Building a Better Vocabulary

Foment (verb)

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z Foment is often used alongside its collocates riot, insurrection, and

rebellion, as in, “A few hardcore guerillas attempted to foment a

widespread insurrection against the brutal dictatorship.”

z Associating the fom in foment with the word foam may help you

remember that foment means “to stir or whip up.”

Fulminate (verb)

1. To issue a thunderous verbal attack; to vehemently denounce.


2. To explode with sudden violence; to detonate.

z Fulminate comes from the Latin word fulmen, meaning “a lightning

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of the word.

z Synonyms for fulminate include rail against, upbraid, denounce,

lambaste, berate, castigate, and excoriate.

Philippic (noun)

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z Philippic has a memorable etymology. The original philippics were

a series of speeches by the great Athenian orator Demosthenes. In

these speeches, Demosthenes denounced King Philip of Macedon

and warned his fellow Athenians of Philip’s political ambitions. We

now use philippic to refer to any bitter denunciation or verbal attack.

In your vocabulary notebook, highlight the philip in philippic to

remember this etymology: Demosthenes’s verbal attacks against

King Philip.