SKIP TO CONTENT

Words from the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate

The vice-presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris took place in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 7. The event was moderated by Susan Page from USA Today. Here are 20 words from the debate, ten from each candidate.
20 words 712 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Full list of words from this list:

  1. advocate
    speak, plead, or argue in favor of
    Presidents have nominated in all 29 cases, but your party is actually openly advocating, adding seats to the Supreme court, which has had nine seats for 150 years if you don’t get your way.
    – Vice President Pence
  2. caliphate
    the office of a Muslim civil and religious leader
    So, if we destroy the ISIS caliphate and you talk about re-entering the Iran nuclear deal.
    – Vice President Pence
  3. catastrophe
    a sudden violent change in the earth's surface
    And it is because of the catastrophe and the failure of leadership of this administration.
    – Senator Harris
  4. cherish
    be fond of
    Look, the American people have always cherished our environment and will continue to cherish it.
    – Vice President Pence
  5. dogma
    a doctrine or code of beliefs accepted as authoritative
    I mean, the Democrat chairman of the Judiciary Committee before, when Judge Barrett was being confirmed for the court of appeals, expressed concern that the dogma of her faith lived loudly and her, and Dick Durbin of Illinois said that it was a concern.
    – Vice President Pence
  6. emblematic
    serving as a visible symbol for something abstract
    And I do believe it’s emblematic of the prayers and the concern that have ushered forth for every American impacted by the Coronavirus.
    – Vice President Pence
  7. fundamental
    serving as an essential component
    On the issue of the economy, I think there couldn’t be a more fundamental difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
    – Senator Harris
  8. ideological
    relating to the characteristic thinking of a group
    So the Trump Pence administration has been, because I sit on the Senate judiciary committee, Susan as you mentioned, and I’ve witnessed the appointments for lifetime appointments to the federal courts, district courts, courts of appeal, people who are purely ideological, people who have been reviewed by legal professional organizations and found who have been not competent are substandard.
    – Senator Harris
  9. ineptitude
    unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
    But this administration stood on information that, if you had as a parent, if you had as a worker, knowing you didn’t have enough money saved up, and now you’re standing in a food line because of the ineptitude of a administration that was unwilling to speak the truth to the American people.
    – Senator Harris
  10. infrastructure
    the basic features of a system or organization
    And through a plan that is about investing in infrastructure, something that Donald Trump said he would do, I remember hearing about some infrastructure week, I don’t think it ever happened, but Joe Biden will do that.
    – Senator Harris
  11. obsession
    an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something
    There is a weird obsession that President Trump has had with getting rid of whatever accomplishment was achieved by President Obama and Vice President Biden.
    – Senator Harris
  12. predominantly
    much greater in number or influence
    And with the rise in wages that occurred, most predominantly for blue collar, hardworking Americans, the average household income for a family of four increased by $4,000 following President Trump’s tax cuts.
    – Vice President Pence
  13. radical
    far beyond the norm
    But Senator you said it didn’t go far enough on climate change, you put your radical environmental agenda ahead of American auto workers and a head of American jobs.
    – Vice President Pence
  14. reputable
    held in high esteem and honor
    Pew, a reputable research firm has done an analysis that shows that leaders of all of our formerly allied countries have now decided that they hold in greater esteem and respect Xi Jinping the head of the Chinese communist party than they do Donald Trump.
    – Senator Harris
  15. sacrificial
    related to the act of killing to satisfy a deity
    We’re looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers.
    – Senator Harris
  16. slander
    words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another
    Slanders against President Donald Trump regarding men and women of our armed forces are absurd.
    – Vice President Pence
  17. transnational
    involving or operating in several countries
    And there, I took on everything from transnational criminal organizations, to the big banks that were taking advantage of homeowners, to for-profit colleges that were taking advantage of veterans.
    – Senator Harris
  18. unconscionable
    greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation
    So the fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine, if the vaccine emerges during the Trump administration, I think is unconscionable.
    – Vice President Pence
  19. unilateral
    involving only one part or side
    And because of Donald Trump’s unilateral approach to foreign policy, coupled with his isolationism, he pulled us out and has made America less safe.
    – Senator Harris
  20. xenophobic
    having abnormal fear or hatred of foreigners
    He said it was xenophobic and hysterical.
    – Vice President Pence
Created on Thu Oct 08 11:23:19 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Oct 08 11:51:05 EDT 2020)

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.