Definition of ebullience:

zestful enthusiasm.

Context: Walker, Marcus. “Years of Global Growth Raise Inflation Worries”, Wall Street Journal, Jun 06 2007:

That could puncture the ebullience of stock and bond markets, which have become accustomed to a rare combination of fast growth, low inflation and low interest rates.

Definition of inchoate:

not organized; lacking order: an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.

Context: Teachout, Terry. “A Challenge to Martin Scorsese”, Wall Street Journal, Oct 28 2006:

The reason for this is that all great art is ruthlessly selective. It imposes order on the natural world. That’s why sonnets have 14 lines and string quartets are played by four musicians. An art without rules is nothing more than a willful, inchoate stew of random impulses.

Definition of xenophobic:

an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

Context: West, Bing and Cohen, Eliot. “Our Only Hope”, Wall Street Journal, Jan 8 2007:

Stripped of their dominance but otherwise untouched by the war, the Sunnis supported an insurgency led by Saddam loyalists and fueled by xenophobic religiosity.

Definition of petulant:

moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, esp. over some trifling annoyance: a petulant toss of the head.

Context: Blumenthal, Sidney. “The Petulant President”, The Guardian, Sep 16 2005:

The press disclosed a petulant, vacillating president they had not noticed before. Time magazine described a “rigid and top-down” White House where aides are petrified to deliver bad news to a “yelling” president.

Definition of paucity:

smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness: a country with a paucity of resources.

Context: Fry, Jason. “A Shortfall in Outlets”, Wall Street Journal, Dec 11 2006:

The paucity of living-room outlets isn’t our fault — we inherited this configuration, and have never been eager to tear out the walls.