Words posted this month
31 October 2012
histrionics
PRONUNCIATION:
(his-tree-ON-iks)
MEANING:
noun:
1. Melodramatic or hysterical behavior calculated for effect.
2. Theatrical performances.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin histrio (actor). Earliest documented use: 1824.
USAGE:
“The notion that men can face adversity with stoicism while women are more likely to respond with histrionics is just one example of the gender stereotypes that permeate our culture.”
Kayt Sukel; Pink Brains, Blue Brains, Purple People; New Scientist (London, UK); May 26, 2012.
30 October 2012
interregnum
[in-ter-reg-nuhm]
noun, plural interregnums, interregna [-nuh]
1. an interval of time between the close of a sovereign’s reign and the accession of his or her normal or legitimate successor.
2. any period during which a state has no ruler or only a temporary executive.
3. any period of freedom from the usual authority.
4. any pause or interruption in continuity.
Example Sentences
There was an interregnum, a period of diffuse groping and stumbling. Postwar interregnum as conflicting plans for central intelligence are shaken down into a presidential directive.
29 October 2012
pangloss
PRONUNCIATION:
(PAN-glos)
MEANING:
noun: One who is optimistic regardless of the circumstances. adjective: Blindly or unreasonably optimistic.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Dr. Pangloss, a philosopher and tutor in Voltaire’s 1759 satire Candide. Pangloss believes that, in spite of what happens — shipwreck, earthquake, hanging, flogging, and more — “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” The name is coined from Greek panglossia (talkativeness). Earliest documented use: 1794.
USAGE:
“Steven Pinker is a Pangloss … The world is a better place than it used to be.” Bill McSweeney; Why We Should Look on the Bright Side; The Irish Times (Dublin); Dec 3, 2011.
“Don Regan tried to pick up where Mike Deaver left off in the spin game of gilding foul-ups with a Pangloss sheen, but he was a bit too candid.” Jim Fain; Lights, Action, Camera Again; Observer-Reporter (Pennsylvania); Aug 14, 1987
28 October 2012
pernicious
[per-nish-uhs]
adjective
1. causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: pernicious teachings; a pernicious lie.
2. deadly; fatal: a pernicious disease.
3. Obsolete . evil; wicked
For example:
Nothing has been more pernicious to the nation than increasing powers of monitoring, detention and even execution without accountability or openness, in the name of security.
27 October 2012
lede
noun
– the introductory section of a story. Usually the first paragraph of a newspaper article, which is often highlighted in bold-type text.
c.1965, alternative spelling of ‘lead’ in the newspaper journalism sense, used to distinguish this sense from other possible meanings of the word, perhaps especially the molten lead used in typesetting machines.
For example:
‘It was an amusing lede in to a very serious matter.’
26 October 2012
Scaramouch
[skar-uh-mouch, -moosh]
noun 1. a stock character in commedia dell’arte and farce who is a cowardly braggart, easily beaten and frightened.
2. (lowercase) a rascal or scamp.
25 October 2012
micawber
(mih-KAW-buhr)
MEANING:
noun
1. An eternal optimist. For example: He is quite the micawber even in times of trouble.
2. a person who idles and trusts to fortune.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Wilkins Micawber, an incurable optimist in the novel David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens. His schemes for making money never materialize, but he’s always hopeful that “something will turn up”. Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1852.
USAGE:
“As the shadow work-and-pensions secretary, David Willetts, said yesterday, he takes the Mr Micawber approach to economics: something will turn up.” Larry Elliott; Mr Micawber May Find Result Misery; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 4, 2004.
24 October 2012
resile
[ri-zahyl]
verb (used without object),
resiled, resiling.
1. to spring back; rebound; resume the original form or position, as an elastic body.
2. to shrink back; recoil.
For example:
He didn’t resile from his opinion, even though it was unpopular with his friends.
23 October 2012
quidnunc
[kwid-nuhngk]
noun
– a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip; a gossip or busy-body.
plural: quidnuncs
For example:
He claimed to deplore gossip, but was always the first one to ask the office quidnunc for the latest scuttlebutt.
22 October 2012
catachresis
[kat-uh-kree-sis]
noun
– misuse or strained use of words, as in a mixed metaphor, occurring either in error or for rhetorical effect.
– A rhetorical term for the inappropriate use of one word for another, or an extreme, strained, or mixed metaphor, often used deliberately. Adjective: catachrestic
For example:
‘It is a common catachresis in modern business writing to use utilise in place of use.’
‘Attentive readers will have noticed a lamentable catachresis yesterday, when the Wrap referred to some French gentlemen as Galls, rather than Gauls.’ (Sean Clarke, The Guardian, June 9, 2004)
21 October 2012
filibuster
[fil-uh-buhs-ter]
noun 1. Politics a. the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.
b. an exceptionally long speech, as one lasting for a day or days, or a series of such speeches to accomplish this purpose.
c. a member of a legislature who makes such a speech.
2. an irregular military adventurer, especially one who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution.
verb (used without object) 3. U.S. Politics . to impede legislation by irregular or obstructive tactics, especially by making long speeches.
4. to act as an irregular military adventurer, especially for revolutionary purposes.
verb (used with object) 5. Politics. – to impede (legislation) by irregular or obstructive tactics, especially by making long speeches.
For example:
The Opposition filibustered to block the bill.
Parliament was filled with more filibustering than constructive debate about the bill.
20 October 2012
parsimony
[pahr-suh-moh-nee]
noun
– extreme or excessive economy or frugality; stinginess; niggardliness.
For example:
– The main reason for her parsimony was the impact on public-sector wages and pensions, which are linked to the minimum wage.
– The beneficiaries of the new parsimony are, unsurprisingly, firms that offer low prices.
– The elderly man, who came from a generation which venerated parsimony, shunned the throw-away mentality of modern society by preferring to repair, rather than replace, what he could.
19 October 2012
hirtellous
[hur-tel-uhs]
adjective
– minutely hirsute.
Also, hirsutulous.
Origin: < Latin hirt ( us ) hairy + Neo-Latin -ellus diminutive adj. suffix; see -ous
For example:
‘In a culture in which hirsute men were seen as more virile, the hirtellous youth was considered to be less of a man’.
18 October 2012
stertorous
[stur-ter-uhs]
adjective
1. characterized by stertor or heavy snoring.
2. breathing in this manner.
– adverb: stertorously
– noun: stertorousness
For example:
Please STOP being so stertorous!
17 October 2012
bereft
adjective
1. deprived of or lacking (something). For example: her room was stark and bereft of colour.
2. (of a person) sad and lonely, especially through someone’s death or departure. For example: His death in 1990 left her bereft.
Origin: late 16th century; archaic past-tense of bereave.
16 October 2012
catholicon
[kuh-thol-i-kuhn]
noun
a universal panacea.
For example:
It may be an ‘old wive’s tale’, but ginger is still used as a catholicon for nausea.
Today’s WOTD – 15 October 2012
dido
[dahy-doh]
noun
plural didos, didoes. Usually, didos, didoes. Informal .
1. a mischievous trick; prank; antic.
2. a bauble or trifle.
For example:
‘I looked for stories about Frank Dunning and his famous bad temper, but found none; if he had ever been arrested, the story hadn’t made it into the newspaper’s Police Beat column, which was good-sized on most days and usually expanded to a full page on Mondays, when it contained a full summary of the weekend’s didoes (most of which had happened after the bars closed).’
– from the Stephen King novel, ‘11.22.63‘
14 October 2012
fiducial
[fi-doo-shuhl, -dyoo-]
adjective
1. accepted as a fixed basis of reference or comparison: a fiducial point; a fiducial temperature.
2. based on or having trust. For example: ‘They had a fiducial dependence upon God.’
13 October 2012
Protean:
(pro-TEE-uhn)
adjective:
1. Assuming many forms: variable.
2. Able to handle many different things, as roles in a play. Versatile.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Proteus, a sea god in Greek mythology, who could assume different forms. He got his name from Greek protos (first) as he was one of the earliest sea gods. Earliest documented use: 1594.
USAGE:
“Bruce Chatwin: Such a protean character, a man of many parts. A man who loved the austere but was also flamboyant in manner.”
Thor Kah Hoong; Protean Character; The Star (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia); Feb 27, 2007.
12 October 2012
litotes
[LAHY-tuh-teez]
noun
1. Understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in “not bad at all.”
Examples:
Stevens does not allow himself much of the Sublime here, yet it creeps in by negation in the litotes or understatement of the stanza’s close.
— Harold Bloom, Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate
I know it’s a textbook example of what lit-crit geeks like to call litotes , a figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed through the negation of its opposite…
— Mark Dery, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts
Origin:
Litotes comes from the Greek word lītótēs which meant “plainness, simplicity.”
11 October 2012
zyzzyva
[ziz-uh-vuh]
noun
any of various South American weevils of the genus Zyzzyva, often destructive to plants.
10 October 2012
ataraxia
[at-uh-rak-see-uh]
noun
a state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquillity.
Also, ataraxy [at-uh-rak-see]
Related forms
ataractic
[at-uh-rak-tik]
ataraxic, adjective, noun
for example:
‘She was often in a state of ataraxia, not from a cocktail of medication, but from meditation.’
9 October 2012
hustings
[huhs-tingz]
noun ( used with a singular or plural verb )
1. (before 1872) the temporary platform on which candidates for the British Parliament stood when nominated and from which they addressed the electors.
2. any place from which political campaign speeches are made.
3. the political campaign trail.
For example:
‘Even before the election was formally called, the politicians from all parties had hit the hustings, kissing babies and hugging pensioners’.
8 October 2012
austral
[aw-struhl]
adjective
1. southern.
2. ( initial capital letter ) Australian.
noun, plural aus·tra·les [-trah-les]
3. a monetary unit of Argentina, equal to 100 centavos: replaced the peso in 1985.
Example Sentences
– The austral winters and summers resemble one long night and one long day between weeks of sunrise and sunset.
– On a sunny austral morning, wheeler surveys a stone corral filled with the bobbing white heads of hundreds of alpacas.
7 October 2012
abstemious
[ab-stee-mee-uhs]
adjective
1. sparing or moderate in eating and drinking; temperate in diet.
2. characterized by abstinence: for example: ‘he lived an abstemious life’.
3. sparing, for example: ‘he maintained an abstemious diet’.
6 October 2012
plenary
[plee-nuh-ree, plen-uh-]
adjective, plural ple·na·ries.
1. full; complete; entire; absolute; unqualified: plenary powers.
2. attended by all qualified members; fully constituted: a plenary session of Congress.
noun
3. a plenary session, meeting, or the like.
4. a book of the gospels or epistles and homilies read at the Eucharist
5 October 2012
cosset
[kos-it]
verb (used with object)
1. to treat as a pet; pamper; coddle.
2. care for and protect in an overindulgent way. (Oxford Dictionary of English)
For example:
‘All her life she’d been cosseted by her family’.
4 October 2012
slumgullion
[sluhm-guhl-yuhn, sluhm-guhl-]
noun
1. a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
2. a beverage made weak or thin, as watery tea, coffee, or the like.
3. the refuse from processing whale carcasses.
4. a reddish, muddy deposit in mining sluices.
For example:
I expected to be brought a cup of strong, black coffee, not a slumgullion that more closely resembled warm cordial than a brew.
3 October 2012
alacrity
[uh-lak-ri-tee]
noun
1. cheerful readiness, promptness, or willingness: We accepted the invitation with alacrity.
2. liveliness; briskness.
For example:
While others were waiting for the morning coffee to motivate them, she had already commenced her first task of the day with alacrity.
2 October 2012
obtuse
[uhb-toos, -tyoos]
adjective
1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.
3. (of a leaf, petal, etc.) rounded at the extremity.
4. indistinctly felt or perceived, as pain or sound.
For example:
‘And she is far too obtuse to understand that the French king is only after what will serve him’.
1 October 2012
vernal
[vur-nl]
adjective
1. of or pertaining to spring: vernal sunshine, vernal equinox.
2. appearing or occurring in spring: vernal migratory movements.
3. appropriate to or suggesting spring; springlike: vernal greenery.
4. belonging to or characteristic of youth: vernal longings
