Fillip   (pronounced fil-up) noun


Definition
1. a stimulus; something that arouses, excites, or gives a boost. 2. a small or trivial addition which serves to embellish or pique others' curiosity.

Main Example

  • To give a fillip to the sagging economy, the Federal Reserve made an unexpectedly large cut in interest rates last month. The Nov. 6 half-point reduction brought the federal funds rate to its lowest in over 40 years.

    Workplace Examples

  • After nearly a year of steady declines in our monthly sales, this surprising award of the IBM contract is just the fillip our spirits needed.

  • Let me add a small fillip to the bubonic plague story you just told. Supposedly, this New Mexico couple being treated for the disease contracted it from infected insects while hiking. But it's now being reported that about three months ago, a plague-infected rat was found on their property near Santa Fe.

    Other Examples

  • some people cooking their pot roast with curry to give the dish an added fillip

  • the Japanese central bank's heavy buying of the yen in international currency markets giving a fillip to that nation's currency

  • one factor motivating Saudi Arabia to keep a lid on the price of oil: sustained high prices will give a fillip to the development of solar, wind and other sources of alternative energy

  • the havoc wreaked by those anthrax-laden letters of last year providing a fillip to government-funded research on anti-bioterrorism defenses, for which the budget has increased more than five-fold to over $1.5 billion a year

    © 2002 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

    Dissemble
    Indefatigable
    Dearth
    Irksome
    Milieu
    Coalesce
    Acrimonious and Acrimony

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