people can be heat apocalypse
racist too.” (DOD official Kelisa Wing, using a portmanteau for hot weather is now referred to as a ~
“Caucasian audacity. Of COURSE, Black people can be racist, too.
Many are.) retail apocalypse
♦ Scott Adams, the creator of the beloved cartoon “Dilbert,” was the ~ speeds up (brick and mortar vs. online stores)
canceled after suggesting that many Blacks dislike whites, and that
white people should stay away from them. After The Apocalypse:
♦ “According to Alina Skibinska and Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, during America’s Role in a World Transformed (A. Bacevich)
the 1930s ‘the relations between the communities...began to
♦ “It’ll be the most comfortable apocalypse ever.” (“Bunker mentality:
increasingly resemble apartheid.’” (From the Wikipedia article “Kielce
How Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian, Tom Cruise and other celebs
pogrom.”)
are prepping for doomsday” by Lauren Elkies Schram and Isabel
♦ “Stand with Palestinian Resistance / End All U.S. Funding of Israeli Keane, The New York Post, March 9, 2024.)
Apartheid / Party for Socialism and Liberation @PSLDC” (A picture of
♦ see also pocalypse (gas-pocalypse, etc.), Armageddon, geddon
three people holding up a huge banner. It is interesting that most of
(chipageddon, etc.)
the people in the photo are looking at their cellphones, including the
four bored cops in the background.) apogee (at an apogee)
*** analysis
♦ “Why do you want to label it as apartheid? What are the at its apogee
consequences of that?... So the question itself and the answers given the British Empire was ~
to it are part of the political conflict.” (Israel and the Palestinians.)
♦ In the U.S., legal and political equality for Afro-Americans has not at his creative apogee
been accompanied by social equality. This goes in both directions. when he was ~…
♦ “This points to a unique understanding of plurality of Indian
society—it is more like a thali (an Indian meal comprising a selection
apogee (noun)
of separate dishes served on a platter), rather than a melting pot.”
(Neha Sahgal, a lead author of a Pew study that found Indians apogee of chic
support religious tolerance and religious segregation.) Paris is the ~
ape (verb) apogee of his career
the film was the ~
aped the materialism
regimes which ~ of irreligious others (Sayyid Qutb) apogee of excellence
apex (highest point) the Grande Armee reached its ~ (1805-1807)
apogee of fame
at the apex of the boom
Grant reached a new ~ (after victory at Chattanooga)
he invested ~
apogee of a trend
apex (of the fad's popularity) came
we have simply reached an ~ (minimalism in fashion)
the ~ when…
movement's apogee
reached its apex
it was the ~
their rivalry ~ last year (two athletes)
apex (achievement) ascent, apogee and decline
sport compresses life's natural trajectory of ~
apex of their profession
women can still have kids and reach the ~
reached its apogee
the island ~ in the early Christian era
at the apex of her career apoplectic (adjective)
she is ~
apex (apex animal, etc.) apoplectic
I am ~, at a loss for words (abuse of children)
apex animal
the tuna is an ~
apoplectic about her definition
the man was ~ of marriage (gender inclusive)
apex predator
mankind is the ~ on earth
apoplectic (with rage) at what
he is ~ he hears on television (street protests)
orcas are ~s
so-called ~s, like sharks, groupers and jacks apoplectic over the impact
~s have no natural predators of their own exhibitors are ~ of Netflix (independent theaters)

Page 46 of 1645
apoplectic with what Appalachia (and Pineapplachia, etc.)
he would be ~ is going on today (dead father)
Pineapplachia
had diplomats apoplectic it’s closer to being ~ than paradise (Hawaii)
his phone call with the President of Taiwan ~
♦ “it’s closer to being Pineapplachia than paradise.” (An online
went apoplectic commenter about the article, “2 Hawaiian men found guilty of hate
crime for attacking white homeowner” by Michelle De Pacina, Yahoo /
the Internet ~ (over a provocation about race) NextShark, November 21, 2022.)

makes him apoplectic *** “We don’t mind people settlin’ in the area...”
it’s one of those little things that ~ ♦ "We don't mind people settlin' in the area. Just don't put your house
on a ridgetop so you can look down on us, and don't tell us how you
*** analysis did it back home." (A Southern Appalachians woman.)
♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice ♦ “I think 'hillbilly' is the one epithet people are allowed to use. The
Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary rest are politically incorrect. If they want to look down upon us, then
and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples that is their problem. The ignorance is one-sided, and in that way I've
of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia; never had a problem with it." (Fred Chappell, North Carolina poet
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf; laureate.)
deformed; lame; limping...
♦ see also nam (Fayettenam, etc.)
apostasy (noun) apparatus (government, etc.)
referred to criticism as apostasy
he ~ (Papandreou)
censorship apparatus
the fed-led ~ (Global Engagement Center, etc.)
♦ “Papandreou referred to criticism of some of his individual policies
by PASOK members as ‘apostasy’—a word that in its original Greek Party apparatus
form, apostassia, carries a strong theological undertone from the
days of Byzantium, when emperors, ruling by Divine Right, were RFK Jr. and the Libertarian ~ shifted to support Trump
judged ‘infallible,’ thus making their critics ‘heretics’ or ‘apostates.’”
(Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History by Robert D. Kaplan.) security apparatus
*** analysis he disappeared within the state ~
♦ “APO- is a Greek prefix that means ‘from,’ ‘away.’ It sometimes big apparatus
appears in the form aph-. / The renunciation of a religious faith is an
apostasy. You ‘stand away’ from your faith. (apo-, ‘away,’ and you’re in charge of this ~ (the president of US)
histemi, ‘stand’)...” (Word Origins And Their Romantic Stories by ♦ “When I became president, one of the things I discovered coming
Wilfred Funk, Litt.D. Chapter 22, “The Making of 50,000 Words.”) into office is you’re in charge of a big apparatus... It’s an ocean liner
and not a speedboat... Trying to change policy is really difficult.”
apostate (person) (“Barak Obama.)
♦ “How long will it take, is it a matter of turning an aircraft carrier?” (To
apostate from the (cosmopolitan) elite change or reverse diplomacy and foreign policy.)
he positions himself as a class traitor, an ~ (Tucker
Carlson) appetite (whet the appetite)
apostle (Apostle of the Sioux, etc.) whet audiences' appetites for films
movie trailers ~
Apostle of the Sioux
he was known as “The ~” (the Swiss Martin Marty) whet people's appetite for spending
museums try to ~
apostle (person)
whet the appetites of fans
apostle of LSD the ad campaign is designed to ~ (TV)
he essentially became the ~ (Timothy Leary)
whet the appetites of investors
apostle of niceness the company's performance will not ~
he is the ~ (a poetry critic)
whet appetites for a rematch
apostle of positive thinking their fight ~ (boxing)
he is an ~
appetite (appetite for fur, etc.)
apostle (Twelve Apostles, etc.)
appetite to return
Apostle Islands will audiences have an ~ to the teachers (post-COVID)
the ~ are a group of islands in Lake Superior, Wisconsin
appetite for adventure
Twelve Apostles baby boomers who have an ~
the ~ are a popular attraction (Victoria, Australia)
♦ According to the Wikipedia article “Apostle Islands,” “The islands appetite for electricity
were renamed the Apostle Islands by New France historian Pierre the nation’s ~
Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, who renamed them after the 12
apostles (for the 12 largest islands.)” Wikipedians are wonderful. appetite for fur
Russia's growing ~ (new wealth)

Page 47 of 1645
appetite for gold local appetite
India's seemingly insatiable ~ (jewelry, dowries, temples) the ~ for skateboarding
appetite for (royal) gossip low (sexual) appetite
the tabloids' ~ my boyfriend has a very ~
appetite for a (ground) invasion political appetite
commanders have little ~ there is no ~ for banning assault weapons (in the US)
appetite for (our) money public appetite
a government that has an endless ~ (taxes) the Y has increased the number of debates to feed the ~
there is considerable ~ for stories of feuds
appetite for oil
we must reduce our ~ sexual appetite
my boyfriend has a very low ~
appetite (of the European rich) for porcelain
the ~ was insatiable strong appetite
North Carolinians appear to have a ~ for gambling
appetite for pornography
the ~ seems to be insatiable voracious appetite
our ~ for scores that we can use to rank our kids (school)
appetite for profit for the last few years, China has had a ~ for bauxite
their ~ sharpened by years of drought (farmers) China's ~ for timber is deforestating Siberia
appetite for scores control over his appetites
our voracious ~ that we can use to rank our kids (ed) he has no ~ (sex)
appetite for sensationalism appetite (for consumer goods) increases
the ~ (on part of broadcast media) their ~ daily (China)
appetite for (crime) stories feed the (public) appetite
the American public has an insatiable ~ about blacks the Y has increased the number of debates to ~
appetite for success have (no) appetite
he had an ~ (a poet) I ~ for confrontation
appetite for timber increased the appetite
China's voracious ~ is deforestating Siberia (Russia) their breakup only ~ for gossip about her personal life
appetite for cars, cell phones, appliances and services reduce our appetite
the ~ increases daily (China) we must ~ for oil
appetite for gambling satisfies the appetite
North Carolinians appear to have a strong ~ nothing ~ for allegory quite like a zombie film
appetite for skateboarding suppress the appetite
the local ~ perils and jitters ~ for private and corporate risks
India's (seemingly insatiable) appetite ♦ “People often suppose that penal systems recruit sadists. But
cruelty is an appetite that grows with feeding...” (The Fatal Shore by
~ for gold (jewelry, dowries, etc.) Robert Hughes, from the chapter “Norfolk Island.”)
nation's appetite *** analysis
the ~ for electricity ♦ “Suspicion is an appetite that is never fully sated.” (Misinformation,
etc.)
considerable (public) appetite
there is ~ for stories of feuds in the entertainment
appetizer (noun)
industry appetizer
endless appetite this is just the ~, the main course will come later (battle)
a government that has an ~ for our money (taxes) ♦ “There’s one of your Whigs for ye!” cried Alan; and then turning to
me, he asked if I had done much execution. / I told him I had winged
insatiable appetite one, and thought it was the captain. / “And I’ve settled two,” says he.
“No, there’s not enough blood let; they’ll be back again. To your
India's seemingly ~ for gold (jewelry, dowries, temples) watch, David. This was but a dram before meat.” (“Siege of the
Round-House” from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.)
little appetite
commanders have ~ for a ground invasion... applaud (verb)
very little appetite applauded Bush’s signing
in the US there is ~ for government restriction the groups ~ of the bill as a milestone

Page 48 of 1645
applaud the administration there are ~ in every barrel (bad cops)
I ~ for doing that (politics)
work of (a few) bad apples
applaud his decision the Pentagon said the abuse was the ~ (military prison)
many people ~ ♦ “It is galling to many of the families and victims and serving police
officers and serving staff in the organization that expressions like ‘bad
applaud her apples’ and ‘wrong ‘uns’ were even used. But the culture, sadly, in
her fans ~ the Met is all-pervasive, and that the institutional racism, misogyny
and homophobia is largely led by what their officers have said... I
mean, it is off the barometer.” (Baroness Casey speaking to BBC
applaud the person Radio 4 about her report on the Metropolitan Police Service. The Met
I ~ who designed the Nutrition Facts label (Burkey Police Commissioner, while conceding that failings were “systematic,”
Belser) refused to accept that they were “institutional,” as that latter word had
various definitions and had become politicized.)
applaud women ♦ “You have to lower the level to get people in, but that lets in the bad
I ~ like Hou who beat on against the current (chess) apples.”
*** “She hid under the piano in fright...” *** analysis
♦ "When guests began applauding, she hid under the piano in fright ♦ Why don’t Americans say, “a rotten potato?”
until her mother assured her that clapping meant approval." (Celeste
Holm, who as a precocious toddler in New York City danced to the apple (the apple doesn’t fall far from
music of the hotel pianist at the Waldorf-Astoria. She would go on to
Broadway.) the tree, etc.)
♦ “When Younghusband reached Lhasa, he was greeted by hordes of
clapping Tibetans. He took it as a gesture of welcome, not realizing
apple
that clapping was a traditional way of warding off evil spirits...” (The those ~s long ago fell from the Marxist tree (ideas)
1904 British invasion of Tibet.) *** analysis
applauded ♦ The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! (Often said of fathers and
sons.)
applauded and denounced
they launched a movement that has been both ~
approach (winter is approaching,
applause (noun) etc.)
spare me the applause date is approaching
~, the latest assassination bid was a Secret Service fiasco the application ~
♦ “Spare me the applause—the latest Trump assassination bid was a end is (fast) approaching
Secret Service fiasco” by Piers Morgan, The New York Post, Sep. 16, the ~
2024.

apple (proverb) war is approaching

~ in the Arabian Gulf
apple
a stone from the hand of a friend is an ~ (Morocco) deadlines are approaching
holiday shipping ~
red apple ♦ "When you don't know what's coming down the pike, you worry." (A
a ~ attracts stones (Turkish) businesswoman, speaking about government regulation.)

apple (Golden Apple / education) approach (a number, etc.)

Golden Apple approach 100,000 deaths
she received a ~ (a teacher in North Carolina) as we ~ from the virus here in the U.S.
♦ “An award-winning elementary school teacher from California was approach (a better approach, etc.)
arrested this week for allegedly sexually abusing a former student,
according to police.” (Sex with a minor.)
potshot approach
apple (bad apple / rotten apple) I don’t like that kind of a ~ (politics and criticism)

bad apple take-no-prisoners approach

one ~ spoils it for everyone else the ~ to justice
~s tend to find one another
confrontational approach
don’t let a few ~s spoil it for the rest of us
his ~ was rejected as a relic of the past (coach)
“bad apple” argument
creative approaches
I don’t buy the ~ (war, combat and atrocities)
the competition rewards ~ to... (research)
few bad apples
straightforward approach
it’s not just a ~, there is a culture of abuse (gymnastics)
her ~ startles many (on pediatric safety)
rotten apples Carroll's rah-rah style and Stoop's more ~ vary sharply
we take a ~ to business (honesty, integrity)

Page 49 of 1645
old and new approaches whistleblower and champion of diversity and inclusion for Blacks and
women.)
NASA will pursue both ~ simultaneously
♦ see also appropriation (groups), coopt (and co-opt), misappropriate
pillar of the (US) approach (groups), misappropriated, misappropriation (groups, etc.),
reappropriate (groups), reappropriation (groups), reclaim (groups),
another ~ is to minimize civilian casualties reclaimed (groups), take back (take back one’s life, etc.)
approach (the approach of summer, appropriation (groups)
etc.)
appropriation of (urban) youth culture
with the approach of summer this is an ~ (corporate social media uses the word “bae”)
its staff swells to 400 ~
appropriation and authenticity
♦ “The future is already here.” (ChatGPT and all its disruption.) he navigates the aesthetic pitfalls of ~ (A Different Man)
approaching (adjective) cultural appropriation
approaching elections ~ and preferential treatment (#BlackTikTokStrike)
the US has called the ~ unfair Mexican restaurateurs in France see it as ~ (French tacos)
3 white women criticized for ~ (mahjong company
approaching spring owners)
melting snow and ~ brings thoughts of… criticisms of ~ (Chet Hanks / fake ‘Jamaican’ accent)
Ariana Grande has been criticized for ~ (AAVE, tats,
appropriate (groups / verb) etc.)
appropriates the past to support Werowocomoco was widely accused of ~ (restaurant)
it ~ their ‘just-so stories’ about the present (1619 Project) phallic appropriation
appropriate stories from India she becomes masculinized through ~ by...
white filmmakers unfairly ~ backlash for (cultural) appropriation
appropriating another culture for his personal profit she faced ~ when she posted a selfie...
critics say he is ~ (artist Tim Okamura) (cultural) appreciation, not (cultural) appropriation
appropriating African culture Miss EmpowHer waist beads are ~
white women who wear African garb are ~ exchange and appropriation
appropriate the (checkered kaffiyah) scarf there’s an important difference between ~ (Christian
fashionistas ~ yoga)
*** various groups...
appropriated the language ♦ “How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but
she cynically ~ of diversity and inclusion to keep her job stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and
streamers! Boycott! This F’d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell
appropriated the (abortion rights) slogan without aggrandizement which would b wrong! I don’t got a prob with
vaccine opponents have ~ “My Body, My Choice” Franco but he ain’t Latino!” (John Leguizamo, upset by a casting
decision. John Martinez O’Felan, a producer of the film, wrote that
Leguizamo’s assertions “lack factual substance.”)
appropriate the N-Word
how some artists ~ (in order to “take it back”) ♦ “Why Don’t Asian Lives Matter to Joe Biden and his liberal allies?”
(A political ad by Citizens for Sanity on Twitter, published on Oct. 22,
2022, that received 25.5K views. The term echoes “Black Lives
appropriate and “feminize” Matter.”)
an attempt to ~ the diction of heroic epic
♦ “[S]he becomes masculinized through ‘phallic appropriation’ by
*** various groups... taking up a weapon...” (From the Wikipedia article “Final girl.”)
♦ “‘Queerbaiting’ essentially boils down to appropriating queer ♦ “A professor at a Kansas college dressed as Michael Jackson for
signifiers as an aesthetic only.” Halloween has come under fire with some accusing her of cultural
♦ “Many scholars now see her poetry as an attempt to appropriate appropriation.”
and ‘feminize’ the diction and subject matter of heroic epic. (For ♦ “Some people consider use of AAVE by non-African Americans to
instance, the appeal to Aphrodite to be her ‘comrade in arms’—in be a form of cultural appropriation.” (Yale Grammatical Diversity
love.” (“Girl, Interrupted” by the classicist Daniel Mendelsohn. About Project English in North America.)
the poet Sappho.)
*** jumping on the “appropriation” bandwagon...
♦ “Morocco’s culture ministry has accused Adidas of appropriating
Moroccan culture in its new jerseys for Algeria’s football team... / The ♦ “Hernandez described the co-oping of trends as an act of ‘stylistic
neighboring nations have a long history of tensions, as they continue or aesthetic gentrification,’ which she said can be traced as far as the
to dispute Western Sahara.” (“Adidas row: Morocco demands change 19th century when Cubist artist Pablo Picasso, who is Spanish, took
to Algerian football jersey design” by Malu Cursino, BBC News, Sept. inspiration from traditional African art. / ‘The reason he innovated
29, 2022.) modern art was because he was looking at African masks,’
Hernandez said. ‘So much Western innovation stems from
♦ “This is about a legacy white employee who was in danger of losing colonialism. And that’s where we get this kind of cultural
her job for performance reasons, so she cynically appropriated the appropriation.’” (“Hailey Bieber faces accusations of ‘cultural
language of diversity and inclusion to try and hold onto that job— appropriation’ for ‘brownie glazed lips’ look” by Amanda Su and
which if she lost it might have actually gone to a person of color.” (An Jessica Mendoza via GMA, September 28, 2022. Jillian Hernandez is
unnamed source, quoted in a Gawker article about a woman fired by a professor at University of Florida’s Center for Gender, Sexualities,
The New Yorker. The woman had presented herself as a

Page 50 of 1645
and Women’s Studies Research. There are also interesting quotes ♦ “[Patricia] Fara has pulled off quite a feat of archival archaeology.
from Sandra E. Garcia, a New York Times style reporter.) Digging through the records of universities, scientific societies,
industrial establishments, newspapers, and personal journals and
♦ “Moccasin maker Minnetonka is publicly apologizing for making
correspondence, she excavates and pieces together the lives of
money off of Native culture.” (The company was founded in 1946, as
some of the first women to embark on scientific studies and careers
a small business creating souvenirs, including moccasins, for
in the modern era.” (“The Original Hidden Figures” by Elaine Weiss,
roadside gift stores at a time when more and more Americans were
Foreign Affairs, March/April 2019.)
traveling by car. An early partner, Philip W Miller, had come to the US
from Poland as a boy, and used money that he saved from running a
corner grocery store in Minneapolis to buy into the company. Its
archipelago (noun)
footwear was popular with hippies in the 1960s. Like most footwear, it
is currently made overseas, in the Dominican Republic and China. archipelago of (fortified) camps
Moccasin, Minnetonka and indeed Minneapolis and Minnesota all they moved them into an ~ for political reeducation
come from native American languages.)
♦ “NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks CNN contributor Jeff Yang about archipelago of enclaves
a mahjong company founded by three white women who were in Kosovo, most Serbs live in an ~ (Strpce, etc.)
criticized for cultural appropriation.” (“Texas-Based Mahjong
Company Faces Backlash For Cultural Appropriation,” NPR, archipelago of Jewish museums
Weekend Edition Sunday, January 17, 2021.)
Europe is a vast ~ (Jeffrey Goldberg)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
♦ “Gosh, I’m so mad at Greg Abbott, I’m like, Mothers Against Drunk archipelago of black sites
Driving, I’m like Mothers Demand Action, I’m a mother against Greg he had been tortured in the CIA’s ~
Abbott, so I wrote down Mothers Against Greg Abbott, and so I just
went down there and protested all by myself in front of the Capitol for Palestinian archipelago
two and a half hours, I had somebody take my photograph, and I the enclaves have been referred to as the ~ (West Bank)
made it public, and it went viral.” (Nancy Thompson. Mothers against
Greg Abbott—MAGA—signs can now be seen on lawns throughout
Texas.)
saw themselves as a small archipelago
they ~ of decency in a rising sea of moral pollution
♦ “‘#Sayhername,’ the patriots will tweet, delighting in their
appropriation of a campaign created for Black women.” (Ashli ♦ “Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously described Stalin-
Babbitt.) era prisoner and labor camps as a string of islands—an
archipelago—strewn across the Soviet Union’s landscape...
*** analysis America’s prison archipelago has more islands and more prisoners
♦ “Cultural appropriation is a very Tumbler Concern.” (In 2014. From than Stalin’s at its height.” (Tye Evans #158293 / Indiana Correctional
the brilliant podcast The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, “Chapter 3: A Facility / 1 Park Row / Michigan City, IN / 46460.)
New Pyre.”) *** the Solomon Islands, Lake Baikal, Si Phan Don...
♦ “Appropriation, the most misappropriated word in the English ♦ Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines are archipelago nations.
language at this time. Stuff and nonsense.” (greatpix about the
#BlackTikTokStrike.) ♦ The crews of the ill-fated Franklin expedition, searching for a
Northwest Passage, perished in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
♦ Refers to nothing real.
♦ Alfred Russel Wallace pickled orangutans in barrels and collected
♦ MINE, adj. Belonging to me if I can hold or seize it. (The Devil’s butterflies in the Malay Archipelago.
Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.)
♦ The Solomon Islands archipelago saw fierce fighting during World
♦ see also appropriate (groups / verb), coopt (and co-opt), War II. Guadalcanal is in the Solomon Islands.
misappropriate (groups), misappropriated, misappropriation (groups,
etc.), reappropriate (groups), reappropriation (groups), reclaim ♦ Turku, in the Turku Archipelago, in the Gulf of Bothnia, was once
(groups), reclaimed (groups), take back (take back one’s life, etc.) Finland’s trading gateway to the world. Visiting it is on my bucket list.

apron strings ♦ Lakes and even rivers can have archipelagos: Lake Baikal contains
an archipelago. The Si Phan Don (4,000 islands) is a riverine
archipelago in the Mekong River in southern Laos. Those would be
cut the apron strings wonderful places to visit.
he wanted to ~ from my father (a baseball player)
architect (as verb)
♦ “Do you think you needed to cut the strings from your father?” /
“That was the right thing to do to get me to stand up on my own two
feet.” (A professional baseball player.)
architect a life
~ that feels full, genuine, rich and beautiful (influencer)
aquifer (noun)
architect them
huge aquifer he is able to take all my ideas and ~ (fashion industry)
I had this ~ underneath of stories (Stephen King) *** analysis
♦ “I had this huge aquifer underneath of stories that I wanted to tell ♦ “There’s no stopping people who want to improve (or improvise)
and I stuck a pipe down in there and everything just gushed out. existing words.” (The editor Merrill Perlman, writing specifically about
There’s still a lot of it, but there’s not as much now.” (Stephen King: the use of “overwhelm” as a noun.)
The Rolling Stone Interview.)

arc (noun) architect (creator)

architect of apartheid
tragic arc a statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, the ~ (South Africa)
the episode is the culmination of the book’s ~
archaeology (noun) architect of the (October 7th) attack
Sinwar was the ~ on Israel (the Israel-Hamas war)
archival archaeology architect of the (nuclear) bomb
Fara has pulled off quite a feat of ~
Enrico Fermi, known as the “~”

Page 51 of 1645
architect of change this has become an issue ~
she was a legendary ~ (a feminist)
in the homeland security arena
architects of the doctrine anyone in the ~ will tell you that...
the ~ remain its strongest defenders (military)
in the legal one
architects of the Final Solution this will be debated in the political arena, not ~
Eichmann was one of the ~
in the legislative arena
architect of (Iraq's) program they would lose this battle ~
"Dr. Germ," the chief ~ for biological weapons (BW)
inside the legislative arena
Architect of Rock and Roll Republicans have the upper hand ~
Little Richard was the “~” (Good golly, Miss Molly!)
in the political arena
architect of the war on terrorism these questions will be debated ~, not the legal one
he is the ~
in academic and professional arenas
deal's (chief) architect develop their languages for use ~
after the ~ was eased out… (hospital merger)
our man in the arena
chief architect Donald J. Trump is ~, he will never stop fighting for us
after the deal's ~ was eased out… (hospital merger)
lose (this battle) in the legislative arena
architected they would ~
♦ “’Bae’ may be in the extreme get-the-fk-out-of-here phrase arena.”
architected (“Where did ‘Bae’ Come From?” by Natasha Zarinsky, Esquire, July
how society is ~ (social justice) 25, 2014.)

architected by FDR arise (verb)

he has ended the American era that was ~ (politics)
arise
architected for snap responses, speed, amplification these are just some of the issues that can ~ (workplace)
the social web is ~ we will deal with those cases as they ~ (sex assault)
*** analysis
arises from the ashes
♦ “There’s no stopping people who want to improve (or improvise) adoption is a miracle that ~ of despair
existing words.” (The editor Merrill Perlman, writing specifically about
the use of “overwhelm” as a noun.)
crisis (of enormous gravity) has arisen
architecture (non-building) a~

architecture of how aristocracy (noun)

the ~ safety is provided (defend police, etc.) rock aristocracy
Architecture of Al Qaeda all of ~ was coming (to see Cat Sevens and Carly Simon)
the ~ (how it is structured, governed, motivated) Cambridge intellectual aristocracy
architecture of our frontal lobes the club was his entrée into the world of ~ (Apostles)
the ~ (Dr. Cora Collette Breuner) ♦ see also cracy (gynocracy, etc.)

information architecture aristocratic (aristocratic wine, etc.)

it’s a masterpiece of ~ (the Nutrition Facts label)
aristocratic wines
♦ “Remember, this a time when the brain is undergoing serious
~ at democratic prices (commercial)
rewiring. The architecture of our frontal lobes, which regulate [sic]
emotion, is shifting, says Breuner.” (“What your teen wishes you
knew about sex education,” Life Kit, NPR, February 11, 2020, by
arithmetic
Cory Turner and Anya Kamenetz.)
parliamentary arithmetic
*** school shootings in the U.S.
Johnson faces exactly the same ~ (as Theresa May)
♦ “With gun control far from sight, schools redesign for student
safety.” (School shootings.) arm (twist arms, etc.)
area (territory) twisted arms to limit
my area behind the scenes, the US government ~…
biology isn’t ~ twist some arms
arena (in / inside the arena) the President needs to ~

in the mental health arena twisted his arm

Page 52 of 1645
 threats might have ~ (to reinstate Benzema) ♦ see also mind (get one’s mind around something)

♦ “Techniques to encourage loyalty down the years haven’t always arm (wrap one’s arm around
been entirely compliant with the outlook of a modern human-
resources department. The former labour cabinet minister Jack Straw something / consolation)
recalled in his memoirs being grabbed by the ‘the goolies’ by his
whip, a method that led to teary-eyed agreement within moments. wrap our arms around the Spartan community
More enlightened recent times mean such tales of robust or physical
twisting of arms, or indeed anything else, are less frequent...” let’s ~ tonight (mass shooting at MSU)
(Political correspondent Chris Mason, BBC Sounds, Six O’Clock
News, “Senior Conservative alleges MPs ‘intimidated’ by Government wrap our arms around each other
whips,” 20/01/2022.) all we can do as a community is ~, love each other
♦ “Cuomo strong-armed rather than cajoled; he used intimidation
rather than seduction to get his way.” (“New York After Cuomo” by wrap our (collective) arms around the victims’
Michael Greenberg, The New York Review, October 7, 2021.) families
*** war, conflict, the military... we are devastated by his tragedy and ~ and friends
♦ “Get them by their balls and their hearts and minds will follow.” (A ♦ “We’ve got to get our arms around this crisis [COVID] so we can get
saying popular among combat soldiers during the Vietnam War who our arms around our economy and make sure that people are safe.
were cynical about US government campaigns to “win the hearts and So...” / “Let’s wrap our arms around the Spartan community tonight
minds” of the Vietnamese people.) (following a mass shooting on campus).” (Both comments are by
Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The first seems to relate to control; the
♦ “We’ll take their hearts and we’ll take their minds.” (Outpost
second one seems to have a physical basis: a hug, or consolation.)
Restrepo, Korangal Valley, Afghanistan.)
♦ “It’s concerning when you have so many deaths back to back, but
arm (get one’s arms around all we can do as a community is wrap our arms around each other,
love each other, ask ourselves what we need to be doing, and then
something) do it.” (Newberry, Florida Mayor Jordan Marlow.)

get his arms around how arm (arm of an organization)

he couldn’t ~ to control COVID (ineffectual leader)
arm of the Kremlin
get their arms around the notion as an ~, Gazprom usually gets its way
nobody can ~ he would not only kill but decapitate her
distribution arm
get our arms around the pandemic Disney's ~, Buena Vista (movies)
we need to ~ and save lives (Gretchen Whitmer)
commercial arm
get our arms around this the Indian Space Research Organization has a ~
we’re going to pull out all the stops to ~ (vaccine roll-
out) political arm
the group's ~
get our arms around it
it’s important to try and ~ and figure out... (a report) evolved into an arm
Teach for America has ~ of the charter-school movement
wrap your arms around all this
it’s hard to ~
arm (configuration)
try and get its arms around arm of the Mediterranean Sea
this is a crisis the department will continue to ~ the Ligurian Sea is an ~
♦ “We’ve got to get our arms around this crisis [COVID] so we can get twin arms
our arms around our economy and make sure that people are safe.
So...” / “Let’s wrap our arms around the Spartan community tonight
in between those ~ of the Solomon Islands archipelago
(following a mass shooting on campus).” (Both comments are by
Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The first seems to relate to control; the
arm (link arms)
second one seems to have a physical basis: a hug, or consolation.)
linked arms
♦ “Humans just can’t fathom a billion dollars. Casually we mix ‘billion’
and ‘million’ in the same sentence, but they’re apples and Death
top scientists ~ to tamp down speculation (pandemic)
Stars. And until we get our arms around that, some fundamental stuff
about the American economy will elude us.” (Contributor Chris Colin,
arm (right arm)
Wired magazine, January, 2020.)
Arafat's right arm
♦ “There was no reason for this to happen. I’m still trying to wrap my
arms around what happened... I don’t know that I ever will.” (The Abu Jihad was ~ (Kalil al-Wazir)
father of a tourist murdered in Budapest.)
General Lee's right arm
*** analysis
"Stonewall" Jackson was ~
♦ There is much stupid confusion between arm (get one’s arms
around something), brain (get one’s brains around something), hand strong right arm
(get one’s hands around something), head (get one’s head around
something), and mind (get one’s mind around something.) There are
the Home Fleet was the ~ of Britain's naval power
multiple possible reasons for this stupid confusion.
arm (at arm’s length)
♦ see also brain (get one’s brains around something)
♦ see also hand (get one’s hands around something) kept his daughter at arm's length
♦ see also head (get one’s head around something) he ~ (because she was a manipulative drug addict)

Page 53 of 1645
held at arm's length ♦ “It was Saturday, 30 July 1588, and Philip II’s long-expected
Armada had arrived off the English Coast...” (The Spanish Armada by
he was ~ by the US for years (an authoritarian leader) Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker. Shakespeare was 24 years old at
*** analysis the time.)
♦ “DISTANCE, n. The only thing that the rich are willing for the poor Armageddon
to call theirs, and keep.” (The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.)

arm (open arms) political “Armageddon”

she would face ~ if his case makes it to a tribunal
open arms, hostility, and indifference
US troops were greeted with ~
turned a Sunday afternoon into Armageddon
the crane collapse ~
greeted us with open arms ♦ see also geddon (chipageddon, etc.), apocalypse (noun), pocalypse
they ~ (gas-pocalypse, etc.)

welcomed Disney with open arms armchair (armchair traveller, etc.)

Orlando and Florida ~ (Magic Kingdom)
armchair analysis
welcomed the Confucius Institute with open arms psychiatrists may not engage in ~ (ethics and politics)
many universities have ~
Armchair Britain
welcome them (back) with open arms Today’s destination is Cornwall (~)
we will ~ (rebellious soldiers)
armchair casuals
♦ "This country has a history of opening its arms. Today, its arms he gets far too much stick from the ~ (English football)
were closed…" (Senator Barbara Boxer, on the failure of the Dream
Act that would have given a path to citizenship to young migrants.)
armchair critic
arm (long arm) the ~s, who have never achieved anything... (sports)

long arm of Iran armchair detective

Hezbollah is the ~ see detective (person)

long arm of the law armchair diagnoses

no matter how long it takes, the ~ will catch up with you ~ (like “toxic” and “narcissist,” etc.)

long-arm statute armchair enthusiast

they are subject to jurisdiction pursuant to Virginia’s ~ I’m no F1 guru, but am an avid ~ and could see... (crash)
*** analysis armchair epidemiologists
♦ When workers stayed in boarding houses and ate communally in a beware ~ who have a solution to everything (pandemic)
dining room, they had to develop a “boardinghouse reach” or risk
going hungry!
~ with their own version of the facts (COVID)

arm (up in arms) Armchair Expert

during an appearance on the ~ podcast... (Dax and
up in arms Monica)
the locals are ~ (recipients of trash from Rome)
one team is ~ after a controversial call (sports) armchair explorers
a tightknit community of ~ (Forest Fenn website)
up in arms over rising crime
the community is ~ armchair fans
they are out of town glory supporting ~ (soccer snark)
got critics up in arms ~ had criticized Southgate’s team selection (3 Lions win)
her response only ~
armchair general
armada (noun) ~s and studio polemicists propound... (war)
armada of vehicles armchair geographers
an ~ arrived and stormed the block (mass shooter’s so, back in England, you had these ~ (Candice Millard)
house)
armchair investigator
small armada he had begun working with another ~ (lab-leak
the Eras Tour employed a ~ of cameras and cameramen hypothesis)
♦ Taylor Swifts Eras Tour concert film has reinvigorated the genre of the ~s are used to a murder being solved in an hour...
the concert documentary / film. In the past, there were just 3 ~s are endorsing the idea that... (murder of a CEO)
stationary cameras. Taylor Swift employed a small armada of
cameras, over 40 of them, including drones and cranes. Viewers Armchair Mountaineer
have been wowed.
the ~ by David Reuther (Editor)
*** the Spanish Armada...
armchair pundits

Page 54 of 1645
 there has been rich fodder for ~ (a boxing match) ♦ Armchair; couch; keyboard; Monday morning; hindsight...

armchair quarterback armed

it’s easy to be an ~, what do you do when... (troubled kid) armed with the information
all the ~s who couldn’t make it as a police officer...
~, officials tracked down the criminals
armchair reflection armed with a microscope
officers are not afforded the luxury of ~ (police
~, he measured… (a scientist)
shootings)
armed with her new mobility
armchair traveller the child begins exploring the world ~
an ~ shouldn’t be giving advice about safety (trekking)
armed with vast computing power
Armchair Voyage ~, scientists will try to model a nuclear blast
see all episodes from ~ (BBC)
armed (only) with her five senses
armchair warriors she makes diagnoses ~ (doctor)
I have zero tolerance for ~ (a veteran)
some shameful ~ on here (BBC HYS boxing) armed with (fresh) search warrants
police arrived ~
armchair travel and adventure
books for ~ armed with cash, good will, and local knowledge
they practice "public diplomacy" ~
real and armchair
he was popular with ~ sailors alike (Tristan Jones) armor (protection)
safety of his armchair armour of obstinacy and willful ignorance
said from the ~ (a response to criticism of police) the Germans are deaf and blind, enclosed in an ~
♦ “Nearly all advice sent to the King by armchair politicians is
impracticable nonsense.” (Don Quixote by Cervantes. Translated by opponent's armor
John Rutherford.) she uncovered a critical chink in her ~
♦ “Some brave keyboard warriors on here tonight.” (Sarcastic
comment on BBC HYS boxing.) / “So easy for you to say from behind chink in his armor
a keyboard.” (“Join the Discussion” snark.) see chink (chink in one’s armor)
♦ “Does bring out the armchair critics, who have never achieved ♦ “Life would be easier if vaccines offered invincible armor.” (Covid
anything, and think they know football.” (Jake 1234 in response to pandemic.)
Grover’s criticism about coach Gareth Southgate. On a BBC HYS,
football.) armory (noun)
♦ “The armchair investigators are used to a murder being solved in an
hour, minus commercials. That includes DNA testing. It’s not TV or a armoury of obstinacy and (willful) ignorance
podcast people. It’s not always easy.” (A commenter about the 2022 the Germans are deaf and blind, enclosed in an ~
University of Idaho killings.)
♦ “Another keyboard coroner with his expert autopsy analysis from in her armory
thousands of miles away.” (Sarcastic comment on message board slyness and guile are simply not ~
about a police shooting.)
♦ “But Fury’s size and everything else in his armoury might be a step
♦ “She called out some of the keyboard cowards with reasoned too far.” (Carl Frampton predicted that Tyson Fury would beat
replies.” (Social media trolls / cyberbullies.) Oleksandr Usyk in their first meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Usyk
♦ “Speaking from both ‘an armchair’ and with hindsight...” (An opinion won. So much for Fury’s “armoury.”)
on the police response to a school shooting.)
arm-twisting
♦ “Law enforcement is paralyzed by this type of Monday Morning
quarterbacking...” (A comment about the police response to a school a lot of arm-twisting
shooting.)
his job requires a ~
♦ “His wait has prompted a flurry of memes and tweets from couch
GMs. (General managers. The 2023 NFL Draft.) army (Arnie’s Army, etc.)
♦ “When we analyze police-involved shootings, we must look to the
totality of the circumstances, and we are expressly forbidden from army of (online) fans
using 20/20 hindsight, because unlike all of us, officers are not the Barbz, the nickname given to Niki Minaj’s ~
afforded the luxury of armchair reflection when they are faced with
rapidly evolving, volatile encounters in dangerous situations.” (An
attorney representing a police officer. From “Family of Donovan Lewis
Arnie’s Army
demand accountability after police killing” by Nick Evans, Ohio the ~ story (fans of Arnold Palmer)
Capital Journal, Sept 2, 2022.)
♦ “In this atlas, Judith Schalansky takes us on a journey to fifty far-
Barmy Army
flung worlds—from Tristan de Cunha to Clipperton Atoll, from the ~ must have been disappointed (English cricket)
Christmas Island to Easter Island... Armchair explorers...will find
themselves in places that exist in reality, but may only be found in the Britney Army
imagination.” (The Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have the ~ (#FreeBritney)
Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky. It’s a
wonderful slight atlas, graphically distinguished, that should be on the
bookshelf of every household with children.)
orange army

Page 55 of 1645
 Verstappen’s ~ guaranteed a unique atmosphere (F1) army (a large group)
Oranje Army army of emojis
the “~” has been amazing (Euro 2024 / Holland fans)
the smiley morphed into a whole ~
Red Army army of fans
at The Old Nags Head, home to the ~ (Manchester)
an ~ broke out in celebration (#FreeBritney)
Tartan Army army of followers
members of the ~ (Scotland’s national football team)
he'll have an ~ (Apolo Ohno at Olympics)
the ~ belts out “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” in London
army of (private) investors
Toon Army
an ~ spotted a chance (GameStop)
Newcastle United’s ~ (“Town” Army)
♦ “At The Old Nags Head, a Man U fan pub, people slump at the bar, army of lobbyists
morose, staring into their pints.” (NPR’s Lauren Frayer.) they hired an ~ and donated generously (politics)
♦.“’Boogie my A**‘ growled a disappointed Sean Connery, at
McLeods Publick House on W Main Street, following Scotland’s loss army of pastors
to Croatia. ‘What have the descendants of Culloden, Pondicherry and evangelicals are spreading rapidly through an ~
Seringapatam, St. Valery, and Tumbledown Mountain come to? It
almost makes me wish I could return to Kafiristan!’” (“Elderly Scottish army of people
Visitor Disappears After Soccer Result,” The Dothan Eagle, Dothan,
Alabama.) it takes an ~ to get you ready (Sandra Oh / Oscars)
♦ “The Geordies are back in Toon.” (Newcastle United 4-1 Paris St- army of statistics
Germain. “It gives you goosebumps the size of coconuts.” That’s an
odd image!) he bolsters his analysis with an ~
♦ Fans of the “Who Weekly” podcast call themselves Wholigans, they army of volunteers
have their own language and inside jokes, and they support the hosts
by subscribing on Patreon.
he recruited an ~ (Chef Jose “We Fed an Island” Andres)
♦ “Hi, are you a Saweetie?” (The rapper greeting people to a private army of (human) volunteers
club in West Hollywood.)
Wikipedia is edited by an ~ (versus Google’s AI
♦ “Swifties are famously passionate about the pop star.” (Fans of the Overview)
popstar Taylor Swift.)
♦ Fans of Mariah Carey are “lambs,” part of the “Lambily,” or “Lamb army of (volunteer) workers
family.” an ~ pounded nails (community playground)
♦ “Hey, my little tater tots...” (Ophelia Nichols, aka Mama Tot, who
has 7.6 million followers.) army of zombies
♦ “It’s part of a boyishness that Musk-eteers really love about him.” they band these computers together into an ~ (botnets)
(Jill Lepore using a term for followers of Elon Musk.)
♦ “Andrew Huberman is such a successful podcaster and wellness
army of Ph.D.s
guru that his most devoted male followers are known by a teasing the vast ~ now roaming the universities
nickname: ‘Huberman Husbands.” (According to Miles Klee of the
Rolling Stone.) army of (poorly paid) migrant workers
♦ Fans of Harry Styles call themselves Harries, not Stylers. Or is it an ~ works in Saudi Arabia
vice versa?
grassroots army
♦ Fans of Justin Bieber are Beliebers.
his war chest and ~ make him an unstoppable juggernaut
♦ Maas’ readers, or “Maas-assins...” (Sarah J. Maas)
♦ “I think what people are worried about in this ad is that he says
*** analysis ‘army of supporters’... We believe the language ‘army of supporters’
♦ “Are these motherfuckers what all the people are screaming about? is not really calling for an army but is calling on people who are
My dog plays drums better than that kid with the big nose.” (The great normal campaign volunteers.” (Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating
boxer Sonny Liston at a Beatles’ concert. From King of the World by Officer of Facebook, about a 2020 political ad. Duh!)
David Remnick.)
around (still around, etc.)
♦ “Manlits; Manlet Virgins; Deaf; LBGT; Stupid; Dick heads; bitch ass
nikkas; Swave Nation; nonexistent; the lamez; test tube babies; still around
babes; 12 year olds; weirdos; Grandchildren of Papi; we stan Tory
not Drake; beliebers; Bums; Fools... (“What’s X’s fan base called” at it is ~ decades after the vaccine (polio in US)
Kanyetothe.com.) ♦ “It might be a surprise to hear that cassette tapes are even around
♦ The word “stan” is a portmanteaux of “stalk” and “fan.” Its meaning anymore...”
is “super fan.” Merriam-Webster has an entry. There is Stan Twitter, *** Johnny, Waylon, Willie, and Kris...
and stans have been known to behave badly on social media in order
to protect their idol from criticism. ♦ “I was a dam-builder / cross a river deep and wide / where steel and
water did collide / a place called Boulder on the wild Colorado / I
♦ “naming a fanbase in general is cringe” (Optimus Promethazine, slipped and fell into the wet concrete below / they buried me in that
Sep 8, 2016.) great tomb that knows no sound / but I am still around...” (The
♦ see also Kingdom (Chiefs Kingdom, etc.), nation (Who Dat Nation, Highwaymen—Highwayman (American outlaws: Live at Nassau
etc.) Coliseum, 1990.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMdeg-WKt1U

Page 56 of 1645
arouse (verb) arsenal of (fire-fighting) tools
a growing ~
aroused suspicions
what they said ~ beauty arsenal
the ~ you can count on (cosmetics)
arrive (a time can arrive, etc.)
growing arsenal
1972 arrived there is a ~ of fire-fighting tools on the market
~, and the world didn’t end (a doomsday cult)
brought history into the arsenal
moment had (finally) arrived Erasmus and his followers ~ of the Reformation
the ~ where she could do such a project (NPR) *** “An arms depot blew up on a military base...”

AI has arrived ♦ On Sunday, January 27, 2002, an arms depot blew up on a military
base in the densely packed Ikeja area of Lagos. A series of blasts
~ for Google search (Google’s AI Overview) shook the city, and chaos reigned as thousands fled, not knowing
♦ “The moment had finally arrived where she could do such a project what was happening. At a canal several miles away, in the darkness,
and feel good about it artistically.” (NPR.) more than a thousand people drowned in a great crowd stampede.
As is common in such stampedes, many of the victims were women
arrive (the equator is arriving, etc.) and children. Read the Wikipedia article “2002 Lagos armoury
explosion.” Wikipedians are wonderful.
arriving again arson (noun)
the equator is ~ (a moving ship)
*** analysis literary arson
♦ When you are traveling on a ship, things can arrive and pass you. this ~ (Puffin Books rewrites Roald Dahl books)
arrive (attainment) ♦ “Gutless goons...gave their approval to this literary arson.” (Puffin
Books and the Dahl estate rewrite Roald Dahl based on
contemporary “sensitivities.”)
arrived *** Motives for arson include...
she is, after just one engagement, a new artist who has ~
♦ Motives for arson include: fraud; effort to hide another crime;
♦ See also comer (up-and-comer, etc.) jealousy; revenge; thrill (pyromaniac, juvenile, sexual); riots /
vandalism; and terrorism.

arsonist (person)
arrive at (an answer, etc.)
puts a blowtorch in the hands of an arsonist
arrive at your answer it basically ~ (a legal ruling / politics)
how did you ~ *** analysis
♦ “I hope you support where I come out (on my decision).” ♦ Arson is to an arsonist as murder is to a _____. (Anticipated
answer: murderer.)
arrow (weapon)
art (work of art)
arrow in his (presidential) quiver
he will use every ~ to get his will edible works of art
her awe-inspiring pie decorations are ~
arrows in their quiver
they have more legislative ~ (politics) work of art, a masterpiece
*** analysis
the winning of the South Pole had been a ~ (Amundsen)
♦ Arrow, bow, and quiver are three words from archery that are used genius, an absolute work of art
figuratively.
it was ~ (a goal scored by Arsenal captain Aubameyang)
arrow (straight arrow)
turn the ocean into works of art
see straight arrow (person) phytoplankton blooms ~ (BBC’s Colourful Planet)
arsenal (amount) ♦ “This is the 70th birthday of one of the most important works of art
in American history. (Sound of opening music to the TV show I love
Lucy.) Yeah, think of it as a work of art...” (Steve Inskeep, introducing
arsenal of medicines “How Desi Arnaz Changed Television And Business History, NPR,
the ~ against biological weapons is limited Morning Edition, Feb 5 2021. By Sonari Glinton. Super!)

arsenal of ploys artery (route)

every salesman has an ~ to gain an advantage artery
arsenal of (top-of-the-line) technology the ~ poured across the US fueled development (a
the team set out last month with an ~ (search team) highway)

arsenal of tools artery on the (old) Silk road

their ~ for evaluating applicants (colleges) the street was an ~ (Jibek Joly in southern Kazakhstan)

Page 57 of 1645
artery of commerce ♦ Much in U.S. society is and always has been and always will be
commercial, promotional, and self-promotional. And our language
the Mississippi River is an ~ reflects it: big, super-, ultra-, giga-, trendy, performative, curated,
boutique, artisanal, craft, custom, heirloom, designer, bespoke,
arteries of (global) trade bedazzled (or is it bejazzled?), uber, meta, hyper, upcycled, -forward,
it is in all our interests that the ~ are kept free (shipping) -informed, -driven, -ized, reinvented, pop-up, verb-up, kinetic, fluid,
deep, massive, generational, transactional, intersectional, insanely
artery of water cool, “try this genius hack to...” In warfare, bombs and missiles have
gone from dumb to smart to brilliant.
the canal is a life-giving ~ (agriculture)
artisanally
clogged artery
Boston's ~ (the Central Artery) artisanally grown
they are ~ from heirloom seeds (Chimayo chili peppers)
underwater arteries
these ~ could be vulnerable to attack (undersea cables) graded papers artisanally
I have ~, as I like say, by hand... (vs. a computer
bustling artery
program)
the seventh floor overlooks a ~ (an avenue)
♦ “They’re artisanally grown from heirloom seeds originally planted by
north-south artery Pueblo Indians.” (Chimayo chili peppers, Chimayo, New Mexico. “It’s
the soil that makes the chili.”)
Route One, a ~ (Jerusalem)
♦ “I’ve been teaching for about twenty years and for that whole time I
rail artery have graded papers artisanally, as I like to say, by hand, on paper,
with a pen or a pencil...” (Watch: YouTube Faculty Spotlight, Gina
Gare du Nord is Europe’s busiest ~ (Paris) Brandolino, University of Michigan Gina Brandolino was
namechecked by NPR’s Neda Ulaby for “A priest explains what ‘The
trade artery Exorcist’ tells us about evil” by Neda Ulaby, NPR, Morning Edition,
attacks on commercial ships in the global ~ (the Red Sea) October 31, 2023.)
*** analysis
Central Artery
♦ Microsoft Word underlines “artisanally” as a mistake. (Or, at least, it
the ~ is clogged with traffic day and night (Boston) did in the past.)
global (trade) artery artwash (verb)
attacks on commercial ships in the ~ (the Red Sea)
artwash the regime
vital artery the government brings western influencers to ~
the Grand Canal was a ~ (China)
♦ Activists vandalized the Pace Gallery in New York City with graffiti
and pasted posters for “art-washing a genocide.” (See “Pace Gallery
commercial and military artery Closes New York Flagship Space for the Day After Being Vandalized
the Gulek Pass has been a major ~ for millennia (Turkey) with Pro-Palestine Messages” by Alex Greenberger, ARTnews,
January 27, 2024.)
Arthurian (adjective)
ascend (verb)
Arthurian figure
he became an ~ in Greek popular culture (Constantine ascending to (worldwide) fame
XI) Amy Winehouse was rapidly ~ (the great singer)
artisanal (adjective) ascend to the height
he has managed to ~ of American power
artisanal hamburgers
meals ranged from ~ to vegan salads (Twitter mess hall) ascended to the heights
she had ~ of stardom (film actor)
artisanal items
using salvaged foods as ingredients in ~ ascended the (leadership) ladder
she ~ in Congress (Pelosi)
artisanal mezcal
♦ “While Winehouse was rapidly ascending to worldwide fame, she
importing ~ for distribution in the U.S. market was also spiraling downward into addiction and tabloid notoriety.”
♦ “Come 2012, there’s a new food vocabulary: authentic, craft, small
batch, artisan, rustic and, of course, local. It’s the opposite of ascendance (noun)
processed, mass produced and factory farmed...” (“Artisanal And
Authentic, The Flavors Of The New Year” by Bonny Wolf, NPR, ascendance of folk music
Weekend Edition Sunday, January 1, 2012.) the 1960s mainstream ~
*** jumping on the “artisanal” bandwagon... ♦ “The Big Bang had been the Kingston Trio’s 1958 surprise #1 hit,
♦ “Artisanal food shop helps Kosovo war-rape survivors earn income ‘Tom Dooley...’” (The 1960s mainstream ascendance of folk music.
and heal.” From the wonderful Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller.)
♦ Artisanal mining supports poor families in the region (the Congo). ascendancy (noun)
*** analysis
♦ As Michael Goldhaber said, “The value of true modesty or humility at its ascendancy
is hard to sustain in the attention economy.” it was the Liberal Hour, when liberalism was ~ (1960s)

Page 58 of 1645
ascent (on the ascent) ask for a positive tweet
I’m not aware of any ~ (Jen Psaki, WH press secretary)
on the ascent
India is ~ (militarily and economically) ask for the (young) boxer
China is ~, and the US seems on the descent this is a brutal ~ (a match in Russia)
his career is ~ (an athlete) ask for (an antiwar) Belgium
seems to be on the ascent it was a hard ~ (troop surge in Afghanistan)
plagiarism ~ ask from Trump
ascent (with the ascent) in a direct ~... (a bill / politics)

with the ascent of the Nazis ask of Trump

her worst political fears came true ~ the Polish President went to Washington with a big ~

with the ascent of Chomsky big ask

linguistics changed drastically ~ what you want is a ~
asking for a change is a ~
ascent (other) he is demanding government documents, a ~
ascent to celebrity brutal ask
Julia examines the famous chef’s ~ (HBO Max) this is a ~ for the young boxer (a match in Russia)
ascent (of his party) to power direct ask
the ~ in 1968 led to… in a ~ from Trump, a provision was put into the bill to...
rapid ascent hard ask
the company has seen a ~ it was a ~ for an antiwar Belgium (Afghan troop surge)
slow the ascent important ask
action to ~ of their currencies the most ~ I have for Afghanistan is that... (Ashraf
Ghani)
ascent, apogee and decline
sport compresses life’s natural trajectory of ~ massive ask
to beat Man U, you must be perfect, and that is a ~
ashes (from the ashes, etc.) (soccer)
from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire tall ask
Turkey rose ~ it may be a ~ to replicated his stats from... (NFL)
from the ashes of the Korean War formal or explicit ask
but ~ we rose (South Korean President) no ~ was ever made (for celebrity to leave Oscars)
from the ashes of apartheid quite the ask
~, Soweto is emerging as a vibrant place… the idea of doing all that is ~ (privacy etiquette / guests)
from the ashes of despair comes with an ask
adoption is a miracle that arises ~ it ~, we need help...
emerged from the ashes ♦ “Just lay out what your specific ask is.” “Our biggest ask was we
wanted...” (Heard on NPR.)
the League ~ of World War I
*** analysis
rose from the ashes ♦ The old print dictionary I use does not list “ask” as a noun: the
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ~ of WW II nominal is “asking.” Online Merriam-Webster has “ask” as a noun and
tags it “chiefly British, informal.” At that entry, click on “Related
♦ Scott Simon: I remember interviewing him once. This would have
Articles” and then click on “What’s a ‘Good Get’? The article is about
been 10 years after the riots. And he told me, ‘Ashes don’t always
both “ask” and “get” as nouns.
mean death. Ashes mean death to yesterday. Ashes may mean life to
tomorrow...’” / Pastor Steven Johnson: In fact, one of our murals at ♦ “There’s no stopping people who want to improve (or improvise)
that first AME is the Phoenix rising from the ashes. (Remembering existing words.” (The editor Merrill Perlman, writing specifically about
Reverend Cecil Murray,” NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday, April 13, the use of “overwhelm” as a noun.)
2024.)
ask (ask for it, etc.)
ask (big ask, etc.)
asking to be killed
ask is that he was just ~ (non-compliant, armed / a police OIS)
really, our ~ we test the alternatives...
asleep (adjective)
ask was
our biggest ~we wanted the conference to... asleep
all the governments are ~ (Middle East)

Page 59 of 1645
♦ “I hope this film shakes people from their slumber.” (The great ♦ See the Wiktionary entry “-ass” and click on “Derived terms.” The
filmmaker and New York Knicks fan Spike Lee.) list is excellent. Wiktionary is wonderful.

asleep (at the switch, etc.) ♦ One analyst categorized these words as follows: (1) intensify an
adjective (“a big-ass wrench”) (2) convert an adjective into a noun for
a person with that trait (“He is a stupid-ass) and (3) resembling (that’s
asleep at the switch some Drake-ass shit he’s singing).
the regulators were ~ (oil spill) ♦ Many linguists associate this construction with the Black community
and AAVE.
asleep at the wheel
see wheel (asleep at the wheel) assassination (character
ASMR assassination)
ASMR angel character assassination
Charlotte, who is called the ~ (gift wrapping) to call him an anti-Semite is ~
calling him a racist is ~
Asmr community
John Butler, a beloved member of the ~ (former farmer) character assassination through silence
inaction can be ~
ASMR Dental Examination and Teeth Cleaning
~ (Lizi ASMR / roleplay / 606,106 views) right-wing character assassination
the film is ~ masquerading as "history"
Asmr moaning
Asmr joi, Asmr roleplay, ~ (porn categories) cleverly orchestrated character assassination
the FBI conducted ~ (US)
food ASMR
~ videos have garnered over 2.4 billion views (TikTok) anonymous character assassination
early uses of the printing press included ~
Lesbian ASMR
~ kissing, licking and mouth fetish political character assassination
it was ~ (a script about John F. Kennedy)
lewd ASMR
~ (a porn category) posthumous character assassination
the Jackson estate calls the HBO documentary a ~
♦ According to a BBC writer, John Butler, the “former farmer” and
“YouTube sensation,” provided tingly or shivery solace to millions
during the COVID pandemic. (BBC, “Asmr: Former farmer, 84, is
cesspool of character assassination
accidental YouTube star,” 14 June 2021.) the Web site is a ~ (gossip site in rural towns)
*** analysis
victim of character assassination
♦ Relaxing; soothing; feeling of personal intimacy; surrendering he was the ~
yourself to somebody else; softly spoken; lush whispers; hushed
tones; Russian and Eastern European accents; sounds; visceral;
tingling sensation; scalp; back of neck... (Features of ASMR.)
accused her of character assassination
he ~
♦ Merriam-Webster added ASMR in January 2021.
♦ “The Internet has brought a whole community of brain tinglers conduct character assassination
together, who can upload and share videos and talk about their I'm not trying to ~
experiences, to their heart’s content.” (BBC Radio 4, Seriously, “Brain
Tingles.”) smells of character assassination
♦ “People who don’t have ASMR don’t really get it... You got to have the criminal case against him ~
a lot of subscribers.” (An ASMR video-maker.)

aspirational (adjective) used character assassination

they ~ against him
aspirational *** Gavrilo Princip, etc.
does it apply to the here and now, or is it ~ (diplomacy) ♦ “On the morning of the 28th of June, 1914, when Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek arrived here, at Sarajevo
ass (bougie-ass, etc.) railroad station, Europe was at peace. None of the European great
powers had been at war with each other for over 40 years... / The
badass July Crisis of 1914 was a ‘Month of Madness’, not because the men
see badass (power) who made it were themselves mad, but because its outcome was
completely catastrophic and completely unnecessary... The
repercussions of the assassination—comparable to the effect of
bougie-ass 9/11—exemplify the transformative power of a terrorist event. But the
promote your ~ class bullshit... murders were not a pretext for a war decided in advance—nor did
they make conflict inevitable.” (Christopher Clark, BBC, “Month of
old-ass Madness,” 23 June 2014.)
I can’t have that ~ man, he would be stealing... ♦ “The nineteen-year-old student [Gavrilo Princip], a Bosnian
recruited by Serbia’s Black Hand terrorist movement, could not
regular-ass believe his luck. He had been standing on Franzjosefstrasse,
my parents were ~ Baby Boomers... bareheaded in the early summer sunshine, depressed over the failure
of a comrade, Nedeljko Čabrinović, to kill the royal couple with a
*** analysis grenade earlier in the day. Then he saw their open-top car take a

Page 60 of 1645
wrong turn off Appel Quay and pass right by him. The lethal logistics astronomical prices
that seem to operate at such moments had transformed error into
opportunity. Two point-blank targets presented themselves, and the ~ of the so-called glamour health spas
Princip’s gun did what it was designed to do.” (Colonel Roosevelt by
Edmund Morris.) astronomical (suicide) rate
♦ “He became hyper focused on that event.” (Thomas Matthew a nation plagued by an ~ (Japan)
Crooks, who nearly assassinated Donald Trump in 2024.)
astronomical sum
assault (noun) this is an ~ (salary)
♦ “Their astronomical returns on investments are now falling back to
global assault earth.” (College endowments / the economy. “Gravity sucks.”)
Prince Harry argued democracy was under “~”
astroturf (verb)
assembly line (noun)
astroturf the (libertarian) ‘Ron Paul Revolution’
well-oiled assembly line did Putin ~ (the Daily Beast)
Hollywood was a slick, ~ (in the 1930s)
♦ “There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should
astroturf (noun)
pursue and how they should be framed. It’s frictionless—one story
after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs astroturf (citizens’) groups
of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire S.G.I. began creating ~
threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.” (“I’ve
Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust” by perpetuate astroturf
Uri Berliner, The Free Press, April 9, 2024.)
corporations and special interest exploit media to ~
*** assembly lines are dangerous...
♦ “A woman died last week after she dropped an AirPod under a grassroots or astroturfs [sic]
conveyor and got caught in a chain that moves the machine while we don’t know whether this is real ~ (protests)
reaching for it...”
♦ “Sometimes it’s very hard to verify. Sometimes it’s very hard to
♦ see also conveyor belt know the motivations of the person... Astro turf, things that appear
real but are fake, right, we’re in this moment where there’s so much
asterisk (attention) fakery...” (Damien Cave, The New York Times.)
♦ “Starting in the late seventies, S.G.I. began hiring lobbyists,
asterisk next to his name contracting with advertising firms, creating astroturf citizens’ groups,
there should always be an ~ (drugs / a boxer) and spending millions of dollars to persuade voters in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri Oregon, and the District of
asterisk beside this victory Columbia to pass lottery initiatives.” (“Scratch That: What we’ve lost
playing the lottery” by Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, October 24,
there will forever be a metaphorical ~ (split decision)
2022.)
with an asterisk *** analysis
this is justice ~ (exoneration came much too late) ♦ Of course, “astroturf” means fake “grassroots.”
♦ see also grassroots (grassroots level, etc.)
giant asterisk
all 3 shootings, there’s a ~ next to them (a policeman) astroturfer (noun)
astir (adjective) astroturfers
~ present themselves as grassroots organizations
astir in the world
great things were ~ (the Renaissance) astroturfers aim
~ to make you think you’re an outlier when you’re not
set the baseball world astir
the news ~ astroturfers claim
astray (direction) ~ to debunk myths that aren’t myths at all
astroturfing
gone astray
science has ~, gone off the rails, many times... astroturfing
♦ “Follow the prophet, don’t go astray / Follow the prophet, he knows ~ masks the sponsor, who is not grassroots
the way.” (A Mormon children’s song.) “~” creates the appearance of a grass-roots campaign
astride (position) asylum (insane asylum, etc.)
astride the Red Sea and the Sahel insane asylum
Sudan, ~... (geopolitics) NYC trains are ~s, so is this thread... (crime)
*** analysis
♦ This preposition means to have one leg on either side.
radical progressive insane asylum
it’s a ~ and that’s why I left (The View / Meghan
astronomical (adjective) McCain)
astronomical running the asylum
the odds are ~ the prisoners are ~ (“woke” universities)

Page 61 of 1645
 the inmates have been ~ (university activists) have people come together ~ (party)
♦ “The prisoners are running the asylum at SFSU... I was ambushed
and physically hit twice by a man.” (A Riley Gaines tweet. Riley within the cloistered atmosphere
Gaines is a woman and a famous swimmer. The man was wearing a she felt secure ~ (psychiatric ward)
dress. Riley had just given a speech at San Francisco State
University about saving women’s sports for women.) in this highly charged atmosphere
♦ Ben Smith of Semafor: Do the think the Times (The New York ~ the bombings started (Saudi Arabia)
Times) let the inmates run the asylum for too long? / Joe Kahn of The
New York Times: I wouldn’t use those words. I do think that there was in a calm atmosphere
a period of peak cultural angst at this organization, with the ~ we tend to win the debate
combination of the intensity of the Trump era, COVID, and then
George Floyd. The summer of 2020 was a crazy period... And those
things just frayed nerves everywhere.”
in an (intensely) partisan atmosphere
~, reform is very difficult (US Congress)
Athens (Athens of Asia, etc.)
in a safe, discreet atmosphere
Athens of Asia exploring her girl/girl fantasies ~ (brothel)
Samarkand briefly was the ~ (Tamerlane)
atmosphere (atmosphere of trust, etc.)
“Athens of Cuba”
locals christened it the ~ for its cultural life (Matanzas) atmosphere
the ~ inside the MGM Grand arena was festive
Athens of the North at the opening of the trial, the ~ was electric
Edinburg has been called the ~ since the early 1800s
atmosphere of acceptance
*** analysis
promote an ~ for new staff members
♦ The Wikipedia article “Edinburgh” includes 14 hits for “Athens.” That
article lists four comparisons: (1) Castle Rock / the Acropolis (2) Leith atmosphere of (open) access
/ Piraeus (3) the Scottish Enlightenment / Ancient Greek philosophy
and (4) Greek Revival Architecture / the Greek Temple. Of course,
an ~ at administrative buildings (pre-9/11)
there are many differences! But the epithet makes a good case.
Wikipedians are wonderful. atmosphere of (such sacred) ceremonies
the spiritual ~ (Wicca)
ati (glitterati, etc.)
atmosphere of distrust
glitterati adding to the ~ was… (Middle East)
the ~ of the art, music and fashion worlds... (party)
atmosphere of (funereal) gloom
Tik Tokkeratti an ~
the ~ (used by Kirsten Fleming / NYP)
atmosphere of stereotypes
Twitterati an ~ among the restaurant workers (about who tips)
indignation among the ~ about...
atmosphere of tolerance
wokerati the ~ he had seen on US television (towards gays)
she rails against the tofu-eating ~ (UK’s Suella
Braverman) atmosphere of trust
*** analysis
they established an ~ (US company in China)
♦ “Bieberati”? It sounds right! atmosphere of denial and repression
♦ Type “literati” into Wiktionary, click on “Derived terms,” and you will an ~ (pedophilia and the priesthood)
find a nice list that includes “Scouserati”! Wiktionary is wonderful.
♦ see also riat (commentariat, etc.) atmosphere of hopelessness and poverty
Gaza's ~
atmosphere (in / within an
atmosphere of hostility and distrust
atmosphere) the ~ (Middle East)
in an atmosphere of suspicion atmosphere of a (medieval) market-pilgrim town
they live ~ the old quarter had the ~ (Lhasa)
in an atmosphere of tension and gloom atmosphere at Central Command
people resumed their lives ~ (after rioting) the ~ was one of confidence
in a post-Sept.11 atmosphere atmosphere on the plane
security concerns ~ the ~ remained calm (hijacking)
in a carnival atmosphere carnival atmosphere
discussion should not have to be conducted ~ there was a ~ (peaceful anti-war protest)
in a welcoming atmosphere family atmosphere

Page 62 of 1645
 companies used to have a ~ ~ are important in a restaurant
it's a ~ (Wild West Weekend at historic village)
environment or atmosphere
party atmosphere does this create a new ~ (Supreme Court rules on NCAA)
a ~ had taken over
the ~, the trinket booths (Gay Pride parades) food, atmosphere, music
~ (New Orleans)
team atmosphere
create a ~ (sports) size, location and atmosphere
think about company ~ (looking for a job)
work atmosphere
a ~ notorious for backbiting atmosphere prevails
an accepting ~ throughout the Dutch Caribbean (gays)
classroom atmosphere
he created a ~ in which we could say anything enjoy that atmosphere
some people don’t ~ (Virgin Galactic vs. SpaceX)
hometown atmosphere
creating a ~ for Atlanta’s transplants (sports bars) poison the atmosphere
fear and distrust can quickly ~ (epidemic)
pressure-cooker atmosphere ♦ “For me to be here and to sample the atmosphere, I don’t think I’ll
the accusations underscore the ~ in the region see or hear an atmosphere like this again. The atmosphere was just
something that took my breath away... I have never seen anything
anti-immigration atmosphere like this before. I’ve played at Anfield when there is a superb
atmosphere but this is something else, something special.” (Alan
Sept. 11 has not yet led to a massive ~ Shearer on Liverpool’s amazing victory against Barcelona in a
Champion’s League second leg semifinal.)
accepting atmosphere
♦ “The atmosphere was amazing, off the scale, absolutely lunatic.”
Amigos in the Dominican Republic has an ~ (gays)
(Steve Bunce about Fury-Whyte in front of 94,000 fight fans at
Wembley Stadium.)
inviting atmosphere
US's ~ makes terrorist activities inevitable *** analysis
♦ “It was all around us, like the air we breathed.”
freewheeling atmosphere
Krasnoyarsk's ~ atomic bomb
electric atmosphere atomic bomb for poor people
the ~ in the city when a pride event is in town terrorism was the ~ (Pablo Escobar)

friendly atmosphere cruise missiles and atomic bombs

the ~ that originally drew foreigners to Wisconsin your bodies are our new ~ (suicide bombers)
♦ The film director Ridley Scott called AI a “technical hydrogen
liberal atmosphere bomb.”
Khujand had a surprising ~ (Tajikistan) *** “Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds”

peaceful atmosphere ♦ “In 1945, news reached the camps that the US now possessed the
atomic bomb. According to Solzhenitsyn, this unexpected
preserving the ~ (synagogue after 9/11) development gave hope to many prisoners, who began to pray for
atomic war.” (“On The Prison Highway, The gulag’s silent remains,”
poisonous atmosphere by Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 30, 2010.)
a "~" has descended on the Times (firings) ♦ “I felt no remorse or guilt that I had bombed the city.” (Charles W.
Sweeney, pilot of the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on
supportive atmosphere Nagasaki in World War II.)
this ~ (at a psychiatric hospital) ♦ “I don’t feel any guilt or blame about it. I think my view really is if we
a ~ for scholarly development (university) hadn’t done it someone else would have. And it would be with us in
any case.” (Lilli S. Hornig, who worked on the Manhattan Project.
toxic atmosphere From “The Bomb,” PBS, 2015.)
political leaders have contributed to a ~ (politics) ♦ According to General Eisenhower, the four “tools of victory” that
won World War II were the bazooka, the jeep, the C-47 Skytrain, and
volatile atmosphere the atomic bomb.
it's a ~ (national outrage over child abuse by clergy) *** analysis
♦ The original target for the second atomic bomb was Kokura. But
carnival-like atmosphere because Kokura was clouded in, the bomb was dropped on
a ~ outside the soccer stadium Nagasaki. It is strange why “Nagasaki” is not synonymous with “bad
luck” or “bad fortune.” In the U.S., “Hiroshima and Nagasaki” are
cauldron-like atmosphere simply irreversible binominals, like “bread and butter” and “mac and
the energy of the crowd in the ~ (World Cup) cheese,” and little else. The Gen-Z products of American education
may never have heard of either city.
quiet, safe and orderly atmosphere atomization (noun)
promote a ~ (public library)
cost, taste and atmosphere atomization of literary journalism

Page 63 of 1645
 the ~ and getting paid for it (online reviewers) ♦ “Trump has been bought for $1 billion by Big Oil. Just a payoff to kill
the IRA and the Green New Deal. We know what will happen. More
atomization of the rap market fires, more climate disasters, more death. The L.A. fires are preview
of more coming atrocities.” (An overwrought post on X by Senator Ed
the ~ Markley, Democrat, Massachusetts, about the 2025 L.A. wildfires.)
atrocity (groups) ♦ “January 6th was an atrocity, it was one of the worst moments in
American history.” (Sunny Hostin, The View.)
atrocity against (Venezuela’s) sovereignty *** war, conflict, the military...
this is an ~ (US refuses to withdraw diplomats) ♦ “George Fitch, Christmas Eve, Nanking China, 1937. What I am
about to relate is a story which I feel must be told, even if it is seen by
atrocity of slavery only a few. I cannot rest until I have told it, and, perhaps fortunately, I
the appalling ~, which stains our history (Prince Charles) am one of a very few who are in position to tell it. It is not complete,
only a part of the whole, and God alone knows when it will be
atrocities such as Tulsa finished. I pray it may be soon, but I am afraid it is going to go on for
many months to come. I believe it has no parallel in modern history.”
tales about ~ (Eric Deggans) (The opening to the brilliant and affecting 2007 documentary film
Nanking. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed by the
atrocity exhibition Japanese, and tens of thousands of females were raped.)
the art world as an ~ of cult personalities ♦ “Following the meeting, a Japanese gentleman approached me and
said that my statements about the atrocities in Nanking were not true.
caste-based atrocities They could not be true, for Japanese were incapable of such acts...”
reporting on ~ (Khabar Lahariya) (George Fitch. From the brilliant and affecting 2007 documentary film
Nanking.)
American-Internment Atrocity ♦ SECTION FIVE Killing and Atrocities: “No Honor Here, No Virtue.”
“The Other WWII ~” (NPR) Chapter ONE: The Full Spectrum of Atrocity. Slaying the Noble
Enemy. Gray Areas: Ambushes and Guerrilla Warfare. Dark Areas:
human rights atrocities Slaying the Ignoble Enemy. Black Areas: Executions. Chapter TWO:
The Dark Power of Atrocity. The Problem: “Righteousness Comes
it’s a stark account of ~ (detention camps) Out of a Gun Barrel [?]. A Solution: “I’ll Shoot You Myself.” The
Lesson and the Greater Problem. The Empowerment (Empowerment
tales about atrocities Through Death) (Empowerment Through Atrocity) (Terrorism) (Killing
~ such as Tulsa (Eric Deggans) Empowerment). Bonding to Leaders and Peers. Atrocity and Denial.
Chapter THREE: The Entrapment of Atrocity: Burning Bridges and
redlining and criminal justice atrocities One-Way Streets. Enabling the Enemy. Chapter FOUR: A Case
Study in Atrocity. Chapter FIVE: The Greatest Trap of All: To Live
~ (Andrew Perry / reparations for Blacks) with That Which Thou Hath Wrought. The Price and Process of
*** various groups... Atrocity. The Cost of Compliance. And the Cost of Noncompliance.
The Greatest Challenge of All: To Pay the Price of Freedom. (On
♦ “This is an atrocity [woman: “Yes it is”] and to the State of Georgia
Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society,
it’s an audacity!” [Women: “Yes,” “Yes,” “mmm...”] (State
Revised Edition, by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman.)
representative Carl Gilliard, Chairman of the Georgia Legislative
Black Caucus, about the Sapelo Island dock collapse, which killed 7 *** analysis
people.)
♦ When a term can mean anything to anyone, or includes everyone, it
♦ “As Moth and Sani traverse the landscape of the South that was the means nothing.
site of so many atrocities committed against their ancestors...” (“This
♦ Refers to nothing real.
Road Trip Is A Winding, Poetic Journey Through Ancestry, Trauma
And Art” by Caitlyn Paxson, NPR, Book Reviews, August 21, 2021.
The book under review is Me (Moth) by Amber McBride, a “debut YA
atrophy (verb)
novel-in-verse.”)
atrophied
♦ “Now, I thought, we’ll see him examine how his work—so often
focused on the achievements of virtuous white, male Americans—
its military capacity has ~ (NATO)
may have made it tougher for tales about atrocities such as Tulsa to the population ~ (Kirkenes, Norway)
find similar space.” (“Opinion: Tom Hanks Is A Non-Racist. It’s Time these actors know their influence has ~ (Alec Baldwin,
For Him To Be Anti-Racist” by Eric Deggans, NPR, Opinion, June 13, etc.)
2021.)
*** analysis
♦ “Their experience is framed by a pointed portrayal of the art world
as an atrocity exhibition of cult personalities to be sipped like wine by ♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice
bored, cynical critics and the disingenuous investors of a luxury Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary
cartel.” (“The Sound of ‘Candyman’ Comes From A Hauntingly and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples
Cyclical History” by DeForrest Brown, NPR Music, August 27, 2021.) of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia;
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf;
♦ “The [school] board failed to prevent the atrocity that happened deformed; lame; limping...
down that hallway.” (The aggrieved parents of a female student
whose breasts were groped by her female teacher at a school in New
Jersey. The parents are suing.)
attached (attributed)
♦ “‘Sanctuary,’ a bit like ‘havens’ and ‘orphanages,’ is a very nasty attached to depression
term that is usually devoid of meaning or certainly devoid of
accuracy.” (Duncan McNair, the CEO of London-based charity Save
there is a severe social stigma ~
the Asian Elephants. From “Elephants are often snatched by
poachers who commit atrocities ranging from killing mothers in front attached to it
of their children to repeatedly stabbing baby elephants into cross burning has a history of racial intimidation ~
submission.” From “Expert warns Americans about elephant tourism
after law student, 22, is killed in Thailand: ‘Recipe for disaster’” by attached to that
Andrea Margolis, Fox News, Jan. 12, 2025. Read at The New York no undue significance should be ~
Post.)

Page 64 of 1645
attachment (noun) fend off some (major) attacks
he has had to ~ (a politician)
attachment to him ♦ “Harris clearly had spent a lot of time preparing lines of attack
younger black folk have less of an ~ (an older celebrity) aimed at getting under Trump’s skin and some of them definitely
worked.” (NPR’s Tamara Keith after the first Harris-Trump debate.)
attack (verb)
attacked
attacked the government’s plans
conservative rebels have ~ (UK / COVID lockdown) attacked from above and below
the ice is being ~ (floating ice shelf / global warming)
attack (under attack, etc.)
attend (verb)
under attack
the feeling in Egypt was that all Arabs were ~ attended these protests
South Korean culture is ~ (insults about food) violence has ~

under attack worldwide

audience (play to the audience, etc.)
he read of how Muslims were ~ see play (play to the audience, etc.)
come under attack auger (verb)
such practices have ~ as cruel to animals (cages)
his methodology has ~ augers well
♦ James Mossman: “You say that you don’t care what the critics write this ~ for future attempts to find the wreck (conditions)
about you, your work, yet you got very angry with Edmund Wilson
once for commenting on your work, and you let off some very heavy aura (noun)
field guns at him, not to say multiple rockets, so you must have
cared...” / Vladimir Nabokov: “I never retaliate when my works of art aura of assertiveness
are concerned. Here the arrows of adverse criticism cannot scratch she projects an ~ and self-confidence
let alone pierce the shield of what disappointed archers call my self-
assurance. But I do reach for my heaviest dictionary when my
scholarship is questioned...” (Vladimir Nabokov, BBC Author Archive
aura of prosperity
Collection, “James Mossman talks to Russian writer Vladimir Turkish businessmen sported an irresistible ~
Nabokov in this 1970 interview.”)
aura of an (18th-century English) landscape
attack (noun) the pond possesses the ~
attacks on athletes aura of a shrine
personal ~ at games (fan abuse) the images in the hall add the ~ (SuAnne Big Crow)
attacks on their self-esteem and dignity aura of unreality
dealing with ~ (stereotypes, etc.) an ~ descended over the mountain (disaster)
attacks against Saudi Arabia aura of doom and gloom
he condemned Western media ~ (Abdullah) an ~
attack ads archive's aura
we are seeing ~ of every kind (election) the exhibit has an ~ of dense, ordered information
attack mode romantic aura
she is in a real ~ the pond possesses the ~ of s landscape portrait
media attack projects an aura
he condemned Western ~s against Saudi Arabia she ~ of assertiveness and self-confidence
mob attacks punctured Slater's aura
protecting individuals from social-media ~ he ~ of invincibility (surfing)
direct attack auspicious (adjective)
under ~ you could use the quivering-lip approach
auspicious
latest attack the timing of the move is ~ as the country is...
this ~ stung local parole officials (calls to end system)
auspicious debut
personal attacks the album is an ~ for the group (good reviews)
~ on athletes at games (fan abuse)
ladling criticism or indulging in ~ auspicious start
it was an ~ to an audacious career (in music)
lines of attack
Harris prepared ~ aimed at... (politics) auspicious time
the news came at an ~ in the U.K.

Page 65 of 1645
auspicious politically authentically (live authentically, etc.)
everything is ~, Grant will surely be elected...
authentically me
less than auspicious I love who I am...I’m ~
her arrival in England was ~ (a refugee)
he was appointed under ~ circumstances authentically Polynesian
Americans didn’t know or care much for ~ foods (1950s)
not an auspicious beginning Tiki bars made no pretense to being ~ (1950s)
this was ~ (a bad date, but they ended up married
anyway) authentically be myself
I could just ~...
not an auspicious debut
alas, it was ~ (bad reviews) authentically listening
♦ “Punxsutawney Phil is predicting six more weeks of winter, but our experience of ~ to people and delivering (suboxone)
Staten Island Chuck...”
♦ “Every sign points to her having a huge year in 2022...”
authentically representing
expression is all about ~ your experiences
♦ “That’s a bad sign!”
♦ “Omens of ill-luck will follow those who pay attention to them.” (A authentically connect
saying.) the company uses influences to ~ with audiences (beer)
♦ “The Spouter Inn. Peter Coffin. Coffin? Spouter? Rather ominous in
that particular connection, thought I...” (Moby Dick.) authentically sharing
*** analysis she is ~ (Reesa Teesa “Who TF Did I Marry”)
♦ This comes from the Latin for bird and see and means, “The omens authentically visible
are good.” At certain times and in certain places, the direction of flight
of a bird might determine whether or not a camel caravan set out that being ~ is an art form, my purpose is to empower you...
day. Romans would cut open a bird and study the entrails. The early
Puritans in the US avidly studied nature for signs. boldly and authentically
Barbiecore celebrates living ~ (Kim Culmone)
authentic (groups)
participate authentically
Authentic the ability to ~ in public life (trans, nonbinary people)
~ is the name of LL Cool J’s 13th studio album
viewed authentically
authentic casting when ~, decency... (MSNBC’s Stacey Abrams)
shouldn’t ‘~’ apply to all minorities (Mirren cast as Meir)
live and exist authentically
authentic experiences you have the right to ~ as yourselves without fear (gays)
San Pancho is a hippie town, with tourists searching for ~
live and love authentically
authentic relationships as we see more athletes ~ (Fifa 2023 Women’s World
building ~ (Aliza Licht, author of On Brand) Cup)
authentic self *** various groups...
see self (authentic self, authentic selves) ♦ “Every member of our community has a right to live and exist
authentically as themselves without fear. Hate motivated threats of
authentic voices violence that infringe upon that right are not tolerated in
Massachusetts in any capacity.” (US Attorney Rachael S. Rollins.
a think tank that centers ~ (the New Lines Institute) From “Man who sent bomb and mass shooting threats to Merriam-
Webster over gender-inclusive entries pleads guilty” by Jon Haworth,
authentic and healthy ABC, Sept 17, 2022.)
a filtered approach to life is not ~ (BeReal vs. Instagram) ♦ “I want to take on that role of being the Black woman that’s going to
stand up for the girls that may not have a voice...I don’t care what
more authentic anybody has to say about me. I love who I am...I’m authentically me.”
BeReal is a ~ experience than Instagram (Louisiana State University basketball player Angel Reese.)
♦ “Once I started living more authentically in my life, whether that’s
super authentic just how I present myself or coming out to them as trans, I think
everything here is ~... (Nova Music Festival Exhibition) they’ve all said to me it’s really incredible to see me just live my
authentic self and how I’ve exuded a different level of confidence, and
consistent and authentic how it just fits with who I am as a person.” (Rebecca, born 1995.
the Philly Eagles keep ~ with their story (branding) From “Quinn: Canada’s transgender footballer on being ‘visible’ and
playing at the Olympics” by Katie Gornall & Katie Falkingham, BBC
Sport, 23 September 2020.)
feels authentic
trans’ right to live any way they ~ and comfortable ♦ “More than 96 athletes in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup are out
today... [R]oughly 13% of the players in the 2023 World Cup identify
as LGBTQ+. Outsports reports Australia leads the way with 10 openly
present themselves as authentic gay players, which Jackie J dubs ‘The Gayest Team 2k23.’” (“Fifa
those who ~ and those who expose the inauthentic 2023 Women’s World Cup: ‘Good, queer joy’ on and off the pitch” by
♦ see also self (authentic self, authentic selves) Aileen Weintraub, BBC, 18th August 2023.” See also “Lisa De
Vanna’s allegations highlight tensions in Australia’s complex [italics
♦ for quotations, see authenticity (groups)

Page 66 of 1645
mine] football culture” by Samantha Lewis, ABC Australia, Analysis, race and authenticity
Sport, 18 Oct 2021.)
pop culture holds sway over our conversations about ~
♦ “One of the best things I was able to learn during my conversation
with Rosalia is that expression is all about authentically representing realness and authenticity
your experiences. No rules, no hesitation...” (Anamaria Sayre, from
“Rosalia is unafraid to pull from every corner of the world,” All Things his honesty has been framed as a testament to his ~
Considered, April 24, 2022. During the interview, Rosalia expressed (actor)
her love for diversity. Just seven months later, Rosalia would be
accused on NPR of Latino-fishing, along with Ariana Grande and anxiety of authenticity
Chiara King, etc. See “How Latin identity became fodder for content” the ~ is a disease with damaging symptoms (New
by Manuela Lopez Restrepo, NPR, Pop Culture, December 10,
2022.) Orleans)
♦ “‘Now I know so much,’ she said of royal formality. ‘I’m so glad I
the specter of cultural appropriation is a symptom of ~
didn’t then because I could just authentically be myself without so
much preparedness.’” (Meghan Markle, wife of Prince Harry.) burden of ‘authenticity’
chef David Chang on the ~ (food)
♦ “That was my inspiration, seeing another Black woman who was a
hundred percent authentically herself.” (An NBC Nightly News story,
about a Black woman who performs with the Radio City Rockettes.
evidence of authenticity
She was referring to a previous Black woman who had performed her political handicaps became ~ (Kamala Harris / 2024)
with the Radio City Rockettes.)
*** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
idea of authenticity
the ~ and ethnicity
♦ “Fashion is a form of self-expression and Barbiecore celebrates
living boldly and authentically.” (Kim Culmone, senior vice president
and global head of design for Barbie and fashion dolls at Mattel Inc.
questions of authenticity
The summer of 2023 was the summer of “Barbenheimer.”) he’s always been challenged by these ~ (singer Drake)
♦ “Being authentically visible is an art form. It’s pure energy. My
purpose is to empower you to bring that to life.” (A speaker. $5K+.)
Essays on Authenticity
The Artificial White Man: ~ (Stanley Crouch / 2004)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
♦ “‘Seeing another black woman who is authentically herself.’ What Quest for Authenticity
does that mean?” (A commenter at NBC Nightly News, about a Black The Influencer Industry: The ~ on Social Media (Hund)
woman who is a current member of the Radio City Rockettes. That
Black woman had referred to a previous Black woman who was a struggle for authenticity
member of the Radio City Rockettes, saying, “That was my
inspiration, seeing another Black woman who was a hundred percent Clinton, in her ~, is not alone (she rides NY subway)
authentically herself.”)
anxiety over authenticity
*** analysis
~ be damned...
♦ Refers to nothing real.
♦ see also self (authentic self, authentic selves) trade your authenticity for approval
don’t ~ (a T-shirt)
authenticity (groups)
harvest authenticity
authenticity if either party wants a sweep, the must figure out how to
~ is a moving target (cultural identity) ~
~ is a loaded word when it comes to food
my ~ is my rebellion, it’s my F.U. (Viola Davis) praised her authenticity
her apparent lack of airs, her ~ (Jennifer Lawrence) he ~ (the father of an 8-year-old transgender)
*** various groups...
authenticity, empathy, and vision
♦ “You have to be authentic, I want you to be authentic, your story
lead with ~ to create a better future... matters.” (Maimouna Youssef to young artists about social-justice
music and the new Grammy merit award for “Best Song for Social
authenticity, courage and agency Change.”)
Kristen inspires leaders to lean into their ~ (a speaker) ♦ “And I think the other thing about young people, Nic will tell you, if
you’re not authentic they’re going to know it. Authenticity, we hope,
unvarnished authenticity will bring young people into the story.” (Ibram X. Kendi, quoted in “His
his ~ (the boxer Gervonta Davis) mission: changing how we think about racism” by Janell Ross, Time,
February 27 / March 6, 2023. Kendi has reprised his book How To Be
ethnic authenticity An Antiracist with How to Be a (Young) Antiracist, co-authored by
he examines the problem of ~ in contemporary America young-adult novelist Nic Stone.)
he bridged ~ and canonical modernism (artist Oscar ♦ “Gypsy people, they’re genuine people, you know, they are genuine
people.” (The boxer Ricky Gorman.)
Howe)
♦ “Keepin’ it real...” (Whatever “real” is.)
appropriation and authenticity ♦ “Straight Actors in Gay Roles: The New Blackface?” by Glennisha
he navigates the aesthetic pitfalls of ~ (A Different Man) Morgan.
♦ “Experimental Theatre, Purdue / September 12-October 1, 1967 /
hope and authenticity Of Mice and Men / by John Steinbeck / Directed by Joe Stockdale.”
she is a leader committed to spreading a message of ~ (From the playbill. The character Lennie was played by James Earl
Jones and the character Crooks was played by Jones’ father, Robert
kindness, authenticity, empathy, and inclusion Earl Jones. From Stages: A Life in the Theatre by Joe Stockdale.
storytelling that powers ~ (a speaker / $7K+) Simply replacing a white actor with a Black actor was not as easy as

Page 67 of 1645
it sounds in the context of the play, but Steinbeck was all for it and dull statistics and Venn diagrams, her disregard for what she called
Robert Earl Jones was overjoyed to play the part.) ‘lovely speeches,’ her disdain for introspective questions about her
‘moment.’” (“The Ascent: Can Kamala Harris defy her doubters—and
♦ “OG, short for original gangster, is a compliment for somebody who
end the Trump era?” by Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, October 21,
is exceptional or authentic.” (AAVE.)
2024. No.)
♦ “My son was suicidal, and I knew that celebrating who he was, and
♦ Bohemians; freaks; hipsters; natives; super-natives (recently arrived
his gender and his authenticity was the piece that was going to keep
appropriators, colonizers); newcomers; young people; poseurs;
him alive. So we leaned into that celebration. We threw a party the
permanent residents; tourists; (post-Katrina) transplants; yuppies; ...
day we changed the name and pronouns.” (A mother.)
(Types and groups of people mentioned in “Anxiety and authenticity:
♦ “I think it’s just being authentic and being proud of who I am. It just Are ‘super-natives’ loving New Orleans to death?” by C.W. Cannon,
felt good, I guess...” (Megan Rapinoe in 2012 about publicly coming The Lens: Focused on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, June 1,
out as a homosexual.) 2018.)
♦ “The word ‘complicated’ always hovers in the stories of ♦ “On Love Island, the only way to seem authentic is to submit to the
Pretendians.” (“A Professor Claimed To Be Native American. Did she artifice.” (The U.K. reality-TV show.)
know she wasn’t?” by Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, February
♦ That’s a funny thing about being a content creator, though, right?
26, 2024.)
You are trying to make money off your audience, and obviously
♦ “[Her] scholarship is foundationally flawed and academically sometimes you have to behave in ways that you wouldn’t be
dishonest, as everything she says or writes purports to be said or behaving if the audience weren’t there watching you. You and your
written by someone with an American Indian perspective, which she audience are just supposed to operate as if that’s not the case. /
has never had and will never have... The TAAF determined that she Yeah, it gets very meta... (“Pokimane” by David Marchese, The New
is Mexican-American and not an American Indian from the United York Times Magazine, April 30, 2023.)
States or Mexico.” (Tribal Alliance Against Frauds /TAAF.)
♦ “What’s missing matters.” (BeReal vs. Instagram.)
♦ “As I mentioned, I come from Guam, which is a U.S. Territory, one
♦ “Social media praised her style, humor, and authenticity.” (Dakota
of the last remaining colonies in the world.” (Craig Santos Perez
Johnson after appearance on Ellen DeGeneres show.)
accepting the 2023 National Book Award for poetry for his book,
unincorporated territory [amot]. His biography is emblematic of ♦ Authentic casting; Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Jewface
millions of diaspora people in terms of residency, language, and controversies; “deaf is not a costume” (Marlee Matlin); impersonation;
values. Guamanian “Chamorro Warriors” have a storied history of acting; playing (a minority); caricature; stereotype; “really know it” (an
service in the US military; Perez seems to hate the military. Ned ethnicity / sexuality / gender preference / able-bodied status); respect;
Blackhawk, who won the award for nonfiction at the same ceremony disrespect... (Language relating to authenticity from “‘Why don’t Jews
for his book The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the play Jews?’—David Baddiel on the row over Helen Mirren as Golda
Unmaking of U.S. History, is similarly emblematic. Both men Meir,” by David Baddiel, The Guardian, 12, Jan 2022.)
prominently joined the demonstration at the end of the ceremony
♦ “The scene floored me because Brownie, played masterfully by the
calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.)
Cayuga actor Gary Farmer, was so familiar to me: a strange, large
♦ "Most of the young people here do not know anything about their Indian man, at once unapologetically crazy and tender. I know so
history. They don't speak the language. But tell them they are not many guys like that—older Native men who might seem tough and
Circassian, and they will kill you." (Yinal T'haghapsau, a Circassian stern from across the room, but who will talk openly about their
who was born in and grew up in Jordan. His great-great-grandfather rawest feelings when you get to know them.” (“Rez Life: Sterlin
fled the czar's armies in the northern Caucasus in the 1860's. Yinal Harjo’s genre-mixing, cliché-exploding series captures coming of age
left Jordan and lived in the Caucasus for a year, but returned to as a Native kid like no TV show before it” by David Treuer, The
Jordan when he realize how hard it would be to transplant himself in Atlantic, September 2022.)
his ancestral country.)
♦ “In each production I saw, the performances laid some claim to
♦ According to Wikipedia, “The Language Movement catalyzed the post-dramatic authenticity. There was an overwhelming sense that
assertion of Bengali national identity in East Bengal and later East pretending—in the theatre!—has become not just unfashionable but
Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, passe. (The German scholar and dramaturge Florian Malzacher has
including the 6-Point Movement and subsequently the Bangladesh written elegantly about avoiding theatre’s ‘representational trap.’)
Liberation War and the Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987. Everywhere in Avignon we were in communication with ‘the real’: no
In Bangladesh, 21 February is observed as Language Movement fourth wall went unbroken; actors almost invariably called attention to
Day, a national holiday.” Most Bengalis in East Pakistan spoke themselves as actors. Sometimes they were actually non-actors
Bengali, with its own Bengali alphabet. But the official language of playing themselves...” (“State Of Play: Politics and ‘the real’ at the
West Pakistan was Urdu, with a Perso-Arabic script. West Pakistan Festival d’Avignon” by Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, August 5,
tried to force Urdu on East Pakistan. This was a huge problem. 2024.)
Especially because Eastern Pakistan had 44 million people, versus
♦ “I want people coming here to see everything here is super
25 million in West Pakistan. At the same time, many Urdu-speaking
authentic. You can’t fake it. You can’t deny what happened.” (Yaron
Muslim Biharis from eastern India, who had fled to East Pakistan,
Ilovich about the exhibit, “The Nova Music Festival Exhibition:
found themselves with the wrong language in Bangladesh and
October 7th 06:29am—The Moment Music Stood Still.”)
became “stranded Pakistanis.” Many were able to immigrate to
Pakistan, but, over the course of decades, they became shunned ♦ “If either party wants a sweep, they have to figure out how to
both in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Tens of thousands of them live in harvest authenticity. That’s who wins. Trump is authentic. Harris was
camps in Bangladesh as stateless people to this day.) grown in a lab. People can tell.” (A senior Democratic aide, about why
Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential
*** jumping on the “authenticity” bandwagon...
election. From “Baffled AOC questions voters who split ticket for her
♦ “London Breed, San Francisco’s Democratic mayor, declared that and Trump—here’s what they said” by Josh Christenson, The New
she was ‘from the hood.’” York Post, Nov. 11, 2024.)
♦ “Barak Obama has been knocked for occasionally falling into what *** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
some people called a “Blaccent” that his upbringing didn’t entitle him
♦ “Customers want to feel what they buy is authentic... Authenticity is
to.” (“For Candidates, An Accent on Authenticity” by Geoff Nunberg,
becoming the new consumer sensibility.” (Joseph Pine, “What
NPR, Fresh Air, October 15, 2008.)
Consumers Want,” TED Talk.)
♦ “Since it’s become popular, they don’t call it Obama-care no more.”
♦ Authenticity is an important component of advertising, marketing,
(Barak Obama making a wry remark at the 2024 Democratic National
branding, and rebranding.
Convention.)
♦ “Marta empowers you to be seen and stand out in your industry by
♦ “The awkward tendencies that her opponents had mocked turned
leveraging your unique personality and authenticity.” (A speaker.
out to be a significant part of her appeal. ‘She seems like a politician I
$1K+.)
could sit down and have a laugh with,’ one fan known for
impersonating her on TikTok declared. Things that had seemed like ♦ “Kristen, a former DEI & Learning executive, inspires leaders to
political handicaps became evidence of authenticity: her fondness for lean into their authenticity, courage and agency.” (A speaker. $10K +)

Page 68 of 1645
♦ “Embrace your role as a leader... Lead with authenticity, empathy, ♦ “Every step I’ve taken has gaslighted those whom I love... I am not
and vision to create a better future.” (A speaker. $2K+.) a culture vulture. I am a culture leech. You should absolutely cancel
me, and I absolutely cancel myself.” (Rachel Dolezal, an academic
♦ “Forming an authentic connection with your intended audience is a
who claimed “identities of color,” including Black Caribbean, North
total touchdown.” (The Ad Council.)
African Blackness, US rooted Blackness, Caribbean rooted Bronx
♦ “The film portrayed Hawaiian culture with ‘authenticity.’” (The Blackness, Boricua...)
Disney Film Lilo & Stitch with Tia Carrere, according to ABC News.
♦ “Something I’ve always wondered is when I’m going to develop the
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and “Good Morning
affected-Black-intellectual voice,’ Harris said that summer, still stuck
America.” Related Topics: Disney.)
in London. He was reflecting on some of his favorite writers and
♦ “Archipelago, in Washington, D.C., is among a wave of new tiki artists of an older generation, and the way that their talk was often as
bars across the country. But how do South Pacific islanders feel effortfully stylized as their work. He’d been thinking about Andre
about tiki kitsch?” (“Let’s Talk Tiki Bars: Harmless Fun Or Leon Talley, the fashion writer and editor whose high diction and
Exploitation?” by Maanvi Singh, NPR, The Salt, September 7, 2016.) baroque syntax became hallmarks of his style—and seemed,
moreover, like a way of asserting his belonging in a largely white
♦ “The entire purpose of [Command Education] is to help students
milieu.. / Talk of that voice—I knew what Harris meant without having
identify and develop their passions and interests. It has to be
to ask—got me thinking, perhaps slightly defensively, of my own. /
authentic and cannot be manufactured.” (Christopher Rim, who helps
‘You have it a little bit,’ he said, confirming a fear I’d spoken aloud.”
teens get selected by Ivy League schools.)
(“Outside Man: Jeremy O. Harris, before and after ‘Slave Play’” by
♦ “Come 2012, there’s a new food vocabulary: authentic, craft, small Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, September 25, 2023. “Blacks
batch, artisan, rustic and, of course, local. It’s the opposite of talking white.” The crab-bucket syndrome. Concerns about
processed, mass produced and factory farmed...” (“Artisanal And “authenticity” in the era of hip-hop.)
Authentic, The Flavors Of The New Year” by Bonny Wolf, NPR,
♦ “Max almost seems blacker than you, Stephen A.” (Terrell Owens.
Weekend Edition Sunday, January 1, 2012.)
“Max” is Max Kellerman, who is white. “Stephen A.” is Stephen A.
♦ Authentic accent; cuisine; experience; music... Smith, who is Black. Terrel Owens is Black. And the NFL player they
were discussing, Colin Kaepernick, the product of a white mother and
♦ “don’t trade your authenticity for approval.” Self love magnet,
Black African father, grew up with his mother.)
inspirational quote magnet, self care fridge magnet, authenticity over
approval... (Etsy, $6.75. 25% off. Sale ends in 1 day. Arrives soon.) ♦ “It will never stop being funny that a White girl from Boston pretends
that she is Spanish.” (Snark about a celebrity wife widely reviled for
♦ “It’s The Authenticity For Me.” The Authenticity Tee Short-Sleeve
having a fake Spanish accent.)
Unisex T-Shirt, Ships from North Carolina, Returns & exchanges
accepted. Five Stars. “I love this shirt and I get tons of compliments ♦ “From TikTok trends to mainstream music, popular culture is
on it.” (Etsy. $17.56+, 20% off. Sale ends on January 1.) embracing—and mimicking—Latinos, with some creators actually
pretending to be Latinx for social cachet.” (“How Latin identity
♦ Authenticity Over Approval Hoodie, Motivational Gifts for Woman.
became fodder for content” by Manuela Lopez Restrepo,” NPR, Pop
(Etsy, $30.99.)
Culture, Dec. 10, 2022.)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
♦ “Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay Gets Slammed For Attempt at
♦ “His treatment of ‘passing’ and his use of Black vernacular made Puerto Rican Pegao” by Shayne Rodriguez Thompson, July 6, 2021.
Langston Hughes assume that he was Black.” (James Purdy, a
♦ “Jeniffer Lopez is still Jenny From the Block...or is she? New
“pioneer of queer fiction.” Also, according to his Wikipedia article,
Yorkers are doubting her authenticity.” (“Jennifer Lopez’s go-to
Dame Edith Sitwell thought he was Black.)
bodega order gets ruthlessly mocked by New Yorkers...” by Lauren
♦ “His was a lonely course, incurring resistance even from Samer, The New York Post, March 25, 2024.)
compatriots who routinely hailed him. As late as 1958, he was denied
♦ “[Lana] Del Rey, born Elizabeth Grant in New York, weathered a
consideration for a prize in an annual show of Native artists because
now-incomprehensible controversy about ‘authenticity’ (a word that,
the new painting that he submitted, ‘Umini Wacipi (War and Peace
to paraphrase Nabokov, should only ever be in quotes) upon the
Dance),’ was declared ‘not Indian,’ despite its indubitable subject
2011 release of her swooning, doomy single ‘Video Games.’” (“In
matter.” (“Modern Lore: Oscar Howe at the National Museum of the
Their Feelings: The indelible, indomitable voices of Miley Cyrus and
American Indian” by Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, July 11 & 18,
Lana Del Rey” by James Parker, The Atlantic, April, 2023. James
2022.)
Parker is not George Packer.)
♦ “On Earth Day, 1971, nonprofit organization Keep America
♦ “Authentic; a real individual; doesn’t beat to the same drum as
Beautiful launched what the Ad Council would later call one of the ’50
everyone else; a bit different; speaks his mind; a player with
greatest commercials of all time.’ Dubbed ‘The Crying Indian,’ the
character...” (Nick Kyrgios, the troubled tennis player.)
one-minute PSA features a Native American man paddling down a
junk-infested river, surrounded by smog, pollution, and trash; as he ♦ “Not coming with a filter made him honest as he could be. He didn’t
hauls his canoe onto the plastic-infested shore, a bag of rubbish is worry about repercussions.” (Terry “Juice” Parker about Ye / Kanye
tossed from a car window, exploding at his feet. The camera then West.)
pans to the Indian’s cheerless face just as a single tear rolls down his
♦ “What everyone saw at the end of the fight was the real AJ stripped
cheek. / The ad, which sought to combat pollution, was widely
of the PR speak.” (A comment about Anthony Joshua’s bizarre post-
successful...and helped reduce litter by 88% across 38 states... / But
fight antics following his second loss to the great Ukrainian boxer
while Hollywood trumpeted Iron Eyes Cody as a ‘true Native
Oleksandr Usyk.)
American’ and profited from his ubiquitous image, the man himself
harbored an unspoken secret: he was 100% Italian.” (“The True Story ♦ “Well, geez, if gender is just a ‘social construct’ shouldn’t ethnicity
of ‘The Crying Indian’” by Zachary Crockett, Priceonomics, be as well? By the progressive tenants of gender identity she should
September 9, 2014. See the Wikipedia article “Iron Eyes Cody.” be able to identify as any ethnicity she pleases.” (An online
Astonishingly, the Ad Council still features “The Crying Indian” PSA in commenter about “Activist Raquel Evita Saraswati has faked her
its “Our History / The Classics” section, along with its War Bonds, ‘Arab and Latin’ racial identity as far back as 2004: reports” by Ben
Red Cross, Polio, the Peace Corps, and Crime Prevention Kesslen, The New York Post, February 21, 2023. The article states
campaigns.) that the activist has been referred to online as “the new Rachel
Dolezal.”)
♦ “The man who went through life proudly purporting to be an
Irishman was in fact a Yorkshiremen, born at the famous St James’s ♦ “As the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor has observed, self-
University Hospital, or Jimmy’s, in Leeds, 2 August 1932.” (Peter determining freedom—‘the idea that I am free when I decide for
O’Toole: The Definitive Biography by Robert Sellers.) myself what concerns me, rather than being shaped by external
influences’—is closely twinned with the powerful modern idea of
♦ “Buffy is our family. We chose her and she chose us. We claim her
‘authenticity.’” (“Ego Trip: The early Romantics and their troublesome
as a member of our family and all of our family members are from the
legacy” by Nikhil Krishnan (a male), The New Yorker, October 3,
Piapot First Nation. To us, that holds far more weight than any paper
2022. A brilliant article from a different point of view.)
documentation or colonial record keeping ever could.” (“Statement
from the Piapot Family” about Buffy Sainte-Marie.) ♦ “ChatGPT use for wedding vows, eulogies stokes dispute over
authenticity.” (ABC.)

Page 69 of 1645
*** more conventional usage... *** Isabella, Torquemada...
♦ “The FBI raided a Florida art museum on Friday and seized more ♦ “On 2 January 1492...Abu Abdullah Mohammed XI surrendered his
than two dozen paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat following kingdom and retired to Fez... His surrender marked the beginning of
questions about their authenticity.” (A news report.) /// HOWEVER... the most crucial four months of Spanish history, seeing as they did
“The result is that the question of authenticity, which seems like it both the intensification of that relentless course of religious
should be cut-and-dried, has come to seem quite fluid. That can persecution which was to have so disastrous an effect on the strength
create confusion, but also opportunities.” (“The Curious Case of the and vitality of Spain, and the launching of the most celebrated voyage
Contested Basquiats” by Bianca Bosker, The Atlantic, March 2024.) of exploration ever known. / Few rulers in European history have
shown themselves narrower or more bigoted than Isabella... The first
♦ Authentic; counterfeit; ersatz; fake; faux; false; genuine; a gimmick;
auto-da-fe was held in 1481, with six victims. By the time of Isabella’s
inaccurate (racial portrayals, etc.); inauthentic; manufactured; natural;
death in 1504 there had been more than 2,000. / Less than three
phoney; play (Indian, etc.); real; spurious; the real thing; trendy; true...
months after the capitulation of Granada, the Queen felt strong
♦ Bots; duped; ersatz; faux; finger-synchers (violin buskers on the enough to push her policy further. Encouraged by her Inquisitor-
street); (deep) fakes; flim-flam artists; forged; hustle (noun and verb); General Torquemada—who was himself originally Jewish—on 30
reenactors; “remote access to repair your computer”; scam (noun and March she decreed that all Jews remaining unconverted by the end of
verb); scammer; scheme; schemers; sham (companies, etc.); June would be expelled from Spain, all their property confiscated.
spurious... (Our modern world.) More than 100,000 were driven out, resulting in a vast Sephardic
diaspora in northern Europe and the Near East. Several countries—
*** analysis
notably the Netherlands—gave them a warm welcome; the Ottoman
♦ “Me...! I always tell the truth, even when I lie.” (The character Tony Sultan Bayezit II went further, sending a whole fleet of ships to their
Montana in the film Scarface.) rescue. / Now it was the turn of the Muslims... (The Middle Sea: A
History Of The Mediterranean by John Julius Norwich. In an
♦ “When keeping it real goes wrong.”
astonishing footnote he writes, “Columbus, who was just setting out
♦ “I’m the perfect example of when keeping it real go wrong.” (The on his historic voyage from Genoa, was obliged to alter course
Philadelphia rapper Beanie Sigel, speaking on N.O.R.E.’s podcast because the sea ahead of him was so crowded with Turkish ships
Drink Champs.) bringing Jewish refugees to safety.” Norwich also notes that the
Muslims, unlike the Jews, tended to convert to Christianity; even so,
♦ “It evoked feelings of embarrassment, one’s diaries always do that
the Moriscos faced suspicion, hatred, and the inquisition.)
if they have any kind of I think authenticity to them.” (Novelist Thomas
Mallon.) *** analysis
♦ “Anxiety over authenticity be damned, I just want to keep cool.” ♦ Louis Menand likes to use the word, and The New Yorker likes to
(African / Ankara hand fans. From “Ankara Hand Fans” by Tomi publish Louis Menand. Another word The New Yorker favors is
Obaro, The New York Times Magazine, August 14, 2022.) “lapidary.”
♦ “Authentic” was Merriam-Webster’s 2023 word of the year (WOTY).
See “Opinion: This word of the year has a big problem” by Holly
automata (noun)
Thomas, CNN, November 29, 2023.
became automata
♦ Auda: Son, what fashion is this? / Boy: Harith, father. / Auda: And
what manner of Harith? / Boy: A Beni Wejh Sherif, father. / Auda: And
even captains ~, acquiring life only through orders
is he Harith? / Boy: No, father. English! (To which Peter O’Toole,
playing T.E. Lawrence, looks crestfallen in his new togs. From the
autopilot (on autopilot)
great 1962 David Lean film Lawrence of Arabia.)
on autopilot
♦ CREMONA, n. A high-priced violin made in Connecticut. (The
Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.) he's ~, his fingers go to the same place (gamer)
♦ see also face (yellowface, etc.), self (authentic self, authentic
he was ~, frantically trying to save him (combat medic)
selves)
made on autopilot
author (person) a lot of our economic decisions are actually ~
♦ “Diving became this darkness which permeated the rest of my life. I
author of his own misfortune really hated it, but I knew it was my one chance to be special, so I
he fully accepts he was the ~ (arrested) kept going, effectively on autopilot.” (Olympic gold-medal-winning
diver Matthew Mitcham.)
author of her misfortune autopsy (analysis)
the court argued she had been the ~
authors of our own life stories autopsy of the Cuban vote
so what’s your ~ in Florida (radio show)
we are not the ~ (addiction versus free will)
auto da fe post-event autopsy
the ~ has already begun (25th World Scout Jamboree)
auto-da-fe of Vietnam ♦ “So what’s your autopsy of the Cuban vote in Florida?” (NPR’s Lulu
the New Left died in the ~ (Louis Menand) Garcia Navarro. From “The Cuban Vote in Florida,” NPR, Weekend
Edition Sunday, November 11, 2018.)
auto-da-fe at the town dump *** analysis
the ~ (Louis Menand / Paul Newman burns tapes) ♦ Nonhuman and nonliving things can have anniversaries,
autobiographies, autopsies, biographies, birthdays, careers, epitaphs,
retrospective auto-da-fe eulogies, obituaries, requiems, and even be characters.
she had plenty of fuel for this ~ (biographer burns ♦ In the old days, people simply analyzed the results. Nowadays,
subject) people autopsy, biopsy, dissect, vivisect, or hold a post mortem. Take
your pick!
♦ “She had plenty of fuel for this retrospective auto-da-fe.” (The
wonderful critic Andrei Codrescu reacting badly to Joan Mellen’s ♦ see also birthday (creation), old (a year old, etc.)
biography of Kay Boyle. Mellen “roasted” her subject, something
Codrescu disliked. From “A Not-So-Enjoyable Biography” by Andrei
Codrescu, NPR, All Things Considered, July 20, 2011. Codrescu is a
world treasure. A Romanian-born American.)

Page 70 of 1645
autumn (in the autumn) Twitter did away with the egg as its ~

in the autumn of his life avatars and superheroes

athletes are seen as ~
he was ~
in the autumn of the year create your own avatar
some online video games allow you to ~
but now the days are short, I’m ~ (Sinatra)
avalanche (noun) flatten characters into avatars
revenge thrillers tend to ~ and little else (films)
avalanche of (racial) abuse avenue (portal)
they faced an ~ (soccer players after Euro 2020)
avalanche of applications avenue of advancement
India's dalits need a new ~
it failed to prepare for an ~ (passports)
avalanche of (prejudicial) comment new avenue
India's dalits need a ~ of advancement
the murder trial was nearly derailed by an ~ on social
media dark sonic avenues
her songs lure listeners down ~ (Billie Eilish)
avalanche of data
an ~ given the Russians avenue (route)
avalanche of e-mail avenue of attack
his most recent column drew an ~ to Salon editors his wrongdoing gave lawyers an ~
avalanche of interest fruitful avenue
a Netflix drama series triggered an ~ in the case (murder) this might be a ~ for further research
avalanche of misery porn legal avenue
this ~ (Will Smith in the 2022 film Emancipation) pursue all reasonable ~s
avalanche of publicity reasonable (legal) avenue
the disappearance triggered an ~ (Chandra Levy) pursue all ~s
avalanche of (unfavorable) publicity all avenues
the ~ that resulted from... (politician) Canada will pursue ~ to assist the jailed men
avalanche of confusing forms and rules pursue (all legal) avenues
he spoke about the ~ (Brexit) we will ~
avalanche picked up speed awake (adjective)
as the ~... (calls for politician’s resignation)
awake to what happened
triggered an avalanche everyone seems to be wide ~ (elections)
the Netflix drama series ~ of interest in the case (murder)
*** “The entire slope spider-webbed...”
awake American
he signs his posts, "an ~"
♦ “I made two turns and the entire slope spider-webbed is what we
call it, just kind of cracked all the way around me, and the entire slope
essentially just drops out from underneath you. Your first instinct is to
awake electorate
try to ride it out and try to ski out of it, you know. I thought I was going the answer is reform and an ~
to make it, and then...” (Jimmy Chin on April Fools’ Day 2011. From ♦ “We are now awake and paying attention.” (An Asian parent who
“The Beast Born Of Snow: What It Feels Like In The Jaws Of An helped lead a campaign that led to the recall of three San Francisco
Avalanche” by Peter Breslow, NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday, July school-board members.)
3, 2016.)
♦ see also woke (groups)
*** analysis
♦ “Sometimes we have a disastrous act of nature like an avalanche awaken (awareness)
and here again we discover the poetry of language. The first four
letters, aval, hold the secret. They are found in the French phrase a awakened to the horrors
val, meaning ‘to the valley,’ which is just where an avalanche goes.” on that day, the world ~ of apartheid (South Africa)
(Word Origins And Their Romantic Stories by Wilfred Funk, Litt.D.
It’s a nice way to think of the word.)
awakening in Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, and Jordan
avatar (noun) Arab peoples are also ~ (after Tunisia, Egypt and Libya)

avatar of suffering awaken people

the film turns her into an ~ (Blonde / negative review) we're trying to do what we can to ~

default avatar people are awakening

Page 71 of 1645
 slowly the ~ faraway
awaken (nature, etc.) climate change is not in a ~ future, it’s now...
just a mouse click away
awakening from (its winter) sleep it was ~ (evidence of public shaming)
nature is ~
“One Heartbeat Away
taiga awoke ~: Presidential Disability and Succession” (Birch Bayh)
the ~ (at dawn)
*** “The shades of night began to shrink into the bushes and about five minutes away
ravines...” a dystopian future is ~
♦ “The sky turned from black to deep blue, and then grey and cloudy.
The shades of night began to shrink into the bushes and ravines. In a just a plane away
few minutes our bivouac was astir again; men started talking; the we are ~ from having cases here (COVID-19)
horses stirred at their ropes; a pica piped on one side, and lower
down the gorge another answered it; the yaffle of the woodpecker just a shot away
rang through the forest and the melodious whistle of the oriole. The
taiga awoke...” (Dersu Uzala by V.K. Arseniev, translated by Malcolm war, children, it’s ~ (“Gimme Shelter” / Rolling Stones)
Burr.)
just two weeks away
awakened (adjective) we are ~ from the first vote
awakened and empowered just a week away
Nato seems ~ in this moment (an NPR political pundit) and now, with the decision ~, the clock is ticking
awakening less than two weeks away
the conference was ~
9/11 awakening
♦ “Cyberpunk is a dystopian future that’s about five minutes from our
part of it was a ~ (desire to "do more" for others) current existence.” (Mike Pondsmith.)
religious awakening ♦ “Climate change is a reality, it’s not off in the distance or faraway
future, it’s happening right now, all around us where we live.”
the ~ is partly an outgrowth of the war (Bosnia )
AWOL
spiritual awakening
she had a ~ AWOL from work
awash Alex has been ~

awash with small arms Go AWOL

Eggs ~, And Bakers Scramble... (national shortage)
Yemen is ~ that have been smuggled in
awash with (at least 10,000) floral bouquets Goes Awol
South Carolina Gov. Sanford ~ (2009)
the church is ~ (for murdered girls)
awash with (overt) irony went AWOL
the Federal government ~ (in defending a health act)
social media is ~ often tipping into sarcasm
♦ “You were AWOL. You were AWOL. Mr. Secretary. You were
awash with weapons AWOL.” (Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois,
berating former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller at a
the Horn of Africa is ~ hearing about the January 6 United States Capital attack. Politics.
Libya is ~ Lovely!)

awash with corruption, venality and graft *** basic training, Fort Knox, 1971

the government is ~ ♦ Got the Fort Knox boogie / Got the Fort Knox boogie / What a crazy
sound / What a crazy sound / If you want to have a ball / If you want
awash in allegations to have a ball / then ya gotta go AWOL / Then ya gotta go AWOL!!!
(Marching cadence, Vietnam War training at Fort Knox.)
India is ~ of corruption
ax (ax to fall, etc.)
awash in cash
the company is ~ and looking to buy waiting for the axe to fall
sitting around ~ (deadlines)
awash in flowers, firecrackers and fine foods
Chinatown is ~ (Chinese New Year) ax (noun)
away (a week away, etc.) budget ax
many state programs will succumb to the ~ (shortfall)
century away the camp may fall to the ~ (for teens)
the conversion of Constantine was still a ~
faces the ax
world away the show still ~ (TV)
we are in missile range, but a ~ (in Jaffa from Gaza)

Page 72 of 1645
fall to the (budget) ax the left’s ~ (Latinx, cisgender, etc.)
the camp may ~ (for teens)
psychobabble
succumb to the ax see psychobabble (noun)
many state programs will ~ (budget shortfall)
technobabble
taking an ax insider ~ that’s impossible to understand (The Marvels)
he is ~ to spending ♦ “An MCU film that’s littered with insider technobabble and is
♦ “What John Lansing said to me was that it would not be uniform impossible to understand.” (A withering review of the 2023 film The
Marvels.)
across, he wasn’t just going to take a hatchet and do the same
across all divisions, he wants to be strategic and thoughtful about *** analysis
how it’s done.” (“With layoffs, NPR becomes latest media outlet to cut
♦ Blah blah blah...
jobs,” NPR, All Things Considered, Feb. 23, 2023. “NPR has to
deepen and broaden its audience to seek younger and more diverse
audience base.”)
babel (noun)
*** “When a squirrel could travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the babel of obscure & sometimes meaningless
Mississippi River without ever having to revert to the ground...”
expressions
♦ Climax, Demon, Endurance, Cock of the Woods, Red Warrior,
Hiawatha, Hottentot, Black Prince, Black Chief, Battle Axe, Invincible,
a ~ (teacher education in ESL, EFL, etc.)
XXX Chopper, Woodslasher, Razor Blade, Stiletto, Forest King, *** analysis
Young American, Gorilla... (Late-19th-century model names of axes
used to cut down the great North American forests.) ♦ “Gobbledygook: The proliferation of jargon in English language
teaching” by Joshua D. Bernstein, TESOL Journal, Volume 12, Issue
ax (ax to grind, axe to grind) 1, March 2021.
♦ “The problem is that the left controls the commanding heights of the
ax to grind culture: universities, news organizations, Hollywood, art museums,
advertising, much of Silicon Valley, and the teachers’ unions and
he just has an ~ (criticism) teaching colleges that shape K-12 education.” (“After Babel: How
sometimes a source has an ~ (journalism) Social Media Dissolved The Mortar of Society And Made America
this is another letter from somebody with an ~ Stupid” by Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic, May, 2022.)
♦ Read the Wikipedia article “Tower of Babel.”
axe to grind
he is motivated not by truth but an ~ babied
ax to grind with the CIA babied as a rookie
he has an ~ she cannot be ~ (Monica McNutt about Caitlin Clark)
ax to grind with midwives baby (relationship)
many in traditional medicine have an ~
Elam’s baby
ax to grind about something the idea may be ~, but he has looked at it critically
there are always going to be people with an ~
his baby
ideological ax to grind the Gulf of Mexico is ~
he has no ~ (a writer writing about capitalism) Cooper refers to his camera, made in 1898, as ~
personal ax to grind my baby
he has a ~ (a critic) this is ~ and I want to keep growing it (a business)
it's ~ (Ferrari 458 Italia)
political axes to grind
unions and companies often have ~ our baby
this is ~ (fire spotter speaking of his tower)
grinds a (political) ax
it ~ (Southern Poverty Law Center) fur baby
♦ “Everyone has an axe to grind and complaining gets you attention ~s (ABC News)
from the likes of Yahoo. He is a comedian, you may not like his joke, baking up homemade treats for your ~ (BeChewy)
but it’s not intended to harm.” (A comment about the comedian Chris
Rock.) gut his baby
axed (curtailed) Musk, he worried, was going to ~ (Jack Dorsey / Twitter)
♦ “I don’t have kids but I feel that it’s like letting your baby go and
axed grow up. So she’s on her next step before she goes up to the moon.
And you have to do it.” (Dafna Jackson, an advisor at SpaceIL, after
the event was ~ (because of pandemic) the Beresheet spacecraft was shipped to Cape Canaveral, to be
launched into space by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. Sadly, there was
a glitch at the last moment, and the spacecraft crash-landed on the
B moon.)
♦ “I am a childless man, after all, ladies and gentlemen, and my

babble (noun) books are my children, I have invested the blood of my soul in them,
and after my death it is they and they alone that will carry my spirit
and my dreams to future generations.” (Uncle Joseph Klausner from
woke babble A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.)

Page 73 of 1645
♦ “This is my baby, this is what does the work.” (Albert Milton, the *** analysis
deputy boss of a diamond mine in Botswana, speaking about a 720-
♦ Death devours lambs as well as sheep.
ton electric excavator crane that can grab 60 tons of broken rock in a
single bite.) ♦ “Even a leopard cub is called a leopard.”
♦ “They’re all my babies.” (Dom Tursi, about the three dozen steno
machines from his personal collection on display in the Gallery of
baby (size)
Shorthand, in the lobby of the U.S. district courthouse in Central Islip,
on Long Island.) baby AK-47
♦ “So I get used to the book’s final stage, to its having been weaned
the Draco is a ~ frequently namechecked in rap
from my brain. I now regard it with a kind of bemused tenderness, as
a man regards, not his son, but, uh, rather the young wife of his son.” baby carrots
(Vladimir Nabokov, BBC Author Archive Collection, “James Mossman the recipe calls for ~
talks to Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov in this 1970 interview.”
♦ A FUNNY CARTOON. Two witches are brewing a potion in a
Nabokov had been talking previously about the drudgery, work and
bubbling, boiling cauldron. One witch is holding a bunch of baby
failures of bringing a book to birth.)
carrots in one hand and an oblivious happy laughing dangling baby
♦ “Twitter’s co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey had been under her other arm, and she is poised to drop both the carrots and
initially supportive of Musk buying the company, but in the past few the baby into the cauldron. The other witch is consulting the
weeks had become unnerved by the controversy and drama. Musk, cookbook and is saying, “No, it’s a single ingredient—baby carrots.”
he worried, was going to gut his baby.” (Elon Musk by Walter (The New Yorker, October 24, 2022.)
Isaacson.)
♦ “BeChewy provides tips and tricks for the entire pet parent
baby (younger)
experience, from potty training a new puppy to baking up homemade
treats for your fur baby.” (An advertisement. “Potty training,” not baby of the family
house-breaking.) I lost my brother, the ~ (his age was sixty-five)
♦ “They co-opted our idea. Candy Cane Malört is our baby.” (Val
Capone, Chicago. You’ve been warned.)
baby (baby face, etc.)
*** analysis baby face
♦ “Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother.” (Arabic.) he grew a full beard to hide his ~
baby (development) baby (vocative)
baby of the publishing world baby
compared to physical book sales, audio is the ~ so tell me, ~, do you want me to…
baby science honey, baby, sweetie
he rescued the ~ of microbe hunting from a fantastic he addresses me as ~ and other inappropriate names
myth
baby (insult)
baby (novice)
big baby
babies (together) in the fashion industry stop being such a ~ (said by adult to an adult)
we were ~ and I feel like we grew up together...
crybaby
baby boxers see crybaby (person)
two novices, two ~ fighting one another (Steve Bunce)
♦ “Imagine debuting in Cardiff with that sort of crowd... You forget
poor baby
sometimes, she was 20 years old, you know, she’s a baby, and she’s what a tough job to do, ~! (sarcasm)
still developing even physically and mentally and everything...” (The ♦ “Really tricky situation, FA, Prem and FIFA only had 12 years to
young boxing promoter Ben Shalom talking with Steve Bunce about
prepare. You do wonder who ties shoelaces for those in charge.” (A
the boxer Caroline Dubois.) sarcastic commenter about “tired, overworked” soccer players at the
♦ “So sad to hear of the passing of the beautiful @tatjanapatitz. We FIFA Qatar World Cup.)
were babies together in the fashion industry and I feel like we grew ♦ Baby; big baby; petulant baby; crybaby; Grow up, you baby; it’s not
up together. We were in so many shoots together and backstage at all about you; a little boy; a man-child; “the incredible sulk”; selfish;
shows.” (“Cindy Crawford’s touching Instagram tribute.) self-centered; self-obsessed; spoilt brat; whiner; preening prima
♦ David Letterman: You’re not very old now, are you? / Irene Cara: I’ll donna; bad loser; “He’ll go blind if he keeps winking...”; “News just
be 22 in March. / David Letterman: Just a baby... (Kinda creepy...) in.............The world cup is now over for everyone as they were
playing with Ronaldo’s ball and he has taken it home with him.”
♦ “But you know, I’m only 19, and I’m a baby on my own, don’t know
(World cup soccer snark about a famous player.)
what life is about, and you’re like 28...” (“It Wasn’t Friendship At First
Sight. 35 Years On, They Found a ‘Forever Love,’” by Jey Born, ♦ “Bleating millionaire wimps. How about grow a pair.” (An online
NPR, Morning Edition, May 14, 2021.) commenter about “tired, overworked” soccer players at the FIFA
Qatar World Cup.)
♦ Director Allen Hughes: “Unfortunately his life was cut short at 25, a
baby.” / Ayesha Rascoe: “A baby, a baby!” (“A new docuseries *** analysis
explores the relationship between rapper Tupac Shakur and his
♦ Man up!
mother,” NPR, Weekend Edition Sunday, April 16, 2023.)
♦ see also apron strings, brat (insult), child (spoiled child, etc.),
♦ “She’s so young. She’s a baaabyyy...” (Jada Pinkett Smith about
crybaby (person), mama’s boy (and mummy’s boy, etc.)
her 23-year-old daughter.)
♦ “A baby, just a baby.” (Ernest Borgnine in the 1979 film All Quiet On babysit (verb)
the Western Front, about an injured inexperienced recruit. Borgnine
prepares to shoot him, to put him out of his misery, before two babysit them
stretcher-bearers appear, put the casualty on a stretcher, and bear
him to the rear.)
at a certain point you can’t ~ (troubled people)

Page 74 of 1645
babysitter (role) she went after him ~ (dated friend's boyfriend)

babysitter for the world went behind my back

he ~
I'm tired of America being a ~ (illegal immigration)
electronic babysitter whispered behind her back
people ~
they were the perfect “~” (Disney animated films)
$40,000-a-year baby-sitter whispered "queer" behind his back
people ~ (student)
I'm a ~ (an unhappy corrections officer)
become a babysitter badmouth your spouse behind his or her back
don't ~
he does not want to ~ (take a manager’s job / soccer)
♦ “A manager is just babysitting somebody’s toy.” (An ex-player not ridicule (negative) leaders behind their backs
interested in managing a Premier League soccer team.) people typically ~
back (support / verb) talk about bosses behind their backs
if you want a promotion, don't ~ (gossip)
back the Blue
Trump will unapologetically ~ (back the police) ♦ "Out here, people had a smile on their face and a dagger behind
their back." (Bigotry and discrimination.)
back Obama back (no way back, etc.)
will Hispanics ~
back (return) no way back
there is ~, the people won’t forgive this (protests)
boobs are back there is ~ (North Macedonia finally negotiates its name)
“~” (Sydney Sweeney) no way back from this
season is back I think that there’s ~ (Cuba cracks down on protesters)
and now the ~ (after a hiatus / a TV series) no way back for Egypt and the region
come back there is ~ (2011)
see come back back (scratch somebody's back)
back (back in time)
scratch my back
“back” in time you ~, I'll scratch your back (mutual aid and assistance)
they’re going ~ (nostalgia) back (back and forth)
back in 1999 back and forth on that
and this was way ~... there has been a lot of ~ (political issue)
go back back (pat on the back / verb)
see go back (verb / time)
pat yourselves on the back
look back you did well, ~ (praise)
see look back (verb)
♦ “It was not taunting, he was patting himself on the back and rightly
takes me back so.” (A commenter about a play by Allen Lazard of the Green Bay
Packers during which he blocked three Miami Dolphins defenders,
see take (take us back / time) knocking all three to the ground. Following that, he pointed at each
one: one, two, three, for which he was fined $10,609 for taunting,
transported audiences back even though none of the 3 defenders saw him.)
see transport (in time) ♦ “Some observers wondered if the All-Star guard was using finger
back (back then) guns.” (The NBA player Ja Morant, celebrating himself after scoring
an ally-oop basket in overtime. He had just been reinstated to play
following a long suspension for brandishing real pistols in online
back then videos.)
~ in Russia, it was a cutthroat business (oil)
I’ll admit it, I was fond of the gin myself ~ (Falesa)
back (pat on the back / noun)
back (step back, perspective) pat on the back
give yourselves a ~ (praise from teacher)
step back back (get off my back, etc.)
see step back (perspective)
back (behind somebody's back) on the back of these workers
they make a lot of money ~ (Uber in Great Britain)
behind her friend's back
getting rich on the backs

Page 75 of 1645
 publishers are ~ of libraries and academics you've got to ~
get off my back watch your back
~ and leave me alone ~ (a warning)
sorry I wasn’t there to ~ (his brother drowned)
get them off my back
try and ~ (superiors) watch his back
he failed to ~ (leader deposed in coup)
back (carry something on one’s back)
watching my back
carrying England on his back it's good to know that you are ~ (protecting, supporting)
Joe Root is used to ~ (Ashes Test / cricket)
♦ “Sorry I wasn’t there to watch your back like a big brother’s
supposed to.” (Chris Eubank Jnr’s tweet on the tragic death of
carried the team on his back Sebastian, the third-eldest child of the great boxer Chris Eubank.)
he ~ (football player)
*** analysis
back (have somebody’s back)
♦ See the Wikipedia article “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” got your back
♦ “God makes the back to bear the load.” (Said in Ireland. This I've ~
means God will never give you a degree of suffering that you can’t
cope with.) got your literary back
back (turn one's back) we’ve ~ (NPR promotes “The Books we Love”)

turned her back on Hollywood had my back

Jamie Lee Curtis ~ (chose to live elsewhere) you’ve always ~, and I’ll have yours (Biden and Blacks)

turned its back on the victims back (stab in the back, knife in the
the West ~ (Rwanda genocide) back, etc.)
turned his back to anyone stab in the back
he never ~ who needed help (a priest) what they see as a ~ by their Gulf neighbors (Qatar)
back (break the back) it’s really a ~, trust betrayed (French about Australia)
plunged a knife into Biden’s back
break the camel’s back
it was he who first publicly ~ (George Clooney)
see camel (break the camel’s back)
back (get one’s back up, etc.)
break your back
she'll ~ if you're not paying attention to her (basketball) got his back up
a good bowler ~ and we couldn’t stop him (Ashes
broke the back of the campaign cricket)
those defeats ~ (primary elections)
got my back up
break the back of the Covid epidemic his tone just ~
the vaccine could ~ (live virus BCG)
got my back up about the request
break the backs of defenders he ~
the plan is designed to ~ (Baghdad)
back (courage)
break the back of the (German) war machine
he was destined to ~ (Stalingrad) stiffens his back
economic pressure just ~ (Daniel Ortega)
broken the back of Hamas
Israel’s punishing war has ~ in the city of Rafah (NBC) stiffened his spine
back (back to the wall) he showed signs of going wobbly, but Pelosi ~ (politics)
back away (verb)
backs are to the wall
our ~ back away from the issue
Democrats are starting to ~ (impeachment)
backs are (really) against the wall
our ~ (sports tournament) backbiter (person)
have our backs against the wall annoying backbiters
when we ~, we come out fighting (Welsh rugby) the ~ who had plagued him as an army officer
back (watch your back, etc.) backbiting
guard your back backbiting, exclusion, rumors

Page 76 of 1645
 girls use ~ (girls bullying girls) backbone of the Kamchatka Peninsula
the Sredinny Range, the ~
notorious for backbiting
a work atmosphere ~... Guinean backbone
Mount Nimba is part of the so-called ~ (Guinea)
competitiveness and backbiting
it was a hellhole of ~ (“Sopranos” writers’ room) backbone (courage)
*** “The little hunter had quietly lay hidden...”
takes backbone
♦ “There were tracks, clearly enough. It was evident that the little
hunter (a sable) had quietly lay hidden behind a branch, and then
for Republicans, it ~ to stand up to Trump
suddenly flung itself upon the deer... Specks of blood showed that the
sable had bitten it, but further tracks showed that the little deer had showed no backbone
succeeded in throwing its assailant off. It had galloped on, and the the defense ~ when the Jets needed a stop (NFL)
sable, after starting to pursue it, had stopped and climbed up a tree.”
♦ “She has a backbone like a ramrod, she has great character, true
(Dersu examining tracks in the snow. From Dersu Uzala by V.K.
character.” (President Biden about Kamala Harris. From Biden’s
Arseniev, translated by Malcolm Burr.)
address to the nation after Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in
backbone (basis) the 2024 U.S. presidential election.)
♦ “In order to stand up, one must have a backbone.” (David Remnick,
backbone of Al Qaeda squawking from his perch as editor of The New Yorker in an article
that mentions Jeff Bezos.)
Uzbeks and other Central Asians are the ~ in the area
♦ see also spine (courage)
backbone of the (rebel) army
the Dinka tribe, which formed the ~ (southern Sudan)
backbreaking (adjective)
backbone of the company backbreaking labor
these people are the ~ a coal miner's capacity for ~

backbone of the (Louisiana) economy backbreaking shift

shrimping is the ~ (oil spill) after a ~ (at a nursing home)

backbone of the (Chilean) economy backbreaking work

Atacama’s copper mining industry forms the ~ ~ for 50 cents a day

backbone of (the Navy’s) leadership backbreaking and dangerous

surface warfare officers are the ~ it was ~ labor (diamond mining)

backbone of his (political) party

back burner (on the back burner)
they are the ~ on the back burner
backbone of rigor that all seems to be ~ now
in science, sharp criticism is the ~ on the budget back burner
Backbone of the World the environment is ~
Indians called these jagged peaks the “~” (Glacier NP) put the issue on the back burner
backbone and nervous system he ~ (a politician)
the Nile provides Egypt with a natural ~ put on the back burner
financial backbone a lot of the department's works has been ~ (priorities)
the oil pipeline serves as the ~ of the country remained on the back burner
infrastructure backbone the tax issue ~ (politics)
Amazon provides the ~ for major firms (servers) sits on the back burner
technology backbone the climate-change issue ~ in Washington
Shopify provides the ~ for businesses to set up a store ♦ “I think there has been a vacuum of course recently, I think Iraq has
dropped off the radar screen, it’s very much at the back burner...”
transportation backbone (Laith Kubba about US engagement in Iraq.)
Greyhound is the ~ for people who can't afford… ♦ “We shouldn’t allow the issue of global warming to be put on the
back burner... Or indeed any sort of burner come to that.” (“Loose
backbone (branching system) Ends” with Clive Anderson, BBC.)

backbone of England back burner (to the back burner)

the Pennines are commonly described as the “~” relegated to the back burner
the Pennine hills, sometimes described as the “~” major problems have been ~ (Saudi Arabia)
backbone of all Hind pushed (climate) issues to the back burner
the Great Road is the ~ (Kim) the economic crisis has ~

Page 77 of 1645
put to the back burner background (background noise, etc.)
our issue are always ~ (Black Voters Matter)
background noise
back down (verb) to me it’s just ~, not important (attacks on social media)
back down fade into the background
the compromise allows both politicians to ~ many prefer to ~ (teen-model sites on Internet)
she’s an artist who won’t ~ or bow to convention
faded into the background
backed down the doctor-patient relationship has ~ (vs. money)
faced with a coup, the government ~
the government ~ and commuted the death sentences backhand (verb)
backing down verbally backhanded
she is holding her ground and not ~ he ~ the journalist (Dan Crenshaw / politics)

back down from a confrontation backing (support)

analysts believe he will ~
backing from the university
back down or give her space she received some ~
officials didn’t ~, they threatened her (Naomi Osaka) backlash (noun)
refused to back down
the protesters have ~
backlash against (bilingual) education
today in the climate of ~...
forced him to back down
a political firestorm ~ (King)
backlash for (cultural) appropriation
she faced ~ when she posted a selfie...
backing down
she is holding her ground and not ~
backlash effect
the ~ in foreign policy
♦ “They do listen to us but they’re not backing up.” (Tahurai Henry, a
surfer in French Polynesia, about plans to erect a 3-story judges anti-American backlash
tower in a coral lagoon for the French summer Olympics.)
the government has struggled to prevent an ~ (Yemen)
*** analysis
The physical basis of “back down” is an aggressive animal showing climate of backlash
submission, whereas “back up” is an aggressive animal withdrawing. today in the ~ against bilingual education
backdrop (against a backdrop) backlash has started
the ~
against that backdrop
~, it's not a huge surprise (attack on consulate) drove (pro-Trump) backlash
woke overreach ~ (Rich Lowry / 2024 election)
against the backdrop of the Cold War
it was ~ that… (Eisenhower speech) sparked a backlash
his crusade has ~ (to make school lunches more
against a backdrop of (ongoing) violence healthful)
negotiations go on ~ (Middle East)
♦ “What are the sets of policies that can move the ball, and which are
backed likely to be counterproductive? There’s a lot of political-science
research about the backlash effect, where foreign criticism...actually
has the opposite effect.” (Jessica Chen Weiss, Cornell University.
backed by Iran The Foreign Affairs Interview with Daniel Kurtz-Phelan.)
the rebels are ~
*** jumping on the “backlash” bandwagon...
backed by the US ♦ A backlash against Facebook and technology has been referred to
he has been ~ and other countries (Guaido vs. Maduro) as a techlash.

backfire (verb) ♦ A backlash by drivers of motor vehicles against bicyclists has been
referred to as a bikelash.
*** analysis
backfire
the campaign may succeed but it could also ~ (military) ♦ Read the Wikipedia article “Backlash (sociology).” That article has
the following caveat: “This article has multiple issues.”
backfire in the workplace backlog (amount)
DEI initiatives can ~ (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)
backlog
"circle-the-wagons mentality" backfired prolonging the process and swelling the ~ (visa requests)
the ~
backlog of cases
the FBI has a huge ~ (security clearances)

Page 78 of 1645
 the ~ exceeded 34,000 (U.K. / asylum) backstabbing (noun)
backlog of planes backstabbing
because the weather will create a ~ waiting to land…
~ is an art (politics)
backlog of work back-stabbing and bad-mouthing
the NTSB needs to move on to the ~ that…
~ on the "Survivor" TV show
case backlog backstabbing and betrayal
the ~ in courts has reached an unprecedent high
~ remain a function of all our lives
paperwork backlog ♦ “And evil takes a human form in Regina George. Don’t be fooled,
reducing the overall INS ~ because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing, slut-
faced ho-bag. But in reality, she is so much more than that.” (The silly
2004 film Mean Girls. Mean!)
processing backlog
foster kids remain orphans due to a ~ (adoptions) backstage (adjective)
*** analysis
♦ The backlog is the large log at the back of a hearth. In the open, it
backstage advisor
will reflect heat and provide hot coals and help preserve the fire until he remains a ~ to Putin
the morning.
backstage contacts
backpedal (verb) there have been ~ between them (diplomacy)
backpedaling on key demands backstage diplomacy
China has been ~ (trade dispute) ~ has turned to more open confrontation
back-pedaled on everything backstage look
she has now ~ she said in her testimony (a trial) the documents and testimony provide a ~ at why…
backpedal on the whole idea backstage negotiations
they began to ~ of national standards (education) approval of the nominations came after ~
backpedals on (tax) pledge backstage politics
top Republican ~ the organization is rife with ~ (sports)
back-pedal from his comments backstage role
he continued to ~ (a politician / BBC) the administration playing a ~ in trying to resolve…
he played a pivotal ~ in persuading…
backpedaled after fierce criticism
the coach ~ from Chinese fans, sponsors, and partners backstage self
back seat (take a back seat) we have a private, ~, versus our public self
backstage political struggle
take a backseat to my job he settled the ~ by choosing… (UN)
my job and family began to ~
backstage lobbying
take a backseat to reality there has been ~ by Washington (diplomacy)
protocol had to ~ (CID investigation)
backstage maneuvering
take a back seat to unseating there has been a lot of ~ (diplomacy)
issue must ~ the current president
backstage wrangling
taking a second seat to schedule and cost after weeks of ~, the Party has decided…
safety and quality were ~
backstabber (person) backstage policy making
he was a master of ~ (Labor Party)
backstabber operates backstage
he's a ~, watch out
he ~ (an athletic booster)
he's the worst kind of ~, he poses as a friend
backstop (verb)
backstabber or turncoat
being a ~ is offensive to most people backstop (FTX) customers
assets still are utilizable to ~ (pay them back)
two-faced backstabber
he's a ~ backstop (noun)
traitor, a backstabber and a fraud backstop against the president’s worst instincts
former fans have been waiting to call him a ~ (basketball) he was a ~ (government)

Page 79 of 1645
♦ “A backstop; a guardrail; trying to keep the President from going
outside the bounds; minimize the damage...” (“John Bolton’s Place in backwards (past)
Ukraine Policy” by Mara Liasson, NPR, Morning Edition, October 25,
2019.) go backwards
♦ “The UK armed forces are not ‘spare capacity’ for striking workers, they want to ~ to a romanticized past that never existed
the chief of the defence staff has said as he cautioned against relying
on the military as the ‘ultimate backstop’ during industrial action. / look backward
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of Britain’s armed forces, said it New Year's day is a time to ~ and forward
would be ‘slightly perilous’ to expect them to be used routinely in the
event of strikes by public sector workers. / In an interview with the
some ~ to a (reputedly) glorious past for answers
Sunday Telegraph, Radakin said the use of armed forces to provide
cover for striking workers would not impede operations, but marching backwards
suggested personnel should be allowed to get on with their day-to- it feels like this country is ~ to the Middle Ages (religion)
day jobs.” (From “Army should not be used as ‘ultimate backstop’ in
strikes, defence chief says” by Sophie Zeldin-O’Neill, The Guardian, backwater (noun)
Sun 18 Dec 2022.)

backtrack (go back in time) backwater

in 1831, Southampton County was a ~
backtrack backwater of the Office of International Affairs
I think we have to ~ a bit (a history discussion) he was transferred into the relative ~
backtrack (reversal) backwater in a (vast Islamic) empire
backtrack the region around Kabul was merely a ~
the union has had to ~ on its demands long-ignored (rural) backwater
back up (perspective / verb) in ~s

back up provincial backwater

let’s ~ and get big picture for a second (NPR) the town remained a ~
♦ “Just back up and give us the context. How did we get to this remote backwater
moment.” (NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly.)
Darien remained a ~
backward (adjective)
rural backwater
backward Turkey Beijing has brought wealth and modernity to a ~
Ataturk took a ~ and made it modern he wants to bring development to the ~ (a politician)
this is not some ~ (site of a noxious landfill)
backward tack
I am embarrassed by the ~ of this administration sleepy backwater
oil transformed Khartoum from a ~ to a modern city
backward traditions
the Prophet (PBUH) did his utmost to eradicate ~ in a (rural) backwater
she found herself banished to a small hospital ~ (a
culturally backward doctor)
stoning takes place in remote and ~ areas
stereotype of Turkey as an (agricultural) backwater
backwards (progress) the ~ persists
socially backward became a backwater
writer Anna Mark’s piece is offensive and ~ (Taylor there were a lot of other reasons that Spain ~ for so long
Swift)
changed from a provincial backwater to a place
step backwards Tikrit ~ of large mosques and wide modern roads (Iraq)
see step (a step back / backwards)
remained a (provincial) backwater
go backwards the town ~
we should not ~ down the road toward nuclear power
backyard (in somebody's backyard)
sliding backwards
we are ~ to a less enlightened time in Australia’s backyard
a Chinese military presence in ~ (Solomon Islands pact)
move us backwards
the election will ~ economically in China's (own) backyard
*** analysis
~, Southeast Asia…
♦ “It is strange how we move forward in some things, and stand still in in Russia's backyard
others, and go backwards in yet others.” (Msimangu about progress,
from Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton.)
Kyrgyzstan is ~ (politics, etc.)
not-in-my-backyard
this is one of those ~ issues (Nimby)

Page 80 of 1645
Yes, in My Back Yard ends in 7:15:48. More Colors & Sizes Available. Add to cart.
$14.99+.” (Etsy.)
urban-policy nerds, YIMBYS--~... (The New Yorker)
*** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
backyard (other) ♦ “The video stirred up a lot of heat on social media, with supporters
lauding McAvoy as a true badass paddler and critics lambasting him
backyard for potentially putting his life, and possibly those of EMS workers, at
the Sunset Beach wave was my ~ (Hakman) risk should his plunge have resulted in serious injury.” (“Opinion: Was
Kayaker’s trip over Looking Glass Falls reckless? Or just kind of
historical and rightful backyard amazing?” by John Boyle, Asheville Watchdog, February 5, 2024. A
super article by a journalist’s journalist with comments from the right
China sees northeast Asia as its ~ people. To see a super video of an earlier run of the same falls by a

bad (my bad, etc.) different kayaker, watch: Watch: kayaksession Michael Ferraro
runs Looking Glass Falls (NC, Usa)
*** analysis
bad
♦ See “‘Badass’: The One Word That Has Become A lightning Rod
I just wanted the ~ to go away (trauma) For Many Female Chefs” by Nina Martyris, NPR, The Salt, November
11, 2019. A link leads to another great article, “We’ve Hit Peak
bad wrong Badass. It’s Gotta Stop” by Jesse Sheidlower, Daily Beast, Apr. 14,
something’s ~ here (racism / Frye Galliard on NPR) 2017.
♦ Many believe this word comes from the Black community and class
my bad it with words like lame-ass, dumbass, etc., including the one made
sorry, ~ famous by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.
♦ I feel badly for...” (A sports commentator. Should be “I feel bad.”) ♦ See the Wiktionary entry “-ass” and click on “Derived terms.” The
list is excellent. Wiktionary is wonderful.
♦ “There’s a whole lot of messed up here.” (US history / Spike Lee.)
♦ Bad, badass, beast, blow up, catch fire, chill, coup, crazy, crush,
♦ “So my bad. I’m sorry.” (Whoopi Goldberg of The View.)
destroy, dope, dynamite, filthy, freakish (ability, powers, etc.),
*** analysis gangster (original gangster / OG), kill, killer, killa, mean, monster,
nasty, ridiculous; sick, slay, wicked... (Words that sound bad but can
♦ As ESL or EFL teachers, we have all taught “good / better / best”
have positive connotations. English is crazy.)
and “bad / worse / worst,” usually considered by our textbooks as
grammar, rarely in terms of actual usage, proverbs, collocation, etc. ♦ “Gene Hackman is badass.” (The 1988 film Mississippi Burning.)
Pity.
bad boy (behavior)
badass (power)
bad boys
badass she loved ~
‘playing like a girl’ means you’re a ~ (women’s soccer)
‘bad boy’ of basketball
badass paddler he was the ~ (the remarkable Dennis Rodman)
supporters lauded him as a true ~ while critics...
bad boy of chess
total mountain badass he has a reputation as the “~” (Hans Neimann)
he’s the nicest guy in the world and a ~ (Tommy
Caldwell) bad boy of Western philosophy
Nietzsche is the ~
Brave, a Badass, a Heretic
I have been called ~ (a female blogger) bad boy antics
Kyrgios became known for his ~ while on the court
tough and badass (tennis)
you don’t need to be only ~ to succeed in the mountains
bad-boy baller
leached badass of its badassery pics show the ~ at Shotgun Willie’s (NBA’s Ja Morant)
overuse has ~
*** various groups... bad boy chefs
♦ “This team taught all of America’s children that ‘playing like a girl’
he was the Elvis of ~ (Bourdain)
means you’re a badass.” (President Obama welcoming the 2015
World Cup-winning women’s team to the White House.) consummate bad boy
she married Paul, who was a ~ (filmmaker Paul Schrader)
♦ “She showed me that you don’t need to be only tough and badass
to succeed in the mountains, you can be kind and nurturing, hard as
nails and still soft and caring.” (Professional skier Ingrid Backstrom
notorious “bad boy”
about ski-mountaineer Hilaree Nelson.) he is a ~ (Jamie Cail murder / U.S. Virgin Islands)
♦ “When you forget just how badass you are—refer to your folder and
read them out loud!... Treat yo’ self.” (Screenshot compliments, shout
called “Bad Boys”
outs, reviews from co-workers, your boss, clients, friends, and the team was ~ (NBA Detroit Pistons / 1988)
family... Savage by Claudi.)
*** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
liked bad boys
Glenn Close told me Mary Beth Hurt always ~
♦ “Be Strong (when you are weak), Be Brave (when you are scared),
Be Humble (when you are victorious), Be Badass (EVERYDAY). *** good girls and bad boys...
Affirmation Mug, Inspirational Coffee Mug, Be Humble Be Brave Mug. ♦ “Girls liked him.” (A “bad boy.”)
Ships from North Carolina. New markdown biggest in 60+ days. Sale

Page 81 of 1645
♦ In the movie musical Grease, Olivia Newton-John starred as good ♦ “The idea you could hold your liquor and type a new lead on a
girl Sandy Olson, who fell for a bad boy played by John Travolta. breaking story was a badge of honor.” (The great journalist Pete
Hamill, about journalism back in the day.)
♦ FBoy Island is a dating reality TV series hosted by the comedian
Nikki Glaser. A man is either a nice guy or a F-boy. A spinoff called ♦ “I’d like to personally welcome him to the club, because we receive
FGIRL Island is in the works. death threats every day. So, he’s officially part of this movement. It’s
a badge of honor.” (Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives
♦ “Black-footed ferrets have ‘a lot of hair, big bad teeth and a bad-boy
Matter New York, about Norwegian Parliament member Petter Eide.
attitude.’” (Says Kimberly Fraser, a female federal wildlife official.)
From “Norwegian politician receives threats over Black Lives Matter
*** attitude, delinquency, criminality, etc. Nobel Prize nomination” by Bill Hutchinson, 31 January 2021.)
♦ Swearing at officials; spitting at fans; making obscene gesture... ♦ “ASBOs are simply a badge of honor for lads like this.” (A comment
(The “bad-boy” antics of the troubled tennis player Nick Kyrgios, about a delinquent. An ASBO is an anti-social behavior order in the
currently a tennis commentator.) United Kingdom.)
♦ “A bad actor; weird; pretty strange; on a first-name basis with ♦ “Previously it was seen as a badge of courage. ‘Oh I haven’t
police; cocky guy; grandiose view of himself; felt he was above the missed a day of work in 40 years. I went to work sick.’ We don’t want
law; always running his mouth; smirking; paranoid attitude indicative people saying that. We want, ‘I had symptoms, so I stayed home
of drug use; blamed everyone else for his problems; duplicitous; self- because I’m considerate of my coworkers.’” (What about those co-
aggrandizing; posturing...” (Ryan Routh in Greensboro, North workers who have to pick up your slack?)
Carolina. He tried to assassinate ex-President Trump in Florida.)
*** war, conflict, the military...
♦ Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do / Watcha gonna do when
♦ Duty, Honor, Country. (The motto of West Point.)
they come for you? (Cops theme song. Read “The Story Behind
‘Cops’ Theme Song ‘Bad Boys’ by Greg Casseus, Variety, June 11, ♦ see also medal (noun)
2020. The song came out in 1987. Bob Marley died in 1981. Marley
never sang the song.) badge (representation)
♦ “While [Micajah] Harpe was still conscious, Moses Stegall slowly cut
off the outlaw’s head. Later, the head was spiked on a pole...at a badge of honor
crossroads...that is still known as “Harpe’s Head” or “Harpe’s Head see badge (badge of honor)
Road...in Webster County, Kentucky. / In January 1804, Wiley Harpe
[was] executed by hanging. [His head was] cut off and placed high on capitalist rebel badge
[a stake] along the Natchez Trace as a warning to other outlaws.”
(The Wikipedia article “Harpe brothers.” See also “Micajah “Big” and
he wears the ~ on his sleeve (Domm Holland,
Wiley “Little” Harpe” by Blythe Semmer, Tennessee Encyclopedia. technology)
Bad, bad boys they were, no doubt.)
*** analysis
wore that badge
I was damaged goods, I ~ very early on in my life
♦ “But together ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ play
out an old crisis—the crisis of the compromised good girl—by the badger (The Badger, etc.)
book.” (“Drake And Pop Music’s Good Girl Problem” by Ann Powers,
NPR, September 18, 2013. An excellent analysis.)
known as “The Badger”
♦ see also bad girl (person), good girl (person) the man ~ for his aggressive approach (Bernard Hinault)
badger (verb)
badge (badge of honor) badgered him
badge of honor the lawyer ~ (trial)
playing from memory is a ~ (pianists) ♦ “He claims he locked himself in the plane bathroom and fell asleep
to avoid her badgering.” (Johnny Depp about Amber Heard.)
criticism from him is a ~ (politics)
receiving death threats is a ~ (Black Lives Matter) bad girl (person)
ASBOs are simply a ~ for lads like this (delinquency)
bad girl
became a badge of honor she was the ~, the girl with the worst reputation
the "one-percenter" label ~ (bikers)
‘bad girl’ Drea de Matteo
wore its (cutting-edge) approach as a badge of honor self-proclaimed ~ (The New York Post)
the bank ~ (ended up being hacked)
bad girl of the roller derby circuit
wore her conviction as a badge of honor Ann Calvello was known as the ~
she ~ (the suffragette Susan B. Anthony)
‘bad girl’ of classical violin
wears the Trump endorsement as a badge of honor she had a reputation as the ~ (Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg)
he ~ (won GOP primary)
bad-girl memes
wore his scorn as a badge of honor the ~ (“living hard without shame”)
she ~
bad-girl music
wore the scorn (of liberals) as a badge of honor Miranda Lambert’s fiery ~ music
he always ~ (Rush Limbaugh)
incorrigible bad girl
wear that as a badge of honor this ~ (steals from the rich)
they ~, as a sign they are right (de-platformed)
original ‘Bad Girl’
Dona Summer, the ~ (disco)

Page 82 of 1645
real bad girl generational baggage
I don’t need to deceive you, I’m the ~ (Sky Ferreira) Boomers, Xers go to work carrying lots of ~
♦ “It’s always the right time to do the wrong thing.” Kamala Harris doesn’t come with the same ~ (as Biden)
♦ “Tonight it’s a good night to sleep with a stranger.” historical baggage
♦ “Living hard without shame.” the word crusade has largely shed its ~ in the West
♦ Unorthodox playing; unconventional attire... (A bad-girl violinist.)
legal baggage
*** analysis
he doesn’t have all the ~ Trump is dealing with (politics)
♦ “Why do Bad Girls fascinate us so?” (“Eve Harrington: The Bad
Giurl, Hollywood Style” by Susan Stamberg, NPR, Morning Edition, personal baggage
January 21, 2008.)
I had checked no luggage, but I carried some ~
♦ “But together ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ play
out an old crisis—the crisis of the compromised good girl—by the political baggage
book.” (“Drake And Pop Music’s Good Girl Problem” by Ann Powers,
NPR, September 18, 2013. An excellent analysis.) the ~ of its anti-establishment origins (black studies)
♦ Young girls have more options now. pseudoscientific baggage
♦ see also bad boy (behavior), good girl (person) gay had a long linguistic history and no ~ (vs.
homosexual)

badlands (environment) psychological baggage

students can arrive with ~ (suicides at MIT)
badlands of real life public baggage
students leave the sanctuary of academe for the boorish ~ policy differences or other ~ (politics)
bag (in the bag)
racial baggage
in the bag the ~ of the South (US)
it’s not ~ yet (Liverpool wins EPL)
a lot of baggage
the Africa Corps has ceased to exist, it’s ~ (W.W. II)
Biden has been around a long time and has a ~ (politics)
bag (out of the bag)
cultural and historical baggage
see cat (cat out of the bag, etc.) the ~ that rugby lugs (in South Africa)
bag (collection) historical, cultural and religious baggage
the ~ (of marriage)
bag of narratives
it is out of such a ~ that his book has been fashioned social and economic baggage
students with ~ (alternative school)
bag of tricks
he knew any treatment in the whole psychiatric ~ was carrying (lots of generational) baggage
futile Boomers, Xers go to work ~
bag (pack one’s bags) come with the same (generational) baggage
Kamala Harris doesn’t ~ (support for Israel vs. Biden)
pack the bags and get out
it’s just time to ~ (NATO in Afghanistan) freighted with (historical and cultural) baggage
the N-word is ~ (racial epithets)
baggage (noun)
hold (Biden’s border, inflation) baggage
baggage of marriage Kamala Harris must still ~ (politics)
the ~ (gender, religion, culture, etc.)
let go of the baggage
baggage of the South we must ~ in our minds (the Avalanches)
the racial ~ (US)
rid himself of this baggage
baggage from his (ancestral) past Ray ~ (classification and mythical creatures)
each comes into the world with ~ (race, religion, class) ♦ “I got him with all his baggage, and he got me with all of mine.” (A
marriage.)
baggage and attitude
♦ “When you’re an adult, you have baggage. And the baggage gets
he dealt with all the ~ we had (poor kids)
heavier.”
soul baggage ♦ “Schwarzenegger, who is still a Republican, is not without
they brought these emotions, the ~ (Dr. Tarek El-Ariss) baggage.” (The possibility of him working for a Democratic president.
The “baggage” includes a personal scandal.)
complicated baggage ♦ “Some of them of course were upset, angry, scared, but they
soldiers take home some more ~ (from overseas) brought these emotions, the soul baggage also, and expressed it, but
they expressed it in a thoughtful way, and things remained

Page 83 of 1645
reasonable throughout.” (Dartmouth professor Tarek El-Ariss, about
the forums he and Professor Susannah Heschel held for Dartmouth bait (noun / military)
students in the wake of the Saturday, October 7, 2023 attack by
Hamas from Gaza on Israel. The Israel-Hamas war.) bait
the Iraqis didn't take the ~ (fire and expose themselves)
bailout (noun)
bait (awards bait, etc.)
bailout
~s are unpopular (of banks, national economies) bait and switch
she acknowledged the ~ (TV show shifts focus)
bail out (save)
bait-and-switch
bail out Mexico it was a ~ trap (COVID mortgage forbearance)
the IMF helped ~ in the 1990s
awards bait
bailing out (big) banks it is transparent ~ (“empowerment” / a film)
the taxpayers are ~
clickbait
bailed out the company see clickbait (noun)
the government ~ (with loans)
bail out (leave) jailbait
she alleged he often referred to her as “~” (a 17-year-old)
bailed out nostalgia-bait
high-profile guests have ~ (attending a party) assembly-line, groaner ~ (2023 What Happens Later,
bailed out of school etc.)
he ~ in 2008 (an athlete) Oscar-bait
bail out of this treaty the ~ turns we’re handed this time of year (conventional)
the US may ~ (open-skies treaty) trade bait
♦ “What the hell is up? I went out on a limb for you and you just bail?” he’s an intriguing prospect and might be ~ (an athlete)
(The silly 2000 film Bring It On.)

bailed out take the bait

you can ~ or learn to pick your battles (relationships)
bailed out by the EU and the I.M. F. when it comes to trolls, don’t ~ (internet)
Ireland was ~ in 2010
rise to the bait
bait (lure / verb) he refused to ~ (speech)
daft from Nunez, got to be calmer and not ~ (gets red
baited children card)
the company ~, using nursery rhymes (advertising)
rises to the bait
*** analysis
trolls ask stupid questions to see who ~ (Internet)
♦ You need to bait the hook to catch the fish.

bait (antagonize / verb) took the bait

I made a nice feint and he ~ (chess)
bait and sass the news media ~ (picked up story that was not true)
presidential hopefuls ~ one another (a “debate”) ♦ “Yeah, maybe most guys would take the bait, but the thing is just
because a door opens doesn’t mean you have to walk through it.” (A
♦ “This was the best handling of Trump by any candidate that’s private eye who uses a beautiful woman to entrap husbands and
debated him in what Kamala Harris was able to do. You know, she boyfriends. One woman said, “I’m glad I found out he was a dog, I’m
baited him on several things, mentioning the Wharton School gonna pack up my things tomorrow and just leave, I’m giving back the
economist not liking his economic plan, that’s of course where Trump ring, and I can go on with my life.”)
went to school for undergraduate, she talked about his crowds, which
really derailed him. There were lots of other examples. Trump took ♦ “Make no mistake about it. Trump had a bad night. He rose to the
the bait every single time. She sort of flipped the script on bait repeatedly when she baited him, something I’m sure his advisors
masculinity. She really was the Alpha in this debate from beginning to had begged him not to.” (Brit Hume, a former chief political anchor for
end...” (An excited Domenico Montanaro about the first Harris-Trump Fox News. Broadcast on NPR after the first Harris-Trump debate.)
debate. From “The major takeaways from last night’s debate,” NPR, *** analysis
All Things Considered, September 11, 2024.)
♦ According to Wiktionary, in colloquial Australian English, a “shark
♦ “Harris successfully baited Trump, she got him off [snort of baiter” is “a lone swimmer or surfer far from shore.” In the same
disparagement] topic, she [inaudible] provoked him into yelling, and mordant spirit, many Americans, when hearing the roar or whine of a
even prominent conservatives have criticized his performance. So, motorcyclist speeding on a highway, will proclaim, “Organ donor!”
since then, Harris is very much pushing for another opportunity to do
that.” (NPR’s “tough” Danielle Kurtzleben about the first Harris-Biden ♦ “She swallowed his story hook, line and sinker. He reeled her in...”
debate. NPR is always happy to quote conservatives in situations like ♦ BAIT, n. A preparation that renders the hook more palatable. The
these. Kurtzleben describes herself as “a real piece of work” and best kind is beauty.” (A Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.)
“absolutely a girlboss.”)
♦ “Don’t take the bait!”
*** analysis
♦ “Don’t take the bait!”

Page 84 of 1645
baiter (red-baiter, etc.) ♦ The Wiktionary entry for “baiting” has a very nice list of derived
terms: be sure and click on “show more” to see the entire list.
Wiktionary is wonderful.
immigrant-baiter
Sarkozy is known to be an ~ despite being an immigrant baked in (and baked into)
Race-Baiter baked in the cake
~: How The Media... (Eric Deggans / 2012) it was ~ (a man’s vice)

race-baiter baked-in part

Bill O’Reilly called me a ‘~’ on his show (Eric Deggans) business use tips as a ~ of worker pay
Doug Gottlieb called Stephen A. Smith a “~” (Fox
baked into the very architecture
Sports)
racism is ~ of the internet
red-baiters
baked into the cake
he was hounded by the hysterical ~ (Robert
these injuries are so ~ of this sport (TBIs / NFL)
Oppenheimer)
baiting (antagonizing / Jew-baiting, baked into the culture
trash talk is ~ of play (basketball)
etc.)
baked into the political equation
Hindu-baiting this shows you how much Trump is ~ (politics)
her chronic ~ (NPR’s New Delhi producer Furkan Khan)
baked into hockey
immigrant-baiting some level of danger is ~, it’s a physical game
a conservative movement enthralled by ~ Donald Trump
baked into it
Jew-baiting the code has instructions ~ that... (ransomware)
he has incited rage for his ~ (Columbia University prof)
baked into the system
race-baiting there’s a lot of waste ~ (pandemic and public health)
~ leftists masquerade as civil-rights champions
baked into the (medical) system
scambaiting racism is ~ (Tuskegee Syphilis Study)
the ~ exploits of “Neld Harris”
♦ “The scambaiting exploits of “Neld Harris” have become a YouTube
baked into that term
hit.” some evangelicals don’t like the assumptions that are ~
♦ “Red-baiting has grown to a national sport.” (In the 1940s U.S.) baked into our social systems and psychology
*** analysis racism is ~ (Critical race Theory)
♦ See the Wikipedia article “Bear-baiting.” It is interesting that the
article is split between the blood sport and “Hunting bears with bait.” baked into the hardware and software
The one article should be two different articles. insecurity is ~ of the internet (computer hacking)
♦ “Stop baiting me!”
bake in (and bake into)
baiting (luring / queerbaiting, etc.)
baked delays into their schedules
pedo-baiting airlines have ~ instead of improving operations
she had been accused of “~” (to look like a child)
balance (verb)
queerbaiting
debates over ~ have raged online (Styles, Perry, t.A.T.u.) balance the demands
he was accused of “~” fans of the show trying to ~ of work and family
~ deserves to be called out, but... (forced outing) balance a home and a career
Queerbaiting for women trying to ~
Cardi B shuts down “~” claims balance militancy versus moderation
romance baiting his speech had to ~ (MLK)
Valentine’s season always sees spikes in ~ (online scams) balance (energy) needs and the land
♦ “A California mom and OnlyFans model—who has been accused of an example for how to ~
‘pedo-baiting’ by editing her photos to look like a child—has taken her
own life.” (Diana Deets, aka Coconut Kitty.) balance the risk and the benefit
*** analysis you have to ~ (vaccinations)
♦ “‘Queerbaiting’ essentially boils down to appropriating queer
signifiers as an aesthetic only.” balance security and synchronization
♦ See the Wikipedia article “Queerbaiting.” Wikipedians are ~ (special operations / military)
wonderful.

Page 85 of 1645
balance civil liberties and national security tip the balance in Colorado
how to ~ in a war on terror Hispanic voted may ~ (politics)
balance tradition with changes tip the balance in Syria
Inuit leaders try to ~ Obama took no action to ~
balance the need (for openness) with national security tip the balance against the option
policies to ~ the three no votes were enough to ~ (politics)
balance the benefits against the difficulties tip the balance towards western coal
you need to ~ the President’s decision could ~ (vs eastern coal)
♦ “The goal of the policy I propose is not to ‘tip the scales in favor of
balance the human cost against the cost to the animal boys,’ as some fear. Rather, it is to level the playing field in the spirit
we must ~ of equity given the developmental differences between the sexes.”
♦ see also playing field (level the playing field), scale (tip the scales),
balance the need against the risks scale (put one’s finger on the scale, etc.)
we must ~ (combat rescues)
balance (out of balance)
balance their assignments against their safety
photojournalists have to ~ out of balance
in a person with depression, these chemicals are ~
how to balance my priorities and life are ~
an example for ~ energy needs and the land
wildly out of balance
struggling to balance the sauce was ~, overloaded with… (food)
young women ~ work and family priorities
woefully out of balance
trying to balance the system is ~ (politics)
~ the demands of work and family
♦ “We all have to balance our own wants and needs with the wants priorities are out of balance
and needs of our partner.” (Johan Renck, the director of the 2024 film our societal ~
Spaceman.)
values (as a nation) are (sadly) out of balance
balance (in the balance) our ~
in the balance swung (way) out of balance
lives are ~, this is serious (COVID-19 pandemic) the financial sector has ~
hanging in the balance balance (work and job, etc.)
lives are ~ (tornado forecasting)
his life is ~ after a drug overdose (a rapper) balance in my life
the ocean represents ~ (Ken Bradshaw / surfer)
hangs in the balance
Britain's future ~ (elections) balance between modesty and sexiness
aim to strike a ~
hung in the balance
his life ~ (penalty phase of trial) work-life balance
the demands of the job eroded her ~ (single / Manhattan)
balance (off balance)
work / life balance
kept the actors off-balance the generations disagree on authority, teamwork, ~
he ~ by interrupting their line readings (film) workers who value a ~
keep the enemy off balance know your limits to maintain a happy ~ and avoid
burnout
try to ~
throw the Soviets off balance wholeness, balance, wellbeing, health
pay attention to your ~ (Hozho)
an assault to ~ and regain the initiative
throws the show off balance keeps his balance
he ~ by leaving his work behind when he returns home
his realistic portrayal ~ (a play)
throw the system off balance maintains her balance
she ~ by staying firmly rooted at home in Utah (an actor)
it will ~ (the body)
balance (tip the balance) strike a balance
aim to ~ between self-denial and overindulgence
tip the balance of power ♦ “We are not overexcited when we win and when we lose we are not
Iran helped ~ in favor of Bashar Asad dramatic. That’s why I think the club is so stable.” (Pep Guardiola
about Manchester City.)

Page 86 of 1645
balance (noun) strike a balance
~ between what is possible and what is probable (combat)
balance of chemicals balanced
restoring the normal ~ in the brain (antidepressants)
balance of the region balanced approach
the dams would disrupt the ecological ~ a ~ for the listing of adult items on eBay
a ~ might involve asking… (race, genes and disease)
balance of freshwater and saltwater
a dike collapse could destroy the delicate ~ (estuary) balanced budget
the ~ amendment
balance of stability and flexibility
the ankle joint is designed for a ~ balanced diet
a ~ might not be on the menu
balance between existence and annihilation
the ~ was precarious (Homer) balanced perspective
it is important to have a ~ (safety and study abroad)
balance between stability and mobility
the elbow joint displays an elegant ~ balanced and responsible
a ~ approach to development (Arctic)
balance between racing and safety
you have to find a ~ (5 Oceans race) racially balanced
the show has a ~ cast (theater)
balance between usability and security
the ~ is a tricky one (computers) fair and balanced
~ news
fluid balance balance of power
her ~ needs to be restored (medicine)
trade balance balance of power
control the ~ naked aggression to change the ~ (political)

basic balance balance of power between professor and student

the ~ of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter (Cambodian cuisine) the ~ is so slanted (dating)

delicate balance balance of power in Kashmir

a dike collapse could destroy the ~ of fresh / saltwater it would have no impact on the ~

ecological balance shift in the balance of power

the dams would disrupt the ~ of the region there's a ~ (relationships)

fragile balance impact on the balance of power

the ~ between production and conservation (natural gas) it would have no ~ in Kashmir

sense of balance
balk (verb)
we must restore a ~ to the debate (energy / conservation) balked at publishing
ballast and balance the network ~ his report
it gave me a sense of ~ (NPR back in the day / not now) balking at (high sticker) prices
checks and balances consumers are ~ (auto buying)
she didn't go through the regular process of ~ (corruption) balkanization (noun)
balance (of the Supreme Court) has shifted balkanization of the (professional) structure
now that the ~ the ~ continued... (history of engineering)
attain a balance instance of balkanization
~ between mission accomplishment and environmental the term LGBTQIAA+ is a clear ~ (Jonathan Rauch)
protection (war)
Balkanized
destroy the (delicate) balance
a dike collapse could ~ of fresh and saltwater (estuary) Balkanized between universities, drug companies
medical research in the US is ~, and funders
find a balance
you have to ~ between racing and safety (Velux 5) balkanized airwaves
on America’s ~, his supporters are... (Dan Bongino)
restore balance
a decrease in OPEC's output would be needed to ~

Page 87 of 1645
ball (play ball) dropped the ball on this case
a lot of agencies ~ (serial killer)
play ball
it is often good politics to ~ dropped the ball in the case
he is being punished for refusing to ~ investigators ~
he has directed officials not to ~ (impeachment enquiry) ♦ “The university dropped the ball and she paid the price with her
life.” (Lauren McCluskey, the University of Utah.)
if they didn’t ~, it was game over for them (starlets)
ball (get the ball rolling, etc.)
played ball
he would never have ~, he was a man of integrity get the ball rolling
playing ball we need to ~
this is a good investment to ~
helping to oust some third-world leader who isn’t ~
sometimes it takes a gentle nudge to ~
(NSA)
he made attempts to ~ on this very thing
play ball with the Kremlin
you either ~, or… (business)
got the ball moving
she ~ on the impeachment enquiry (politics)
play ball with (party) leaders
many candidates refuse to ~ in Washington
keep the ball rolling
to ~, we must…
play ball with me
if you ~, I'll play ball with you
started the ball rolling
he ~, and other businesses followed suit
play ball with newspapers CO2 may have ~, but… (global warming)
WikiLeaks may be willing to ~ for now, but… ball (as verb)
reluctant to play ball
balling
the Asians are somewhat ~ (with the U.S. / The
Brock was ~... (NFL quarterback Brock Purdy)
Economist)
♦ “Man, Brock was balling, put some respect on that man’s name,
willing to play ball you know, he was runnin’, he was throwin’... (Jesse Washington,
ESPN, heard on NPR.)
she may be ~
ball and chain
need to play ball
the unions ~ (local hiring) huge ball and chain
alcoholism is a ~
refused to play ball
expectations of success were a ~ (a writer with first
he has ~ with the EPA (politics)
novel)
get Republicans to play ball balletic (adjective)
Democrats are struggling to ~
ball (the ball is in somebody's court) balletic agility
he relied on his natural talent and ~
ball will be firmly in the court of the governors balloon (as transitive verb)
the ~ to decide how to move forward (pandemic)
balloons menu prices
ball is in Russia’s court
Calif.’s $20 fast food minimum wage ~
Blinken says the ~ (U.S. “diplomacy”)
*** analysis
ball is in your court ♦ “There’s no stopping people who want to improve (or improvise)
the ~ existing words.” (The editor Merrill Perlman, writing specifically about
the use of “overwhelm” as a noun.)
*** delightful usage...
♦ A UK reporter: (Shouting.) Do you think the ball is in your court? / balloon (verb)
Michel Barnier, then EU Brexit negotiator and as of 2024 the French
Prime Minister: (After a pause.) Brexit is not a game, huh? balloon
ball (take one's eye off the ball) as our entitlement commitments ~
ballooned
took his eye off the ball
the number of women (in prisons and jails) has ~
some people think Obama ~ (rising unemployment)
usage of Zoom has ~ overnight (video-conferencing app)
ball (drop the ball)
ballooning
dropped the ball in preventing the debt is ~
the US Secret Service ~ the near-assassination (of long-term unemployment is ~
Trump)
ballooned into Wall Street's biggest crisis

Page 88 of 1645
 the credit squeeze ~ since… her films are a ~ that adolescents feel
ballooned to $14.4 billion banana (noun)
the price tag has ~ (military project)
banana peel
ballooned to over 300 pounds Iran put a ~ in front of the US and Trump put his foot on
his weight reportedly ~ (a basketball player) it
balloon (puncture a balloon, etc.) banana skin
he’s a potential ~ (boxer speaking of tough next
punctured the (helium) balloon opponent)
he ~ of the stock’s soaring price Joshua has got past a potential ~ (boxer wins)
ballooning (adjective) ♦ “Iran put a banana peel in front of the United States and President
Trump put his foot right on it.” (Cali Nasir’s analysis after an Iranian
ballooning (pension) costs proxy militia in Iraq killed an American. The resultant US airstrike
against the militia resulted in an outburst of Iraqi anti-Americanism,
he blames the problem on ~ including an attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad.)

ballooning (national) debt ♦ “It’s a potential banana skin because he’s relatively
unknown...that’s quite dangerous...So I’m taking him very seriously...”
voters are alarmed by the ~ (Josh “the Tartan Tornado” Taylor about his upcoming boxing match
with Apinun Khongsong. Taylor ended up defeating his opponent with
ballooning deficit a paralyzing body shot in the first round.)
the state is faced with a ~ ♦ “I think a banana skin is a disrespectful term for this Welsh team.”
(Ireland Six Nations rugby captain Peter O’Mahony, about playing
ballooning demand underdog Wales. Nervous, son?)
~ for oil is bound to be disruptive *** analysis
ballooning (Medicaid) expenses ♦ “I slip on a banana peel, that’s tragedy. You slip on a banana peel,
that’s comedy.” (Attributed to Charlie Chaplin.
government officials look to curb ~
♦ In “What’s So Funny?” by Tad Friend (The New Yorker, August 19,
ballooning problem 2024), Friend quotes Mel Brooks: “Tragedy is if I cut my finger.
Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.” Friend also points
this spotlights the ~ out the hostile language comedians use to talk about their work:
“punch” lines,” “breaking up the audience,” “killing the audience” with
ballooning trade surplus a good joke,” etc.)
China has a ~ with the US
banana republic
ballooning (cost) overruns
the State Department agency tried to hide ~ banana republic
France is a ~ ruled by uneducated people (Koons’ Tulips)
ballgame (different ballgame)
*** analysis
different ballgame ♦ This phrase appeared in 1955. At the time, United Fruit controlled
piracy is a ~ 42% of the agricultural land in Guatemala and was very concerned by
the new socialist government which had promised land reform. That
it's a ~ when you don't… government was overthrown by a CIA-supported coup.
therefore, you have a ~, as they say in America...
Band-Aid (noun)
whole different ballgame
this year has been a ~ (Delta variant / COVID) Band-Aid
if it’s real and it isn’t just a ~... (a proposed program)
ballgame (new ballgame) the emergency operation is a ~, a short-term fix (famine)
whole new ballgame band-aid solution
we're in a ~ this a just a ~ for a much deeper problem
online journalism is a ~
Band-Aid on a festering infection
ballistic (go ballistic) it is a short-term ~ (diplomacy)
go ballistic put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound
people will ~ when they read that… we’ll always ~ (social justice)
went ballistic ♦ “It is neither a cold nor hot war, in those terms’ traditional sense. It
is a simmering war that sometimes boils over and other times
she ~ (upset and angry) remains warm.” (Alan Dershowitz and Andrew Stein. From “Enough
she confronted her husband with the pictures and ~ with the Band-Aids, Biden—we need to stop Iran now,” The New York
Post, Jan. 17, 2024.)
balm (noun) ♦ “You’re essentially putting band aids on gunshot wounds.” (A
teacher about social promotion at a D.C. high school.)
balm for the afflictions
♦ “It was like he was putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. He did not
his wisdom is a ~ of our age (a poet) have a ‘bad’ debate, he was visibly unwell.” (Joe Biden after his June
2024 debate with Donald Trump.)
balm for the trauma

Page 89 of 1645
bandit (noun) ♦ Black henbane is a poisonous plant. Poison plants have had a long
relationship with public health, animal husbandry, traditional
medicine, witchcraft, and murder.
real bandits
they are ~, what they are doing (politics / Brazil) bang (with a bang)
bandwagon (noun) ended with a bang
the tournament ~, not a whimper
legalization bandwagon
voters are not obliged to jump on the ~ (marijuana) finish (out his career) with a bang
Tapia has a chance to ~ by... (boxer)
moaner bandwagon
post an opinion, don’t just jump on the ~ (sports) go out with a bang
the players wanted their coach to ~ (by winning)
Nuwaubian bandwagon apparently he wanted to ~ (mass shooter)
locals who had climbed aboard the ~ began to jump off
hit home with a bang
on the (Doncic) bandwagon reality ~
I’ve been ~ for a long time (great Slovenian basketball
star) kicking the year off with a bang
deal makers are ~ (mergers)
climbed aboard the (Nuwaubian) bandwagon
locals who had ~ began to jump off (Putnam County, opens with a bang
GA) the play ~, as…
jumped on the bandwagon opened with a bang
I ~, repeating the things being said around me (regret) the film ~ (good revenues)
leaped onto the bandwagon returned with a bang
the TV industry also ~ (3-D) he ~ (athlete has great day)
♦ “The BBC is always one of the first on any given bandwagon.” (Bob,
a sour golfing fan, on a BBC HYS about a story featuring Bryson start (out) with a bang
DeChambeau.) I wanted to ~, so I…
♦ “That’s not the first bandwagon you need to jump on. I think that’s
completely ridiculous and extremely naïve.” (The brother of a young
bang (bang for the buck, etc.)
actress / model, about people on social media suggesting that his
sister’s death was somehow related to COVID vaccines.) bang for the buck from Special Operations
♦ “And having seen RRR twice, I’m part of the bandwagon.” (John
the coalition gets plenty of ~ (war)
Powers’ glowing review of the 2022 Indian film.)
little bang for the buck
♦ “He called Howard a ‘bandwagon jumper.’ (An NBA veteran about
another NBA athlete who celebrated too much and took too much
the report concluded subsides offered ~
credit for being on a NBA championship team. Said by the old
veteran of the team, “He didn’t do nothing.”) more bang for the buck
employers will get ~ from this program
*** analysis
♦ “The bandwagon you hopped on so gladly is hurtling towards a most bang for the buck
cliff.” the president will focus on getting the ~ from…
bandwidth (capacity) nutritional bang for the buck
mental bandwidth greens offer ~
sports betting took more ~ than I expected get more bang for the buck
have the bandwidth at Wall-Mart, you ~
we do not ~ to address all the calls (Portland police) ♦ “You get much more of a bang out of the shot, as it were.” (Anthony
Fauci, about booster shots.)
taking up (a lot of) bandwidth banish (verb)
the pandemic is ~ (other problems set aside)
♦ “Putting in the emotional, physical, and logistical labor to care for a banishes fear
child with special needs while maintaining the bandwidth to meet the Captagon fuels conflict, for fighters it ~
needs of one’s other children can be a significant challenge.”

bane (noun) banished

bane of my life banished to the bullpen
he has been ~ (a pitcher)
the spinal brace quickly became the ~ (injured back)
greatest bane banished from the dictionary
American English should be ~ (the Brits)
corruption is the single ~ of our society
*** analysis

Page 90 of 1645
banishment (noun) bankrupt (adjective)
banishment of Brandon from the team bankrupt defense
the ~ is complete hypocrisy (a religious honor code) it's a ~ (blaming victim for hate crime)
banishment from the halls of academe intellectually bankrupt
plagiarism can result in the ~ our way of managing parole supervision is ~
banishment from the league morally bankrupt
it is time to end his ~ (a disgraced athlete) placating terrorists is ~
Hollywood banishment banner (carry a banner, etc.)
‘you become unhireable’ Carano says of her ~
carry the banner of the National Front
result in banishment she intends to ~ into the 21st century
plagiarism can ~ from the halls of academe
carrying a banner for female athletes
end his banishment she is ~ (Annika Sorenstam)
it is time to ~ from the league (a disgraced athlete)
carrying a banner for black directors
♦ “Boop / bop / beep. Seriously? This was the start of the end for me?
A 20-year career, the blood, sweat and tears of fighting?” (Gina he said he was not ~ (playwright)
Carano, about being canceled for her political views. Gina was a
MMA fighter before being noticed by Steven Soderbergh and cast in wave the banner of free speech
the lead of the 2011 film Haywire. Her next role was in Fast & Furious when criticized they ~ (Web hosts)
6. Read “Gina Carano on Getting Sacked From Star Wars and Her
Grudge Match With Disney” by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood banner (under the banner)
Reporter, March 14, 2024.)

bank (tissue bank, etc.) under the banner of progressive ideals

school educators have allowed antisemitism to flourish ~
food bank under the banner of the IMU
drop off extra food at a ~ armed men ~ invaded Tajikistan
germ bank under the banner of the ruling party
~s around the world keep anthrax both men will contest the election ~
job bank banner (behind the banner)
an online ~
behind the banner of reparations
memory bank they hoped to unite the community ~ (protest)
the bomb can erase the ~s of electronic equipment
banner (banner of Islam, etc.)
milk bank
~s collect, pasteurize and store donated breast milk banner of Islam
I’d like to thank every woman who’s ever donated to a ~ the youth must hold aloft the ~ (King Abdullah)
Organ Bank banner for artists
the New England ~, one of several dozen regional centers over time Dirty South, not Third Coast, became a ~
plant bank hold aloft the banner
a global network of ~s to store seeds and sprouts the youth must ~ of Islam (King Abdullah)
a system of ~s is crucial in responding to climate crises
hide behind the banner
Seed Bank scoundrels ~ of patriotism
the Millennium ~ Partnership (Kew Gardens)
wave the banner
seed bank they ~ of religion
~s in Afghanistan and Iraq were destroyed during
conflicts waving the banner
he had been ~ of free speech, but... (Musk’s X)
Skin Bank ♦ NO WAR; TAKE YOUR WAR AND GO TO HELL; BUSH, BLAIR
the New York Firefighters ~ (Hearst Burn Center) and BERLUSCONI—ASSASSINS; NOT IN MY NAME… (Banners at
a march in Florence, during which 300,000 marched to protest the
sperm bank Iraq War.)
he got the 50 bucks, but the ~ couldn’t protect his identity banner (size)
♦ see also library (tool library, etc.)
banner ad
for 10,000 visitors, I made $330 per ~ (Internet)

Page 91 of 1645
banner headline ~: the movie has turned the world hot pink (2023 film)
the newspaper ran a ~ declaring…
~s trumpeted the news
Barbie doll type
well I ain’t never been the ~ (Gretchen Wilson)
banner weekend ♦ “In the fall of 2008, Thompson completed her first run as an NFL
it was a ~ for HBO this weekend (many viewers) sideline reporter. During the season, Thomspon dyed her hair black
to ‘rid [herself] of the Barbie thing,’ as she is notably blond.” (From the
banner year Wikipedia article “Charissa Thomson,” about the host and
sportscaster. After much male commentary, she switched back to
2000 was a ~ for genomics being a blonde. Years later, she would admit that during this period
baptism (noun) she made up stories to tell on camera. Her contemporary female
critics who now charge her with giving credence to the stereotype that
sideline reporters are just “eye candy” should be a bit more
baptism by fire sympathetic, considering the times.)
it was my ~ (new teacher) ♦ The basketball player Angel Reese was nicknamed the “Bayou
Barbie” when she went to play at Louisiana State University, because
baptism of fire of her eyelash extensions and pink fingernails. She liked the
Salk referred to his time with Francis as a "~" nickname.

baptized ♦ “I was not allowed to play with Barbies as a kid. I was a pastor’s kid,
so Barbies were exiled. But now I get to be my free authentic self in
the city.” (Prima Love—he, she, they—a drag queen and New Jersey
baptized in fire and blood native, about her appearance at the Malibu Barbie Beach Party show
you have been ~ and come out steel (combat) at NYC’s restaurant Peachy Keen, capitalizing on the opening of the
2023 film Barbie.)
get baptized *** problems, criticism, pushback, snark...
you ~ pretty quickly in this business (death-penalty law) ♦ “So they make a movie ‘Barbie’ and then a good-looking blond
woman walks by and some guy says, “Hi Barbie.’ Then he gets
bar (bar is set high, etc.) fired... [L]et’s not get hung up on calling someone ‘Hi Barbie’ while
the Hollywood industry makes its wealth on this movie.” (An online
bar commenter about “Sports radio host Dan Geronimo fired after sexist
the ~ is set so high for him (performance) ‘Barbie’ comments toward female reporter” by Jared Schwartz, New
York Post, July 30, 2023. See the Wikipedia article “Barbenheimer.”)
the ~ is down to “don’t do dumb stuff”
♦ “Well I ain’t never been the Barbie doll type / No, I can’t swig that
♦ “The more we can build the building blocks for that localization, the sweet champagne, I’d rather drink beer all night...” (Gretchen Wilson
bar for companies wanting to localize into African languages will Redneck Woman YouTube
continue to go down, it will be easier and easier and less expensive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82dDnv9zeLs Hell yeah!
to do.” (Oxford Global Languages.)
*** monetizing, commerce, biz, ads, merch, pods, books...
barb (trade barbs, etc.) ♦ “Barbie knows that representation matters and is committed to
continuing to increase diversity across collections, so that more
trading barbs people can see themselves reflected.” (The trans Barbie doll, a
US and Chinese officials have been ~ (conflict) Barbie doll with a prosthetic limb, the Ken doll with vitiligo, a Barbie
doll with Down Syndrome, etc.)
barbed (speech) *** analysis
♦ “Is Barbie a feminist icon? It’s complicated” by Rachel Treisman,
barbed letters NPR, Morning Edition, July 27, 2023.
the president and the speaker had traded ~ (politics)
bare (lay bare)
barbed question
a reporter interrupted with a ~ lays bare the (latent) anti-Semitism
the vandalism ~ that still exists in society
barbed satire
it’s a ~ about race, class and culture (a film) laid bare the challenge
barbaric (behavior) the incident has ~ of the alliance (US / Pakistan)
laid bare the whirlpool
barbaric power his murder ~ of religious violence and extremism
the people are under the boot of ~
bare (laid bare)
reckless and barbaric
the ~ attack (use of Novichok in England) laid bare
Barbie (and Barbie Doll) the open secret about Ozy Media has been ~ (fraud)
laid bare in the (feisty TV) debate
Barbiecore the candidates’ divisions were ~ (politics)
the ~ trend is an homage to her pink style and aesthetic
bare (verb)
Barbieland
the Kens had taken over ~ (The Grace Hopper bared the excesses
Celebration) the rally ~ of his movement
Barbiemania bare the secrets

Page 92 of 1645
 the press can ~ of government and inform people urban barnacle
bare bones (and bare-bones) the padlocks cover old bridges in a kind of ~ (Paris, etc.)
♦ [H]e describes today’s tax code as ‘full of barnacles and crevices
bare-bones budget and windows and holes. It needs a major reform and restructuring.’”
(“Beyond The Tax Deal: Targeting The Code Itself,” NPR, All Things
we want to have a ~ (saving money) Considered, December 18, 2010. The description is enough to cause
trypophobia!)
bare-bones care
♦ “NYPD uses ‘barnacle’ windshield boots to force violators to pay.”
under the plan, seniors will get ~ (health)
♦ see also encrustation (affliction)
bare-bones and limited
right now it’s ~ (opening park during pandemic)
barnacle (affliction)
pared his novel down to its bare bones skin barnacles
he ~ (every word important) how to get rid of ~
♦ see also encrustation (affliction)
bare-knuckle (fight, etc.)
barnacle (scrape the barnacles, etc.)
bare knuckle fight
politics here are a ~ (in San Francisco) chip away at the barnacles
Pena Nieto will try to ~ slowing the economy (Mexico)
bare-knuckle fights
his ~ against Ivy League Schools (Bill Ackman) scrapes the barnacles off Homer’s hull
Emily Wilson’s ‘Odyssey’ ~
bare-knuckle (boardroom) tactics
he uses ~ in wider war against wokeism (Bill Ackman) scrub the barnacles
the third-party companies are out of control, so we will ~
bare-knuckled (adjective) ♦ “The number of sort of third-party contracting companies that we’re
using has really gotten out of control, so we’re going to scrub the
bare-knuckled approach barnacles on that front. It’s pretty crazy. We’ve got barnacles on
he took a ~ to the rarified world of art criticism barnacles. So there’s going to be a lot of barnacle removal.” (“Elon
Musk To Analysts: Stop With The ‘boring, Bonehead Questions’ on
bare-knuckled politics Tesla” by Avie Schneider, NPR, The Two-Way, May 3, 2018.)
even by the lowly standards of Washington, this was ~ ♦ “Wilson’s project is basically a progressive one: to scrape away all
the centuries of verbal and ideological buildup—the Christianizing
bare-knuckled work (Homer predates Christianity), the nostalgia, the added sexism (the
she counted votes and did the ~ that was needed (politics) epics are sexist enough as they are), and the Victorian
euphemisms—to reveal something fresh and clean. Why call them
bark (more bark than bite, etc.) ‘handmaidens’ when they were slaves? Why insist, as so many
translators do, on 19th-century diction when that time had no more in
common with Homer’s than ours?” (“Emily Wilson’s ‘Odyssey’
more bark than bite Scrapes The Barnacles Off Homer’s Hull” by Annalisa Quinn, NPR,
the US is ~ Book Reviews, December 2, 2017.)

bark (bark up the wrong tree, etc.) barnacled

barking up the wrong tree barnacled with myths
if you’re looking for accuracy, you’re ~ the stories of their rise are ~ (US presidents)
they can’t go for collusion because they’re ~ (a report)
barnacled over
bark (verb) each canvas is ~ with paint
barked child-barnacled
"Look up," he ~ his ~ present (four sons and a daughter from two women)
barked at them to stop barn burner
the policeman ~
barn burner
barked at Rodriguez for running his speech wasn’t exactly a ~ (politics)
he ~ over his mound (baseball) *** analysis
♦ A “barn burner” is a very exciting game or event. Look up the entry
bark commands at the TV at Merriam-Webster. Go to the “Related Articles” section and click on
people ~ (voice commands) “Where Does the Phrase ‘Barn Burner Come from.” It explains
everything!
barnacle (resemblance)
barnstorm (verb)
Barnacle Device
the ‘windshield boot’ is known as a ~ barnstorming the country
Bill Clinton has been ~ on Kamal Harris’ behalf (2024)
barnacles of dried gum
~ encrust the undersides of tables and chairs (schools) barnstorming the state

Page 93 of 1645
 they have been ~ (politicians) Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied
Hospital by David Oshinsky.)
barnstorm every (battleground) state ♦ “[Harvey] Leach, who was often billed as the ‘shortest man in the
Harris is going to ~ (2024 U.S. presidential election) world,’ had made a name for himself as a performing oddity. In
addition to his small stature, one of his legs was eighteen inches long
barnstorming for months while the other measured twenty-four inches, and when he walked,
his arms brushed against the ground like an ape’s. According to one
after ~… (a politician) of his contemporaries, Leach appeared ‘like a head and a trunk,
*** The Paris Air Show... moving about on castors.’ / Leach’s strange appearance attracted the
attention of the American showman and hoaxer P. T. Barnum,
♦ The Thunderbirds (the Air Force); the Blue Angels (Navy and founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Barnum dressed the dwarf in
Marines)... (US military flight demonstration teams.) the skin of a wild beast and covered the walls of London with
♦ Thunder Over the Boardwalk (also known as the Atlantic City placards that read, ‘What Is It?” Unbeknownst to Barnum, Leach was
Airshow); the Paris Air Show; the Farnborough Airshow (Britain)... so recognizable at that point in his career that people guessed the
(Famous airshows.) true identity of this mysterious ‘beast’ within days. Despite this initial
bungle, Barnum retained Leach as a performer, until the forty-six-
♦ “Some 350,000 people are expected to visit the planes and high- year-old man died as the result of an injured hip that had become
tech equipment on display this week, and they began pouring in on infected.” (The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest To Transform
Monday morning... The air show is also a magnet for many of the The Grisly World Of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris.)
world’s arms buyers who come to preview fighter planes and the
latest in military technology. Daily flyovers of supersonic jets always barometer (noun)
transfix the crowd.” ( “2019 International Air Show opens in France”
with Eleanor Beardsley, NPR, Morning Edition, June 18, 2019.)
barometer of their abundance
*** analysis but the catch rate provides a ~ (sharks)
♦ See the Wikipedia article “Barnstorming,” and see also the
Wikipedia article “Charles Lindbergh.” Wikipedians are wonderful. barometers of change
Barnum (and P.T. Barnum) public tours serve as ~ (limited after 9/11)
barometer of (Trump’s influence)
P.T. Barnum of American race relations the result will be another ~ with the GOP (election)
she is the ~ (Robin DiAngelo)
barometer of (poor) nutrition
Barnum and Bailey flamboyance childhood anemia, a ~, is higher in India than China
King marketed the fight with his customary ~ (boxing)
barometer for his team
modern-day P. T. Barnum he has been a ~ (when he is good, team is good)
he is sort of a ~ (an arena builder and promoter)
closely watched barometer
brilliant, bombastic Barnum the index is a ~ of home prices
King was a ~ (the great boxing promoter Don King)
career barometer
version of P.T. Barnum actors used the show as a ~ (Law and Order)
he once called [Elon] Musk a “sci-fi ~” (Ashlee Vance)
♦ “P.T. Barnum is laughing his eyes out.” (An online commenter who off the barometer
may be confusing “crying his eyes out” and “laughing his head off.” Is the racism, misogyny and homophobia is ~ (the Met
this an “eggcorn”?) police)
♦ “If it’s true that the show of emotion is the greatest show on earth,
♦ “Kennan’s eighty-page ‘personal document’ might well have been
then Thompson is a Barnum & Bailey of both pain and joy. Her
coauthored with Oppenheimer, reflecting as it did so many of
portrayal of grief in ‘Love Actually” (2003), for instance, has become
Robert’s views. Indeed, both he and Kennan took its reception as a
iconic in British popular culture.” (“Acting Up: Emma Thompson’s third
plunging barometer, indicating the approach of violent political
act” by John Lahr, The New Yorker, November 14, 2022.)
storms. Circulated within the State Department, Kennan’s memo was
♦ “He will be remembered as the greatest promoter ever. P.T. quietly and firmly rejected by all who read it.” (American Prometheus:
Barnum moves to seat number 2 in heaven.” (Alan Harper, Don The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and
King’s press officer. From Powerplay: The House of Don King, BBC Martin J. Sherwin. The popular 2023 film Oppenheimer was based on
Sounds.) this book. A plunging barometer is a characteristic of a hurricane.)
*** Harvey Leach, Jumbo the elephant, etc. *** analysis
♦ “At his first spectacle, in 1835, showman Phineas Taylor Barnum ♦ BAROMETER, n. An ingenious instrument which indicates what
touted Joice Heth as George Washington’s 161-year-old nursemaid. kind of weather we are having.” (The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose
Crowds came gawking to see ‘the greatest natural & national curiosity Bierce.)
in the world.’ Barnum profited from the public’s hunger for
entertainment by planting embellishments and lies in newspapers...” baron (power)
(“Why We Lie,” National Geographic, June 2017.)
♦ “The 1870s and 1880s were the height of the controversial but drug baron
enormously popular ‘side shows’ in America. Hucksters like P.T. the notorious ~ Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman
Barnum attracted huge throngs by booking fire-eaters, sword
swallowers, and ‘freaks’ with assorted medical abnormalities, some meat baron
bogus, others disturbingly real. There were the ‘Wild Men of Borneo’
(actually two mentally disabled dwarfs from Ohio), ‘Jo-Jo the Dog-
he is nicknamed “the ~” (Clemens Tonnies)
Faced Boy’ (suffering from hypertrichosis, a profusion of body hair),
‘General Tom Thumb’ (the world’s smallest human), eight-foot giants,
baroque (adjective)
bearded ladies, Siamese twins, and people with humongous body
tumors attached to their back, face, and scrotum...” (Bellevue: Three baroque response
her ~ began... (VP Kamala Harris / word salad)

Page 94 of 1645
baroque syntax ready to storm the barricades
his high diction and ~ (Andre Leon Talley) she casts herself as an outsider, ~ (a politician)
got baroque barrier (noun)
the war plan ~, insane, to the point where... (nukes)
barriers to access
barracked ~ in that market are extremely costly (trade)
barracked (earlier this month) for sending barriers to (foreign) ownership
the German chancellor ~ weapons (to Ukraine) lower ~ of local industries
barrage (noun) barriers to participation
a meet with the theme of overcoming ~ (climbing)
barrage
no software can eliminate the ~ (popup ads / computers) barriers to (import) penetration
~ in Japan
barrage of combinations
he reshaped his opponent’s nose with a ~ (boxing) barrier between animals and humans
influenza could hop the ~
barrage of lawsuits
the campaign has filed a ~ in various states (election) barriers and stereotypes
coming out and tearing down ~ in "macho" professions
barrage of (graphic) pictures
Saudis get a ~ of Palestinians suffering… age barrier
no ~, no height bar, no gender gap
barrage of questions
I was subjected to a ~ class barrier
his ~ barely left time for answers ~s are deepening cultural and racial ones
withering barrage color barrier
their report came under a ~ of criticism (education) broke rugby's ~ in 1976
barrel (at the bottom of the barrel) gender barrier
she broke a ~ (first Division I female football player)
at the bottom of the barrel
I did my time ~ (worst job assignment) pain barrier
practicing through the ~ (musicians)
finish at the bottom of the barrel we’d gone through the ~, the sun gave us power (K2)
we ~ every year (a sports team)
research barrier
stuck at the bottom of the barrel by easily being able to grow the cells, he overcame a ~
I'm ~ (pay scale)
barrel (verb) trade barriers
the lowering of ~ (globalization)
barreled into the Great Lakes and Northeast cultural barrier
winter ~ this weekend (snow) despite language and ~s, people came together (protest)
barreled up the Eastern Seaboard people struggle to communicate across ~s
the hurricane ~ legal barrier
barricade (storm the barricades, etc.) ~s to correcting injustices (death-penalty cases)

manned the barricade racial barrier

Courtois ~ for Real (soccer goalie has great game) it helped to bring down some ~s (basketball)

stormed the barricades socioeconomic barrier

he ~, time and again (to hold the church accountable) debate over the ~ facing black boys (education)

storm the barricades of racism linguistic, cultural and psychological barriers

many left their studies to ~ (Martin Luther King) immigrants face many ~

storm the barricades of (male) resistance lowering of (trade) barriers

women have to ~ the ~ (globalization)

storm the barricades for him glass ceilings and other barriers
many are ready to ~ (support for an embattled politician) ~ barring women

certain to storm the barricades stereotypes and other barriers

shareholders will be ~ (losing money) trying to break down ~ (foreigners)

Page 95 of 1645
broke (a lot of) barriers basement (concealment)
she ~ (a famous woman)
internet’s dirty basement
lower these barriers if you peer into the ~ (conspiracy theories, fake news)
20 states have passed laws to ~ (expunging criminal
records) bash (verb)
overcame a (research) barrier bashing the democrats
by easily being able to grow the cells, he ~ the president has been ~ on immigration
put up (new) barriers bash opponents
as many European countries ~ (against immigrants) “white privilege” is used as a political weapon to ~
♦ “Collect the money Depp, that woman will never quit bashing you.
bring down some (racial) barriers She simply will never quit. Just a different Pam Hupp, Blasey Ford or
it helped to ~ (basketball) Smollett.” (An online commenter about the Depp-Heard trial.)

break down (racial) barriers bashed (criticism)

how to ~ in France
deal with being bashed
get past the sex barrier we’ve had to ~ because we’re obese
how do I ~ with guys (she waits, he loses interest)
bashing (noun)
communicate across (cultural) barriers
people struggle to ~ Arab bashing
the rising tide of ~ in America (post 9/11)
Baryshnikov (Baryshnikov of football,
business-bashing
etc.) this will dispel the ~ image of Obama (politics)
Baryshnikov of football class-bashing
he was canonized as “the ~” for his acrobatic receptions he defended her against ~ critics from The Village Voice
(Lynn Swann after Super Bowl X)
gay-bashing
Big Baryshnikov issues include AIDS and ~
the ~ (Shaquille O’Neal, NBA) he thought he'd be safe from ~ (high-school student)
♦ Shaquille O’Neal, one of the greatest NBA players of all time, has the ~ televangelist was arrested in a public toilet
been referred to as the Big Baryshnikov.
Islam bashing
baseline (noun) the rising tide of ~ in America
detractors describe her comments as "~" (Ayaan Ali)
baseline levels
it drops to ~ (a hormone) man bashing
some women are uneasy with ~
baseline measurement
exposures may be difficult to interpret without ~ white-bashing
this casual “~” will result in a backlash (politics)
baseline poverty
will Haiti return to ~ (after earthquake) ♦ “The crimes have a chilling street name, ‘Guat-bashing.’” (Actual
violence against Guatemalans.)
baseline study basically (contempo-speak)
tedious ~s
basically
baseline of how ~, these firms, because they...
we do need a ~ things have been in the past (polar ice) so her dad had to move in with her, ~ (self-care)
*** analysis
♦ A baseline relates to land surveying. basically what
and that’s ~ my crimes are
basement (basement price, etc.) and ~ it says is that when...
basement price basically interviewed
he thinks he can buy the company at a ~ I recently listened to an episode, and they ~ a broker...
in the basement basically ran on adrenaline
the ratings have been ~ (baseball) I ~ (Alyssa and her job)
basement (hierarchy) basically said
to which I ~...
in the basement for (high-school) graduates
we're now ~ (US education and the OECD) basically saying

Page 96 of 1645
 people were ~... ~, people are at their wits end, and you know, it’s...
~ if a woman comes forward and says...
basically been using
I’ve ~ Twitter for 15 years at this point, and... kind of basically
DJs were able to ~ help everyone heal
basically a (real-estate) empire
so, Crow Holding, it’s ~ that manages $29 billion (NPR) really basically
I ~ didn’t graduate college at all, like...
basically a firearm and I think that ~ pushed China and Russia together
a smart gun is ~ that’s always locked by default it was ~ first on my list to try to...
basically impossible it’s ~ who gets exposed (coronavirus punditry)
it’s ~ to find a queer competent therapist in Missouri so basically
basically talking ~, on a dare, I...
the poem that he wrote was ~ about intersectionality sort of basically
basically exactly and it ~ accomplishes the same thing
see exactly (contempo-speak) ♦ “Indeed, major global events...happened while she was basically
living under a rock.” (“A Spanish athlete spent 500 days alone in a
basically felt like cave—for science” by Rachel Treisman, NPR, April 17, 2023.)
see feel like (feels like, felt like) ♦ Romelus: Well, me, when I have sex with somebody I always film it.
This is like...just a one time experience, so. / Detective: Like a
basically just trophy? / Romelus: Uh, basically, but not really. (“Behind the
OnlyFans porn boom” by Linda So, Andrew RC Marshall and Jason
see just (filler) Szep, Reuters Videos, March 13, 2024.)

basically kind of ♦ Are you sure?!

see kind of (contempo-speak) ♦ see also actually (contempo-speak), definitely (contempo-speak),
obviously (contempo-speak), really (gushing)
basically kind of like bask (verb)
see kind of like (filler)
basically like basking in the afterglow
see like (reported speech) while he was ~ of a caretaker’s honeymoon period...

basically pretty basked in the adulation

see pretty (contempo-speak) the women ~ this week (Filipino national soccer team)

basically sort of basks in (New York) fame

see sort of (contempo-speak) resilient Emma Raducanu ~ (US Open winner)

basically sort of like basked in the glow

see sort of like (filler) she ~ of being a global business celebrity

actually, basically basking in the glow

he is really dismissive and ~...he says something like... he is still ~ of his election victory (Trump / 2024)
she would ~ be saying... Donald Trump ~ on Wall Street (rings NYSE bell)
~, nothing compared to dogs... bask in the prestige
actually basically major cities ~ of the Olympics
reading is ~ like a math, it’s like an equation (Emily) bask in that smile
the film is ~ a war of images (Through A Lens Darkly) she knows what it feels like to ~ (of a handsome man)
mitigation, which is ~ keeping people apart... (virus)
basking in the (media) spotlight
eventually basically Don Lemon has been ~ since being fired... (media)
and then the team ~... (NPR sports / Becky Sullivan)
basking in (an Olympic) triumph
feel like, basically the U.K. is ~
see basically (contempo-speak)
bask in my victory
I mean, basically I am going to ~ (Tyson “the Gypsy King” Fury)
~, the entire hip-hop generation...
~, it’s like, yeah, right before you die basking in his victory
on a hot day, Boris Johnson is ~ (new Prime Minister)
I mean basically
*** herons, Dr. Auguste Rollier, Lake Bled...
~, Wisteria Island was their playground (Florida)
♦ Birds (grey herons); reptiles (lizards, terrapins, snakes, crocodiles);
I think basically mammals (walruses); insects (butterflies)... (Creatures that bask, or
sunbathe, to raise their internal temperature, or for comfort.)
~ what the award season is, is...

Page 97 of 1645
♦ “His worship of the sun began when he was a school-boy in the turning students into emotional basket cases
eighteen-eighties on the shores of the Lake of Neuchatel. He was the
pale son of a bookish professor and from his first year in school he universities are ~ (reverse cognitive behavioral therapy)
didn’t like the way the brown-faced farmer boys could lick the tar out *** war, conflict, the military...
of him. ‘They were flagrantly superior to me,’ Rollier said. From then
on he began bathing his bare body lying like a lizard in the sun, ♦ “I do think it’s important that we can instill confidence in our
began turning himself into an Indian.” (Men Against Death by Paul veterans because whether they’re from a big city or a small town,
De Kruif. From Chapter 11, “Rollier: The Sun Doctor.” Dr. Auguste they probably don’t have anybody around them that’s like them. For
Rollier was an exponent of heliotherapy for the treatment of me personally, I don’t see a lot of amputees whatsoever, especially
tuberculosis.) no quadruple amputees. But I’m very confident in myself and my
abilities, where we bring people in here and we give them a network
♦ See the Wikipedia article “light therapy” and the picture captioned, to reach out to other families that have the same situation that they
“Child patients with external forms of tuberculosis, especially of the go through every day and let them know that here’s some tricks or
bones and joints, laying [sic] on beds on a terrace outside Treloar adaptive sports or things you can do as a family to make you feel like
Hospital in Alton, Hampshire, England, in sunlight as part of their light you’re still a part of everything, you can still keep going.” (Army Staff
therapy, ca. first half of the 20th century.”) Sgt. Travis Mills. “Soldier who lost four limbs opening retreat to help
♦ Lake Bled in Slovenia is a place where people came to others,” AP. In the article, he is quoted as saying, “I don’t look at
therapeutically “bask” in the sun. Such practices are associated with myself and pity myself. I tell people to never give up, never quit, and
the Swiss healer Arnold Rikli. to always keep pushing forward.” See his Wikipedia article “Travis
Mills (soldier).”
*** analysis
*** analysis
♦ “Where the sun is, the doctor ain’t.” (An old Italian mountaineer
proverb.) ♦ A basket case is a person who has had all limbs amputated. Its
date of inclusion in dictionaries—1919—means it probably references
♦ Animals enjoy basking, and bask for comfort. So do people. soldiers severely wounded in World War I.
♦ see also wallow (verb) ♦ Words derived from recent warfare include blitz, blockbuster,
breakthrough, breakout, basket case, and chokepoint.
basket (category)
♦ “Life with Dead Metaphors: Impairment Rhetoric in Social Justice
Praxis” by Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto. Journal of Literary
three backets and Cultural Disability Studies 9.1 (2015). She gives many examples
well, there are kind of ~ I would say of coverage of words that relate to disability, used figuratively, including amnesia;
amputated; aphasia; autistic; blind; crazy; cripple; crippled; deaf;
put him in the same basket deformed; lame; limping...
do you ~ as Snowden (Julian Assange)
bastion (noun)
♦ “Well, there are kind of three baskets I would say of coverage.”
(NPR’s David Folkenflik. “Well.” “Kind of.” “I would say.” NPR bastion of elitism
punditry.)
he views golf courses as a ~ (Chavez)
♦ see also bucket (category)

basket case bastion of (racial) exclusivity

the sorority is a ~
basket case bastion of progressive government
Haiti has not always been a ~
many see New Zealand as a ~
from the standpoint of manufacturing, America is a ~
the economy is not a ~ bastions of groupthink
he considered the company a ~ (an executive) universities are elitist ~ (progressives, leftists)
he was a conspicuous ~ today (emotionally / anxious)
bastion of (testosterone-driven) heterosexism
basket-cases of Central Asia the NBA is a ~
the two ~, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
bastion of (southern male) privilege
basket case of a club the private club was once a ~
a ~, that any decent manager/coach will avoid (Man U)
bastion of religion
Europe's basket case Poland is a ~
Ireland used to be ~
bastions of free speech
absolute basket case universities are no longer ~
the club is an ~ (Man U sacks Erik ten Hag)
bastion of tradition and authority
economic basket case the university is a ~
Spain is an ~
North Korea is now an ~, propped up by China bastion for the militia
the neighborhood is a ~
emotional basket case
the whole experience left me an ~ Democratic bastion
Chicago is a ~
international basket case
Kissinger described Bangladesh as an ~ last bastion
Las Vegas casinos are the ~ for smokers
looks like a basket case public-employee unions are the ~ of labor strength
Biden ~ in shocking debate performance

Page 98 of 1645
main bastion passed on the baton to them
the ~ of protection against downstream floods... Tony Pike ~ (running a hotel on Ibiza)
*** war, conflict, the military... baton (drop the baton)
♦ A bastion can be reduced, or surrounded and starved into
submission, or betrayed from within, or simply bypassed / dropped the baton
leapfrogged.
the company ~ on this
bat (go to bat for somebody, etc.) battalion (a large group)
coming to bat for NBC battalions of consultants
he is ~ against allegations...
Freedman hired ~ who specialized in health care
go to bat for him *** war, conflict, the military...
nobody will ~ (a dictator under siege) ♦ Squad; platoon; company; battalion; regiment; brigade; division;
corps; army...
bat (bat zero, bat a thousand, etc.)
batten (batten down)
bat a thousand
they have to ~, be absolutely perfect... battened down
people have ~ (for a hurricane)
batting zero
the fact that he’s ~ doesn’t seem to bother him battens down for monster storm
♦ “For an offender to get away with a crime, a murder, they have to Texas ~ (Hurricane Harvey)
bat a thousand. They have to be absolutely perfect—if they make one
singular mistake, that’s all it takes.” batten down the hatches
~ and prepare for another pounding (Hurricane Maria)
bathing (forest bathing, etc.)
battens down the hatches
dust bathing Europe ~ as Italy deaths rise (coronavirus closures, etc.)
a herd of elephants washing and ~ at a water hole ♦ “You’d better tell your friend Oppy to batten down the hatches and
prepare for some stormy weather.” (J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1953.)
forest bathing
♦ “Yes, it feels to me like a moment where people are sort of
~ is a national pastime in Japan (shinrin-yoku)
battening down the hatches and picking the safe lane.” (Film
producer Dede Gardner. You can point out people’s odd or mixed
star-bathing metaphors, or you can have friends.)
travelers spend to see the Northern Lights and go “~”
*** the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...
travelers seek dark-sky destinations with “~” experiences
♦ “When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck / sayin’
sunbathing Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya / At seven p.m., a main hatchway
caved in, / He said Fellas, it’s been good to know ya.” (“The Wreck of
naked ~ and teenage brains (Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot.)
2)
topless ~ in a public place batter (the hurricane battered the city)
♦“ Where the sun is the doctor ain’t.” (An Italian mountaineer proverb
that relates to heliotherapy and a traditional treatment for
battered the city
tuberculosis.) the hurricane ~ (New Orleans)
♦ “If water is scarce, take an ‘air’ bath. Remove as much of your batters (parts of eastern) Scotland
clothing as practical and expose your body to the sun and air for at
least 1 hour. Be careful not to sunburn.” / “In some situations, you Storm Babet ~ (2023)
may be able to take a snow bath. Take a handful of snow and wash
your body where sweat and moisture accumulate, such as under the battering ram
arms and between the legs, and then wipe yourself dry.” (FM 3-05.70,
“Survival,” US Army, May 2002.) became the Reagan Republicans’ battering ram
♦ “Some people have mistaken ‘forest bathing’ as a nudist activity.” Carter’s support for gay rights and the ERA ~ (1980)
(In North Carolina.)
battery (recharge one's batteries)
♦ “It is from Auckland that one goes to Rotorua, the region of the
renowned hot lakes and geysers... The government has a sanitorium
there, and everything is comfortable for the tourist and the invalid... charge my battery
There should be a rush from Europe and America to that place... / I came here to ~ (leadership school / China)
Rotorua is the Carlsbad of Australasia.” (Following the Equator: A
Journey Around The World by Mark Twain. Carlsbad, New Mexico recharge my batteries
was named after the European spa Karlsbad in Bohemia, now I make sure I take time to ~
Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.)
I asked for a leave of absence to ~
baton (pass on the baton)
recharge his batteries
hand over the baton to my son he resigned unexpectedly, saying he wanted to ~
today’s the day I ~ (boxer retires with injury) he travels to South America to ~

pass on the baton to someone else recharge his batteries in the US

it is time to ~ (an elected official) he will ~ (soccer star)

Page 99 of 1645
battery (amount) battle to curb
government's ~ the influence of graft (Serbia)
battery of tests
he took a ~ battle in the (culture) war
these bills are the latest ~ waged over the rights of...
battle (verb)
battles of identity
battled (in vain) to contain in ~, language often becomes the front line (Berbers)
as fire-fighters ~ it (museum fire)
battle of wills
battling (the swarms) with insecticide expect another ~ all the way to the final wall (swimming)
authorities are ~ sprayed from airplanes (locusts)
battle of (former) champions
battled for her life it was a ~ (boxing)
she ~ on Sunday after a man shot her
battle of the sexes
battle for supremacy the theme of “I Love Lucy” was the basic ~
cartels ~ in South Africa's taxi wars
battles of the next generation
battle against a (false) sense of complacency the civil rights ~ (animal rights)
we must ~
battle against AIDS
battling on all fronts celebrate the small victories in the ~
King was ~ (boxing’s Don King, in 1978)
battle against assimilation
battled addiction the age-old ~
she has ~ all her life (an actor)
battle against euphemism and cliché
battled alcoholism the ~ is longstanding and, mostly, a losing one
he ~ as a teen
battle against (entertainment) violence
battles (severe) asthma a turning point in the ~
he ~, which gets worse in stressful situations
battles with (drug and alcohol) abuse
battling the coronavirus Ramone discussed his ~
he is still ~ (sick with the virus)
battle with alcoholism
battled the fire he had fought a long ~ (a suicide)
for three hours we ~ (grass fire)
battle with AIDS
battled (ice-glazed) roads she told in a quiet voice of her ~
commuters ~ (freezing rain)
battle with cancer
battled the spread a near-fatal ~
critics have ~ of agricultural biotechnology the general died after a brave ~

battling the (locust) swarms battle with Congress

authorities are ~ with insecticide sprayed from airplanes a new front in the President’s ~ is opening

battled windchills battles with unions and regulators

they ~ of 20 below (North Dakota) waging fierce ~

battle trafficking battle over the bill

Irmi Basu and her center ~ (sex / Calcutta) he has spent the last year in a pitched ~ (regulating AI)

battled in vain battle over the land

as fire-fighters ~ to contain it… (museum fire) a lengthy court ~

cartels battle battle over (reproductive) rights

~ for supremacy in South Africa's taxi wars the ~ (abortion)
♦ “A cypher is a circle that breakers form and dance within. Breakers battle over the terms
go in a cypher one at a time to dance to the music and battle each
other.” (2024 Olympic breakdancing.) a legal ~ of the agreement
battle (noun) battle over the best method
the so-called reading wars—the ~ of teaching reading
battle
for Japan, the ~ is one of national pride (whaling) battle between his (warring) parents
learn to pick your ~s (disciplining a toddler) trapped in the ~

Page 100 of 1645

battle between defenders and detractors epic battle
the ~ of the traditional canon (literature) their ~s for championship crowns (sports)
he had an ~ with a mako (fishing)
battle between the school system, county their ~ Saturday night (Ward vs. Gatti / boxing)
the ongoing budget ~
kite battle
battle (going on) between commerce and creativity it's time for the rokkaku ~ (kite festival)
there’s a constant ~ (country music)
turf battles
battle for answers ~ likely to ensue (federal agencies)
the one last battle, the ~ (Agent Orange)
visitation battle
battle for the championship ~s involving grandparents
their ~ (basketball)
textbook battles
battles for (championship) crowns ~ are legendary in Texas
their epic ~
public relations battle
battle for minds but is losing the ~
this is a ~ (post 9/11)
uphill battle
battle for narrative see battle (uphill battle)
US opinion divided amid ~ over Hamas attack on Israel
VHS-Beta battle
battle for public opinion the ~ at the beginning of the video era
losing the ~
coming battle
battle for the thermostat he doesn't have any illusions about the ~ (legislative act)
the ~ is waged in offices and homes across the nation
ongoing (budget) battle
battle cry an ~ between the school system, county
see battle cry
long-running battle
battlefield the ~ over the rights of …
see battlefield (conflict)
pitched battle
battleground his entry in the race may lead to a ~ for the progressive
see battleground (conflict) vote
battle line he has spent the last year in a ~ over the bill (regulating
see battle line (conflict) AI)

battle scars hard-fought battle

showing off ~ (football players) he died after a ~ with a lung issue

government's battle annual (funding) battles

the ~ to curb the influence of graft (Serbia) ~ on Capitol Hill

budget battle bitter battle

an ongoing ~ between the school system, county she resigned last June after four years of ~s (university)
a ~ involving teachers, school officials and the mayor
court battle
a long-running ~ brave battle
he was granted joint custody of his kids after a lengthy ~ the general died after a ~ with cancer

custody battle daily battles

he was the object of a fierce ~ there are ways to diffuse ~ and teach your toddler

development battle endless battle

on the losing side of ~s toilet training doesn't have to be an ~

divorce battle ferocious battle

a bizarre last chapter in a ~ (townhouse explodes) a ~ is being waged in California (same-sex marriage)

edit battles fierce battle

~ have contested Wikipedia articles about political events waging ~s with unions and regulators

election battle judicial battle

he is facing a difficult ~ (Germany) this is the latest development in an ongoing ~

Page 101 of 1645

legal battle fighting a battle
a ~ over the terms of the agreement; he is ~ he cannot win (on social media)
groups have had ~s with the federal government
fought a (long) battle
lengthy (court) battle he had ~ with alcoholism (a suicide)
a ~ over the land
lose this battle
long battle they would ~ in the legislative arena
he had fought a ~ with alcoholism (a suicide)
pick your battles
nightly battle learn to ~ (disciplining a toddler)
how can I get my toddler to brush her teeth without a ~ ♦ “We all got our daily battles, right?”

significant battle ♦ “She’s fighting a battle between the book and a bottle of Scotch.
And the Scotch is winning.” (Tom Rodney, Sr., about Nelle Harper
it has lost a ~ in the PR war (Facebook versus Australia) Lee.)

long, hard battle ♦ “We fight hard, we play for keeps, we take no prisoners. We’ll get in
the trenches and fight dirty.” (Greg Pruett, president of the Idaho
it's been a really ~ for me (cancer survivor) Second Amendment Alliance, a gun-rights group. Politics.)

age-old battle *** war, conflict, the military...

the ~ against assimilation ♦ “Marines don’t fight wars, they fight battles.” (A Marine captain,
Marjah, Afghanistan, 2010.)
near-fatal battle ♦ “With human corpses, human excrement, and rotting rations
a ~ with cancer scattered across Peleliu’s ridges, the blow flies or bluebottle flies
underwent a population explosion. Those nasty insects were so large,
day in, day out battle so glutted, and so lazy that some could scarcely fly... It was revolting,
to say the least, to watch big fat blowflies leave a corpse and swarm
a ~ with beavers into our C rations... Each morning, just before sunrise, when things
were fairly quiet, I could hear a steady humming sound like bees in a
David-and-Goliath battle hive as the flies became active with the onset of daylight. They rose
waging a ~ against Time Warner off the corpses, refuse, rocks, brush, and wherever else they had
settled for the night like a swarm of bees. There numbers were
heat of the battle incredible.” (With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge.)
look, in the ~... (Nick Kyrgios about a tennis match) ♦ There was an all-pervasive stench of putrefaction and millions of fat
blowflies filled the air. Even Junger, normally so cool, was shaken by
heat-of-the-battle (m) what he saw. ‘The ploughed-up battlefield was a scene of horror.
The dead lay there among the living defenders. When we dug
in the ~ racing (NASCAR)
bunkers we saw how the dead lay in layers one above the other.
One company after another had been mown down as they made a
object of a (fierce custody) battle stand shoulder to shoulder under the drum fire; then their corpses
he was the ~ had been buried under the tons of earth hurled up by the projectiles
and new men had taken the place of the fallen.’” (The Beauty and the
them-vs.-us battle Sorrow by Peter Englund.)
it's a ~ *** analysis
♦ “In its zeal, the Sierra Club has clear-cut a whole national park of
aspect of the battle words. Urban, vibrant, hardworking, and brown bag all crash to earth
redirected their attention to another ~ (anti-whaling) for subtle racism. Y’all supplants the patriarchal you guys, and
elevate voices replaces empower, which used to be uplifting but is
epicenter of that battle now condescending. The poor is classist; battle and minefield
Birmingham became the ~ (for civil rights) disrespect veterans; depressing appropriates a disability; migrant—
no explanation, it just has to go.” (“The Moral Case Against
object of a (fierce custody) battle Euphemism: Banning words won’t make the world more just” by
George Packer, The Atlantic, April 2023. George Packer is not James
he was the ~ Parker.)

years of (bitter) battles battle (uphill battle, etc.)

she resigned last year after four ~ (university)
long battle
in the (President’s) battle he had fought a ~ with alcoholism (a suicide)
a new front ~ with Congress is opening
uphill battle
turning point in the battle it will be an ~ (political reform)
a ~ against entertainment violence small businesses have faced an ~ (online vending)
passage of the monumental law was an ~
tantrums and battles education on overfishing is an ~ (sharks, etc.)
~ (toddlers)
her poll numbers were underwater and she was facing an
war or battle ~
we’re not in a ~ with Facebook (government official) facing an uphill battle
facing a (difficult election) battle they are ~ (politics)
he is ~ (Germany)

Page 102 of 1645

♦ “This is going to be an uphill battle. So folks, we cannot be our own Murat’s cavalry advanced, where Kutuzov sat in his armchair and
worst enemies. No, because the minute something goes wrong, the ordered the Russian infantry to counter-attack with a wave of his tired
minute a lie takes hold, we cannot start wringing our hands. We hand. Nakhimov stood on a mound where now there are only
cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is juuuust chickens and a few goats searching for blades of grass between the
right.” (Applause. Michele Obama speaking at the 2024 DNC. The stones; this is where the flash-bombs described by Tolstoy were
2024 U.S. presidential election.) launched, where English bullets whistled and wounded soldiers
screamed.” (Alexandra Vladimirovna Shaposhnikova visits the ruins
battle cry of her house in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad to
find queues of women, small huts, old men unloading planks, shirts
battle cry hanging up to dry, etc. From Life And Fate by Vasily Grossman,
translated by Robert Chandler, New York Review Books.)
the vendors chant their ~, “Quando luchamas, ganamos”
repeal has been the ~ for years (Obamacare) *** analysis
♦ Attack ads; battleground states; blood; political bombshells; crash
battle cries of our modern crowds and burn; campaigns; carnage; crosshair; drop dead; fire away; catch
slogans are the ~ flak; gun (“they bring a knife, you bring a gun”), outgunned; kill (and
killing); lock and load; marching orders; take no prisoners; shoot
down; shot through; target; war rooms... (“How traumatic Events
battle cry of public health officials Change Our View of Language,” Geoff Nunberg, NPR, Fresh Air,
it has become the ~ (wear a mask to slow the spread) January 20, 2011.)

battle cry against machismo battleground (Battle Ground, Indiana,

their new single is a ~ (Y La Bamba’s “Mujeres”) etc.)
less of a battle cry
“lock ‘em up” has become ~ for politicians Battle Ground
the town of ~ is near the site of the Battle of Tippecanoe
became a battle cry ~ is a populated place in Washington
that word Perseverance ~ for us (Nasa Mars mission)
Battleground
inspired Obama’s own campaign battle cry ~ is a populated place in North Carolina
the United Farm Workers of America ~ (Si se Puede)
Battle Ground Bay
*** war, conflict, the military...
~ is a bay in Louisiana
♦ Listen to and watch “Rare Footage of Civil War Veterans Doing the
Rebel Yell.” The smithsonianmag.com/videos/ category/history/ what- Battleground Buttes
did-the-rebel-yell-sound-like/
~ is a summit in Oregon
*** analysis
♦ Slogans are the battle cries of our modern crowds. Battleground Creek
~ is a stream in Texas
battlefield (conflict) ~ is a stream in Georgia
~ is a stream in Arizona
battlefields in the culture wars
colleges have increasingly become ~ Battle Ground Lake
~ is a lake in Washington
media battlefield
the war is being fought on the ~ (Israel-Hamas war) Battleground Point
~ is a summit in Nevada
public battlefield
he enjoys the ~ (Jill Lepore about Elon Musk) Battleground Ridge
*** war, conflict, the military... ~ is a ridge in Arizona
♦ “Byron visited; so did the Wordsworths—twice—and the architect
and collector John Soane and thousands of others. They carried
Battleground Tank
away skulls—Sir Walter Scott had one—and fingers and teeth and ~ is a reservoir in Arizona
bullets and cannon balls... A century later such battlefield tourism
would flourish even if its more gruesome collecting tastes were Big Battleground
suppressed.” (The site of the Battle of Waterloo, in Belgium. From ~ Creek is a stream in Georgia
The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains by
Thomas W. Laqueur.) Indian Battleground
♦ Years ago they had marched thousands of miles to legendary ~ Reservoir is a reservoir in Idaho
battlefields... they had once gone to the ends of the earth and seen
beyond the farthest horizon... We looked at these men in blue, Little Battleground
existing in pensioned security, honored and respected by all... and we
were in awe of them. Those terrible names out of the history books— ~ Creek is a stream in Georgia
Gettysburg, Shiloh, Stone’s River, Cold Harbor—came alive through *** analysis
these men. They had been there... and to watch them was to be
deeply moved.” (Waiting for the Morning Train: An American Boyhood ♦ All Americans with roots in the U.S. have grown up near a
by Bruce Catton.) battleground. That battleground might have related to the Indian
Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War.
♦ “People who visit Verdun, the battlefield of Borodino or Malakhov
Kurgan at Sebastopol must find it equally strange to find children battleground (conflict)
playing, women doing their washing, carts full of hay and old men
carrying rakes. Columns of French soldiers and trucks covered in
tarpaulins once passed over fields that are now full of vines; now
battlegrounds of discontent
there is only a hut, a few apple trees and some kolkhoz sheep where hospitals have become ~ (poor service)

Page 103 of 1645

battlegrounds in the (drug) business bay (at bay)
hepatitis C is one of the fiercest ~ (drug development)
hold the Taliban at bay
battleground for the future the Afghan government will struggle to ~
the Gulf of Mexico is the ~ of offshore oil drilling
kept my depression at bay
battlegrounds for (freedom of speech) issues the device has ~ (an electrical implant)
college campuses are ~
keep oil drilling at bay
battleground for (culture-war) issues we need to ~
the schools have become a ~
keep his furies at bay
battleground blitz he works hard to ~ (troubled ex-boxer)
the Harris-Walz campaign is planning a ~ with stops in...
both candidates are on a ~ (presidential election) keep the Germans at bay
Red Army units fought desperately to ~
battleground state
Ohio is a crucial ~ (elections) keep hate at bay
in the ~ of Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016... our job is to ~, out of the mainstream (SPLC)
Trump won all the ~s (2024 U.S. presidential election)
keep monotony at bay
latest battleground the breaks in the narrative ~
green spaces are the ~ in the disputer (development)
keep Usyk at bay
become a battleground Joshua struggled to ~ (boxing)
the state has ~ over the issue (abortion)
kept at bay
*** analysis
the modern world can't be ~ forever
♦ Attack ads; battleground states; blood; political bombshells; crash
and burn; campaigns; carnage; crosshair; drop dead; fire away; catch remains at bay
flak; gun (“they bring a knife, you bring a gun”), outgunned; kill (and
killing); lock and load; marching orders; take no prisoners; shoot inflation ~ (economy)
down; shot through; target; war rooms... (“How traumatic Events *** war, conflict, the military...
Change Our View of Language,” Geoff Nunberg, NPR, Fresh Air,
January 20, 2011.) ♦ “In these summer days of 1940 after the fall of France we were all
alone...” (Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill, “Chapter XIII, AT
battle line (conflict) BAY, July 1940.”)
*** analysis
battle lines ♦ This refers to the barking of dogs as they prevent a stranger or
the ~ are hardening as the rulers dig in (protests) wolves from approaching a cabin.

battle lines are formed bay (bay for blood, etc.)

these ~, solid, and unmoving (impeachment)
baying for blood
battle lines are forming the fans are always ~ (boxing)
the ~ in the dispute
baying for the blood
battle lines are hardening they are ~ of Nancy Pelosi (politics)
the ~ over the issue (abortion)
baying for her blood
battle lines are being drawn flag-waving patriots are ~ (India)
the ~ (politics)
baying my name
battle lines have been drawn the nine-year-olds were jeering at me and ~ (a small boy)
the ~ (liberals versus conservative)
baying for vengeance
battlelines were drawn he compared the attacks on him to a mob ~
the ~ in this dispute (PGA vs. LIV golf) ♦ “The Brazil fans are baying for blood—or, more accurately, a yellow
*** analysis card...” (Qatar World Cup. 90+3 mins: Croatia 0-0 Brazil. Nicely
qualified.)
♦ Attack ads; battleground states; blood; political bombshells; crash
and burn; campaigns; carnage; crosshair; drop dead; fire away; catch ♦ “A baying mob cheers a man’s murder.” (Support for Luigi
flak; gun (“they bring a knife, you bring a gun”), outgunned; kill (and Mangione, arrested for the murder of a health-insurance executive.)
killing); lock and load; marching orders; take no prisoners; shoot
down; shot through; target; war rooms... (“How traumatic Events beachhead (noun)
Change Our View of Language,” Geoff Nunberg, NPR, Fresh Air,
January 20, 2011.) beachheads for any foreign government
US universities should not be ~
new beachhead
the GOP civil war has reached a ~— (shades of Trump)

Page 104 of 1645

get a beachhead beans (small beans)
you ~, like Social Security passes... (progressivism)
small beans
reached a (new) beachhead compared to ones in Canada, Norway, Chile, they are ~
the GOP civil war has ~--blood-red Missouri
♦ “U.S. salmon farms are small beans compared to salmon farms in
beacon (noun) Canada, Norway and Chile.”
*** analysis
beacon of hope ♦ You can say, “It’s weak tea.” Or, ”Pipi de sansonnet (starling pee).”
the center will be a ~ (Muhammad Ali Center) Or, “Small potatoes.“ Or, “Small beans...” Take your pick!
the school is a ~ (in deprived Detroit neighborhood)
bear (Soviet Bear, etc.)
beacon of justice
the center’s reputation as a ~ had taken some hits Soviet Bear
(Southern Poverty Law Center) the ~...

beacons of faith and optimism bear (a bear of an epidemic, etc.)

the old prairie churches were ~ (US) bear of an epidemic
beacon of liberty he has a ~ on his hands (mayor and coronavirus rates)
the US is a ~, freedom and opportunity *** actual bears...
♦ ARCtos (Greek); URsus (Latin); MyedVIED (Russian); ORso
beacon for (high-achieving) students (Italian); SheONG (Chinese); BRUin (Dutch); MOCKwa (Ojibwe);
the school is a ~ (high school) YOnuh (Cherokee Indian)...
♦ "…the hairs on the backs of our necks [rose up] when we saw
beacon for human rights evidence for the first time that We Are Not Alone out here… Seeing
she was once seen as a ~ (a political figure) the tracks was an extraordinary moment in this wilderness and
brought home to us the absolute beauty of this environment. We are
♦ “Einstein is a landmark, not a beacon.” (Time magazine, about the visitors in a very special place." (Pen Hadow on the 2009 Catlin
great man at Princeton. Some attributed the remark to Robert Arctic Survey. The tracks were made by a polar bear.)
Oppenheimer. The idea was that Einstein’s importance to cutting-
edge physics of the time, particularly quantum physics, was nil.) ♦ “It may have been a little after midnight when I ran into a bear
standing on his hind legs in the middle of my path, growling at me. At
*** “From Tyneside to the Cumbrian coast...” this point the sound of the swiftly running waters of the Ganges was
♦ In a project that brought ancient Roman history to life, 500 flaming so loud that we had neither of us heard the other’s approach. Pointing
beacons were lit along the 84-mile-length of Hadrian's wall, from my primitive spear at his heart, I backed step by step so as to keep
Tyneside to the Cumbrian coast. my eyes fixed on him. Around the first bend of the track I hurriedly lit
a fire, and pulling out a burning stick, I brandished it in front of me
bead (draw a bead / have a bead) and moved forward to meet my enemy. But coming around the corner
I found the road clear and the bear gone. Tibetan peasants told me
had a bead on the corruption later that bears are only aggressive by day. At night they are afraid to
attack...” (Seven Years in Tibet, Chapter 2 “Escape,” by Heinrich
he ~, similar to today (Hal Holbrook about Mark Twain) Harrer.)
beak (Parrot's Beak, etc.) ♦ “Officials set up traps in the area to catch the bear alive, but so far
there has been no sign of the beast. / It was seen previously in the
week eating birdseed in residents’ yards.”
Eagles Beak
the ~ is a pillar in Boulder County, Colorado ♦ “Distressed bear cub rescued after its head was trapped in a plastic
container.”
Eagles Beak ♦ Pine Mountain is claimed to be the Black Bear Capital of Kentucky.
the ~ is an arch in Maricopa County, Arizona ♦ “I had no idea there were bears in Japan.” (An illuminated
TexasVulcan on the ABC comments section about a bad-tempered
Le Bec d'Aigle bear that caused havoc in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido.)
~ is a giant rock overlooking the calanque (Eagle's Beak) ♦ Upper Bear Paw Road (western North Carolina); Bear Wallow
Prong (a stream in Arkansas); Big Bear Lake, California; Bear Tooth
Parrot's Beak (a pillar in Montana); Bears Tooth (a ridge in Montana); Bears Tooth
the ~ juts into Vietnam from southeast Cambodia (a summit in Montana)... (Place names with “bear.”)
♦ “If approached by a bear, park officials recommend slowly backing
Parrot’s Beak away to put distance between yourself and the animal, creating space
the Mano River flows through the ~ area of Guinea for it to pass.” (Great Smoky Mountains National Park.)

beak (area) bear (mama bear)

Parrot’s Beak ‘mama bear’ instinct
the ~ juts into Vietnam from southeast Cambodia her ~ helped her catch her daughter’s killer
beans (spill the beans) mama bear, mom determination
it’s that ~ (she helps find daughter’s murderer)
spilled the beans ♦ “The heroic Bronx mother who landed on the Post’s front page as
he inadvertently ~ ‘Mama Bear’—when she ferociously fought off the creep who sucker-
♦ “The beans were spilled; the cat now being let out of the bag...” punched her 4-year-old son in Times Square—has fled the city with

Page 105 of 1645

her three cubs.” (Dean Balsamini, New York Post, Feb 4, 2023. regain my bearings
“Mama Bear” and her family have moved to South Carolina.)
after the birth of my first child, it took me time to ~
bear (bearpit, bear pit) ♦ “We are safe and well, however we would ask for privacy for
ourselves and our families over the coming days while we collect our
see pit (bear pit) bearings and enjoy being reunited with our families.” (Two so-called
“travel influencers” released from Iran.)
bear (a weight, etc.) *** Joseph Conrad, V.K. Arseniev...

bear ♦ “It was in 1888, when in command of a ship loading in Sydney a

mixed cargo for Mauritius, that one day, all of a sudden, all the deep-
the death of a child is almost too much to ~ lying historic sense of the exploring adventures in the Pacific surged
up to the surface of my being. / I sat down and wrote a letter to my
bear that cross owners, suggesting that, instead of the usual southern route, I should
see cross (bear that cross, etc.) take the ship to Mauritius by