An Ode to Envy | Parul Sehgal | TED Talks

Important Vocabulary Words From The Video

lurked

Lurked means to stay hidden, to stay out of sight. When you lurk in the shadows, you are waiting to attack.

  • The tiger lurked in the bushes, waiting to pounce on its prey.
  • The spy lurked in the shadows, watching the enemy without being seen.
fiddled

To fiddle with something is to play with it carelessly, to mess with it. You might fiddle with the controls on your car, or with the settings on your alarm clock.

  • He was fiddling with the remote control, trying to change the channel.
  • She fiddled with her necklace, trying to make it look nicer.
appallingly

Appallingly means very badly. When you say something is appallingly wrong, you mean that it is very bad and not acceptable.

  • The dress was appallingly ugly.
  • The performance was appallingly bad.
pitiless

When someone is pitiless, they are very cruel and heartless. They don't care about the feelings of other people, and they don't care about what will happen to them.

  • The pitiless judge refused to give her a fair trial.
  • The pitiless teacher refused to give her a chance to explain her actions.
recoils

To recoil is to pull back or to pull away in horror or surprise. When you recoil at the sight of a scary movie, you are reacting in a very negative way.

  • The woman recoiled at the sight of the monster.
  • The soldier recoiled at the sound of the gunshot.
muddles

To muddle through something is to try to do it in a way that is not very effective or successful. Often, muddling through means doing something that is not very clear or that is not correct.

  • The teacher tried to muddle through the lesson by reading from the textbook.
  • The student tried to muddle through the math problem by trying to solve it by trial and error.
seethes

To seethe is to feel anger and resentment. When you seethe, you are boiling with anger and you can't control yourself.

  • The workers seethe with resentment because they are not being paid enough.
  • The students seethe with anger at the teacher because she is not giving them enough credit.
dazzles

To dazzle someone is to surprise them with your good looks or your skill in a particular area. When you dazzle someone, they are usually very surprised and impressed.

  • She was so dazzled by his performance that she forgot all of her lines.
  • The performance was so dazzling that it dazzled the audience.
demystifies

When something is demystified, it is made easier to understand. Often, this means that the information is simplified or explained in a way that is easier to understand.

  • The demystifies the process of cooking by showing how to make a simple dish.
  • Demystifies the process of finance by explaining how interest works.