Module 2: "Stanford University Commencement Address" by Steve Jobs

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. commencement
    an academic exercise in which diplomas are conferred
    I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.
  2. relent
    give in, as to influence or pressure
    My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
  3. naive
    lacking information or instruction
    But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition.
  4. intuition
    instinctive knowing, without the use of rational processes
    And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
  5. calligraphy
    beautiful handwriting
    Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country.
  6. serif
    a short line at the end of the main strokes of a character
    I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
  7. sans serif
    a typeface in which characters have no serifs
    I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
  8. typography
    the craft of composing type and printing from it
    I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.
  9. karma
    effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny
    You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
  10. diverge
    be out of line with
    But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out.
  11. entrepreneur
    someone who organizes a business venture
    I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down—that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me.
  12. renaissance
    a period of renewed activity and prominence
    In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance.
  13. biopsy
    the removal and examination of tissue from a living body
    Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
  14. endoscope
    a long slender medical instrument for examining the interior of a bodily organ or performing minor surgery
    Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
  15. pancreas
    a large gland that secretes insulin and digestive enzymes
    Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
  16. dogma
    a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
    Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
  17. idealistic
    motivated by noble or moral beliefs rather than practicality
    It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Created on Tue Sep 29 15:55:46 EDT 2020 (updated Tue Mar 22 15:47:54 EDT 2022)

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