Collecting Words

DENOUEMENT: "the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work"

2011-04-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

THE STORY'S CONCLUSION
final outcome of a dramatic complication

photo © 2010 Jean-Pierre Dalbéra | more info (via: Wylio)

ETYMOLOGY:

From French dénouement (outcome or conclusion; literally, untying)
from dénouer (to unknot or undo), from de- (from) + nouer (to tie)
from Latin nodus (knot)
Ultimately from the Indo-European root ned- (to bind), which is also the source of node, noose, annex, connect, ouch, and nettle. Earliest documented use: 1752.

UNTIE A KNOT

photo © 2006 Dawn | more info (via: Wylio)

—Synonyms
solution, conclusion, end, upshot.

From Visual Thesaurus

MORIBUND: "at the point of death; lacking vitality and vigor"

2011-04-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Either literally or figuratively near death. photo © 2010 Maxwell Hamilton | more info (via: Wylio)

American Heritage Dictionary (2 definitions)

–adjective
1. Approaching death; about to die.
2. On the verge of becoming obsolete: moribund customs; a moribund way of life.

Century Dictionary (2 definitions)

1. In a dying state.
–noun
2. A dying person.

A "moribund economy"

photo © 2011 Nationaal Archief | more info (via: Wylio)

From VISUAL THESAURUS

QUOTIDIAN: "found in the ordinary course of events"

2011-04-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

A quotidian commute...

American Heritage Dictionary (2 definitions)
–adjective
1. Everyday; commonplace: "There's nothing quite like a real . . . train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute” ( Anita Diamant).
2. Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of malaria.

Century Dictionary (4 definitions)

1. Daily; occurring or returning daily: as, a quotidian fever.
–noun
2. Something that returns or is expected every day; specifically, in medicine, a fever whose paroxysms return every day.
3. A cleric or church officer who does daily duty.
4. Payment given for such duty.

From Visual Thesaurus (check it out)

Wordnik: QUOTIDIAN

ABROGATE: "Repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement)"

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verb
1
: to abolish by authoritative action : annul
2
: to treat as nonexistent

photo © 2006 Kent Wang | more info (via: Wylio)

From Merrium-Webster Word of the Day

If you can't simply wish something out of existence, the next best thing might be to "propose it away." That's more or less what "abrogate" lets you do -- etymologically speaking, at least. "Abrogate" comes from the Latin root "rogare," which means "to propose a law," and "ab-," meaning "from" or "away." We won't propose that you try to get away from the fact that "rogare" is also an ancestor in the family tree of "prerogative" and "interrogate." "Abrogate" first appeared in English as a verb in the 16th century; it was preceded by an adjective sense meaning "annulled" or "cancelled" which is now obsolete.

SO abrogate means "to propose a law -- away"

ABROGATE on WORKNIK

DAEDAL: "rich; adorned with many things"

2011-03-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

I sang of the dancing stars,
I sang of the daedal earth,
And of heaven, and the giant wars,
And love, and death, and birth.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan",

photo © 2006 Steve Jurvetson | more info (via: Wylio)

Origin:
Daedal comes from Latin daedalus , "cunningly wrought," from Greek daidalos , "skillful, cunningly created."

SANGUINE: "cheerfully optimistic"

2011-03-07T02:14:00.000-08:00

Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English sanguyne a blood-red cloth < Old French sanguin < Latin sanguineus bloody, equivalent to sanguin-, stem of sanguis blood + -eus -eous

—Related forms

san·guine·ly, adverb

san·guin·i·ty, san·guin·ness, noun

non·san·guine, adjective

non·san·guine·ly, adverb

non·san·guine·ness, noun

o·ver·san·guine, adjective

o·ver·san·guine·ly, adverb

o·ver·san·guine·ness, noun

pre·san·guine, adjective

qua·si-san·guine, adjective

qua·si-san·guine·ly, adverb

su·per·san·guine, adjective

su·per·san·guin·i·ty, noun

un·san·guine, adjective

un·san·guine·ly, adverb

—Can be confused: sanguinary, sanguine .

—Synonyms
1. enthusiastic, buoyant, animated, lively, spirited.

—Antonyms
1. morose.

photo © 2009 Faith Goble | more info (via: Wylio)

–adjective

cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations.

reddish; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.

(in old physiology) having blood as the predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-faced, cheerful, etc.

bloody; sanguinary.

blood-red; red.

Heraldry . a reddish-purple tincture.

EXIGENT- "demanding attention"

2011-03-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

Legislative sessions are long, constituents' demands are exigent , policy problems are increasingly complicated.

-- Anthony King, "Running Scared", The Atlantic , January 1997

photo © 2009 Tavis Ford | more info (via: Wylio)

BATHOS- "insincere pathos; triteness; mawkishness"

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Visual Definition

Word Definition

–noun
1.
a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
2.
insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.
3.
triteness or triviality in style.

Word Origin

from Greek word meaning "depth"

Word Usage

Quotes:

After one character undergoes a particularly lightning-speed change in temperament, the director lays on a ludicrously coincidental plot twist with sentimental bathos that nearly swamps everything that has gone before.
-- Ann Hornaday, "Movie review: In 'Mother and Child,' Bening and Epps give strong performances", Washington Post, May 2010

Neither, in the end, can Jacob weave his own pattern. His trans-oceanic dream of liberty and learning will close in the damp bathos of a Zeeland backwater - until, in a last spine-shivering gasp, the free spirit of the story walks again...
-- David Mitchell, Book review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet", Belfast Telegraph, May 2010

Related Words

see pathos

bathetic

DAEDAL - "skillful, artistic, intricate, adorned"

2010-02-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Word of the Day at Dictionary.com

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Daedal

adjective:

1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.

2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.

3. Rich; adorned with many things.

');

Quotes:

Most Web-site designers realize that large image maps and daedal layouts are to be avoided, and the leading World Wide Web designers have reacted to users' objections to highly graphical, slow sites by using uncluttered, easy-to-use layouts.

-- "Fixing Web-site usability", InfoWorld, December 15, 1997

Daedal Layout

He gathered toward the end of his life a very extensive collection of illustrated books and illuminated manuscripts, and took heightened pleasure in their daedal patterns as his own strength declined.

-- Florence S. Boos, preface to The Collected Letters of William Morris

I sang of the dancing stars,
I sang of the daedal earth,
And of heaven, and the giant wars,
And love, and death, and birth.

-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Hymn Of Pan",

Origin:

Daedal comes from Latin daedalus, "cunningly wrought," from Greek daidalos, "skillful, cunningly created."

Daedal Earth

ODIOUS: "highly offensive; inspiring and deserving hatred"

2009-09-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

ODIOUS

MEANING:

adjective: Highly offensive; inspiring and deserving hatred.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin odium (hatred), from odisse (to hate). Ultimately from the Indo-European root od- (to hate) that is also the source of the words annoy, noisome, and ennui.

USAGE:

"All over the US there are people whose lives are being destroyed for lack of proper health care provision, and there is no sight more odious than the rich, powerful, and arrogant trying to keep it that way."
Simon Hoggart; Why the American Right Make Me Sick; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 15, 2009.

CIRCUMLOCUTION - "a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things"

2009-09-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Word of the Day at Dictionary.com
Monday, August 01, 2005
circumlocution
\sir-kuhm-loh-KYOO-shuhn\ , noun:

1.
The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language.

Quotes:
Dickens gave us the classic picture of official heartlessness: the government Circumlocution Office, burial ground of hope in "Little Dorrit."

-- "Balance of Hardships", New York Times, September 28, 1999
In a delightful circumlocution, the Fed chairman said that "investors are probably revisiting expectations of domestic earnings growth".

-- "US exuberance is proven 'irrational'", Irish Times, October 31, 1997
Courtesies and circumlocutions are out of place, where the morals, health, lives of thousands are at stake.

-- Charles Kingsley, Letters
Prefer the single word to the circumlocution.

-- H.W. Fowler, The King's English
Origin:
Circumlocution comes from Latin circumlocutio, circumlocution-, from circum, "around" + loquor, loqui, "to speak."

ANOMALOUS - "peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm"

2009-07-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Anomalous
Deviating from a general rule, method, or analogy; abnormal; irregular; as, an anomalous proceeding.

TP Wall = Anomalous/contrary to the norm

ANOMALOUS
–adjective
1. deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal: Advanced forms of life may be anomalous in the universe.
2. not fitting into a common or familiar type, classification, or pattern; unusual: He held an anomalous position in the art world.
3. incongruous or inconsistent.
4. Grammar. irregular.
Origin:
1640–50; (< ML, LL anōmalus) < Gk anmalos irregular, equiv. to an- an- 1 + homalós even, with ō by analogy with other Gk privatives (cf. anopheles ); see homo-, -ous

Related forms:
a⋅nom⋅a⋅lous⋅ly, adverb
a⋅nom⋅a⋅lous⋅ness, noun

BARQUE: "A sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts"

2009-07-21T15:38:00.001-07:00

SEDULOUS - "diligent; careful; industrious; persistent"

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Word of the Day
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
sedulous
\SEJ-uh-luhs\ , adjective:

1.Diligent in application or pursuit; steadily industrious.

2.Characterized by or accomplished with care and perseverance.

Quotes:
He did not attain this distinction by accident but by sedulous study from the cradle forward.
-- Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Al Gore: A User's Manual

This writing is clearly the product of sedulous art, but it has the flame of spontaneity and the grit of independence both as to mode and spirit.
-- "The Wonder and Wackiness of Man", New York Times, January 17, 1954
And so he reminded the legion that, even though his veneration of his country's flag may not have inhibited sedulous avoidance of the inconveniences of serving under it, he is a patriot so wholehearted that he signed the Arkansas law that forbids flag-burning.
-- Murray Kempton, "Signs of Defeat In the Wind", Newsday, August 30, 1992
Origin:
Sedulous is from Latin sedulus, "busy, diligent," from se-, "apart, without" + dolus, "guile, trickery."

ASSIDUOUS - "Constant; persistent; industrious"

2009-07-21T07:37:00.001-07:00

Constant

Persistant

Industrious

From from the Indo-European root sed- (to sit) that is also the source of sit, chair, saddle, assess

assiduous

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-SIJ-oo-uhs)adjective: Constant; persistent; industrious.

ETYMOLOGY:OU

From Latin assiduus, from assidere (to attend to, to sit down to), from ad- (toward) + sedere (to sit). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sed- (to sit) that is also the source of sit, chair, saddle, assess, sediment, soot, cathedral, and tetrahedron.

USAGE:

"The reason for his presence there [a Donald Duck statue in a temple garden] remains a mystery despite the author's most assiduous inquiries."
Jeff Kingston; Chiang Mai: Thailand's beguiling Rose of the North; The Japan Times (Tokyo); Jun 28, 2009.

"The earth belongs in USUFRUCT to the living" ~ Thomas Jefferson

2009-07-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Word for the Day

July 12, 2009

is

usufruct • \YOO-zuh-frukt\ • noun

*1 : the legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits of something belonging to another

2 : the right to use or enjoy something

Example Sentence:

Dorothy's will bequeathed one-third of her estate to her husband; the remaining two-thirds was bequeathed to him as a lifetime usufruct, later to be donated to charity.

Did you know?

Thomas Jefferson said, "The earth belongs in usufruct to the living." He apparently understood that when you hold something in usufruct, you gain something of significant value, but only temporarily. The gains granted by usufruct can be clearly seen in the Latin phrase from which the word developed, "usus et fructus," which means "use and enjoyment." Latin speakers condensed that phrase to "ususfructus," the term English speakers used as the model for our modern word. "Usufruct" has been used as a noun for the legal right to use something since at least the 1630s. Any right granted by usufruct ends at a specific point, usually the death of the individual who holds it.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

TYRO: "novice; greenhorn; rank amateur"

2009-07-12T11:27:00.001-07:00

Tyro - a beginner in learning something; a novice; newbie
From Latin Tiro - recruit
Medieval Latin = Tyro - squire

LUCULLAN = "marked by lavishness and richness; sumptuous"

2009-07-12T11:03:00.001-07:00

lucullan (loo-KUHL-uhn) adjective

Lavish, luxurious.

[After a Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 110-57 BCE), who was

known for his sumptuous banquets.]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Mr. Buzzi's tastes run the gamut from the simplest to the most Lucullan."

Aram Bakshian Jr.; Gastronomy; The Wall Street Journal (New York);

Sep 24, 2005.

INEFFABLE - "incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable; not to be uttered; taboo"

2009-07-12T10:25:00.001-07:00

mysterious

taboo

Word of the Day for Sunday, July 12, 2009

ineffable \in-EF-uh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable; unutterable; indescribable.
2. Not to be uttered; taboo.

. . .the tension inherent in human language when it attempts to relate the ineffable, see the invisible, understand the incomprehensible.
-- Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Heaven

Pope John Paul II notes that people are drawn to religion to answer the really big questions--for example, "What is the ultimate ineffable mystery which is the origin and destiny of our existence?"
-- William A. Sherden, The Fortune Sellers

One cannot blame them very much; explaining the ineffable is difficult.
-- Edward O. Wilson, "The Biological Basis of Morality", The Atlantic, April 1998

Ineffable is from Latin ineffabilis, from in-, "not" + effabilis, "utterable," from effari, "to utter," from ex-, "out" + fari, "to speak."

TORTUOUS - "highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious"

2009-07-12T09:54:00.001-07:00

From The Free Dictionary

Adj.	1.	tortuous - highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious; "the Byzantine tax structure"; "Byzantine methods for holding on to his chairmanship"; "convoluted legal language"; "convoluted reasoning"; "the plot was too involved"; "a knotty problem"; "got his way by labyrinthine maneuvering"; "Oh, what a tangled web we weave"- Sir Walter Scott; "tortuous legal procedures"; "tortuous negotiations lasting for months" convoluted, tangled, Byzantine, knotty, involved complex - complicated in structure; consisting of interconnected parts; "a complex set of variations based on a simple folk melody"; "a complex mass of diverse laws and customs"
	2.	tortuous - marked by repeated turns and bends; "a tortuous road up the mountain"; "winding roads are full of surprises"; "had to steer the car down a twisty track" twisting, twisty, winding, voluminous crooked - having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
	3.	tortuous - not straightforward; "his tortuous reasoning" indirect - extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action; "making indirect but legitimate inquiries"; "an indirect insult"; "doubtless they had some indirect purpose in mind"; "though his methods are indirect they are not dishonest"; "known as a shady indirect fellow"

DEFENESTRATION- "the act of throwing a thing or esp. a person out of a window"

2009-07-06T11:14:00.001-07:00

From

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

defenestrate

PRONUNCIATION:

(dee-FEN-uh-strayt)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To throw someone or something out of a window.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin de- (out of) + fenestra (window).

NOTES:

There have been many defenestrations over the course of history, but the most famous, and the one that inspired the word defenestration, was the Defenestration of Prague on May 23, 1618 . Two imperial regents and their secretary were thrown out of a window of the Prague Castle in a fight over religion. The men landed on a dung heap and survived. The Defenestration of Prague was a prelude to the Thirty Years' War.
See a Lego sculpture of the Defenestration of Prague. Also, check out the defenestration of various articles of furniture in this unique San Francisco sculpture.

USAGE:

"When someone in a Joe Lansdale novel is defenestrated, you feel like shaking the glass shards out of your lap."
Jeff Salamon; The Further Adventures of Hap and Leonard; The Austin American-Statesman (Texas); Jul 4, 2009 .

http://www.metaphorm.org/pages/portfolio/defenestration/defen.html

This word is a Merrium-Webster top 10 favorite.

POTENTATE: "One who possesses great power or sway; a ruler, sovereign, or monarch"

2008-06-07T12:54:00.001-07:00

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/potentate

potentate \POH-tuhn-tayt\, noun:
One who possesses great power or sway; a ruler, sovereign, or monarch.

The shah of Persia, although he had to acknowledge that the sultan was a worthy rival, still considered himself a mighty potentate, as did the sultan himself.
-- Olivier Bernier, The World in 1800

How can he run the operation, an industry potentate wonders, "when the operations people don't report to him?"
-- "Michael Mouse", Time, August 28, 1995

After the capture of Tunis, the Emperor passed through Paris with the consent of his brother-in-law, King Francis, who wanted to present him with something worthy of so great a potentate.
-- Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography

Potentate derives from Late Latin potentatus, "a powerful person," from Latin potentatus, "power, especially political power; supremacy," from potens, "able, powerful," from posse, "to be able." It is related to potent, "powerful," and potential, "having possibility or capability."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for potentate

NIMIETY: "excess, redundancy"

2008-06-07T12:44:00.001-07:00

Merriam-Webster Online

The Word of the Day for June 07, 2008 is:
nimiety • \nih-MYE-uh-tee\ • noun

: excess, redundancy

Example Sentence:
"To avoid receiving a nimiety of kitchenware," advised the bridal guide, "be sure to register for a wide range of gifts for your guests to choose from."
Did you know?
There's no scarcity of English words used for too much of a good thing -- words like "overkill," "plethora," "superfluity," "surfeit," "surplus," and "preponderance," to name a few. In fact, you might just feel that "nimiety" itself is a bit superfluous. And it's true -- we've never used the word excessively, though it has been part of our language for nearly 450 years. (We borrowed it from Late Latin "nimietas," a noun taken, in turn, from the Latin adjective "nimius," meaning "excessive.") Superfluous or not, "nimiety" still turns up occasionally. For example, in his 1991 book Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction, about "the habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire and consume books in excess," author Tom Raabe blames one bookstore's "nimiety of overstuffed chairs" for exacerbating this condition.

HORS D'OEUVRES: literally "outside the main work" ... appetizers

2008-06-03T00:17:00.001-07:00

The Straight Dope Mailbag: What's the origin of "hors d'oeuvres"?

Quoting William and Mary Morris' Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins: The French phrase hors d'oeuvres literally means "outside the works." Originally it was an architectural term referring to an outbuilding not incorporated into the architect's main design. The phrase was borrowed by France's culinary experts to indicate appetizers customarily served apart from the main course of a dinner. Thus hors d'oeuvres are, quite literally, outside the main design of the meal. Vraiment, c'est simple, n'est-ce-pas?

HORS DE COMBAT: "out of combat: disabled"

2008-06-03T00:13:00.001-07:00

Merriam-Webster Online

The Word of the Day for June 02, 2008 is:
hors de combat • \or-duh-kohng-BAH (the "ng" is not pronounced, but the preceding vowel is nasalized)\ • adjective or adverb

: out of combat : disabled

Example Sentence:
With their best pitcher hors de combat with a shoulder injury, the team faced a bleak season.
Did you know?
We picked up "hors de combat" directly from French back in the mid-18th century. Benjamin Franklin put the term to use in a 1776 letter, observing that an "arrow sticking in any part of a man puts him hors du [sic] combat till it is extracted." But you don't have to use the word as literally as Franklin did. "Combat" can refer to any fight or contest, not just fighting in a war. A politician who's out of the running in a political race could be declared "hors de combat," for example. But the adjective (or adverb) need not refer only to humans or animals: if you own a car, chances are your vehicle has been hors de combat at least once.

GARRULOUS: "wordy; pointlessly talkative"

2008-05-31T00:58:00.001-07:00

Merriam-Webster Online

The Word of the Day for May 30, 2008 is:
garrulous • \GAIR-uh-lus\ • adjective

1 : pointlessly or annoyingly talkative

*2 : wordy

Example Sentence:
With a few judicious revisions, a good editor can often transform garrulous writing into elegant prose.
Did you know?
English has many adjectives that share the meaning "given to talk" or "talking." "Talkative" may imply a readiness to talk or a disposition to enjoy conversation, while "loquacious" suggests the power of expressing oneself articulately, fluently, or glibly. "Voluble" suggests a free, easy, and unending talkativeness, and "garrulous" implies talkativeness that is dull, rambling, or tedious. "Garrulous," by the way, derives from the Latin verb "garrire," which means (no surprise here) "to chatter" or "to babble."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

ETIOLATE: "to make feeble; to deprive of natural vigor"

2008-05-27T09:40:00.001-07:00

Merriam-Webster Online

The Word of the Day for May 27, 2008 is:
etiolate • \EE-tee-uh-layt\ • verb

*1 : to bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight

2 a : to make pale
b : to deprive of natural vigor : make feeble

Example Sentence:
The bean plants that Grace grew for her lab project became weak and etiolated when they were kept in a dark closet for a week.
Did you know?
When we first started using "etiolate" in the late 1700s (borrowed from the French verb "étioler"), it was in reference to purposely depriving growing celery of light. The word traces back to an Old French word for "straw" and is related to the Latin word for "straw" or "stalk," which is "stipula." Nowadays the term for growing veggies as pale as straw is now more likely to be "blanch," which can mean "to bleach (the leaves or stalks of plants) by earthing, boarding, or wrapping," among other things. "Etiolate" is more apt to refer to depriving plants in general of light; when "etiolated," they are sickly, pale, and spindly. The figurative sense of "etiolate" ("to make pallid or feeble") first appeared in the 1800s as a natural outgrowth of the original sense.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

BOULEVARDIER: "A visitor of a city boulevard (especially in Paris)"

2008-05-21T23:43:00.001-07:00

Sideshow, originally uploaded by serakatie.

BOULEVARDIER: "a frequenter of city boulevards, especially in Paris"

2008-05-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 21, 2008

boulevardier \boo-luh-var-DYAY; bul-uh-\, noun:

1. A frequenter of city boulevards, especially in Paris.

2. A sophisticated, worldly, and socially active man; a man who frequents fashionable places; a man-about-town.

Oswald, whose idea of excitement is breakfasting with a penguin, is a boulevardier: Hat cocked precariously on his head, he saunters out into the sunny city.
-- Tom Gliatto, "Tube", People, July 22, 2002

Bratton had been running about town, having his picture
taken in trendy restaurants, seeking and getting headlines -- a regular
gay boulevardier from the Roaring Twenties.
-- Sydney H. Schanberg, "Cops' D.C. Spree Calls for Outside Watchdog", Newsday, May 30, 1995

The "Night Mayor of New York" was, Mitgang writes, "a hometown boy, part Kilkenny sentimentalist, part Greenwich Village boulevardier."
-- David Walton, "Go Fight City Hall", New York Times, January 9, 2000

Boulevardier is from French, from boulevard, from Old French bollevart, "rampart converted to a promenade," from Middle Low German bolwerk, "bulwark."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for boulevardier

LATITUDINARIAN: "Having or expressing broad and tolerant views, especially in religious matters"

2008-05-20T09:31:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 17, 2008

latitudinarian \lat-uh-too-din-AIR-ee-un; -tyoo-\, adjective:

1. Having or expressing broad and tolerant views, especially in religious matters.

2. A person who is broad-minded and tolerant; one who displays freedom in thinking, especially in religious matters.

3. [Often capitalized] A member of the Church of England, in the
time of Charles II, who adopted more liberal notions in respect to the
authority, government, and doctrines of the church than generally
prevailed.

More was nothing like his supposed example, the gently latitudinarian
Cicero, for instance: Cicero's philosophical and religious dialogues
(as opposed to his legal and political speeches, of course) often read
as if he delighted in being contradicted, while More's are spittingly
conclusive.
-- Caleb Crain, American Sympathy

. . .the optimism preached in England by latitudinarians trying to soften the Puritan concepts of an inscrutable, cruel God and an abject, fallen humanity.
-- James Wood, The Broken Estate

Latitudinarian comes from Latin latitudo, latitudin-, "latitude" (from latus, "broad, wide") + the suffix -arian.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for latitudinarian

POTEMKIN VILLAGE: "An impressive facade or display that hides an undesirable fact or state"

2008-05-20T09:27:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Potemkin village \puh-TEM(P)-kin\, noun:

An impressive facade or display that hides an undesirable fact or state; a false front.

When will the West have the guts to call Russia what it really is: a semi-totalitarian state with Potemkin village-style democratic institutions and a fascist-capitalist economy?
-- "Western Investors Defend a Potemkin Village", Moscow Times, January 9, 2004

It's a lie, a huge Potemkin village designed to give North Korea the appearance of modernity.
-- Kevin Sullivan, "Borderline Absurdity", Washington Post, January 11, 1998

Unless U.S. imperial overstretch is acknowledged and corrected, the United States may someday soon find that it has become a Potemkin village superpower -- with a facade of military strength concealing a core of economic weakness.
-- Christopher Layne, "Why the Gulf War Was Not in the National Interest", The Atlantic, July 1991

The "evil empire" had been a mighty facade at least since Kruschev, a termite-infested Potemkin village congenitally incapable of regeneration.
-- Frank Pellegrini, "Reagan At 90: Still A Repository For Our American Dreams", Time, February 6, 2001

A Potemkin village is so called after Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin,
who had elaborate fake villages built in order to impress Catherine the
Great on her tours of the Ukraine and the Crimea in the 18th century.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for Potemkin village

UMBRAGE: "shady branches : foliage"

2008-05-13T10:02:00.001-07:00

Umbrage, originally uploaded by KiwiNessie.

UMBRAGE: derived from Latin, Umbra "shade"

2008-05-13T09:36:00.001-07:00

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/umbrage

Word of the Day Archive
Friday May 7, 1999

Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Previous Words | Subscribe for Free | Help

umbrage \UHM-brij\, noun:
1. Shade; shadow; hence, something that affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage.
2. a. A vague or indistinct indication or suggestion; a hint.
3. b. Reason for doubt; suspicion.
4. Suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment.

Burr finally took umbrage, and challenged him to a duel.
-- Richard A. Samuelson, "Alexander Hamilton: American", Commentary, June 1999

In almost all the walks of his life, he appears to have been both astoundingly rude and genuinely astonished that anyone should take umbrage.
-- Robert Winder, "A dying game", New Statesman, June 19, 2000

He had a devastating smile, which could wipe away the slightest umbrage.
-- Alec Guinness, A Positively Final Appearance

The river tumbling green and white, far below me; the dark high banks, the plentiful umbrage, many bronze cedars, in shadow; and tempering and arching all the immense materiality, a clear sky overhead, with a few white clouds, limpid, spiritual, silent.
-- Walt Whitman, Specimen Days & Collect

Umbrage is derived from Latin umbra, "shade."

PANTAGRUELIAN: "Enormous; displaying extravagant and coarse humor"

2008-05-11T23:41:00.001-07:00

A.Word.A.Day -- pantagruelian

A.Word.A.Day--pantagruelian
Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: eponyms.

pantagruelian (pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn) adjective

1. Enormous.

2. Displaying extravagant and coarse humor.

[After Pantagruel, a giant king with an enormous appetite, the son of Gargantua, depicted in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"[Ilan Ros's] jowls are scarlet, and he's wearing a loose apron over his Pantagruelian belly. He begins by gobbling up three slices of cold meat in quick succession and then wipes his mouth on a paper napkin." Yasmina Khadra (pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul); The Attack (translated by John Cullen); Doubleday; 2006.

X-Bonus
The louder he talks of honour, the faster we count our spoons. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Odium: "the state or fact of being subjected to hatred and contempt as a result of a despicable act or blameworthy circumstance"

2008-05-11T14:58:00.001-07:00

mental_floss Vocab Rehab » odium (n.)

February 7, 2008
odium
(n.)

the state or fact of being subjected to hatred and contempt as a result of a despicable act or blameworthy circumstance

Pronunciation:
OH-dee-um

In a sentence:
The odium resulting from his plagiarism of a well-known Shakespearean sonnet was too much for Dr. Leonard to bear—he drank a glass of poison lemonade, sat behind his mahogany desk, and waited.

In a different sentence:
Mrs. Bancroft had anticipated the odium to come while bombing the mailboxes of her son’s more intelligent classmates around report card time. But it had to be done.

MOIETY: "One of two (approximately) equal parts"

2008-05-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

Half Past Pie, originally uploaded by rickumali.

MOIETY: "a portion, or half"

2008-05-10T22:52:00.001-07:00

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/moiety

Word of the Day Archive
Thursday May 8, 2008

moiety \MOY-uh-tee\, noun:
1. One of two equal parts; a half.
2. An indefinite part; a small portion or share.
3. One of two basic tribal subdivisions.

Tom divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite, while Tom nibbled at his moiety.
-- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Cut off from news at home, fearful of a blood bath, anxious to salvage a moiety of the reform program, the Prague leadership accepted Moscow's diktat.
-- Karl E. Meyer, "Pangloss in Prague", New York Times, June 27, 1993

Barunga society is sharply divided into two complementary, descent-based branches (a structure anthropologists call "moiety"), which permeate relationships, spirituality, and many other aspects of life.
-- Claire Smith, "Art of The Dreaming", Discovering Archaeology, March/April 2000

Moiety comes from Old French meitiet, from Late Latin medietas, from Latin medius, "middle."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for moiety

ETHEREAL: Imagine her dismay, on stealing a glance of timid admiration at the poet whose lines suggested an ethereal being fed on `spirit, fire, and d

2008-05-10T08:51:00.001-07:00

Search literature by keyword - Free Online Library

Search results for ethereal

Go to page
The Scarlet Letter
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

It kept him down on a level with the lowest; him, the man of etherealattributes, whose voice the angels might else have listened to and answered

Go to page
Mosses From An Old Manse and other stories
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

"How
strange it is," whispered Owen Warland to himself, leaning his head
upon his hand, "that all my musings, my purposes, my passion for the
beautiful, my consciousness of power to create it,--a finer, more ethereal
power, of which this earthly giant can have no conception,--all, all,
look so vain and idle whenever my path is crossed by Robert Danforth

Go to page
Moon and Sixpence
by Maugham, W. Somerset

It may be that among them a more fervid Keats, a more ethereal Shelley, has already published numbers the world will willingly remember.

Go to page
Moby Dick I-LXVII
by Melville, Herman

If,
then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall
hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic
graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among
them all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall
touch that workman's arm with some ethereal
light; if I shall spread a rainbow over his disastrous set of sun; then
against all mortal critics bear me out in it, thou just spirit of
equality, which hast spread one royal mantle of humanity over all my
kind

Go to page
A Lute of Jade
by Cranmer-Byng, L.

I revel in flowers without let, An atom at random in space; My soul dwells in regions ethereal, And the world is my dreaming-place.

Go to page
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
by Burroughs, Edgar Rice

I believe, in fact I know, that there are some truly ethereal creatures.

Go to page
The Sea Wolf
by London, Jack

She was a delicate, ethereal creature, swaying and willowy, light and graceful of movement.

Go to page
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman
by Hardy, Thomas

It lacked the intensely blue atmosphere of the rival vale, and its heavy soils and scents; the new air was clear, bracing, ethereal.

Go to page
Paradise Lost
by Milton, John

Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal
Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition,
there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, Who durst defie th'
Omnipotent to Arms.

Go to page
Burning Daylight
by London, Jack

In
the light of the tragic event, he could understand everything--her
quietness, that calm certitude as if all vexing questions of living had
been smoothed out and were gone, and that certain ethereal sweetness about all that she had said and done that had been almost maternal.

Go to page
Anne's House of Dreams
by Montgomery, Lucy Maud

asked Diana, cuddling Small Anne Cordelia with the inimitable gesture
of motherhood which always sent through Anne's heart, filled with
sweet, unuttered dreams and hopes, a thrill that was half pure pleasure
and half a strange, ethereal pain.

Go to page
Don Quixote
by Cervantes, Miguel

All
these and a variety of other great exploits are, were and will be, the
work of fame that mortals desire as a reward and a portion of the
immortality their famous deeds deserve; though we Catholic Christians
and knights-errant look more to that future glory that is everlasting
in the ethereal regions of heaven than to the
vanity of the fame that is to be acquired in this present transitory
life; a fame that, however long it may last, must after all end with
the world itself, which has its own appointed end.

Go to page
The Red Badge of Courage
by Crane, Stephen

This bit of forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the result of some frightful debauch.

Go to page
Tanglewood Tales
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

It
looks, and is, as evanescent as a dream; and yet, in its rustic network
of boughs, it has somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has
become a true emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it.

Go to page
Poems
by Poe, Edgar Allan

There are, nevertheless, three or four female heads, of an ethereal beauty-portraits in the manner of Sully.

Go to page
The Red One
by London, Jack

Unlike the Diana type of Polynesian, she was almost ethereal.

Go to page
A History of English Literature
by Fletcher, Robert Huntington

His
first impulse was an unselfish love for his fellow-men, with an
aggressive eagerness for martyrdom in their behalf; his nature was
unusually, even abnormally, fine and sensitive; and his poetic quality
was a delicate and ethereal lyricism unsurpassed in the literature of the world.

Go to page
Anne of The Island
by Montgomery, Lucy Maud

The
sea was roaring hollowly in the distance, the fields were bare and
sere, scarfed with golden rod, the brook valley below Green Gables
overflowed with asters of ethereal purple, and
the Lake of Shining Waters was blue -- blue -- blue; not the changeful
blue of spring, nor the pale azure of summer, but a clear, steadfast,
serene blue, as if the water were past all moods and tenses of emotion
and had settled down to a tranquility unbroken by fickle dreams.

Go to page
Martin Eden
by London, Jack

Her
idea of love was more that of placid affection, serving the loved one
softly in an atmosphere, flower-scented and dim-lighted, of ethereal calm.

Go to page
Anne Of Green Gables
by Montgomery, Lucy Maud

Afar in the southwest was the great shimmering, pearl-like sparkle of an evening star in a sky that was pale golden and ethereal rose over gleaming white spaces and dark glens of spruce.

Go to page
Little Dorrit
by Dickens, Charles

Still, her youthful and ethereal
appearance, her timid manner, the charm of her sensitive voice and
eyes, the very many respects in which she had interested him out of her
own individuality, and the strong difference between herself and those
about her, were not in unison, and were determined not to be in unison,
with this newly presented idea.

Go to page
Our Mutual Friend
by Dickens, Charles

At
least, Bella no sooner stepped ashore than she took Mr John Rokesmith's
arm, without evincing surprise, and the two walked away together with
an ethereal air of happiness which, as it were, wafted up from the earth and drew after them a gruff and glum old pensioner to see it out.

Go to page
The Arrow of Gold
by Conrad, Joseph

At this he made a faint, almost ethereal grimace.

Go to page
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
by Jerome, Jerome K.

He can never stretch out his legs, put his hands behind his head, and, closing his eyes, sink into the ethereal blissfulness that encompasses the well-dined man.

Go to page
Little Women
by Alcott, Louisa May

Imagine her dismay, on stealing a glance of timid admiration at the poet whose lines suggested an ethereal
being fed on `spirit, fire, and dew', to behold him devouring his
supper with an ardor which flushed his intellectual countenance.

Go to page
House Of Seven Gables
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

When a lady, in a delicate and costly summer garb, with a floating veil and gracefully swaying gown, and, altogether, an ethereal
lightness that made you look at her beautifully slippered feet, to see
whether she trod on the dust or floated in the air,--when such a vision
happened to pass through this retired street, leaving it tenderly and
delusively fragrant with her passage, as if a bouquet of tea-roses had
been borne along, --then again, it is to be feared, old Hepzibah's
scowl could no longer vindicate itself entirely on the plea of
near-sightedness.

Go to page The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, Nathaniel It kept him down on a level with the lowest; him, the man of etherealattributes, whose voice the angels might else have listened to and answered
Go to page Mosses From An Old Manse and other stories by Hawthorne, Nathaniel "How strange it is," whispered Owen Warland to himself, leaning his head upon his hand, "that all my musings, my purposes, my passion for the beautiful, my consciousness of power to create it,--a finer, more ethereal power, of which this earthly giant can have no conception,--all, all, look so vain and idle whenever my path is crossed by Robert Danforth
Go to page Moon and Sixpence by Maugham, W. Somerset It may be that among them a more fervid Keats, a more ethereal Shelley, has already published numbers the world will willingly remember.
Go to page Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among them all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall touch that workman's arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a rainbow over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics bear me out in it, thou just spirit of equality, which hast spread one royal mantle of humanity over all my kind
Go to page A Lute of Jade by Cranmer-Byng, L. I revel in flowers without let, An atom at random in space; My soul dwells in regions ethereal, And the world is my dreaming-place.
Go to page Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Burroughs, Edgar Rice I believe, in fact I know, that there are some truly ethereal creatures.
Go to page The Sea Wolf by London, Jack She was a delicate, ethereal creature, swaying and willowy, light and graceful of movement.
Go to page Tess of the d'Urbervilles - A Pure Woman by Hardy, Thomas It lacked the intensely blue atmosphere of the rival vale, and its heavy soils and scents; the new air was clear, bracing, ethereal.
Go to page Paradise Lost by Milton, John Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.
Go to page Burning Daylight by London, Jack In the light of the tragic event, he could understand everything--her quietness, that calm certitude as if all vexing questions of living had been smoothed out and were gone, and that certain ethereal sweetness about all that she had said and done that had been almost maternal.
Go to page Anne's House of Dreams by Montgomery, Lucy Maud asked Diana, cuddling Small Anne Cordelia with the inimitable gesture of motherhood which always sent through Anne's heart, filled with sweet, unuttered dreams and hopes, a thrill that was half pure pleasure and half a strange, ethereal pain.
Go to page Don Quixote by Cervantes, Miguel All these and a variety of other great exploits are, were and will be, the work of fame that mortals desire as a reward and a portion of the immortality their famous deeds deserve; though we Catholic Christians and knights-errant look more to that future glory that is everlasting in the ethereal regions of heaven than to the vanity of the fame that is to be acquired in this present transitory life; a fame that, however long it may last, must after all end with the world itself, which has its own appointed end.
Go to page The Red Badge of Courage by Crane, Stephen This bit of forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the result of some frightful debauch.
Go to page Tanglewood Tales by Hawthorne, Nathaniel It looks, and is, as evanescent as a dream; and yet, in its rustic network of boughs, it has somehow enclosed a hint of spiritual beauty, and has become a true emblem of the subtile and ethereal mind that planned it.
Go to page Poems by Poe, Edgar Allan There are, nevertheless, three or four female heads, of an ethereal beauty-portraits in the manner of Sully.
Go to page The Red One by London, Jack Unlike the Diana type of Polynesian, she was almost ethereal.
Go to page A History of English Literature by Fletcher, Robert Huntington His first impulse was an unselfish love for his fellow-men, with an aggressive eagerness for martyrdom in their behalf; his nature was unusually, even abnormally, fine and sensitive; and his poetic quality was a delicate and ethereal lyricism unsurpassed in the literature of the world.
Go to page Anne of The Island by Montgomery, Lucy Maud The sea was roaring hollowly in the distance, the fields were bare and sere, scarfed with golden rod, the brook valley below Green Gables overflowed with asters of ethereal purple, and the Lake of Shining Waters was blue -- blue -- blue; not the changeful blue of spring, nor the pale azure of summer, but a clear, steadfast, serene blue, as if the water were past all moods and tenses of emotion and had settled down to a tranquility unbroken by fickle dreams.
Go to page Martin Eden by London, Jack Her idea of love was more that of placid affection, serving the loved one softly in an atmosphere, flower-scented and dim-lighted, of ethereal calm.
Go to page Anne Of Green Gables by Montgomery, Lucy Maud Afar in the southwest was the great shimmering, pearl-like sparkle of an evening star in a sky that was pale golden and ethereal rose over gleaming white spaces and dark glens of spruce.
Go to page Little Dorrit by Dickens, Charles Still, her youthful and ethereal appearance, her timid manner, the charm of her sensitive voice and eyes, the very many respects in which she had interested him out of her own individuality, and the strong difference between herself and those about her, were not in unison, and were determined not to be in unison, with this newly presented idea.
Go to page Our Mutual Friend by Dickens, Charles At least, Bella no sooner stepped ashore than she took Mr John Rokesmith's arm, without evincing surprise, and the two walked away together with an ethereal air of happiness which, as it were, wafted up from the earth and drew after them a gruff and glum old pensioner to see it out.
Go to page The Arrow of Gold by Conrad, Joseph At this he made a faint, almost ethereal grimace.
Go to page Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome, Jerome K. He can never stretch out his legs, put his hands behind his head, and, closing his eyes, sink into the ethereal blissfulness that encompasses the well-dined man.
Go to page Little Women by Alcott, Louisa May Imagine her dismay, on stealing a glance of timid admiration at the poet whose lines suggested an ethereal being fed on `spirit, fire, and dew', to behold him devouring his supper with an ardor which flushed his intellectual countenance.
Go to page House Of Seven Gables by Hawthorne, Nathaniel When a lady, in a delicate and costly summer garb, with a floating veil and gracefully swaying gown, and, altogether, an ethereal lightness that made you look at her beautifully slippered feet, to see whether she trod on the dust or floated in the air,--when such a vision happened to pass through this retired street, leaving it tenderly and delusively fragrant with her passage, as if a bouquet of tea-roses had been borne along, --then again, it is to be feared, old Hepzibah's scowl could no longer vindicate itself entirely on the plea of near-sightedness.

INCHOATE: "imperfectly formed; partly there"

2008-05-10T05:19:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day Archive Tuesday May 14, 2002

inchoate \in-KOH-it\, adjective: 1. In an initial or early stage; just begun. 2. Imperfectly formed or formulated.

Mildred Spock believed that, at about the age of three, her children's inchoate wills were to be shaped like vines sprouting up a beanpole. -- Thomas Maier, Dr. Spock: An American Life

She also had a vision, not yet articulated, an inchoate sense of some special calling that awaited her. -- Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature

You take on a project because of the feeling, perhaps inchoate, that it may in some way contribute to your deeper understanding of the larger-scale research program you have chosen as your life's work. -- Christopher Scholz, Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari

Inchoate comes from the past participle of Latin inchoare, alteration of incohare, "to begin."

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/inchoate

inchoate.jpg (JPEG Image, 449x324 pixels)

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ABATE to ZEALOT

2008-05-10T04:59:00.000-07:00

Abate . subside , or moderate
Aberrant . abnormal, or deviant
Abeyance . suspended action
Abscond . depart secretly and hide
Abstemious . sparing in eating and drinking; temperate
Admonish . warn; reprove
Adulterate . make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances
Aesthetic . artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful
Aggregate . gather; accumulate
Alacrity . cheerful promptness; eagerness
Alleviate . relieve
Amalgamate . combine; unite in one body
Ambiguous . unclear or doubtful in meaning
Ambivalence . the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes
Ameliorate . improve
Anachronism . something or someone misplaced in time
Analogous . comparable
Anarchy . absence of governing body; state of disorder
Anomalous . abnormal; irregular
Antipathy . aversion; dislike
Apathy . lack of caring; indifference
Appease . pacify or soothe; relieve
Apprise . inform
Approbation . approval
Appropriate . v. acquire; take possession of for one’s own use
Arduous . hard; strenuous
Artless . without guile; open and honest
Ascetic . practicing self-denial; austere
Assiduous . diligent
Assuage . v. ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)
Attenuate . make thinner
Audacious . daring; bold
Austere . forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented
Autonomous . self-governing; independent
Aver . assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact

Banal . hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality
Belie . contradict; give a false impression
Beneficent . kindly; doing good
Bolster . support; reinforce
Bombastic . pompous; using inflated language
Boorish . rude; insensitive
Burgeon . grow forth; send out buds
Burnish . make shiny by rubbing; polish
Buttress . v. support; prop up

Capricious . unpredictable; fickle
Castigation . punishment; severe criticism
Catalyst . agent that increases the pace of a chemical action
Caustic . burning; sarcastically biting
Chicanery . trickery; deception
Coagulate . thicken; congeal; clot
Coda . concluding section of a musical or literary composition; summarizes or concludes
Cogent . convincing
Commensurate . adj. corresponding in extent, degree, etc.; proportionate
Compendium . brief, comprehensive summary
Complaisant . trying to please; overly polite; obliging
Compliant . yielding; conforming to requirements
Conciliatory . reconciling; soothing
Condone . overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse
Confound . confuse; puzzle
Connoisseur . person competent to act as a judge of art; a lover of art
Contention . claim; thesis
Contentious . quarrelsome
Contrite . penitent
Conundrum . riddle; difficult problem
Converge . approach; tend to meet; come together
Convoluted . coiled around; involved; intricate
Craven . cowardly

Daunt . intimidate; frighten
Decorum . propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners
Default . failure to act
Deference . courteous regard for another’s wishes
Delineate . portray; depict; sketch
Denigrate . blacken
Deride . ridicule; make fun of
Derivative . unoriginal; obtained from another source
Desiccate . dry up
Desultory . aimless; haphazard; digressing at random
Deterrent Something that discourages; hindrance
Diatribe . n. bitter scolding; invective
Dichotomy . split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones)
Diffidence . Shyness
Diffuse . adj. wordy, rambling, spread out (like a gas)
Digression . Wandering away from the subject
Dirge . Lament with music
Disabuse . correct a false impression; undeceive
Discerning . mentally quick and observant; having insight
Discordant . not harmonious; conflicting
Discredit . defame; destroy confidence in; disbelieve
Discrepancy . lack of consistency; difference
Discrete . adj. separate; unconnected; consisting of distinct parts
Disingenuous . lacking genuine candor; insincere
Disinterested . unprejudiced
Disjointed . lacking coherence; separated at the joints
Dismiss . eliminate from consideration; reject
Disparage . belittle
Disparate . adj. basically different; unrelated
Dissemble . v. disguise; pretend
Disseminate . distribute; spread; scatter (like seeds)
Dissolution . disintegration; looseness in morals
Dissonance . discord; opposite of harmony
Distend . expand; swell out
Distill . purify; refine; concentrate
Diverge . vary; go in different directions from the same point
Divest . strip; deprive
Document . provide written evidence
Dogmatic . opinionated; arbitrary; doctrinal
Dormant . sleeping; lethargic; latent
Dupe . someone easily fooled

Ebullient . showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm
Eclectic . selective; composed of elements drawn from disparate sources
Efficacy . power to produce desired effect
Effrontery . impudence; shameless boldness; sheer nerve; presumptuousness
Elegy . poem or song expressing lamentation
Elicit . draw out by discussion
Embellish . adorn; ornament; enhance, as a story
Empirical . based on experience
Emulate . imitate; rival
Endemic . prevailing among a specific group of people or in a specific area or country
Enervate . weaken
Engender . cause; produce
Enhance . increase; improve
Ephemeral . short-lived; fleeting
Equanimity . calmness of temperament; composure
Equivocate . lie; mislead; attempt to conceal the truth
Erudite . learned; scholarly
Esoteric . hard to understand; known only to the chosen few
Eulogy . expression of praise, often on the occasion of someone’s death
Euphemism . mild expression in place of an unpleasant one
Exacerbate . worsen; embitter
Exculpate . clear from blame
Exigency . urgent situation; pressing needs or demands; state of requiring immediate attention
Extrapolation . projection; conjecture

Facetious . joking (often inappropriately); humorous
Facilitate . help bring about; make less difficult
Fallacious . false; misleading
Fatuous . brainless; inane; foolish, yet smug
Fawning . trying to please by behaving obsequiously, flattering, or cringing
Felicitous . apt; suitably expressed; well chosen
Fervor . glowing ardor; intensity of feeling
Flag . droop; grow feeble
Fledgling . inexperienced
Flout . reject; mock; show contempt for
Foment . stir up; instigate
Forestall . prevent by taking action in advance
Frugality . thrift; economy
Futile . useless; hopeless; ineffectual

Gainsay . deny
Garrulous . loquacious; talkative; wordy
Goad . urge on
Gouge . overcharge
Grandiloquent . pompous; bombastic; using high-sounding language
Gregarious . sociable
Guileless . without deceit
Gullible . easily deceived

Harangue . long, passionate, and vehement speech
Homogeneous . of the same kind
Hyperbole . exaggeration; overstatement

Iconoclastic . attacking cherished traditions
Idolatry . worship of idols; excessive admiration
Immutable . unchangeable
Impair . injure; hurt
Impassive . without feeling; imperturbable; stoical
Impede . hinder; block
Impermeable . impervious; not permitting passage through its substance
Imperturbable . calm; placid
Impervious . impenetrable; incapable of being damaged or distressed
Implacable . incapable of being pacified
Implicit . understood but not stated
Implode . burst inward
Inadvertently . unintentionally; by oversight; carelessly
Inchoate . adj. recently begun; rudimentary; elementary
Incongruity . lack of harmony; absurdity
Inconsequential . insignificant; unimportant
Incorporate . introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite
Indeterminate . uncertain; not clearly fixed; indefinite
Indigence . poverty
Indolent . Lazy
Inert . inactive; lacking power to move
Ingenuous . naive and trusting; young; unsophisticated
Inherent . firmly established by nature or habit
Innocuous . Harmless
Insensible . unconscious; unresponsive
Insinuate . hint; imply; creep in
Insipid . lacking in flavor; dull
Insularity . narrow-mindedness; isolation
Intractable . unruly; stubborn; unyielding
Intransigence . n. refusal of any compromise; stubbornness
Inundate . overwhelm; flood; submerge
Inured . adj. accustomed; hardened
Invective . n. abuse
Irascible . irritable; easily angered
Irresolute . uncertain how to act; weak
Itinerary . plan of a trip

Laconic . brief and to the point
Lassitude . languor; weariness
Latent . potential but undeveloped; dormant; hidden
Laud . v. praise
Lethargic . drowsy; dull
Levee . stone embankment to prevent flooding
Levity . lack of seriousness or steadiness; frivolity
Log . record of a voyage or flight; record of day-to-day activities
Loquacious . talkative
Lucid . easily understood; clear; intelligible
Luminous shining; issuing light

Magnanimity . Generosity
Malingerer . one who feigns illness to escape duty
Malleable . capable of being shaped by pounding; impressionable
Maverick . rebel; nonconformist
Mendacious . lying; habitually dishonest
Metamorphosis . change of form
Meticulous . excessively careful; painstaking; scrupulous
Misanthrope . one who hates mankind
Mitigate . appease; moderate
Mollify . soothe
Morose . ill-humored; sullen; melancholy
Mundane . worldly as opposed to spiritual; everyday

Negate . cancel out; nullify; deny
Neophyte . recent convert; beginner

Obdurate . adj. stubborn
Obsequious . lavishly attentive; servile; sycophantic
Obviate . make unnecessary; get rid of
Occlude . shut; close
Officious . meddlesome; excessively pushy in offering one’s services
Onerous . burdensome
Opprobrium . infamy; vilification
Oscillate . vibrate; waver
Ostentatious . showy; pretentious; trying to attract attention

Paragon . model of perfection
Partisan . one-sided; prejudiced; committed to a party
Pathological . pertaining to disease
Paucity . Scarcity
Pedantic . showing off learning; bookish
Penchant . strong inclination; liking
Penury . severe poverty; stinginess
Perennial . something long-lasting
Perfidious . treacherous; disloyal
Perfunctory . superficial; not thorough; lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm
Permeable . penetrable; porous; allowing liquids or gas to pass through
Pervasive . spread throughout
Phlegmatic . calm; not easily disturbed
Piety . devoutness; reverence for God
Placate . pacify; conciliate
Plasticity . ability to be molded
Platitude . n. trite remark; commonplace statement
Plethora . excess; overabundance
Plummet . fall sharply
Porous . full of pores; like a sieve
Pragmatic . practical (as opposed to idealistic); concerned with the practical worth or impact of something
Preamble . introductory statement
Precarious . uncertain; risky
Precipitate . adj. rash, premature, hasty, sudden
Precursor . forerunner
Presumptuous . arrogant; taking liberties
Prevaricate . lie
Pristine . characteristic of earlier times; primitive; unspoiled
Probity . uprightness; incorruptibility
Problematic . doubtful; unsettled; questionable; perplexing
Prodigal . wasteful; reckless with money
Profound . deep; not superficial; complete
Prohibitive . tending to prevent the purchase or use of something; inclined to prevent or forbid
Proliferate . grow rapidly; spread; multiply
Propensity . natural inclination
Propitiate . appease
Propriety . fitness; correct conduct
Proscribe . ostracize; banish; outlaw
Pungent . stinging; sharp in taste or smell; caustic

Qualified . limited; restricted
Quibble . minor objection or complaint
Quiescent . at rest; dormant; temporarily inactive

Rarefied . made less dense (of a gas)
Recalcitrant . obstinately stubborn; determined to resist authority; unruly
Recant . disclaim or disavow; retract a previous statement; openly confess error
Recluse . hermit; loner
Recondite . abstruse; profound; secret
Refractory . stubborn; unmanageable
Refute . disprove
Relegate banish to an inferior position; delegate; assign
Reproach . express disapproval or disappointment
Reprobate . person hardened in sin; devoid of a sense of decency
Repudiate . disown; disavow
Rescind . cancel
Resolution . Determination
Resolve . determination; firmness of purpose
Reticent . reserved; uncommunicative; inclined to silence
Reverent . respectful; worshipful

Sage . person celebrated for wisdom
Salubrious . healthful
Sanction . approve; ratify
Satiate . satisfy fully
Saturate . soak thoroughly
Savor . enjoy; have a distinctive flavor, smell, or quality
Secrete . hide away or cache; produce and release a substance into an organism
Shard . fragment, generally of pottery
Skeptic . doubter; person who suspends judgment until having examined evidence supporting a point of view
Solicitous . worried; concerned
Soporific . sleep-causing; marked by sleepiness
Specious . seemingly reasonable but incorrect; misleading (often intentionally)
Spectrum . colored band produced when a beam of light passes through a prism
Sporadic . occurring irregularly
Stigma . token of disgrace; brand
Stint . v. be thrifty; set limits
Stipulate . make express conditions; specify
Stolid . dull; impassive
Striated . marked with parallel bands; grooved
Strut . pompous walk
Strut . supporting bar
Subpoena . writ summoning a witness to appear
Subside . settle down; descend; grow quiet
Substantiate . establish by evidence; verify; support
Supersede . cause to be set aside; replace; make obsolete
Supposition . hypothesis; surmise

Tacit . understood; not put into words
Tangential . peripheral; only slightly connected; digressing
Tenuous . thin; rare; slim
Tirade . extended scolding; denunciation; harangue
Torpor . lethargy; sluggishness; dormancy
Tortuous . winding; full of curves
Tractable . docile; easily managed
Transgression . violation of a law; sin
Truculence . aggressiveness; ferocity

Vacillate . waver; fluctuate
Venerate . revere
Veracious . truthful
Verbose . wordy
Viable . practical or workable
Viscous . sticky, gluey
Vituperative . adj abusive; scolding
Volatile . changeable; explosive; evaporation rapidly

Warranted . justified; authorized
Wary . very cautious
Welter . turmoil; bewildering jumble
Whimsical . capricious; fanciful

Zealot . fanatic; person who shows excessive zeal

LUGUBRIOUS: from Latin - Lugere - to mourn

2008-05-10T04:47:00.001-07:00

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/lugubrious

Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday May 27, 2003

lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-us; -GYOO-\, adjective:
1. Mournful; indicating sorrow, often in a way that seems feigned, exaggerated, or ridiculous.
2. Gloomy; dismal.

Oh yes, he says, and his lugubrious expression suggests that the loss afflicts him still.
-- Mary Riddell, New Statesman, September 19, 1997

His patriarchy often seemed lugubrious; he would often have tears in his eyes when elucidating all my failings.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs

He was looking out at the green whorls of English fields and English woods, at the enchanting chalky blue of the English sky, and wondering if this tilled and agreeable little country might not be just the place for a man to revive himself, to shake off those morbid dawn vigils, those nights when it seemed some demonic lapdog crouched on his chest, panting into his face; those lugubrious moods that had troubled him ever since Munich like a cough one could never quite be rid of . . .
-- Andrew Miller, Casanova in Love

Previous visits hadn't yielded this art-after-death aura, which had everything to do with two installations on display, work so lugubrious it cast a pall over . . . well, just over me, but dark clouds hovered above the city, and the gloomy weather might as well have emanated from the art.
-- Bernard Cooper, "The Uses of the Ghoulish", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

Lugubrious comes from Latin lugubris, from lugere, to mourn.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for lugubrious

VERITABLE: "being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary"

2008-05-10T04:31:00.001-07:00

Merriam-Webster Online

The Word of the Day for May 06, 2008 is:
veritable • \VAIR-uh-tuh-bul\ • adjective

: being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary

Example Sentence:
Melissa is a veritable wellspring of information on local history and folklore.
Did you know?
"Veritable," like its close relative "verity" ("truth"), came to English through Anglo-French from Latin. It is ultimately derived from "verus," the Latin word for "true," which also gave us "verify," "aver," and "verdict." "Veritable" is often used as a synonym of "genuine" or "authentic" ("a veritable masterpiece"), but it is also frequently used to stress the aptness of a metaphor, often in a humorous tone ("a veritable swarm of lawyers"). In the past, usage commentators have objected to the latter use, but today it doesn't draw much criticism.

ODIUM: "Intense hatred or dislike; loathing; abhorrence"

2008-05-10T04:24:00.001-07:00

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/odium

Word of the Day Archive
Saturday June 4, 2005

odium \OH-dee-uhm\, noun:
1. Intense hatred or dislike; loathing; abhorrence.
2. The state or fact of being intensely hated as the result of some despicable action.
3. Disgrace or discredit attaching to something hated or repugnant.

At the back of the Tyn Church, we were told about the young Jesuit whose harshness earned him the odium of his congregation.
-- Will Cohu, "High spirits and gloomy spectres", Sunday Telegraph, May 16, 1999

The point here is that, for all its efforts at avoiding offence, new Labour has still managed to attract the odium of the paper that regards itself as the voice of Middle England.
-- "Will Mr Brown hang for a sheep or a lamb?", New Statesman, December 2, 2002

But this brought forth nothing but odium on his head, so much so that he had to backtrack soon afterwards.
-- Andrew Stephen, "A nation left unprotected", New Statesman, November 5, 2001

Moralists warn against the spurious sorrow that afflicts the first-person plural of so many collective apologies: We erred, says the penitent, though he clearly intends to shift blame and odium to his fellows.
-- "The Week", National Review, April 19, 2004

Odium comes from the Latin odium, "hatred," from odisse, "to hate."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for odium

ODIUM: "State of disgrace resulting from detestable behavior; hate coupled with disgust"

2008-05-10T04:20:00.001-07:00

Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement

Blogged with the Flock Browser

OBFUSCATION: "The activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered"

2008-05-10T04:11:00.001-07:00

shr0464l.jpg (JPEG Image, 334x400 pixels)

OBFUSCATION: "the concealment of meaning in communication"

2008-05-10T04:06:00.001-07:00

Obfuscation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obfuscation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •
Jump to: navigation, search
For the term as used in computer science, see Obfuscated code.
Look up Obfuscation in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Obfuscation is the concealment of meaning in communication, making it confusing and harder to interpret.

Obfuscation may be used for many purposes. Doctors have been accused of using jargon to conceal unpleasant facts from a patient. American author Michael Crichton has claimed that medical writing is a "highly skilled, calculated attempt to confuse the reader".[1] B. F. Skinner, noted psychologist, commented on medical notation as a form of multiple audience control which allows the doctor to communicate to the pharmacist things which might be opposed by the patient if they could understand it.[2] Similarly text-based language, like gyaru-moji and some forms of leet are obfuscated to make them incomprehensible to outsiders.

In cryptography, obfuscation refers to encoding the input data before it is sent to a hash function or other encryption scheme. This technique helps to make brute force attacks unfeasible, as it is difficult to determine the correct cleartext.

In network security, obfuscation refers to methods used to obscure an attack payload from inspection by network protection systems.

ANATHEMATIZE: "Curse or declare to be evil or anathema or threaten with divine punishment"

2008-05-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

from Visuwords.com

"I OBJURGATE the centipede, a bug we do not really need." ~ Ogden Nash

2008-04-16T09:01:00.001-07:00

And You will be mine!, originally uploaded by Ceslavs.

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 16, 2008

objurgate \OB-juhr-gayt\, transitive verb:

To express strong disapproval of; to criticize severely.

I objurgate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
-- Ogden Nash, "The Centipede"

The act about to be objurgated here calls on the Food and Drug Administration to oversee a broad revision of food labeling.
-- Daniel Seligman, "Federal Food Follies", Fortune, July 1, 1991

Objurgate comes from the past participle of Latin from objurgare, "to scold, to blame," from ob-, "against" + jurgare, "to dispute, to quarrel, to sue at law," from jus, jur-, "law" + -igare (from agere, "to lead").

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for objurgate

IMPUISSANCE: "powerlessness revealed by an inability to act"

2008-04-08T23:38:00.001-07:00

CARTESIAN

2008-03-23T18:44:00.001-07:00

A.Word.A.Day -- cartesian

A.Word.A.Day--cartesian
Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

Cartesian (kar-TEE-zhuhn) adjective

Of or relating to Descartes, his theories, methods, or philosophy, especially its emphasis on mechanistic interpretation.

[From Cartesius, Latin form of Descartes, after philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

"To visit a modern CAFO (Confined/Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) is to enter a world that, for all its technological sophistication, is still designed according to Cartesian principles: animals are machines incapable of feeling pain. Since no thinking person can possibly believe this any more, industrial animal agriculture depends on a suspension of belief on the part of the people who operate it and a willingness to avert your eyes on the part of everyone else."
Michael Pollan; An Animal's Place; The New York Times; Nov 10, 2002.

X-Bonus
When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)

CARTESIAN: "of or relating to Descartes"

2008-03-23T18:34:00.001-07:00

From Wordsmith.org:

Cartesian (kar-TEE-zhuhn) adjective

Of or relating to Descartes, his theories, methods, or philosophy,

especially its emphasis on mechanistic interpretation.

[From Cartesius, Latin form of Descartes, after philosopher René Descartes

(1596-1650).]

"To visit a modern CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) is to enter a

world that, for all its technological sophistication, is still designed

according to Cartesian principles: animals are machines incapable of

feeling pain. Since no thinking person can possibly believe this any more,

industrial animal agriculture depends on a suspension of disbelief on the

part of the people who operate it and a willingness to avert your eyes on

the part of everyone else."

Michael Pollan; An Animal's Place; The New York Times; Nov 10, 2002.

KARUNA: "loving compassion"

2008-03-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

FROM Wordsmith.org

karuna (KUH-roo-na) noun

Loving compassion.

[From Sanskrit karuna (compassion).]

"Once we experience and feel this inter-dependence of all living beings,

we will cease to hurt, humiliate, exploit and kill another. We will want

to free all sentient beings from suffering. This is karuna, compassion,

which in turn gives rise to the responsibility to create happiness and

its causes for all."

Suresh Jindal; Interdependence of All Living Beings; The Times of India

(New Delhi); Nov 13, 2003.

REMUNERATE: "to pay an equivalent to for any service, loss, or expense"

2008-03-23T18:26:00.001-07:00

From Dictionary.com

Word of the Day for Saturday, March 22, 2008

remunerate \rih-MYOO-nuh-rate\, transitive verb:

1. To pay an equivalent to for any service, loss, or expense; to recompense.

2. To compensate for; to make payment for.

Not to suggest that our bosses remunerate
us for our high moral standards, but creative bureaucrats at Mesa City
Hall have invented a new fund from tax revenue that sets up a $20,000
account for each virtuous City Council member.
-- Art Thomason, "Mesa Puts Quite a Price on Discretion", Arizona Republic, May 18, 2000

The plaintiff could therefore only recover payment for her
services if there was evidence of an implied or express contract by the
business of which he was a partner (or by the plaintiff personally) to remunerate her for the work which she had done.
-- Kate O'Hanlon, "No damages for wife's gratuitous work", Independent, May 27, 1999

[The firm] wanted to meet long-term investment requirements out of retained profits and also to be able to properly remunerate all the staff and give them a share of the profits.
-- Roger Trapp, "Legal firms 'go offshore' to avoid litigation", Independent, May 2, 1996

Remunerate comes from Latin remunerari, "to reward," from re-, "back, again" + munerari, "to give, to present," from munus, "a gift."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for remunerate

ANATHEMA: "a ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity" ALSO "unpleasant person"

2008-03-23T18:21:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Sunday, March 23, 2008

anathema \uh-NATH-uh-muh\, noun:

1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by
ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by excommunication. Hence:
Denunciation of anything as accursed.

2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.

3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority.

4. Any person or thing that is intensely disliked.

The Communists were not prepared to accept any compromises; it was anathema to them that Tibet should have an international personality beyond being a region of China.
-- Tsering Shakya, The Dragon in the Land of Snows:A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947

Academies, the argument went, were anathema to creativity.
-- Deborah Solomon, "How to Succeed In Art", New York Times, June 27, 1999

Advertising was anathema to the Internet ethos, theysaid, and people would never pay for on-line material.
-- Steve Lohr, "The Freewheeling Net Meets the Free Market", New York Times, June 9, 1996

Anathema comes from the Greek word meaning "a thing devoted," especially a thing devoted to evil, hence "a curse," from anatithenai, "to dedicate, to set up," from ana, "up" + tithenai, "to place or put."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for anathema

DIFFIDENT: "lacking self-confidence; timid; unassertive"

2008-03-14T06:03:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 12, 2008

diffident \DIF-uh-dunt; -dent\, adjective:

1. Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; timid; bashful.

2. Characterized by modest reserve; unassertive.

He lived naturally in a condition that many greater poets never had, or if they had it, were embarrassed or diffident about it: a total commitment to his own powers of invention, a complete loss of himself in his materials.
-- James Dickey, "The Geek of Poetry", New York Times, December 23, 1979

This schism is embodied in Clarence's two sons: cheerful,
pushy, book-ignorant Jared, a semicriminal entrepreneur who has caught
"the rhythm of America to come" and for whom life is explained in brash
epigrams from the trenches, versus slow, diffident
Teddy, the town postman, uncomfortable with given notions of manhood,
uncompetitive ("yet this seemed the only way to be an American") and
disturbed that others misstate "the delicate nature of reality as he
needed to grasp it for himself."
-- Julian Barnes, "Grand Illusion", New York Times, January 28, 1996

Minny was too delicate and diffident to ask her cousin outright to take her to Europe.
-- Brooke Allen, "Borrowed Lives", New York Times, May 16, 1999

Diffident is from the present participle of Latin diffidere, "to mistrust, to have no confidence," from dis- + fidere, "to trust." The noun form is diffidence.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for diffident

CIRCUMBENDIBUS: "in a roundabout way"

2008-03-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

circumbendibus (sur-kuhm-BEN-duh-buhs) noun

Circumlocution.

[From Latin circum- (around) + English bend + Latin -ibus.]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"There are times when [George] Steiner does the exact opposite, dressing
up banalities in the most clotted, Latinate and circumbendibus waffle
in order to make them appear profound."
Christopher Hart; Speaking in Tongues; Sunday Times (London, UK);
Jan 6, 2008.

Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/circumbendibus.html

Technorati Tags: circumbendibus

BEDIZEN: "To dress or adorn in gaudy manner"

2008-03-14T05:23:00.001-07:00

Word of the Day for Friday, March 14, 2008

bedizen \bih-DY-zuhn\, transitive verb:

To dress or adorn in gaudy manner.

At 18, he attended a party "frizzled, powdered and curled, in radiant pink satin, with waistcoat bedizened
with gems of pink paste and a mosaic of colored foils and a hat blazing
with 5,000 metallic beads," according to Michael Battersberry in
"Fashion, The Mirror of History."
-- Donna Larcen, "Details Details: Everything Old Is New Again", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 19, 1994

. . .Ford's 2001-model F-150 SuperCrew "Harley-Davidson" model. This special edition pickup truck is bedizened with enough chrome, leather, and H-D logos to bring a RUBbie (Rich Urban Biker) weeping to his knees.
-- "Summer Autos 2001", Newsday, May 19, 2001

Bedizen is the prefix be-, "completely; thoroughly; excessively" + dizen, an archaic word meaning "to deck out in fine clothes and ornaments," from Middle Dutch disen, "to dress (a distaff) with flax ready for spinning," from Middle Low German dise, "the bunch of flax placed on a distaff."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bedizen

ESTHETIC: "having a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty

2007-10-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Thunakkadavu Lake Lit Up, originally uploaded by ezee as hell.

CHESTNUT: an old chestnut - an old joke or overly familiar saying

2007-09-03T00:52:00.001-07:00

Boring old joke or saying

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Although its origins are in an English melodrama, it was an American
actor who coined its usage. The actor, William Warren, found occasion
to quote from 'The Broken Sword', a rather mediocre play by William Dillon.
One of the characters has the irritating habit of telling and retelling
the same stories and jokes. He is embarking upon one such tale about a
cork tree when his companion, Pablo, interrupts crying.'A Chestnut, I
should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these
twenty-seven times, and I'm sure it was a chestnut'.
Warren, who played the part of Pablo in the melodrama, was at a dinner
one evening when a fellow guest started to recount a well-worn and
rather elderly anecdote, whereupon Warren murmured, 'A chestnut. I
have heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times'.The rest of the
company was delighted with Warrens very appropriate quoting from the
play and it was not long before news of the incident had spread amongst
their aquaintances and beyond.

CORUSCATE: "Be lively or brilliant or exhibit virtuosity"

2007-09-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

Mamma Mia!, originally uploaded by canadianlookin.

NONAGE: "Any age prior to the legal age"

2007-09-02T13:00:00.001-07:00

my nonage, originally uploaded by aliasgar2007.

MATUTINAL: "Pertaining to or occurring in the morning"

2007-09-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

"matutinal coffee"

clipped from www.prestonart.com

JEREMIAD: "A long and mournful complaint; word originates from prophet Jeremiah"

2007-09-02T09:38:00.001-07:00

From Wikipedia:

"The Prophet Jeremiah that the book describes was a priest from Anatot in the land of Benjamin, who lived in the last years of the Kingdom of Judah just prior to, during, and immediately after the siege of Jerusalem, culminating in the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the razing of the city by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. According to the book, for a quarter century prior to the destruction, Jeremiah issued prophecies repeatedly predicting its occurrence if the Jews did not repent and viewed the failure of his efforts, the destruction of everything he knew, the exile of the Jewish elite to Babylonia, and the fleeing of the remainder to Egypt."

clipped from www.pcusa.org

JEREMIAD: "long literary work lamenting the state of society"

2007-09-02T09:29:00.001-07:00

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Jeremiad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

A Jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in poetry, that bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of its coming downfall.

The word is an eponym, named after the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, and is inspired by the tone of his surviving literary works, the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations. The Book of Jeremiah prophesies the coming downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and asserts that this is because its rulers have broken the covenant with the Lord

As such, the name jeremiad is given to moralistic texts that denounce a society for its wickedness, and prophesy its downfall. Authors from Gildas to Robert Bork have had this label hung on their works. In contemporary usage, it is frequently pejorative, meant to suggest that the tone of the text is excessively pessimistic.

JEREMIAD: "A long and mournful complaint"

2007-09-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

"a jeremiad against any form of government"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

jeremiad \jair-uh-MY-uhd\, noun:
A tale of sorrow, disappointment, or complaint; a doleful story; also, a dolorous or angry tirade.

This age in which leisure and letters were gilded with commerce did not see the decline and fall of art, despite the jeremiads of such artists as William Blake ('Where any view of money exists,' he prophesied, 'art cannot be carried on').
-- Roy Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century

Johnson's jeremiad against what he sees as American imperialism and militarism exhaustively catalogs decades of U.S. military misdeeds
-- Stan Crock, review of The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, Business Week, February 2, 2004

Economics ministers in general were taken aback when a recent World Bank report -- after a year of jeremiads -- suggested the crisis was being exaggerated
-- Lance Castle, "The economic crisis revisited", Jakarta Post, April 1, 1999

Jeremiad comes from French jérémiade, after Jérémie, Jeremiah, the prophet.

TRENCHANT: "Having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect"

2007-09-01T21:20:00.001-07:00

From the French: "to cut"

photo © 2008 Adventures of Pam & Frank | more info (via: Wylio)

"trenchant criticism"
"a trenchant argument"
"trenchant distinctions between right and wrong"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

trenchant \TREN-chunt\, adjective:
1. Characterized by or full of force and vigor; as, "a trenchant analysis."
2. Caustic; biting; severe; as, "trenchant criticism."
3. Distinct; clear-cut; clearly or sharply defined.

Her insistence that women's rights should be upheld universally, notwithstanding concerns about cultural diversity, led some to criticise her for being too narrowly entrenched within western liberalism, while others celebrated her trenchant defence of egalitarianism.
-- Judith Squires, "Susan Moller Okin", The Guardian, March 26, 2004

His revolutionary music, abrasive personality and trenchant writings about art and life divided the city into warring factions.
-- Jonathan Carr, Mahler: A Biography

Trenchant comes from Old French, from the present participle of trenchier, "to cut." It is related to trench.

CHARY: "Characterized by great caution and wariness"

2007-09-01T21:15:00.001-07:00

"chary of the risks involved"; "a chary investor"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

chary \CHAIR-ee\, adjective:
1. Wary; cautious.
2. Not giving or expending freely; sparing.

What do you suppose the Founding Fathers, so chary of overweening government power, would make of a prosecutor with virtually unlimited reach and a staff the size of a small town?
-- "U.S. trampling rights at home and abroad", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 17, 1998

Investors should be chary, however, for the returns are far from sizzling.
-- "The Stampede Into Variable Annuities", Fortune, October 13, 1986

Bankers, consulted as to whether or not they believed that the full force of the decline had spent its fury, were chary of predictions.
-- "Leaders See Fear Waning", New York Times, October 30, 1929

When I visited Sissinghurst with my growing family she was always welcoming, eager for our news but chary of her own.
-- Nigel Nicolson, Long Life

Chary comes from Old English cearig, "careful, sorrowful," from cearu, "grief, sorrow, care."

RIPOSTE: "(fencing) a counterattack made immediately after successfully parrying the opponents lunge"

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clipped from www.riposte.org.uk

RIPOSTE: "A quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one); (fencing) a counterattack made immediately after successfu

2007-09-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

"his opponent riposted"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

riposte \rih-POST\, noun:
1. A quick thrust given after parrying an opponent's lunge in fencing.
2. A quick and effective reply by word or act.

intransitive verb:
1. To make a riposte.

She had an agile, teasing sense of humor that included a sure grasp of the absurd and an instinct for punchy ripostes.
-- Sally Bedell Smith, Diana in Search of Herself

It was an inelegant riposte, especially for one so quick-witted as Neumann.
-- Peter Gay, My German Question

When she told him how much she hated being called an old trout, he'd riposte: "The trout is the most beautiful of fish."
-- Angela Carter, Shaking a Leg

Riposte derives from Italian risposta, "an answer," from rispondere, "to answer," from Latin respondere, "to promise in return, to answer," from re- + spondere, "to promise."

PROPITIATE: "Make peace with"

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clipped from dictionary.reference.com

propitiate \pro-PISH-ee-ayt\, transitive verb:
To render favorably inclined; to appease; to conciliate (one offended).

Azorka, a black house-dog, probably conscious of his guilt in barking for nothing and anxious to propitiate us, approached us, diffidently wagging his tail.
-- Anton Chekhov, "Lights"

Yet the Fairy Bridge . . . didn't get its name for nothing. Here the locals lift a hand ever so slightly and mutter "Hello, little people," to propitiate the fairies underneath.
-- Helen Gibson, "Rewards and Fairies", Time Europe, April 30, 2001

Cultivated pagans long survived but retreated to form private societies, practicing secret rites to propitiate the gods to avert drought or earthquake from their home cities.
-- Henry Chadwick, "Greasing the 4th-Century Palm", New York Times, November 15, 1992

Propitiate derives from Latin propitius, "favorable."

SANCTIMONY: "The quality of being hypocritically devout"

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SALIENT: "Having a quality that thrusts itself into attention"

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SALUTARY: "Tending to promote physical well-being; beneficial to health"

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clipped from www.hortulus.net

A tiny garden yields various and often salutary herbs

Whose value science acknowledges

SALUTARY: "beneficial to health"

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clipped from dictionary.reference.com

salutary \SAL-yuh-ter-ee\, adjective:
1. Producing or contributing to a beneficial effect; beneficial; advantageous.
2. Wholesome; healthful; promoting health.

Alexis de Tocqueville famously observed during his sojourn in this country that America was teeming with such associations -- charities, choral groups, church study groups, book clubs -- and that they had a remarkably salutary effect on society, turning selfish individuals into public-spirited citizens.
-- Fareed Zakaria, "Bigger Than the Family, Smaller Than the State", New York Times, August 13, 1995

Surviving a near-death experience has the salutary effect of concentrating the mind.
-- Kenneth T. Walsh and Roger Simon, "Bush turns the tide", U.S. News, February 28, 2000

And they washed it all down with sharp red wines, moderate amounts of which are known to be salutary.
-- Rod Usher, "The Fat of the Land", Time Europe, January 8, 2000

Salutary derives from Latin salutaris, from salus, salut-, "health."

SALUTARY: "Tending to promote physical well-being; beneficial to health"

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vitamin C ........., originally uploaded by hb19.

"the salutary influence of pure air"

SAGACIOUS: "Acutely insightful and wise; Skillful in statecraft or

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Bearded and sagacious, originally uploaded by Forest Runner.

"observant and thoughtful, he was given to asking sagacious questions"

"an astute and sagacious statesman"

TAUTOLOGY: "(logic) a statement that is necessarily true; Useless repetition"

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"the statement 'he is brave or he is not brave' is a tautology"

"to say that something is 'adequate enough' is a tautology"

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Examples of tautology

The British supermarket Tesco sells a brand of lemon thyme which it describes as having an "aromatic aroma".

"free gift" is tautologous because a gift, by definition, is something given without charge.

The Yogi Berra-esque statement "If you don't get any better, you'll never improve" is another example. A very frequently used tautologous phrases are "PIN number"- the "N" stands for number

Tautology in popular culture

Comedian Alan King used to tell this story: His lawyer asked him if he had ever drawn up a will. Alan said "No". The lawyer, in shock and horror, said, "If you died without a will, you would die intestate!" Alan looked up the word and found that it means "without a will". "In other words, if I die without a will, then I'll die without a will. This legal pearl cost me $500!"

PLATITUDE: "A trite or obvious remark"

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clipped from www.cartoonstock.com

RECALCITRANT: "Marked by stubborn resistance to authority"

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clipped from www.cartoonstock.com

RECALCITRANT: "Stubbornly resistant to authority or control"

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"the University suspended the most recalcitrant demonstrators"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

recalcitrant \rih-KAL-sih-truhnt\, adjective:
Stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.

This recalcitrant fellow was the only dissenter in an otherwise unanimous recommendation.
-- Sherwin B. Nuland, "Indoctrinology", New Republic, February 19, 2001

If they lingered too long, Clarice hurried them along in the same annoyed way she rushed recalcitrant goats through the gate.
-- Kaye Gibbons, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

As Mr. Lincoln and his Union generals insisted on unconditional surrender, the end of slavery, and the specter of an egalitarian nation where race and class were in theory to be subordinate ideas, so recalcitrant Southerners by the summer of 1864 dug in deeper for their Armageddon to come.
-- Victor Davis Hanson, The Soul Of Battle

Recalcitrant derives from Latin recalcitrare, "to kick back," from re-, "back" + calcitrare, "to strike with the heel, to kick," from calx, calc-, "the heel."

REVERENT: "Feeling or showing profound respect or veneration; Showing

2007-08-29T21:39:00.001-07:00

Calling all Saints..., originally uploaded by carf.

LUGUBRIOUS: "sorrowful; excessively mournful"

2007-08-29T21:25:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by sungazing.

LUGUBRIOUS: "Excessively mournful"

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clipped from dictionary.reference.com

lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-us; -GYOO-\, adjective:
1. Mournful; indicating sorrow, often in a way that seems feigned, exaggerated, or ridiculous.
2. Gloomy; dismal.

His patriarchy often seemed lugubrious; he would often have tears in his eyes when elucidating all my failings.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs

Oh yes, he says, and his lugubrious expression suggests that the loss afflicts him still.
-- Mary Riddell, New Statesman, September 19, 1997

Lugubrious comes from Latin lugubris, from lugere, to mourn.

Previous visits hadn't yielded this art-after-death aura, which had everything to do with two installations on display, work so lugubrious it cast a pall over . . . well, just over me, but dark clouds hovered above the city, and the gloomy weather might as well have emanated from the art.
-- Bernard Cooper, "The Uses of the Ghoulish", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

ZEALOUS: "Marked by active interest and enthusiasm"

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Zealous Mother, originally uploaded by bocavermelha-l.b..

TIRADE: "A speech of violent denunciation"

2007-08-29T21:16:00.001-07:00

A Lamp Unto My Feet, originally uploaded by digitalgrace.

LUGUBRIOUS * MACHINATION * MAGNANIMOUS * MAGNATE * MALAISE *

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vocabulary build-up, originally uploaded by wuddup_smuggle.

LUBRICIOUS: "Oily or slippery; prurient; lustful; salacious"

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Lubricious desires, originally uploaded by Mnemonix.

MERCURIAL * PEDANTIC * CRAVEN * LICENTIOUS

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more words., originally uploaded by WiseDestiny.

MERCURIAL * PEDANTIC * CRAVEN * LICENTIOUS

MERCURIAL
Liable to sudden unpredictable change
"mercurial twists of temperament"

"mercurial preparations"; "mercurial sore mouth"

—Synonyms 1. inconstant, indecisive. 2. spirited.
—Antonyms 1. constant, steady. 2. phlegmatic.

PEDANTIC
CRAVEN
LICENTIOUS

CONNOISSEUR * IMBROGLIO * PECCADILLO * SANGUINE

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words., originally uploaded by WiseDestiny.

* CONNOISSEUR * IMBROGLIO * PECCADILLO * SANGUINE
-------------------------------------
CONNOISSEUR-
An expert able to appreciate a field; especially in the fine arts

IMBROGLIO-
1.An intricate and confusing interpersonal or political situation
2. A very embarrassing misunderstanding

PECCADILLO-
A petty misdeed; a "little sin"

SANGUINE-
adj.
Confidently optimistic and cheerful
Inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life

noun
A blood-red color

"a fresh and sanguine complexion"

EXCURSUS: "A message that departs from the main subject"

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Office Doors: Fun Word of the Day: Excursus, originally uploaded by rosefirerising.

DIGRESSION
DIVAGATION

EXCORIATE: "Express strong disapproval of; Tear or wear off the skin or

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excoriate, originally uploaded by Mnemonix.

VERBOSE * UNCTUOUS * ERUDITE * GARRULOUS

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Vocabulary Buttons, originally uploaded by WiseDestiny.

*VERBOSE -
using too many words

"verbose speakers"
"verbose and ineffective instructional methods"

* UNCTUOUS -
Unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
"the unctuous Uriah Heep"

* ERUDITE -
Having or showing profound knowledge

"an erudite professor"

* GARRULOUS -
Full of trivial conversation

MERETRICIOUS: "Tastelessly showy; Based on pretense; deceptively

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meretricious, originally uploaded by Mnemonix.

"a meretricious yet stylish book"
"meretricious praise"; "a meretricious argument"

CONCATENATION: "linked together as in a chain"

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concatenation, originally uploaded by Mnemonix.

"it was caused by an improbable concatenation of circumstances"
"a complicated concatenation of circumstances"

EXIGENT and EXCULPATE

2007-08-29T20:28:00.001-07:00

GRE Words, originally uploaded by ShinyCrazyDiamond.

EXIGENT:
Demanding attention---
"regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"
Requiring precise accuracy ---
"became more exigent over his pronunciation"

EXCULPATE
Pronounce not guilty of criminal charges

SPECIOUS and FALLACIOUS

2007-08-29T20:21:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.laetusinpraesens.org

Specious and fallacious arguments

A list of fallacious arguments (http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~lindsay/skeptic/arguments.html)

Logical fallacies (http://www.intrepidsoftware.com/fallacy/toc.htm)

Stephen's Guide to the Logical Fallacies (http://datanation.com/fallacies/)

Propaganda Techniques Related to Enviromental Scares by Paul R. Lees-Haley
(http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/propa.html)

Fallacies (Nizkor Project) by Michael C. Labossiere (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/index.html)

Use and Abuse of Argument (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/langc/skills/arg-det.html)

SPECIOUS: "Plausible but false; Based on pretense; deceptively pleasing"

2007-08-29T20:19:00.001-07:00

"a specious claim"

SYNONYM: Meretricious

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

specious \SPEE-shuhs\, adjective:
1. Apparently right; superficially fair, just, or correct, but not so in reality; as, "specious reasoning; a specious argument."
2. Deceptively pleasing or attractive.

A specious theory is confuted by this free and perfect experiment.
-- Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Specious is from Latin speciosus, from species, "appearance," from specere, "to look at."

TIMOROUS: "fearful"

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Worried, originally uploaded by hkvam.

MALEVOLENT clown. "Wishing or appearing to wish evil to others; arising

2007-08-29T20:14:00.001-07:00

Don't Be Scared, originally uploaded by laanba.

TIMOROUS: "Timid by nature or revealing timidity"

2007-08-29T20:10:00.001-07:00

"timorous little mouse"; "in a timorous tone"

clipped from dictionary.reference.com

timorous \TIM-uhr-uhs\, adjective:
1. Full of apprehensiveness; timid; fearful.
2. Indicating, or caused by, fear.

Girls, allegedly so timorous and lacking in confidence, now outnumber boys in student government, in honor societies, on school newspapers, and even in debating clubs.
-- Christina Hoff Sommers, The War Against Boys

The way we are living,
timorous or bold,
will have been our life.
-- Seamus Heaney, "Elegy"

The source of timorous is Latin timor, "fear."

Collecting Words

DENOUEMENT: "the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work"

MORIBUND: "at the point of death; lacking vitality and vigor"

QUOTIDIAN: "found in the ordinary course of events"

ABROGATE: "Repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement)"

DAEDAL: "rich; adorned with many things"

SANGUINE: "cheerfully optimistic"

EXIGENT- "demanding attention"

BATHOS- "insincere pathos; triteness; mawkishness"

DAEDAL - "skillful, artistic, intricate, adorned"

Word of the Day at Dictionary.com

Daedal

ODIOUS: "highly offensive; inspiring and deserving hatred"

CIRCUMLOCUTION - "a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things"

ANOMALOUS - "peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm"

BARQUE: "A sailing ship with 3 (or more) masts"

SEDULOUS - "diligent; careful; industrious; persistent"

ASSIDUOUS - "Constant; persistent; industrious"

Constant

Persistant

From from the Indo-European root sed- (to sit) that is also the source of sit, chair, saddle, assess

assiduous

"The earth belongs in USUFRUCT to the living" ~ Thomas Jefferson

Example Sentence:

Did you know?

TYRO: "novice; greenhorn; rank amateur"

LUCULLAN = "marked by lavishness and richness; sumptuous"

INEFFABLE - "incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable; not to be uttered; taboo"

Word of the Day for Sunday, July 12, 2009

TORTUOUS - "highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious"

DEFENESTRATION- "the act of throwing a thing or esp. a person out of a window"

From

defenestrate

POTENTATE: "One who possesses great power or sway; a ruler, sovereign, or monarch"

NIMIETY: "excess, redundancy"

HORS D'OEUVRES: literally "outside the main work" ... appetizers

HORS DE COMBAT: "out of combat: disabled"

GARRULOUS: "wordy; pointlessly talkative"

ETIOLATE: "to make feeble; to deprive of natural vigor"

BOULEVARDIER: "A visitor of a city boulevard (especially in Paris)"

BOULEVARDIER: "a frequenter of city boulevards, especially in Paris"

Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 21, 2008

LATITUDINARIAN: "Having or expressing broad and tolerant views, especially in religious matters"

Word of the Day for Saturday, May 17, 2008

POTEMKIN VILLAGE: "An impressive facade or display that hides an undesirable fact or state"

UMBRAGE: "shady branches : foliage"

UMBRAGE: derived from Latin, Umbra "shade"

PANTAGRUELIAN: "Enormous; displaying extravagant and coarse humor"

Odium: "the state or fact of being subjected to hatred and contempt as a result of a despicable act or blameworthy circumstance"

MOIETY: "One of two (approximately) equal parts"

MOIETY: "a portion, or half"

ETHEREAL: Imagine her dismay, on stealing a glance of timid admiration at the poet whose lines suggested an ethereal being fed on `spirit, fire, and d

Search results for ethereal

INCHOATE: "imperfectly formed; partly there"

ABATE to ZEALOT

LUGUBRIOUS: from Latin - Lugere - to mourn

VERITABLE: "being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary"

ODIUM: "Intense hatred or dislike; loathing; abhorrence"

ODIUM: "State of disgrace resulting from detestable behavior; hate coupled with disgust"

OBFUSCATION: "The activity of obscuring people's understanding, leaving them baffled or bewildered"

OBFUSCATION: "the concealment of meaning in communication"

ANATHEMATIZE: "Curse or declare to be evil or anathema or threaten with divine punishment"

"I OBJURGATE the centipede, a bug we do not really need." ~ Ogden Nash

Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 16, 2008

IMPUISSANCE: "powerlessness revealed by an inability to act"

CARTESIAN

CARTESIAN: "of or relating to Descartes"

KARUNA: "loving compassion"

REMUNERATE: "to pay an equivalent to for any service, loss, or expense"

From Dictionary.com

Word of the Day for Saturday, March 22, 2008

ANATHEMA: "a ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity" ALSO "unpleasant person"

Word of the Day for Sunday, March 23, 2008

DIFFIDENT: "lacking self-confidence; timid; unassertive"

Word of the Day for Wednesday, March 12, 2008

CIRCUMBENDIBUS: "in a roundabout way"

BEDIZEN: "To dress or adorn in gaudy manner"

Word of the Day for Friday, March 14, 2008

ESTHETIC: "having a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty

CHESTNUT: an old chestnut - an old joke or overly familiar saying