gridlock

gridlock    [Grid-lok]

noun.  very bad traffic jam; deadlock 

"Pope Francis, after lauding Obama’s climate efforts, told a gridlocked Congress that the U.S. has an obligation to lead.”

"To limit the gridlock, the New York city is promoting a unified message: New Yorkers should use mass transit and avoid driving in Midtown Manhattan."

"Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year, a result of the political gridlock that has helped fuel the protests."

marquee

marquee     [mahr-Kee] 

noun.  a roof-like overhang at the doorway of a hotel or theater

adjective.  leading; well-known; popular 

"The NFL game opener between the Patriots and the Steelers is a marquee matchup to warrant national attention. After all, they are two of the most successful N.F.L. teams in the past decade."

"One of the marquee features to come with the iPhone 6S is 3D Touch, which allows you to press down harder on the screen to perform certain actions."

"Soccer's marquee event is the World Cup, not the Olympics."

briny

briny    [Brahy-nee]

adjective.  salty

"NASA satellite images reveals that Mars had flowing rivers of briny water."
"The customers of this seafood restaurant love their oysters for the briny, savory flavor."
"It was our first morning of our summer vacation in a late July day, and we can feel the briny breeze."

intermittently

intermittently  [in-ter-Mit-nt li] 

adverb.  something that starts, then stops, then starts up again; not in a steady flow

"NASA found the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars."

"One of the biggest problems with renewable sources, wind or solar, is that they can only generate power intermittently. Developing better storage technologies is increasingly important."

"It rained intermittently yesterday."

bystander

bystander     [Bahy-stan-der]

noun.  a person present but not involved 

"We are not a generation of bystanders.  We are global citizens." - Globalcitizen  

"The cellphone video made by a bystander helped to solve the crime case."

"Stop being a bystander of bullying and try to help stop bullying."

befit

befit     [bih-fit]

verb. to be appropriate for; suit

"Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor." - Pope Francis

"The former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame  on Saturday. The fanfare befits a player who had a flair for the dramatic, both on and off the field."

"Befitting of this noble city, six Vienna hotels will give you the royal treatment so you’ll never want to check out."

snarl

snarl     [snahrl] 

verb.  twist together or entangle, confuse, complicate

"Pope's visit is likely to snarl mail deliveries in Philadelphia."

"The railroad construction has been snarled by high costs, bureaucratic delays and technical hurdles."

"Small, largely unregulated drones are clogging U.S. airspace and snarling air traffic."

cool as a cucumber

(as) cool as a cucumber

adjective.  extremely calm

"She felt nervous, but she acted as cool as a cucumber. When everything seems to be going wrong, she stays as cool as a cucumber."

"You need to be the coolest, calmest cucumber on the planet when someone tries to heap additional work onto your plate when you’re already overloaded."

"The politician kept cool as a cucumber throughout the interview with the aggressive journalist."

slate

slate    [sleyt] 

noun. a type of rock

verb.  schedule, plan

"The pope is slated to celebrate Mass Friday night in Madison Square Garden."

"Apple's next generation iPhones, the 6s and 6s Plus, are slated to go on sale in U.S. retail stores on Friday."

“She was slated to be his successor”

vault

pole vault - a track and field event in which an athlete use a pole to jump over a bar

vault - verb. to jump over something 

"Did Carly Fiorina do enough in the debate to vault into the top tier of candidates alongside Trump and Carson?"

"He won the nomination on the third  ballot, vaulting over other candidates."

"In a playoff game on Jan. 12, 2013, Flacco hit Jacoby Jones with a 70-yard TD throw in the final minute of regulation and the Ravens beat the Broncos 38-35 in double overtime. That vaulted them to the Super Bowl title and Flacco to superstar status."

wallop

wallop    [Wol-uh p] 

verb.  strike or hit (someone or something) very hard

"Rain and hail walloped Hildale, Utah within minutes, then the flood quickly subsided. Soon, the sun was shining again. The flash flood had left 16 people dead."

"The selling began in Asia, punishing Chinese stocks once again. It then moved to Europe, walloping markets in Germany and Italy, and ended with a rush for the exits in the United States."

"The construction sector was walloped when the recession hit and expensive development projects became less appealing."

jeer

jeer    [jeer] 

verb.  to laugh at in a mean way; scoff; mock

"Enjoy the game, celebrate the success but don't boo, jeer or taunt players because of who they are or what they stand for." - Australian Football League (AFL) Players' Association

"Yankees player Beltran maintains jeering from Mets' fans does not bother him at all."

"Occasionally, Donald Trump's one-liners drew boos and jeers from the audience during the second GOP presidential debate."

veiled

veiled    [veyld] 

adjective.  concealed, (expressed) indirectly, disguised 

veil. noun. cloth worn by women to protect or conceal face

"In his short speech in Cuba, Pope Francis delivered a veiled critique of the Castro."

"At Thursday's announcement in New York, Samsung dropped several veiled barbs against Apple, particularly on the subject of innovation."

"Does Iran care for such veiled warnings by Turkish officials?"

balloon

balloon     [buh-loon] 

verb.  to increase rapidly 

"Social media are getting more influential. Social networks have ballooned since the last presidential election. Candidates are smarter about using them."

"The company's debt has ballooned in the last 5 years"

"Total undergraduate debt has ballooned over the last 10 years."

flub

flub     [fluhb] 

verb.  to perform poorly; botch

"The candidates flubbed claims on the key issues such as vaccines and immigration in the presidential debate last night."

"When a movie actor flubs his lines, the scene has to be re-filmed."

"The initial report appears to have flubbed some key facts."

gladiator fight

gladiator fight     [Glad-ee-ey-ter] 

noun.  a brutal combat between one armed gladiator and another armed gladiator or a wild animal in order to entertain audiences in an arena in Ancient Rome; a fight 

"Presidential candidate Ben Carson said he wasn't looking to get into a gladiator fight with Donald Trump."

"Arnold Schwarzenegger's office says he won't be attending a gladiator fight in Ohio this weekend."

dexterity

dexterity     [dek-STER-i-tee] 

noun.  skill of using hands, fingers 

"No robots can yet match the dexterity of a human hand. Laundry folding robots are not yet invented."

"As a brain surgeon, Ben Carson has the dexterity of the fingers. To run for the U.S. president, he will need the dexterity of the tongue."

"To test the usability of treadmill desks,  the volunteers were asked to complete a series of tests of their manual and mental dexterity."

bellwether

bellwether     [Bel-weth-er] 

noun.   1) a male sheep that leads the flock, usually bearing a bell; 2) a person or thing that leads a profession or industry

"Paris is a bellwether of the fashion industry."

"The Scandinavian countries are the bellwethers of women’s representation in politics. The Asian nations are the next.”

"California has long been a political bellwether, with the federal government and other states often following California’s lead in passing laws."

omnipotent

omnipotent    [om-Nip-uh-tuh nt]

adjective.  having very great or unlimited authority or power.

"No company in history has ever achieved the scale of Facebook, which now reaches nearly 1.5 billion total users. Nor has there ever been a mogul quite like Zuckerberg. He rules, with near omnipotence, over Silicon Valley’s grandest empire, and remains eager for more."

"A dentist with a weapon and money can send a lion to its death. Lions and elephants, omnipotent in the natural order, are vulnerable in our cultural one."

"No matter how omnipotent they may seem, all corporate empires eventually fall."

bonanza

bonanza    [buh-Nan-zuh] 

noun.  a sudden rush of wealth or luck; a spectacular windfall

"Biogen published experimental data for its drug candidate aducanumab for  Alzheimer’s disease. The treatment, if successful, could prove a bonanza for the company."

"Alibaba’s IPO last year was a bonanza for its investors including Yahoo."

"Melting ice isn't opening Arctic

to oil bonanza."

fiddle around

fiddle - a violin 

fiddle around - to waste time, to pass time doing unimportant things

"He is a night person, and he loves to fiddle around late at night when everyone has gone to sleep."

"My brother is outside fiddling around with his car engine. He should stop fiddling around and go out and get a real job."

"Acer has unveiled a PC Revo whose parts are designed to be fitted together like building blocks. Customers no longer need to crack open the case and fiddle around with cables and wires."

fraught

fraught    [frawt] 

adjective.  filled (with something undesirable)

"Maintaining friendships over social media like Facebook can be fraught with problems.  Research suggests that constantly reading other people’s chipper status updates may make you feel depressed."

"This Yankees baseball game seemed fraught with danger before it started, considering Tanaka's penchant for allowing home runs this season."

"The singer took to Twitter to deliver the message, which apparently had been fraught with miscommunication."

imperious

imperious    [im-Peer-ee-uh s] 

adjective. having or showing superiority over others; arrogant 

"The imperious Jamaican, Usain Bolt, surged home in 9.79 seconds edging Justin Gatlin, the fastest man in the world this year."

"She is an imperious movie star who thinks she's some sort of goddess."

"He was utterly repellent: arrogant, patronizing, imperious, uninterested in anyone except himself."

helicopter parent

helicopter parent

noun.  a parent who pays extremely close attention to their children; overprotects them;  "hovering" over them like a helicopter 

"Studies have shown that kids of helicopter parents are more likely to feel less competent, be less independent, and report lower levels of both self-worth and life satisfaction."

"Helicopter parents are afraid to let their children fail, so they never learn resilience."

"This is the behavior of an overindulged generation, raised by helicopter parents and lacking in resilience."

behemoth

behemoth    [bih-Hee-muh th]

noun. something very big or powerful 

"The New York Yankees are a billion-dollar behemoth with a payroll in the hundreds of millions."

"Firefighters have been able to contain 95 percent of a behemoth 69,438-acre fire burning to the north of Napa Valley wine country California."

"This national chained store is a behemoth that small local business owners fear." 

ominous

ominous   [Omuhnuh s] 

adjective.  (something) bad or unpleasant (going to happen); threatening

"Dow lost 470 points on the first day of this new month. It's an ominous start to September, which is historically the worst month for stocks."

"The company called her husband for an ominous meeting at headquarters, and he was fired that day."

"There are some ominous trends among younger Americans. The rates of obesity and diabetes are going in the wrong direction."