Page 263 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
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bogus (BOH gis) adj. not real or genuine; spurious
• Bogus Rolex watches are available on every street corner around Times
Square for $50 or less.
• If someone offers you a diamond solitaire for about $100, there’s a good
chance that it’s bogus.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. false]
boisterous (BOY stris) adj. 1. noisy and unruly; rowdy; 2. rough and stormy
• Football crowds can get somewhat boisterous, especially when beer is being
consumed.
• Try to keep from being too boisterous when you play with your friends.
[-ly adv.] [Syn. vociferous]
bolster (BOHL stir) vt. to prop up or support; reinforce —n. 1. a long, narrow
cushion; 2. any bolsterlike cushion or support
• Diane’s family came to bolster her during her testimony.
• Please put the bolsters back on the sofa.
• Bolsters are used to cap the bearing part of a beam and extend its support
outward.
[-ed, -ing]
bombast (BAHM bast) n. talk or writing that sounds very important but has no
meaning; pompous language
• “You make your bed right now or I’m not going to feed you for the next
week” is either an example of bombast or an indication of child abuse.
• Nikita Khrushchev’s “We shall bury you!” speech is a better-known exam-
ple of bombast.
[-ic adj., -ically adv.]
boor (BOR) n. a rude, ill-mannered, or awkward person
• Stop acting like a boor.
• When Cindy turned her back on Rita and refused to acknowledge her
greeting, she behaved boorishly.
[-ish adj., -ishly adv.]
bourgeois (BUR zhwah or bur ZHWAH) adj. conventional; middle class;
ordinary —n. 1. a shopkeeper or a businessman; 2. a member of the middle class
• It is often considered an insult to call one’s beliefs bourgeois.
• The bourgeois class, before the French Revolution of 1789, was the group of
shopkeepers and self-employed persons between the aristocracy and the
workers (or proletariat).
[-e fem., -ie n.]
brazen (BRAY zin) adj. 1. showing no shame; bold; impudent; 2. of brass; the
color of brass
• Custer’s attack at the Little Bighorn was brazen if not very smart.
• Trumpets have a very piercing, brazen sound.
[-ly adv.]