Perpetuate

Perpetuate

<per-pet-chew-ate>

maintain; continue; prolong

something unending that is usually considered bad.

The waves will perpetuate an assault on my sand castle until it is gone.

Memory trick:
Perpetuate reminds of perpetual as in perpetual motion

At work:
You must not perpetuate the pilfering of office supplies.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Pedant

Pedant

<ped-dent>

purist; perfectionist; stickler;

a person who is obsessed with small details or trivial rules.

His art is worthy of a true pedant.

Memory trick:
Just remember - a ped ant is small

At work:
He is a pedant and that's why his documentation is always so complete.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Artifice

Artifice

<art-tuh-fis>

gimmick; trickery; fraud;

an item for deceiving a person with deception.

The can of soda is an artifice because it is really a hidden safe.

Memory trick:
art is fake

At work:
Their software demo was an artifice because it secretly was a video.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Utilitarian

Utilitarian

<yoo-til-ah-tare-ree-an>

functional; useful; practical;

something made for use and not for show.

My car is utilitarian. It is not pretty but it is built for speed.

Memory trick:
utilitarian reminds of utility.

At work:
Our website is Utilitarian. It is simple but you can do a lot on it.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Marshal

Marshal

<mar-shall>

assemble; group; organize;

to gather a group of people for a purpose.

Let's marshal the players at the north field.

Memory trick:
marshal rhymes with march
we march together

At work:
We will marshal our teams together to get the job done.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Nonsensical

Nonsensical

<non-sense-sik-kal>

silly; foolish; stupid;

something ridiculous or senseless.

The nonsensical song did not have any meaning to us.

Memory trick:
Non reminds of not
Sensical reminds of sense
not sense

At work:
We have to work on these nonsensical numbers before we can do an audit.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers

Disingenuous

Disingenuous

<dis-in-gen-you-us>

dishonest; lying; false;

I find your story to be disingenuous so please tell me the truth.

Memory trick:
Remember dis or insult.
genuous reminds of generous.
A fake story disses us in a genrous way.

At work:
I think their positive presentation was disingenuous because their product has bad reviews.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers