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  • Hi, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this advanced vocabulary lesson

  • on five adjectives to sound smart. So, in this lesson, I'm going to be looking at some

  • uncommon adjectives that you can use in your speech and the adjectives I have chosen are

  • understood by most native English speakers regardless, but they are a little bit more

  • advanced and a little bit more formal. So let's look at some sentences, some vocabulary,

  • and see if we can understand what these words mean.

  • The first one is: "maudlin". So, you can listen and repeat. One more time: "maudlin". All

  • right, so let's look at the sentence: "Looking at old photos makes me maudlin."

  • So, if you're looking at an old photo album of your childhood or your friends from elementary

  • school or high school, how do you generally feel? I guess it depends on what kind of experience

  • you had when you were a child, but in this context, I wanted it to mean like overly emotional

  • and sentimental. Okay? So the meaning of "maudlin" we're going to put: overly - and that is supposed

  • to be a "v" - overly emotional and - I'm going to put a plus for "and" - sentimental. Okay.

  • So you can say, for example: "Drinking makes me maudlin." So if you drink too much and

  • you start thinking about your past and your history, and you get very emotional, almost

  • like teary thinking about it - you feel very maudlin. Okay?

  • The next adjective is: "lackadaisical". It's a very fun word to say, so say it with me:

  • "lackadaisical". Okay, so sentence: "Her work has been very lackadaisical lately."

  • Even when you think about the word and the sound of it like: "lackadaisical", it kind of sounds

  • like lazy in a way and that actually is what it means. So lazy and careless. Lazy

  • and careless; without care. Okay? So if I ask you: "Hey, how was your weekend?

  • Was it productive?" And you can say: "No, I was really lackadaisical." Or: "I felt very lackadaisical."

  • A person's work can be lackadaisical meaning that, again, lazy, careless, not a lot of

  • attention paid to it. Okay?

  • All right, the next adjective is: "interminable". Okay? So say it with me: "interminable". Okay,

  • so: "His complaining is interminable!"

  • Now, when we look at this adjective, you might see in the middle: "terminable", "termina",

  • "termina", okay, what does this word sound like? It almost sounds like "terminate(終止)". Right?

  • Now, with the prefix: "in", this makes it negative, so not terminate, okay, not ending.

  • So, if something is interminable, it's almost like it's endless or at least it feels like

  • it's endless, like it's not going to end. So his complaining, the way he complains is

  • interminable; he always complains, it doesn't end. So, basically, never ending or it feels

  • like it's never ending. Now, at the time of this video, we are in the middle of winter in Canada

  • and it's still going on, it's March and, you know, some of us are starting to

  • feel that this winter is interminable; it's not going to end.

  • This is 2014, by the way, at the time of recording.

  • All right, finally... Not finally, fourth. "Egregious". So very, very useful adjective.

  • "Sorry, but your logic is egregious." So if someone gives you an explanation for

  • something and the explanation, the logic is: "That doesn't make sense", like if it doesn't

  • make any sense, it is egregious which means incredibly bad or terrible. Okay? So let's

  • say: "Very bad". Normally, we talk about logic being egregious or a statement, something

  • a person says as being egregious which just means it's just wrong. Okay? Now, we don't

  • really use it to talk about people, like you can't really say: "He is egregious. He is

  • really bad." Normally, it's things or actions that are egregious, things you say or your

  • logic is egregious. Okay?

  • And finally, we have the word: "visceral". So when we look at the sentence:

  • "Skydiving" - which means jumping from a plane - "is an incredibly visceral experience."

  • So imagine jumping out of a plane, how do you feel emotionally, physically? Well, you

  • probably do feel very emotional and your senses are, you know, engaged. So if something is

  • visceral, it's emotional and instinctual which means that your senses are very much engaged

  • during this activity, whatever it is. So you might often hear this in promotions or commercials

  • for movies, so you might hear an action movie being called: "A visceral experience", or:

  • "A visceral ride", which means it's a very like instinctual; it appeals to your instincts,

  • attracts your instincts and your emotions. Not logical, not reasonable, but it appeals

  • to your emotions and your senses more than anything.

  • Okay, guys, so one more time. "Maudlin" means sad, depressing, sentimental. Okay? "Lackadaisical",

  • lazy and careless. "Interminable", never ending. "Egregious", incredibly bad, a person's logic

  • or something they say. And: "visceral", emotional, instinctual, appeals to your senses.

  • So one more time guys, let's just do some pronunciation before I go. "Maudlin". "Lackadaisical".

  • "Interminable". "Egregious". "Visceral". Nice job.

  • So if you'd like to test your understanding of these five adjectives, as always, you can

  • check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

  • Thanks, guys, and I'll see you next time.

Hi, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this advanced vocabulary lesson

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