A parsimonious person is unwilling to spend a lot of money.

You know those people who count up every penny when it's time to split a restaurant bill? You can call them parsimonious. Or cheap.

Stingy is the most common and general synonym of parsimonious, but there are many other near synonyms, including thrifty, frugal, penurious, niggardly, penny-pinching, miserly, tight-fisted, tight.

The adjective parsimonious was formed in English from the noun parsimony, "the quality of being careful in spending." It is a combination of the Latin verb parcere, "to spare," plus an Old French suffix –ous, "having the quality of."

Something that's mangled is damaged or even ruined from being crushed, torn, or sliced.

Your recycling bin will be full of mangled soda cans if you stomp on them with your work boots before tossing them in.

Cars can be mangled after a bad accident, and even buildings might be mangled after an explosion.

Mangled debris may mark the site of a bomb or plane crash.

You can also use this adjective figuratively, to mean "ruined," like when you perform a mangled rendition of your favorite song at the school talent show. 

Mangled comes from the Old French mangoner, "cut to pieces."

The Latin phrase quid pro quo means making a certain kind of deal: you do this for me, and I'll do that for you.

Ever hear the expression

, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"?

That describes a quid pro quo: doing a favor you expect to be paid back, instead of doing the favor for its own sake.

Politicians are often accused of doing a quid pro quo: someone donated to their campaign and is now getting favors in return. @WordCzar

Quid pro quo definitely has a shady feel, but it just means making a deal that trades one thing for another.

Ceteris paribus is a Latin phrase that generally means

"all other things being equal."

Something that is iniquitous is extremely immoral or wicked, such as an iniquitous political regime that assassinates its enemies.

Use the adjective iniquitous to describe something that is truly bad, morally wrong, extremely wicked, or completely unfair. @Grammarfy

It’s a strong word — don't use it lightly. If you go see a movie that’s boring and too long, for example, it’s just a bad movie.

But a movie that encourages people to take violent action against a minority group? That's iniquitous because the movie's message is grossly immoral

Asunder is an adverb that means “into separate pieces.” So if you’ve torn your ex's love letter asunder, you’ve forcefully ripped it into separate pieces — and rightly so.

Asunder comes from the Old English phrase on sundran, which means "into separate places."

It is a somewhat archaic and uncommon word and many people know it only from religious marriage ceremonies:

"What God has joined together let no man put asunder."

In most cases, you can use its more common synonym "apart" and convey the same meaning, unless you want to express a particularly violent or forceful ripping.
@WordCzar

People who gallivant are out to have a good time as they wander.

You might decide to take a year off between high school and college so you can gallivant around the country for a while. @WordCzar

When you gallivant, you meander from one place to another in search of fun.

A little kid might gallivant around the preschool classroom during free time, visiting her friends and playing with various toys.

Professional musicians are sometimes able to gallivant from city to city in between performances.

Gallivant comes from an old-fashioned definition of gallant, "a dashing man."

To "play the gallant" was once a popular way to say "to gad about" or to gallivant.

Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed.

You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation.

Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed.

When you see its Latin roots, it makes sense: from ab- (meaning "away") and jurare ("to swear").

@WordCzar

When you abjure something, you swear it away and dissociate yourself with it.

You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce.

Beatific

That blissful grin on your face? It could be described as beatific, meaning it projects a peaceful sense of joy.

If you have a beatific smile on your face, then the happiness it shows is the real thing.

This word doesn’t describe phony smiles or quick grins that show a little amusement.

Use beatific to describe something characterized by complete and perfect joy. @WordCzar

It’s often used to describe a smile, but it can be used to describe anything in a state of bliss.

JADED

If you've done something so much that it doesn't excite you anymore but just leaves you tired, consider yourself jaded.

If someone says you look a little jaded, it just means that you look tired.

The history of jaded is not clear, but perhaps it is related to the noun jade, an old term for a worn-out horse.

Even if not, picturing a tired old horse may be a nice way to remember that jaded means dulled or tired from too much of something.

The word can also mean cynical because of bad experiences with something, like a jaded journalist who doesn't see the person behind the politician.

Platitude

If an executive gives a speech that begins,

"This business is all about survival of the fittest. You need to burn the midnight oil and take one for the team,"

his employees might get sick of listening to these meaningless clichés and tell him to cut the platitudes.

The English language contains many old, worn-out clichés, or platitudes.

Phrases like "

ants in your pants

" and

"as American as apple pie"

are so overused that they've almost lost their meaning.

People rely on these tired old remarks when they can't think of anything original to say. @WordCzar

Be warned: if you throw too many platitudes into your conversations, people are eventually going to get tired of listening to you.

Comment the meaning of following phrases:

1.Down in the mouth
2.Blow a fuse
3.Regular brick
4.Goldbrick

Germane means relevant; it fits in.

If you are giving a speech on dog training, stick to the germane, canine stuff.

Topics that would not be germane? Catnip toys, hamster wheels, and the use of a saddle.

You can thank Shakespeare for the modern meaning of the adjective germane.

The word originally referred to people who have the same parents.

Shakespeare added the word's figurative meaning of objects being closely related or relevant when he used it in the play Hamlet.

You might want to bring up all sorts of complaints during an argument with your best friend, but she says the two of you should only discuss issues that are germane to the current fight.

Zeitgeist is the spirit or essence of a particular time.

In the 1920s, flappers and speakeasies contributed to that era's Zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist is a word that comes straight from German — zeit means "time" and geist means spirit, and the "spirit of the time"

is what's going on culturally, religiously, or intellectually during a certain period.

Think about how something like Woodstock symbolized the 1960s: Woodstock was part of the Zeitgeist of the 1960s.

Whatever seems particular to or symbolic of a certain time is likely part of its Zeitgeist.

Touch base is an idiom often seen in business contexts meaning to make contact or reconnect with someone briefly, as in

"let's touch base next week."

The phrase is thought to have some relation to baseball where both runner and fielders have to "touch base" in order to be safe or record an out.

Perhaps the idea of the "base" became associated with "home base" or place of meeting, before becoming the idiom we know today

Retrospective means looking back.

An art exhibit that cover an artist's entire career is called a retrospective because it looks back at the work the artist has produced over many years.


Retro- means back, -spect- means look (think: spectacles), so the word means literally 'a looking back.'

Many people take a retrospective look at their lives on birthdays or on New Year's Eve to evaluate events and see how well they've met their goals.

You could call the yearly evaluation you get from your boss a retrospective review of your work.

(used about laws, decisions, payments, etc.) intended to take effect from a date in the past

Is this new tax law retrospective?

wake up and smell the coffee

become aware of the realities of a situation, however unpleasant.

"keep an eye on your friends, who may be using you—wake up and smell the coffee!"

disquieting

adjective

inducing feelings of anxiety or worry.

he found Jean's gaze disquieting"

If someone calls you loco, it means they think you're nutty or eccentric.

Your friends will think your dog is completely loco if she spends hours every day chasing her own tail.

You can use the slang term loco when you're commenting on the craziness or irrationality of a person or situation.

You might say, for example: "This meeting is totally loco — everyone's talking at the same time!"

 Loco comes from American English, which borrowed it from the Spanish 
loco, "insane."
Its roots are uncertain, but it may stem from the Arabic lauqa, "fool."