Vocabulary from the First Presidential Debate: September 26, 2016

The first presidential debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump took place on September 26, 2016. Perhaps because there were only two participants, this debate was noticeably looser in format and each candidate had time for a response to the other candidate's claims. Unfortunately this looseness also led to a lot of interruptions and the candidates not staying focused on the questions at hand. Here are 20 vocabulary words from the first presidential debate.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stamina
    enduring strength and energy
    Well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina.
    - Sec. Hillary Clinton
  2. audit
    an inspection of accounting procedures and records
    Almost every lawyer says, you don't release your [tax] returns until the audit's complete. When the audit's complete, I'll do it.
    - Mr. Donald Trump
  3. repatriation
    the act of returning to one's country of origin
    I don't see changes in the corporate tax rates or the kinds of proposals you're referring to that would cause the repatriation, bringing back of money that's stranded overseas.
    - Sec. Clinton
  4. decimate
    kill in large numbers
    We have to protect our inner cities, because African-American communities are being decimated by crime, decimated.
    - Mr. Trump
  5. behemoth
    someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful
    All I said, that it's very possible that if they don't pay a fair share, because this isn't 40 years ago where we could do what we're doing. We can't defend Japan, a behemoth, selling us cars by the million...
    - Mr. Trump
  6. temperament
    your usual mood
    I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not have a...
    - Mr. Trump
  7. onerous
    burdensome or difficult to endure
    And when these people are going to put billions and billions of dollars into companies, and when they're going to bring $2.5 trillion back from overseas, where they can't bring the money back, because politicians like Secretary Clinton won't allow them to bring the money back, because the taxes are so onerous, and the bureaucratic red tape.. -- is so bad.
    Mr. Trump
  8. cavalier
    showing a lack of concern or seriousness
    And, in fact, his [Mr. Trump's] cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is so deeply troubling.
    -Sec. Clinton
  9. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    And it's really a shame. And it's politicians like Secretary Clinton that have caused this problem. Our country has tremendous problems. We're a debtor nation. We're a serious debtor nation. And we have a country that needs new roads, new tunnels, new bridges, new airports, new schools, new hospitals. And we don't have the money, because it's been squandered on so many of your ideas.
    - Mr. Trump
  10. negotiate
    discuss the terms of an arrangement
    I was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out.
    - Sec. Clinton
  11. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    Nine million people -- nine million people lost their jobs. Five million people lost their homes. And $13 trillion in family wealth was wiped out.
    Now, we have come back from that abyss. And it has not been easy. So we're now on the precipice of having a potentially much better economy, but the last thing we need to do is to go back to the policies that failed us in the first place.
    - Sec. Clinton
  12. precipice
    a very steep cliff
    Nine million people -- nine million people lost their jobs. Five million people lost their homes. And $13 trillion in family wealth was wiped out.
    Now, we have come back from that abyss. And it has not been easy. So we're now on the precipice of having a potentially much better economy, but the last thing we need to do is to go back to the policies that failed us in the first place.
    - Sec. Clinton
  13. garb
    clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion
    You were after him [President Obama] you were trying to -- you even sent out or your campaign sent out pictures of him in a certain garb, very famous pictures. I don't think you can deny that.
    - Mr. Trump
  14. vigilant
    carefully observant or attentive
    We have gangs roaming the street. And in many cases, they're illegally here, illegal immigrants. And they have guns. And they shoot people. And we have to be very strong. And we have to be very vigilant.
    - Mr. Trump
  15. vibrancy
    having the character of a loud deep sound
    it's really unfortunate that he [Mr. Trump] paints such a dire negative picture of black communities in our country... You know, the vibrancy of the black church, the black businesses that employ so many people, the opportunities that so many families are working to provide for their kids. There's a lot that we should be proud of and we should be supporting and lifting up.- Sec. Clinton
  16. cognizant
    having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization
    We're making progress. Our military is assisting in Iraq. And we're hoping that within the year we'll be able to push ISIS out of Iraq and then, you know, really squeeze them in Syria.
    But we have to be cognizant of the fact that they've had foreign fighters coming to volunteer for them, foreign money, foreign weapons, so we have to make this the top priority.- Sec. Clinton
  17. armament
    weaponry used by military or naval force
    The single greatest problem the world has is nuclear armament, nuclear weapons, not global warming, like you think and your -- your president thinks. Nuclear is the single greatest threat. Just to go down the list, we defend Japan, we defend Germany, we defend South Korea, we defend Saudi Arabia, we defend countries. They do not pay us. But they should be paying us...-Mr. Trump
  18. covert
    secret or hidden
    With respect to Iran, when I became secretary of state, Iran was weeks away from having enough nuclear material to form a bomb. They had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle under the Bush administration. They had built covert facilities. They had stocked them with centrifuges that were whirling away.
    - Sec. Clinton
  19. divert
    turn aside; turn away from
    We have to say -- we have to come forward with a plan that is going to divert people from the criminal justice system, deal with mandatory minimum sentences, which have put too many people away for too long for doing too little. We need to have more second chance programs.
    -Sec. Clinton
  20. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    We also have to look at how we help families balance the responsibilities at home and the responsibilities at business. So we have a very robust set of plans. And people have looked at both of our plans, have concluded that mine would create 10 million jobs and yours would lose us 3.5 million jobs, and explode the debt which would have a recession.
    - Sec. Clinton
Created on Tue Sep 27 00:04:26 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Oct 06 14:34:26 EDT 2020)

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