This Week in Words: May 28 - June 1, 2018

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 provided hope that it is never too late to make progress. After President Trump abruptly cancelled a planned summit with North Korea due to his deep misgivings over "hostility" from that nation, the president suggested that the meeting may be back on. According to a new study, it's never too late to get a good night's sleep. And a television network made progress when it prioritized morals over money, cancelling its biggest show for the abhorrent comments the show's star made on Twitter.

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. deprivation
    the disadvantage that results from losing something
    If you’ve been struggling with sleep deprivation throughout your work week, then don’t feel bad about sleeping in this weekend – a new study says that it’ll make you live longer. - goodnewsnetwork.org (May 25, 2018)
    Researchers at Stockholm University have concluded, after a 13-year study, that sleeping in on the weekends after losing sleep during the week can help you live longer. It had been thought that sleep deprivation was a total loss — once you slept for only a few hours the damage was done. But this study suggests that you can make up for lost sleep by sleeping longer when you can.
  2. misgiving
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    Two top Republican lawmakers expressed deep misgivings on Sunday about the prospects for a successful summit meeting in just over two weeks, and warned that Mr. Kim would never agree to give up the nuclear weapons his country has spent decades developing. - The New York Times (May 27, 2018)
    The drama over the proposed nuclear summit between North Korea and the United States continued this week. President Trump has lately been striking an optimistic note, suggesting that the parties could meet soon, even perhaps on June 12th, which was the original date of the summit he cancelled last week. Others in government are suggesting that there is little time left to properly prepare for the meeting.
  3. punitive
    inflicting punishment
    The Trump administration said on Monday that it would proceed with plans to impose a series of punitive trade-related measures on China in the next month, intensifying pressure on Beijing as trade talks between the countries continue. - The New York Times (May 29, 2018)
    President Trump announced that tough tariffs on Chinese goods would go into effect soon. What is unusual about this is that both parties are still negotiating a trade deal. Tariffs are usually the result of the breakdown in trade talks, when the parties can't agree and one side wants to punish the other. In this case, the trade talks haven't begun in earnest yet, and the United States is imposing tariffs now, presumably to use as a negotiating tool when the trade talks occur.
  4. mortality
    ratio of deaths in an area to the population of that area
    Our results indicate that the official death count of 64 is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria," the study says. - USA Today (May 29, 2018)
    Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health now estimate that around 4,600 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria , which hit Puerto Rico as well as other nearby islands last year. This is a huge increase in the mortality estimate, which was at one time as low as 64 people. The new figure includes those who died after the storm because they could not get medical assistance as a result of the damage damage, not just people who died during the hurricane itself.
  5. meddle
    intrude in other people's affairs or business
    "The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats." - The Chicago Tribune (May 29, 2018)
    President Trump took to Twitter this week to accuse Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and his team of interfering in the upcoming mid-term elections. The President provided no proof of this accusation. He also accused Democrats of the very thing his administration is being investigated for — collusion.
  6. debilitating
    impairing strength and vitality
    Up until now, migraine patients have tried to treat and prevent the debilitating episodes by taking medication that is designed to treat other conditions, such as high blood pressure. - goodnewsnetwork.org (May 29, 2018)
    The first drug designed specifically to help migraine sufferers is about to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The injection works by blocking the protein fragment which triggers migraines to prevent the headache from occurring, as opposed to treating the migraine after its onset. This medication is a big step forward for the estimated 2.8 million migraine sufferers in the United States.
  7. abhorrent
    offensive to the mind
    "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said in a statement. - money.cnn.com (May 29, 2018)
    The number one show on TV was cancelled this week after its star, Roseanne Barr, made a comment on Twitter about a former Obama administration official that was widely condemned as racist. Barr Tweeted early Tuesday morning, and by late afternoon she was fired by ABC, the network she was credited with saving. Barr later apologized, but her comments were viewed as so abhorrent that the apology was insufficient to save her job.
  8. acute
    experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course
    For now, American patients who have acute myeloid leukemia and are over the age of 60 can participate in the experimental treatment here, as long as they have gone through other treatments without success or if the disease has come back from remission. - USA Today (May 29, 2018)
    An isotope found in discarded uranium ore has been found to be an effective treatment to cure certain cancers. Researchers emphasize that with targeted treatment using the the isotope, actinium -225, patients are being cured, not merely treated. As of now, the material is difficult to obtain because the process involves dealing with discarded radioactive material. The researchers hope, however, that they will soon gain access to other sources of the isotope.
  9. purview
    the range of interest or activity that can be anticipated
    Space exploration can't be the purview of just one nation, or even all nations, Bezos says. He wants the world to work on the problem, including NASA, other countries and other companies. - USA Today (May 29, 2018)
    Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, expressed his view that humankind should look to the stars for its future. Bezos believes that environmental damage has made long-term existence on Earth for humans unsustainable. Bezos says that it is time to go back to the moon and build a city there as a way to begin colonizing space.
  10. disincentive
    a negative motivational influence
    Economists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a 2017 report that further mergers could disincentivize new research and development. -The Washington Post (May 29, 2018)
    The $66 billion dollar merger between Bayer and Monsanto has been approved by the Justice Department. The two companies are giants in the agriculture business. The newly merged company had to agree to sell off $9 billion in assets to a separate company so that Bayer and Monsanto would not have an unfair monopoly or near-monopoly on the seed industry. With this provision in place, the Justice Department feels it is sufficiently protecting consumers and will allow the merger to go through.
Created on Mon May 28 16:46:08 EDT 2018 (updated Thu May 31 13:57:22 EDT 2018)

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