• adage a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth.
  • atrophy the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body.
  • ba'athism is an Arab nationalist idealogy that promotes the development and creation of a unified Arab state through the leadership of a vanguard party over a progressive revolutionary government.
    • ba'ath means 'renaissance'
    • left wing
    • society seeks enlightenment, renaissance and rebirth of arab culture.
    • Iraq and Syria have both had Ba'ath societies
    • focus on secular state - separation of Islam from state.
    • overthrowing of ruling classes, against materialistic communism
    • neo-ba'athism - became military oriented
    • allegations of fascist and racist influence
  • capricious given to sudden changes in mood and behaviour.
  • cogitation thoughtful consideration, meditation.
  • concourse
    • large, open public place where people can gather.
    • large crowd.
  • desultory
    • lacking a plan, purpose or enthusiasm.
    • (of conversation or speech) going from one subject to another in a half-hearted way; "unfocused desultory conversation".
  • dogma a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true usually relating to faith or morality.
  • heterogeneous composed of diverse elements.
  • homogeneous formed of similar parts.
  • iconoclasm the practice of destroying images, especially those created for religious veneration.
  • locus the specific location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.
  • logorrhoea an excessive or abnormal, sometimes incoherent talkativeness; excessive use of words.
  • nomenclature The devising or choosing of names for things esp. in science or other disciplines.
  • obsequious obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
  • oleaginous
    • oily, producing oil
    • exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary
  • paracosm a detailed, prolonged imaginary world created by children that includes human, animal, or alien creations.
  • perspicuous clearly expressed or presented; easy to understand.
  • pusillanimous showing a lack of courage or determination; timid.
  • semaphore a system of sending messages by holding the arms or two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code.
  • sententious given to moralising in a pompous or affected manner.
  • servile having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or please others.
  • seven liberal arts of classical study
    • trivium in medieval universities, the trivium comprised the three subjects that were taught first: grammar, logic and rhetoric.
    • quadrivium geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music.
  • solecism
    • a non-standard usage or grammatical construction.
    • a violation of etiquette.
    • an impropriety, mistake or incongruity.
  • svengali
    • a person who exercises a controlling or mesmeric influence on another, especially for a sinister purpose.
    • origins: early 20th century, the name of a musician in George du Maurier's novel Trilby (1894), who controls Trilby's stage singing hypnotically.
  • theocracy from the perspective of a theocratic government, God himself is recognised as the head of state.
  • totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life when necessary.
  • tumescent swollen
  • vagaries an unexpected and inexplicable change in a situation or someone's behaviour.
  • veneration a feeling of profound respect for someone or something.
  • zenith
    • highest point in success or power.
    • point in the sky directly above an observer
sep 18 2012 ∞
dec 11 2016 +