Vocab 3/15/10

Bourgeoisie –

--A person belonging to the middle class.
--In Marxist theory, a member of the property-owning class.


Proletariat –

--The class of wage earners, esp. those who earn their living by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual employment; the working class.
--(In Marxist theory) the class of workers, esp. industrial wage earners, who do not possess capital or property and must sell their labor to survive.
--The lowest or poorest class of people, possessing no property, esp. in ancient Rome.


Stop-loss –

--Designed or planned to prevent continued loss, as a customer's order to a broker to sell a stock if its price declines to a specific amount.

Elucidate –

--To make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain.


Elusive –

--Eluding clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define: an elusive concept.
--Cleverly or skillfully evasive:


Profligate –

--Utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated; thoroughly dissolute.
Recklessly prodigal or extravagant.

Chasm –

--A yawning fissure or deep cleft in the earth's surface; gorge.
--A breach or wide fissure in a wall or other structure.
--A marked interruption of continuity.


Fulminate –

--To explode with a loud noise; detonate.
--To issue a thunderous verbal attack.

Ostentatious –

--Characterized by or given to pretentious or conspicuous show in an attempt to impress others.

Obfuscate –

--To confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
--To make obscure or unclear: to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information.
--To darken.