stark

stark    [stahrk]

adjective.  complete and extreme

India's extreme weather that has killed more than 18,000 people serves as a stark reminder of how vulnerable the human body is to severe heat. Human beings aren't built to spend long periods of time in temperatures that exceed the body's own temperature of about 98.6 degrees.  

For all its growing nuclear capability, North Korea is suffering economically, in stark contrast to its southern neighbor. 

Although Brazil has a mature finance sector and progress has made in the last two decades, stark inequality remains. 

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/stark

dearth

dearth    [durth]

noun.  lack, scarcity 

"Despite the fact that there have been some 50 Superhero movies made just in the past 10 years - from Spider Man to The Dark Knight to X-Men to The Avengers - no woman has directed any of the major films. There's been a dearth of female superhero movies over this time period as well."

"In the mid-1980s, women accounted for 30% to 40% is computer science students in the United States. Today that has dropped to about 16%. The dearth of women in the tech world also creates an economic problem."

"Faced with a dearth of logistical and challenges related to climate change, human-powered trips to the North Pole may be on the brink of extinction."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dearth

stifling

stifling    [Stahy-fling]

adjective. suffocating because of heat, lacking air or something else

"Stifling heat has killed more than 700 people in India in less than one week. India recorded its highest temperature of 47 degrees Celsius -- 117 degrees Fahrenheit -- at Angul in Odisha on Monday."

"It's difficult to be overly critical, considering what the team has been able to accomplish thanks to Lundqvist and a stifling defense. 

"Indian research is hampered be stifling bureaucracy, poor-quality education at most universities and insufficient funding."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/stifling

weather

weather    [Weth -er]

verb.  come safely through (a storm, danger, trouble, etc.)

"Lundqvist after his team's 5-1 win in Game 4 over the Tampa Bay Lightning evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece, 'I felt like the entire team stepped up tonight. There were times, especially in the second, where they came really hard. But we weathered the storm, and we answered back with some high goals.'"
"China is rewriting the rules of the mobile game.  Apple, on the other hand, has taken a comfortable seat at the top of the heap and is weathering this disruption in luxurious style."
"This year has tested industry's ability to weather recession."
"to weather a severe illness."

coveted

coveted [kuhv-it]

adjective.  greatly desired 

"The observatory of New York's One World Trade Center will finally open to visitors on May 29, 2015. One World Trade Center is now the tallest building in New York. We can predict that the bar seats facing the Hudson River on the 101st floor may soon be among the most coveted in New York. "

"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos picks the first female technical advisor, Maria Renz. This is a coveted, high-ranking role at the e-commerce giant, and one that has never before been filled by a woman."

“If you are seeking health, wealth, usefulness, skill in any direction, there is nothing and no one who can hinder your attainment of the coveted boon, if you are willing to work and wait." --  poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/coveted

grievance

grievance    [Gree-vuh ns]

noun. a complaint

"The protests in Baltimore were similar to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, the more than 200,000 people at the Washington, D.C. National Mall to hear Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964, and the anti-war march of more than 500,000 on Washington, D.C., in 1969. When people feel disenfranchised, helpless, and hopeless, they will take to the streets to air their grievances."

"India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, told China's leaders that it was up to them to rethink policies that had hindered cooperation between the Asian giants. He added a proviso:  that the Chinese government should consider India's grievances."

"He filed a grievance against a neighbor who built a fence in his front yard in his town that does not allow that."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/grievance

hoist

hoist    [hoist]

verb.  to raise or lift (especially something heavy)

The Super Crane can hoist 1,900 tons in a single heave, the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty. It has arrived in New York from California to help build the replacement Tappan Zee bridge. It was used to rebuild the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. 

The last time the Rangers won a Game 7 in overtime was 1994, when they beat the Devils and, one round later, hoisted their most recent Stanley Cup. 

Germany was the team hoisting the World Cup trophy in Brazil last year. 

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hoist

ineptitude

ineptitude    [in-Ep-ti-tood]

noun. a lack of skill, ability or competence

"The Obama administration's conditional approval to Shell to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska has angered environmentalists.  It raises obvious concerns about the damage a major spill could cause to the fragile Arctic environment. Particularly, Shell has shown its ineptitude in the early trial runs: the Coast Guard found defects in the company's containment barge; one of Shell's two drilling rigs nearly ran aground; air quality violations were discovered on both rigs, ..."
"There will always be incompetent people in any workplace.  If you don't have the power to help them improve or fire them, then you have nothing to gain by broadcasting their ineptitude.  Your callousness will inevitably come back to haunt you in the form of your coworkers' negative opinions about you."
"To the Nets, booking a ticket to the playoffs has long been a formality, in no small part because of the Eastern Conference's general ineptitude."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ineptitude

detrimental

detrimental    [de-truh-Men-tl]

adjective.  (a formal way of saying) harmful

"New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady was suspended Monday for four regular-season games.  The patriots was also fined for $1 million and forfeited two future draft picks. The punishment was for what the league termed 'conduct detrimental to the integrity of the NFL.'"
"Studies show that using electronic devices before going to bed can have a detrimental impact on your sleep."
"Smoking is detrimental to your health."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/detrimental

intricate

intricate    [In-tri-kit]

adjective.   very complicated, with many interrelated parts

"In just four days, the avian flu has killed about 26 million chickens and turkeys in the United States.  Poultry raising is an intricate economy of many moving parts.  The potential losses include not only individual farm businesses but also the businesses they use, from feed dealers to equipment sales and service to slaughterhouse and packing works to the cafe in the local town."
"Anthony Doerr's 'All the Light We cannot See," an emotional and intimate World War II novel has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Pulitzer judges cited Doerr's 'imaginative and intricate novel,' which alternates brief chapters between a blind French girl and a young Nazi soldier."
"Chess is a very intricate game, while, a game like Connect Four is not very intricate."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/intricate

doctor

doctor

verb. to change the content or appearance (of a document or a picture) in order to deceive; falsify

"Tom Brady probably knew footballs were doctored, NFL finds."
"He doctored the birthdate on his passport."
"The company claims he doctored documents to cover his tracks.

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/doctor

hamper

hamper    [Ham-per]

verb. to hinder, to slow progress

"Nobody called Tom Brady a cheater directly in the report -- gathering direct proof of his involvement of using deflated footballs was hampered partly by his refusal to hand over his text messages and emails -- but the investigation did show that 'it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities'."  
"Landslides and poor weather have hampered efforts to deliver aid to isolated districts in Nepal."
"Their work is hampered by lack of funds."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hamper

vie

vie    [vahy]

verb.  compete for something

present participle:  vying

"Oracle, Microsoft or SAP could be among the companies vying for saleforce.com, a cloud computing company known for its customer relationship management products."
"Today, with 500 cable channels and an infinite Internet options all vying for attention, customers are  harder to come by."
"Swimmers from many nations are vying for the title."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/vie

deride

deride    [dih-Rahyd]

verb.  to ridicule, to laugh in scorn or contempt, to mock

"Pacquiao derided the Nevada Athletic Commission's decision to prevent him from receiving an anti-inflammatory shot in his shoulder prior to the fight."
"He derided his student's attempt to solve the biggest problem in mathematics."
"This building, once derived by critics, is now a major tourist attraction."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/deride

dud

dud    [duhd]

noun. someone, something that proves to be a failure

"Mike Tyson agreed - Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was a dud.  He wasn't terribly impressed, like millions who shelled out $100 for the 12-round unanimous decision Mayweather won."
"In tech, it is the design that separates a successful product from a dud."
"For a decade, 'Friends' was the successful NBC's prime-time TV show. The ratings agreed.  But a lot of the 'Friends' successors were duds."

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dud