Building a Better Vocabulary

Lecture 7: Wicked Words

z To remember malcontent, make a connection to a person you know

who is always complaining, and write that person’s name down in

your vocabulary notebook next to the word malcontent.

z A great synonym for a complainer or whiner is a NYHWFKHU. Kvetch

is an Americanism from Yiddish that literally means “to squeeze,

pinch, or press.” Visualize yourself being squeezed or pinched by

the constant complaints of a malcontent.

Malaise (noun)

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z An easy way to remember malaise is by morphological analysis,

that is, breaking the word down by meaning part. We already know

that mal- means “bad.” The second part of the word, aise, is related

to the English word ease. Thus, malaise is the condition of being

“ill at ease.”

z In the newspaper, you may see the phrase “economic malaise,”

referring to an economy that is stagnant or in recession. Such an

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investors may be vaguely ill at ease about the future.

Maladroit (adjective)

Awkward, clumsy, tactless, or bungling.

z Thousands of words have been and continue to be created in our

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words. Maladroit is a perfect example.

ż Someone who is adroit is skilled, agile and clever, or

resourceful. People can be adroit physically, such as dancers,

or adroit in other areas, such as politicians, who might be

clever and resourceful in working the system to further their

own agendas.