This section serves to expand your regular vocabulary. What separates the men from the boys (or the women from the girls, if you want to equalize things) is v o c a b u l a r y. We cannot stress this point enough. People who have a larger vocabulary have been shown to make more money and get promoted more often.

All

abrogate

(pronounced AB-ruh-gayt )

If you abrogate something, then you either treat it as if it doesn’t exist or you abolish or annul it. Yes, it’s a strong verb, so use it carefully!

Example: The architectural firm’s decade-old rule that had abrogated the wearing of blue jeans or Bermuda shorts on Fridays in the summer was recently removed from the employee handbook.

acerbic

(pronounced a-SIR-bik)

A great way to remember what this word means: think acid. Yes, this descriptor means sharp and bitter in tone, temper, or mood. And I think we all know someone like this. (Just don’t let that someone be you.)

Example: During studio peer review, Kelly’s bitterness permeated the room; after his negative evaluation, he just couldn’t hold back his the acerbic remarks that were flooding his brain.

acquiesce

(pronounce ak-wee-ESS)

Though this word looks like it might have some kind of relationship to water - i.e., aqua- it doesn’t. So get that out of your head. (Sorry we even mentioned it.) Anyway, when you acquiesce, it means that you comply with and accept an idea or situation passively, without a struggle or objection. Takin’ it eaaaasy.

Example: To hold on to his job (that he desperately needs), Gordon always acquiesces when his workaholic boss demands he stay late at the office, even on Friday nights.

aesthete

(pronounced AS-theet or ehs-THEET)

Also spelled esthete, this term refers to a person who is devoted to and cultivates a heightened appreciation of beauty as it relates to the arts, which could include fine art, decorative art, architecture and design, fashion, music, literature, film and cuisine. Possessing an aesthetic sense is appealing, while acting hoity-toity and highfalutin is simply annoying.

Example: Having an aesthete for an interior design client was quite a challenge to Pam, though she enjoyed the challenge, especially when it came to incorporating his extensive collection of antique musical instruments into the project.

ambient

(pronounced AM-bee-ehnt or AM-bee-uhnt)

An adjective that describes a sensory element – whether it be light, sound, smell or touch (commonly in the form of temperature) – in regard to one’s environment. This characteristic envelops those who experience it. Enough with the mumbo-jumbo already – let’s use it in some sentences.

Example: So that visitors would have adequate ambient light in which to study, the lighting designer planned for evenly spaced fluorescent lighting throughout the library. Since the ambient noise in the stacks would be extremely low, she was sensitive to the possibility of lamp buzz related to the fluorescent fixtures. However, since fluorescent lighting gives off little heat compared to incandescent sources, the designer knew the lamps would contribute little to the ambient temperature of the library.

amorphous

(pronounced uh-MOR-fehs)

Remember this word by picturing an amoeba. You know – an ever-changing protozoan that you’ve seen either on the Discovery Channel, under a microscope in high school science class, or in creepy science fiction flicks. Yes, the word amorphous is an adjective meaning without a clearly defined form or shape – i.e., without structure. The term isn’t limited to microscopic organisms, though. It can be applied to other, more intangible things, describing them as unclassifiable / unknown or lacking unity and organization.

Example: When she returned to work after only three sick days, Jackie was horrified to review the amorphous mess of a proposal that her project team submitted in response to the potential new client’s RFP.

ampersand

(pronounced AM-per-sand)

We have discovered that many interior design related student organizations are coming together on their respective campuses under the umbrella of one name. One of the common ones we have heard is “Ampersand”. Therefore, we thought it fitting to include this entry, which we have taken directly from World Wide Words, our favorite word-obsessed website: “This name for the character ‘&’ is surprisingly recent, not being known before the nineteenth century, though the character itself was in use long before printing was invented. It started life as a Roman scribe's abbreviation of the Latin ‘et’, meaning ‘and’, and became common in the early medieval period. It was later taken over as an abbreviation for the English word ‘and’.” To read more, go directly to Issue 637 of World Wide Words.

Example: PLiNTH & CHiNTZ, along with several other design-oriented enterprises, uses an ampersand as part of its name and logo.

après

(pronounced AH-pray)

A French term meaning “after.” It is usually combined with another word to form a noun. The most frequently combination is with the word “ski”: après-ski (to mean social activities at hotels / restaurants in ski resort towns in the evenings).

Example: After a long trade show activities and continuing education seminars, many of conference attendees were ready to wind down with the après-dinner entertainment.

apropos

(pronounced a-preh-POH)

This flexible little French word can function as adverb, adjective, and/or preposition. Let’s take the definitions in order, shall we? As an adverb it means with regard to the present topic or at an appropriate time. As an adjective it means relevant and applicable. As a preposition it means concerning and with regard to, and you’d use it with the word “of”, as in “apropos of…” We’ll use the adjective version in our example sentence.

Example: In light of the hellish project that she had just lived through, Violet felt that her words of warning on the firm’s existing contractual agreement were quite apropos.

aquiline

(pronounced A-kweh-lyne)

As feline is to cats and bovine is to pigs, aquiline is to eagles. Really. In fact, it’s almost always used to describe someone’s nose, as in one that is curved or bent, having a prominent bridge. If you hear someone describing another as having a “Roman nose,” it’s aquiline.

Example: Wendy knew why her clients refused to part with this one particular sculpture even though it was irreparably damaged and aesthetically questionable: the statue’s aquiline nose reminded them of their eldest son, who had recently passed away from cancer.

aspersion

(pronounced uh-SPER-zhun)

The fact that the first part of this word is “asp” reminds us of its sinister tone. It a noun that means a disparaging remark or an untrue or deceptive charge that is meant to damage an individual’s reputation – i.e., slander or defamation. It can also mean the act of making such an accusation.

Example: Even though she hated the idea of it, Catherine considered filing a lawsuit against the builder of the development her firm had spent two years working on after they directed outrageous aspersions toward her firm, outright lying and tarnishing her reputation.

assonance

(pronounced A-seh-nen(t)s)

Despite its spelling starting out as a term for one’s backside, this is an elegant, intelligent word. Assonance has to do with the sound of language, specifically the similarity of sound in syllables or words. It could refer to a fairly close juxtaposition of similar sounds or the recurrence of vowels without that of consonants used as an alternative to rhyme in poems, such as in cute and soup.

Example: PLiNTH & CHiNTZ’s founder chose the peculiar name not only because the words referred to architectural and decorative terms, but also because its assonance made it fun to say and easy to remember.

august

(pronounced aw-GUST)

This one’s not capitalized, so don’t confuse it with what resides between July and September. When you see this word with a little “a” it’s an adjective meaning inspiring awe and having a presence of grandeur, noble dignity, and stateliness.

Example: Despite her diminutive frame, the elderly woman – who was regarded as one of the founders of the modern design industry – had such an august aura about her that the audience almost held their breath when she stepped onto the stage.

bastion

(pronounced BAS-chen)

We could actually also sneak this word into the DESIGN SPEAK section because of its original Medieval use describing the projecting architectural portion of a battle fortification. In modern times, however, this word tends to be used to describe a less tangible kind of fortification and more that of a resilient stance or stronghold.

Example: Due to the lax attitude towards accuracy and detail held by both her boss and her colleagues, Jesse was starting to feel that she was the last bastion of quality control within her firm when compiling specifications and construction documents.

belie

(pronounced bih-LIE)

The easiest way to remember this word is to focus on the emphasized syllable: lie (as in falsehood, misrepresentation, fabrication, etc.). Why? This succinct little transitive verb means to present a false impression of, to contradict, to disguise, or to show something to be wrong.

Example: A stranger off the street would have supposed the client meeting to be going extremely well, but Jim knew better. His boss’s smiles and witty comments belied her simmering anger regarding the money their firm had lost on the project.