incumbent:

(the letter ‘i’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”, the ‘c’ with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”, and the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

(in British English) a priest in the Church of England;

Nambaryn Enkhboyar, incumbent president of Mongolia (as of 01-02-2010)

(in general) any person who holds a position or office, especially an important political office, such as a mayor, a party president, etc. ;

Edmund Ho Hau Wah, incumbent Chief Executive of China’s Macao Special Administrative Region

a keeper of some important thing; custodian

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fuddy-duddy:

(plural: ‘fuddy-duddies’; pronunciation: the letter ‘u’ in both words rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

a person who does not understand, approve of or accept modern ideas;

a fuddy-duddy (Ken Russell, film director — called himself a fuddy-duddy)

an elderly person who is dull and old-fashioned

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fighter:

(pronunciation: the letters ‘fi’ rhyme with the letters ‘fi’ in “five”)

two stick fighter (fighters using sticks to hit each other)

a person who fights, for his/her safety, to gain control over others or for sport;

two fighters fighting (boxing — a blood sport)

a soldier; a boxer;

trained fighters ready for action (soldiers)

a person who has strong physical and mental power and stays strong in any difficult situation or against others by sticking to his/her ideas, morals and principles

Gloria Allred, a fighter fought against injustice in the society (strong-willed person)

{to fight = (verb) to hit, beat, punch and kick (either with one’s body parts or using any weapon, such as a stick, knife, or gun) others in order to give them pain; to try to cause pain, difficulties or loss to others; to use force in order to get power over others; ‘a fight’ (noun) the act of fighting; as a strong word for a quarrel or argument}

[a jet fighter (a fast flying fighting aeroplane)]

['Fighter' is also used for a small fast flying jet/aeroplane with missiles and bombs on it, used in fighting with enemies from air in a battle.]

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field marshal:

Tantawi, Field Marshal, Egyptian Armed Forces, Egypt

an officer of the highest rank in the British army (military)

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epicure/epicurean:

(equivalent to ‘gourmet’)

{the letter ‘c’ in this word is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”}

two epicures enjoying their dinner

“epicure” — a person who takes great interest, often too much care, in the pleasure of food and drink, and regards cooking as an art;

a person who spends a lot of time in sensuous pleasures and luxurious life

“epicurean” — a person who likes to have refined food and drink, and likes to live luxurious life;

a connoisseur

Greek philosopher Epicurus

[‘Epicurean’, with a capital ‘E’, is a person who follows the philosophy of Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, which advocated that pleasure is the highest point in one’s life!]

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disparate  –  desperate:

[different pronunciation: the letters 'di' in 'disparate' rhyme with the letters 'di' in "dig", and the letters 'de' in 'desperate' rhyme with the letters 'de' in "depth"]

“Disparate” means ‘entirely differently; no comparison can be made between two or more things or activities because of the striking difference’,

e.g.

‘Sky-diving’ and ‘skin diving’ are two disparate sport skills.   [because ‘sky-diving’ is jumping from an aircraft and ‘skin diving’ is swimming under water]

__________

“Desperate” means ‘ready to do any wild or senseless or risky act, regardless of possible danger, due to loss of hope or as a last attempt’,

e.g.

The football player was so desperate to make a goal that he played a foul shot and was sent out of field with a red card.

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doubting Thomas:

a man who does not easily believe anything without physical proof;

a sceptic (British spelling) / skeptic (American spelling)

(Thomas doubting the resurrection of Jesus Christ)

[after Saint Thomas who doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Bible, i.e. one of the 12 disciples who did not believe that Jesus Christ rose from the grave the third day until he was shown the physical proof]

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Don Juan:

(pronunciation: the word ‘Juan’ is said with a sound similar to ‘wahn’)

a Don Juan in full swing

any man who is good at making women love and have sex with him {named after a 14^th century Spanish noble man who was good at making women love and have sex with him (seducing women)}

a Don Juan — playing his tricks to win her heart

['Don Juan' is also used in a negative connotation (negative sense) to refer to a man without morals -- a womanizer or debauchee.]

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dipsomaniac:

(pronunciation: the letters ‘di’ rhyme with the letters ‘di’ in “dip”; and the last letter ‘c’ is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound)

a couple of dipsomaniacs

a person suffering from dipsomania; a drunkard; a drunk

(dipsomania = an uncontrollable desire/craving for alcoholic drinks — brandy, whisky, rum, etc.)

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cracker:

{both the ‘c’ in this word are pronounced with a ‘k’ sound}

(apart from several other meanings …)

a very nice-looking woman;

a poor white person, especially a man from the USA;

(in British English) a person who has great ability in some field;

a thief;

a computer cracker

a person who uses other’s computer without permission, especially to spoil the data, etc.

(a firecraker)

{A more common meaning is a ‘firecracker’, a small explosive wrapped in thick colourful paper used for making loud noise and sending out colourful sparks, used on special occasions; and a cracker is also a thin dry biscuit.}

(a cracker — dry crisp biscuit)

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