Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary Development

You’re going to watch a TED Talk, given by Liz Fosslien, entitled How to Embrace Emotions at Work. Before you watch, let’s take a look at some of the language that Liz uses in the talk.

Study the example sentences below. Use the context (and a dictionary if necessary) to get an idea of the meaning of the highlighted language.

• She remained stoic even as he continued to insult her.
  We knew she must be in pain, despite her stoic attitude.
  So stoic was his expression, so even his tone, so bland his smile that his moods were difficult to discern.
  
• I’m so overwhelmed right now. I definitely got more than I’d bargained for when I decided to buy a house that needed major renovations.
  Betsy got more than she bargained for when she brought home a cute, little puppy. That animal has cost her hundreds of dollars in veterinary bills.
  This project is more work than I’d bargained for.
  
• The events of the past year have undermined people’s confidence in the government.
  He’s been trying to undermine her position by spreading rumors about her.
  She tried to undermine my authority by complaining about me to my boss.
  
• There is a wide spectrum of opinion on this controversial topic.
  We have a wide spectrum of music in our collection, so I know you will find something that you like.
  Across a wide spectrum of countries, there is no consistent relationship between crime and imprisonment.
  
• On one end of the spectrum are over-emoters, people who feel things strongly and express them visibly and verbally. On the other end are under-emoters, people who don’t feel as intensely and rarely display emotion.
  Hint: An emoter (n.) is somebody who emotes (v.), and both of these words belong to the same word family as emotion (n.).
  
• The college has a highly selective admissions process.
  You want a doctor who understands the patient’s vulnerability.
  The balance between being emotionally cold and being emotionally leaky is selective vulnerability.
  
• She flagged several pages for me to review.
  Flag any files that might be useful later.
  We’ll flag the records of interest in the database, and then we can give you a print-out.
  
• Storm clouds are looming on the horizon.
  A workers’ strike is looming.
  A battle is looming in Congress over the proposed budget cuts.
  I’m under a lot of stress because of this looming deadline.
  
• I can’t read her. I’m not sure if she likes me or not.
  I’ll read the room and see if it’s the right time to have the conversation.
  Read the room, James. No one here is interested in talking politics right now.
  
• Because they haven’t received proper training, they are prone to making mistakes.
  People in my family are prone to heart disease.
  Tests showed that the machine is prone to failure.