Beyond Embiggen: Real Words "The Simpsons" Used Well

"The Simpsons" has been justifiably celebrated for the new words and memorable phrases it has given English during its impressive run on the air. What is sometimes lost in a sea of "Embiggen"s and "Cromulent"s however, is how well the writers of the show use everyday English to hilarious and often educational ends. The dialogue excerpted under "specious" below, for example, may be the most concise and insightful illustration of "specious reasoning" ever, in any medium. The fact that it's hysterical doesn't hurt either. Below are ten vocabulary words and the memorable ways "The Simpsons" used them.
10 words 962 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. satiety
    being satisfactorily full and unable to take on more
    Homer: Lamentably, no. My gastronomic rapacity knows no satiety.
    Homer tries a subliminal message tape in order to lose weight, but the company substituted a "vocabulary builder" tape instead.
    "Lamentably" here means "Regretfully"
    "Gastronomic" means "related to food"
    "Rapacity" means "extreme, insatiable desire"
  2. specious
    plausible but false
    Homer: Well, there's not a bear in sight. The Bear Patrol is sure doing its job.
    Lisa: That's specious reasoning, Dad.
    Homer: Thank you, sweetie.
    Lisa: Dad, what if I were to tell you that this rock keeps away tigers.
    Homer: Uh-huh, and how does it work?
    Lisa: It doesn't work. It's just a stupid rock.
    Homer: I see. Lisa: But you don't see any tigers around, do you?
    Homer: Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.
  3. pungent
    strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell
    Mr. Burns: Smithers do you think you could dig up Al Jolson?
    Smithers: Ummm... Remember we tried that?
    Mr. Burns: Oh right, he's dead... and rather pungent. The rest of that night is something I'd like to forget.
  4. puerile
    displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
    Kent Brockman: First, a look at a local holiday that was called distasteful and puerile by a panel of hillbillies: Whacking Day!
  5. construe
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
    Marge: It's an heirloom my grandmother passed down to me. A very rare old figurine from the Civil War.
    Lisa: Please don't construe our ownership of this as an endorsement of slavery.
  6. skeptic
    someone who habitually doubts accepted beliefs
    Luigi:They say if he stirs the sauce-a just-a right, he can also see what might have been.
    Lisa: As a rational skeptic, I find that hard to believe.
    Also, as a vegetarian, I hope there's not meat in that sauce.
    Luigi: Any other orders, Mussolini?
  7. dubious
    fraught with uncertainty or doubt
    Grampa: Now, my story begins in 19-dickety-two. We had to say "dickety" cause that Kaiser had stolen our word "twenty". I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles...
    [the children laugh]
    Martin Prince: "Dickety"? Highly dubious!
    Grampa: What're you cackling at, fatty? Too much pie, that's your problem!
  8. troglodyte
    a primitive person who lived in a cave
    Mr. Burns: This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you.
  9. beset
    assail or attack on all sides
    Mr. Burns: "Oh, so Mother Nature needs a favor? Well, maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys. Nature started the fight for survival and now she wants to quit because she's losing? Well, I say 'Hard cheese!'"
  10. mephitic
    of noxious stench from atmospheric pollution
    Mr. Burns: Fear not, I'll get you to a hospital -- the only way I know how. Smithers, you infernal ninny, stick your left hoof on that flange, now! Now, if you can get it through your bug-addled brain, jam that second mephitic clodhopper of yours on the right doodad! Now pump those scrawny chicken legs...
    Mr. Burns is trying to get Smithers to pedal a bicycle, but Smithers has just been stung by a bee, and he is allergic to bee stings.
    A "Flange" is any "projection from a support" in this case a bike pedal.
    A "Clodhopper" is a heavy shoe.
Created on Tue Apr 08 17:33:08 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Apr 08 19:59:23 EDT 2014)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.