Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Glossary

Compel (verb)

force or oblige someone to do something.

Corruption (noun)

Dishonest and fraudulent behavior.

Distinguished (adjective)

Respected and well-decorated.

Expel (verb)

To kick someone out of an organization or location.

Fraud (noun)

Criminal deception used for personal and/or financial gain.

Quorum (noun)

This is the minimum number of members of a political body (or group/society) required to make what happens in the meeting valid.

Sergeant-at-Arms (proper noun)

The person in a legislative body assigned to keep order and security in that body.

Stooge (noun)

A derogatory term for someone in politics who performs a role, but has very little command or authority over actual issues.

Yield (verb)

To give in to an argument/demands.

"Stop having kittens" (phrase)

Calm down.

Party man (noun)

A member of a political party.

Crackpot (noun)

An eccentric, impractical, or foolish person.

Prattle (noun)

foolish or inconsequential talking.

Simpleton (noun)

A foolish or gullible person.

Daniel Boone (proper noun)

An American pioneer, woodsman, and explorer, who is considered an American folk hero and symbol of rural America.

French leave (noun)

An unauthorized or unannounced departure.

"Good egg" (idiom)

A good or kind person.

Stymied (adjective)

prevented or hindered from progressing.

Don Quixote (proper noun)

The protagonist of a novel by Miguel de Cervantes, a nobleman who loses his sanity from reading chivalric romances and begins to think of himself as a heroic knight.

"wet behind the ears" (idiom)

immature, inexperienced.