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Vocabulary from the Second Presidential Debate: October 9, 2016

The Second Presidential Debate took place on October 9, 2016 between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump. It was a raucous affair, with a good amount of name-calling and accusations, but there was also some discussion of issues like the crisis in Syria and tax reform. Here are 20 words from the Second Presidential Debate.
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Full list of words from this list:

  1. siege
    an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place
    But people [who I will nominate to the Supreme Court] will respect the constitution of the United States. And I think that this is so important. Also, the second amendment which is totally under siege by people like Hillary Clinton. They'll respect the second amendment. And what it stands for, what it represents. So important to me.
    - Donald Trump
  2. denigrate
    attack the good name and reputation of someone
    We saw him after the first debate spend nearly a week denigrating a former miss universe in the harshest, most personal terms, so, yes, this is who Donald Trump is.
    - Sec. Clinton
  3. catastrophic
    extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin
    If you've noticed the Canadians, when they need a big operation, they come into the United States in many cases, because their system is so slow. It's catastrophic in certain ways.
    - Donald Trump
  4. divisive
    causing or characterized by disagreement or disunity
    Because unfortunately, there's been a lot of very divisive, dark things said about Muslims.
    - Sec. Clinton
  5. osmosis
    diffusion of molecules through a semipermeable membrane
    All of her friends [benefit from] the tax [provisions] we were talking about, and I would just get it by osmosis.
    - Donald Trump
    Osmosis here refers to Mr. Trump just absorbing the benefit intended for someone else.
  6. depreciation
    a decrease in price or value
    A lot of my [tax] write-off was depreciation and that Hillary as a senator allowed.
    - Donald Trump
  7. dereliction
    willful negligence
    I regret deeply that the senate has not done its job and they have not permitted a vote on the person that president Obama... they've not given him a vote to be able to be have the full complement of nine supreme court justices. I think that was a dereliction of duty.
    - Sec. Clinton
  8. leverage
    strategic advantage; power to act effectively
    We need to some leverage with the Russians because they are not going to come to the negotiating table for a diplomatic resolution unless there is some leverage over them.
    - Sec. Clinton
  9. oriented
    adjusted or located in relation to surroundings
    So, I believe that this election has become in part so conflict oriented, so intense because there's a lot at stake.
    - Sec. Clinton
  10. revitalize
    give new life or vigor to
    That is why I am the only candidate, from the very beginning of this campaign, who had a plan to help us revitalize coal country.
    - Sec. Clinton
  11. regime
    the governing authority of a political unit
    Days ago, the state department called for a war crimes investigation of the Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad and Russia for their bombardment of Aleppo.
    - Sec. Clinton
  12. repeal
    cancel officially
    Well, I think he [Donald Trump] was about to say he's going to solve it by repealing it and getting rid of the Affordable Care Act and I'm going to fix it.
    - Sec. Clinton
  13. carnage
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    When we have a world where you have ISIS chopping off heads, where you have frankly drowning people in steel cages, wars and horrible, horrible sights all over, so many bad things happening. We haven't seen anything like this. The carnage all over the world.
    - Donald Trump
  14. tenor
    the general meaning or substance of an utterance
    And what he has said about African-Americans and Latinos, about Muslims, about P.O.W.S, about immigrants, about people with disabilities, he's never apologized for. And so, I do think that a lot of the tone and tenor that he has said...
    - Sec. Clinton
  15. incite
    provoke or stir up
    My argument is not with his supporters. It's with him and with the hateful and divisive campaign he has run and the inciting of violence at his rallies and the very brutal kinds of comments about not just women, but all kinds of Americans.
    - Sec. Clinton
  16. enable
    provide the means to perform some task
    I do think the use of special forces which we're using, the use of enablers and trainers in Iraq which has had some positive effects are very much in our interests and so I do support what is happening...
    - Sec. Clinton
  17. inconceivable
    totally unlikely
    Whether it's in business and trade, where we're doing so badly. Last year, we had almost $800 billion trade deficit. Other words, trading with other countries. We had an $800 billion deficit. It's hard to believe.
    Inconceivable.
    -Donald Trump
  18. implement
    pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue
    How do we do what he has advocated without causing great distress within our own country … are we going to have religious tests?
    When people fly into our country? And how do we expect to be able to implement those? So, I thought that what he said was extremely unwise. And even dangerous.
    - Sec. Clinton
  19. subpoena
    a writ issued to compel the attendance of a witness
    There has never been anything like this, where e-mails and you get a subpoena and after getting the subpoena, you delete 33,000 e-mails and then acid wash them or bleach them.
    - Donald Trump
  20. bombard
    throw bombs at or attack with bombs
    And every day that goes by, we see the results of the regime by Assad in partnership with the Iranians on the grounds, the Russians in the air bombarding places in particular Aleppo where there are hundreds of thousands of people probably about 250,000 still left. And there is a determined effort by the Russian air force to destroy Aleppo in order to eliminate the last of the Syrian rebels who are really holding out against the Assad regime.
    - Sec. Clinton
Created on Sun Oct 09 23:47:36 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Oct 06 14:34:43 EDT 2020)

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