This Week in Words: December 2 - 8, 2017

No time to scour the headlines or watch the news? No problem! We’ve rounded up the top words heard, read, debated, and discussed this week.

This week showed us just how slow and fragile change can be. The Mueller investigation was bolstered this week when Michael Flynn agreed to cooperate, but the pace is agonizingly slow for both supporters and critics alike. Congress made discernible progress on a tax plan, but the potential impasse of a government shutdown threatened to supersede all the goodwill that tax reform could create.

Take a look back at the week that was, vocabulary style.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    The Senate passed sweeping revisions to the U.S. tax code past midnight Saturday after Republicans navigated a thicket of internal divisions over deficits and other issues to place their imprint on the economy. - The Wall Street Journal ( Dec 2, 2017)
    The United States Senate passed their tax bill this week. It is the most comprehensive reform to the tax code in decades. The word thicket here is being used metaphorically, to describe the complicated, dense nature of the issues that stood in the way of passing this bill, all the things that the senate had to resolve, or "cut through" in order to succeed.
  2. bolster
    support and strengthen
    Companies from insurers to hospital chains are also looking for ways to squeeze costs and bolster their leverage against other players in the food chain. - The Wall Street Journal (Dec 3, 2017)
    The Pharmacy chain CVS is in negotiations to buy healthcare provider Aetna for $69 billion dollars. This would be an unprecedented merger of a retail chain and a healthcare entity. Speculation is that the merger, if it is allowed to go through, could pave the way for significant changes, including doctors at local pharmacies and steep discounts for customers who enroll in a specific heath care plan.
  3. grievous
    causing or marked by grief or anguish
    While the legal danger remains uncertain, the investigation, at the very least, has wrought grievous political damage to his presidency. - The New York Times (Dec 1, 2017)
    Former Trump administration official Michael Flynn has plead guilty to lying to the F.B.I. and has agreed to cooperate with Special Prosecutor Mueller's investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Flynn is expected to reveal what he knows about people in the Trump campaign and any meetings they took with Russian officials. President Trump has repeatedly stated that Mr. Flynn lied to the F.B.I. unnecessarily, because nothing illegal was occurring.
  4. discernible
    capable of being perceived clearly
    The letters use several key characteristics that make them more discernible to dyslexics; for starters, the center of gravity is focused on the bottom of the letters to keep them being flipped upside down in the reader’s mind. - goodnewsnetwork.org (Dec 4, 2017)
    There was a potential breakthrough this week for those who suffer with dyslexia. A Dutch graphic designer has created a font that resists the flipping and jumbling that often occurs in the mind of the dyslexic by subtly differentiating letters. Tests show that dyslexics read text using this font 84% faster than other font. Those who struggle with reading may soon be able to greatly improve their reading experience and their comprehension simply by changing fonts.
  5. commandeer
    take arbitrarily or by force
    Justice Stephen Breyer noted that there is no "clear federal policy" addressing sports betting. He suggested that, instead, the federal law is directed at the state, "telling the states what to do." That "falls within commandeering." - cnn.com (Dec 4, 2017)
    The Supreme Court heard a case that would legalize betting on sporting events. The issue is one of states' rights, because there is no federal law about sports gambling as such, merely a directive instructing the states' behavior. The contention is that such a directive violates the Tenth Amendment, which secures to the states the rights to make laws on issues not addressed by federal laws. If the Supreme Court agrees, sports gambling could be made legal in several states almost immediately.
  6. supersede
    take the place or move into the position of
    The order effectively supersedes a compromise the justices reached in June, when they allowed an earlier version of the ban to take partial effect but exempted people with a “bona fide” American connections. - bloomberg.com (Dec 5, 2017)
    The Supreme Court is going to allow the Trump Administration's travel ban to be in full effect while legal challenges to it work their way through the courts. This decision is a victory for the President, who has faced many legal hurdles with various versions of his travel ban in the past.
  7. duplicity
    a fraudulent representation
    The death of the former strongman, Ali Abdullah Saleh, brought to a grim end the career of a wily politician who combined charisma, duplicity and brute force to remain a giant in the politics of his impoverished Arabian country for decades. - The New York Times (Dec 4, 2017)
    The former president of Yemen was killed this week. Even though he was no longer in power, Ali Abdullah Saleh was so influential that his presence on the political scene held a fragile alliance together that was keeping Yemen intact. Saleh's death unleashed chaos in the region and experts fear that a further humanitarian crisis and mass starvation are imminent.
  8. sedition
    an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority
    However, Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena made it clear in his ruling that the five still face possible charges for sedition and rebellion, according to a statement from the court. - politico.com (Dec 5, 2017)
    There were further developments in the ongoing case of the Catalan separatist movement this week. A judge dropped the arrest warrant that had been issued for the leader of the regional government of Catalonia and several others. This means that the men cannot be arrested and forcibly sent back to Spain. The men may still face charges in a court in Spain or Belgium, where they fled after their independence movement was defeated.
  9. brace
    prepare for something unpleasant or difficult
    The State Department last week notified embassies around the world about the Trump administration’s plans to announce the embassy move and to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The notification advised embassy officials to brace for protests. - The Wall Street Journal ( Dec 5, 2017)
    President Trump declared in a speech that the United States now recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The issue is so volatile that there is a delay in implementation, and Mr. Trump is effectively giving six-months' notice before the U.S. embassy moves from Tel Aviv. The issue is controversial because of the importance of Jerusalem to three major world religions. Part of Jerusalem lies in the West Bank, and is envisioned by some as the capital of an eventual Palestinian homeland.
  10. unfathomable
    impossible to come to understand
    That was the punishment issued Tuesday to the proud sports juggernaut that has long used the Olympics as a show of global force but was exposed for systematic doping in previously unfathomable ways. - The New York Times (Dec 5, 2017)
    The International Olympic Committee has barred Russia from competing in the 2018 Winter Games. Russia has been accused of using performance-enhancing substances on a massive scale. Some athletes who get special permission and pass several drug tests will be able to compete individually, but there will be no country presence for Russia at the games.
  11. apocalyptic
    of or relating to a catastrophe
    Yet even as they scrambled for shelter from the choking smoke and flames that turned idyllic communities into apocalyptic backdrops, many worried about the dangers still to come. Officials warned that the wildfire threat could increase through the end of the week, with the same weather conditions fueling the fires forecast to intensify. - The Washington Post (Dec 7, 2017)
    Wildfires are raging in California, causing the evacuation of about 50,000 people. There is a wildfire season in certain parts of the state, but this year the fires are especially bad because of extremely dry weather — which helps start the fires — and especially strong winds — which spread them rapidly. Approximately 100,000 acres have already burned, and the fires expected to continue.
Created on Sun Dec 03 18:16:31 EST 2017 (updated Thu Dec 07 21:09:33 EST 2017)

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