The Joy of Insults
(You didn't! I *know* you didn't just call me that!)
Let's face it... knowing how to throw a well timed insult is a joy. And it's even better when the other person has to go to a dictionary to look the word up. So, know a wide range of insults. And it's easy to use these in essays because so many of the people we write about in classes like history are the bad guys who deserve to get called these.
Thanks to my TA's for providing a "teen" friendly translation of the dictionary definitions.
| 1. Avaricious | Adj. excessively acquisitive, especially in seeking to hoard riches Extremely greedy |
Because he was avaricious, Ralph found it hard to not be jealous of Ben’s new computer. His girlfriend found his avariciousness annoying because it meant he never got her nice gifts |
| 2. Bombastic | Adj. Pretentious, pompous Arrogant and full of it |
His bombastic speech made us all want to slap him. But we should have expected that because he just has a bombastic personality |
| 3. Callous | Adj. 1. Being hardened and thickened |
Brenda callously ignored her friend’s tears. he king’s callous words made it clear the prisoner would not be freed. |
| 4. Truculent | Adj. 1. fierce; cruel; savagely brutal. Flat out mean. Aggressive and mean. Horribly mean. |
His truculent attitude eventually drove away everyone who loved him because he would viciously criticize every flaw. The police found the truculent drunk fighting a half dozen men in the middle of the street. |
| 5. Sycophantic | Adj. A self-seeking, servile flatterer; fawning parasite. Big old suck-up |
The sycophant offered to do Troy's homework. The younger boy's sycophantic behavior made the other students roll their eyes. |
| 6. Fastidious | Adj 1. a : having high and often capricious standards b: showing or demanding excessive delicacy or care c: reflecting a meticulous, sensitive, or demanding attitude Hard to please; acting like a diva and being overly sensitive. |
The girl was so fastidious that she ripped into her boyfriend for having a spot on his shirt. The lead singer of the band was a very fastidious individual and demanded a certain brand of water, mixed nuts with the almonds picked out and fresh squeezed orange juice in his dressing room every night. |
| 7. Hapless | Adj. 1. To be very unfortunate. deserving or inciting pity. That person who's a big old loser, and you have to feel a little sorry for him |
The hapless man couldn’t find a job anywhere. Karen tried to play hapless victim, but we all knew she had been in on the whole scam |
| 8. Haughty | Adj. 1. Blatantly and disdainfully proud. Very openly and overly proud in a negative way |
The young, beautiful woman was so haughty that she refused to talk to any man because he didn’t have money. |
| 9. Impertinent | Adj. Not restrained within due or proper bounds especially of propriety or good taste.
Showing unnecessary rudeness. |
The man was very impertinent to the waiter at the fancy restaurant. His date was so upset about his impertinent behavior that she walked out, leaving him to finish alone. |
| 10. Impetuous | Adj. Marked by impulsive vehemence or passion. Acting without stopping to engage the brain first. |
Charlie's impetuous tone and actions made the young girl cry. After she ran away, he felt guilty that his impetuousness had hurt her so much. |
| 11. Implacable | Adj. Impossible to placate or appease Never happy, even when there's a reason to be happy. |
The implacable general made the troops endlessly practice the drill, even after they received a perfect score. The men were really aggravated when the implacable attitude meant that he didn't even congratulate them. |
| 12. Indolent | Adj. Averse to activity, effort, or movement : habitually lazy; encouraging laziness
Lazy |
The indolent worker watched the others dig the ditch while he sat at the side after faking an injury. |
| 13. Unctuous | 1. characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, esp. in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug. This is the stereotype of the used car salesman who acts all smooth and helpful while really being slimy. |
The unctious man gave his two children a lecture about not sinning, but after they had gone to bed, he crept out of the house to visit his mistress. His unctious offer of help made Carlos ill. |
| 14. Irascible | Adj. marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger Being a hot head, or having a short fuse. |
They tended to tip toe around certain topics because of his irascible attitude. When Jeff broke up with her, Karen showed became so irascible that none of us wanted to be near her. |
| 15. Sophomoric | Exhibiting great immaturity and lack of judgment: sophomoric behavior. A little young with just a touch of being an idiot. |
Her sophomoric question showed that she didn't understand even the basics of court system. |
| 16. Obdurate | Adj.
1. a: stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing b: hardened in feelings
2: resistant to persuasion or softening influences Stubborn in just doing the wrong thing and not listening to others. |
He was so obdurate during his debate that he was disqualified for not reasoning with the other side. Even though his daughter needed a new car, the obdurate father kept insisting that she was just being whiny and spoiled. |
| 17. Obstreperous | 1 : marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness : clamorous
2 : stubbornly resistant to control : unruly Wild, untamed, and refusing to just go along with orders |
The obstreperous student cursed the teacher out when she told him to work on his essay. In the office, his obstreperous behavior annoyed the principal, who couldn't even get him to sit down. |
| 18. Pugnacious | 1. tough and callous by virtue of experience Slow to feel emotion; quick to resort to fighting |
The young boy's pugnacious brother beat him up for eating the last piece of cake, and didn't even care when the young boy started crying. |
| 19. Querulous | 1. full of complaints; complaining. Constantly complaining |
The class's querulous attitude really angered the teacher. Karla was particularly querulous about |
| 20. Recalcitrant | 1. resisting authority or control; not obedient or compliant; refractory. Disobedient and pretty loud about being disobedient |
The recalcitrant child threw his toy and screamed when his mother said it was time to leave. The prisoner's recalcitrant behavior led the warder to place him in solitary confinement |
Last Updated 12-27-07