Paying for Germany's nuclear exit

Glossary of difficult words

pocketbook - one's financial resources; (also a woman's handbag);

tighter margin - a smaller level of gross profit;

to offset - to counteract something by having an opposing force or effect;

to sink (money into something) - to put (money into something), often without the desired return;

to decommission - to take out of service; (of a nuclear reactor or weapon) to make inoperative, dismantle and decontaminate in order to render safe;

wanton - arbitrary, groundless; deliberate and unprovoked;

big time - on a large scale;

letdown - a setback; a disappointment.