7 March 2017 - INTERESTING WORDS

INTERESTING WORDS

G'day folks,

Our vocabulary is forever changing, especially since the invention of computers. Who’d have thought back in the 30’s, 50’s, and 60’s that words like ‘mouse’ and ‘gay’ would have totally different meanings? They do. However, whilst we invent new words or meanings, we have tended to forget words that have been around for decades. Here’s a list of words; some of which you may not have ever seen. Many might bring back memories of a bygone era.

Acquiesce Submit or comply silently or without protest.
Ailurophile A cat-lover.
Ameliorate To make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory
Assemblage A gathering.
Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Callipygous Having beautifully proportioned buttocks.
Cathartic Inducing catharsis; purgative.
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Comely Attractive.

 

Conflate To blend together.
Crestfallen Dejected; dispirited; discouraged
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved.
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude Disuse.
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous Filmy.
Dissemble Deceive.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.

Effluence The act or an instance of flowing out.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient A softener.

 

Ephemeral Short-lived.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative Suggestive.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious Fleeting.
Frisson A moment of intense excitement.
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue To infuse, instill.
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance. 

Clancy's comment:  Mm … It’s a shame that many words are still not used in every day language. Some have a nice ring to them.  Sometimes I slip words like scamp and scamper into stories, just because I can ...

I'm ...

13 September 2014 - INTERESTING WORDS

INTERESTING WORDS

G'day folks,

Get ready. Here are some more very interesting words you might like to whip into your next conversation.

Clancy's comment: So, what do you think? Worth dropping one or two of these in your next party conversation?

I'm ...

Think about this!

26 October 2013 - INTERESTING WORDS

INTERESTING WORDS

G'day folks,

Here are some interesting words you might like to use next time you leave a note for someone. 

As the cliché goes, 'English is a funny language' because of its inscrutable structure. The very funny English language has eccentricities that seem incomprehensible at times. Solving a puzzle from the New York Times sometimes makes you wonder about 'abstruse glut of antediluvian perorations, if the newspaper's profligacy of neologisms and shibboleths ever set off apoplectic paroxysms in you, if it all seems a bit recondite, here's a reason to be sanguine'. The English language has an insurmountable data of interesting words for its readers. 

Here's a list of interesting words in English that will help to improve your puzzle-solving techniques and vocabulary.

Agrestic: Someone who is rude, uncouth and uncultured.

Ubiquitous: Which seems everywhere or omnipresent.

Ecdysiast: A striptease artist.

Bailiwick: An area of interest, activity or authority.

Insinuation: A malicious implication.

Animadversion: A harsh critical remark.

Epistemology: Related to philosophy, which studies the science of how we know things.

Banal: Boring, rudimentary, something that is not original.

Godspeed: Success or fortune.

Schadenfreude: Sadistic pleasure derived from someone's misfortune.

Porphyrophobia: Fear of the color purple.

Senescence: Growing old or aging.

Euphony: Bearable or agreeable sound.

Quixotic: Extremely romantic and chivalrous.

Jocularity: Funny or joking speech; joking behavior

Mendacity: A pretense; a false appearance.

Obloquy: An oral or verbal abuse towards a person.

Ribaldry: Behavior inclining towards indelicacy.

Heebie-Jeebies: Nervous jitters.

Corpulent: Extremely fat.

Ennui: Boredom or joblessness.

Callipygian: Well toned buttocks.

Penultimate: Next to the last.

Kakistocracy: Government chosen by the worst class of citizens.

Uxorious: Extremely submissive to one's wife.

Ichthyophagous: One that feeds on fish.

Hebetudinous: One who lacks mental stimulation, dull-minded, very lethargic.

Mammiferous: Having mammary glands.

Tatterdemalion: A shabbily dressed person.

Jejune: Nothing interesting; rudimentary.

Solipsism: It is a philosophical belief that only the self exists.

Hedonism: A belief that happiness is the only good thing in life.

Hiatus: A break; a pause.

Hispid: Coarse bristle like hair, especially of animals or plants.

Perspicacious: To have a very good judgment.

Condign: A well deserved punishment.

Deipnosophist: A person with excellent dinner table conversation skills.

Eleemosynary: Pertaining to charity.

Pareidolia: A psychological phenomenon, wherein a person has the notion of seeing faces of people in clouds, hearing hidden messages and other such unusual feelings.

Pleonasm: Use of redundant words.

Syzygy: Linear alignment of 3 celestial bodies (the sun, the moon and the earth).

Tmesis: Separating parts of a word by using another word.

Pilgarlic: A bald head.

Sesquipedalian: Using long words.

Sciolism: Superficial and pseudo knowledge.

Stegophilist: A person who climbs buildings for the sake of fun.

Clancy's comment: Man, did you check out the meaning of  the word Ribaldry? Trust me, I'm a great believer in the KISS Principle - Keep It Simple Stupid. 

But ... but I did smile when I read the definition of the word, Kakistocracy.

I'm ...

2 July 2013 - INTERESTING WORDS

INTERESTING WORDS

G'day guys,

Today I feature some very interesting words that are seldom used. Some you have probably never seen, heard or used before. Sadly, in this technological age, humans have abbreviated words for convenience, such as in texting messages. Words like 'Gay' and 'Mouse' have a new meaning today. Mm ... check out these rippers, courtesy of Yorick Reintjens.

Acquiesce Submit or comply silently or without protest.
Ailurophile A cat-lover.
Ameliorate To make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory
Assemblage A gathering.
 Becoming Attractive.
Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Brood To think alone.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Callipygous Having beautifully proportioned buttocks.
Cathartic Inducing catharsis; purgative.
Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Comely Attractive.
Conflate To blend together.
Crestfallen Dejected; dispirited; discouraged
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
 Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved.
Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude Disuse.
Desultory Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous Filmy.
Dissemble Deceive.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
 Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.

Effluence The act or an instance of flowing out.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient A softener.
Ephemeral Short-lived.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative Suggestive.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Forbearance Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious Fleeting.
Frisson A moment of intense excitement.
Furtive Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk.
Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue To infuse, instill.
Incipient Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance Blithe nonchalance.
Inure To become jaded.
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning.
Lachrymose Given to tears or weeping.
Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet.
 Languor Listlessness, inactivity.
Lassitude Weariness, listlessness.
Leisure Free time.
Lilt To move musically or lively.
Lissome Slender and graceful.
Lithe Slender and flexible.
Love Deep affection.
Loquacious Talking or tending to talk much or freely.
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
Moiety One of two equal parts.
Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
Murmurous Murmuring.
Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy.
Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore.

Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones.
Panacea A solution for all problems.
Panoply A complete set.
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
Penumbra A half-shadow.
Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
Plethora A large quantity.
Propinquity Proximity; Nearness
Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses.
Quintessential Most essential.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Ravel To knit or unknit.
Redolent Fragrant.
Resplendence Splendid or dazzling in appearance.
Riparian By the bank of a stream.
Ripple A very small wave.
Saccharine Overly or sickishly sweet.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
Sempiternal Eternal.
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Soliloquy The act of talking to oneself
Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
Talisman A good luck charm.
Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate.
Vespertine Relating to, or occurring in the evening.
Vestigial In trace amounts.
Wafture Waving.
Wherewithal The means.
Woebegone Sorrowful, downcast.
Zephyr A gentle breeze.
Juxtaposition The state of being close together or side by side.
Velvet A very pleasant, luxurious, desirable situation.
Wafture The act of waving or a wavelike motion.
Callipygous Having shapely buttocks.

Clancy's comment: How did you go? Find any new words to use at the office?

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