Political Scandals Vocabulary

verb to make dirty or polluted

• The environmentalists were concerned that the factory's emissions would befoul the pristine river.
• Don't befoul the kitchen with your dirty shoes.
• I can't believe he befouled the toilet and didn't clean it up.
• His lies befoul the reputation of the entire company.

noun a sum of money or other inducement offered or given in order to persuade or influence someone to do something, especially dishonestly

• The politician was caught accepting a bribe in exchange for favorable legislation.
• I heard that the cop took a bribe to let the criminal go free.
• The contractor tried to bribe the inspector to overlook the building code violations.
• Sometimes kindness can be seen as a bribe for someone's affection.

adjective having a bad reputation; not respectable

• The company decided not to do business with the disreputable supplier.
• I heard that place is pretty disreputable, we should avoid going there.
• That guy is so sketchy, he's definitely disreputable.
• Her reputation took a hit when she associated with that disreputable crowd.

noun a sum of money paid to someone to keep them from revealing certain information or to remain silent

• The company paid hush money to the whistleblower to keep the information confidential.
• The celebrity offered hush money to the tabloid to prevent the story from being published.
• The politician tried to use hush money to cover up the scandal.
• Accepting hush money is like silencing your own voice in exchange for temporary peace.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

verb a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being

preposition a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a sentence

article a word that specifies a noun as definite or indefinite

• It is not ethical for a public official to look the other way when faced with corruption.
• I saw my neighbor's dog running loose, but I decided to look the other way.
• When it comes to cheating in exams, some students just look the other way.
• She knew her friend was making a mistake, but she chose to look the other way and let her learn from it.

noun the illegal or unethical practice of using one's influence in government or connections with powerful individuals to obtain favors or preferential treatment

• The businessman was charged with influence peddling in an attempt to secure government contracts.
• The politician was caught influence peddling to get special favors for his friends.
• I heard that company was involved in some shady influence peddling to get ahead in the market.
• The artist's use of bold colors and abstract shapes was a form of influence peddling in the art world.